Beast Mastery (WoW Talent Tree)  

See Hunter Talent Builds

Beast Mastery represents the hunter's focus on his/her connection to nature and the beasts that live within in. Most Beast Mastery abilities and talents are centered around the hunter's pet, and the rest are on the use of aspects.

Primary uses

Beast Mastery is generally considered the best leveling tree for hunters, who are already arguably the best levelers in the game. Additionally, Beast Mastery is capable of some very good damage output once you get down to Serpent's Swiftness, which makes them very desirable in raids. Although not the best PvP'ers, The Beast Within is certainly useful for keeping the hunter from being crowd controlled.

Tier 1

• Improved Aspect of the Hawk (5 points) - WhileAspect of the Hawk is active , all normal ranged attacks have a 10% chance of increasing ranged attack speed by 3/6/9/12/15%. This may or may not be essential to your hunter depending on their shot rotation.
• Endurance Training (5 points) - Increases pet health by 10% and the hunter's health by 5%. While not a stellar talent, it's a safe place to dump extra points.

Tier 2

(5 points must already be spent in the tree)

• Focused Fire (2) - Increases hunter's damage by 2% when pet is active. It also improves crit rate on Kill Command by 20%, but this is mostly irrelevant to the marksmanship hunters that often get this.
• Improved Aspect of the Monkey (3) - Increases hunter's dodge rate by 6% while using Aspect of the Monkey. Not an important talent.
• Thick Hide (3) - Adds 20% to pet's armor and 10% to hunter's. Often taken for soloing to help with pet survival.
• Improved Revive Pet (2) - Makes reviving pet cheaper, faster, and return with more health. Good in raid encounters where the hunter relies on the pet for damage output.

Tier 3

(10 points required)

• Pathfinding (2) - Improves Aspect of the Cheetah's run speed bonus by 4%. Not an important talent.
• Aspect Mastery (1) - Aspect of the Viper- Reduces the penelty by 10% Aspect of the monkey - reduces damage done to you by 5% Aspect of the hawk- Increases the attack power bonous by 30%.
• Unleashed Fury (5) - Improves pet's damage by 20%.

Tier 4

(15 points required)

• Improved Mend Pet (2) - Mend Pet heals more and will sometimes cure status effects.
• Ferocity (5) - Improves pet's crit rate by 10%.

Tier 5

(20 points required)

• Spirit Bond (2) - Hunter and pet heal slightly while pet is active.
• Intimidation (1) - Activated ability that makes the pet stun opponent.
• Bestial Discipline (2) - Improves pet's focus regeneration by 50%. With a high crit rate and Go For the Throat, may be unnecessary.

Tier 6

(25 points required)

• Animal Handler (2) - Increases your pet's chance to hit by 4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Master's Call ability by 10 sec.
• Frenzy (5) - Pet attacks 30% faster after scoring a crit. It is common to only spend 4 points in Frenzy since the return on the final point is questionable.

Tier 7

(30 points required)

• Ferocious Inspiration (3) - Party damage is increased by 3% after pet scores a crit.
• Bestial Wrath (1) - Activated ability that makes the pet grow, deal 50% more damage, and be immune to all crowd control. AKA Big Red Kitty.
• Catlike Reflexes (3) - Increases dodge rate of hunter by 3% and pet by 9%.

Tier 8

(35 points required)

• Serpent's Swiftness (5) - Increases attack speed of hunter and pet by 20%.
• Invigoration (2) - When your pet scores a critical hit with a special ability, you have a 100% chance to instantly regenerate 1% mana.

Tier 9

(40 points required)

• The Beast Within (1) - Makes hunter immune to crowd control while Bestial Wrath is active.
• Cobra Strikes (3) - You have a 20/40/60% chance when you critically hit with Arcane Shot, Steady Shot or Kill Shot to cause your pet's next 2 special attacks to critically hit.
• Longevity (3) - Reduces the cooldown of your Bestial Wrath, Intimidation and Pet Special Abilities by 10/20/30%.

Tier 10

(45 points required)

• Kindred Spirits (5) - Increases your pet's damage by 20% and you and your pet's movement speed by 10% while your pet is active. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.

Tier 11

(50 points required)

• Beast Mastery (1) - You master the art of Beast training, teaching you the ability to tame Exotic pets and increasing your total amount of Pet Skill Points by 4.

Typical Points Spent

A hunter that is still leveling or that primarily solos might choose to assign some of these points differently, but a typical level 70 hunter talent build designed for DPS will include:

• 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk
• 2/2 Focused Fire
• 2/2 Improved Revive Pet
• 1 loose point (Endurance Training, most likely)
• 5/5 Unleashed Fury
• 5/5 Ferocity
• Intimidation
• 2/2 Improved Mend Pet
• 2 loose points (often Bestial Discipline, but Go For the Throat often makes these points wasted)
• 4/5 Frenzy
• 2/2 Animal Handler (second point is usually spent after Ferocious Inspiration)
• Bestial Wrath
• 3/3 Ferocious Inspiration
• 5/5 Serpent's Swiftness
• The Beast Within

This makes 41 points spent. The remaining 20 are usually spent in Marksmanship.

• 5/5 Lethal Shots
• 5/5 Efficiency (or maybe Improved Hunter's Mark)
• 2/2 Go For the Throat
• Aimed Shot
• 2 loose points (often Rapid Killing or Improved Hunter's Mark)
• 5/5 Mortal Shots

See Hunter Talent Builds for other common and not-so-common specs.

Common Questions

How do I play a Beast Master?
All hunters play more or less the same during a group or raid, with the exception of the shot rotations used by Beast Mastery. Beast masters are also more likely to use Kill Command in their cycles. During PvP, beast masters rely heavily on The Beast Within to avoid crowd control effects long enough to defeat their opponents. They need their pet for this, and although many players ignore the pet, some will choose to attack it if it runs around a corner by itself...so Improved Revive Pet is handy, too!

Why skip Bestial Discipline?
The Marksmanship talent Go For the Throat also helps the pet regain focus. Since there is a limit to the amount of focus a pet can actually use up all their focus, there is often no need for both if your crit rate is high enough. The exception would be if using a Wind Serpent, since Lightning Breath uses focus more quickly than other abilities.

If talents are usually maxed, why only put 4/5 in Frenzy?
Frenzy gives the pet an effect. It's either there or it's not. The number of points you spend determines how likely it is to be active, but because of how often your pet will crit as a beast master, it's essentially always up with just 4 points spent. The fifth point becomes wasted, and Animal Handler is an excellent talent as well since it reduces pet misses.

What gear do I look for as a beast master?
All hunters generally look for the same gear. Survival has special interests in agility, and marksmanship wants more intellect and mana regen. Beast mastery doesn't have any special needs, other than maybe a slight focus on attack power since that directly benefits the pet as well. A beast master should still give attention to crit rating, hit rating, mana regen, etc.

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