Hunter talent discussion

Burning Crusade Raiding / PvE

41/20/0 http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0520300052501224310510505201200000000000000000000000000000000000

While Beast Mastery talents may have been neglected in the past, recent upgrades have improved them, as shown by several extensive tests. It's no wonder that this spec has quickly gained popularity in the Hunter ranks, including in many high end raiding teams. Getting gear with +crit and +hit is essential to the viability of the spec.

• Animal Handler is a good talent, increasing your pet's hit chance by 4%. It is the only hit bonus for pets.
• Frenzy has been shown to stay up almost as long with 4/5 as with 5/5, leaving you one free point.

10/45/6 http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?5320000000000000000000515201205013253135103300000000000000000000

Marksmanship, though frowned upon now by the gods-that-will, can still be extremely useful in Raiding environments, as well as in the Arena and PvP. This spec provides great burst damage opportunities, and marksmen can expect quite hard critical hits. +AP and +crit, in that order, are good stats to look for when creating your gear set.

• Allocating the Endurance Training points into Monster Slaying might be more worthwhile for those not interested in PvP.

7/20/34 http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?0520000000000000000000550201205000000000020303022500302300501300

Survival, even if rarely used, or ignored, is a very balanced build between PvE, and PvP. It grants you:

• +8% Critical strike
• +20% Critical Strike Damage bonus
• +2% passive damage
• -4% damage taken
• +4% Attack Power
• +15% Agility
• +15% maximum HP
• +6 sec duration on Freezing Traps
• Entrapment
• A limited crowd control skill in extra (You can just overwrite it with Scorpid Sting, if you're planning to use a trap on it after)
• Increased range

If you choose this build, you should concentrate on agility, because each point from gear amounts to 1.15 agility, which is a substantial bonus. Also consider the 4% extra attack power, which means that one point of gear-agility produces 1.196 attack power. Note: You might want to swap Monster Slaying with Humanoid Slaying, or Endurance Training with Improved AotH.

Raiding/PvE

41/20/0

This spec utilized the damage of you and you pet with the best possible results.This spec is a little different than other BM specs because it allows you to spec into endurance training (10% Hp increase on pet and 5% on you )and improved aspect of the hawk (10%chance on shot to increase speed by 15%). This spec can be used in Karazhan all the way through BT ( you will see a huge jumpin DPS when you progress into SSC and TK because of the increase of agility and critical strike rating on the gear. This spec it better with more agility and whenever possible take agility over AP( unless there is a huge difference). And try to always try to get 8 Agility or 8 critical strike rating gems ( or 10 agility if you are rich/ in BT/hijal. if u want more information click here http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?5520000051501205310510505021205000000000000000000000000000000000

(This particular build for a Beast Master hunter lacks the talent benefits that increases the pet's damage. Most DPS is based in the pet and its ability to dump focus yet this build does not have Go For the Throat nor Animal Handler which increases the pet's ability to hit bosses and higher level mobs. As well 4/5 in Frenzy is just as effective as 5/5 in it. Improved arcane shot would only have a benefit for a Marksman hunter as it is a stable part of their DPS as opposed to BM's steady shot/auto shot spam. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?5120020052501224310510505201205000000000000000000000000000000000 - One type of a cookie cutter spec for a BM hunter. Three out of the first tens points in the BM tree are up to the player's preference, one does not have to have Improved Revive Pet but at times it can help.)

Heavy Marks Builds

5/31/15

• This build does not include much of the utility provided by any of the three hunter trees, but instead is focused around maximizing DPS in a raid or dungeon situation. This build includes many of the best ranged damage talents (Quick Shots, +5% Ranged Crit Rate, +30% Ranged Crit Damage, +5% Overall Ranged Damage, +15% Multishot Damage, +100 Attack Power Aura) along with some generally useful utility for PvE (-10% Mana Cost for Shots, +10% Hit Points, Scatter Shot). This build is focused on getting the maximum amount of damage done over time, rather than burst damage. It focuses on higher attack power and damage per shot and less on critical strikes.

Some examples of good Marksman builds:
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?5000000000000000050512305130513304000500000000 --Meegle http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?5000000000000000520510305130513310052010000000 - Not sure about the Survival tree --Montronax

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cE0hzhZVEohtht - [17/34]
This build gives almost maximum DPS from the Marksman tree, while giving your pet excellent tanking ability and increased movement speed.

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?0500300000000000000000550211205013253105003020500200000000000000 --Petrus4 (My own main Hunter - Mostly Marks, but a few other essentials)

Survival Builds

For pulling, notably in 5 mans, it is most helpful to go fully survival. This allows you to remove two mobs from your pulls, and instantly retry feign death if it fails the first time. This build also allows you to frequently increase the damage of all attackers against your target with expose weakness, and drastically increase your crit chance. This build works best with a fast ranged weapon. 0/14/47 http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000005500001000000000000000320532311302313531351

Actually, that spec is very pvp oriented. If you are looking to use survival spec for a ranged utility raiding hunter, I'd recommend the following build. Decent dps, with the perks of expose weakness and Readiness. Make sure to stack on that Agility and crit gear if you want to go in this direction... http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000005500001000000000000000320532311302313531351#none

However, Wyvern Sting is pretty useless in the raiding environment. You will not be pulling by yourself, and even if you are, Tanks should know how to pull off of you. Readiness would be more useful if 1) The talent underneath it wasn't pointless (you will have enough crit as surv, and 6% chance is so low) and 2) We had a really long cooldown.

The following RAID spec is pure raidbuff/personal dps (with some points in traps and one waste point because the tree is poorly designed). This is not a spec for people who ever want to win at PvP against someone with equal ability. Raiding Surv Spec 1

But if someone else has full IMP HM and you have a very large mana pool (or a really good Aspect of the Viper): Raiding Surv Spec 2 You can also spec further down into Marks to get 2% more Agi, but 2%, at 1000, is only 20. You decide if that's worth it for you.

PvP/Well-Rounded

0/21/30

This build includes a lot of the utility provided by the Survival and Marksmanship trees. It is focused very highly on having a high critical strike rate and being able to do good burst damage. This build can vary but should include the best critical strike talents (+15% Agility, +3% Critical Strikes, +30% Critical Strike Damage, +5% Critical Strike Rate). This build is VERY popular due to the fact it is great for PvP but still allows for very good damage in PvE instances and raids.

The conventional wisdom is that Survival builds start to outdamage Marksmanship builds when the hunter reaches 600 agility unbuffed.

A good Survival build:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000051510305010003350200510303050--Malakith

General use ranged Survival. The point in Scatter Shot can be moved to Deterrence depending on need: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000000550201205010000000003223002500302303531300

A good PVP/Arena nuker build: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000005505000250313253135102303030010000000000000 User:Elquindar first non-60 in top 100 WOW-US PVPers at level 39, spec for 70.

0/20/31

An alternate build focusing on damage with 10% more HP and 10% less mana use, more PvE focused. Gets Wyvern Sting for sapping in multi-opponent fights. http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000054510005000003350030500303051

Beast Mastery

31/20/0

Beast Mastery is awesome for non-instance PvE situations especially when a Hunter is going solo. Well-buffed pets make awesome tanks, and are the main reason why Hunters are arguably the best solo class (together with Warlocks). Having your pet draw aggro allows you to fire at will safely at range, without needing to kite-Wing Clip-kite, plus your pet deals a decent amount of damage (about 1/3 of my damage when I was specced BM) to help kill the mobs quickly. In PvE, BM cuts downtime of Hunters since the pet is buffed enough to stay alive, and keeps aggro well, and needs a minimal amount of management.

In lower-level instances (20-40+), well-buffed pets can be good off-tanks for ADDs to help keep the main tank alive, need little or no Healer attention, and the Hunter does not need to waste their limited mana pool on Pet Healing either.

When you get to higher level instances however, pets start to die too quickly to be very useful even at full-buff, and only serves to distract the healers, so it is better overall to up your DPS to help the party. If anything, pets are useful to help protect casters by drawing aggro from them while waiting for the tank to capture aggro.

Beast Mastery loses most of its benefits in PvP situations because other players are generally smart enough to attack a Hunter directly instead of his/her pet. However, BM does provide a talent that gives your pet a chance to stun the target upon the next hit, which can be a lifesaver when you're trying to run away or get to range, or to stop a spell casting or runaway enemy player. Another great ability in the BM tree that should not be overlooked is the last available talent, "the beast within". If used correctly it can dramatically increase your odds when fighting in close range, A wing clipped rogue hates when his hunter enemy turns big and red, gains distance, turns and fires. A Beast Mastery hunter does loose valuable PvP talents in the other trees but because most players disregard a hunters pet, he doesn't realize how much damage a pet can do, especially to a squishy.

An example of a good Beast Mastery build:
(Note: This link is not 2.0 compliant) http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?0500320151521051510510305000000000000000000000--Meegle

A 31/20 build updated for 2.0 (assumes level 60 cap): http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0500320052521005010002550201005000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Taz

I find this BM build to maximize dps, while better splitting the threat generated between me and my pet. It allows you to go all out and cause more damage in raiding situations. With the new Mend Pet HOT and avoidance it is easier to keep your pet alive. I recommend all BC raiding hunters give this spec a shot. Make sure to stack on that crit gear even if you sacrifice Attack Power. 25% crit is ideal. (NOTE: Kill Command is key and should be used whenever possible. Be sure not to teach ur "kill command' pet Cobra Reflexes, as this nerfs the damage done by kill command significantly. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0500320052521005010002550201005000000000000000000000000000000000 `maldaras

BC Well Rounded

Although marksmen and beast mastery builds are the standard favorites, this new Burning Crusade talent build for hunters is very effective. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000000555001005013050000000320430510300310501000 It maximizes on the best of Marksman while getting all the core talents from Survival that provide good benefits. This build has a bit of room for customization as well, Wyvern Sting could be traded for Trueshot Aura, other points could be moved around per the users preference. This build provides excellent PVP capabilities, deals high damage as well for raids, and more importantly with Wyvern Sting is perfect for the new Arena combat, giving the hunter some cooldowns for once. Evagorn

BC Utility

This build sacrifices some melee survivability and ranged DPS talents in favour of adding more utility to a raiding situation - namely Scatter Shot (useful for mobs that like to explode, like the elementals in Karazhan after the library as you head toward Shade and Illhoof), buffed traps and Expose Weakness (which will proc off every crit in Patch 2.1.0). HunterOfWhelps http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=mZVg0RVzZMhhrhfMhAuh

Kickerace's Arena Build

0/24/37 http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000000505201205013000000003303030510302310501310

This build is strictly for pvp. It provides the respectable dps of marksmanship and essential survivability, so it is fully focused on the hunter rather than the pet. This is because while BM specced hunters rely heavily on their pet for TBW, if their pet is crowd controlled or dead then they are at a huge disadvantage. Also in pvp, it is the hunter that is attacked and killed while the pet is (and should be) completely ignored.

Without going into too much detail, scattershot, deterrence and counterattack, improved wing clip and wyvern sting are incredible crowd control and melee abilities that ensure your hunter can withstand close combat and get back into range for the crucial aimed shot. Virtually all other talent points aim towards maximizing your dps which is the goal for any respectable hunter, namely barrage (as it is often overlooked) since it makes your 2nd best and frequently used physical attack, multi-shot, even better.

While this build will not ensure you are on top of the damage meter in a raid (but still possible) or make your pet an unstoppable force, you are well equipped to face any pvp challenge. MM and BM specced hunters may do more damage in a raid but they also rely on the tanks/pets to maintain aggro and soak up all the damage, while in a pvp fight they will be helpless since a skilled opponent can stay within their dead zone.

This build is gear dependent so make sure you get plenty of stamina and agility (NOT just attack power since agi provides crit, dodge as well as AP anyway), the first being much more important. Your arena partners will love you for it.