Cataclysm Classic Beast Mastery Hunter Talent Builds

Like most classes in Cataclysm, Beast Mastery Hunter has a straightforward talent setup with very little variance. This is because of the requirement to take 31 points in your main tree combined with the limited number of total talents. Even though we only take exactly 31 points in Beast Mastery, we are only skipping 6 talent points in the tree total, where all 6 points are in utility talents that do not increase our damage at all. The only variance in the tree will be with what to do with your remaining 10 points.

This is your standard PvE spec that is built around maximizing damage done. As stated above, there are only a couple of points that have any variance: Pathing and Careful Aim. Generally, the opener is the easiest part of most raid encounters, which severely devalues Careful Aim. However, if you prefer a strong opener, then drop two points in Pathing to pick up Careful Aim. The other points in the Marksmanship tree are not negotiable, as they are the best DPS increases available from the remaining options.

In this section we will go over some of the key talents you will use when you are playing a Beast Mastery Hunter. Be sure to understand your most important talents as they are vital to play the build to its fullest strength.

• Frenzy — gives your pet stacking attack speed after using a basic attack, which stacks up to 5 times. This is a massive pet damage increase, and critically you always want to ensure this is at 5 stacks when you use Bestial Wrath.

• Focus Fire — consumes your pet's Frenzy stacks to give you attack speed instead if your pet. This is a moderate bonus and is worth using, but only outside of Bestial Wrath.

• Bestial Wrath — is your primary damage cooldown as Beast Mastery, making your pet deal massively more damage and heavily reducing your focus cost while active. Properly utilizing this cooldown is key to maximizing your damage potential.

• Ferocious Inspiration — this is your raid buff, increasing everyone's damage by 3%.

• Go for the Throat — this is the most important DPS talent outside of the Beast Mastery tree, as it is what will give your pet a huge gain in focus generation.

Prime glyphs are new to Cataclysm, giving you a third "row" of glyphs you can use on your character. For Beast Mastery, there are only three options that make sense, which are the three gylphs that will buff your standard rotational abilities.

• Glyph of Kill Command — reduces the Focus cost of your Kill Command by 3. The Beast Mastery rotation is built around maximizing Kill Command usage, making this a strong choice.
• Glyph of Arcane Shot — increases the damage of your Arcane Shot by 12%. This is your primary way to spend excess Focus.
• Glyph of Kill Shot — basically gives you a second instant use of Kill Shot every time you use it if the target does not die. This is an absolutely amazing option as Kill Shot is an incredibly powerful shot.

Major glyphs typically offer utility-based options and can be highly situational, as Beast Mastery there are a wide variety of Glyphs but we have highlighted what are typically the most useful. There is only one required Major glyph; the rest are really more personal preference.

• Glyph of Bestial Wrath — reduces the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 20 seconds. This is our main damage cooldown and is thus an incredibly important glyph.
• Glyph of Ice Trap — increases the radius of your Ice Trap by 2 yards. These are purely personal preference, but this is one of the only remaining options that has a chance of being useful in a raid or dungeon if you need to slow down a group of adds.
• Glyph of Trap Launcher — reduces the Focus cost of Trap Launcher by 10. It is very likely that you'll need to use trap launcher during a raid at some point, so the reduced Focus cost is somewhat of a damage increase.

Minor glyphs typically provide very minor benefits. Your choices will typically depend on what quality of life increase is the most meaningful for you.

• Glyph of Feign Death — reduces the cooldown of Feign Death by 5 seconds.
• Glyph of Revive Pet — removes any pushback from damage while casting Revive Pet, which can be important if you ever need to revive a pet during a fight.
• Glyph of Aspect of the Pack — increases the range of your Aspect of the Pack by 15 yards. If you ever do need to use Aspect of the Pack, this is an incredibly strong bonus to ensure your whole raid is covered.