Typical hunter specs
From AJS.COM
This list of typical hunter specs for World of Warcraft should help you get started in picking a spec. If you already have a spec you like, you may find these differ. There's no one right choice. Also see Typical hunter pets.
Contents |
Beast Mastery
Beast Mastery (BM) has pretty much always been the leveling spec for hunters. In solo play, it delivers strong tanking ability from your pet and plenty of tools that you'll need to farm and quest.
There are three primary focuses of this tree:
- Fast attack speed
- Keeping your pet alive
- Increased pet damage
To that end, here are some basic specs:
Leveling
- Through level 14
- Through level 19
- Through level 26
- Through level 36
- Through level 46
- The full level 70 build
PVP
[1] A build which trades pet tanking ability for utilities such as longer range and faster shots.
[2] Come version 2.3, this build is focused on getting Improved Arcane Shot into a BM build.
Level 70 PVE
[3] This build is meant to deliver maximum damage while benefiting your party with FI and IHM. As you gear up, and your attack power gets higher, crit rating begins to be the primary focus of hunter progression. To make crit-stacking more effective, it's essential to take the crit-related talents from the MM tree.
Marksmanship
Marksmanship (MM) used to be the primary dps tree. It now shares that role with BM. However, MM is still a strong tree, and because it has some of the core talents that all hunters really need, starting with MM can give you more flexibility in customizing your talent tree later.
Leveling
MM can be a hard spec to level with, but once you develop the right skills, it can result in much better dps on many short fights (this is because BM dps ultimately relies on an ability which is on a 2 minute cooldown timer - TBW).
- Through level 14 - Notice that this is a BM talent. At the very lowest levels, your pet is an extreme asset. Use it. These points can be re-allocated later.
- Through level 26 - Now you're starting down the MM track. GFTT is a key talent because, as a marksman, you won't get increased focus regen for your pet. If you want it to hold agro with Growl, you will need this.
- Through level 53 - At some point between 26 and 45, you can re-spec to drop the BM talent that you took, now that you have the dps to overcome your pet's weaknesses.
- Through level 70 - The classic 41/20 MM/SV build
PVP
[4] PVP Marksmen are dangerous to run into, and their bag of tricks is large. Typically this is another MM/SV hybrid.
Level 70 PVE
[5] Probably the strongest PVE abilities that an MM hunter has beyond dps are TSA, silencing shot and the ability to use INT gear for dps. Hunters who can't trap typically aren't as useful for PVE grouping, so this build also includes strong trapping.
Survivalist
The Survivalist (SV) hunter is all about agility. This is simply not a strong leveling spec, but once a hunter achieves at least 700 (preferably 800) AGI, this tree starts to become more attractive, especially for raiding where Expose Weakness will deliver dps to all physical dps classes in the raid!
PVP
[6] Here, the focus is on CC. Typically survivalists use CC to allow multiple aimed shots in a row (e.g. aimed shot -> wyvern sting -> aimed shot) and other tricks that allow control over the playing field. In a very small or very large combat, these tricks can be highly effective.
Level 70 raiding
[7] This build attempts to maximize the return for the entire raid on critical hits. AGI and raw crit are the primary stats of such a build, and with at least 800 AGI, this build is a prime candidate for end-game raiding.
Other resources
- The official hunter forums have some excellent reading, including the Guide to Hunter Talents.
- The Hunter talents
article on WoWWiki is an ideal place to learn about the trees and the mechanics of each talent.
