One major benefit of having a class site like Huntsman’s Lodge is that I get so much great input from all of you. Your comments and discussion really prompt me to revisit a lot things, and in turn, influence change – making me a better player as a result.
After reading some of the comments that were posted in my last BM PvP build post, I ended up trying out a new build. While not radically different, I do think it’s a better build (for BGs, anyway) than the one I posted last week.
Old habits die hard…
I’ve always been one to take a point in Improved Mend Pet. Having the ability to cleanse DoTs and CC from my pet has always been of huge importance to me. However, after reading through some of the comments in response to my posted build, I decided to drop the point just to see if I missed it. If I didn’t, then that would free up a precious talent point that I could use for more DPS, for example.
Another talent I decided to give up was Survival Tactics. I really like this talent for the reduced Disengage cooldown, and to a lesser extent… the increased trap efficiency. Anyway, I elected to dump Survival Tactics to test if the shorter Disengage cooldown would really be missed and to see just how much more often my traps would fail as a result of losing this talent.
Were I a highly competitive arena hunter, I feel that Survival Tactics would be a staple talent. A failed Freezing Trap could make the difference between a victory or a loss, where as in battlegrounds, you can afford to have a small margin of error with traps.
Survival Tactics shaves 4 seconds off the cooldown of Disengage, plus it cancels out the inherent 4% “miss rate” hunters have with traps. Even with capped Spell Penetration, traps have a 4% chance to miss, i.e., a 1 in 25 chance to “not hit”, rather than be resisted.
At any rate… I decided to see if giving up that 4% bonus would actually be that noticeable. The result…not really. I’ve yet to be in a situation where a failed trap has been a game changer, nor have I really noticed my traps missing all that often.
As for the 4 second longer cooldown on Disengage…that hasn’t been a problem either.
Without the point in Improved Mend Pet and the other two points in Survival Tactics, I then had 3 extra talent points to spend elsewhere. So where to put them..?
Efficiency, of course.
Efficiency is a really nice PvP talent to grab for a BM PvP build because it lowers the focus cost of Arcane Shot. The other thing about Efficiency is that it gets much, much better with each point you place in it. 1 point won’t make a huge difference, as it’s only reducing Arcane Shot’s cost by 1 focus. However, with 3 points you’re lowering the focus cost of Arcane Shot to only 22 focus (11 focus while enraged). While 3 focus per shot may not seem like a lot, it adds up when you’re casting back-to-back, and can make a huge difference in your burst damage. Being able to get off one additional Arcane Shot during a burst rotation can really help to put pressure on an enemy.
Anyway… here’s the BM PvP build I’m now using in battlegrounds…
31/3/7 BM PvP Build w/ Efficiency
31/3/7 BM PvP Build
You may also notice that I changed two of my glyphs. I swapped out Deterrence for Master’s Call and I dropped my novelty Glyph of Lesser Proportion for Scare Beast. The latter change wasn’t a huge deal, as I very seldom use Scare Beast in BGs, but it’s nice to have the cast-pushback resist for those times I do use it.
As for the Master’s Call glyph… I’m thinking that I may like it more than Deterrence. Deterrence already has a pretty long cooldown, so reducing it to 1min, 50secs, down from 2 minutes isn’t a game-changer, in my opinion. I have yet to find myself in trouble because I’m having to wait 10 extra seconds for Deterrence to come back, where as having Master’s Call last twice as long has been a nice benefit.
However… I think both of those glyphs are quite beneficial. My suggestion would be to try them both – as I have, then make a determination based on what works best for you.
BM PvP Build Template
In addition to highlighting my new build, I also went ahead and created an easy to follow go-to build template – showing the basis for a good build, along with what options you have for customization.
We don’t have a ton of wiggle room these days, but here’s how I’d recommend spending your talent points, along with which glyphs I think are optimal choices for BM PvP. The talents highlighted in green are ones that you can play around with – the rest are mandatory, in my opinion.
Foundation for a Solid BM PvP Build
BM Hunter PvP Build Template
…and recommended glyphs
BM PvP Glyph Choices
Personally, I haven’t felt the need to mess with Glyph of Raptor Strike, but I do think it’s a decent option for the added survivability it provides. My 45% damage reduction provided via resilience is usually enough to keep me up for awhile.
Well that’s about all I have left to say as far as BM PvP builds are concerned. I just wanted to update you all on my recently tweaked build, as well as offer you some additional advice on how to craft your own version of a Beastly-Ass Beast Mastery Hunter.
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As you said, it’s not like BM has much wiggle room for either BG’s or Arena.
