Level 80 Assessment of BM Talents:
Tier 1
Improved Aspect of the Hawk
PvE: Okay
- BM Hunter's are very close to the Steady Shot 1.5 second GCD with Serpent's Swiftness, so this talent only increases auto shot speed when it procs.
- Auto Shot cannot be done while moving, which PvP is all about. Endurance Training is usually preferred.
Endurance Training
PvE: Okay
- Increased survivability is nice but not essential in PvE.
- Increased survivability is always helpful in PvP.
Tier 2
Focused Fire
PvE: Good
- 1-2% damage increase along with a buff to Kill Command is quite nice.
PvP: Good
- Kill Command buff increases burst dps which is essential in PvP.
Improved Aspect of the Monkey
PvE: Bad
PvP: Good
- Good vs Melee classes when they are attacking you from the front.
- If you use the Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey, than this talent can help in proccing the 30% increased movement speed for 6 sec.
Thick Hide
PvE: Okay
- Only good if your pet is tanking or off tanking.
- A little more armor helps mitigate physical damage, but still, not a strong talent.
Improved Revive Pet
PvE: Good
- Without this talent resurrecting your pet is only possible outside of combat.
Tier 3
Pathfinding
PvE: Terrible
- God awful, unless you find yourself wiping constantly in dungeons and need your party to feel better about itself with a quicker Aspect of the Pack.
- Aspect of the Cheetah is worthless in PvP because of the threat of being dazed for 4 seconds. The mount speed buff is okay in classic world pvp where you need to catch up to someone on their mount, but chances are they will be an Unholy Death Knight or a Paladin and you will feel like a nub for wasting talent points.
Aspect Mastery
PvE: Amazing
- While in DragonHawk you gain an additional 90 attack power (at level 80) and 5% reduction of incoming damage. In Viper your damage decrease is only 40% instead of 50%.
Unleashed Fury
PvE: Amazing
- 15% more damage from your pet is Big Time News as a BM Hunter (has great synergy with Kindred Spirits).
- When your hiding behind a pillar in Arena's because you get four shotted by every other class, you better believe your pet is fighting your battles for you on the other side, give him all the bonus damage you can because you have to LOS or you're dead.
Tier 4
Improved Mend Pet
PvE: Okay
- Essential if you find yourself solo'ing Elite mobs or questing, but once you get to 80 and start doing dungeons it is merely okay.
- It can be handy to remove dots or impairing effects on your pet, but it does not do it quick enough to be reliable.
Ferocity
PvE: Amazing
- There are three ways to increase your pets critical chance, two are reliable, this is one of the reliable ways.
- Resilience makes it real tough for a BM Hunter pet to crit at all (with this talent); however, when this talent is combined with a Ferocity pet's 9% crit talent you can have a pet that can reliably crit in PvP, which is utterly essential for a BM Hunter (pet crits proc Ferocious Inspiration and Frenzy; 7 talent points of a BM Hunter).
Tier 5
Spirit Bond
PvE: Good
- Health regen in combat is convenient and the 10% increased healing on you and your pet can be very helpful.
Intimidation
PvE: Okay
- Most bosses are immune to stuns and stunning trash is usually a waste of time, but for solo play it can be useful (it is required for Bestial Wrath).
- Stunning someone for 3 seconds is always useful in PvP, unfortunately its not instant so it is hard to time perfectly.
Bestial Discipline
PvE: Good
- Allows your pet to be less focus starved increasing its damage from specials significantly.
Tier 6
Animal Handler
PvE: Good
- Reduces targets chance to dodge and parry your pets attack by 2.5% each, which is a nice dps boost for your pet.
Frenzy
PvE: Good
- Only need 3-4 talent points invested into this baby, depending if you have Cobra Strikes, and it will increase your pets attack speed, therefor decreasing time in between crits and maximizing up time of Ferocious Inspiration and Frenzy.
Tier 7
Ferocious Inspiration
PvE: Amazing
- 3% increased damage of all party and raid members. FI is almost always up if your pet is attacking a target.
Bestial Wrath
PvE: Amazing
- 50% additional damage for your pet for 18 seconds is great, the enraged effect is pure bonus.
Catlike Reflexes
PvE: Bad
- 3% dodge and 9% pet dodge is bad for 3 talent points. It is only decent if your pet is tanking instances, elites or is aoe'ing (gorilla).
- The only way this talent could be of any use is if your fighting completely melee teams and your going for max dodge on yourself.
Tier 8
Invigoration
PvE: Okay
- 1% mana on every pet crit is merely okay. Everytime I find that I've specced into it I have been completely dissapointed with how little mana I get back. I would only put points into it if you have extra points that your just going to waste otherwise.
Serpent's Swiftness
PvE: Amazing
- 20% ranged attack speed and 10% pet attack speed is absolutely essential in every BM build.
Tier 9
Longevity
PvE: Amazing
- 30% reduction of the cooldown on Bestial Wrath and Intimidation is enough to make this talent good, the 30% reduction of Pet Special Abilities is just a little extra icing on the cake.
- Glyph of Bestial Wrath with Longevity make Bestial Wrath only on a 1 minute and 10 second cooldown. BW is the bread and butter of BM Hunters.
The Beast Within
PvE: Good
- 10% additional damage and 20% less mana on all spells while under Bestial Wrath is very good for only one talent point, and the enrage effect on yourself can be very useful on certain boss fights.
- The enrage affect is what keeps others from controlling the fight and owning you in an instant. In arena's you can use BW to kite around pillars and keep yourself alive, or you can use it offensively to burst someone. It is what makes a BM Hunter a BM Hunter in PvP.
Cobra Strikes
PvE: Good
- Steady Shot is the bread and butter shot of BM Hunters in PvE. This means that Cobra Strikes is up quite a bit in PvE causing your pet to crit quite a bit more on its specials. Cobra Strikes ensures Ferocious Inspiration and Frenzy are always up.
- Arcane Shot will be used quite a bit in PvP, and Kill Shot occasionally, which might increase your burst from time to time; however, it does procs far less in PvP. This is due to resilience and because your not spamming steady shot. I would not really recommended Cobra Strikes unless you seem to have extra talent points.
Tier 10
Kindred Spirits
PvE: Amazing
- 15% more pet damage synergizes great with Unleashed Fury making your pet a complete monster that takes no prisoners.
- Along with increased damage for your pet you get a 10% movement speed increase (which is actually pretty decent even though it is only 2% faster than a boot enchant) that can really help Hunters kite.
Tier 12
Beast Mastery
PvE: Okay
- Exotic pets are pretty interesting, but not that much better than normal pets (cats and scorpids can be better in PvE than any Exotic pet). The 4 extra pet skill points are very nice for every pet tree, but again, not really essential.
- Exotic pets have better pet specials than normal pets. The best pet special in PvP is Froststorm Breath, which is from the Chimaera. Unfortunately it is a Cunning pet, which makes the Chimaera weak in PvP. The four extra pet talent points are merely okay in PvP.
My Idea Page: My wish list Talent Tree and base line ability changes
4 comments:
That was an interesting read. Thanks for breaking it down like that. It was fun to learn about. I struggle with knowing what is necessary and what isn't. Now, if you would just figure out a sick Marksmanship build! I can't help but love being MM. Although BM is almost just as good. I just MM is a little more fun(More buttons to push. haha). Thanks again dude.
I really appreciate your blog. Very helpful!
I just recently blew off the dust of a lvl 38 hunter I haven't used in nearly a year. Unlearned all prvious talents and respected putting all 29 points in BM according to the suggestions you made. Still he sucks, both the hunters dps and his gorilla pet. Obvioiusly I should have done something different but I'm not sure what, I don't mind respecing him again, any suggestions?
Well, a general "my hunter sucks" is not very much information to work with.
I would suppose your problem is probably a gear issue. If you don't have level 30+ gear on your level 38 Hunter, your Hunter will not perform well.
Your pet gains stats from your stats, so if your gear is trash, than your pet will be trash.
I've leveled three Hunters past 70 and have always enjoyed their mechanics. With Bind on Account gear leveling is a breeze with a Hunter. I can solo pretty much everything except for 5 man instances around my level.
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