BM in Arena...

BRK is quite fond of his definition of a hunter's purpose in PVE. To provide mass amounts of sustained ranged dps.

Arena is different. Arena demands proficiency in a skill most hunters no longer even know about.

Kiting.

If you stand and shoot... you will die. There is no such thing as sustained hunter damage in Arena, except to the extent that there is sustained stupidity in WoW. If they let you just shoot em down, they will die. One of my favorite Tom Clancy quotes...

"Killing idiots is not the point. The skill lies in killing the smart ones..."

Actually, give up the thought of survival. You gonna die no matter what the hell happens, cuz hunters are usually target number one. This is because of the pathetic weakness of the hunter. The closer you are to a hunter, the more damage YOU do, and the less damage the HUNTER does. This is true of no other class... hence the importance of things like traps, scatter shot and wyvern sting... you know, things that BM hunters don't really have...

We have traps, true... but with a 30 sec cooldown, and the ubiquitous pvp trinket, a freeze trap will not save for long. So... we got two things... 18 seconds of invulnerability to snares and stuns, and a pet.

So... BM hunters become the arena equivalent of Aircraft carriers... Launch the pet, try to stay close enough to keep an eye on things, while declining direct combat as much as possible. The longer the fight lasts... the more damage the pet does. Another unique property of hunters... you can be shut down, running around doing nothing... and still do respectable damage with the pet.

(One reason locks dominate arena... they can do something similar with those damn overpowered instacast DoT's. And they have the best pvp CC in the game... but enough on class envy... BM hunters pwn locks...)

Concussive shot is your best friend. Hit the warriors as soon as possible with a pet to keep that charge offa the table. True mastery is knowing when to use the frost trap (massive area kiting) the freeze trap (when they don't have dispells, and their pvp trinket is already blown) and the default snake trap (your best line of defense for melee dps, and works rather well against locks...)

Recognize that the first instinct of the enemy is to run straight at you... save that intimidate like it's your last silver bullet and the werewolves have taken over. The stun might be the only escape you have left... using it offensively is often a mistake...

OTOH, hitting that mage when they charge you with an intimidate might just give you the time to get em dead first... itsa fine line.

More on kiting... your partner is invaluable. Make sure he/she understands that they need to keep the other team offa you. A hamstrung mage chasing a hunter is a DEAD mage. And for a Hunter/Arms warrior... mages are the enemy. Hunters and Warriors own... locks, priests, rogues, druids. A good warrior will cripple a pally or a shammy. The worst matchup is you dead, and the warrior alone against a mage. So you gotta kill the mage first. And since most mages are either frost or pom fire... this is a problem. Warrior against a hunter is another problem. Without scatter shot or multiple traps... a warrior is simply too hard to take down alone without endless craft, guile, and patient kiting. When fighting a warrior, remember the first rule of horror movies...

Never stop running to go back.

So, TBW... your signature class ability. 18 seconds of immune. Use it sparingly. You should have a pvp trinket... use it first if you can, then pop TBW. Or use it to get the pet outta CC. OR... if you see that frost mage comin... pop it. If the frost mage can't freeze you, his damage goes way down.

Then there is the worst of all worlds... enemy healing. You simply can't stop it. Healing classes don't get pushback, intimidate only stops one heal, and unless they're stupid enough to stand there while you put a trap under them...

Your only salvation is kiting. Pallys and, to a lesser extent, shammies... can't heal while running. On these fights... it's all on your partner. If you keep people running, the heals will go away. Earth shield is still a pain, but shammies are simply overpowered in pvp... deal with it. A good partner with decent CC will go a long way to helping. Druids and priests can heal quite well, but you can crush either in their healing forms before whatever gets you dead.

One not so subtle trick. Track humans at the start... and /target the names. Then send the pet in with your partner, and sit back for a coupla seconds to see how things go... max range is your friend in these fights. Assymetric information is a good thing. Also, creative use of feign death might save you in a crucial moment... and if you're not a shadowmelded NE, it's a great way to hide in plain sight. Especially in the Lordaeron map.

Last... talents. I'm gonna respec soon, and get rid of cat's swiftness (a much underappreciated talent). Im going back to full frenzy, picking up ferocious inspiration, AND one invaluable talent... bestial swiftness. +30% Movement speed for the pet outside is a MUST for pvp BM.

So anyway... those are my hard earned lessons on arena pvp with a BM hunter.