Welcome readers to this week's Build Shop. I know you haven't seen this feature since the middle of last June, and that's because most viable talent specs have been covered for each class. Not a lot of additions or enhancements have been added since then but that will surely change when Wraith of the Lich King arrives. So this week I thought I would try a "theme" talent spec, one designed for a particular task, leveling a Hunter. Many people agree that the Hunter is one of the easier classes to level, but for fellow WoW Insider blogger Matthew Rossi and others, it's taking longer than expected. Let's see if this beast mastery spec can give him a boost!
The Thought Behind the Build
This particular talent spec is built in mind for leveling a Hunter with minimal downtime. As the pet can be healed by bandages, spells, and food, we're gunna use a beast mastery spec of 41/20/0. Unlike the prior Build Shop on the same spec, the point distribution will be different as this is meant for a solo/grinding roll rather than a group/raiding one. For those wondering how much choosing the right pet makes a difference for leveling, in my experience it doesn't much. Get the pet you plan to use at max level, or if you're on your toes about swapping pets in and out, you can potentially level two different ones if your persistent about it. I invite you to open this WoW Head talent planner in a new browser window or tab so you can refer to it as I break down the build.
The Build Analysis
Beast Mastery (41 points)
Our purpose here is to turn the pet into the best tank it can be while maximizing damage and efficiency. There is an argument that Improved Revive Pet can be handy during those "Oh crap!" moments, but hopefully with the tanking prowess imbued by our talent choices and pet training, and use of Mend Pet and bandages, those occasions won't rear their ugly head very often.
- Improved Aspect of the Hawk (5/5): Leveling up this will be your main aspect. The haste proc added with this talent is the cherry on top of the proverbial sunday of usefulness.
- Focused Fire (2/2): You should have your pet out at all times so you might as well get 2% extra damage for doing so. And the extra crit on Kill Command will make the 60s go by smoother.
- Thick Hide (3/3): This will help turn the pet into the ultimate damage sponge.
- Unleashed Fury (5/5): Upping manaless/focusless passive damage is always good!
- Improved Mend Pet (2/2): Making the primary heal for your pet more efficient means less time drinking. Plus being able to cure debuffs off the pet means no more waiting around for that annoying curse to fade.
- Ferocity (5/5): Gotta take this as it's a prereq to one of Beast Mastery's best talents.
- Bestial Discipline (2/2): Extra focus means more special attacks done by the pet, which means more damage and agro.
- Intimidation (1/1): Perfect for stopping casters and runners, and securing agro from your pet.
- Spirit Bond (2/2): A constant manaless regen, slight though it may be, keeps us topped off in between fights meaning less downtime spent eating.
- Frenzy (4/5): If you feel you need to max this go ahead and move around a point you feel is worth it, but even at the 80% chance this effect procs like crazy!
- Bestial Wrath (1/1): Big Red time! A trademark BM talent that's good for any occasion.
- Catlike Reflexes (3/3): This will help as you enter Outlands and mob damage is higher. The extra dodge means less mana for healing and more for special attacks all adding the benefit of less downtime.
- Serpent's Swiftness (5/5): Another hallmark of the BM tree, adding passive haste to the hunter, increasing damage in the process.
- The Beast Within (1/1): The King of BM talents. With proper use of this talent and maybe a potion or two and some luck, you'll be able to solo some elite quests for big exp and loot!
For the remainder of the points, I feel that Marksmanship has the best bang for the buck, and pairs the best with our Beast Master emphasis. The choices made here won't vary as much as it did in the Beast Master tree when compared to a BM raiding specs. Hey, there's only so many good low tier talents to go around!
- Lethal Shots (5/5): A no brainer, more crit equals more damage and more procs of Kill Command and Go for the Throat.
- Efficiency (5/5): Making your shots more mana efficient means less down time spent drinking.
- Go for the Throat (2/2): With a name this awesome how can you pass it up? Your pet will be rolling in the focus with this talent.
- Rapid Killing (2/2): With this you have a reason to go from mob to mob as fast as you can. And as a bonus you can use Rapid Fire more often.
- Aimed Shot (1/1): What use to be the pinnacle of Hunter shots have been nerfed into near uselessness since it now clips auto shot. It's still not a bad opener move when used in conjunction with Rapid Killing and Intimidation.
- Mortal Shots (5/5): One of the biggest reasons you dip into the Marksmanship tree, this talent really adds to your DPS potential.
Want more in depth talent analysis for every class? Check out the Build Shop archives! And for help leveling up that new alt don't miss our class leveling guides. For those looking to get into the fun of Karazhan, be sure to bone up on our gear guides. And as always, trust WoW Insider to bring you the most in analysis, news, tips, and guides for World of Warcraft! 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
8-05-2008 @ 9:45AM
Quemedo said...
I don't agree with Rapid Killing 2/2.
If you put 2/2 on that talent, you can't use bestial wrath everytime with rapid shot and procs from improved aspect of chicken. it will be 1min before you have bestial wrath again.
Put 1 point in that talent and you can use both everytime together, maximazing your dps/time.
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 11:00AM
wowinsider said...
No, maximizing DPS/time is achieved by reducing all cooldowns, regardless of whether they coincide. If you can't figure out why this is true, you're beyond help.
8-05-2008 @ 9:47AM
trickster said...
Don't forget, you also need to talk about where to sink the training points for the pet as well. Given a limited number of points and all the possible ranks, some pets have high Natural armor, others have resists, all pets should have cobra reflexes and avoidence.....
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 9:50AM
Buckshot said...
Ditch aspect of the hawk, add 5/5 endurance training, add bestial swiftness. Lose spirit bond and max out frenzy. In marks drop efficency for 5/5 improved concussive shot. Full Endgame/PvP/Arena build that gives you massive damage and survivability.
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 10:09AM
Culhag said...
You're aware that it's meant as a leveling build, not an endgame one ?
Anyway thanks for that build ! I have a mid level hunter that takes a bit too much downtime for my liking, so I'll give it a try.
8-05-2008 @ 10:11AM
MotherAce said...
"Full endgame/PvP/Arena build"... Yeah, read the topic headline please Buckshot, before replying.
8-05-2008 @ 10:13AM
Buckshot said...
Yeah who wants to max out damgage while leveling. Pick a build, live it, level it. Don't wast time/money with respecs. Do it right the first time. And a big FU to the resident n00b motherace.
8-05-2008 @ 9:48PM
Hybrys said...
You apparently know nothing about hunters. Imp Conc sucks, maxing Frenzy is unnecessary (learn to math. Just sayin'.), Bestial Swiftness sucks SO much, and, if you're honestly going for top damage, skipping Imp Hawk is terrible.
8-05-2008 @ 9:56AM
Wowie said...
"Wraith" of the Lich King??
/sigh
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 10:05AM
Mediator said...
The guy who wrote this article must have forgotten the talent trees are being changed in WOTLK, so there's no point in making a level 70 leveling build with the pre-WOTLK talents
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 10:07AM
regnide said...
Unless someone is maybe playing the game right now and not 3 months from now ...
8-06-2008 @ 5:14AM
Cipri said...
The guy who wrote this comment must have forgotten that WOTLK hasn't been released yet, so there's quite a good point in making a leveling to 70 build with the pre-WOTLK talents, for those that are leveling a hunter right now.
8-05-2008 @ 10:20AM
sephirah said...
Yours is one of the silliest post I've read lately.
1. If someone is levelling NOW, he needs a 61 points spec NOW
2. If someone will level when WotLK is out, maybe a 71 points spec would be different from now, when all the talents will be definitive and not in beta
8-05-2008 @ 11:16AM
jten11 said...
"1. If someone is levelling NOW, he needs a 61 points spec NOW"
Yup thats definitely me at the moment. Rolled a hunter not too long ago so this post came at a perfect time for me. This will help alot!
8-05-2008 @ 1:13PM
ThorinII said...
Yep, that's why it's 41/20/0. That adds up to 61. I'm lvl 66. Almost there, but will take all the advise I can get.
8-05-2008 @ 3:55PM
Starlin said...
We will all enjoy a free respec when the expansion hits, and I'm sure WoWInsider will update these builds near or soon after it's release. It's good timing in my opinion as I just rolled a hunter.
8-05-2008 @ 10:14AM
Free_Hunter_Bow_Jobs said...
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 10:15AM
Free_Hunter_Bow_Jobs said...
Well first off no matter what anyone says spirit bond is the most broken wasted talents in the BM tree. All noobs use that, please don't be a moron, kthxbye.
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 10:17AM
trickster said...
Also, if you take the 3 points out of catlike reflexes, move 2 of them to animal handler - it helps a pets to hit bonus(if you ever look at a wws report, your pet can miss quite a bit). Put 1 point into ferocious inspiration.
Contraversy surrounds spirit bond. I leveled without it and put the 2 remaining points into ferocious inspiration. BRK has done the math, so has Megataff as well and spirit bond is meh to well maybe okay.
6k X .02 = 120, 120/10(sec) = 12 hps per click. not much if ya think about it.
yes, maybe my math is off.
Reply
8-05-2008 @ 10:47AM
Brasson said...
12 health per second is 43,200 health per hour. Call me crazy, but that doesn't sound like nothing.