Hunter

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Quests	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Abilities	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Armor sets	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

The Hunter class performs pulling, threat redirection, crowd control, and primarily ranged damage. Hunters have pets that add to their DPS and help manage aggro. They can also track, tame and train animals and beasts found in the wild. The well trained pet, on countless occasions, has saved a hunter's life. It has been said by many, and throughout history, that hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.

In some other games, such as Everquest, the hunter is a ranged/melee hybrid that can rely on both, when the need arises. In World of Warcraft, this is generally not the case. The Survival tree offers some enhancement to melee ability, but the class's damage mitigation is poor compared to pure melee classes and its melee abilities are generally considered too limited to be a practical source of DPS.

Overview

• Hunters tame the wild beasts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend, training them to fight at their side. Hunters, along with warlocks (summonable demonic minions), mages ( [Summon Water Elemental] talent), druids ( [Force of Nature] talent), shamans (elemental summoning totems and Spirit Wolf talent), death knights (ghouls) and priests ( [Shadowfiend]) make up the seven classes that can have combat pets. Hunters, however, are the only ones that can name and feed their pets; warlock pets are automatically given names when they are initially summoned and their damage is unaffected by "happiness".
• Hunters excel in outdoor survival skills, such as tracking and laying traps.
• Hunters wear leather and cloth armor until level 40, at which they gain access to equipping mail armor. Most hunters start with an axe or dagger and a gun, crossbow, or bow. With training, they can learn all other weapon skills except wands, maces, and two-handed maces. They are unable to use shields or plate armor.
• Hunters have many magical abilities that require mana, such as pet healing and 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 rating, improved run speed, or even additional nature resistance.

Background

The Hunter is a stalker in the wilds, living on his knowledge of survival and skill with a bow or rifle. He is deeply in tune with nature, and some of its mightiest beasts are his allies. Of Azeroth's many creatures, few can resist the hunter's call, and fewer can survive his fury. Hunters are as varied as the world's many climates, but they are universally renowned for their amazing abilities to find their prey and bring it down. They come from any race (players are restricted to seven races, see below), though certain races naturally excel at the hunter's profession. Most hunters seek to aid the balance of nature along with their druidic allies. Elven rangers are not alone in their mastery of the wilderness. While an elven ranger prefers the bow, the hunter would rather get up close. A hunter is skilled in stealth, slipping through the woods like a ghost. Orcs of the Horde first learned the ways of the hunter from forest trolls on Lordaeron and tauren have been masters of the hunt since the dawn of the world. Like the shamans of the Horde, hunters call upon the spirits of the land, wind, and fire to aid them in their hunts and tasks. Their spells focus on the elements and the land.

A dwarven hunter takes aim.

The Hunter is one of the oldest classes in history. They represent a deep connection between man and beast, and the hunters of Warcraft are not merely individuals who track animals and slay them for food, but custodians of balance. They understand the natural circle of life and death, and the part they must play in maintaining it not simply as researchers, but as active participants. The "Hunt" is venerated, and the prey they choose to stalk is given as much respect as the predators hunters choose to learn from and embody. All hunters create lifelong friendships with animal companions, who are also often their best and only friends, if the stereotype of the reclusive huntsman is to be believed. Hunters come in all shapes, forms, sizes and specialties, but in World of Warcraft, all hunters specialize to be marksmen (however, not all hunters choose to specialize in the Marksmanship talent tree). Hunters are a curious mix of mysticism and rough wilderness know-how. They can learn to mystically align themselves with the aspects of various animals to assist them: the spryness of a monkey, the sharp eyes of a hawk, and the swiftness of a cheetah; they gift themselves with a higher resistance against the dangers of the most important thing of all in the rites of a hunter — the very Wilds he and his prey live in. Hunters also derive a system of hand-to-hand combat inspired by the attacks and counterattacks of various animals, and use magically empowered traps to maim and snare their prey. They have various shots imbued with magic or explosives to snare, poison, handicap and disorient their targets. They can even hold their breath and slow their heartbeat to a highly infrequent, inconsequential tap to give their pursuers the impression that they are dead.

The Hunter is the choice of life for those who reject societies that oppress the natural role as prey and hunter, and also reject the druidic stance that we should be healers and observers rather than active participants in the "Great Hunt". They follow a life of reverence for nature complimenting their tradition and willingness to use man-made tools. We are all tool-using creatures after all, and it is only natural to use that advantage afforded by nature to be better hunters, though there are also many hunters who prefer a more direct approach to tracking and hunting.

Note: The term "Hunter" can refer to the combat class, as well as to those who go hunting as a profession, hobby, or survival skill. The two are not identical, as not all that hunt are a hunter class. The above lore only refers to the specific class.

Notable Hunters in the lore

• File:IconSmall Rexxar Small.gif Rexxar
• File:IconSmall Alleria Small.gif Alleria Windrunner
• File:IconSmall Vereesa Small.gif Vereesa Windrunner
• File:IconSmall SylvanasHE Small.gif Sylvanas Windrunner (Formerly. Arguably now a dark ranger)
• Shandris Feathermoon
• File:IconSmall Zul'Jin Small.gif Zul'jin
• Hemet Nesingwary
• File:IconSmall Tyrande Small.gif Tyrande Whisperwind
• Brann Bronzebeard

Races and starting stats

Main article: Hunter races

Race		Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit	Armor	Health	Mana
	Dwarf	22	19	24	19	20	38	86	84
	Night elf	17	28	20	20	21	56	46	85
	Draenei	21	20	20	21	23	40	46	100
	Orc	23	20	23	17	24	40	76	82
	Tauren	25	18	23	15	23	36	80	80
	Troll	21	25	22	16	22	50	66	81
	Blood elf	17	25	19	24	20	50	45	145
	Human	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
	Worgen	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
	Undead	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??
	Goblin	??	??	??	??	??	??	??	??

Racial abilities

These are some relevant racial traits to hunters:

• Blood elves — Have the racial ability [Arcane Torrent]. It provides a 2 second, area of effect silence as well as refilling mana.
• Draenei — [Heroic Presence] improves hit by 1% for the hunter, their pet, and everyone in their party. Their [Gift of the Naaru] ability also gives hunters a heal over time.
• Dwarves — [Gun Specialization] increases critically hit with guns by 1%. Also has [Stoneform] to counter various types of debuffs, such as [Crippling Poison].
• Night elves — [Shadowmeld] enables the hunter to take advantage of unsuspecting enemies in PvP as well as mobs in PvE, and [Quickness] can stack upon [Aspect of the Monkey] to increase dodge further.
• Orcs — [Command] increases pet damage by 5%. Also has the powerful [Blood Fury] ability.
• Trolls — [Bow Specialization] increases chance to critically hit with bows by 1%. Also has [Berserking].
• Tauren — [Endurance] increases the base health of the hunter by 5%. This stacks with the [Endurance Training] talent in the Beast Mastery talent tree and the [Survivalist] talent in the Survival talent tree.

Other racial attributes can also be useful, but may not be specifically relevant to hunters as a class. As always, research into all the racial traits of each race will make a player's decision better informed.

Talents and abilities

See also: Hunter abilities, Hunter talents

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

Attacks	Class Specific	Talents
Pet	Aspects	Beast Mastery
Ranged	Tracking	Marksmanship
Melee	Traps	Survival

Ranged fighting

File:BloodElfM Season3.jpg

A blood elf hunter in Vengeful Gladiator's Pursuit armor (the Arena season 3 hunter set), wielding the  [Vengeful Gladiator's Longbow].

Ranged fighting requires a choice between a gun, bow, or a crossbow. When starting, this will depend on your race. Dwarves and tauren are given guns, draenei start with crossbows, and the other races get bows. Later on, you can train to use the ranged weapons that aren't inherent to your race. In general, crossbows are relatively slow, but hit harder and are favored for increasing burst damage, while guns are relatively fast and good for steady grinding at the cost of using more ammunition than other weapons. Bows have moderate attack speed and are favored for sustained DPS. Initially, weapon speed will be inconsequential since the only available abilities consist of Auto-Shot and various instant casts. Guns can be crafted by engineers, but there are no craftable bows or crossbows, so most ranged upgrades will come from mob drops and quest rewards.

Guns use bullets while bows and crossbows use arrows. Different types of ammunition add different amounts of DPS; generally, the higher level you are, the higher DPS ammunition you can access. At level 70, several different qualities of ammo are available and you may often find yourself using different types of ammo for different situations.

Standard white quality bullets and arrows of varying DPS are available at most innkeepers and almost all general goods vendors, as well as special city vendors. There is also special ammunition that can be crafted by engineers or bought as reputation rewards; these projectiles are typically expensive and not very economical for everyday use. The Halaa ammunition vendor sells 34 DPS arrows and shells; these are no longer unique to 200, but they are bind on pickup and can only be purchased if your faction (Alliance or Horde) controls Halaa. [Warden's Arrows] and [Felbane Slugs] are available at revered from the Cenarion Expedition and Honor Hold/Thrallmar respectively. [Saronite Razorheads] and [Mammoth Cutters] can be made by engineers and are the best ammunition currently available.

For further information see the hunter tactics page.

Stings

Hunters have stings, which are specialized debuffs they can apply to targets to help them address specific situations. Only one sting per hunter can be active on any one target. [Scorpid Sting] is by far the most useful utility in PvE, capable of debuffing even a raid boss's hit chance. However, Scorpid Stings from multiple hunters overwrite instead of stacking. [Serpent Sting] is common for high DPS shot rotations along with [Steady Shot], especially when used in conjunction with  [Glyph of Steady Shot]. [Viper Sting] is very useful in PvP but it has incredible use in PvE as well. Before it was considered as a waste of mana because of its low mana drain, but with the addition of [Chimera Shot] Marksmanship Hunters can use it to replenish their own mana more quickly. This combination allows Hunters to regain mana without suffering the damage reduction from [Aspect of the Viper]. However, this only applies to fights with mana-using enemies.

Shots

A night elf hunter in art.

Hunters also make heavy use of special shots to supplement their DPS and provide utility to their groups. The bulk of a hunter's damage and utility will come from the use of these shots. To maximize the DPS output, a hunter should choose a ranged weapon of an appropriate speed (At endgame, 2.7 for BM, 3-3.1 for Survival and MM), and rotate between [Arcane Shot], [Auto Shot] and [Steady Shot] (when the Steady Shot ability becomes available at level 50). Although, regardless of their spec, any hunter not getting at least a third of his/her damage from Steady Shot after level 50 is most likely not using it enough.

That is, if your crossbow is 3.2 second cast time, your Arcane Shot is at normal 6 second and your Steady Shot is at 2 second cool down, you should fire Arcane Shot -> Auto Shot -> Steady Shot -> Auto Shot -> Steady Shot -> Arcane Shot. Fire Arcane Shot when ever it is ready and allow a Auto Shot between Steady Shots. (Note: There is much "Theorycraft" dedicated to the idea of the "perfect" shot rotation: Many hunters disagree with this shot rotation, alternatives may be seen discussed at elitistjerks, and tkasomething.com)

Melee fighting

While hunters are primarily a ranged class, they do possess some melee abilities. They are nowhere near as powerful as the abilities of a true melee class such as a rogue, but they are still useful in situations where the target is too close to be hit with ranged attacks. (Note: There used to be an 8-yard zone immediately beyond the hunter's melee range where range weapons couldn't be used. This "Dead Zone" was done away with in Patch 2.3, much to the dismay of PvP clothies.) The general goal in using these moves is to continue inflicting damage while attempting to open distance, hence these abilities have limited uses, cooldowns, or some kind of movement impairment effect.

Combat pets

Pets are the most important tools in the hands of a hunter. They serve as aggro-management, additional DPS, and tanking. While the manner in which a pet is customarily used differs fairly greatly, depending on the hunter's spec, the pet is still essential to all specs. A well trained pet of the appropriate type can add upwards of 120 DPS (at higher levels) to a hunter's overall damage output, and it is not uncommon for BM hunter pets to pass 300 dps. So, while they are customarily thought of as tanks, their offensive potential should not be overlooked.

Many beast-type mobs can be tamed, and each offer a set of unique 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 turtles), and others are DPS-oriented (such as cats and owls). Combined with the diversity of armor, stamina and resistance buffs, pets are allowed a great deal of customization. Many hunters have dedicated pets for specific instances, PvP, tanking, and so on.

A troll hunter is crouching with his white wolf.

Hunters can tame pets at level 10 by completing a short series of quests. They are able to control the pet through various commands. Although hunters can have only one active pet at a time, the stable can house up to 4 additional pets.

Traps

Hunters have five different types of traps available for use. Some traps are a type of Crowd Control; others are a source of damage. All traps have a 30 second cooldown and are instant casts. Traps will exist for 1 minute, and only one trap can be active at a time. However, if a trap is set off, another trap can be used while the effect of the first is active. Traps are within the domain of the Survival sub-school, and although the basic traps are trainable by hunters of any spec, the Survival tree contains numerous talents to enhance their use. Double trapping is made much easier with the Marksmanship talent [Readiness].

Aspects

Hunters have eight aspects at their disposal. Only one aspect may be active at a time. Aspects will only affect the hunter, unless stated otherwise. The aspects are part of the Beast Mastery school, and while the base aspects are trainable by hunters of any specialization, the Beast Mastery tree contains talents which enhance their use.

Aspects range in use from self-protection to speed boosts.

Tracking

Hunters can track eight different types of units. Only one tracking ability may be active at a time, which includes the tracking for mining veins, herbs, and fish. Tracking became more important part of Survival hunter after the implementation of [Improved Tracking] which increases hunter damage against different creature types.

Hunter talents

Talents are a way to specialize your character by enhancing your skills and/or learning new skills. Starting at level 10, you will receive a talent point every time you gain a level.

There are three categories for hunter talents:

• Beast Mastery
• Marksmanship
• Survival

For further information see Hunter talents, Hunter talent discussion. Talent calculators can be found at Official Blizzard Talent Calculator or Wowhead Talent Calculator.

Gear

Armor

Hunters can use Cloth Armor and Leather Armor initially. At level 40 they can train to use Mail Armor. See hunter sets for a list of hunter armor sets.

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.

Note: the inability of hunters to use maces makes the dwarf's [Mace Specialization] racial trait useless for dwarven hunters.

Upon reaching level 20, hunters can learn the Dual Wield skill. This allows them to wield two one-handed weapons at the same time.

See hunter weapon for an explanation of the value of the various stat bonuses and a list of melee weapons suitable for hunters.

Attribute conversions

Level 70 Hunter	Level 80 Hunter
1 Agility = 1 Attack Power	1 Agility = 1 Attack Power
14 Ranged Attack Power = 1 DPS	14 Ranged Attack Power = 1 DPS
1 Agility = 0.5 Critical Strike Rating	1 Agility = 0.552 Critical Strike Rating
22.08 Critical Strike Rating = +1% Critical Hit	45.91 Critical Strike Rating = +1% Critical Hit
40 Agility = +1% Critical Hit	83.33 Agility = +1% Critical Hit
26.5 Agility = +1% Dodge Chance	?? Agility = +1% Dodge Chance
18.9 Dodge Rating = +1% Dodge Chance	?? Dodge Rating = +1% Dodge Chance
1 Agility = 2 Armor	1 Agility = 2 Armor
1 Strength = 1 Melee Attack Power	1 Strength = 1 Melee Attack Power
1 Stamina = 10 Health	1 Stamina = 10 Health
1 Intellect = 15 Mana	1 Intellect = 15 Mana
Hit Rating needed for +1% Hit = 15.77	Hit Rating needed for +1% Hit = 32.79
Haste Rating needed for +1% Haste = 15.77	Haste Rating needed for +1% Haste = 32.79
Parry Rating needed for +1% Parry = 31.54	Parry Rating needed for +1% Parry = ??

Please note that although 14 RAP gives a damage bonus equivalent to 1 DPS, the actual damage bonus per attack depends on weapon speed. This is before haste effects (Rapid Fire, etc.). In the case of Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot, the Attack Power contribution is normalized. Also note that although 14 agility = 14 AP which causes a 1 DPS increase, agility will also provide an extra critical strike bonus which must be considered. Roughly one can say that for DPS, 1 agility ≈ 1 attack power + 0.552 crit rating. The maximum hit rating needed for level 80 hunters attacking boss mobs is 263 (262.32), which equals +8% chance to hit. For each talent point spent in the Focused Aim talent in the Marksmanship tree, the amount of hit percentage needed will decrease by 1%. The maximum needed hit percentage for draenei hunters is reduced by an additional 1% due to their racial ability [Heroic Presence]. Expertise, added in 2.3, has no effect on ranged weapons.

Burning Crusade changes

New pets and abilities

The expansion offers several new pets and abilities. Information can be found at http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/.

Traps

Traps can now be set during combat. This opens a whole new role to hunters as crowd control, as hunters can now chain trap a mob without having to rely on [Feign Death] to exit combat.

Wrath of the Lich King Changes

Disengage

This ability no longer reduces threat when used, as it did pre WotLK. This ability now causes the hunter to leap backward up to 13 yards. This ability can only be used in combat.

Pets

Several new pets were introduced in WotLK.

Pet skills were redesigned and pet talents were introduced, with a tanking talent tree (Tenacity), a DPS talent tree (Ferocity), and a utility talent tree (Cunning). Each kind of pet family has its own talent tree, its own unique abilities and attribute bonuses. Pet training points were removed. One of the talents shown at the WWI was Cornered: When your pet is under 20% health, it deals 20% extra damage.

Beast Mastery hunters now have the opportunity to tame exotic beasts (last tier in the tree).

Steady Shot

The shot clipping was removed from Steady Shot; it can be used without interrupting Auto Shot.

Cataclysm Changes

In the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, hunters will no longer use mana. Hunters will instead draw upon focus as a primary resource, similar to energy used by rogues. This is likely to shift haste to a primary stat for focus regeneration.

Hunters will also derive attack power solely from agility, at 2 points of AP for each agility point.

End-game expectations

A hunter's primary responsibility in nearly all raid encounters is to sustainably do high DPS. They should know when to use [Feign Death] to get rid of aggro before they gain more aggro than the raid's primary tank, and then continue making damage. They will also need a large mana pool and know how to use their 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.

A hunter's pet will be expected to be trained in the appropriate resistances for any given encounter, such as [Frost Resistance] and Nature Resistance for some SSC encounters. In addition, any 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 even a pet designed for taking damage for off-tanking). It should be noted, most guilds capable of current endgame content will expect dps (cat, ravager, raptor) from a hunter pet, and with Avoidance, keeping any pet in any encounter constantly at range has become unnecessary, and doing so will most likely bring the hunter's knowledge of the class into question.

You will almost never be asked to trap during raids, but you might be asked during 5man groups and heroics. Trapping is a form of Crowd Control. This is typically done by laying down a [Freezing Trap] in front of you before the pull, using [Distracting Shot] to steal aggro after tank pulls, thus making the mob run at you and into the Freezing Trap. Hitting the Mob with a [Concussive Shot] as it comes to the trap is a good way to buy cool down time, making it easier to re-trap. The highest rank of Freezing Trap gained at level 60 will freeze the enemy for 20 seconds, effectively taking it out of the battle for that short time. The generally accepted raid symbol for this is a blue square, although it is very important to confirm this beforehand. The tank or off-tank will usually be responsible for taking aggro off of you when the group is ready to deal with the mob. A skilled hunter of any spec should be able to keep at least one target controlled indefinitely. For BM, the pet stun [Intimidation] is helpful, and for Survival [Scatter Shot] helps kill time between trap cool downs. All specs can use [Concussive Shot], pet tanking/ [Misdirection]/sacrificing and [Wing Clip] to buy time while keeping a mob occupied.

A trap that hasn't been tripped will exist for 1 minute, but comes off of cooldown after only 30 seconds. Only one untriggered trap can exist at a time, but it is possible to lay a trap before the pull, wait 30 seconds to let the cooldown, trap a mob, and then move away a small distance and lay another trap. Whenever the first trap's effect wears off, the mob will usually run for you, and right into another freeze trap. This is called chain-trapping a mob. The 2-piece set bonus of Beast Lord Armor reduces the cooldown on your traps by 4 seconds, and some raiders gain only two pieces and equip them only for special boss fights were it is highly important Crowd Control, such as the Moroes fight in Karazhan.

When trapping in anything heroic level and beyond, if you know [Misdirection] will not be required on a tank in the next 30 seconds, it can be very useful to trap casters (such as the Spell Shades in Karazhan). This is accomplished by posting the pet out of line of sight or far enough away that a trap can be placed such that the caster will have to run into it before the pet is in its range. Once the mob is trapped, the pet can be sent into combat and a new trap placed on the other side. This is also very useful, such as with the spell shades, when dealing with mobs that constantly resist traps, as the pet will already be tanking the mob (most likely dying in the process). Still, this is much better than the hunter having initial aggro when things go wrong.

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 Aspect of the Cheetah, 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 a lot of 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 constant havoc (especially to casters); a 'BM' hunter would be considered ill-equipped in PvP without them. Bestial Wrath primarily enables Beast Mastery to be the hunter's primary anti-caster spec, although it can have more difficulty against the melee classes (warrior, rogue, paladin).

The Marksman tree skills of [Improved Concussive Shot], [Mortal Shots], [Barrage], [Improved Barrage], [Concussive Barrage] are all excellent in a PvP setting, with the skills of [Lethal Shots], and [Silencing Shot] being considered "must haves" within the tree. These talents in the tree enables the hunter to inflict immense Burst damage. In terms of targets, Marksmanship can to some extent deal with either casters or melee equally well, but does not specialise against either.

Finally, the Survival hunter has many tricks that allow them to escape the deadzone (Note: The deadzone was done away with in Patch 2.3, much to the dismay of mages using [Frost Nova].) 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], [Wyvern Sting] and [Scatter Shot]. As Beast Mastery is designed to deal most effectively with the caster classes, so Survival is specialised, conversely, towards the melee classes, and likewise also has somewhat more difficulty against casters.

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 used with [Frost Trap], can turn the tide of an entire battle if used strategically, and [Lethal Shots], which provides a sizable 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 by marking him with hunter's Mark. Hunter's pets can also break an unseen rogue's stealth if he is close and the pet is on aggressive.

You may also want to look at getting a lot of stamina enchants so you will have more health to face a warrior or carry a flag in Warsong Gulch.

Reputation

This class's social reputation within the game is sadly poor, with substantial prejudice directed towards it. Because of this, when playing a hunter it is necessary to be proactive in establishing your individual credibility in the eyes of non-hunter players. The hunter tactics page, as well as the Notes section at the bottom of this page, can offer the reader some valuable information on how they can do this. With the advent of Wrath of the Lich King some of the social stigma surrounding "huntards" has lessened. In addition, raiders have noted an improvement in the median skill level of hunters; thus improving the standing of the class.

Notes

• Hunters are the third most played class according to Warcraft Realms.
• The "OMG HUNTER LOOT" / "That's a hunter weapon!" : jokes exists for a reason. Don't forget you share your gear class with many other classes. It's very unlikely you're the only person who needs any given drop. Do not be surprised if other classes also compete with you for ranged weapons, even though, technically speaking, they shouldn't. From a use point of view, a warrior might vaguely be able to justify rolling on a high level ranged weapon; if he's a tank, he can use it for pulling. A rogue can not, unless it increases his attack power in some way. Still, a rogue rolling on a bow for stats against a hunter would be equivalent to a hunter rolling on daggers against a rogue for the same reason. HOWEVER: Be aware of end game bows and guns...these will all certainly belong to a hunter, and a rogue or warrior rolling need on an epic bow or, god forbid, [Thori'dal, the Stars' Fury], is unfortunately confirmed.
• Always keep an eye on your bullets or arrows; you don't want to run out of ammo in the middle of a fight. Never be afraid to bring extra ammunition if needed in your normal bag slots.
• While the hunter is an easy class to play at a superficial level, it can be a highly challenging class to play well. People will consistently tell you that damage is the only reason for a hunter's existence; in raids, and possibly in soloing that might be true, but in five man instances and battleground pvp in particular, it isn't. You can use traps as a form of crowd control, and you need to monitor your pet to ensure that it does not cause problems.
• In addition, in most MMORPGs, the hunter or ranger class variant is usually recognized as the ideal ranged puller in a group. World of Warcraft is somewhat unique in that within its culture, ranged pulling is generally not considered a hunter's responsibility, to the point where hunters in groups will actually be expressly forbidden from doing so. This is true despite the fact that, as with other games, in WoW Blizzard has equipped the hunter with numerous unique abilities (Disengage, Feign Death, Tracking) to assist them in the accomplishment of that task. The advent of [Misdirection] has changed this a bit, with tanks often requesting that a hunter "MD that mob to me."

• In combat, hunters have the ability to quickly remove all threat they have generated on a target via [Feign Death]. In the majority of boss fights, you won't be out of combat for more or less than 1 to 3 seconds.

• Pets in instances should be controlled carefully and watched closely; one wrong click can very well get you and the party or even raid killed. You should set your pet on passive or defensive mode (pets have been known to respond to the presence of World Dragons when in defensive as if on aggressive) as well as disabling autocast for Growl and any other AoE abilities to be secure.
• While some inexperienced MM and SV hunters will completely dismiss their pets to avoid problems, doing so loses them more dps than switching from a 25-man raid-drop bow to a level 30 bow would. A part of playing a hunter is pet control.

• Although hunters are the second most popular class at 70, they are the least common in 2k+ arena teams of all kinds.

Note

The hunter (prestige class) was replaced with the hunter (core class) in the World of Warcraft RPG.Template:Cite

External links

• Official forums on Worldofwarcraft.com
• Coldfront — A fansite and forums, by hunters for hunters
• Game Tactics — Game Tactics hunter Guide
• Raptor Syndicate — Pure PvE Guide for hunters (not updated for WotLK)
• Hunter Guides — WoW Hunter Guides (blog)
• Good Intentions — Pet Abilities Table
• Petopia — Hunter Pet Information

Hunter Balancing Find out about the changes in balance with other classes of the hunter here!

• WoW Hunter Pets — Hunter Pet Encyclopedia
• Artanis-Hunter-Guide — The most detailed class guide from Pie_Masters Productions

WowInsider Big Red Kitty — raid-focused hunter weekly feature at WoW Insider

(stopped new posts on April 8, 2009)

• BigRedKitty.net - Big Red Kitty main site (stopped new posts on April 8, 2009)
• The Spirit Beast Within - Tips, tricks and guides stories of a tauren hunter

WowInsider Scattered Shots — non-raid hunter weekly feature at WoW Insider

WowInsider Hunter guides at WoW Insider

• Hunter Loot - A guide to WotLK loot for different hunter specs
• TribunalxHunter - A BM Hunter's Guide for Quests, Tips, Raids, Gold and Randoms.

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