WotLK Classic Beast Mastery Hunter Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Beast Mastery Hunter in both single-target and multiple-target PvE situations in WotLK Classic. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS.
Introduction
In Vanilla and TBC, Hunters had to deal with clipping auto shots, resulting in a complex rotation revolving around weaving in abilities optimally between autos. In Wrath, auto-shot clipping is finally gone. You will always auto-shot normally, even while casting Steady Shot. This means our rotation is now far simpler and easier to manage, falling back to a basic priority list.
Single Target Rotation
Always start by ensuring all the required buffs are active, you have Aspect of the Dragonhawk up, and Hunter's Mark is on the target.
- Kill Command
- Kill Shot
- Explosive Trap
- Maintain Serpent Sting
- Multi-Shot
- Arcane Shot
- Steady Shot as your filler.
If you get low on Mana, you can always drop Multi-Shot from your rotation. Kill Command should always be used on cooldown, and since it is off the GCD, you can actually macro it into all of your other abilities to ensure it gets used properly.
Trap Weaving
With the brand new addition of Trap Launcher in Season 4, Hunters never need to worry about trap weaving ever again. You will now always use Explosive Trap on cooldown regardless of the number of targets or the size of their hit-box. Just throw your trap from a safe distance away and rejoice at being a range DPS once more!
AoE Rotation
Hunter AoE revolves entirely around two buttons: Explosive Trap and Volley. Volley is significantly more powerful in Wrath than in TBC, and actually makes Hunter AoE some of the strongest in the game. Properly setting up an Explosive Trap into Volley spam on an AoE pack will do absolutely incredible damage that very few other classes can even hope to compete with.
Cooldowns
Hunters have several cooldowns that can be lined up for huge burst windows. While the actual timings may vary per fight, in general you should line up all of these on pull and then use them on cooldown afterwards, overlapping them when possible.
- Bestial Wrath is a late tier Beast Mastery talent. This is a 2-minute cooldown that lasts for 10 seconds, massively increasing your pet's damage while active. With the The Beast Within talent, this will also increase your damage and reduce your Mana costs while active.
- Rapid Fire is a Hunter's most important cooldown. It increases your ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds.
- Call of the Wild is a cooldown that Ferocity pets can talent into. It gives both you and your pet 10% more AP for 20 seconds.
Changelog
- 27 Sep. 2023: Updated for Phase 4.
- 30 Jul. 2023: Minor updates for later phases.
- 18 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Phase 2 release ahead of Ulduar raid release.
- 01 Sep. 2022: Page added.
This guide has been written by Impakt, an Officer in BDGG, the #2 North American guild on retail. In addition to live WoW, he has also been a classic theorycrafter and enthusiast for many years. You can watch him stream on Twitch, or follow him on Twitter.
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