BM tips and tricks?

[Magli]

Hey folks. Our raiding team has lost its mage for a while (his wife just had a baby) so the hunters have had to bring Core Hounds for Heroism. As a result, last night I raided as BM for the first time since Burning Crusade...and although I more than pulled my weight DPS-wise (finished just a few hundred DPS behind the Marks hunter on Baleroc), I feel I need to work on my cooldown management...there are a *lot* more buttons to push as BM than as SV!

-- I could probably have fit in another Bestial Wrath during the encounter if I'd been paying better attention. Is there an addon that will alert me when it comes off cooldown?

-- Focus Fire. My uptime on this buff was only 56% on the kill, which was awful. Do you generally macro this ability in with your other shots so it triggers on cooldown, or is this something I'll get better at as I get more comfortable with the rotation?

-- Heroism. I have *no* idea what cooldowns to use during Heroism. Rapid Fire, for obvious reasons, is out (stacking haste effects is usually counterproductive), but how about Focus Fire? Should I save a Bestial Wrath if I know Heroism is coming, or save BW for after Heroism ends, or not worry too much about it?

Finally, I think I now need to tame me a Spirit Beast. I assume the Northrend Beasts will be less heavily camped than the 4.2 releases, but are any of them on shorter timers or less likely to be randomly ganked than others? I'd prefer one that'll fit with my white-pets theme (Arcturis, Loq), but I wouldn't turn any of 'em down at this point.

[Samskeyti]

I'd love to hear some answers to your questions. I want to raid as BM, as it is the only spec I really love and feel comfortable with.
As for spirit beasts, I think Karoma is more likely to find nowadays, with Twilight Highlands not being so heavily crowded (at least on my server), plus she has many spawn points. Gondria is usually roaming around too. But if you really want white, I guess park yoursefl near the molten front portal and look for Ankha or Ban'thalos, both are stunning pets!

[Cerele]

arcticus usually is up, for spirit beasts.

Heroism, usually a raid leader will call out for it, if not wait for a key point in a fight, (its changes for everyone)

Focus fire will proc, just use it when it does, its not a huge deal. its kinda random since its based of pet crits. Ferocity pets with Spider's bite usually can keep it **almost constant.

Beastial wrath use it on cooldown, its a nice clicky.. youll get used to its cooldown because its so short. but its important you keep an eye on it

[Lisaara]

warcrafthuntersunion.com

[Boven]

I'm certainly not the best of hunters, but I've been fortunate enough to be raiding all of Cata as BM. Usually it's with my core hound so that our resto shammy doesn't have to worry about Bloodlust (Heroism).

What to do when varies a bit on the fight, but the basics are generally the same:

Use Bestial Wrath whenever it's off cooldown. There may be some fights/situations where you delay hitting it, but generally you want to use it whenever you can. Personally, I do my best to ensure I've enough focus and have Serpent Sting refreshed just before BW is ready. That means being able to spam as many Arcane Shots as possible before BW wears off.

Even though I know pretty much when we want Bloodlust/Heroism during a fight, I let the raid leader decide. Sometimes things happen that throw the plan off and it's needed earlier or later. Heck, having someone filling in for a missing raid member can change when it's needed. When things are going to plan, I'll still ask "Petlust?" over Teamspeak just to make sure all is hunky dorey.

For me, what to use during Bloodlust/Heroism varies, depending upon the situation. Sometimes I'll hit another cooldown with it, sometimes I'll try to chain them one after the other for a more prolonged burst. I'm sure others who're more knowledgeable about the numbers involved can give better advice here than I can.

Sometimes Focus Fire is up almost constantly, sometimes it seems the pet just can't get the crits. That's really beyond your control. Hit it whenever it lights up though. There's really no reason not to.

As for what pets I raid with, it's usually my corehound, Gir for his 'petlust' ability. There are times when I'm asked to bring Grumpy, my devilsaur. Since we've two hunters in the raid, we're able to cover most of the buffs we might miss when a regular raid member can't make it some night.

[Anyia]

For Focus Fire, I believe you want to time it so you only pull the stacks off your pet as you go into a series of Cobra Shots to regen focus. The haste doesn't do a whole lot for your auto shots, but makes a marked difference on your shots with a cast time (i.e. cobra).

In terms of spirit beasts, the easiest for me was Gondria, but mileage will vary depending on realm.

[GormanGhaste]

I think Ghostcrawler is most likely to be up, the trick is finding him.

[Dubhsidhe]

-- I could probably have fit in another Bestial Wrath during the encounter if I'd been paying better attention. Is there an addon that will alert me when it comes off cooldown?

Power Auras Classic is one.. I just use a count down timer with big red numbers

-- Focus Fire. My uptime on this buff was only 56% on the kill, which was awful. Do you generally macro this ability in with your other shots so it triggers on cooldown, or is this something I'll get better at as I get more comfortable with the rotation?

Hit it when it is off cooldown, should always be at 5 stacks by the time its off. Haste REALLY doesn't matter for your pet. Their auto attack damage is just god-awful. They get all their DPS from claw/bite/smack and random pet cooldowns. Again, power auras can tell you when its off cooldown, or just look for the happy arrows on the blizzard default UI

-- Heroism. I have *no* idea what cooldowns to use during Heroism. Rapid Fire, for obvious reasons, is out (stacking haste effects is usually counterproductive), but how about Focus Fire? Should I save a Bestial Wrath if I know Heroism is coming, or save BW for after Heroism ends, or not worry too much about it

Don't worry so much about it. If you KNOW when it is coming, have a BW ready for it, if not you are just using less (and faster) Cobras to get your focus up. It just really gives you more Arcanes

I love my spirit beasts to pieces and use them in five mans. But make sure you have a corehound, devilsaur and a spirit beast. Those are the big three buffs you want to make sure are covered.

5% crit being the best. Hero being the most likely to be needed.

[Litlemouse]

I find that Ghostcrawler is up a lot, actually. He's in a remote location, phases (so is harder to find) and is unkillable. So only hunters that randomly stumble on him or specifically look for him will be the reason for his disappearance. Plus, from what I've seen, he's not a very popular Spirit Beast. I hardly ever see anybody with him, although that might be just me.

[Magli]

Thanks for all the advice, folks. I've been running heroics as BM all week, and am quickly getting more comfortable with the rotation. For now I've macro'd Focus Fire into Cobra Shot so it'll go off when I need it most...gives me more uptime on the buff, although it's not always at full strength when it goes off. (I've been spot-checking it during runs, and sometimes it's sitting at 12% haste instead of the full 15%.) I'll probably go back to manual control after another week or so.

I've installed NPCscan and have started searching for spirit beasts. We'll see how much patience I have for this...I've been spending a lot of time in Northrend flying back and forth between Sholazar and Grizzly Hills, with occasional side trips to Hyjal to check for Ban'thalos and Ankha. On the upside, I've been collecting plenty of cobalt and saronite to sell, and also making progress towards my "Professor" title...five more to go!

(Question for Dubh: what does a devilsaur bring to a party that a wolf doesn't? I don't like how big and stompy they are, but will go tame one if it'll bring some additional utility.)

[GormanGhaste]

I've started searching for spirit beasts. I've been spending a lot of time in Northrend flying back and forth between Sholazar and Grizzly Hills. On the upside, I've been making progress towards my "Professor" title...five more to go!

(Question: what does a devilsaur bring to a party that a wolf doesn't? I don't like how big and stompy they are, but will go tame one if it'll bring some additional utility.)

That's actually how I got my first spirit beast, checking all the spawn points when I was in a zone doing archaeology!

Devilsaurs also apply a healing debuff, Monstrous Bite, which is similar to the hunter shot Widow Venom.

[Magli]

Devilsaurs also apply a healing debuff, Monstrous Bite, which is similar to the hunter shot Widow Venom.

Ah, thanks. Seems a little redundant, but might be useful. I've got space in my stable, so I guess I'll tame me one.

[Kalliope]

Devilsaurs also apply a healing debuff, Monstrous Bite, which is similar to the hunter shot Widow Venom.

Ah, thanks. Seems a little redundant, but might be useful. I've got space in my stable, so I guess I'll tame me one.

The advantage to the devilsaur is that widow venom takes a gcd from the hunter. On the other hand, I can't think of any fights that require a healing debuff on the boss in Cata. Still, it's definitely a good option.

[Magli]

You lot are turning me into a pet collector. Before I was "All I need is a pet that gives good DPS when I'm raiding, and a tank." Then Cata comes out, and it's "As long as I can cover all the group buffs and debuffs, I'm cool." Now I'm taming exotics and camping spirit beasts...and it's ALL YOUR FAULT.

(not really)

[GormanGhaste]

In before Magli starts asking for more stable slots.

[Dubhsidhe]

(Question for Dubh: what does a devilsaur bring to a party that a wolf doesn't? I don't like how big and stompy they are, but will go tame one if it'll bring some additional utility.)

Healing debuff, and 1 level of Badass.

When you hit BW they get huuuuuuuuuge.

If you don't want to came for Krush, there are alwaus the commons in Ungoro

[Magli]

Well, I got something. Details over in Taming Stories.

http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic ... 34&t=14557

[Zaphoed]

#showtooltip Cobra shot
/cast Berserking
/cast Bestial Wrath
/use 13
/cast Cobra shot

I use that macro to make sure BW is up whenever it is off cooldown.

My rotation is simple Serpent Sting Cobra shot(macro) KC Focus fire(yes you can use it before it procs.) CS, AS 2-3 KC CS CS then its all about priorities.
Always make sure you have enough focus for KC if you have too much focus spam AS a few times.

AS far as pets for bm I keep a spirit beast, Devilsaur and ravager on hand at all times. If agility buff is present then i use the devilsaur. If agility and crit buff are present then the ravager.
I only have a carehound handy if our mages or shaman don't show up. Side note Hunters should not being using ancient hysteria if shaman or mage is in the group since it only gives a 30% haste buff. Shaman and Mage give 40%