02-05-2005, 11:28 AM
I've been feeling like there is a lack of information here and so figured that a good idea would be to try and start a thread that could add some. Since I have the most experience with hunters, I'll post what I think about some of the talents and others can post what they think about them and about any others that I don't meantion. It seems to me that a thread where people can see what others think about various talents could be a good thing.
Beast Mastery Talents
These are probably the only talents I will really discuss because thats where my experience is. I'd love for somebody to come along and post numbers comparing any damage gains from boosting your pet to any damage gains from boost yourself through the other trees, but that person won't be me.
Level 1
With these talents not requiring any points having been spent in the tree, they are ones that people can give thought to getting in any build.
Improved Aspect of the Hawk
Rank 1/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 4%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 8%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 12%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 16%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 20%.
To me, this seems like a good deal. I run around with Aspect of the Hawk on pretty much all the time. So making it give me more damage just seems like something that makes sense to me. Its possible that you may gain more damage from putting 5 points in another skill, but I've not looked into that and so to me this seems like a good place for 5 points.
Endurance Training
Rank 1/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 2%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 4%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 6%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 8%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 10%.
This is another talent that I just love. Keeping my pet alive is very important to me. If it dies in a tough fight then there is a good chance that I'm going to be next. So for me, this talent is nice. I can see builds that are centered more on the other trees not caring about this as much. Their thinking would probably be that its more important for them to do as much damage as possible so as to kill the mobs faster and in that way make their pets not need as much life. It could also be less useful for group play where there is another character doing the tanking and so your pet doesn't need to take the hits. So it may really be more of a solo oriented talent.
Level 2
These talents require 5 having been spent in the tree already. Since both of the earlier talents seem useful to me, I don't think its tough to get to this point.
Improved Eyes of the Beast
Rank 1/2: Increases the duration of your Eyes of the Beast by 30 sec.
Rank 2/2: Increases the duration of your Eyes of the Beast by 60 sec.
This talent seems to be useless to me. I've never found a situation where I needed to use Eyes of the Beast and so increasing the duration of it just seems pointless. Maybe there is a use for it that I'm missing (scouting or some such), but I'm doubtful that its a big enough use that its worthy of 2 talent points.
Improved Aspect of the Monkey
Rank 1/3: Increases the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey by 1%.
Rank 2/3: Increases the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey by 2%.
Rank 3/3/: Increases the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey by 3%.
This talent might be useful if you are planning on getting hit alot. Most hunters use their pet so that they don't get hit in most situations. This is not to say that they never take some hits, but the majority of the time it doesn't happen. For the right build this could be a useful talent, but for most of them it seems too situational to be worth the points.
Bestial Discipline
Rank 1/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 4%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 8%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 12%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 16%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 20%.
This strikes me as an interesting talent. It seems like it could be useful in long fights to help your pet keep aggro or maybe to try and enable a pet to use growl, bite, and claw with them all on auto-cast. I never use it though. It seems interesting and useful, but I just never really have a problem with my pets focus. Generally I run with growl and bite turned on, but with claw turned off. I think that even with 20% more focus, claw would drain your pets focus very fast. So I think that in actual use, its just a talent that proves to not be worth the points.
Level 3
Level 3 requires 10 points having been spent in the tree. Since I don't really like any of the Level 2 talents, I think that if you are planning on going this deep, you should do so by getting both Level 1 talents.
Improved Revive Pet
Rank 1/2: Reduces the casting time of your Revive Pet spell by 2 sec.
Rank 2/2: Reduces the casting time of your Revive Pet spell by 4 sec.
This is another one of those talents that I would call interesting. Its also another one that I don't use. Revive pet has a 10 second casting time I believe, so if you put two points in this, it will reduce it down to 6 seconds. I guess my problem with this skill is that it doesn't really do anything that can help you in combat. All it does really is help you revive your pet after the fight is over. Seems liek kind of a waste. Now, you could maybe use it in combat if your pet dies. I think that in that situation you are likely to be in too much trouble to be able to revive your pet even with the time cut down to 6 seconds. There have been a few fights where I have had enough time to revive my pet, but I'm just not thinking tha tit happens enough to make it useful and also that when it does happen that 4 seconds would make alot of difference. So its really just not worth 2 talent points.
Bestial Swiftness
Rank 1/1: Increases the outdoor movement speed of your pets by 30%.
Another talent that I just love. Technically you could do without it and just wait a little longer for your pet to get somewhere, but the extra speed does really help alot. It increrases the chance that if you send your pet at a mob and then fire off a shot at it, that your pet will be able to pull the aggro off you before the mob gets too close. It also is good for speeding up the handling of adds when they happen. Yet another use is for chasing down mobs that run. Its just useful in so many parts of the game that for 1 point, I think its a must get if you have gone this far into the tree.
Unleashed Fury
Rank 1/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 2%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 4%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 6%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 8%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 10%.
If you are looking at the Beast Mastery tree, then you are probably wanting to make your pet better. There are two ways to do this. One is to make your pet be able to take more hits. The second is to make your pet do more damage. Obviously this talent is ideal for the second path. Its actually good for the first as well just because there aren't really any other good talents at this Level and you may want to get a talent at a further level. There isn't much to say about it though because its rather simple. More damage is a good thing in my mind.
Pathfinding
Rank 1/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 1%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 2%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 3%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 4%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 5%.
This talent is kind of like Improved Revive Pet. In most situations, all its going to do is save you time outside of combat. I am hesitant to really say a talent is woth the points if that is all that its going to do. Now, with that said, there are a few combat uses for this. First is running away. More speed while running does seem like it would increase the odds of you successfully getting away. The other is for kiting. With this talent, mayeb you could run away from a mob a ways, jump, turn, shoot, and repeat much easier. This especially applies to PvP where I hear about this more often. (though I've never done any PvP myself) So maybe it could be useful for that reason. I don't know if PvP builds really want to go this deep into the tree for it though. Overall, I think the talent is not worth the points though.
Level 4
Requires 15 points having been spent in the tree. With Unleashed Fury being the only skill in the previous level that I consider worth getting, its probably how you accomplished getting this far.
Thick Hide
Rank 1/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 2%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 4%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 6%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 8%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 10%.
This is yet another interesing talent in my mind. Its actually one that I've gotten a few points in and may go back for more. More armor means less damage to my pet and so means it surviving better. This seems especially good on the high armor pets. I just wonder how much it is actually needed though. If a hunter's pet survives just fine without it, then it could be a waste to get it. If a pet starts getting into trouble, then its a very useful talent. Right now I've not really decided about it. I've put a few points in it to fill a gap between levels, but I'm not sure if I will go back and finish it or not. Just kind of depends on how things go as I level farther.
Improved Mend Pet
Rank 1/2: Increases the amount healed by your Mend Pet spell by 5%.
Rank 2/2: Increases the amount healed by your Mend Pet spell by 10%.
Yet another talent for me to show some love. This talent just seems useful quite a bit to me. Its nice after a tough fight when there is another fight you want to get started on quickly. Its also nice in the middle of a tough fight when your pet is trying to hold off some tough add while a party finishes off another mob. Its useful solo as well for when you are fighting tough mobs where its vital that your pet stays alive. Of course, me saying this makes me think that the Thick Hide talent I jus ttalked about is actually very useful. I mean, if I am needing to mend my pet mid-fight, then it would seem that more armor would help me not have to do that so much and so be a godo thing. Either way though, I think that Improved Mend Pet is a great talent that anyone going this far should get. I think that there will always be situations where your pet is doign alot of work and getting beat on pretty harshly and so will need you to be spending some time healing it. This talent helps alot with that and allows you to get in a few more shots between heals.
Ferocity
Rank 1/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 3%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 6%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 9%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 12%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 15%.
Critical strike pumping talents always seem kind of questionable to me. It just seems to be odd to be going out of your way to pump something that only happens some of the time. Its like you are increasing the inconsistency of your character. Its a big part of the game though and talents that do it are everywhere and are in fact very useful. Its the same with this one. Basically, if you have come this far into the tree then you probably did so with the plan of getting this talent and the one that requires it. Like I said earlier for another talent, more damage is good. So yeah, if you have come this far then you will probably be getting this.
Level 5
This level requires 20 points have been spent in the Beast Mastery tree. What points you spent to get here in the last level is actually the most complicated choice so far in my mind. All three skills in the previous tree seem overly useful and worth getting. The most obvious choice is Ferocity since a skill further down requires it. I actually don't do that though. I generally get Improved Mend Pet and then get 3 points into Ferocity. That gives me the 5 points I need for this level.
Intimidation
Rank 1/1: 290 Mana 30 yd range Instant cast
Increases the threat caused by your pet by 50% for 10 sec.
I've heard people in many places say that new abilites for 1 point are almost always worth it. I find myself questioning them alot of the time though. I mean, if you are only going to use that ability on very rare occasions, then wouldn't the point be better spent somewhere else? Thats kind of how I feel about this one. In most situations my pet gains plenty of aggro as is. So when do I need him to gain 50% more threat for 10 seconds? Maybe if a caster has pulled aggro and you need to get it back real quick. I can see it being very useful for that. It could be especially nice if the caster, for some reason, doesn't stop attacking when he draws it. I guess basically my problem with this is that in a group with smart players it shouldn't be needed. The truth is though that you won't always have that and so maybe its worth it. I have no clue if I willever get it or not though. Currently I'm leaning towards not.
Level 6
Requires 25 points having been spent in this tree. Since the previous level only has 1 skill and it only requires 1 point, there is some filling to do here. Personally, I haven't put the one point into that skill even. Instead I went back and finished maxing Ferocity and then put the rest of the needed points into Thick Hide. I find all the Level 4 skills very useful and so thats where I spent my gap points to get to this level.
Frenzy
Rank 1/5: Gives your pet a 20% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 2/5: Gives your pet a 40% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 3/5: Gives your pet a 60% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 4/5: Gives your pet a 80% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 5/5: Gives your pet a 100% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
With only this skill and one more remaining, its a good bet that you were already thining about getting this one if you have come this far. Its once again the basic thing I said earlier: more damage is good. Its something that happens on critical strikes again, which makes me kind of grimace. Again though, thats how the game works. I'd imagine that if the mod lives past 8 seconds of this though, then your pet probably would have gotten another critical strike by then and reset the timer I'm assuming that can happen since I haven't gotten to this point yet and so don't really know from experience. If that does work though, then once it goes off I would think that your pet pretty much will have the speed for the rest of the fight. At this point, this is definately a skill you want to get.
Level 7
30 points required. If you got to level 6, then you probably put 5 points into Frenzy and so pretty much have all the points you need for this level.
Spirit Bond
Rank 1/1: 180 Mana 30 yd range Instant cast
Every time your pet strikes an enemy, you gain 20 health.
Another new skill for one point thing. I'm more inclined to use this one. Maybe my problem is that I think mtoo much from a solo point of view and so like this one because it helps me, while not liking the other because it helps somebody else. Anyway, I'm actually slightly borderline on this one. Generally, you shouldn't be getting hit anyway so the 20 health will not do anything. I do wonder if you gaining 20 health from your pet when you are full health causes your pet to gain more aggro because of the over-heals though. Still, the world isn't a perfect place and there will be alot of times when you are taking blows as well. So the life could help with that. It could help counter any area of effect damage you take. Of course, a fast attacking pet would seem to be the best with this ability. I probably am not going to be going for the fastest one and so this becomes a lil less effective. I'll probably still get it though considering I have come this far and its only one point.
After getting Spirit Bond I am probably going to go back and finish maxing out Thick Hide. So if you follow what I think in this tree you are talking about spending 33 points. It would look like this (with all of them maxed):
Improved Aspect of the Hawk
Endurance Training
Improved Mend Pet
Unleashed Fury
Thick Hide
Ferocity
Frenzy
Spirit Bond
Beast Mastery Total: 33
If you get Intimidation then that would push it up to 34 points. I'd consider that the start to a Beast Mastery build. For any non-Beast Mastery centered build I don't think a person could really go past Pathfinding and even that is questionable. Really I think that only the level 1 talents are worth considering for other builds and there are probably builds that don't touch the Beast Mastery tree at all.
I would go into details on the talents in the other trees, but I really haven't spent time looking at them because I went this route. So instead I'll leave those talents up to somebody else to discuss.
Time for everyone else to chime in with their thoughts on talents. Feel free to post your thoughts on ones I have listed or on any of the others. The more info the better.
Beast Mastery Talents
These are probably the only talents I will really discuss because thats where my experience is. I'd love for somebody to come along and post numbers comparing any damage gains from boosting your pet to any damage gains from boost yourself through the other trees, but that person won't be me.
Level 1
With these talents not requiring any points having been spent in the tree, they are ones that people can give thought to getting in any build.
Improved Aspect of the Hawk
Rank 1/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 4%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 8%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 12%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 16%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 20%.
To me, this seems like a good deal. I run around with Aspect of the Hawk on pretty much all the time. So making it give me more damage just seems like something that makes sense to me. Its possible that you may gain more damage from putting 5 points in another skill, but I've not looked into that and so to me this seems like a good place for 5 points.
Endurance Training
Rank 1/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 2%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 4%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 6%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 8%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the Health of your pets by 10%.
This is another talent that I just love. Keeping my pet alive is very important to me. If it dies in a tough fight then there is a good chance that I'm going to be next. So for me, this talent is nice. I can see builds that are centered more on the other trees not caring about this as much. Their thinking would probably be that its more important for them to do as much damage as possible so as to kill the mobs faster and in that way make their pets not need as much life. It could also be less useful for group play where there is another character doing the tanking and so your pet doesn't need to take the hits. So it may really be more of a solo oriented talent.
Level 2
These talents require 5 having been spent in the tree already. Since both of the earlier talents seem useful to me, I don't think its tough to get to this point.
Improved Eyes of the Beast
Rank 1/2: Increases the duration of your Eyes of the Beast by 30 sec.
Rank 2/2: Increases the duration of your Eyes of the Beast by 60 sec.
This talent seems to be useless to me. I've never found a situation where I needed to use Eyes of the Beast and so increasing the duration of it just seems pointless. Maybe there is a use for it that I'm missing (scouting or some such), but I'm doubtful that its a big enough use that its worthy of 2 talent points.
Improved Aspect of the Monkey
Rank 1/3: Increases the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey by 1%.
Rank 2/3: Increases the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey by 2%.
Rank 3/3/: Increases the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey by 3%.
This talent might be useful if you are planning on getting hit alot. Most hunters use their pet so that they don't get hit in most situations. This is not to say that they never take some hits, but the majority of the time it doesn't happen. For the right build this could be a useful talent, but for most of them it seems too situational to be worth the points.
Bestial Discipline
Rank 1/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 4%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 8%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 12%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 16%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the maximum Focus of your pets by 20%.
This strikes me as an interesting talent. It seems like it could be useful in long fights to help your pet keep aggro or maybe to try and enable a pet to use growl, bite, and claw with them all on auto-cast. I never use it though. It seems interesting and useful, but I just never really have a problem with my pets focus. Generally I run with growl and bite turned on, but with claw turned off. I think that even with 20% more focus, claw would drain your pets focus very fast. So I think that in actual use, its just a talent that proves to not be worth the points.
Level 3
Level 3 requires 10 points having been spent in the tree. Since I don't really like any of the Level 2 talents, I think that if you are planning on going this deep, you should do so by getting both Level 1 talents.
Improved Revive Pet
Rank 1/2: Reduces the casting time of your Revive Pet spell by 2 sec.
Rank 2/2: Reduces the casting time of your Revive Pet spell by 4 sec.
This is another one of those talents that I would call interesting. Its also another one that I don't use. Revive pet has a 10 second casting time I believe, so if you put two points in this, it will reduce it down to 6 seconds. I guess my problem with this skill is that it doesn't really do anything that can help you in combat. All it does really is help you revive your pet after the fight is over. Seems liek kind of a waste. Now, you could maybe use it in combat if your pet dies. I think that in that situation you are likely to be in too much trouble to be able to revive your pet even with the time cut down to 6 seconds. There have been a few fights where I have had enough time to revive my pet, but I'm just not thinking tha tit happens enough to make it useful and also that when it does happen that 4 seconds would make alot of difference. So its really just not worth 2 talent points.
Bestial Swiftness
Rank 1/1: Increases the outdoor movement speed of your pets by 30%.
Another talent that I just love. Technically you could do without it and just wait a little longer for your pet to get somewhere, but the extra speed does really help alot. It increrases the chance that if you send your pet at a mob and then fire off a shot at it, that your pet will be able to pull the aggro off you before the mob gets too close. It also is good for speeding up the handling of adds when they happen. Yet another use is for chasing down mobs that run. Its just useful in so many parts of the game that for 1 point, I think its a must get if you have gone this far into the tree.
Unleashed Fury
Rank 1/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 2%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 4%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 6%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 8%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the damage done by your pets by 10%.
If you are looking at the Beast Mastery tree, then you are probably wanting to make your pet better. There are two ways to do this. One is to make your pet be able to take more hits. The second is to make your pet do more damage. Obviously this talent is ideal for the second path. Its actually good for the first as well just because there aren't really any other good talents at this Level and you may want to get a talent at a further level. There isn't much to say about it though because its rather simple. More damage is a good thing in my mind.
Pathfinding
Rank 1/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 1%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 2%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 3%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 4%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 5%.
This talent is kind of like Improved Revive Pet. In most situations, all its going to do is save you time outside of combat. I am hesitant to really say a talent is woth the points if that is all that its going to do. Now, with that said, there are a few combat uses for this. First is running away. More speed while running does seem like it would increase the odds of you successfully getting away. The other is for kiting. With this talent, mayeb you could run away from a mob a ways, jump, turn, shoot, and repeat much easier. This especially applies to PvP where I hear about this more often. (though I've never done any PvP myself) So maybe it could be useful for that reason. I don't know if PvP builds really want to go this deep into the tree for it though. Overall, I think the talent is not worth the points though.
Level 4
Requires 15 points having been spent in the tree. With Unleashed Fury being the only skill in the previous level that I consider worth getting, its probably how you accomplished getting this far.
Thick Hide
Rank 1/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 2%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 4%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 6%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 8%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the Armor rating of your pets by 10%.
This is yet another interesing talent in my mind. Its actually one that I've gotten a few points in and may go back for more. More armor means less damage to my pet and so means it surviving better. This seems especially good on the high armor pets. I just wonder how much it is actually needed though. If a hunter's pet survives just fine without it, then it could be a waste to get it. If a pet starts getting into trouble, then its a very useful talent. Right now I've not really decided about it. I've put a few points in it to fill a gap between levels, but I'm not sure if I will go back and finish it or not. Just kind of depends on how things go as I level farther.
Improved Mend Pet
Rank 1/2: Increases the amount healed by your Mend Pet spell by 5%.
Rank 2/2: Increases the amount healed by your Mend Pet spell by 10%.
Yet another talent for me to show some love. This talent just seems useful quite a bit to me. Its nice after a tough fight when there is another fight you want to get started on quickly. Its also nice in the middle of a tough fight when your pet is trying to hold off some tough add while a party finishes off another mob. Its useful solo as well for when you are fighting tough mobs where its vital that your pet stays alive. Of course, me saying this makes me think that the Thick Hide talent I jus ttalked about is actually very useful. I mean, if I am needing to mend my pet mid-fight, then it would seem that more armor would help me not have to do that so much and so be a godo thing. Either way though, I think that Improved Mend Pet is a great talent that anyone going this far should get. I think that there will always be situations where your pet is doign alot of work and getting beat on pretty harshly and so will need you to be spending some time healing it. This talent helps alot with that and allows you to get in a few more shots between heals.
Ferocity
Rank 1/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 3%.
Rank 2/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 6%.
Rank 3/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 9%.
Rank 4/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 12%.
Rank 5/5: Increases the critical strike chance of your pets by 15%.
Critical strike pumping talents always seem kind of questionable to me. It just seems to be odd to be going out of your way to pump something that only happens some of the time. Its like you are increasing the inconsistency of your character. Its a big part of the game though and talents that do it are everywhere and are in fact very useful. Its the same with this one. Basically, if you have come this far into the tree then you probably did so with the plan of getting this talent and the one that requires it. Like I said earlier for another talent, more damage is good. So yeah, if you have come this far then you will probably be getting this.
Level 5
This level requires 20 points have been spent in the Beast Mastery tree. What points you spent to get here in the last level is actually the most complicated choice so far in my mind. All three skills in the previous tree seem overly useful and worth getting. The most obvious choice is Ferocity since a skill further down requires it. I actually don't do that though. I generally get Improved Mend Pet and then get 3 points into Ferocity. That gives me the 5 points I need for this level.
Intimidation
Rank 1/1: 290 Mana 30 yd range Instant cast
Increases the threat caused by your pet by 50% for 10 sec.
I've heard people in many places say that new abilites for 1 point are almost always worth it. I find myself questioning them alot of the time though. I mean, if you are only going to use that ability on very rare occasions, then wouldn't the point be better spent somewhere else? Thats kind of how I feel about this one. In most situations my pet gains plenty of aggro as is. So when do I need him to gain 50% more threat for 10 seconds? Maybe if a caster has pulled aggro and you need to get it back real quick. I can see it being very useful for that. It could be especially nice if the caster, for some reason, doesn't stop attacking when he draws it. I guess basically my problem with this is that in a group with smart players it shouldn't be needed. The truth is though that you won't always have that and so maybe its worth it. I have no clue if I willever get it or not though. Currently I'm leaning towards not.
Level 6
Requires 25 points having been spent in this tree. Since the previous level only has 1 skill and it only requires 1 point, there is some filling to do here. Personally, I haven't put the one point into that skill even. Instead I went back and finished maxing Ferocity and then put the rest of the needed points into Thick Hide. I find all the Level 4 skills very useful and so thats where I spent my gap points to get to this level.
Frenzy
Rank 1/5: Gives your pet a 20% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 2/5: Gives your pet a 40% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 3/5: Gives your pet a 60% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 4/5: Gives your pet a 80% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
Rank 5/5: Gives your pet a 100% chance to gain a 30% attack speed increase for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike.
With only this skill and one more remaining, its a good bet that you were already thining about getting this one if you have come this far. Its once again the basic thing I said earlier: more damage is good. Its something that happens on critical strikes again, which makes me kind of grimace. Again though, thats how the game works. I'd imagine that if the mod lives past 8 seconds of this though, then your pet probably would have gotten another critical strike by then and reset the timer I'm assuming that can happen since I haven't gotten to this point yet and so don't really know from experience. If that does work though, then once it goes off I would think that your pet pretty much will have the speed for the rest of the fight. At this point, this is definately a skill you want to get.
Level 7
30 points required. If you got to level 6, then you probably put 5 points into Frenzy and so pretty much have all the points you need for this level.
Spirit Bond
Rank 1/1: 180 Mana 30 yd range Instant cast
Every time your pet strikes an enemy, you gain 20 health.
Another new skill for one point thing. I'm more inclined to use this one. Maybe my problem is that I think mtoo much from a solo point of view and so like this one because it helps me, while not liking the other because it helps somebody else. Anyway, I'm actually slightly borderline on this one. Generally, you shouldn't be getting hit anyway so the 20 health will not do anything. I do wonder if you gaining 20 health from your pet when you are full health causes your pet to gain more aggro because of the over-heals though. Still, the world isn't a perfect place and there will be alot of times when you are taking blows as well. So the life could help with that. It could help counter any area of effect damage you take. Of course, a fast attacking pet would seem to be the best with this ability. I probably am not going to be going for the fastest one and so this becomes a lil less effective. I'll probably still get it though considering I have come this far and its only one point.
After getting Spirit Bond I am probably going to go back and finish maxing out Thick Hide. So if you follow what I think in this tree you are talking about spending 33 points. It would look like this (with all of them maxed):
Improved Aspect of the Hawk
Endurance Training
Improved Mend Pet
Unleashed Fury
Thick Hide
Ferocity
Frenzy
Spirit Bond
Beast Mastery Total: 33
If you get Intimidation then that would push it up to 34 points. I'd consider that the start to a Beast Mastery build. For any non-Beast Mastery centered build I don't think a person could really go past Pathfinding and even that is questionable. Really I think that only the level 1 talents are worth considering for other builds and there are probably builds that don't touch the Beast Mastery tree at all.
I would go into details on the talents in the other trees, but I really haven't spent time looking at them because I went this route. So instead I'll leave those talents up to somebody else to discuss.
Time for everyone else to chime in with their thoughts on talents. Feel free to post your thoughts on ones I have listed or on any of the others. The more info the better.