Lethal Shots

Out of all three specs, the shot rotation for Beast Mastery is the simplest. This simplicity is due to your pet providing such a large percentage of your overall DPS. (Now I’m not implying that playing Beast Master is easier, pet management can be a challenge in its own right.) Of course, rotation is not the best word to use anymore since Autoshot is un-linked. A Hunter now has more of a shot priority, but for simplicity’s sake I’m going to continue to call it a rotation.

Now that shot rotations are based on priority, you will pick which shot to fire based off of cooldowns. Each shot available to you will be prioritized based on damage. Higher damage shots (which naturally have longer cooldowns) will be at the top of your list. You will then fire the shot with the highest priority that is not on cooldown. It may seem random, but you will get used to it.

There are four shots in the basic Beast Master Hunter rotation. They should be fired in the following priority:

1. Kill Shot (Only when the mob is at 20% health or less.)
2. Arcane Shot
3. Serpent Sting
4. Steady Shot

There are also two other shots which can be put in the mix, both of which would be between Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting:

1. Aimed Shot (If specced into it.)
2. Multi-Shot

In my experience, the inclusion of these shots leads to a decrease in DPS. Aimed Shot has a high mana cost meaning more time spent in Viper, and Multi-Shot does poor damage against single targets. You can include these shots at your own discretion though.

There are other skills that are not included in the rotation due to long cooldowns, such as Bestial Wrath, Rapid Fire, trinkets, Hunter’s Mark. Again, these you will want to mix in at your own discretion.

The important thing to remember is to stay flexible. Don’t lock yourself in and develop tunnel vision. Misdeirect and Feign Death when needed, drop traps to help with kiting, pull adds off of healers, etc.