Beast Mastery Hunters in TBC Classic live and die by one core mechanic: weaving Steady Shot between Auto Shot uses. Back in original Classic WoW, Hunters struggled with awkward downtime because they lacked a reliable filler ability. TBC fixed that problem by introducing Steady Shot, which scales incredibly well thanks to its high Attack Power coefficient and short cast time. It's now the foundation of Hunter DPS.

You might have heard that BM Hunters just spam one macro button and call it a day. That worked in the original TBC, but the modern Classic client (running on the Shadowlands engine) breaks those old macros. You'll need to manually time your abilities and watch your swing timer to get the most out of your damage.

This guide covers everything from basic rotation concepts for newer players through advanced techniques like melee weaving for veterans pushing their DPS ceiling.

TBC Classic Beast Mastery Hunter — Beast Mastery Hunters are absolute powerhouses in The Burning Crusade

Core Abilities Overview

Knowing what each ability does and when to press it forms the foundation of solid Hunter gameplay.

Primary Damage Abilities

Steady Shot

Your main filler ability and the backbone of every Hunter rotation. It deals damage based on your base weapon damage plus 20% of your Ranged Attack Power, plus a flat 150 damage (with an extra 175 against dazed targets). You'll cast this more than anything else during fights.

Auto Shot

Your automatic ranged attack that fires continuously while you have a target. Never "clip" your Auto Shot by starting another cast before it fires, or you'll waste damage. Learning to time your other abilities around Auto Shot is the most important skill you can develop.

Multi-Shot

Deals slightly more damage per use than Steady Shot, even on single targets. That makes it worth using on cooldown. Replace one Steady Shot in your rotation with Multi-Shot whenever it's available. Just be careful around crowd-controlled enemies since Multi-Shot can break CC.

Kill Command

An off-GCD ability that commands your pet to attack for significant damage. You can only use Kill Command after landing a critical strike, but it can proc while already off cooldown for immediate reuse. Hit this whenever it lights up. There's no specific spot for it in your rotation since it works independently of the global cooldown. One catch: you can't use Kill Command while casting Steady Shot.

Arcane Shot

An instant-cast ability dealing Arcane damage. Beast Mastery Hunters mostly use this in specific rotation variants (like the French Rotation) or while moving. Survival Hunters rely on it more heavily as a core ability because their slower playstyle without Serpent's Swiftness gives them room to fit it in.

Aimed Shot

Your single hardest-hitting ability, but the long cast time means Steady Shot produces higher sustained DPS. Aimed Shot shines in your opener, where you can pre-cast it before a boss pull. It's also handy against enemies that heal since it applies a healing reduction debuff.

Cooldowns

Bestial Wrath

Your primary damage cooldown. It increases your pet's damage by 50% for 18 seconds and makes your pet immune to various crowd control effects. The associated talent, The Beast Within, also boosts your own damage during this window. Save this for burn phases, particularly when Heroism/Bloodlust is active.

Rapid Fire

Increases your ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown. This directly affects your effective weapon speed and might shift which rotation you should use while it's active. Stack this with other haste effects (Heroism, Haste Potions, Quick Shots procs) for the biggest impact.

Utility and Support Abilities

Hunter's Mark

Should always be active on your target. When fully talented with Improved Hunter's Mark, it provides 440 Ranged Attack Power and 110 Melee Attack Power to everyone attacking the marked target. Usually one Hunter in the raid (often the Survival Hunter) handles keeping this up.

Misdirection

A powerful utility ability that transfers your threat to a targeted ally (usually the tank) for your next three attacks. Critical for avoiding threat problems during your opening burst and for helping tanks establish aggro on pulls.

Aspect of the Hawk

Your primary damage aspect. The Attack Power increase and the chance to proc Quick Shots (which speeds up your attacks) make this too valuable to drop under most circumstances.

Aspect of the Viper

Your mana regeneration aspect. While active, you regenerate mana quickly but deal less damage than with Aspect of the Hawk. Switch to this when you're critically low on mana, though with proper support (like Judgement of Wisdom from a Paladin), you should rarely need it.

Feign Death

Used primarily to survive during wipes or botched pulls. In TBC, Feign Death can no longer be used during boss encounters to swap trinkets.

Pet Abilities

Mend Pet

Now a cast ability rather than a channeled one, so you can maintain your rotation while keeping your pet alive.

Hunter with Pet in TBC — Your pet contributes significant damage and requires active management

Auto Shot and Steady Shot Weaving

Before learning specific rotations, you need to understand the core concept driving all Hunter DPS: weaving Steady Shot between Auto Shot uses without wasting either.

Why Weapon Speed Matters

Your weapon's attack speed determines how much time you have between Auto Shots to cast other abilities. Steady Shot has a 1.5-second cast time (before haste), so you need enough time after one Auto Shot to finish a Steady Shot cast before your next Auto Shot fires.

Your "effective weapon speed" changes based on haste effects. A weapon with a 3.0-second base speed might drop to 2.2 seconds with enough haste. Different effective weapon speeds call for different rotations to avoid clipping Auto Shots.

The Golden Rule

Never start casting Steady Shot if doing so would delay your next Auto Shot. This is called "clipping" and it wastes DPS. You need a swing timer addon to track when your Auto Shot will fire so you can time your Steady Shot casts properly.

Beginner Rotation: The 1:1

The 1:1 rotation is the most straightforward approach and serves as the entry point for Hunters learning their class. "1:1" means one Steady Shot per one Auto Shot.

When to Use 1:1

Use this rotation when your effective weapon speed falls between roughly 1.3 to 1.6 seconds. This typically happens during heavy haste stacking (Rapid Fire + Heroism + Haste Potion) or with naturally faster weapons.

How to Execute

Auto Shot fires (watch your swing timer)
Steady Shot immediately after Auto Shot completes
Auto Shot fires again
Steady Shot again
Repeat

Replace Steady Shot with Multi-Shot whenever Multi-Shot comes off cooldown since it deals more damage per use.

Use Kill Command instantly whenever it becomes available (after you crit). Since it's off the GCD, it won't interfere with your rotation.

Why This Works

At fast weapon speeds, you only have time for one ability between Auto Shots. Trying to fit more would clip your next Auto Shot and waste damage.

Intermediate Rotations

As your gear improves or during periods without full haste cooldowns, you'll need rotations that accommodate slower effective weapon speeds.

The 1:2 Rotation

When to Use: When your effective weapon speed allows two Auto Shots to fire in the time you'd otherwise cast one Steady Shot. This happens at moderate haste levels.

Execution:

Auto Shot fires
Wait for second Auto Shot to fire
Cast Steady Shot (or Multi-Shot if off cooldown)
Auto Shot fires
Auto Shot fires again
Cast Steady Shot
Repeat

This rotation feels slower and requires patience. Watch your swing timer carefully and only cast Steady Shot after the second Auto Shot completes.

The 1:1.5 Rotation

When to Use: When your hasted weapon speed falls between 2.2 and 2.4 seconds. This typically applies to slower weapons (2.8-3.0 base speed) with moderate haste.

Execution:

Auto Shot
Steady Shot
Multi-Shot or Arcane Shot (instant cast)
Auto Shot (fires during the GCD from your instant cast)
Steady Shot
Auto Shot
Repeat from step 2

This rotation combines two Steady Shots with one instant-cast ability for every two Auto Shots. The instant cast "fits" into the rotation without clipping because it finishes during time you'd otherwise spend waiting.

TBC Hunter Weapon Setup — Your weapon speed determines which rotation you should use

Advanced Rotation: The French Rotation (5:5:1:1)

This rotation squeezes out extra damage for slow weapons when you have no active haste cooldowns. It intentionally delays Auto Shots slightly to incorporate both Multi-Shot and Arcane Shot.

When to Use

Only use this rotation with slow weapons and no haste effects active. It also demands significant mana, so avoid it unless you have reliable access to Judgement of Wisdom from a Paladin.

Execution

Auto Shot
Steady Shot (cast immediately after Auto Shot)
Multi-Shot (cast immediately after Steady Shot, which slightly delays your next Auto Shot)
Auto Shot (delayed slightly due to Multi-Shot)
Steady Shot (cast normally after Auto Shot)
Auto Shot (fires normally)
Steady Shot (cast normally after Auto Shot)
Arcane Shot (cast immediately, which slightly delays your next Auto Shot)
Auto Shot (delayed slightly due to Arcane Shot)
Repeat from step 2

Use Kill Command whenever it procs throughout this sequence.

Things to Consider

The slight Auto Shot delays from the instant casts are intentional and result in a net DPS gain despite the clipping. The mana cost is substantially higher than simpler rotations, though. If you don't have consistent mana support, stick with the 1:1 rotation instead.

Advanced Technique: Melee Weaving

Melee weaving involves stepping into melee range between ranged abilities to land Raptor Strike, your hardest-hitting single ability. When executed perfectly, this can boost your DPS by up to 10%, though realistic gains in actual raid encounters usually fall between 5-6%.

Why Melee Weaving is Less Common in TBC

In Classic WoW, Hunters had significant downtime in their rotations, making melee weaving forgiving to pull off. TBC's addition of Steady Shot and increased haste shrinks the windows where you can safely melee weave without wasting cast time or missing Auto Shots.

The Weapon Trade-Off

Melee weaving requires a hard-hitting two-handed melee weapon. The current best Hunter setup, though, uses dual one-handed fist weapons with two Adamantite Weightstones applied. The Weightstones' damage bonus also scales your ranged weapon damage, providing substantial benefit. Two-handed weapons also tend to have worse stats than the combined stats from two one-handed weapons.

Melee Weaving Rotation (2:2:1)

Prerequisites:

Encounters where you can consistently stand at 5 yards from the boss
A strong two-handed melee weapon
Solid grasp of basic rotations

Execution:

Auto Shot
Steady Shot
Step into melee range
Raptor Strike (or regular melee attack if Raptor Strike is on cooldown)
Step back to ranged
Auto Shot
Steady Shot or Multi-Shot
Repeat

The removal of the "dead zone" in TBC allows weaving within 0.2-0.4 seconds, but timing remains precise.

Recommendation

Due to the difficulty and trade-offs involved (weapon choice, positioning requirements), melee weaving is hard to recommend for most players. At best, it provides a small DPS increase when done perfectly, but mistakes can easily result in DPS losses instead.

TBC Classic Hunter Combat — Melee weaving requires precise positioning and timing

AoE Rotation

Hunters have limited AoE capabilities in TBC Classic. Your approach to multiple targets involves minor adjustments rather than a completely different rotation.

Available AoE Abilities

Multi-Shot: Already part of your single-target rotation because it deals more damage than Steady Shot even on one target. Additional targets just increase its value.

Explosive Trap: Can now be used in combat (with a 2-second arming delay after placement). Worth using as burst AoE on 7 or more targets.

Volley: Relatively weak. Only worth using on very large groups (10+ enemies) and only when both Explosive Trap and Multi-Shot are on cooldown.

AoE Priority

Use Multi-Shot on cooldown (higher priority than Steady Shot)
Drop Explosive Trap if facing 7+ targets
Continue your normal single-target rotation on a primary target
Use Volley only as a last resort on massive pulls

Opening Sequence

Your opener sets the tone for the entire encounter. A well-executed opening gives you strong burst damage while keeping you from ripping threat off the tank.

Pre-Pull Checklist

Make sure Hunter's Mark is on the target (if you're the designated Hunter for this)
Cast Misdirection on the tank

The Best Opener

Hunter's Mark (if assigned to you)
Misdirection on the tank
Begin casting Aimed Shot, timed so the cast completes exactly as the pull timer reaches zero
Distracting Shot (optional). This is your highest-threat shot and transfers maximum threat to the tank via Misdirection
Bestial Wrath (macro this with any racial cooldowns like Blood Fury)
Rapid Fire
Begin your standard rotation

Why Aimed Shot in the Opener

Aimed Shot is your hardest-hitting ability but its long cast time makes it inefficient during sustained combat. The pre-pull window gives you "free" time to cast it without losing Steady Shot casts.

Cooldown Management

Using your cooldowns well makes a big difference in your overall damage.

Stacking Cooldowns

You want to use Rapid Fire and Bestial Wrath together, ideally during Heroism/Bloodlust. Adding a Haste Potion during this window pushes your damage even further.

Haste and Rotation Shifts

Activating haste cooldowns changes your effective weapon speed. You might need to shift from a 1:1.5 or French rotation into a 1:1 or 1:2 rotation when your speed increases substantially. Watch your swing timer and adapt accordingly.

Quick Shots Proc

Aspect of the Hawk can proc Quick Shots, which temporarily increases your attack speed. This is another reason to maintain Aspect of the Hawk rather than switching to Aspect of the Viper.

Pet Management

Your pet contributes significant damage and needs active management to perform well.

Basic Pet Control

Pets need to be told what to attack. Add /petattack to your macros so your pet engages your current target immediately.

Create a separate keybind to set your pet to passive and recall it when necessary (dangerous mechanics, target switches, etc.).

Wind Serpent Specifics

If you use a Wind Serpent as your pet, they cast Lightning Breath but not frequently enough on their own for good DPS. Adding /cast Lightning Breath to your rotation macro forces your Wind Serpent to use its primary damage ability as often as possible.

This macro modification is only necessary for Wind Serpents. Other pets don't require this level of micromanagement.

Best Pet

Ravager is the best pet choice for Beast Mastery Hunters.

Ravager Pet — The Ravager is considered the optimal pet choice for BM Hunters

Mana Management

Running out of mana means casting fewer Steady Shots, which directly cuts into your DPS.

Primary Mana Strategy

Judgement of Wisdom from a Paladin should provide enough mana regeneration in most situations. With this buff active, you should rarely need to switch to Aspect of the Viper.

When to Use Aspect of the Viper

If you must regenerate mana, switch to Aspect of the Viper temporarily. Your damage decreases compared to Aspect of the Hawk, but being able to cast more Steady Shots makes the trade-off worth it when you're critically low.

Mana Potions

Keep Super Mana Potions or Fel Mana Potions on hand. Using a potion to avoid switching out of Aspect of the Hawk maintains higher overall DPS than switching aspects.

French Rotation Mana Warning

The French Rotation (5:5:1:1) consumes way more mana than simpler rotations because of Arcane Shot. Without reliable Judgement of Wisdom access, avoid this rotation and use the more mana-efficient 1:1 instead.

Movement Tips

You can't cast Steady Shot while moving, but you can still deal damage during movement phases.

Instant Casts While Moving

Use Multi-Shot, Arcane Shot, and Serpent Sting while moving for "free" damage that you'd otherwise lose entirely.

Brief Stops for Auto Shot

If movement requirements allow, stop briefly every couple of seconds to make sure your Auto Shot fires. Even limited Auto Shot uptime beats zero ranged damage.

Macros

Macros streamline your gameplay and prevent errors.

Steady Shot Rotation Macro

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast [@pettarget,harm,nodead] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/cast [@pettarget,harm,nodead] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()

This macro:

Keeps Auto Shot active
Attempts to use Kill Command (if your pet has a hostile, living target)
Casts Steady Shot
Attempts Kill Command again
Clears error messages from the UI

Important Note

This macro helps but doesn't automate your rotation. You still need to watch your swing timer and time button presses to avoid clipping Auto Shots.

Pet Attack Macro

Add /petattack to your primary rotation macro or abilities so your pet attacks your current target.

Wind Serpent Macro Addition

If using a Wind Serpent, add /cast Lightning Breath to your rotation macro to get the most out of your pet's DPS.

TBC Classic Raiding — Proper macro usage helps maximize your raid performance

Stings: When to Use Them

Serpent Sting

Serpent Sting remains largely useless in TBC and should generally be avoided in both PvE and PvP situations.

Scorpid Sting

Use if assigned by your raid based on group composition needs.

Viper Sting

Primarily a PvP ability for mana drain in arena matches. No realistic PvE applications.

Traps in Combat

TBC allows trap usage during combat, with a 2-second arming delay before traps become active.

Explosive Trap: Useful for AoE burst on large groups (7+ targets).
Freezing Trap: Available for emergency crowd control during encounters.
Frost Trap: Available for slowing adds when needed.
Snake Trap: Has very few practical uses. Not recommended for PvE and rarely useful in PvP.

Choosing Your Rotation

Effective Weapon Speed	Recommended Rotation
1.3 - 1.6 seconds	1:1
Moderate haste	1:2
2.2 - 2.4 seconds	1:1.5
Slow weapon, no haste, good mana support	French Rotation (5:5:1:1)
Positioning allows melee, using 2H weapon	Melee Weaving (optional)

Quick Reference Priority

Never clip Auto Shot
Use Kill Command whenever it procs
Use Multi-Shot on cooldown (in place of Steady Shot)
Use Bestial Wrath and Rapid Fire together during Heroism
Maintain Aspect of the Hawk unless critically low on mana
Pre-cast Aimed Shot in your opener
Always Misdirect to the tank on pull

TBC Classic Karazhan — Apply these techniques to dominate in TBC raids like Karazhan