I need help on BM specc

[Karathyriel]

OK, people...

You made me want to spend some gold on my hunter to get dual specc and go for a walk on the BM side of hunting.

Now I need some tips on how to specc, which pet makes sense and hoe to specc it.

Fire away, I'm reading everything that's coming.

[Nikrosnil]

As i'm in the same situation, I'll be lurking here.

[Saturo]

I found that:

Worms for soloing
Spirit Beast/Devilsaur for PvE
Silithid for PvP

I have'nt been BM on my main for several months tough, so this might've changed.

[Karathyriel]

Spirit Beast/Devilsaur for PvE

Why always those that are hard to find? *sigh*

But then, what's the point in speccing BM, right?
Is the devilsaur really that badass at delivering DPS to the mob? I've got to admit that his stomping around is kind of getting on my nerves, even when other hunters just pass by. Same goes for core hounds.

*sigh* Maybe I'm just no BM...

[Ryno]

PvE DPS BM Spec: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?hunter# ... ,36w,11159

PvE plain old soloing fun Spec: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?hunter# ... fq-3,11159

Just my opinion of course. You can switch things around and get the same results for the most part.

[Saturo]

There is a non-elite devilsaur in netherstorm, that respawns every five minutes, and yes, Devilsaurs are some of the best pets there is, despite the noise.

You can always use a non-exotic pet too. You'll lose some dps that way tough.

[Vephriel]

There is a non-elite devilsaur in netherstorm, that respawns every five minutes

Mm hmm, that would be Tyrantus, and it's actually who I tamed to become Skorn.

[VelkynKarma]

Aaw, you out posted me Veph, I was about to say the same thing XD

~VelkynKarma

[Tahlian]

Here's my armory, if you want to take a look.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... cn=Tahlian

I raid in my secondary spec. Of late, I've been using the primary spec to mess around with slight changes to see what they do to damage before doing anything permanent to my raiding spec.

I run with my devilsaur when I raid, though if you're just starting out and don't have a lot of gear, a wolf may serve you better. These days, the big lizards don't STOMP STOMP STOMP the way they did a couple patches back, they walk quietly...and for that I'm grateful. It's easy enough to find a devilsaur - the only one that's particularly special down in Un'goro is King Mosh, and that's due to his rarespawn status and the fact that he fears when you try and attack or tame him.

For shot rotation, I use Rapid Fire (when available) -- BW/Kill Command/Call of the Wild (when available - I have them macro'ed together) -- Kill Shot -- Arcane Shot -- Multi-Shot -- refresh Serpent Sting if needed -- Steady Shot. It's really more a priority system than a rotation.

I use my cooldowns every time I can, and try to stack them with Bloodlust if I know it's coming up soon. Tahl's also an engineer, so I use the accelerators on my gloves as often as I have it to use as well.

There's a BM raiding thread on the official forums posted by a hunter named Dreamsdrunk. Apart from the "lol spec Survival n00b" trolls, it's rather informative. He doesn't do things quite the way I do, and I may be a bit behind the times...but if his advice works, go for it!

[Suicune]

My BM spec is a bit different than the cookie-cutter spec, but not by much. It worked for me and I pulled top DPS for a long time on most runs, guild or PUG (even over some Survival hunters in VOA 25... sad..). I still pull top depending on group, but I do pull more as Survival, sadly, due to the gear not scaling as well as BM. I tried running last night as BM for a test in some runs, and I didn't do too badly. When in BM I usually use one of my Spirit Beasts, but a Wolf can pull a bit more in any spec considering the buff it gives. Key is knowing how to play your class and making it easier to get what you need to do, done, such as shot rotations and buffs/debuffs. You can poke around my armory if you feel like comparing spec/gear and such. I'm gemmed and chanted for Survival, though it doesn't seem to make much of a difference as there's only a few things done differently... http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... cn=Suicune

[Smiley]

Honestly,
I'd recommend wandering through the Warcraft Hunter Union site for information. Frostheim - he's the new hunter writer for Wowinsider.com, too, posts _after_ he tests things out. While he doesn't raid with BM spec, he has a wealth of information there.
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/

Edit:
My gear isn't top tier by any means, but I've attempted to follow suggestions from WHU. My toon is linked within my profile. I'm open to suggestions or questions on mine.

[Karathyriel]

Thanks, I'll have a look.

[Nimizar]

Exactly how you spec and glyph and the kind of pet you choose will vary based on precisely what you want to do. My own BM spec leans towards a soloing spec (as that is the main way I use it), but still contains enough of the key DPS talents to make it useful for heroics and 10-man runs where I don't feel like concentrating on putting out good SV DPS (my max BM DPS output is a good few hundred DPS lower than my SV output, but the former is much easier to produce. Note that my gear is Agi heavy for the SV spec though, so it isn't really optimal for BM DPS since the pet isn't benefiting directly from the Agi crit gain).

The core BM DPS talents (51 points):

• 5/5 Improved AotH
• 2/2 Focused Fire
• 3 more points to unlock Tier 3 (3/5 Endurance Training or 2/2 Improved Revive Pet and 1/5 Endurance Training are popular choices)
• 1/1 Aspect Mastery
• 5/5 Unleashed Fury
• 5/5 Ferocity
• 1/1 Intimidation
• 3 more points to unlock Tier 6 (free choice between Improved Mend Pet, Spirit Bond and Bestial Discipline)
• 2/2 Animal Handler
• 4/5 Frenzy (some argue that Cobra Strikes will provide sufficient uptime with only 3/5, but I still favour spending the extra point)
• 1/1 Bestial Wrath
• 3/3 Ferocious Inspiration
• 5/5 Serpent's Swiftness
• 1/1 The Beast Within
• 3/3 Longevity
• 1/3 Cobra Strikes (need to spend at least 1 point to unlock next tier)
• 5/5 Kindred Spirits
• 1/1 Beast Mastery

Core hunter DPS talents in the MM tree (11 points):

• 5/5 Lethal Shots
• 3/3 Careful Aim
• 2/5 Mortal Shots (since it doesn't help the pet, this talent is far less essential for BM hunters, but need to spend at least 2 points to unlock Tier 3)
• 1/2 Go for the Throat (without at least one point in GffT, your pet will sometimes get focus starved. even with 2/2 Bestial Discipline and a cunning pet with 2/2 Owl's Wisdom)

Getting those core talents then leaves you with 9 talent points to play with that you can stick pretty much wherever you want. Some popular options are:

• Finish off Cobra Strikes
• Invigoration
• Catlike Reflexes (I personally avoid this one because I macro Kill Command in with Bestial Wrath)
• More points in Spirit Bond/Improved Mend Pet/Bestial Discipline
• More pet tanking talents like Endurance Training and Thick Hide
• Mortal Shots and Aimed Shot
• Improved Tracking (I avoid this, since with BM as my soloing spec I will usually have mining switched on and forget to switch to a mob type tracking for the damage bonus)
• Survival Instincts (obviously requires 5 points spent in SV tier 1 first)
• Focused Aim (if you just hit 80 and are really struggling for hit rating)

On the glyph front, I get the standard glyphs for Bestial Wrath and Steady Shot but then I swap out the Kill Shot glyph for the Serpent Sting glyph. This is a nice quality of life change and in most environments where I am running as BM, things die too fast to get in more than 1 or 2 Kill Shots. If the glyph doesn't let you get an extra KS in before the target dies, it isn't actually helping your DPS at all.

Pet wise, you don't have to use an exotic pet. The DPS gain from the 51 point talent lies in the extra pet talent points - a BM hunter can get every single DPS increasing talent for their Ferocity pets, while an SV or MM hunter has to make choices. Personally, I usually use my devilsaur when running as BM (never bothered looking for a spirit beast), but a non-exotic high DPS pet like a wolf, cat or raptor is also fine. If you want a devilsaur, Tyrantus in Netherstorm is the easiest one to get, although clear plenty of space before taming since his fear can be rather annoying (as others noted above, the stomping problem has been fixed, although some people may find the roar that is part of their idle animation annoying - I quite like it myself).

I also have a worm with a DPS oriented spec so that I can bring along the major armour debuff to a 10-man raid if I feel the need and a gorilla that is my actual soloing pet. Something to remember is that when you dual spec, each of your pets also gets a secondary spec - you have to choose their talents for both specs. Last stable slot is taken up by the cat that was my SV raiding pet before wolves became the raiding pet du jour.

[Dvorkin]

Nimizar seems to cover BM specs very well (my own BM spec is just a few points off, and that's because my play stile is different - I don't raid and even don't do heroics, but occasionally solo/duo low-level dungeons), so I just want to add a couple of examples of pet specs.

Cat / spirit beast DPS spec: http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc#0Vdz0f0zzhzRb
Turtle tanking spec: http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc#MczG0rMzb0or

-Dvorkin.