The playstyle of Beast Mastery is very simple in Cataclysm Classic. Unlike some specs, you aren’t juggling multiple timers at any given time. Your only goal is to use [Focus Fire] effectively and not overcap your Focus.
In this section of the guide, we will go over the rotation and abilities of a Beast Mastery Hunter, in both Single-Target and AoE/Cleave encounters.
Single-Target Rotation
Ahead of anything else, you want to maintain Aspect of the Hawk.
- Maintain Hunter’s Mark
- Apply Serpent Sting
- Cast [Kill Command]
- Cast Kill Shot
- Cast [Focus Fire] at 5 stacks of [Frenzy]
- Cast Arcane Shot to avoid capping Focus
- Cast Cobra Shot
Your first goal is to make sure Serpent Sting is always active on the target. For us, that means you cast it once and you let Cobra Shot refresh it for the rest of the fight. After that, make sure [Kill Command] is on cooldown at all times. If the target is low health, keep Kill Shot on cooldown also.
[Focus Fire] is the main complexity as a Beast Mastery Hunter. Using this ability consumes [Frenzy] from your pet, restoring your Focus and giving you a boost to your ranged Haste. This buff lasts for 20 seconds and is based on how many stacks of [Frenzy] you consume. Your pet generates one stack of [Frenzy] each time it attacks, with each stack increasing its attack speed. You want to try and always maintain [Focus Fire], but you also want to make sure it is always the 5 stack version. Don’t cast this too early!
As long as Serpent Sting is up, [Kill Command] and potentially Kill Shot are on cooldown, and [Focus Fire] is up at 5 stacks on you, all you have left is to either spend or generate Focus. Your spender is Arcane Shot, and your generator is Cobra Shot. You generally want to leave enough Focus open to cast [Kill Command] as soon as it comes up, but outside of that, you can mostly spend your Focus without worry.
AoE/Cleave Rotation
Ahead of anything else, you want to maintain Aspect of the Hawk, or Aspect of the Fox if you are on the move. If there is a priority target you should keep Hunter’s Mark active on them.
- Cast Multi-Shot
- Cast Kill Shot
- Cast Cobra Shot
Couldn’t ask for a more simple AoE rotation. If you are against 3 or more targets, dump your Focus with Multi-Shot, use Kill Shot on the most important target, and cast Cobra Shot if you run low on Focus.
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