BM vs MM in M+

I know BM has always been kinda laughed at but when WS is going off they do a pretty good burst and it’s a shortish CD. I’ve been playing as survival but even though it has an awful lot of range for a melee spec it just isn’t that fun to me.

It seems like I’ve been seeing much more BM lately than either of the other specs anyways so I’m curious if BM has just picked up in popularity for whichever reason.
Is it pulling ahead of MM at this point somehow? I’ve just come back last month from about 5 or so months off so I may have missed a few changes and am now unawares.

BM performs well. Its usually middle of the pack, sometimes slightly higher. The spec benefits from being very mobile (a ranged DPS that has all instant-cast abilities). It has decent burst single-target and decent burst AOE (all through Wild Spirits). It has decent sustained singe-target and cleave. It performs well in M+ during fortified weeks and tyrannical weeks.

MM really shines when there are 3 or more targets. It performs exceptionally well in M+ during fortified weeks, but does poorly during tyrannical. MM AOE damage is really strong, even outside of cooldowns. Its single target boss damage is alright for fights that don’t last super long (fortified weeks).

Its unfortunate that BM has been viewed this way. The spec is easy to play, but the skill ceiling is on par with a lot of other dps specs. Its usually viewed as an easier spec because you get the benefit of being fully ranged and fully mobile (all instant-cast abilities), and therefore making it one of the most forgiving specs for progression. This draws a lot of more inexperienced players to play the class. But you can easily tell the difference between a good player and a bad player. It just happens to be one of the most played specs in the game. Larger population, combined with likely an over-indexing of inexperienced players leads to it being stigmatized.

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It’s true you can definitely tell the difference. When I was first starting BM years ago I didn’t know about macroing your pet attacks into your spells nor did I really know how to keep up the cleave.

I did an Iron Docks with a BM who didn’t know about that yet either it seemed and then the next run I had a BM in Lower that was just destroying the charts. We had a MM as well in that run that seemed to be struggling to stay on par which was what initially made me curious.

I played a few rounds of BM in some fated raids just to just the feel of it again and performed reasonably well but I know they’re the king for ST as far as hunters go. It was honestly more engaging than casting aimed shot 45 times in a row :joy: (obviously not but it certainly feels like it when your 4pc and vigil is popping off). I find that to be boring so I may just push as BM regardless.

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Exactly. BM hunter’s rotation feels much better than MM and SV. With MM, you’re casting aimed shot endlessly, and with SV you’re casting kill command and wildfire bomb endlessly. The tier set bonuses ironically turned MM and SV into meme specs that are easier than BM.

No.
But BM has a far worse reputation than it deserves IMO, but I’ve also had the displeasure of running with some fairly bad BM hunters in keys that likely reinforce the perception that they can’t perform. I’ve outperformed Destro locks in AoE pulls as BM, but the catch is that I know I would’ve done even more damage as Surv/MM in that situation.

A good BM hunter will outperform a bad MM hunter, a good MM hunter will outperform a good BM hunter. Same goes for Survival.

There are some exceptions though. I think BM would generally perform better in Upper Karazhan than MM, but Survival’s ST is almost on par with BM’s and has far better AoE, along with more kicks for Medivh.

See, I’ve been saying this but the other BM hunters in my guild marveled at my bravery for playing the other specs, especially MM. MM is a one button spec now for christ’s sake :sweat_smile:

Don’t bother kicking anything but the frost cast

As an aside;

Problem with BM on AoE is our covenant legendary doesn’t work at 5 or higher. Blizzard had put in any effort, could have made that 8 or higher and we would be right there with SV.

Inferno bolt should be kicked if possible as well, especially while flame wreath is out.