I promised to do one of these, so here it is. This post will take a look at T20 set bonuses (and how they compare to T19, when to break the old bonus, etc.), trinkets, and other gear to try to get your hands on. Previously we took a look at the Stomp vs. Dire Frenzy builds for BM in this tier (and at how some of the best legendaries ranked).
Continue reading Tomb of Sargeras gear for Beast Mastery
About a month ago I made a “patch 7.2.5 preview” post for Beast Mastery where I predicted that the Crit/Stomp build would be making a return in some form, and also took a look at the new legendaries. The Stomp part panned out, but the legendary sims were not clear. They were only single legendary sims, so it was easy to take them out of context. In hindsight I would’ve done legendary combos instead. I did slather the post in disclaimers but apparently it wasn’t enough to prevent some misinformation. Also the blog format isn’t the best for this info, I guess. Not everyone looks at the date of the post, and the info kinda just sits there forever, even when it’s no longer relevant. So I decided to remove that post since it’s pre-patch info and was being taken out of context repeatedly.
Now, the patch is here and a lot of people are jumping on the Stomp train, but the question is how long is it going to last? Well, it’s going to fall off a bit in Tomb of Sargeras with T20 gear. However, with the right gear and legendaries, one should be able to keep Stomp fairly competitive with the Dire Frenzy build. It comes down to how much you value DPS gains over play style. For some people, any gain — even less than 1% — is worth switching for.
Updated on July 6, 2017: Recently there was a bug fixed in Simulation Craft which slightly changes the results posted here originally. I’ve updated the simulations below. We’ve also seen on the live game how Stomp is doing slightly better than expected (compared to Dire Frenzy).
The bug was keeping the base Bestial Wrath cooldown reset at 15 seconds instead of 12 seconds. So we lost a bit of DPS in the sims, and the gap between Dire Frenzy and Stomp shrank to basically nothing (even in T20 gear). I’ve put red text on any sections below that were updated.
Update TLDR: The small gap between Stomp and Dire Frenzy in T20 is gone. They’re basically equal now.
Continue reading Patch 7.2.5 Beast Mastery: Stomp vs. Dire Frenzy [UPDATED]
Yes, we’re all excited about the changes coming next patch… but you didn’t think it would come without a price, did you? The first round of tuning is in, and Blizzard maybe overestimated how much 2 Dire Beast charges is worth in terms of DPS. They also nerfed the T20 bonuses to the point where you’ll want to wear T19 instead.
I’ll be honest with you, I was getting pretty upset about the initial 7.2.5 changes with Wild Call. I even had a big rant in my post drafts that I never got around to posting because it was too negative and strayed from being constructive. But there’s not even any point in going over why the initial change was so bad, because it’s gone. Deleted. Blizzard has finally listened to us.
Hi Beast Masters. We’ve been reading your feedback and trying different sets of changes for Beast Mastery Hunters internally and on PTR.
To start, we are reverting all 7.2.5 changes we’ve made so far to how Wild Call triggers. Instead, Dire Beast and Dire Frenzy will have 2 charges baseline. The Mantle of Command (legendary shoulders that currently add +1 charge to Dire Beast/Dire Frenzy) will be changed to instead further increase the proc chance of Wild Call.
Overall, this will result in more Focus for all Beast Mastery Hunters, resulting in a more active rotation. Additionally, this gives all Beast Mastery Hunters access to a Dire Beast/Dire Frenzy with 2 charges playstyle that is more engaging and fun, allowing you to make decisions on when to use the buttons, instead of feeling like you should most often simply push them on cooldown.
We’ve been trying other iterations of changes surrounding Dire Beast/Dire Frenzy and Wild Call, including increasing Dire Beast/Dire Frenzy Focus generation or versions that avoided changing the legendary shoulders drastically, but ultimately reached the conclusion that giving 2 charges to the abilities baseline, which many of you have asked for, was the best change for the spec at the current time. We appreciate your patience while we try different iterations on PTR.
We are also making a few other less major changes to the spec in the next PTR patch, including:
Continue reading It’s happening! Beast Mastery gets its best changes yet in 7.2.5
Wow, what a week it’s been for Hunter pets! We’ve got a new solo challenge to tame Fenryr, two new spirit beasts, and there was also some shenanigans going on with Hunters invading the Shaman and Druid class halls to tame unique pets not available anywhere else.
I guess I’ll start with the first thing that happened early in the week, Fenryr. All of the hype sort of began when I tweeted this out (and posted it on Petopia):
Hunters: Fenryr is tameable! Clear HoV mythic, leave & wait for instance to reset (30-60min?). A new Fenryr is waiting in his cave! pic.twitter.com/dLWrdVfJAD
— Bendak (@BendakWoW) April 11, 2017
I was not the original discoverer of this method, I was just the first to push it out to a large audience. Wowhead tweeted my pic soon after and Hunters began running Halls of Valor like their lives depended on it. It turned out that if you cleared HoV on Mythic, then left the dungeon and waited about 30 minutes for a soft reset, a tameable version of Fenryr would spawn in his cave. I mean, who goes back into a dungeon they’ve already cleared? No wonder it took a couple of weeks for anyone to notice. But it sure did seem like an odd way to hide a pet.
The Mage Tower will be coming up again soon, along with another chance to earn the Serpentbite appearance for Titanstrike through the challenge scenario. It goes perfectly with our brand new sneaky snakes, don’t you think?
I just posted a guide to the Beast Mastery challenge on Wowhead that will hopefully help you complete this challenge. It has recommended gear, talents, macros/weakauras, and a full guide to the encounter.
The Beast Mastery one is a little less gear dependent than some of the others (at least in terms of item level), but healing legendaries make a huge difference here. Most people who complete it seem to have at least 1 of the 3 healing legendaries. I would have made a video, but unfortunately you can’t repeat the scenario once you’ve complete it (I didn’t know at the time).
Hope the guide helps. Good luck!
EDIT: IGNORE EVERYTHING BELOW! Blizzard has smartened up! 2 charges will be baseline in 7.2.5!
Wild Call — and by extension The Mantle of Command — is getting some rather large changes in the upcoming patch 7.2.5. Let’s go straight to the blue post:
The base proc chance will be doubled and the cooldown reduction per proc will be 3.0 sec (affected by haste), roughly half the average expected value of current live Wild Call procs. Baseline, the amount of total Dire Beast casts and Dire Beast uptime should be roughly the same as on live, except the changes should result in smoother Focus regeneration from more well-paced Dire Beast casts.
Additionally, these changes have the desired side effect of bringing the power level of The Mantle of Command more in line with other legendaries.
(…)
One with the Pack’s proc chance increase to Wild Call will also be doubled. With the talent, Wild Call will have 100% chance to proc.
Continue reading Patch 7.2.5: Big changes coming to Wild Call procs for Beast Mastery
As of Patch 7.2.5, this post is no longer being updated.
I maintain the Beast Mastery Guide at Wowhead and got sick of keeping both up to date with every little change!
So check out Wowhead for my BM guide. It will always be up to date. I’ll leave the original post here for now, but just remember it’s not being updated anymore.
As of Patch 7.2.5, this post is no longer being updated.
Continue reading Legion Beast Mastery FAQ/Guide (updated for 7.2)
Legendaries have probably been the most contentious issue in all of Legion. It sucks to have meaningful gaps in player power, or completely transformative and quality of life effects gated behind pure luck. In my opinion, legendaries would have been better if they all had utility or defensive bonuses and their DPS power came from raw stats. Even if Blizzard agrees with this in hindsight, it’s kind of too late for Legion. Instead they’ve upped the drop rates and removed diminishing returns on bad luck protection so that eventually you can get all of them for your spec if you want.
This brings us to The Mantle of Command. The legendary every Hunter hopes to get. I was lucky enough to receive it as my fifth legendary. This is on top of the Roar of the Seven Lions which I received as my second legendary. Don’t hate me. Even though I’ve been lucky here, I know the system is broken. The only solace I can offer is that you will get the shoulders at some point now that it doesn’t get harder to get each subsequent legendary (after your 3rd). Let’s just hope it’s a matter of days rather than a matter of months because every BM Hunter deserves these.
Patch 7.2 Update – April 1, 2017
New traits (and an update to Dire Frenzy) have lessened the relative value of the Crit build discussed below. It’s not that the Crit build has gotten worse, it’s that the Dire Frenzy build has gotten better. The Dire Frenzy build switches priorities back to Agi > Mastery = Haste > Crit > Vers (roughly).
The changeover happens once you get the Thunderslash trait, plus Convergence of Fates and/or Call of the Wild. At this point, the Haste/Mastery Dire Frenzy build becomes about 5% more powerful than the Crit build in single target. This is the same single target build discussed in my BM FAQ post.
In short, the One With The Pack crit build is still totally viable (and extremely fun), but min-maxers will probably want to stick to the Dire Frenzy build. Oh, and the shoulders are still totally amazing with this build because it gives you so much control over those Dire Frenzy stacks.
For all I know, this could revert again once Tomb of Sargeras comes out and we get the new set T20 set bonuses. Part of the reason this build is so strong is the T19 2pc for Dire Frenzy, and once we lose T19 4pc, the OWTP Crit build’s increased Bestial Wrath uptime could be crucial for those new T20 bonuses. But for TODAY, the best possible DPS is had by going Dire Frenzy.
Second Update: April 12, 2017 – Thunderslash nerf
With the Thunderslash nerf, the original Crit build discussed below is still a viable option. The Dire Frenzy build still has more DPS, but the gap is much much smaller. If you have more fun doing the Crit/OWTP build, I would encourage you to play it. The gap is only a few percent at most.
Continue reading The Mantle of Command: Unlocking the 4th Hunter spec
Patch 7.2 is adding some new Hunter pets to tame including a whole new family. Falcosaurs are being added to the Raptor family. Gryphons, hippogryphs, wyvern, owlcats, and wolfhawks are being added to the new Feathermane family.
I know what you’re thinking: How am I supposed to tame new pets when my stable is already full? I’m right there with you. I dislike abandoning pets, especially rare ones, but it might be necessary in this case because having gryphon pets for my dwarf is too good to pass up.
Update June 2017: I have a guide on where to tame all the Feathermanes on Wowhead.
Continue reading Patch 7.2 Hunter Pet Preview: Feathermanes and Falcosaurs
