Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Guide — The War Within (11.1.7)

Beast Mastery Hunter is a powerful specialization with high single-target damage, the highest mobility of any ranged DPS specialization, a mortal strike, and a damage profile that is difficult for enemies to disrupt.

The Beast Mastery rotation is easy to pick up, and the skills that separate the best Beast Mastery Hunters are positioning and how to use their mobility and range to always be safe while keeping their enemies in danger while still using their crowd control to create kill windows.

As the bulk of a Beast Mastery Hunter's damage comes from their pets, it is difficult for enemies to avoid their damage, and Beast Mastery does not suffer from the line of sight issues other ranged DPS specializations are prone to.

The high damage, mortal strike, and ability to lock down a healer independently make Beast Mastery a versatile and powerful specialization in the solo shuffle format.

In the War Within, Beast Mastery has received a comprehensive rework offering more utility, more crowd control, more survivability, and some more specialized Hunter tree talents that are invaluable in certain matchups.

Strengths

• The highest mobility of all ranged specializations
• High single target damage which is difficult to disrupt
• Mortal Strike from pets
• Lots of defensive options and cooldowns
• Support for team with Roar of Sacrifice, Master's Call, or Interlope
• Multiple control crowd options in Intimidation, Binding Shot, Freezing Trap, High Explosive Trap, Scatter Shot/ Bursting Shot and Entrapment

Weaknesses

• Intimidation to Freezing Trap combination can be countered by many specializations
• Not many support options to keep a teammate alive when they're being trained
• Requires consistently strong positional awareness to truly excel
• Easy to break crowd control with Stomp
• Requires some awareness of crowd control effects on primary pet

• Dark Ranger: Black Arrow periodic effect duration increased to 14 seconds (was 10 seconds).
• Pack Leader: Fixed a bug preventing Lead From the Front from increasing the Howl of the Pack Leader Boars damage.
• Withering Fire now fires 4 additional Black Arrows (was 2).

This wave of tuning makes Dark Ranger slightly more appealing, increasing the length of the Black Arrow damage over time effect indirectly buffs the rest of the tree, by increasing the frequency of Shadow Hounds and Shadow Surge procs.

However, Pack Leader still does more damage and will remain the preferred choice for Beast Mastery in Arena.

• On the Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Talents page, you will find an analysis of the talents available to Beast Mastery Hunters, as well as an overview of the PvP talents, with advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Pets page, you will find an overview of the advantages of each pet type with advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Rotation and Playstyle page, you will learn how to use your spells, depending on the situation (dealing damage, surviving, controlling enemy players, etc.), and what is generally expected of your class and spec in PvP.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Stat Priority and Gear page, you will find the stat priority to follow in PvP, as well as advice for choosing your gear, which may vary depending on your playstyle and composition.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Best Races page, you will find lists of the Alliance and Horde races, ranked by how good they are for Beast Mastery Hunters in PvP, as well as explanations regarding why and how their racials benefit you.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter PvP Useful Macros page, you will find a collection of useful PvP macros for Beast Mastery Hunters.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter Arena Composition page, you will find the list of the most powerful Arena compositions featuring Beast Mastery Hunters in both 2v2 and 3v3 modes.
• On the Beast Mastery Hunter in Battleground Blitz page, you will find a summary of how to play Beast Mastery in Battleground Blitz specifically, including the playstyle, role in specific battlegrounds, talent builds, and macros.