Survival Hunter's Pack Leader Hero Talents Review - Thriving as a Duo

MID-MARCH, Blizzard unveiled 12 new Hero Talent Trees in a sneak peek at the new system coming with The War Within expansion. In this blog post, WowCarry will provide a detailed review of the Pack Leader Hunter Hero Talents.

What are Hero Talents?

Hero Talents are a new addition to the Talent system in World of Warcraft. They offer players the opportunity to explore class fantasy with a third talent tree separate from their class and specialization. These Hero Talents are designed to augment and enhance the player's current spec identity. Blizzard has revealed an early preview of Hero Talents coming in The War Within expansion.

Pack Leader Hero Talents Overview

The Pack Leader tree is inspired by the fabled Warcraft Hero Rexxar. It focuses on the themes of mastering your chosen bestial companion and coordinating your attacks with your pet. The talents in this tree enhance the ferocity and coordination of the Survival Hunter's combat style. Let's dive into the first impressions, questions, and concerns surrounding the Pack Leader talents.

• Theme and Identity

The Pack Leader talents immediately make you feel like a true force to be reckoned with alongside your pet. The talents enhance the bond between the Hunter and their pet, allowing for simultaneous attacks and coordinated strikes. However, compared to the Beast Mastery spec, which can have multiple pets, Survival Hunters only have a single pet. This may make the "pack" aspect of Pack Leader feel less prominent. Additionally, the visuals of the Pack Leader tree seem to be plain, lacking distinct visual cues to indicate the player as a Pack Leader.

• Gameplay

Pack Leader aligns well with Blizzard's goal of creating Hero Talents that are thematically appropriate but not overly intrusive. The talents in this tree enhance abilities such as Mongoose Bite, Kill Command, and your pet's basic attacks. There is a significant amount of synergy between the talents in Pack Leader and the Survival Hunter's playstyle. However, the success of Pack Leader in terms of gameplay depends on the new talent, which should provide the Survival Hunter's pet with a free basic attack. This is crucial for the tree to function effectively, as Survival's pet does not generate Focus, unlike Beast Mastery pets.

• Immediate Concerns

1. Compared to Beast Mastery Hunters, Survival Hunters use Kill Command less frequently and have fewer pet basic attacks. This may result in reduced benefits from Pack Leader talents that depend on these abilities. It is important to balance the talents separately for Beast Mastery and Survival specs.
2. The duration of Howl of the Pack's critical strike damage buff may require careful management to optimize its duration, potentially leading to more manual pet control.
3. Coordinated Assault, a key ability for Survival Hunters, may need adjustments to make it more appealing and viable to build around.
4. Flanking Strike, a strong ability for Survival Hunters, may be overshadowed by the focus on Kill Command in the Pack Leader talents.
5. The pet's free basic attack, provided by a talent in the Pack Leader tree, is essential for Survival Hunters to fully benefit from the fun aspects of the tree. It should be clarified that the basic attack is indeed free.
6. Survival Hunters generate more Kill Command resets compared to Beast Mastery Hunters, potentially resulting in an overabundance of Focus.

Pack Leader Talent Analysis

• Keystone: Vicious Hunt

Vicious Hunt is the keystone talent of the Pack Leader Hero tree. It enhances the damage of the player's next Kill Command, adding additional physical damage.

• Pack Coordination

This talent instructs the player's pet to strike with their basic attack alongside the player's next Raptor Strike or Mongoose Bite after using Vicious Hunt. It encourages the use of the player's Coordinated Assault build.

• Howl of the Pack

Howl of the Pack grants a critical strike damage buff to the player when their pet's basic attacks critically strike. The buff stacks up to three times and lasts for six seconds.

• Wild Attacks

Every third pet basic attack is guaranteed to be a critical strike, with additional damage based on the player's critical strike chance.

• Den Recovery

This talent causes Aspect of the Turtle, Survival of the Fittest, and Mend Pet to heal the target for 20% of their maximum health over four seconds. The healing duration increases by one second when targeting a unit with less than 50% maximum health.

• Tireless Hunt

Tireless Hunt extends the duration of Aspect of the Cheetah by an additional eight seconds, providing a total of 20 seconds of movement speed bonus.

• Cornered Prey

The Cornered Prey talent increases the range of all the player's attacks by five yards for five seconds after using Disengage.

• Frenzied Tear

This talent has a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of Kill Command and cause it to strike a second time for 30% of normal damage whenever the player's pet performs a basic attack.

• Covering Fire

When using Wildfire Bomb, the cooldown of Carve or Butchery is reduced by two seconds with the Covering Fire talent.

• Scattered Prey

Scattered Prey increases the damage of the player's next Carve or Butchery by 25% after using Carve or Butchery. It enhances the player's AoE capabilities.

• Cull the Herd

Kill Shot deals an additional 30% damage over five seconds and increases the bleed damage the player and their pet deal to the target by 25%. This talent synergizes well with the player's bleeds and enhances their execute damage.

• Furious Assault

When using the Frenzied Tear talent, there is a 50% chance for the player's next Raptor Strike or Mongoose Bite to be free and deal 30% additional damage.

• Beast of Opportunity

Beast of Opportunity summons a pet from the player's stable for six seconds during Coordinated Assault. This talent adds an additional pet to the player's army for a short duration.

• Pack Assault

Pack Assault is the capstone talent of the Pack Leader tree. It enhances the effects of Vicious Hunt and Pack Coordination, allowing them to stack and apply twice. Furthermore, these effects are always active during Coordinated Assault, creating a dynamic and powerful gameplay loop.

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