How It Feels
Beast Mastery is the fantasy of you and your pack against the world. Your companion throws itself at the enemies, you fire from range and send more attacks after it with every command. At your strongest, even more beasts from your stable join in.
What makes Beast Mastery so popular is the freedom of movement. You can use almost every ability while running. You rarely have to stop to deal damage and can simply step out of hazards on the ground.
How Beast Mastery Works
The Hunter uses Focus, a resource that refills on its own over time:
- Barbed Shot: makes the target bleed, generates Focus and empowers your pet. You want to use it regularly.
- Kill Command: your pet charges the target and hits hard. This is one of your most important damage sources.
- Cobra Shot: with spare Focus you fire Cobra Shots, which reduce the cooldown of Kill Command.
- Burst window: Bestial Wrath sends you and your pet into a rage and greatly increases your damage.
Against groups, Multi-Shot makes your pet hit several enemies too.
Key Abilities
- Kill Command: your pet charges the target and hits hard.
- Barbed Shot: a shot that makes the target bleed and generates Focus.
- Cobra Shot: a quick shot that reduces the cooldown of Kill Command.
- Bestial Wrath: you and your pet go into a rage and deal more damage.
- Call of the Wild: summons two of your pets, while more beasts from your stable keep joining the attack.
- Aspect of the Turtle: makes every attack miss you, your most important emergency button.
Lore: Masters of the Wild
Hunters exist in almost every race of Azeroth, from the rangers of Quel'Thalas to the Tauren hunters of Mulgore. Beast Mastery embodies the deep bond between hunter and beast. A famous role model is Rexxar, the half-ogre champion of the Horde, who roamed Kalimdor with his bear Misha.
In Legion, Hunters got their own class hall high up in Highmountain, where they gathered as a hidden order against the Legion. For many players, taming rare beasts is a collecting game of its own to this day.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- almost every ability usable on the move,
- your pet tanks enemies, very safe solo,
- easy to learn and quickly understood,
- a huge selection of tameable beasts.
Weaknesses
- part of your damage depends on the pet, which can die too,
- less burst than Marksmanship,
- for some, playing through a pet feels less direct.
Who Is the Beast Mastery Hunter For?
A good fit if you …
- are playing WoW for the first time and want a forgiving spec,
- like having a companion with you,
- enjoy ranged play without standing still.
Probably not if you …
- would rather land the big hits yourself, in which case Marksmanship is the better pick,
- find a pet at your side more of a bother.
Beast Mastery, Marksmanship or Survival?
Marksmanship is the sharpshooter with heavy shots, Survival the melee with spear and bombs. Beast Mastery remains the easiest and most popular Hunter spec.
More about the class on the Hunter in WoW Midnight page. More beginner friendly classes are covered in the easiest WoW class for beginners guide.
Images: © Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. Source: worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com
