As some of you may have guessed if you’d read my previous post, I grew pretty bored with the BM spec I was trying for PvE. This whole dual spec thing is adding a whole new dimension of complexity to things, for me anyway. At first I loved the idea of dual speccing, but now I wish I could dual spec within the specs…lol. 🙄
Now that I’ve gone back to a BM raid spec and have found it to be a bit mundane, I’ve decided that I’m going to force myself to go back to my previous MM spec and stay there. Although I missed my big red pet, the 7/57/7 MM spec was pretty effective. Big red pet will have a chance to play when I do dailies, enter the arena, or hit up some battlegounds.
However, I am loving my BM PvP spec. I feel like an iron man on the battlefield. The spec is not vastly different from what I ran with before 3.1, but my pet received some love from the patch and I did shift a few glyphs around.
I’m going to move a couple of points around and once I do, here’s what I’m going to be using:
This spec is pretty close to what I’m currently using, and what I’d used prior to 3.1. The differences between this spec and my previous 53/18/0 PvP spec are the 3 points in Improved Aspect of the Monkey over Thick Hide, and the 2/2 in Animal Handler, resulting in 1 point pulled from Improved Mend Pet and one point from Frenzy.
The 3/3 in Cobra Strikes is also something new I’ve been playing with. I’m thinking this change may provide some needed burst, especially in arena where pets will have a tougher time getting crits.
The 6% dodge bonus seems like it may be a more useful buff than the additional armor from Thick Hide, but I guess we’ll see what we see. I’ll be somewhere around 31% dodge in my PvP gear with this change. The 2/2 in Animal Handler will help when the matches last beyond the big red phase, or when my pet becomes a target.
The only aspect of this spec that I’m worried about is the 0/2 in Improved Mend Pet. I usually keep one point in here for the DoT cleanse. If I see my pet dropping too much as a result of DoTs, I’ll probably sacrifice a point in Animal Handler for the 25% cleanse in Improved Mend Pet.
The glyphs I’m using are the following: Glyph of Bestial Wrath, Glyph of Aimed Shot and Glyph of Mending. Damn, how I miss the Monkey Glyph… 🙁
Glyph of Bestial Wrath is a no-brainer for BM, you gotta have it. In BGs this really shines. In arena, you don’t always reach the second BW. On the occasions that I do, being able to pop this usually determines the outcome of a close match.
The Aimed Shot glyph is money due to the 2 second cooldown reduction. Keeping the MS debuff up on opponents is critical, not to mention how invaluable it is having one of our only instant-cast burst shots on an 8 second cooldown as opposed to 10.
The Glyph of Mending is a new one for me. I see it as a worthwhile Glyph for PvP due to the synergies mend pet will receive with this glyph and 2/2 in Spirit Bond. Since I choose to go without Improved Revive Pet, this glyph is added insurance that my pet stays up. I’ve really only seen the benefit from the 4 second revive in a raid setting. In arena it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get the opportunity to revive your pet, and if you do, good teams will usually just nuke it down again anyway. In BGs I typically don’t have too much trouble keeping my pet up, but this new glyph will increase pet survivability even further.
Another thing I really like about this spec, is it’s versatility. I can use it just about anywhere. It’ll be outstanding for soloing content, and while not the most ideal setup for dungeons, it still allows me the ability to switch it up if I want to 
bring the Ferocious Inspiration buff to my raid if another MM is present. Apart from IAotH, it possesses the key DPS talents from the BM tree. I doubt I’ll ever switch to it much for raiding, if at all, but it’s nice to know that it’s still a viable option.
Well, stay tuned for more as I continue on my journey in search of dual spec harmony. It’s almost a given that my specs will be in a state of flux for the next week or so, so bear with me while I think out loud on my blog posts. 😉 feel free to chime in with any questions, thoughts or ideas. I’m all ears.
what pet do you use? i got lava dog cuz he’s awesome, and reduce casting time, and since he’s ferocity, he can revive if opposite team decides 2 kill him
@ Jakulous
1) Serpent sting (one time only)
2) Chimera
3) Arcane Shot or Aimed Shot or Steady Shot
4) repeat 3 until Chimera is available
5) Chimera
6) (repeat from 3)
🙂
sorry i forgot to ask: what’s your shot rotation?
@dalaila
Its me (JB), THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!! its a great talent build!
THE MACROS ARE AMAZING!!!!
I’m glad I checked the macros page. A lot of the macros had the line breaks removed for some reason, and were a bit confusing to look at.
I believe they’re fixed now, but Dalailah, you may want to give it a read through. Have any revisions and corrections to be made on my desk in the morning. 😉
I’ll second Dalaila’s endorsement of Power Auras. As I’d stated in a few previous posts, it is one of the best addons around. It’s especially handy for SV Hunters, making the management of LnL procs so much easier.
Thanks for sharing your macros Dalaila. That reminds me, I need to update some on my macros page. In fact, I’ll go remove the Kill Shot one right now, since I know that’s broken. The Disengage macro rules for PvP. I love using it right after I’ve dropped a Frost Trap. 😈
Addendum to above post
#### Macros####
I have few of them but like the addon… they changed my life 🙂
SWITCH ASPECT with one click (bound to key “e”)
———————-
/castsequence Aspect of the Dragonhawk, Aspect of the Viper
———————-
MARK + SEND PET (bound on “SHIFT + click” on mob)
———————-
/cast Hunter’s Mark
/petattack
———————-
MISDIRECT on pet or focused ally (bound to key “q”)
———————-
/cast [target=focus,help][help][target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection
———————-
PANIC BUTTON (see below)
———————-
#showtooltip Disengage
/stopcasting
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”);
/cast Wing Clip
/cast Raptor Strike
/cast Disengage
/cast Concussive Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:RegisterEvent(“UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”);
———————-
When a mob is on me it automatically slows him and disengages as far as possible. Much better than doing it manually, you gain a LOT of time. Test it, it’s amazing.
@ JB
This is my current MM raid build and it works pretty good:
MM RAID BUILD
====================
http://eu.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=3&tal=502012010000000000000000000053051310300132331350203515000002000000000000000000000
GLYPHS
====================
Major: Hawk, Serpent Sting, Steady Shot
Minor: Mend Pet, Feigh Death, Aspect of the Pack
As you can see I did not place any point in mana management (Efficiency or Rapid Recuperation) as they really do not give you a significant help for what they cost (a total of 7 points).
I personally do not use Rapid Killing all the time but if you are used to click the icon every cooldown I suggest to move 2/3 Wild Quiver to 2/2 Rapid Killing. WQuiver is always giving me a low contribute (around 2%) so it wont make a real difference using it or not.
Using Viper Sting on bosses/trash (when possible) will significantly help you regain mana.
Timing some talents with specific AP/AGI procs will help a lot too (Greatness Card / Mirror Of Truth for example).
Last note about addons: I use the default UI plus PowerAuras. PowerAuras drastically changed my gameplay life as I now always know the exact moment a specific proc (or more procs) start and end, making important fight decisions even more simple 🙂
Thanks JB and Indahuff. 🙂
Love this blog – great stories.
Well done my friend!
AMAZING BLOG!!!
Dalaila whats ur mm+wolf talent build?
I’m currently dual-speccing with BM and MM.
BM + Bear
================
For daily tasks/quests and grinding. With proper talents and glyphs you can have a good tank, good aggro (still not perfect) and amazing healing (2400 heal per mendpet tick). Of course BM damage is way lower compared to MM/SV but when DPS does not mean a possible wipe I say… I do not care. BM is very nice for the movement speed bonus too (ground and mount) that helps while chain-killing and gathering herbs/grinding.
MM + Wolf
================
This is currently my 5-10-25 man spec. In my last two 10-man I ended being 1st and 2nd on damage meter. On a 25 I’ve been switching from 2nd to 3rd position depending on situation. I had other SV hunters who were constantly behind me (and I’m still wearing some blues and zero Nax-gear, only BoE/emblems stuf).
A note on gems and enchants
===========================
Dual-speccing BM and MM/SV means you are not optimizing gems/enchants (BM needs AP, MM/SV need agi). Keep that in mind when checking your DPS and always gem/enchant for dungeons/raids. That way you will be doing less damage while grinding or doing your quests, of course… but who cares?
Hello again.
I will have to try MM when I finally dual spec. Thanks for the tip in regards to volley. In regards to Viper, I was referring to the small battles within an Instance. I have never done battleground…yet.
– Hung
Hung,
Thanks for the praise. Volley has its use in some Heroics and in Naxx, but I usually only use it for groups of non-elite mobs. Typically you’ll have a fairly specific kill order for pulls, so you want to make sure you’re focus firing the targets in the proper order. Also, Volley drinks mana by the gallons, so use it sparingly, especially as BM.
MM is a little different story. Volley will be doing loads of damage, so I’ve found I can rely upon it a bit more during 3+ mob pulls. You get a lot more bang for the buck using Volley as a MM.
BM’s success in arena is usually based upon winning the match within the first minute of combat. If both opponents are still standing and above 50% after your big red phase, they will most likely wear you down and eventually win. I’d say that probably less than 1/5 of my matches did I ever switch to Viper.
My advice would be to use a mod like MSBT or Power Auras that will signal an alarm when you’re down to say 20-30% mana. Based on how the match is going at the time, you may want to switch to Viper right away, or hold off a bit if you have a chance to burst one of them down beforehand.
I find BM does best with another dps class. It lacks the burst necessary to be the sole dps, but it can do quite well when group with another damage class.
Awesome website Garwulf. I am a lvl 79 Hunter BM spec and I have been keeping up with your blog for the past few weeks. Very informative but also humorous and entertaining. I have a question about Volley. Do you ever use it during instances? My next question is mana management. I always seem to run out of mana after 2 skirmishes and have to constantly switch to aspect of viper to regen. Any tips?
thanks
– Hung
I may have to change the header description on my site after tonight. I went into Naxxramas 10 man earlier this evening with my guild and just rocked the joint with my MM build. I hit 4047DPS on Patchwerk, besting my top BM performance by over 600DPS. O.O
Thanks you guys for the compliments. While I may not have all the answers, at least you find me entertaining. 🙂
I have to agree with benson, i’ve been reading blog for a few weeks now and it always makes great reading!
I’m currently Surv/BM dual spec but still having ‘issues’ adjusting to BM…..i’ll keep at it though and may need to spend some time with the target dummy and get shot priorities sorted out. I WANT to love the BM spec if only for the exotic pets, i might even start the hunt for Loque or Gondria….so much to do!! P.
You always have nice articles. Thanks for the read 😉