PvE Beast Mastery Hunter Guide

BM Hunter DPS Guide

Stat Priority

Talents & Builds

Pre-Raid & Best In Slot (BiS)

Gems, Enchants, & Consumables

Rotation, Cooldowns, & Abilities

Welcome to the Beast Mastery Hunter guide for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. In this guide, we’ll touch on gems, enchants, gearing and so much more to ensure you are ready to rock and roll!

Best Races

There are a total of 7 playable races if you are interested in playing the class of Hunter.

Alliance

• Dwarf: Dwarf Hunters benefit from Gun Specialization, which can be a major bonus for you, depending on what you decide to wield at level 70! As a secondary bonus, Dwarves also get Stoneform, which will not benefit you as much as it does tanks, but extra armor and immunity to bleeds, poisons and disease effects is always a nice addition!
• Night Elf: Night Elf Hunters are gifted with a way to vanish into their surroundings with Shadowmeld as long as they are out of combat when they initiate the ability. Combine this ability with a pet that can learn Prowl and you are a force to be reckoned with in PvP! Night Elves also benefit from an additional 8 and 9 agility compared to Draenei and Dwarves, respectively.
• Draenei: Just like Draenei Warriors and Paladins, Draenei Hunters benefit from an additional 1% hit rating from Heroic Presence, causing their required Hit Rating to be only 8%. They also benefit from an extra heal called Gift of the Naaru, which does not cost any resources.

Horde

• Orc: While not a direct benefit, Axe Specialization does provide additional Expertise with one-handed and two-handed axes. Orcs also benefit greatly from Blood Fury which increases your attack power, but it does reduce healing effects on you by 50%. The biggest advantage Orcs have is access to Command, which increases your pet’s damage by 5%.
• Tauren: Tauren benefit from Endurance, increasing your total health by 5%. They also benefit from War Stomp, acting as a short Crowd Control ability whenever you are in a tight spot!
• Troll: Trolls benefit from two major racials: Berserking, which increases your casting and attack speed by 10-30%, depending on your current Health, and Beast Slaying, which increases your damage against beasts by 5%. Trolls also benefit from Bow Specialization, which can be a major help, depending on which weapon class you decide to wield.
• Blood Elf: Blood Elf Hunters gain Arcane Torrent and Mana Tap, effectively allowing you to silence mobs and slightly regenerate your mana.

Alliance: With Gun Specialization being dependent on which kind of ranged weapon you use at 70, and 9% Hit Rating being well within reach, Night Elves would be my choice as the best Alliance race.

Horde: This is a tough choice since both Orcs and Trolls have incredible racials for Hunters. Both have several advantages but because Beast Slaying is exclusive to when fighting beasts, I would wager that Orcs are stronger Hunters.

Best Professions

• Leatherworking: Leatherworking is a great addition to a Hunter’s arsenal since you are able to craft gear throughout your entire leveling career. Not to mention items like Ebon Netherscale Belt, Ebon Netherscale Bracers, Ebon Netherscale Breastplate and more. Leatherworking also provides you the opportunity to be a supplier of various items that will assist your team in downing bosses such as Drums of Battle, Drums of Restoration and Drums of War. You can also craft your own Netherscale Ammo Pouch or Quiver of a Thousand Feathers.
• Engineering: Engineering allows you to not only create fun and exciting items like Green Firework but you can also craft your own ammunition (Adamantite Stinger and Adamantite Shells) You could also learn to craft weaponry such as Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer.
• Enchanting: Enchanting allows you to generate some extra income by selling your enchanting services or by disenchanting unnecessary loot in dungeons and raids. It also allows you to enchant both of your rings with Enchant Ring – Stats for some added damage and survivability. NOTE: Blizzard has confirmed that players will no longer be able to keep using their enchanted rings if they unlearn this profession.
• Blacksmithing: Blacksmithing doesn’t offer Hunters much, if any, benefit at all, apart from items like Stormforged Hauberk, which would be replaced with Ebon Netherscale Breastplate. Hunters that do choose Blacksmithing can eventually craft Mooncleaver. While not best in slot for Phase 1, it’s still a decent weapon.
• Alchemy: Alchemy doesn’t provide much benefit for Hunters except for the ability to craft certain potions, flasks and elixirs you may use. However, with the increased ease gold making has seen in TBC, it shouldn’t be too hard to afford your consumables.
• Jewelcrafting: Jewelcrafting can be beneficial for Hunters with the ability to craft unique gems that are slightly superior to the readily available gems on the Auction House. However, these gems are unique and thus players can only have one equipped at one time. Figurine – Felsteel Boar wouldn’t be a big enough benefit for me to recommend venturing into Jewelcrafting.
• Gathering Professions: Since I would whole-heartedly recommend picking up Leatherworking, I’d be remiss to not pair that with Skinning so that you can gather your own materials, possibly making some extra gold selling what you don’t use.

Best Pet for PvE

The best pets in TBC Classic in terms of DPS would be Cats, Ravagers, and Scorpids. It’s generally accepted that your pet must have:

• Active: Bite, Claw, Gore, Scorpid Poison (depending on which pet you choose to go with)
• Passive: Avoidance, Cobra Reflexes, Great Stamina

Pets’ Attack Power is now benefiting from your Ranged Attack Power. The conversion is currently just below 22% of your power is mirrored to your pets. This includes flasks, elixirs, potions and racials like Blood Fury.