A quick guide to BM Hunter. (WiP)

Basement

Basement

Ey b0ss
Not going to bore you with a really long intro on who I am and the experience I have with this spec, blah blah blah. Because let's face it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuKzt7p-MnM

So let's get started, shall we?

Contents

1. Why play BM?

2. Key Abilities

3. Gear

4. Races

5. Talents

6. Your Pet and You

7. Macros and Keybinds

8. What is Your Job as a Hunter?

1. Why play BM?

Great question.. the answer comes in three parts.

1. It's a more fun/immersive spec than the other two. (lolaimedshot)

2. It's way more beneficial to your team through buffs and the recently added Hysteria.

3. It's a lot more powerful than people make it out to be.

Basically if you don't like being a mongo spamming aimed until your fingers bleed, give this spec a go.

2. Key Abilities

Kill Command - This is your bread and butter, and a very underrated spell. I've had this crit for upwards of 1.3k. Fun fact: This ability isn't based on how close you are, rather your pet. Therefore, you could be halfway across the BG and still hit something with this, assuming your pet is close to the target, it also makes your pet "lunge" at the target, acting as a weird sort of gap closer.

Steady Shot - Your only form of focus regen, besides haste. Use this when you simply have no focus to dump into a Kill Command, or an Arcane Shot.

Arcane Shot - Your second damaging ability as BM, and a great one at that. It deals arcane damage, therefore ignoring armor. Use this when Kill Command is on cooldown and you have extra focus to dump.

Concussive Shot - The hunter trademark, the ability that makes everyone hate us. An amazing ranged slow that is near spammable, use this on key targets you are trying to slow (EFC) or kite (that mouthbreathing rogue that just opened on you/your healer's ***.)

Mend Pet - Very important as BM. This ability has two forms, Mend Pet while you have an active/alive pet, and Revive Pet if your currently active pet is dead. Try to maintain this buff at all times. Fun Fact: this ability keeps you in combat even after combat has ended.. sap immune lads!​

Disengage - Your main form of mobility. This spell can be used in many ways, for example creating a gap between you and your target, a means of chasing someone in order to get a Concussive Shot off, or even avoiding fall damage.. the uses of this ability are endless.

3. Gear

Ah, the most debated part of any guide.. the way I see it, gear around your type of playstyle. If you want to be a stamina hunter, more power to you. But if you really want a list of items that are the "best".. (notice, this is the best gear option IN MY OPINION.)

Head - Tarnished Raging Berserker's Helm

Neck - Eternal Will of the Martyr: Enchanted w/ Gift of Versatility.

Shoulders - Champion Herod's Shoulder: Enchanted w/ Greater Tiger Claw Inscription.

Cloak - Inherited Cape of the Black Baron: Enchanted w/ Gift of Versatility.

Chestpiece - Champion's Deathdealer Breastplate: Enchanted w/ Peerless Stats.

Bracers - Black Wolf Bracers: Enchanted w/ Greater Assault.

Weapon - Upgraded Dwarven Hand Cannon: Enchanted w/ Flintlocke's Woodchucker. (needed)

Gloves - Gloves of the Fang: Enchanted w/ Major Agility.

Waist - Deviate Scale Belt

Leggings - Tarnished Leggings of Destruction: Enchanted w/ Primal Leg Reinforcements.

Feet - Silver Embossed Boots: Enchanted w/ Minor Speed. Standard Issue Prisoner Shoes if Horde.

Rings - Ring of Precision & Ello's Band (Argas ring if Horde.): Enchanted w/ Gift of Versatility.

Trinkets - Defending Champion & Inherited Insignia/Touch of the Void.

To be continued...​
 
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4. Races

Don't be racist, pick whichever appeals to you the most, each race offers something different. If you want my recommendation..

Alliance - Nelf or Human. Nelf offers the most Agi on the alliance side for a hunter, plus smeld has seriously saved my little booty on multiple occasions. Human's offer a trinket, which allows you to go Touch of the Void/Champion for the mongo damage setup. They also offer extra Vers, which is always lovely.

Horde - Haven't played much twinking on Horde side, but the races I would choose (personally) would have to be Belf, Goblin, Tauren. Belf because they're super fab, have an annoying blanket silence (which also gives you a bit of focus), and a great amount of starting Agi. Goblin would be another great choice since they too have great starting Agi, basically another disengage which makes you even more of a douche, and passive haste. Lastly, I'd consider Tauren. While not having as much starting Agi as the other two races, having a good stamina increase is pretty crucial in this bracket where things can just flop over in a matter of seconds. Not to mention Disengage/Warstomp comboing is pretty dirty.

5. Talents

Why is this even a section? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

BGs - Posthaste.. always. It frees you from all movement impairing effects and increases your speed by 60%. GOTTA GO FAST.

Arenas - Narrow Escape/Posthaste. Now this is where it gets a bit more interesting.. if you see that the enemy team has one or two forms of melee that have no way of freeing themselves of movement effects w/o a trinket (ie: Warrior or a Rogue) take this.. otherwise, Sanichaste as usual.

6. Your Pet and You

Please don't be one of those hunters that keep the pet they start with from the very beginning, because chances are it's a pretty weak buff. Especially now that BM's are able to tame exotic pets at 10. As BM, you should always have the Core Hound as one of your call pets due to being able to cast Hysteria.

Group Queing - Now, I don't know if you have a posse you like to que with, but for obvious reasons keep your stable full of a wide variety of pets as to not stack buffs. If you happen to be queing with a 29 priest, don't use something that gives Fortitude, it's just a wasted pet buff. Try to give a buff that EVERYONE benefits from. (ie: stats/vers)

Solo Queing - If you're solo queing, it can be a bit different. Same as above, just don't stack buffs if you can help it. Due to being able to only have one additional pet slot since the Core Hound is needed, this can be a bit tricky to use. Which is why I personally use Core Hound/Worm since the Worm provides Stats/Vers which everyone can benefit from.

Pet Control - This is key to playing BM correctly. I'd advise you to macro your pet attack command, passive, and assist buttons to something you're comfortable with. Make sure to always be aware of who your pet is attacking. You don't want to be in a situation where you want to swap to that rogue that just opened up on your healer only to find out your pet is out in Africa still attacking the backpeddling jajadin.

When to swap pets - Typically, I use the Core Hound at the start of a BG and pop Hysteria at a choke point on whichever map i'm on. (Mid in Warsong, Flag in EoTS, LM in AB.) When Hysteria ends, I usually swap to the other pet I have stabled, because the Core Hound only provides a Multistrike buff, which is a pretty lackluster stat in this bracket.

Pet Tree - Another highly debated topic, use whichever talent tree you prefer, but my trees of choice are Cunning/Tenacity. I use Tenacity most of the time in Solo Ques, for a few reasons. One is due to the fact that it makes your pet incredibly tanky, making it stay alive longer. The longer your pet is alive as BM, the more Kill Commands you can get off. Not to mention catching rogues/druids out of stealth with Thunderstomp makes me pretty moist. Also, healers tend to ignore pets in this bracket, and the increased health pool/healing your pet receives makes him a tough one to kill, oh and you get a free root which is pretty handy. Cunning is good if you're running with a healer who will actually help keep your pet alive. Crit Immune is also insanely useful not only for yourself, but for your allies as well. Plus, Cunning makes your pet pretty fast which can be very good for getting in range for those juicy Kill Commands.

7. Macros and Keybinds

"Lol use what I use or you're a pleb." No, use whatever you want. I don't care if your binds are F5-F12, whatever works best for you, just do it. You do you, pal. The only three macros I recommend saving is the all powerful Anti-Stealthie macro, given to me by my good friend Denny. This macro basically targets the first enemy close to you (ie: stealthies once you see them) and hits them in the face with a Concussive Shot, assuming it's off CD. It combos really well with the fact that Hunters get Track Hidden, which is pretty nifty.

#showtooltip
/cleartarget
/targetenemyplayer
/cast Concussive Shot

An alternative to this (if you want to save your Conc) would be:

#showtooltip
/cleartarget
/targetenemyplayer
/petattack
/startattack
/cast mend pet
(Suggested by Rusks)

Simple, yet effective.

Second macro I recommend is a Mouseover RoS, in the chance you play your pet as cunning.

#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,nodead,help] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast [target=nodead,help] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast [target=player] Roar of Sacrifice

Lastly, a mouseover Concussive Shot (not needed, but useful) if you want to slow someone, but don't want to change targets.

/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][harm,nodead] Concussive Shot

8. What is your Job as a Hunter?

Your job as a hunter differs from map to map, but in general like anything else, make sure you play objectively.

Warsong Gulch (Ey b0ss, can I habe a return?) - Your main job in this BG is flag returning. Make sure you keep on the EFC by Disengaging to keep up and keeping Conc Shot on him/her as much as possible so your mates can come and back you up. Posthaste also allows you to be a decent flag runner, so don't be afraid to grab the flag if needed! Don't forget to Hysteria mid with your Swag Hound when the fight starts.

EoTS - The way EoTS is played at the moment, do the same thing as you would in Warsong. Make the FC's life miserable. This is also a perfect spot to pop Hysteria as most of your team will rush mid. Your team should have a significant advantage assuming the enemy team has no drums/Hysteria.

Arathi Basin - Like any other map, make sure you pop Hysteria at choke points.. the more of your mates receive the buff, the better. After that, I find Hunters to be amazing node sitters due to their kiting and self peeling capabilities. Make sure you call out if you need assistance.

AV - Ew.

For now, as this is a quick guide, I can't think of anything else to add at the moment. If you have anything you'd like me to add, don't be afraid to give me suggestions.

TL;DR - BM is fun. Play BM.

Hope you enjoyed this quick guide.. and if you didn't, I'm truly saddened. Not really. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )​
 
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Solid in explanation so far

I understand this is a WiP, so 2 things im expecting:

More contents (title labeled noicely)
More armor sets
 
this is my macro for getting things out. i used conc shot where /startattack is for awhile but i like this better because i dont have to worry about wasting conc on some random it targets and the mend pet is in there so ive got mend pet going when my pet attacks whatever

#showtooltip
/cleartarget
/targetenemyplayer
/petattack
/startattack
/cast mend pet
 
[MENTION=22792]Basement[/MENTION] you should really lay down different armor sets, people are gonna be bias on your "opinion" so just set down agil,stam,hybrid etc and then mention the one you recommend


Also you forgot sac mouseover
 
Turtle said:
[MENTION=22792]Basement[/MENTION] you should really lay down different armor sets, people are gonna be bias on your "opinion" so just set down agil,stam,hybrid etc and then mention the one you recommend


Also you forgot sac mouseover
Click to expand...

It's hard to pinpoint different gear sets, because some people will value certain pieces over others for certain sets. That's why you should gear for your playstyle, I only listed that set because it's what I personally feel as the best.

Fix'd on the sac mouseover.
 
also conc mouseover is super duper useful for slowing a healer behind an fc
 
rusks said:
this is my macro for getting things out. i used conc shot where /startattack is for awhile but i like this better because i dont have to worry about wasting conc on some random it targets and the mend pet is in there so ive got mend pet going when my pet attacks whatever

#showtooltip
/cleartarget
/targetenemyplayer
/petattack
/startattack
/cast mend pet
Click to expand...

Added as another anti-stealth macro and M-over Conc.
 
Basement said:
#showtooltip
/cast [target=mouseover,nodead,help] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast [target=nodead,help] Roar of Sacrifice
/cast [target=player] Roar of Sacrifice​
Click to expand...
Same macro but cleaner:

#showtooltip
/use [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player]Roar of Sacrifice
Click to expand...

One more thing you might also add to this guide:

In their starting zone, Pandaren hunters can tame a water strider (10%spellpower, 5%crit, and a water walk that probably works in AB) and a quilen (5%crit, battle rez, plus a weak pet-shieldwall). I am not sure whether there is a stable master in the pandaland starting zone, or if you would need to level to twenty for the second pet slot and carry the pets out.

Either way, water striders and quilens are not obtainable any other way at lv20, which makes this a pretty decent "racial" for pandaren and a good reason to grab a race change as well.

For completeness, the other two exotics available to all are a worm (3% versatility, 5% agi/str/int, and a mediocre AoE) and one of three chimaera models (5% multistrike, a lousy slow, and a mediocre AoE) in azshara. I prefer the worm as my second pet.

Nice guide.
 
pinochet said:
Same macro but cleaner:



One more thing you might also add to this guide:

In their starting zone, Pandaren hunters can tame a water strider (10%spellpower, 5%crit, and a water walk that probably works in AB) and a quilen (5%crit, battle rez, plus a weak pet-shieldwall). I am not sure whether there is a stable master in the pandaland starting zone, or if you would need to level to twenty for the second pet slot and carry the pets out.

Either way, water striders and quilens are not obtainable any other way at lv20, which makes this a pretty decent "racial" for pandaren and a good reason to grab a race change as well.

For completeness, the other two exotics available to all are a worm (3% versatility, 5% agi/str/int, and a mediocre AoE) and one of three chimaera models (5% multistrike, a lousy slow, and a mediocre AoE) in azshara. I prefer the worm as my second pet.

Nice guide.
Click to expand...

the stable master is there :) you can tame everything you want and stable it
 
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