Beast Mastery Hunter Leveling Guide From 1 to 80 for WotLK Classic
On this page, you will find our level-by-level Beast Mastery leveling guide for Wrath Classic. Make sure to use the slider to make the guide adapt to your level. For more general leveling information, please refer to our Hunter leveling guide. We also have an Marksmanship Hunter leveling guide and a Survival Hunter leveling guide.
Level by Level Rotation, Talents, and Trainer Skills
Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!
Leveling Talent Tree & Build
Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.
- Levels 10 to 14 — 5 points in Improved Aspect of the Hawk
- Levels 15 & 16 — 2 points in Improved Revive Pet
- Levels 17 & 18 — 2 points in Focused Fire
- Level 19 — 1 points in Endurance Training
Improved Aspect of the Hawk is a huge damage gain when it procs, making it a solid choice for both leveling and at Level 80, regardless of spec. Improved Revive Pet is highly important for those times your pet ever dies during combat. It also helps to make it easier to cast in general. Focused Fire is just a solid damage gain. The point in Endurance Training is optional for where it goes, but the extra health is generally the best option.
- Level 20 — 1 point in Aspect Mastery
- Levels 21 to 25 — 5 points in Unleashed Fury
- Levels 26 to 29 — 4 points in Ferocity
Aspect Mastery gives you additional AP, making it just a nice 1-point damage increase. Unleashed Fury and Ferocity are solid damage increases for your pet which will also increase its threat generation. Improved Mend Pet is also an option here, but is not nearly as valuable as it once was.
- Level 30 — 1 point in Intimidation
- Level 31 & 32 — 2 points in Bestial Discipline
- Level 33 — 1 point in Ferocity
- Level 34 — 1 point in Spirit Bond
- Levels 35 to 38 — 4 points in Frenzy
- Level 39 — 1 point in Animal Handler
Intimidation is a great ability to have for threat generation, crowd control, and as a survival tool. You should talent it before finishing Ferocity, or as soon as you hit Level 30. Bestial Discipline is an excellent talent that lets your pet generate more Focus, meaning it both deals more damage and generates more threat. Frenzy is one of the most powerful talents you will pick up, and will help your pet's damage and threat immensely. It is also worth noting that once you pick up this talent, pets with faster attack speeds become much stronger due to the higher uptime they will have from this talent. Note that you only need 4 points in Frenzy for full uptime. Finally, you can point your last point here into Animal Handler for another excellent damage increase.
- Level 40 — 1 point in Bestial Wrath
- Levels 41 — 1 point in Animal Handler
- Levels 42 to 44 — 3 points in Ferocious Inspiration
- Levels 45 to 49 — 5 points in Serpent's Swiftness
Bestial Wrath is an incredible damage cooldown that you should use whenever possible. Animal Handler is still a solid damage increase and worth the point. Catlike Reflexes is an option if you want more defenses for your pet, but generally you should go for more damage over more defense. Ferocious Inspiration is also one of your most important talents in the tree, and is critical for any group play. Finally, Serpent's Swiftness is extremely powerful for the attack speed it gives.
- Level 50 — 1 point in The Beast Within
- Levels 51 & 52 — 2 points in Invigoration
- Levels 53 & 54 — 2 points in Longevity
- Level 54 to 59 — 5 points in Kindred Spirits
The Beast Within is a huge upgrade to Bestial Wrath, definitely worth the immediate point. Invigoration is another solid talent that should help you tremendously with mana issues, and finally Longevity will help ensure your cooldowns are more readily available. Kindred Spirits is one of your biggest damage increase talents in the tree, and is mandatory.
- Level 60 — 1 point in Beast Mastery
- Levels 61 to 65 — 5 points in Lethal Shots
- Level 66 to 70 — 5 points in Mortal Shots
Finish off the BM tree with Beast Mastery, which finally allows you to train your exotic pets now. With the final 10 points, you should move over into the MM tree to put points into Lethal Shots and Mortal Shots for the damage increase and to prepare the points needed to grab Aimed Shot.
- Level 71 — 1 point in Aimed Shot
- Levels 72 & 73 — 2 points in Rapid Killing
- Levels 74 & 75 — 2 points in Go for the Throat
- Level 76 — 1 point in Spirit Bond
- Level 77 to 79 — 3 points in Focused Aim
- Level 80 — 1 point in Longevity
Once you immediately grab Aimed Shot at Level 71, the next 9 points are more or less yours to do with as you please. Rapid Killing is a great choice if you want to level efficiently with chain pulling, but is not required. You should absolutely grab at least 1 point in Go for the Throat for the pet Focus, but 2 points is also good while leveling when you do not have much crit. The final 4 points especially are really your choice, but we would recommend 3 points in Focused Aim for the hit chance and 1 more point in Longevity for better CD usage. Other possible talents include Hawk Eye for better range or some of the more defensive options in the BM tree.
Leveling Rotation
- Command your pet to attack the target;
- Misdirection on your pet;
- Hunter's Mark;
- Kill Shot when target is below 20%;
- Kill Command whenever available;
- Serpent Sting;
- Intimidation;
- Aimed Shot;
- Arcane Shot;
- Fill with Steady Shot.
The key at any level is getting as many Auto Shots off as possible before the target reaches you. The best way to accomplish this is by kiting backwards, moving in between each shot. At Level 8 Concussive Shot can help with this.
Do your class quest to get your pet. Once you have your pet, your kill speed and efficiency should become much better. Make sure you are careful with your threat, and try to let your pet tank whenever possible.
Feign Death is a great way to drop threat while fighting enemies. You can combine this with Aimed Shot or Multi-Shot to deal a burst of damage right before dropping threat to ensure your pet keeps aggro.
Steady Shot is a spammable ability, and is one of your best DPS spells. This will be most of your damage from here on out.
List of Trainer Skills to Buy
All Hunter specs benefit from upgrading the same skills, so our list of skills to buy from trainers is the same, regardless of the spec. For this reason, you will find that list in our general Hunter leveling page.
How to Continue to Improve your Beast Mastery Hunter at Level 80
Once you achieve Level 80 we suggest you check out our Beast Mastery Hunter Guide, which goes more in detail of how to play your Level 80 Beast Mastery Hunter.
Some of the most relevant pages to dive deeper into are:
- The Beast Mastery Hunter Talent builds guide offers a default build to maximize your damage as a Beast Mastery Hunter;
- Our Beast Mastery Hunter Rotation guide teaches you how to actually deal damage in a variety of situations. It also includes tips on how to utilize your cool downs and utility.
- Check out the Beast Mastery Hunter Stats guide if you would like to learn how each stat affects your damage;
- The Gear guide for Beast Mastery Hunter includes a list of gear to for you to acquire and where to find it.
Changelog
- 31 Aug. 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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