Locked and Loaded: Best Hunter talents for leveling and world quests in Legion

In Legion, you will be spending a great deal of your time doing things out in the world. First, with leveling to 110 and then doing world quests every day after you reach max level. In some cases, this calls for a different selection of talents than what you’d normally use in something like a dungeon or raid.

If you’ve done any kind of soloing in patch 7.0, you may have noticed our overall soloing capability has diminished. That’s a rant for another time, but there are some ways to make things better, and it starts with your pet.

Pet talents and families

In the past, it wasn’t really necessary to do this, but in Legion you are going to want to spec your pet into Tenacity for Blood of the Rhino, Great Stamina, Last Stand, and Thunderstomp while soloing. Yes, you’ll sacrifice Ferocity’s damage (Spiked Collar), but in this case the DPS sacrifice is worth it. Your pet spec is now global across all of your pets, so be sure to swap back to Ferocity for any kind of group content. Once you hit level 110, maybe you’ll get lucky and get The Apex Predator’s Claw to get the best of both worlds.

As for a pet family, I’d recommend any pet with a damage reduction ability: Basilisks (some nice new models in Legion), Beetles, Clefthooves, Crabs, Quilen, Shale Spiders, or Turtles. If you’re playing Beast Mastery, Spirit Beasts are another alternative for the extra heal they can use on themselves. These abilities will keep your pet alive longer and let them tank more mobs simultaneously.

Beast Mastery talents

Level 15: Way of the Cobra. To be honest, there’s no wrong answer in this tier. Way of the Cobra is good single target damage, Dire Stable gives you more Focus, and Big Game Hunter finds use because you are frequently attacking new targets to take advantage of it.

Level 30: Stomp. It’s great AOE damage and it’s automatic. It turns your charging Dire Beasts into actual projectiles! The other choices aren’t bad at all, but this is my favorite.

Level 45: Posthaste. Allows you to quickly get around without having to mount up in between every single group of mobs.

Level 60: Bestial Fury. Don’t hold onto your Bestial Wrath for a special occasion. Use it whenever it’s up and take advantage of this talent.

Level 75: Binding Shot. Beast Mastery doesn’t have much CC left, but this is a nice one. If you have a large number of enemies about to kill your pet, drop this on them and pull your pet back a few yards so it can trigger. Your pet should be able to heal up during the stun, hopefully enough to finish them off with its Beast Cleave.

Level 90: A Murder of Crows. Why this over an AOE talent? Because of the cooldown reset mechanic, and the fact that it deals high DPS (it’s buffed by Mastery as well). Questing mobs don’t survive for very long, meaning you can use this talent continuously. The other choices aren’t bad (Barrage in combination with Misdirection is quite nice), but this is what I prefer.

Level 100: Aspect of the Beast. In combination with a Tenacity specced pet, this talent ensures your pet is taking 15% less damage most of the time. If you feel like your pet doesn’t need the extra damage reduction (I like it because it lets me pull more mobs simultaneously), then use Stampede once you’ve gathered a big group of mobs together.

Marksmanship talents

Level 15: Lone Wolf. Wait a minute! No pet for soloing? Well, Marksmanship was originally designed without a pet and it works well without one. I find it’s better to kill things quicker than have a pet, especially considering the talent in the next tier. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your pet around, but I would only bother with Steady Focus if you’re taking Sidewinders.

Level 30: Black Arrow. This is part of the reason you don’t really need a pet. The minion summoned from Black Arrow will taunt targets for you. If they’re still alive when the minion disappears, they’re probably close to dead anyway.

Level 45: Posthaste. Allows you to quickly get around without having to mount up in between every single group of mobs.

Level 60: Patient Sniper. This takes away Marksmanship’s ramp up time, which is great for questing and leveling. Now you no longer need to get 3 stacks of Vulnerable on the target to do full damage. The extra Focus is a nice bonus. Especially good when combined with Sidewinders.

Level 75: Camouflage. I personally like Camouflage for sneaking around mobs I don’t want to deal with. If you feel like you need some extra crowd control to keep enemies off you, then go for Binding Shot.

Level 90: Barrage. This is a more attractive talent for Marksmanship compared to Beast Mastery, especially with the buffed range and damage from Sniper Training. A Murder of Crows isn’t a bad choice either.

Level 100: Sidewinders. This talent hits everything in front of you, similar to Barrage. It instantly applies Vulnerable, plus it will mark everything it hits for some pretty easy Marked Shots. In combination with Patient Sniper you’ll be able to make quick work of anything. If you dislike the playstyle, go for Piercing Shot.

Survival talents

Level 15: Throwing Axes. These cost hardly any Focus and deal decent ranged damage, so if your Harpoon is on cooldown you can also pull mobs from range with it. Way of the Mok’nathal requires ramp up time which is not ideal for this sort of thing. Animal Instincts is the option if you don’t want an extra button to worry about.

Level 30: Snake Hunter. On demand burst damage to quickly deal with more difficult targets. A Murder of Crows is also a good choice (and gives you another ranged attack).

Level 45: Posthaste. This isn’t quite as useful as the Beast Mastery and Marksmanship version, but extra movement speed is never a bad thing (especially as melee). The competing options just aren’t that great, though Farstrider is nice if you can get it to proc.

Level 60: Improved Traps. Explosive Trap is your bread and butter and this allows you to use it more often. Not to mention the cooldown reduction on your other traps.

Level 75: Camouflage. I don’t need to explain the benefits of being to stealth around as a melee class. Besides, Survival already has quite a bit of CC with its traps.

Level 90: Dragonsfire Grenade. Costs no Focus, deals great damage. Need I say more? Another decent option is Serpent Sting, which you can apply to multiple mobs with Carve.

Level 100: Expert Trapper. Remember what I said about Explosive Trap being your bread and butter? Well this makes it even better. On top of that it makes your CC traps more effective.

As a reminder, you can now only change talents in rested areas. Most major quest hubs will have an innkeeper and a small rested area for you to do this. You can also buy or craft Tomes of the Tranquil Mind to change your talents anywhere.