Whether you’re brand-new to the world of Azeroth or returning after a lengthy hiatus, the overwhelming amount of content available in World of Warcraft makes choosing a build and adventuring through years of quests difficult. Here is the best build for new players in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.
The Best New Player Build in WoW: Dragonflight
The best new player build in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is easily the Beast Master Hunter, followed closely by a Holy Paladin and Demonology Warlock. The former offers survivability, high DPS, animal companions, and increased mobility.
The Beast Mastery Hunter
When I first started playing World of Warcraft at the launch of Cataclysm, I asked around about the best class for a beginner. Back then, it was a Hunter. Today, it’s a Hunter. More specifically, you want to start building a Beast Mastery Hunter. It’s the ideal class for a beginner and anyone who intends to play World of Warcraft solo or in a small group setting. The ability to summon pets and attack from afar, plus the high survivability of the class, make it ideal for those still learning the game’s tab-target combat and mechanics.
Furthermore, the Hunter already provides exceptional single-target and AOE (area-of-effect) damage. When you pair the attack power of the basic Hunter with the upgraded companion abilities of the Beast Mastery Specialization, you wind up with quite the force.
Core Talents
Once you unlock the talent tree at level 10, you will want to start planning your Hunter build. I find it helpful to keep a pen and paper on my desk; that way, I can write down essential skills I’d like to try out or invest points into. Yes, I know, that’s old-school nerd vibes.
In any case, there are a few key talents you should focus on, including:
- Kill Command: Commands your pet to kill the enemy target, dealing massive physical damage.
- Kill Shot: A ranged attack meant to finish an injured target, dealing 297% attack power in physical damage, but is only available when the enemy is under 20% health.
- Improved Kill Shot: Increases the critical damage of Kill Shot by a staggering 25%.
- Pathfinding: Your movement speed is increased by 2%. It’s a slight buff, but it makes a difference.
- Counter-Shot: A ranged attack that interrupts spellcasting. This one is beneficial as, for the most part, it’s mages and hunters that will hit you most often at range.
- Beast Master: Your pet’s damage increases by 3%.
- Improved Kill Command: The damage caused by Kill Command increases by 5%.
- Alpha Predator: Kill Command now includes two charges plus deals an additional 15% damage.
- Serrated Shots: A ranged attack that causes Serpent Sting and Bleed damage to increase by 10%, which increases to 20% when your enemy is under 30% health.
- Keen Eyesight: Increases critical strike chance by 2%.
- Master Marksman: Melee and ranged special attack crit hits cause 7% bleeding over 6 seconds.
Talents to Avoid
It’s easy to get caught up in spending talent points to flesh out your build, but do not waste your valuable points on useless talents. These are the talents you should avoid:
- Trailblazer: You receive 15% increased movement speed after not attacking for 3 seconds.
- Steel Trap: Hurls a Steel Trap that causes damage and immobilizes targets. It’s very situational, and, as such, you likely won’t use it frequently.
- Wilderness Medicine: Heals an additional 25% of your pet’s health and dispels magic effects when casting Mend Pet. On the surface, it sounds good, right? But Exhilaration is much better.
Stat Priorities for Beast Master Hunter Builds
While you don’t get to place points into your various stats like most other role-playing games, you can influence your stats via gear. You will want to focus on the following:
- Agility: Increases the damage you deliver via class spells, abilities, and automatic attacks.
- Haste: Increases passive Focus regeneration and reduces the cooldowns of numerous spells for this build.
- Critical Strike: As a ranged DPS, you will routinely deal critical hits, and Critical Strike increases the amount of damage you deal with each one.
- Mastery: Increases the damage dealt by your pets.
How to Play a Beast Mastery Hunter Build
As a Hunter, you’re somewhat squishy. You’re not full-blown glass cannon mage levels of squishy, but you don’t want to fight an entire group solo in close combat. The goal is to remain mobile and at a distance to deal damage from afar.
As such, do not hesitate to use Disengage or Play Dead to create breathing room between you and your foes. Once you have enough distance, re-engage the enemy and launch a series of quick attacks to simultaneously deal a lot of damage.
Furthermore, don’t forget that your pet is just pixels. You can send them into combat to take the brunt of enemy encounters while you position yourself somewhere ideal to land hits on targets and groups with your core skills.
Beast Mastery Hunter Rotation
One thing I’ve always found somewhat overwhelming about playing World of Warcraft is the sheer number of skills you unlock for each class. You can fill multiple hot bars. But over the years, I learned something. You don’t need every skill. You need a core group of skills to help you clear mobs, dungeons, and bosses, and that’s all.
For the Beast Mastery Hunter, the skill rotation is entirely up to you and your playstyle, but we recommend:
- Barbed Shot
- Bestial Wrath
- Kill Command
- Kill Shot
- Multi-Shot
With these five skills on rotation, you’ll deal a ton of damage, taking down foes easily while your pet has your back.
World of Warcraft is in one of the best places in years, gameplay and story-wise, so now is the perfect time to start experiencing Azeroth to its fullest for yourself! To help you get started, we recommend learning all about the game, including a few World of Warcraft Hardcore tips and tricks!
