Beast Mastery is the hunter who shares the fight with a pet. You stand at range while Auto Shot fires on its own, and between shots you keep Serpent Sting ticking and spend Multi-Shot and Arcane Shot as their six-second cooldowns come back. Every one of those costs mana, so the length of the fight decides how freely you shoot. Your cat fights at the boss, and Bestial Wrath gives it 50 % more damage for 18 seconds every two minutes. On a one-minute single-boss fight this build does 791.3 DPS, which ranks 9th of 25 damage specs.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• Several bosses. Multi-Shot hits up to three targets and Serpent Sting goes on each boss, so Beast Mastery climbs from 9th on a three-minute single-boss fight to 5th on a three-minute fight against three bosses.
• Damage that doesn't wait for cooldowns. Auto Shot, the sting and the six-second shots carry you, and none of them waits for a burst window, so a longer fight costs you little: 791.3 DPS on one minute, 754.2 DPS on three.
• No mana worries on short fights. Against one boss for one or two minutes your pool lasts: a Major Mana Potion adds 0.0 DPS there.

Weaknesses

• A middling single-target number. On a three-minute single-boss fight you reach 73.1 % of the best damage spec's result.
• Mana on long fights against several bosses. Three Serpent Stings at 250 mana each, on top of your shots, empty the pool. On a three-minute fight against three bosses a Major Mana Potion is worth 7.4 % of your damage.
• Small cooldowns. Bestial Wrath only raises the cat's damage and Rapid Fire comes once a fight, so there is little burst to save for the end. Bestial Wrath is worth 1.2 % on a three-minute single-boss fight.

On every fight

Beast Mastery holds about the same place on every single-boss fight, because none of its damage hangs on a cooldown that suits one length better. Against three bosses it rises: Serpent Sting on all three is 32.6 % of your damage there, against 17.0 % on one boss. Pick a fight in the table and the whole guide follows it.

Races

Night Elf is the Alliance's best race on all six fights. It starts with 5 more Agility than a Human, and you open with Elune's Light, whose extra 10 % crit covers the first quarter of a one-minute fight.

For the Horde, Orc leads on one and three minutes. Blood Fury now adds 10 % ranged attack power and spell damage for 15 seconds every two minutes, so it reaches all of your shots. On two-minute fights the Skyborne Windshaper edges ahead through its 1 % haste and 4 more starting Agility, level with the Orc on one boss.

No race has a racial for bows or guns any more. Forever's weapon racials (Human swords, Orc axes, Dwarf maces) are crit that skips Auto Shot, and your melee slot holds a staff, so Humans and Dwarves get next to nothing.

What a Hunter brings to the raid

Your raid debuff is Hunter's Mark, and it only adds ranged attack power, so it helps hunters alone. Every hunter in the benchmark marks its own boss at rank 3, the strongest rank in Forever, so the raid's mark shows no value on one boss and adds a little on three, on the bosses a hunter hasn't marked. Scorpid Sting now lowers the boss's chance to hit by 2 % and adds no damage. Trueshot Aura is Marksmanship's.

Changes

The table tracks this build on this fight across our releases, and the Updates page explains each one.