Before we begin, let me just say I really hate discussing Hunter Talent Specs. I swear Troll’s hae their own special search engine that they use and just type “Hunter Talent Specs, Marksman, Survival, Beast Mastery” into so they can easily find the target of the day. I guess today’s my day.
We’re gonna talk about Hunter Talent Specs. Now I’m not going to go into a TON of detail here. But since this is Hunter 101, we can at least discuss the different specs a little bit. Their purpose, what makes them so uber cool, and yes, I’ll through up a couple of endgame raid specs just for you. First, let’s get a better understanding of what a Hunter Spec realy is all about.
Hunters are one of the few unique classes in World of Warcraft that really only has one role. We’ve stated that over and over again,. Class repeat after me, “A Hunter’s only role is to provide consistent dps.”
Now what makes us unique in this role is that we have three specs to provide that damage.
- Beast Mastery
- Marksmanship
- Survival
Back in the old, old days those three specs meant something else. But there’s no need to go over old history (maybe another post sometime). Just suffice it to say back in BC (and to some extent Vanilla WoW) you had three Hunter Roles:
- PvE (MM in Original WoW, and BM in Burning Crusade)
- PvP (BM in Original WoW and MM in BC)
- Utility (SV pretty much up until WoTLK)
That all changed though in Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard decided to implment a “Bring the Player (meaning role) and not the class” concept to the game. While doing that, they then decided to give us Hunters what we always said we were. Blizz made us a pure DPS class (well there went the neigborhood)
Anyways, what we ended up with are three specs that have some talents that will basically get your Raid Card revoked if you decide to spec them. (Pathfinding anyone? or how about Savage Strikes) There was a time when these actually added something to how you played the game. Now? they’re basically just screen filler.
Anyways, what about those specs and what they do? Well, let’s lookinto it a bit.
Beast Mastery (BM)
If you like having the symmetry of sharing a good portion of your DPS with your pet, then Beast Mastery is the spec for you. It’s sad that many people have relegated this spec to the farming/grinidng graveyard. (I say stand up! Be Proud!! Choose the spec you want, but that wouldn’t be right either. Min/Max raiders are right and have a right also.)
The main issue with the BM spec at the moment is how this dependency on pets is crippling the DPS of the Hunter. Don’t believe me? Just try to keep your pet alive during a Heigan fight.
However, there are Hunters that actually raid as BM and enjoy it! 
Our good friend Pike raids as BM and would never turn back. If you decide to follow her, then make sure your doing everything you can to maximize your DPS.
If you want to spec BM and raid, I guess I’d say go with:
Marksmanship (MM)
The MM Hunter is gonna focus on Mana Efficiency but “High Power” shots to bring down their mobs. Unlike a BM Hunter, the Marksman Hunter can be a little more lax with their pets. They can’t let them die, it’s just not the end-all, be-all that it is with BM Hunters.
As a Marksman your gonna need to make sure and keep your priority rotation sharp and that your geared to the teeth to maximize your DPS potential.
There’s a couple of solid specs to choose from for the Marksman Hunter
Survival (SV)
Now the last Hunter Spec is the Survival Spec. For many years it was refered to as the Utility spec. It was used for helping to povide buffs to the raid but sacrificing DPS. Also, Survival Hunters were the best crowd control Hunters out there. Well, the trapping game has seen some improvment since Naxx, but it’s no where near where it was.
Like MM Hunters, your not having to worry as much about your pet, but you do have to focus on your priority shot rotation.
If your a Survival Hunter you need to review Xumio’s Survival Guide! It has a TON of information for Hunters.
So there you have it.. A pretty easy what”s the big deal about specs along with some recomended specs for each class.
Do you raid with these spec? Have some alternative ideas or questions? Well let me know!!
Eddie “Brigwyn” Carrington is often known as being that crazy dwarf on Twitter.
He's also a blogger, podcaster (Hosts Brigwyn's Corner, Co-host of Everything Blah! and of course Redneck Geek and Cajun Gamer with his good friend Andy "Daewin" Dino. 
