Hey everyone!
I’m completely new to World of Warcraft and I’m looking for some help. Just looking for some tips/advise on how to set up my action bar in order to make it easier to hit the highest DPS possible when doing raids and dungeons. I’m usually at the bottom when it comes to DPS damage. 
BM is a lower damage raiding spec.MM is one of the better dps specs.
You may want to consider joining the newcomer char channel which is monitored by experienced players who are part on the Mentor program.
The are also the hunter forums and hunter discord channels.
Icy-veins.com is pretty much the go to site for class/spec info. Covers rotations, talents, gearing, enchants, etc.
I highly recommend an MMO mouse with 12 side buttons. I use the popular Logitech G600 on Amazon. There are also other brands like Red Dragon, Razor, utechsmart, etc. This allows you to have all instant skills on Mouse buttons so you don’t have to stop moving to use them. I can also assign shift + side mouse buttons on the G600 for an extra 12 skills.
If you have to take your fingers off the movement keys to use instant skills, it hurts your performance. Since BM has the most instant skills of any spec in the game, BM is adversely affected even more.
Some of best keys for skills are q,e,r,f,c,x,z,1,2,3,4, and shift/alt + the letter keys. The less distance your fingers travel the faster and more accurate. I second Icy Veins class/spec guides and you tube spec guides.
BM is currently bottom 3 for all specs in game for dungeons and raids, while MM is top 5 in both. In BFA, BM was the best. There are periodic nerfs and buffs so rankings change.
It’s pretty common for people to unbind the turn keys to use those keys for more useful stuff. You shouldn’t ever be using the turn keys to turn anyhow, as it’s a lot slower than using the right mousebutton to turn.
In a similar vein, you shouldn’t be using the “back” key most of the time. (I do leave that one bound as it is useful when trying to nudge mob position when tanking — specifically because it’s slower.) It’s much better to use strafe keys to “run away.” It’s faster, and if you get the angle right you avoid getting smacked in the back and dazed, and can also keep shooting.
The default UI has up to 5 action bars to which you can assign keybindings. You can turn those extra bars on under Game Menu > Interface > Action Bars. To assign keybinds to those extra bars, you want Game Menu > Keybinds > MultiActionBar.
Finally, Beast Master spec has a lot of short cooldowns to keep track of. So, you might want to look into some interface addons to make that information easier to see. WeakAuras is the go-to addon for such things, but there are lots of other options as well. While WeakAuras has a pretty steep learning curve, you can import WAs that other people have made. Wago.io has a repository of these.
Yeah for DPS you should assign strafe to A and D and remove turn from those keys. Since Udiza mentioned weak auras, here is how to make one type of WA manually it’s easy and will really help. I use this type of weak aura on all skills with a 1 minute or less CD so I don’t need to watch timers as much.
Google Weak Auras Curseforge, download, copy and paste folders to your wow/retail/interface/addon folder. Restart the game.
In game type /WA to open the menu
Click New Aura, from template, icon, abilities, “pick skill”
Click the option that says only show when skill is ready to use.
Drag the icon from the center of screen anywhere you want. I keep mind lower left side of character above player bar. You can manually change the icon size anytime.
After you use the skill, the icon disappears, and it re-appears when it’s ready to use again…easy to see it pop in peripheral vision for faster reaction time.
I would make horizontal WA colored bars for focus, barbed shot, and the multi shot buff (if still applicable) so you can easily see them draining down.
New aura, from template, horizontal bar, debuff, “barbed shot”
Pick color, set, width to 225 height to 15, drag under your feet. Focus should be in the resource section.
probably the best advice i can give is to watch this about setting up your interface and keybinds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbdWNNML6ME
its the advice i wish i had gotten years ago
I learned of a logistically superior set up in 2004 that I still use today. Assign the move keys to ESDF, which puts your left hand in the center of the left side of the keyboard. This allows you to easily reach 5,t,g,b for more close keys. I cycle targets with Q and use tab for a skill.
If you have not done so already, the player and target frames in the upper left corner. Right click, unlock, move them to diagonally down left and right of your character.
I’ve had a chance to get a good night’s sleep, so I thought I’d add some keybinding strategies I use.
An important thing to remember is that keybind setups will in the end be personal. Here’s the general strategy I use. First, I pick my movement keys. (This is also a personal choice. Whacker’s video and Astyrss gave two different options, and I’ll add a third a bit later in this post.)
Then, find some training dummies or easy fast respawning mobs and get to experimenting. This is also where you can see if you have any key ghosting issues you need to work around. (This is where when you hit certain key combinations, some of the keys don’t register properly due to how the keyboard’s key detection is set up. Gaming keyboards are generally designed to minimize this.)
I have 4 different categories I assign different keys:
(1) Easy to hit while using movement keys.
(2) A stretch to hit while using movement keys.
(3) Easy to hit when not using movement keys.
(4) A stretch to hit when not using movement keys.
In both cases, the “easy” keys should be stuff you’re hitting all the time, with the movement restricted ones reserved for stuff with a cast time you can’t use while moving anyhow. (Which, admittedly, isn’t much for a BM hunter.) Stretch keys work great for stuff with medium to long cooldowns.
I use a bit of an oddball setup for movement: ESDX
E for forward, X for backpedal (having it on a slightly awkward keybind is fine since I don’t do it often), E for strafe left, and D for strafe right.
As someone who learned touch typing on actual typewriters, I’m just not comfortable having my left hand anywhere but the home row, so that’s my first consideration.
This setup frees up an extra finger on my left had for non-movement stuff, which with my tiny hands is a big help. Here’s what categories my keys fall in for me:
(1) Easy to hit while using movement keys.
r,t,f,g,v,b,q,a
(2) A stretch to hit while using movement keys.
Backtick, Tab, 1,2,z,4,5,6,y,h,
(3) Easy to hit when not using movement keys.
w
(4) A stretch to hit when not using movement keys.
3,c
There’s also the consideration of using key modifiers. Basically, any keybinds I hit with my pinky don’t work well with modifiers, so that’s another consideration.
Upgrading your weapon will help a lot, that’s where a good percentage of your damage is generated from, but it’s your lowest level item.
Get a damage meter, that will help with your rotation when practicing on a dummy.
Foxes are a Cunning pet, which is typically a pvp spec. They aren’t bad in PvP, but there’s a good selection of ferocity and exotic pets that will perform better. As BM, your pet damage and management is also very important.
I use Weak Aura’s (with one of the bars from https://wago.io/weakauras/classes/hunter/beast-mastery) to keep track of my cooldowns easily. I do use Killer Cobra as my level 50 ability because it gives a good damage boost because Beastial Wrath is almost always active if you’re timing it right.
My key binds are simple. Those I use most are the easiest to reach. I don’t put anything on my bars I don’t use, and I use ElvUI to give me extra bars that I can tuck away (like one that is only active in PvP). On every character I have some basic things that I keep consistent, like my interrupt is always on 8. I also use a 12 button gaming mouse, so I index my higher number abilities on my mouse more than my keyboard.
A lot of it is finding what is comfortable to you. I’ve been playing a hunter for over 14 years, so it’s second nature to me now. Most of it really is practice, learning how things work for you and keeping up to date with sites like icy-veins for talents, covenant abilities, and all that other fun stuff.