Azortharion's Beast Mastery Hunter DPS Guide - Battle for Azeroth

[Azortharion]

Opening with primal instinct?

Inviato dal mio XT1068 utilizzando Tapatalk

Doesn't change, the charge isn't worth that much when it comes down to it. What makes Primal Instincts good is the Mastery.

- - - Updated - - -

Holy smokes this UI is so nice man; It was so weird that I read your BM guide on icy veins and then found your elvui profile on Wago and I came here to find some more interface help, when i saw you posted your guide here. its been immensely helpful and just wanted to say thanks.

i'm in the process of updating my interface for my new hunter since I've just been playing druid for the most part. I'm feeling a bit out of my element.

i saw your profile on wago is there any way you could post screenshot of your interface's anchor grid with nameplate? There is SO much going on i'm just trying to understand everything but I really like how clear everything is. Any recommendations on weakaura profile for BM? Whats the difference between your four spell rows and the two smaller rows below it?

Cheers

Glad you like my UI!

The middle action bar has all the things I want to track while in combat, and other things I use frequently are urgent, but they are not keybinded on that bar.

Instead, all of the abilities I use, including the ones in the middle, are bound on the bottom bars and then hidden.

This allows me to "hotswap" abilities on my middle bar (such as quest items, achievement items or whatever I want to do) without messing with my keybinds.

I use Ipse's WeakAuras for my few alts, so I can recommend that although I do not use any WA pack myself, I just use what I have as a basis and then add what I need on top.



- - - Updated - - -

Many times I end up in situation that I have BS stacks rolling (1, 2 or 3) and BS and KC comes off CD at the same time. What has the highest prio then, cast BS to keep frenzy buff and delay KC by 1 GCD (regardless of amount of frenzy stacks, even 1 and casting BS would give me 2) or KC should be cast always on CD with highest prio, regardless of frenzy stack maintenance from BS?

As per the rotation, casting Barbed Shot to refresh Frenzy has a higher priority than anything else.

[Ashildr]

Doesn't change, the charge isn't worth that much when it comes down to it. What makes Primal Instincts good is the Mastery.

What about the others primal instinct? Consume all charge ofbarbed shot and then use aspect ospect the wild?

Inviato dal mio XT1068 utilizzando Tapatalk

[sillygoose]

Hey Azor,

thanks for helping me on stream. I'm still working through keybindings and had a couple more q's as we just touched on it a bit.

1) Do you use a keyboard and mouse, or a gamepad? I've used both but am currently using a razer keyboard+mouse. Was using a Razer Orbweaver as well during legion. just curious if you use your mouse side buttons + scroll buttons for things and what spells you prioritize for that and close to your WASD.
2) I know bars 1-3 don't appear in your UI. But do you actually have spells in those bars(from what i understand you do but its invisi)? I don't see your keybinds or spells like Crows, misdirection, counter shot, feign death etc. Could you show me what that looks like.
3) on the player frame what does the P and the M stand for?

[Azortharion]

What about the others primal instinct? Consume all charge ofbarbed shot and then use aspect ospect the wild?

Inviato dal mio XT1068 utilizzando Tapatalk

Yes, there's a specific note about this in the guide on the Azerite Page, which goes over how the trait affects your general rotation.

[ydraw]

Member when BM was intentionally tuned lower because it was a bad spec for baddies?

Me neither.

[Azortharion]

Just because something was the case in the past does not make that true now. Arguably, BM isn't even the easiest spec anymore.

- - - Updated - - -

Hey Azor,

thanks for helping me on stream. I'm still working through keybindings and had a couple more q's as we just touched on it a bit.

1) Do you use a keyboard and mouse, or a gamepad? I've used both but am currently using a razer keyboard+mouse. Was using a Razer Orbweaver as well during legion. just curious if you use your mouse side buttons + scroll buttons for things and what spells you prioritize for that and close to your WASD.
2) I know bars 1-3 don't appear in your UI. But do you actually have spells in those bars(from what i understand you do but its invisi)? I don't see your keybinds or spells like Crows, misdirection, counter shot, feign death etc. Could you show me what that looks like.
3) on the player frame what does the P and the M stand for?

1) Keyboard + mouse. I do not use any mouse/side/special buttons rotationally. I use ESDF for movement.
2) The bottom 3 bars contain ALL my abilities, and that is also where they are bound.
3) The P and M are effective health counters for Physical and Magical damage. I.e "How much Physical/Magical damage can I take before I die". With Armour and other special effects, this is not usually the same as your raw health.

[ydraw]

Just because something was the case in the past does not make that true now. Arguably, BM isn't even the easiest spec anymore.

It was never the case in the past. BM was the lowest DPS spec for like 1 of 3 raid tiers in the last expansion and that's pretty much the only time since Vanilla that's been true.

BM is still the easiest spec. It's still fully mobile which is what makes it easy. Dire Frenzy BM was a thing in Nighthold too. It's cute that you've changed your tune now that you're forced to play it though. I assume that the minute MM becomes higher DPS we'll be back to "BM is a stupid easy spec for baddies" again.

[Azortharion]

There are significant differences between current BM and Nighthold Dire Frenzy though. Not only that, but the other specs have become significantly easier from Legion.

No one has changed their tone, I never said BM was a spec for baddies, I said that its low DPS and low difficulty was correlated. I don't understand people's need to take such things personally. It's a WoW spec.

[Deleted]

Hi,

in FAQ section of your guide there is a question which pet should be used. I'd like just to point out to Quilens which have, in my opinion, by huge margin the best toolkit to survive which can be utilized in open PvE to pull large groups (with help of Misdirection) or to tank otherwise too dangerous elite.

[ozusteapot]

I really wish Dire Beast: Hawk was made baseline, it's such a fun aoe spell. BM looking half-decent right now, I actually won't be bothered to switch to it when it outperforms MM on certain fights.

[Deleted]

I really wish Dire Beast: Hawk was made baseline, it's such a fun aoe spell. BM looking half-decent right now, I actually won't be bothered to switch to it when it outperforms MM on certain fights.

agreed.. they should have given BM that option instead of barrage

[Lodvampire]

Hi,

in FAQ section of your guide there is a question which pet should be used. I'd like just to point out to Quilens which have, in my opinion, by huge margin the best toolkit to survive which can be utilized in open PvE to pull large groups (with help of Misdirection) or to tank otherwise too dangerous elite.

I just ding 116 (yeah, really slow, I like to read all the missions text) and i really miss Apex predator ring, before that, using a Spiritual beast , i never bother to heal my pet (15% leech with AotB), now i take a clefthoov for the leech and blood of the rhino (+20% heal).

I liked the idea to make pet spec tied to their families, but it's weird that the ferocity (Dps) spec has more survavibility than a tenacity (tank).

[ydraw]

I said that its low DPS and low difficulty was correlated.

Which was 100% incorrect and is still incorrect now.

People took it personally because you jumped in every single thread on this forum saying that BM will never be viable because it's intentionally kept as low DPS by Blizzard. Now here you are pushing BM.

[Mavick]

Which was 100% incorrect and is still incorrect now.

People took it personally because you jumped in every single thread on this forum saying that BM will never be viable because it's intentionally kept as low DPS by Blizzard. Now here you are pushing BM.

Can we just move on from this please?

These kinds of conversations are always pointless, largely because people can't separate "what is hard" from "what is punishing". Neither BM nor MM were particularly "hard" to grasp in Legion, but MM was certainly more punishing if you did screw up. That's still largely the case in BfA, even tho MM is arguably "easier" now, the damage is still on the player and they don't have the free damage that BM still has. But that's not saying you won't be able to spot the good BM players from the bad, because differences do still exist, as small as some people might try their best to make them seem.

But in the end, this doesn't matter. Not. One. Bit.

[Azortharion]

Which was 100% incorrect and is still incorrect now.

People took it personally because you jumped in every single thread on this forum saying that BM will never be viable because it's intentionally kept as low DPS by Blizzard. Now here you are pushing BM.

I never said BM will never be viable. I said BM wasn't viable at the time and was unlikely to be that tier/expansion. ;p Because it was easy, which it is not to the same extent anymore. You act like there's some hypocrisy, but I've always pushed whatever the best spec is. Maybe now you will come to understand (along with many others) that I don't actually have anything "against" BM, and I have no qualms playing it when it is the best spec.

- - - Updated - - -

Hi,

in FAQ section of your guide there is a question which pet should be used. I'd like just to point out to Quilens which have, in my opinion, by huge margin the best toolkit to survive which can be utilized in open PvE to pull large groups (with help of Misdirection) or to tank otherwise too dangerous elite.

Quilen have nothing special going for them other than their instant ress.. Which is only useful if your pet dies, which doesn't happen that often.

Its Stone Armor only activates sub-40% health, and even then it is a weaker damage reduction than Scalehide/Core Hound, which can use their stronger damage reduction twice as often.

So I don't really see why Quilen is so good. Its effect is worse than Scalehide/Quilen by an insane margin.

[Deleted]

read that darkmoon card: Fathoms doesnt work for BM/MM? If true, nice that the one easy access, early game, high ilvl trinket is useless.

[Azortharion]

Right now, it does not work for BM/MM. They intend to fix it but I suspect it'll be too little too late.

[ydraw]

Maybe now you will come to understand (along with many others) that I don't actually have anything "against" BM, and I have no qualms playing it when it is the best spec.

But you actually did have something against BM. You were telling anyone that would listen that BM being bottom tier was intentional because it was too easy, despite that never being the case at any time in the game either before or since. And despite it being an issue that only arose at higher gear levels due to poor scaling.

So you refused to even admit that it needed buffs, saying instead that it deserved to be last because it was too easy.

BM was bottom tier for all of 1.5 raid tiers in the last 13 years, yet that was enough to convince you that it was intentional by blizzard.

[Azortharion]

That does not mean I had something against BM though. Just because I had an opinion you disagree with doesn't mean that I have something against BM. Calling a spec easy is not "having something against it", neither is saying that its dps potential suffers as a result. To me this doesn't seem that controversial. To you it must necessarily imply some grudge against a WoW spec. It doesn't make any sense. It didn't need buffs because it was wildly popular despite not being very good. It wasn't gear related either. You also act like BM had never been bad before this, but that's just not true.

Why do you insist so fervently on this age old topic? At this point I just don't get it. You didn't like what I said about BM like 1-2 years ago. Cool, doesn't bother me anymore. Can we leave it?

[Ritchey92]

How big is the difference of dropping chimera shot or not? I need something else to press other than 3 buttons.