Beast Mastery Hunter PvP guide: Intimidation, Bestial Wrath and a pet that will not die

Overview

Level 60 · Beast Mastery Hunter in battlegrounds and world PvP.

Every Hunter tree had a PvP build in Classic, and Beast Mastery’s was built around two talents: Intimidation for a pet stun and Bestial Wrath for a pet that cannot be stopped. WoW Forever keeps both and adds defensive pieces around the pet. Improved Aspect of the Monkey gives your pet half of your dodge bonus, Improved Mend Pet can cleanse curses, diseases, magic and poisons from it, and Spirit Bond heals both of you over time. From Marksmanship this build takes Hawk Eye for range and Improved Concussive Shot, the stun chance that made Classic Hunters so good at kiting.

Your role in a fight

You kill casters and pin down melee. Your pet sticks to a caster and interrupts their casts with pressure, while you keep a melee target slowed at range with Concussive Shot. In team fights, Intimidation is a stun your team can plan around, and Bestial Wrath makes your pet a real threat that enemies have to deal with.

Darkspear Islands

Blizzard describes the Darkspear Islands as a 15 vs 15 battleground with control points and Arathi Basin-style flag captures and defense. A pet is an excellent point defender: send it to interrupt anyone who starts capturing a flag, and stay at range where you can shoot attackers without being in melee. In attacks, your pet can pull a defender off a flag while your team captures.

Honor and ranks: WoW Forever is reported to bring a 14-rank Honor track, earned from battlegrounds and PvP content. Thresholds, weekly caps and decay are not announced; see the PvP and honor hub for what is confirmed.

Strengths

• Constant pressure from two bodies. Enemies must deal with you and a pet that stuns and hits hard.
• Tough, self-cleansing pet thanks to Improved Mend Pet, Improved Aspect of the Monkey and Endurance Training.
• Long range and slows from Hawk Eye and Improved Concussive Shot.
• Strong open-world duels, where the pet splits a healer’s attention.

Weak points

• Less personal burst than a Marksmanship Hunter.
• Crowd control on the pet (Polymorph, fears, stuns and roots) leaves you fighting alone.
• No Scatter Shot or Deterrence, so melee who reach you are dangerous.

Level 60 PvP talent build

Beast Mastery 32 / Marksmanship 19 / Survival 0, all 51 points. The talent tree above shows the finished build.

Beast Mastery (32)

• Endurance Training 5/5 — a pet with more health and armor for enemy players to chew through.
• Focused Fire 2/2 — more damage while the pet is out, which is always in PvP.
• Improved Aspect of the Monkey 3/3 — more dodge for you and half of that dodge for your pet.
• Bestial Swiftness 1/1 — a faster pet that catches kiting players, and the path to Intimidation.
• Unleashed Fury 5/5 — more pet damage.
• Improved Mend Pet 2/2 — Mend Pet can cleanse harmful effects from your pet.
• Ferocity 5/5 — more pet crits, which trigger Frenzy.
• Spirit Bond 2/2 — health regeneration for you and the pet.
• Intimidation 1/1 — a pet stun you control.
• Frenzy 5/5 — pet attack speed after crits.
• Bestial Wrath 1/1 — an unstoppable pet for the kill window.

Marksmanship (19)

• Hawk Eye 3/3 — more range to shoot from outside casters’ reach.
• Improved Concussive Shot 5/5 — a stun chance on Concussive Shot, the classic kiting talent.
• Improved Stings 2/3 — a shorter Viper Sting cooldown against healers.
• Lethal Attacks 5/5 — crit for your shots.
• Mortal Shots 4/5 — bigger ranged crits.

Key abilities

• Intimidation: stun a healer or a Warrior on your team’s healer.
• Bestial Wrath: when your team commits to a kill.
• Concussive Shot: keep melee slowed, with a chance to stun.
• Viper Sting: drain a healer’s or caster’s mana.
• Freezing Trap and Frost Trap: control melee that reach you.
• Feign Death: drop targets and break some effects; follow with a trap.
• Mend Pet with Improved Mend Pet to cleanse your pet.

Matchups

• Warrior · Kite with Concussive Shot and traps; the pet slows them further by keeping them busy.
• Rogue · Keep the pet near you so it can attack the Rogue the moment they open on you; Freezing Trap after Feign Death.
• Mage · Send the pet to interrupt casts; Viper Sting drains mana. Stay out of Frost Nova range.
• Warlock · Their Felhunter and fears are trouble; Viper Sting and pet pressure on the Warlock.
• Priest · Viper Sting and constant pet attacks push back their heals; stay at range so Psychic Scream only catches your pet.
• Paladin · Viper Sting drains the mana they need for heals; kite during Divine Shield.
• Druid · Hard to kill; slow them and pressure with the pet when they shift to heal.
• Shaman · Purge and Frost Shock are problems; kill totems with the pet and Viper Sting them.
• Hunter · Whoever kills the other’s pet first usually wins; Intimidation their Bestial Wrath window.

Resources and cooldowns

In PvP your mana goes to Viper Sting, Concussive Shot, traps and Mend Pet, not to raw damage. Keep enough for Feign Death, a trap and one Mend Pet at all times, and let the pet do damage while you manage control. Spirit Bond’s regeneration is free healing between fights.

Gear

The datamine’s Hunter PvP sets, Champion’s Pursuit and Lieutenant Commander’s Pursuit, give +20 Agility at 2 pieces, 1 sec off Concussive Shot at 4 pieces and +20 Stamina at 6 pieces. How PvP gear is earned in Forever is not announced. For this build, Stamina and Agility come first, then hit so Viper Sting and Concussive Shot land.

Consumables and engineering

• Free Action Potion against Rogues’ stuns and Warriors’ Hamstring.
• Swiftness Potion to reposition.
• Major Healing Potion and bandages.
• Engineering: net projector and grenades for extra control when melee reach you.

Sources

Rotation, stat and matchup advice adapts these Classic 1.12 guides to the WoW Forever talent trees; talents, set bonuses and new abilities come from this site’s WoW Forever data.

• Icy Veins: Classic Hunter PvP Guide
• Icy Veins: Classic Hunter PvP Best in Slot Gear
• Icy Veins: Classic Hunter Pets Guide
• Icy Veins: Arathi Basin Battleground Guide (WoW Classic)