Made a new Zandalari Hunter. I’m doing BM now, questing and running some random dungeons. Is BM the fastest? Curious about Survival but that might be slow.
thanks.
SV ain’t slow and is pretty fun. Play whatever you want, not having fun is the largest drag in leveling.
4 Likes
I think Marksman is a bit faster at low levels, but BM is way faster once you get Beast Cleave, which allows your pet to keep threat on multiple targets easily, and lets you pull a lot more enemies.
2 Likes
Honestly? It’s been my experience that all three Hunter specs throughout all the expansions has been pretty good for leveling (this includes the speed, too) – it’s really more about which spec you are the best at. If you rock BM? Go BM. If you knew SV (ranged pre-Legion and melee post-Legion) inside-out? Go SV. If you’re a master at MM? Go MM.
I’ve even experimented with leveling various hunters using different specs, and without fail, I’ve always been the fastest at leveling my MM hunters – that’s because I know the MM spec; I’ve mained that spec ever since Vanilla (starting in 2005).
With other classes? Yeah, there’s usually a clear spec that’s the best/most fast for leveling. But with Hunters? All three specs have always been pretty good at leveling, honestly.
2 Likes
Thanks guys. Quick follow-up:
Which kind of pet is the best for leveling? I assume tenacity but wanted some feedback.
p.s. ferocity for dungeons/raids i assume?
Ferocity, always run ferocity for leveling.
As for dungeons/raids, run a spirit beast unless you don’t have one or there’s nobody with lust in your group…at which point, you’ll run ferocity.
2 Likes
Ferocity. The leech is amazing. If your BM you should grab a clefthoof or corehound. I prefer the clefthoof as these things are unkillable between leech, thick hide and blood in the water.
As far as the original question I would suggest BM. You have a tank so you can’t die, decent aoe, and you never need to stop to kill anything. From about 60 to 120 is one loooooong pull.
More specifically, a Bat or Nether Ray as they have a Soothe effect (remove an enrage and magic effect from the target).
If you are running with Warmode on, Hyena/Raptor/Rodent are really great choices. MC and MS would be really needed.
Thanks for the info guys. I have been playing Survival from 30 to almost 40. Pretty fun I like harpooning around. Using a gorilla I tamed in Stranglethorn rn. I’m going to turn WM back on after I get out of this zone – too many Alli around me here.
So if I have WM on, a cunning put is always better, right? Or does it matter too much?
p.s. it seems growl turns off on auto when i get to dungeons, making it easier to remember to do that.
1 Like
Yes, was one of the best changes they made. Growl is auto off in dungeons.
It might provide an advantage if you run into an opposite faction character near your level and get into PvP. A Cunning pet won’t help against a 120 ganking you and isn’t needed for an edge against characters of a lower level than yours. In the end, it is probably better to run with the Clefthoof (if BM) or Scalehide (if not BM) as you are more likely to run into tougher mobs than running into an opposite faction character near your level.
1 Like
I haven’t seen a 120 outside of Zuld/Kill zones in Warmode. I have seen players of similar levels though.
I don’t really know for lower levels since it’s been a long time since I levelled through those zones on a Hunter and the class has changed a lot.
But for higher levels BM is unquestionably the best leveling spec. Like someone said above, once you get beast cleave BM is really strong. It becomes godly once you get Barrage (the talent) since you can pull a massive area and AoE it all down.
The best pet for it is generally a Ferocity pet because a) Bloodlust and b) the Leech buff.
1 Like
Rules of Engagement make SV a blast for questing, but for group play, BM is the way to go since the long cast time of Aimed Shot means that even elite mobs won’t last when you’re in a dungeon group.
But they’re all pretty good. Just get your troll to 120, then let it collect dust til 9.0 comes out.
Problem with that is ToE solves a problem that only SV has. BM can just pull anything from 40 yards. That advantage only gets bigger once Misdirection enters the picture. As BM you end up pulling massive amounts of mobs and AoEing them all down while they are focused on your pet since your AoE damage is a pet attack meaning your pet is getting all the aggro while healing with Ferocity leech.
I honestly think it’s the most efficient solo levelling spec in the whole game at that point. Tank specs can hold large amounts of mobs but pulling them all is more cumbersome. Ranged specs can pull them easily but can’t handle large amounts of mobs at once. BM is the one spec that has everything when it comes to farming mobs while soloing. During BFA levelling I was clearing some quests in ~30 seconds which took other classes several minutes. A rogue on my old server was ahead of me for a good 90 mins or so at BFA launch as I got stuck in an exceptionally laggy shard for that time, but once I was out of it I easily pulled ahead and beat him to 120 by like 40 minutes.
Now, of course, we ARE talking about levelling speed. If you like to take it slow you can take any spec you want. But the OP did ask about speed so that’s what I’m focusing on.