Beast Mastery HuntervsMarksmanship Hunter

What’s the best spec for Hunters, Marksmanship or Beast Mastery? Below breaks down their current DPS potential and compares the two.

This page analyzes multiple simulations for both Marksmanship Hunters and Beast Mastery Hunters using profiles and settings intended to achieve their maximum DPS. Multiple sim environments are used to test how they perform in various conditions. Is one the AoE king? Does one scale better with gear upgrades? Is one more bursty, and more reliant on big cooldowns? Below analyzes the data to find the strengths of each.

Simulation results were created with SimulationCraft
Using game data from Patch 10.1.7 • WoW Dragonflight •

Beast Mastery Hunter
Best boss DPS (in perfect settings)Beast Mastery Hunter achieved 11.96% more maximum boss DPS than Marksmanship Hunter when there was no movement or lag.
Best AoE DPS (in perfect settings)Beast Mastery Hunter achieved 2.49% more AoE DPS than Marksmanship Hunter when there was no movement or lag.
Simplest GameplayBeast Mastery Hunter has fewer damaging abilities which could indicate a simpler rotation.

Marksmanship Hunter
Best boss DPS (in realistic settings)Marksmanship Hunter achieved 8.93% more maximum boss DPS than Beast Mastery Hunter when dealing with occasional movement, lag and crowd-control.
Least affected by movement (single-target)Marksmanship Hunter’s single-target DPS was -796.62% less affected by increased movement compared to Beast Mastery Hunters.
DPS less dependant on big cooldownsMarksmanship Hunter’s DPS is less bursty, meaning it had more consistent damage. With 75% less difference in lowest and peak DPS during a fight when compared to Beast Mastery Hunters.

While the above highlights the DPS advantages between Beast Mastery and Marksmanship Hunters, the DPS potential should not be the only factor in your decision. Ultimately, you should also consider the playstyle that you enjoy most while crushing it in Mythics+ and Raids!

Resources

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