Kill command!

[:1]I'm a new hunter, so far so good... and fun :)

But I have a question on when to use kill command?
It cost almost half my focus, and if i use it as soon as its off cooldown, theres no room at all for Arcane shot, well maybe one but that last 25 energy is needed for serpentsting in long fights..

Do I just not worry about this till higher levels when maybe focus comes by better? Do I just go along with Arcane shot x4 - Steady Shot x3 - Repeat?

Or is this one of these skills that i dont use for PvE, but for PvP when my pet is attacking something out of my LoS/range?
You get more out of 2 Arcane shots than KC.

In Ref to Friezy comment. Get the MD Glyph and you will never pull off of your pet. Ever. Only thing it does is use a Global cd. But you can recast over and over. Plus even if you do, you can trap or feign. If one in a pack starts running to you just Taunt MD and shot. He won't be back before he's dead.
Kill Command is probably fairly weak until you get some mastery stacked. Definitely use it during Bestial Wrath, when LoS is an issue, and if you need extra threat for your pet.

When I'm leveling i generally use Kill Command first off when the pet gets with in range, then steady shot, and an arcane shot if he's still alive which is rare.. but considering I'm in full Boa's i usually do very competitive damage with just auto shot. The only times i have to use other shots is when I'm fighting the previous elite group mobs, even then i just use..

Kill Command, serpent sting, arcane shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot till the next Kill Command.

I never use hunters mark even on the mobs that are pushing 10k hp (some mobs in Western Plague Lands have that much) if your specked into Beast master you will easily be critting 900 at my level (44) with it.. plus you never pull aggro off of your pet.. no matter what kind of pet you use.

Then of course there is certain situations when you need to use a quick arcane shot to beat the competition, but you learn that on your own when paladins and Mages start stealing your mobs :).

Hope this helps
LoneHunter
I never actually thought about mastery. That it did not hit me until now, surprises me. BM's mastery is increased Kill Command damage?

I would look forward to that....
Its true that in a technical sense Kill Command has less of a damage per focus return than arcane shot. However, kill command damage counts as if its coming from your pet, so starting a fight with it means you wont be able to pull off your pet no matter what you do.

Being free to go all out on mobs is what makes BM the best leveling spec.
I'm leveling as survival, and I have very little use for kill command. I open up with Explosive Shot, then concussive shot, and I don't have enough time to get a steady shot off before the mob is dead. I don't even give my pet time to get threat...stuff dies way too fast for me to have to worry about it.

If the mob comes my way, I can feign or disengage. Oh, and lock and load procs are amazing. I'll pull a mob purposely just to trap him and get some focus free dps sex0rz
only reason to use kill command is when you are kiting. if they target you, use aspect of cheetah to always stay out of spell range while you send in your pet. use kill command and lay traps while out of range.

when he targets your pet, move in for arcane shot spam.

In Ref to Friezy comment. Get the MD Glyph and you will never pull off of your pet. Ever. Only thing it does is use a Global cd. But you can recast over and over. Plus even if you do, you can trap or feign. If one in a pack starts running to you just Taunt MD and shot. He won't be back before he's dead.

Why oh why are these uninformed ignorants still babbling about MD? You do not have MD while leveling! And thus, KC is the way to have your pet keep aggro till you hit 76. Other than that, it's mostly useful for lvl 80+ BM when it gets boosted by mastery.

Edit: but usually stuff doesn't live long enough to reach me in the first place, so pet aggro is only important when pulling multiple mobs.
I was MM for the looooongest time. I tamed Loque and wanted to level him to 80. I was amazed at the damage BM was doing, so I've stuck with it. Kill command is beastly (pun intended). I have a fair amount of mastery. My pet's KC without BW can be from 11k-22k and with it, generally 3-4k higher. Nice to see those numbers again.


Yea it's tough leveling without MD. The best way to make sure your pet keeps aggro is to have an aggro monitor addon. I agree, most mobs you should just destroy outright but several of them or certain elites where you do need to be careful this can be a good thing. I can remember leveling a few times where I had to just let auto shot go and heal my pet when my aggro got to a dangerous level.
Whether I was leveling my beta Worgen or doing JC dailies on this one (as BM) mobs don't really live long enough to use KC more than once. And I agree when leveling it functions nicely as a replacement MD. Can't remember a mob coming after me if the pet hit them first with KC.

Also as an obvious note since KC damage comes from the pet and not you if you don't hit the mob too you ain't looting it...

Also as an obvious note since KC damage comes from the pet and not you if you don't hit the mob too you ain't looting it...

S'why, even when soloing dungeons I send the pet in, fire a few shots, feign death and let the pet get aggro because I have seem pets one-shot things they usually shouldn't before, KC or no KC.
Use it when soloing until you get higher(about 80). Because you will need the pet burst of damage to keep aggro on him. Because a sting and arcane will pull from your pet every time, regardless of what anyone tells you. I'm 59 on my test hunter and still pull from my pet if I use 2 shots together. Until blix fixes the growl on our pets it's the only way to go. To be safe, just use s. sting and spam kill commmand while soloing(make sure to get dash or charge as soon as possible on your pet. it helps ALOT). The repairs will be alot less if you do.

I'm a new hunter, so far so good... and fun :)

But I have a question on when to use kill command?

It cost almost half my focus, and if i use it as soon as its off cooldown, theres no room at all for Arcane shot, well maybe one but that last 25 energy is needed for serpentsting in long fights..

The short answer, for me at least, is whenever it's off cool-down. I put two points into IKC, which buffs KCs crit by 10%, which, for you humanities majors out there, is 10% more than AS gets.

There aren't any target dummies for lowbies, so hard data is not available. I've run instances w/ a pure AS rotation, using SS to generate focus, and a KC rotation, and my KC rotation come out ahead by about 10%, dps-wise. I use a mark and attack macro, so everything I send my pet after is marked.

My standard rotation for boss fights is to mark and attack, dot w/ serpent sting, then if my pet is in melee range, KC followed by AS, if not, then AS followed by KC. 2x SS, by then KC is off cool down and I have regen'd enough focus for KC. At that point, its 2x SS then KC, rinse and repeat. Refresh serpent sting as necessary.

For trash mobs, KC if pet is in melee range and AS if it isn't. Try to stay close to the action, it minimizes the travel time for your pet to get to the fight.

PS: I know that some don't bother with serpent sting, but each tick can now crit and w/ a wolf pet, each tick gets the +5% to crit. YMMV.

Because a sting and arcane will pull from your pet every time, regardless of what anyone tells you.

Charge front loads more crit than you're going to be able to generate with any two, or even, three shots, with or without a sting.

Technically, any tenacity pet can learn Charge, but I'm old school, only a pig will do for me. And the new armored ones from Mulgore are pretty dang cool. Get you one...