Even though I’d just plunked 45G down for a Glyph of Explosive Shot the day before, I respecced back to BM as quick as you please.
My experience in week one of arena taught me that if our Ret Paladin/Hunter combo is to work, I’m gonna have to return to my beloved tree.
Initially, I was going to try a “Top Secret” BM spec like this one. I figured this may work, because opponents wouldn’t see any BM buffs on me, therefore thinking I’m SV. My rationale was that it would help keep them from focus-firing my pet right away. The build would also give me Readiness, which would be a nice asset for double traps and Intimidation. I thought Improved Hunter’s Mark, along with the Glyph of Improved Hunter’s Mark would help compensate for some of my lost burst, but then…
I thought, “F**k it”… they can just try and kill me before I kill them. I’m going to step into arena as a BM Hunter, and that’s just how it is. No sense in pussy-footing around that fact.
My current spec looks like this.
I may play with it some more, but for now it’s working pretty well. If I do mix things up, it will be to pick up Cobra Strikes. I’m considering pulling 2 points from Spirit Bond and 1 from Frenzy and going 3/3 Cobra Strikes. Problem is, I absolutely love Spirit Bond as BM. I may be one of the only BM Hunters that swears by it, but it has not only saved my ass on more than a few occasions, it’s also so convenient for BGs by eliminating downtime.
Once I get really settled with a spec, I’ll detail it out a bit more. I don’t want to create a lengthy post outlining my spec, only to have it change the following week. Wait a minute, that’s what I usually do… why change now? 😉 Honestly, I think I’ll wait until I get my PvP pet leveled up, and see how week 3 goes before I go in-depth with my BM PvP spec recommendation. Until then, you can armory me and see what I’m doing in the meantime.
For my glyphs I went with Bestial Wrath (of course), Aimed Shot (needs to be in one of every PvP Hunter’s glyph slots) and Glyph of Mending. I had a tough time with my choice for the 3rd glyph, but I went with Mending for the added pet uptime insurance.
The pet I used was my wolf. While not the best pet for arena, he came through in a pinch for lack of a better solution. I had tried my crab out in BGs after speccing BM and he didn’t bring the necessary muscle to finish opponents off quickly enough. I started the night with my wolf to see how it went, and never looked back. However, I do have a familiar face in my stable, or faces rather, waiting to make the trip from level 77 to 80 so we can unleash hell.
After I specced BM, there was a noticeable change in our level of ownership. In fact, I got to plant my flag several times on some deserving opponents, which is always fun. 😈
We reached a rating of 1697, with 38 wins and 19 losses and a 66% win percentage. Unfortunately, we sat there for about another 2 hours, finishing the night at 1686. I attribute some of that to: Blizzard’s tendency to throw 1950-2K teams at you when you’re about to break a new rating, fatigue and copius amounts of Corona.
Alright, so 1686 isn’t really anything to brag about at this point, but my point is there was a noticeable improvement in our level of competitiveness over week one. We achieved a much higher rating, with a larger win percentage, and vs teams with higher hidden ratings.
In a nutshell, I find BM to be an advantage for this combo because it is a better answer for melee classes, especially Warriors and Rogues. Being immune to stuns and snares for 18 seconds is incredibly useful for our double-dps team. Last week, good Rogue/Mage teams were eating us alive. Due to well timed CC and insane burst. This week, not a problem.
So far it seems as if we have a sporting chance vs all combos. The two teams we seemed to have had the most difficulty with were well-played Resto Druid/Warrior and Ret/(insert random class name here). This will change once we both get a little more geared, especially my partner. Once he’s geared enough to out-burst me, we should be on our way to 2K I would imagine. We shall see.
Hey I know I’m really late but can you guys take a look at my arena vids and please comment n share advice were still not too experienced in arenas yet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejXSiMa9M4c&feature=related
maerae,
Grats on 2k. We peaked at 1846, just shy of our needed rating for the s6 T1 weapons. We’re still trying, but have found certain nights to be really challenging due to some difficult combos.
So far our biggest challenge has been Ret/Mage, Ret/Ret, Ret/Holy, Ret/DK and Rogue/Priest. Warlock/Priest is pretty nasty also.
My partner’s still using his crafted Titansteel 2h. 🙁 I think once he gets his mitts on the Furious Glad weapon we should be straight. Other Rets we’ve faced with Betrayer or better have been absolutely brutal.
What pet is your partner using?
Started running this comp last week with low expectations… much to my surprise we hit 2k today!
Holy pallies/plate teams are our biggest thorn atm.
Garwulf,
Ah yes, that makes sense! thx for explaining it so well in layman’s term.
btw, i was camping for unh’loc the rare monkey today. saw him but forgot how to tame.. i.e, freez trap first etc. then I exited to do some research. when i was back in, it disappeared. grr.:-)
raze,
Sorry about causing you to re-talent. 😉
I think Improved Tracking is great for PvE for all builds. For PvP, it’s still good, but it’s not as important IMO.
BM won’t have the available points to spend on it for a PvP build. MM and SV could certainly put a few points in, but when I PvP’ed as SV I didn’t pick it up. Instead I went for the additional range with 3/3 Hawkeye and 20% crit bonus on my melee skills with 2/2 Savage Strikes.
I always begin my arenas with Track Hidden on, so that I can try to sniff out Rogues and Druids. Improved Tracking does not work vs stealthed opponents. I didn’t want to mess with blowing a GCD switching to Track Humanoids so that I could get the 5% buff. Rogues and Druids are present in over half of all arena matches, so I pretty much just leave Track Hidden on at all times.
Like I said, for PvE it’s definitely a staple for all builds, but for PvP it’s up to the player. I think most MM and SV builds usually take 2-3 points in it. It’s just a little extra free damage.
I’ve done some serious hardcore readings on your site. only a month-old wow noob who started off as a bm hunter (i kind of assumed ranged attack is easier for starters), i’ve learned so much from the posts/comments. keep them coming!
everytime you changed spec, well, u made me broke. 30g is something for a noob:-)
now, as you can imagine, i changed specs again. but wuat’s your thoughts on putting 5/5 improved tracking. i think i heard nice things about them. comments?
@ Garwy 😉
Well running OLD-SCHOOL instances is just fun and -I must admit- even profit. You can make some nice gold out of rare blues and some drops. I also love seeing those places that Blizzard crafted for us pre-TBC (I started playing WoW only when TBC came out) and overall I’m totally mad about achievements.
The 40-man raids are still a little problematic because some bosses require specific tricks or tactics that you cannot really complete all alone 🙂
Hey dalaila,
I’ll probably go for that same achievement somewhere down the road. It’s fun to re-visit old content sometimes.
I had actually missed a lot of dungeons pre-tbc, because all I ever did for the most part was PvP, and stalk and tame rare pets of course! 😉
Once I hit 70, I went into Stratholme and Scholo because I had never been in those dungeons. Good times.
It was also fun running some low level alts from my guild through ZF. ZF was the first dungeon I had ever been in, and I remember it being so difficult at the time (I was probably level 39 then).
Once I’m decked out in ilvl 226 items, I think it’ll be fun to go back and clear all of the Outland instances.
Icedtrip,
I feel the same way as you do about SV and BM. SV gave me the necessary burst to drop single targets quickly, but BM makes it easier for me to manage multiple targets and still survive. This is mainly due to having 18 seconds of freedom, and a pet that can’t be ignored.
I am a BM hunter when it comes down to it, but switched over to SV hoping the burst damage would help me in BG’s. I don’t do arena, so I can’t comment on that, but all I do know is that I miss BW and a more capable pet.
I do like the burst damage, but I have to admit, I am not so sure that I am a more capable PVP playing as SV. I too am thinking of switching back, finish leveling my Chimaera and wrecking havoc on the BG’s the way a hunter is suppose to.
I’m using BM for achievements, in particular for the amazing [Classic Dungeonmaster]. I must say… running a full instance and AoE everything makes you feel a God lol 🙂
I plan on posting and describing my builds in future at some point, but here’s a link in the meantime.
This is the spec I use for my wolf as MM:
http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc#0Md00sc00hooo
I picked up Dash to enable him to reach the fight(s) quicker. 1 point in Bloodthirsty to ensure he stays at full happiness for the full duration of the encounter. The rest are all DPS talents, or their pre-requisites.
Make sure you dismiss and then call your pet after you put the point into Wild Hunt. It’s currently bugged, and will not apply until after you re-summon your pet.
Garwulf,
If you are still sticking with MM for raiding and instances, can you please tell how you spec your wolf without the bonus BM points in your next post?
Thanks
Just started this combo yesterday too folks. It’s pretty nasty. We went from 1497-1840 in one night. Since respeccing bm, and even considering we had to figure out how to work it, we are 69-42 on the week. 62% win at 1800+. Fear it. <3
Love and regards to all the others who say it couldn’t be done in trade chat,
Buff – Galakrond
wooooooo
gz on respecc! =D
Indeed, good to have you back! To be honest I mainly read this blog because of the BM side of things, and was a little disheartened when you moved to MM/SV. Especially as I tamed Gondria on the weekend, it felt a little sad that a fellow pet lover had gone to the dark side. I only have one non-rare pet in my stables (bog standard wolf for PvP) and the thrill of finding one after x days/weeks looking is as much fun as topping the DPS chart or having some epic drop from a raid.
It’s good to have you back. I was spec’d MM/SV for a while but SV didn’t cut it for me, I definitely seen the upside to it but…it just took the fun out of being a Hunter for me. Now back in the hunt for Krush maddening hours spent circling SB waiting and hoping to see him. Then trying to tame him and him wiping his arse with me and I’ll sit there while the urge to punch a baby subsides…yep great to be BM again lol.