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Beast Mastery Hunter Artifact Weapon: Titanstrike – Legion 7.3.5
By BendakWoW
Updated:
2018/06/28
This section of the Beast Mastery guide explains the best possible choices for the Netherlight Crucible, important traits and relic bonuses, and how to progress through your artifact weapon Titanstrike. This guide is written by
Bendak
from
Eyes of the Beast
and the
Hunting Party Podcast
. Updated for the latest patch.
Artifacts in Battle for Azeroth
As of June 26th, completing the quest
The Power in Our Hands
will further empower your Artifact Weapon, enabling all traits and at least
Concordance of the Legionfall
level 75, further increasing in power over time until the Battle for Azeroth pre-expansion patch.
Therefore, only the Netherlight Crucible recommendations are relevant on this guide page leading up to BFA, as you already receive all Artifact Traits by default. This makes content easier to complete, especially some
content going away
such as
Ahead of the Curve
and
Mage Tower Challenges
.
In the
BFA pre-patch
, your Artifact Traits will be removed, and relics will simply increase the item level of your artifact weapon. However, many artifact traits are returning as talents or azerite powers in Battle for Azeroth and we have a compiled a
full list you can read here
.
Moving forward in Battle for Azeroth, you will still be able to acquire the Artifact Weapon which will mainly interest transmog collectors for the appearances. Learn how to unlock all appearances in BFA with our
Artifact Appearance Guide
.
Artifact Weapon:
Titanstrike
Active Ability
Hati's Bond
: The wolf
Hati
is summoned as a secondary companion whenever you have your primary pet summoned.
Hati obeys the same commands as your pet, including Attack, Follow, Move To, and stances.
If Hati dies there is a 30-second cooldown before he will be summoned again, but you can help keep him alive with
Mend Pet
.
Hati's color will change based on your Artifact appearance. At level 110, you can start the quest
A New Invention
from Mimiron in
Trueshot Lodge
which rewards the
Essence Swapper
, allowing you to transform Hati into any pet you have tamed.
Relics and the Netherlight Crucible
The
Netherlight Crucible
has the power to turn a previously mediocre relic into a good one, if you get lucky with the trait options it randomly rolls. For this reason, it's a good idea to always preview a relic's potential traits before you use it or throw it away. With the opening of
Antorus, the Burning Throne
, it is now possible to obtain
Insignia of the Grand Army
, which increases the potency of your Tier 2 Crucible traits by 50%. It might be a really strong legendary if you are lucky with Netherlight Crucible rolls!
Since BM gets less value out of raw weapon ilevel upgrades than most other specs, traits play an important role. It's not always as simple as equipping your highest ilevel relics. The easiest way to value and compare a particular relic is to assign a Titanstrike ilevel value to each trait that can be on a relic or from the Netherlight Crucible. This lets you compare individual relics by simply adding up all the ilevel values of the traits.
Disclaimer:
These values can change slightly based on your legendaries, tier bonuses, overall item level, and talent choices. If you have the knowledge, I recommend simming your own relic options since everyone's values will be slightly different. This is intended to help you quickly make relic and Crucible decisions, but it can never be 100% accurate for every character.
Single Target Trait Values
Based on
this build
. If you are using
Aspect of the Beast
, the Kill Command traits will lose a little value and the Cobra Shot traits may gain some value. If you are using a Dire Frenzy build, the trait values are very similar.
Weapon Traits
Approx. ilevel value
Jaws of Thunder
+7
Pack Leader
+5
Unleash the Beast
+5
Slithering Serpents
+4
Spitting Cobras
+3
Wilderness Expert
+2
Furious Swipes
+0
Natural Reflexes
+0
Mimiron's Shell
+0
Focus of the Titans
+0
Crucible Traits
Approx. ilevel value
Shocklight
+7
Master of Shadows
+7
Light Speed
+7
Torment the Weak
+7
Murderous Intent
+6
Secure in the Light
+6
Infusion of Light
+6
Shadowbind
+6
Chaotic Darkness
+5
Dark Sorrows
+3
Refractive Shell
+0
Light's Embrace
+0
AoE Damage Value of Traits
Furious Swipes
and
Dark Sorrows
are trickier to put a number on since most of their value comes in pure AoE situations and their value also fluctuates with the number of targets. If you spend a good deal of your time in Mythic+ it can be worthwhile to have these traits on your BM Hunter Artifact, but not at major sacrifice to single target potential. It might be worth using a slightly less valuable single target relic if you get the added bonus of one of these AoE traits.
Another thing to consider is that the stat traits in Crucible tier 2, such as
Shocklight
or
Master of Shadows
have quite a bit more value than the the damage proc traits in cleave/AoE situations, despite them being relatively close on the single target lists. You should aim for these stat traits whenever possible.
Recommended Titanstrike Build Path
The BM Hunter Artifact needs to unlock its first 3 golden traits to reach its maximum potential, so you'll want to take the quickest path possible to that goal. It's as simple as going around the artifact tree in a clockwise motion, taking the shortest possible path to the golden traits. After that things get a bit more back and forth with the new patch 7.2 traits.
Clockwise to
Master of Beasts
Continue clockwise to
Surge of the Stormgod
Continue clockwise to
Titan's Thunder
Spitting Cobras
first, then choose the remaining defensive traits in the order you wish (until trait 34 is unlocked)
Spiritbound
Bond of the Unseen Path
Slithering Serpents
4/4
Thunderslash
Cobra Commander
4th point in
Jaws of Thunder
4th point in
Pack Leader
4th point in
Furious Swipes
4th point in
Unleash the Beast
4th point in
Spitting Cobras
4th point in
Wilderness Expert
4th point in
Focus of the Titans
4th points in both
Natural Reflexes
and
Mimiron's Shell
(any order)
Concordance of the Legionfall
Here is what that looks like visually, on a brand new BM Hunter artifact:
Then,
after
empowering your artifact
, this is the recommended path:
List of BM Traits
Golden Traits
Master of Beasts
: Significantly buffs
Hati
by allowing him to benefit from
Bestial Wrath
. He will now also use
Kill Command
(at 30% normal damage) and
Beast Cleave
(at 75% normal damage) whenever your primary pet does.
Titan's Thunder
: A single target DPS cooldown (1 minute) that causes all of your active pets (including
Dire Beast
s) to discharge electricity into their target for 8 seconds. It's always best to stack this with
Bestial Wrath
when possible. Also make sure you cast it immediately after casting
Dire Beast
to get its full benefit.
Surge of the Stormgod
: Whenever you cast
Multi-Shot
, there is a 25% chance that your pet and Hati will explode with electricity, dealing nature damage to nearby enemies.
Cobra Commander
: Your Cobra Shot has a 10% chance to summon 2-4 snakes. These snakes melee attack your target for a trivial amount of damage, but they also apply
Deathstrike Venom
. This trait is a small boost to single target DPS.
DPS Traits
Beast Master
: The first trait you will unlock. It increases
Dire Beast
damage by 12% and the attack speed bonus from
Barbed Shot
by 12%.
Spitting Cobras
: Increases your
Cobra Shot
damage. 4 ranks.
Focus of the Titans
: Increases your
Multi-Shot
damage. 4 ranks.
Jaws of Thunder
:
Kill Command
has a chance to deal an additional 50% Nature damage. Applies to primary pet and Hati's Kill Commands. 4 ranks.
Furious Swipes
: Increases the damage of
Beast Cleave
. 4 ranks.
Wilderness Expert
: Increases the duration of
Aspect of the Wild
by 1 sec per rank. 4 ranks.
Pack Leader
: Increases the damage of
Kill Command
. 4 ranks.
Unleash the Beast
: Increases the damage bonus of
Bestial Wrath
. 4 ranks.
Thunderslash
: During
Aspect of the Wild
, your primary pet and Hati deal additional Nature damage with each melee attack. This bonus damage is dealt to all enemies in an 8-yard cone in front of the pets. This makes Aspect of the Wild a more potent cooldown than it was before.
Slithering Serpents
: Each point decreases the Focus cost of Cobra Shot by 2. This is a lot nicer than it looks on paper -- it improves the rotation noticeably.
Defensive Traits
Spirit Bond
: The Hunter is healed for 15% of the damage done by
Kill Command
.
Natural Reflexes
: Increases the dodge chance of you and your pet. 4 ranks.
Mimiron's Shell
: Heals you over the 8 sec duration of
Aspect of the Turtle
. It is possible to remove the
Aspect of the Turtle
buff and keep the HoT active.
Hunter's Advantage
: Using Misdirection on your pet causes it to take 35% less damage for the duration. A nice soloing trait.
Pathfinder
: Reduces the cooldown of
Aspect of the Cheetah
from 3 minutes to 2 minutes.
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