Beast Mastery Melee Hunter DPS Guide & Best Runes – Phase 4 Season of Discovery (SoD)

Welcome to our Season of Discovery (SoD) Phase 4 Beast Mastery Melee Hunter DPS Guide!

This guide focuses exclusively on the Beast Mastery specialization, exploring key components such as Runes, Talent Trees, Stat Priorities, Rotations & Abilities, Best Professions, BiS (Best in Slot) items, and Race Choices. The new Rune System introduced in the Season of Discovery has granted the Hunter Class a large variety of tools that allow it to diversify its playstyles. Thanks to all the new abilities, a new type of playstyle was born, specifically Beast Mastery Melee Hunter which emphasizes strong pets and devastating close-quarters combat.

Talents

Runes

• Helm: Rapid Killing
• Cloak: Resourcefulness
• Chest: Cobra Slayer
• Wrist: T.N.T/Raptor Fury
• Hands: Beast Mastery
• Waist: Melee Specialist
• Legs: Flanking Strike
• Feet: Dual Wield Specialization
• Ring: Nature Specialization
• Ring: Axe Specialization/Sword Specialization

Stat Priority

1. Hit Chance
2. Agility
3. Attack Power
4. Critical Strike Chance
5. Strength
6. Intellect
7. Stamina

Rotations & Abilities

Single-Target Rotation

1. Maintain Aspect of the Hawk
2. Use Aspect of the Viper if you run low on Mana
3. Prioritize Bestial Wrath for Burst Phases
4. Cast Rapid Fire on cooldown
5. Cast Immolation Trap on cooldown
6. Cast Flanking Strike on cooldown to proc the damage-enhancing buff
   • Cast Flanking Strike on every reset to stack up the damage-enhancing buff & upkeep it
7. Cast Raptor Strike on cooldown
   • Cast Raptor Strike on every Melee Specialist proc cooldown reset
8. Cast Mongoose Bite on cooldown (When Cobra Slayer procs)
   • Cast Mongoose Bite on reset if you the have T1 6-set bonus
9. Cast Wing Clip if everything else is on cooldown to trigger Windfury procs
10. Cast Serpent Sting before reaching your target

AoE Rotation

1. Swap to the Carve rune for AoE-intensive fights and spam it on cooldown
2. Cast Explosive Trap on cooldown
3. Cast Multi-Shot before you reach your target

Best Professions

Engineering

Engineering has always been regarded as one of the most versatile and effective professions in both PvE and PvP. This remains true in the Season of Discovery as Engineering is one of the best professions you can acquire for the Hunter Class due to all the creative gadgets, bombs, and equipment it provides

Leatherworking

Almost all of the newly crafted items in the Season of Discovery which are specifically tailored for Hunters come from Leatherworking, making it one of the best professions that you can acquire.

Skinning

Skinning pairs fantastically well with Leatherworking, allowing you to easily get materials for crafting while also being a good way of generating gold.

Best Races

Alliance doesn’t have one superior race for PvE, however, Night Elf has a slight advantage over Dwarf for the Hunter Class, especially for its overall aesthetic look. The only situation in which Dwarf is superior is the case of using a powerful gun thanks to the Gun Specialization racial, although that is extremely situational as the best weapons are usually bows or crossbows.

Meanwhile, the Horde has strong PvE racial effects, with Troll being the best option thanks to Bow Specialization and Berserking racials, followed up by Orc with the Blood Fury and Command racials.

Dwarf

• Stoneform, Frost Resistance, Gun Specialization, Find Treasure

Night Elf

• Nature Resistance, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit

Orc

• Blood Fury, Command, Hardiness, Axe Specialization

Tauren

• Nature Resistance, Endurance, Cultivation, War Stomp

Troll

• Berserking, Beast Slaying, Bow Specialization, Throwing Specialization, Regeneration