Class Guide: Hunter

**Alkhara Majere** · 02-15-2007

If you have played a hunter, you most likely have seen this all before.

After browsing MMOwned, I couldnt find one guide to the Hunter class in general. So here it is.

All information from Wowwiki, formatted into a easy-to-read format by your very own Alkhara Majere

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Overview
The Hunter class is a vicious damage dealer, but mainly at range. Hunters have pets that add to their DPS and help manage aggro. Hunters track, tame and slay animals and beasts found in the wild. Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.

Hunters tame wild beasts of Azeroth, training them to fight at their side. Hunters, along with Warlocks, Mages (Summon Water Elemental talent), Druids (Force of Nature Balance talent), and Priests (Shadowfiend spell) make up the five classes that can have combat pets. Hunters, however, are the only ones that can name their pets; Warlock pets are automatically given names when they are initially summoned.
Hunters excel in outdoor survival skills, such as tracking and laying traps. While they can deal moderate melee damage, they are built for ranged attack.
Hunters wear leather and cloth armor to level 39; at level 40, they gain access to Mail armor. Most Hunters start with an axe or dagger and a gun or bow. With training, they can learn all other weapon skills except mace, two-handed mace, and they are unable to use shields.
Hunters have a few magical abilities that require mana, such as pet healing or special shots, but their mana pools are not as large as those of dedicated spellcasters.
Hunters can take on various Animal Aspects that grant special abilities, such as increased dodge, improved run speed, or even resistance.

Races
The Hunter class can be played by the following races:

Alliance

Dwarves
Night Elves
Draenei

Horde

Orcs
Tauren
Trolls
Blood Elves

Talents and Abilities
Hunters have a vast range of talents and abilities. These can be roughly categorized into the following:

Attacks

Ranged
Melee
Pet

Class Specific

Traps
Aspects
Tracking

Talents

Ranged Fighting
Ranged fighting requires a choice between a gun, bow or a crossbow. When starting, this will depend on your race. Dwarves and Tauren will be given guns, Draenei start with crossbows, and the other races get bows. Later, you can train in the other ranged weapon types too.

Guns use bullets, while bows and crossbows use arrows. There are no bowyer or fletcher professions, so archers rely on shop vendors, mob drops and quests for purchasing their bows and arrows. Adamantite Shells are made by engineers and are the second best(Unique from Halaa are better but you may only have 200) ammo that you can use. You can also get Warden's Arrow which the arrows equivalent to the adamantite shells but they require revered with Cenarion Expedition and are sold in Zangarmarsh. Technically, Timeless Arrows and Timeless Shells are the best ammunition in the game, but they are only available as a rep reward and aren't practical to use all the time. As of Patch 2.01, Wicked Arrows can be purchased that add 22 dps (require level 55). Guns and bullets can both be made by engineers, which opens up the choices a little more. Whichever you choose, try to get a scope (made by engineers) to increase the damage, and buy the best ammunition you can afford.

Stings
Like warlocks with their curses, hunters have stings, specialized debuffs to help them address specific situations.

Scorpid Sting - Reduces chance to hit by 5%.
Serpent Sting - Causes damage over time
Viper Sting - Drains mana over time
Wyvern Sting - Sleeps target and causes damage over time (Survival Talent)

Melee Fighting

When in battle, try to stay at range. In PvE, your pet can taunt enemies for you to keep their attention, using the growl pet skill. In PvP battle you will have to rely on your other abilities, such as laying traps and using Wing Clip. Hunters can also Raptor Strike for additional melee damage but it is still not viable for sustained damage compared to their ranged abilities.

Combat Pets

Pets are the most important tools in the hands of a hunter. They serve as aggro-management (at higher levels pets will have difficulties holding aggro, unless the hunter is a Beast Mastery Talent Specced Hunter) additional DPS and tanking.

Many beast can be tamed and each offers a set of available active skills (there are special abilities just for wolves, just for cats, etc). In addition, certain pet types are tanking oriented (such as bears), and others are DPS oriented (such as cats and owls). Combined with the diversity of armor, stamina and Resistance buffs, it allows quite a great deal of customization. Many hunters have dedicated pets for Molten Core, PVP, tanking, and so on.

Hunters can start taming pets at level 10 by completing a short series of quests. They are able to control the pet through various commands. Although hunters can only have one active pet at a time, stables can be used to house additional pets.

See more at Hunter's pets.

Traps
Hunters have five different types of traps available for use.

Explosive Trap - Causes Fire damage to multiple targets
Freezing Trap - Freezes a single target
Frost Trap - Slows multiple targets
Immolation Trap - Causes Fire damage to a single target
Snake Trap - Summons snakes to attack any hostile target that is attacking you(Warning: These can aggro the same as any mob)

Aspects

Hunters have seven aspects at their disposal. Only one aspect may be active at a time.

Aspect of the Beast - Makes hunter untrackable
Aspect of the Cheetah - Increases run speed
Aspect of the Hawk - Increases ranged attack power
Aspect of the Monkey - Increases chance to dodge
Aspect of the Pack - Increases run speed of the party
Aspect of the Viper - Increases mana regeneration
Aspect of the Wild - Increases nature resistance

Tracking

Hunters can track different types of units. Only one tracking ability may be active at a time, to include profession tracking such as for mining or herbalism.

Hunter Talents

Talents are a way to specialize your character by enhancing your skills and/or learning new skills. From level 10 onwards you will receive a talent point every time you gain a level.
There are three categories for Hunter Talents:

Attributes

Armor
Hunters can use Cloth Armor and Leather Armor initially. At level 40 they can train to use Mail Armor.

Weapons
Hunters are capable of learning how to use Bows, Guns, Crossbows, Thrown Weapons, Daggers, Axes, Fist Weapons, Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Axes and Two-Handed Swords. The only weapons they cannot use are Wands and one-handed and two-handed Maces.

Upon reaching level 20, Hunters can learn the skill Dual Wield.

Attribute Conversions

Following statistics are based on all (patch 1.12.x) level 60 hunters with both melee and range skills at 300.

7 Agility = 1 Dps (Changed in 2.0 to 14AGI = 1DPS)
7 Ranged Attack Power = 1 Dps (changed in 2.0 to 14RAP = 1DPS)
53.00 Agility = +1% Critical -> (33 Agi in 2.0)
26.50 Agility = +1% Dodge -> (20 Agi in 2.0)
55.00 Intellect = +1% Spell Critical

10 Strength is equal to:
10 Melee Attack Power

10 Agility is equal to:
+10 Ranged Attack Power (changed in 2.0)
+10 Melee Attack Power
+20 Armor

10 Stamina = 100 Health
10 Intellect = 150 Mana
10 Spirit = 2 Mana per Tick

Things hunters should remember

Always keep an eye on your bullets or arrows; you don't want to run out of ammo in the middle of a fight.

In combat, hunters have the ability to remove all the threat they have generated on a target via Feign Death.

As a hunter, you use a lot of bullets or arrows. It's more cost-effective to buy them at a vendor than to craft them or buy them on the auction house. At level 60, Wicked Arrows are the strongest arrows you can buy. Doomshot and Miniature Cannon Balls deal more damage but are only dropped in instances so are mainly reserved for boss fights.

Hunters that have acquired Honored reputation with their side's Alterac Valley faction can purchase the second most powerful ammo: Ice Threaded Bullet and Ice Threaded Arrow from the supply officer. The Gnoll Skin Bandolier and Harpy Hide Quiver are also available from the quarter master for honor and AV marks. The bandolier is the best ammo pouch in the game, and the quiver is second only to the Ancient Sinew Wrapped Lamina.

Pets are nice, but keep a very close eye on them in instances and raids; one wrong click can very well get you - and the party - killed. So set your pet on passive mode.

The "OMG HUNTER LOOT" / That's a Hunter weapon! : jokes exists for a reason. Don't forget that you share your gear class with many other classes, both before and beyond level 40. It's very unlikely that you're the only person who needs any given drop. Even with ranged weapons, you'll get lots of competition. Hunters can learn to use every weapon in the game except Maces, Wands, and Shields. Don't assume because you "can" use something that you "need" it.

End-Game Expectations

With longer range, pets, and Feign Death abilities, Hunters are often counted on to be the primary puller in end-game raids such as Molten Core and Blackwing Lair, where you will be expected to know how and when to pull. These pulls require finesse, and are usually more than simply shooting something to gain aggro and bringing it back to the tank; many Hunters are expected to understand the mechanics of hate management and how to allow for the tank to garner more hate from a taunt. At very high levels a Hunter can learn Misdirection, an ability that 'plants' hate from their other abilities onto a target of their choice (likely the tank); you should know the best manner in how to do so.

A Hunter's pet will be expected to be trained in the appropriate Resistances for any given encounter, such as Fire Resistance for Molten Core for example. In addition, a Beast Mastery-skilled Hunter will be expected to know how and when (and when not to) use their pet against every mob the raid will encounter. For this reason, expect to select and bring a pet that benefits the raid in some way (for example, a wolf-type pet for Furious Howl to increase party melee damage or ranged damage, a Wind Serpent that can attack from ranged distance beside the hunter, or a pet designed for taking damage for off-tanking).

A Hunter's primary responsibility in nearly all raid encounters is to provide a high amount of DPS over a sustained period of time. To do this in a raid setting, you will need to know when to use Feign Death in order erase the amount of aggro you have dealt to the creature before you gain more aggro than the raid's primary tank, and then resume the state of high DPS. You will also need a large mana pool and know how to effectively and efficiently use your abilities without running out of mana too quickly. Mana regen from items such as the Black Grasp of the Destroyer and abilities such as Aspect of the Viper can help you accomplish this fine balance of mana management and high DPS.

In some cases you will be asked to Kite one or more creatures that either cannot or should not be killed during a specific encounter, allowing the rest of the raid to focus on other needs in order defeat the objective. Kiting is a skill that is best accomplished by Hunters because of their optional speed buff, pets, and armor rating (Mages are quite skilled at snare/root kiting, but few instances require such a technique and is intense in its use of mana) and requires practice. While kiting, you will need to shoot your target with instant abilities, and often use speed boosts (such as the movement speed enchantment for foot gear, speed potions, and/or using Aspect of the Cheetah). Kiting, for most hunters, is the hardest skill to learn, yet is considered by many to be the most important skill.

PvP

Hunters wishing to participate in end-game PvP will find any of the talent trees help them towards their goals of massive player destruction! In Beast Mastery, a PvP-Hunter will find the skills of Intimidation, Bestial Wrath (to include The Beast Within), and a deadly pet worthy of causing havoc; a 'BM' Hunter would be considered ill-equipped in PvP without them. The Marksman tree skills of Improved Concussive Shot, Mortal Shots, Barrage, Improved Barrage, Concussive Barrage are all very, very good in a PvP setting, with the skills of Lethal Shots, Scatter Shot, and Silencing Shot being considered "must haves" within the tree. Finally, the Survival Hunter has many tricks that allow them to escape death as well as dish out the pain, with such skill as Humanoid Slaying, Savage Strikes, Deterrence & Counterattack, and Master Tactician, followed by the "can't do without" skills of Hawk Eye, Improved Wing Clip, Entrapment, Survivalist, Killer Instinct, and Readiness topping the charts.

Some of these skills are considered universal abilities that should be in any PvP-Hunter talent build, no matter which tree you put the majority of your points into. These include Hawk Eye, which allows you to do damage from farther away, as well as Entrapment, which uses with Frost Trap, can turn the tide of an entire battle if used strategically, and Lethal Shots, which provides a sizeable increase to your critical hit rate for only 5 points into Marksman.

Hunters excel at taking out soft targets like Warlocks, Priests, and Mages from a distance, and should do so before moving on to hard targets such as Warriors and Paladins, though if a Rogue is observed it is the Hunter who is best equipped to track and expose the Rogue.

Useful 2.0 Macro's

Simply sends your pet to attack while casting hunter's mark and triggers autoshot

/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark(rank X) ((Leave out the (rank x) for highest rank))
/cast Auto Shot

This will pick your target if you don't have one, mark it, send in the pet and start to shoot all on one button.

/targetenemy [noharm]
/stopmacro [noharm]
/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark
/startattack

This macro will call your pet if you do not have one, otherwise it attempts to cast Revive Pet.
/cast [nopet] Call Pet; Revive Pet

Simple pet feed macro
/cast [nocombat] Feed Pet
/use [nocombat,pet:Cat] Roasted Quail
/use [nocombat,pet:Bat] Deep Fried Plantains

All done! All information from Wowwiki, formatted into a easy-to-read format by your very own Alkhara Majere

<3 Alk

**yourdeath911** · 02-15-2007

Pretty useful if you have never played a hunter b4 or are just learning to play one, with a few useful tips for the already experienced. Regretable everything can't be perfect and the talent info lacks the new ones from BC. Nice post nonetheless