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 most pure melee classes and its melee abilities are generally considered too limited to be a practical source of DPS. For this reason, a hunter's melee attack is typically a last resort used only when his pet cannot keep threat on itself.
• Hunters tame the wild beasts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend, training them to fight at their side. Hunters are one of the seven classes that can have combat pets, however, they are the only ones that can name and feed their pets. Hunters would do well to pay attention to their pets' 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. Hunters start with a two-handed axe 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.
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.[1] 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 shaman 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.[2]
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.
The hunter class can be played by the following races:
> Draenei – Alliance ( Burning Crusade )
> Dwarf – Alliance
> Human – Alliance ( Catacylsm )
> Night Elf – Alliance
> Worgen – Alliance ( Cataclysm )
> Blood Elf – Horde ( Burning Crusade )
> Forsaken – Horde ( Cataclysm )
> Goblin – Horde ( Cataclysm )
> Orc – Horde
> Tauren – Horde
> Troll – Horde
Talents and abilities
Hunters have a vast range of talents and abilities. These can be roughly categorized into the following:
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.
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.
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
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. Since Explosive Shot and Arcane Shot share cooldowns, as do Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot, the shots the hunter uses depend on his spec. Survival hunters use Explosive Shot, while beast masters and marksmen use Arcane Shot, while Aimed Shot is used if available. Steady Shot is used whenever all other shots are on cooldown. 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.
In the past, the hunter could not fire his Auto Shot if he was casting another spell at the same time. The Auto Shot swing timer was still counting but would not fire over another shot. This was called "clipping Auto Shot" and would greatly reduce DPS. However, this doesn't happen anymore, and Auto Shot would fire regardless of other spells being cast, but only if the hunter is standing. Moving still prevents firing.
Due to clipping consideration, weapon speed used to be crucial to maximizing dps with shot rotation, and a hunter should choose a ranged weapon of an appropriate speed (2.7 for beast masters, 3-3.1 for survivalists and marksmen). 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. These days, however, all weapons have the same speed, and since shot rotations are not used, you should use the weapon with best dps and stats, regardless of speed.
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 as tanks. The pet is essential to all specs, dealing anywhere from 10% of total damage for a marksman to 50% for a beast master. Formerly, pets had anemic damage potential and weak AI that often made them more of a danger to a raid than an asset. But improved AI - pets now always attack from the back of a monster - and an innate 90% damage avoidance has made this no longer a concern.
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.
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. Traps exist for 30 seconds, and have separate 30 second cooldown categores: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature Snake Trap. A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time. 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.
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.
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.
Armor
Hunters can use cloth and leather initially. At level 40 they can train to use mail. See hunter sets for a list of hunter armor sets.
Weapons
Hunters can learn 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. They were able to wield shields in the beta.
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.
Info from wowwiki.com
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 most pure melee classes and its melee abilities are generally considered too limited to be a practical source of DPS. For this reason, a hunter's melee attack is typically a last resort used only when his pet cannot keep threat on itself.
• Hunters tame the wild beasts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend, training them to fight at their side. Hunters are one of the seven classes that can have combat pets, however, they are the only ones that can name and feed their pets. Hunters would do well to pay attention to their pets' 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. Hunters start with a two-handed axe 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.
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.[1] 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 shaman 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.[2]
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.
The hunter class can be played by the following races:
> Draenei – Alliance ( Burning Crusade )
> Dwarf – Alliance
> Human – Alliance ( Catacylsm )
> Night Elf – Alliance
> Worgen – Alliance ( Cataclysm )
> Blood Elf – Horde ( Burning Crusade )
> Forsaken – Horde ( Cataclysm )
> Goblin – Horde ( Cataclysm )
> Orc – Horde
> Tauren – Horde
> Troll – Horde
Talents and abilities
Hunters have a vast range of talents and abilities. These can be roughly categorized into the following:
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.
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.
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
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. Since Explosive Shot and Arcane Shot share cooldowns, as do Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot, the shots the hunter uses depend on his spec. Survival hunters use Explosive Shot, while beast masters and marksmen use Arcane Shot, while Aimed Shot is used if available. Steady Shot is used whenever all other shots are on cooldown. 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.
In the past, the hunter could not fire his Auto Shot if he was casting another spell at the same time. The Auto Shot swing timer was still counting but would not fire over another shot. This was called "clipping Auto Shot" and would greatly reduce DPS. However, this doesn't happen anymore, and Auto Shot would fire regardless of other spells being cast, but only if the hunter is standing. Moving still prevents firing.
Due to clipping consideration, weapon speed used to be crucial to maximizing dps with shot rotation, and a hunter should choose a ranged weapon of an appropriate speed (2.7 for beast masters, 3-3.1 for survivalists and marksmen). 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. These days, however, all weapons have the same speed, and since shot rotations are not used, you should use the weapon with best dps and stats, regardless of speed.
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 as tanks. The pet is essential to all specs, dealing anywhere from 10% of total damage for a marksman to 50% for a beast master. Formerly, pets had anemic damage potential and weak AI that often made them more of a danger to a raid than an asset. But improved AI - pets now always attack from the back of a monster - and an innate 90% damage avoidance has made this no longer a concern.
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.
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. Traps exist for 30 seconds, and have separate 30 second cooldown categores: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature Snake Trap. A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time. 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.
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.
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.
Armor
Hunters can use cloth and leather initially. At level 40 they can train to use mail. See hunter sets for a list of hunter armor sets.
Weapons
Hunters can learn 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. They were able to wield shields in the beta.
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.
Info from wowwiki.com
