Beast Mastery Hunter Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Pet-focused damage: a stronger, faster pet and Bestial Wrath. The easiest hunter to level and solo with.

A ranged fighter in leather, and later mail, who fights at a distance with a bow, gun or crossbow, tames beasts as pets and controls enemies with traps and stings. More about the hunter

Class: Hunter
Roles: Damage
Used for: Raids and dungeons, Leveling
Top talent: Beast Mastery
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Beast Mastery in Wrath lets you tame exotic pets (spirit beasts, core hounds, devilsaurs and more) and makes your pet a big share of your damage: The Beast Within, Kindred Spirits and Cobra Strikes raise it, and Longevity shortens your cooldowns.

Keep Serpent Sting up, use Kill Command and Bestial Wrath when ready, Arcane Shot between, Kill Shot below 20% and Steady Shot to fill.

Beast Mastery is the easiest hunter spec and the best for leveling, but in raids it trails Marksmanship and Survival for most of the expansion.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Hunter's Mark and Aspect of the Dragonhawk; pet attacking.
2Serpent Sting kept up.
3Kill Command and Bestial Wrath when ready.
4Kill Shot below 20% health.
5Arcane Shot (Multi-Shot on packs) when ready; Steady Shot to fill.
6Aspect of the Viper when mana runs low; Misdirection on the tank.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Exotic pets, including spirit beasts that heal.
The easiest and strongest leveling.
Your pet can tank in tough spots.

Weaknesses

Behind Marksmanship and Survival in raids for most of Wrath.
Your pet must stay alive.
Less raid utility.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Agility
2
Hitto 263 rating
3
Attack poweryour pet gains from it too
4
Critical strike
5
Haste
6
Intellect

What to look for

A ranged weapon with high damage per second.
Agility gems.
Enough Intellect that Viper isn't needed too often.

Items worth chasing

Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalasA raid crossbow.
Deathbringer's WillA trinket that procs Strength, Agility or haste.
Darkmoon Card: GreatnessA trinket that procs your best stat.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Beast Mastery
Marksmanship
Survival

Beast Mastery Raider
DamagePvE
5417
54/17/0
Raid damage with 54 points in Beast Mastery, down to the Beast Mastery talent, and 17 in Marksmanship.
- Longevity 3/3
- The Beast Within 1/1
- Cobra Strikes 2/3
- Kindred Spirits 5/5
- Beast Mastery 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Bestial Wrath (major), Glyph of Steady Shot (major), Glyph of Serpent Sting (major), Glyph of Feign Death (minor), Glyph of Revive Pet (minor), Glyph of Mend Pet (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Beast Mastery Leveling
DamageLeveling
5219
52/19/0
Leveling with 52 points in Beast Mastery, down to the Beast Mastery talent, and 19 in Marksmanship.
- Bestial Wrath 1/1
- Longevity 3/3
- The Beast Within 1/1
- Kindred Spirits 5/5
- Beast Mastery 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Beast Mastery · top talent, up to 1
You master the art of Beast training, teaching you the ability to tame Exotic pets and increasing your total amount of Pet Skill Points by 4.
Ferocious Inspiration · tier 7, up to 3
All party and raid members have all damage increased by 3% within 100 yards of your pet. In addition, increases the damage dealt by Arcane Shot and Steady Shot by 9%.
Bestial Wrath · tier 7, up to 1
Send your pet into a rage causing 50% additional damage for 10 sec. While enraged, the beast does not feel pity or remorse or fear and it cannot be stopped unless killed.
Catlike Reflexes · tier 7, up to 3
Increases your chance to dodge by 3% and your pet's chance to dodge by an additional 9%. In addition, reduces the cooldown of your Kill Command ability by 30 sec.
Invigoration · tier 8, up to 2
When your pet scores a critical hit with a special ability, you have a 100% chance to instantly regenerate 1% mana.
Serpent's Swiftness · tier 8, up to 5
Increases ranged combat attack speed by 20% and your pet's melee attack speed by 20%.
Longevity · tier 9, up to 3
Reduces the cooldown of your Bestial Wrath, Intimidation and Pet Special Abilities by 30%.
The Beast Within · tier 9, up to 1
Increases all damage you deal by 10% and while your pet is under the effects of Bestial Wrath, you also go into a rage causing 10% additional damage and reducing mana costs of all spells by 50% for 10 sec. While enraged, you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless killed.
Cobra Strikes · tier 9, up to 3
You have a 60% chance when you critically hit with Arcane Shot, Steady Shot or Kill Shot to cause your pet's next 2 special attacks to critically hit.
Kindred Spirits · tier 10, up to 5
Increases your pet's damage by 20% and you and your pet's movement speed by 10% while your pet is active. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.

Beast Mastery abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.