WoW Hunter Guide

The WoW Hunter is one of the most exciting classes in the World of Warcraft. In this WoW Hunter Guide you will learn some essential information that is going to help you eventually get to level 80 and allow you to totally dominate the realm of WoW.

Hunter Overview

The Hunter is a fantastic class that uses is ranged attacks combined with its long list of utility to avoid direct conflicts and stay at the back of the battle. They aren’t completely handicapped in melee matters either, Hunters have the ability to duel wield and several melee based attacks that can aid in escaping back to their preferred ranged habitat.

Hunter Races

When you are a hunter, the talent you choose is directly related to the race you are and is a big part of how you will build that talent. The most important thing to remember is that while race is important, there is no particular race that is any better for a hunter. You get to choose between 5 different races; you can be a Dwarf or a Night Elf if you are part of the Alliance and you can be an Orc, Troll and Tauren if you are part of the Horde.

On the Alliance side, you can play a Dwarf Hunter. Night Elves are popular as well. If you choose the Dwarf, they can withstand more of a beating and I’m not depending on dodging attacks to survive. Dwarves also get a nice +5 bonus to guns which comes in hand early on. Once you get your pet at level 10, they can engage mobs while sit back and fire shot after shot with little risk of drawing aggro. If you are a Night Elf you can dodge much better than anyone else plus you pick up the particular skills of your own race.

On the Horde side, you have a few great options to decide on, you can choose the Orc and the Tauren that normally have more hit points, or the Troll who has quite a bit of dodge ability which means they get hit a lot less often. The best thing about Trolls though is that they regenerate much faster than the other two. Trolls have a higher chance of having thrown weapons but they do not exactly have anything to do with being a hunter. When Hunter leveling you will need to have a rifle, crossbow and a bow so that you can kill things like a good hunter should. The Tauren is quite popular and has many great abilities; however some of the abilities such as herbalism have absolutely nothing to do with being a hunter. The Orcs are the most chosen of all the hunters as they are usually strong, have the right weapon and their pet is powerful so that makes them most likely to be a hunter.

Hunter Professions

Some hunters choose to go with alchemy as a main profession. With alchemy, the best profession is definitely herbalism since alchemy mainly uses the herbs gathered from the other profession. With alchemy and herbalism, the hunter can buff up during leveling and that makes leveling easier and faster.

Another classic profession for a hunter is leatherworking. Leatherworking can be used to make the hunter green armor that will ultimately make it easier to level. Leatherworking also incorporates some mail armor that can be crafted at levels about 40. If you decide to go with leatherworking, skinning is obviously the best secondary profession since provides you with the materials you will need.

Hunter Abilities

Hunters bring the ability, like Warriors/Rogues, to absolutely decimate casters especially when they are accompanied by their pet. Hunters also have a nice ability called Viper Sting, a mana drain, which when coupled with mana burn is very nice. Hunters also have the ability to drop various traps; the most common one used in Arena is a frost trap. The frost trap releases a huge frozen area, which slows down anyone entering into it. Alot of top 5v5 teams use this to kite opponents around, minimizing their damage done and forcing the team to spread out. A new change to Hunters mana buff allows them to regain mana faster when it’s lower, meaning Hunters do not become useless when nearing 0 mana. Hunters have two speccs that are proven to be effective in 5v5 arena.

Hunter Talent Builds

Hunters can choose from three talent trees namely Marksmanship, Survival and Beast Mastery. It is well known by most that the Beast Mastery talent tree is great for leveling purposes.

Marksmanship is the talent tree for hunters who prefer a variety of deadly ranged attacks. Marksmanship provides higher dps from a range which is why hunters who mainly raid use this tree. It can be used for PVP, but it’s mostly if the hunter gains the advantage over the opponent by ambushing.

Beast mastery is one of the most popular trees to use especially for PVP. It gives the hunter a great dps challenger in its pet’s enhancement. Beast mastery pets are brutal especially if they ambush a player without them seeing the hunter. Occasionally pets may even become invincible for a few seconds that can be the death of any opposing player.

The Survival talent tree hasn’t always been really good but today it is great for PvP Hunters. Because it gives the Hunter more survivability and improved traps it’s a nice choice. Besides this a Survival Hunter will also receive a couple shots that are great for PvP like Explosive Shot and Shatter Shot.

Hunter Leveling

When leveling, the Hunter will start out questing and looking for beasts. They will be running all over doing the highest level of quests that their level will allow. You will definitely like the Earthmother quests. Then you will need to go back home to find the quest you will need in order to get your pet.

If you’re looking for a Hunter Leveling Spec, it’s best you follow one which focuses on beast mastery, such as this one:

Beast Mastery Talents

Endurance Training – 5/5
Focused Fire – 2/2
Thick Hide – 3/3
Aspect Mastery – 1/1
Unleashed Fury – 5/5
Improved Mend Pet – 1/2
Ferocity – 5/5
Spirit Bond – 2/2
Intimidation – 1/1
Bestial Discipline – 2/2
Frenzy – 3/5
Ferocious Inspiration – 3/3
Bestial Wrath – 1/1
Catlike Reflexes – 3/3
Serpent’s Swiftness – 5/5
Longevity – 3/3
The Beast Within – 1/1
Cobra Strikes – 2/3
Kindred Spirits – 5/5
Beast Mastery – 1/1

Marksmanship Talents

Lethal Shots – 5/5
Careful Aim – 3/3
Mortal Shots – 2/5
Go For The Throat – 2/2

Survival Talents

Improved Tracking 5/5

This section is only an overview of hunter leveling, for more information please see our Hunter Leveling Guide. If you need a step-by-step guide to go from 1 to 80 (or any level to 80) then check out our recommended leveling guide – Zygor’s guide.

Hunter Weapon

Hunters use their guns, bows and arrows, or crossbows to inflict great damage to their opponents from afar. Ammo or arrows are required for the hunter’s ranged weapon and enhance the DPS of their weapon.

It is advised that lower DPS ammo/arrow (low-cost stuff) should be used for general attack while the higher DPS ammo/arrow (more expensive) for special kills of leader boss or monsters. There are special ammo/arrow pouches that increase attack speed and hold larger number of ammo/arrows than Hunters could otherwise carry.

Hunter PvP

Hunters are a great for PvP in Battleground such as Alterac Valley or The Eye of the Storm as they are adapt at long ranged assault and can hide behind the great number of melee classes while laying down high amounts of burst damage in turn racking up killing blows. However on the smaller scale, such as in 2v2 arenas hunters become a tougher PvP class especially against melee as once they are caught up to they are cooked! But they can still be successful on a small scale and need to make the most of their movement impairing abilities to make sure their opponents don’t catch up. A Marksmanship hunter’s greatest weakness is in their small scale PvP as the talent build has far fewer survival/movement impairing aspects.

Hunter Pets

The hunter is kin to the warlock in the fact that they can have a pet to use as a tank to draw the mob’s damage off of them. But, unlike a warlock, the hunter can train and use just about anything for their pet. This is great in the fact that it will allow you to train all sorts of different animals, reptiles, and monsters to use as pets in different areas of the game.

To choose the right pet, you should try all sorts of different ones. Some players stick to cats due to their swiftness and strength and their ability to heal fast. Other players prefer boars for the same reasons. And, there are those that prefer reptiles, such as the scorpids, for other reasons. No matter what your personal preference is, you should always train new pets throughout your time in the World of Warcraft to get a full range of the different abilities and skills that come with each different type of pet.

So when you choose a pet, choose him wisely! We can sort them into three groups, based on their abilities: Cunning, Ferocity and Tenacity.

Cunning pets: They are made for PvP as their talent trees are flexible and based around mobility and utility and most of the hunters use this pet subgroup in PvP.

Ferocity pets: Ferocity has its talent tree focused more on dps, boosting your dps and pet’s dps. Ferocity pets are ideal for raids and dungeons and in some cases they can add a very fine tune to your team’s dps for arenas.

Tenacity: Tenacity pets are not designed for maximum damage or mobility / utility but for tanking, their talent tree will boost your pet’s survivability and health. Some of their special abilities are made so they will take less damage and keep the enemies focused on them rather than on a hunter.

1-80 Hunter Leveling Guide

Zygor now holds the new world record for leveling a character from 1 – 80 in only 6 days and 5 hours. Zygor has quickly become the best selling leveling Guide available. You will never wonder where to go or what to do and you will never need to look up anything from other sites. The guide automatically updates as you complete tasks and quests and then sets a waypoint arrow showing you where to go next. This will have you leveling much faster than the older guides.

Check out the Zygor 1-80 Leveling Guide.