Hunter

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. A well trained pet has saved a hunter's life on countless occasions and it has been said throughout history, that hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends. They can also track, tame and train animals and beasts found in the wild.

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 their pet is dead (or otherwise out of action) or the pet cannot generate enough threat to keep a mob occupied.

Overview

 * Hunters tame the wild beasts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend, training them to fight at their side. Hunters are one of five classes that can have controllable combat pets. However, they are the only ones that can name and assign talent points to their pets.
 * Hunters excel in outdoor survival skills, such as tracking and laying traps.
 * Hunters can wear cloth, leather and mail armor. They are unable to use shields or plate armor. At Level 50, Hunters acquire Mail Specialization, which gives bonuses when a hunter is wearing an entire set of mail armor.
 * Hunters can equip all weapons except wands, thrown, maces, and two-handed maces. As of Patch 4.0.1, all weapon skills are known from level 1.
 * Hunters use many shots that either deal damage or apply a status effect that costs focus to use. Most other abilities are free to use such as Mend Pet or their Trap abilities.
 * Hunters can take on various Animal Aspects that grant special abilities, such as improved run speed, or 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 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.



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

 * Halduron Brightwing
 * Nathanos Blightcaller
 * Alleria Windrunner
 * Vereesa Windrunner
 * Hemet Nesingwary

Races


The hunter class can be played by the following races:

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 focus.
 * Draenei — Heroic Presence improves hit by 1% (~120 rating at level 85) for the hunter and their pet. Their Gift of the Naaru ability also grants them a heal over time.
 * Dwarves — Gun Specialization increases critical strike chance with guns by 1%.
 * Goblins - Time is Money increases attack speed by 1%. Rocket Barrage sends a rocket towards the target dealing fire damage, or Rocket Jump can be used to propel the Hunter forwards, the same distance as Disengage.
 * Night elves — Shadowmeld Provides the hunter with a second aggro-dump (for when Feign Death is resisted. Also allows the hunter to enter a stealth state (which breaks on movement); can be very useful for surprising unsuspecting PvPers (especially with a Cat)
 * Orcs — Command increases pet damage by 5%. Blood Fury acts as an extra trinket (boosting your attack power).
 * Trolls — Bow Specialization increases chance to critically hit with bows by 1%. Berserking acts as an extra trinket (boosting your attack speed).
 * Tauren — War Stomp Causes a short area-of-effect stun around the hunter, useful for getting out of melee range.
 * Worgen - Viciousness increases critical strike chance by 1%. Darkflight provides a very useful temporary speed boost, for those situations when running just isn't fast enough.

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



Ranged fighting


Ranged fighting requires a choice between a gun, bow, or a crossbow. When starting, this will depend on your race. Dwarves, tauren and worgens 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. 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. As of Cataclysm, there are also a small amount of crafted weapons other than guns. 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 was removed in 4.0.1.

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 or her Auto Shot if he or she 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. Combat pets can be trained to enhance their abilities.



Hunters start with a pet at level 1 and can tame pets at level 10. They are able to control the pet through various commands. Although hunters can have only one active pet at a time, they have immediate access to 4 additional pets using Call pet and they can house up to 20 pets in the stable.

A few unusual mobs present a Taming Challenge and require special tactics to ready them for taming.

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 1 minute, and have separate 30 second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Ice 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 five aspects at their disposal. Only one aspect may be active at a time.

Tracking
Hunters can track eight different types of units. Currently hunters are able to track all types at the same time, which includes the tracking for mining veins, herbs, fish, etc.

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.

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 use bows, guns, and crossbows. Melee weapons are daggers, axes, fist weapons, swords, polearms and staves. The only weapons they cannot use are wands, thrown and 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.

Attribute conversions
Level 85 Hunters need to reach Hit Rating of 721 so they'll never miss targets level 87 or below. The maximum hit rating needed for level 85 Hunters attacking a skull mob is 961, which equals +8% chance to hit.

General preview
{{Bluepost|poster=Nethaera|title=Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter|date=04/09/2010 09:00:26 AM PDT|link=http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=24261186675|body= With the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm many game elements will be changing, and each class will be receiving a number of tweaks. Here, we will explore the changes that are being made to the gun-wielding, pet-training hunter. The information you’re about to read is certainly not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview of some of the exciting new things to come. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the new hunter abilities!

New Hunter Abilities
Cobra Shot (level 81): A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability will share a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot.

Trap Launcher (level 83): When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown.

Camouflage (level 85): The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage. The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. The hunter can move and set traps when under Camouflage, and will receive a damage bonus when attacking while under Camouflage (which will then break the effect).

Resource Mechanic Change
Here we come to the meat of the upcoming hunter changes.


 * Hunters will no longer use mana; instead the class will use Focus. Focus generates much like Energy, by building up. It will not be affected by Intellect at all. Haste will improve its generation. Hunters will generate roughly 6 Focus per second, slightly less than rogues' Energy generation rate of around 10 Energy per second. Below, we have listed some examples of how we intend Focus costs to operate:
 * Steady Shot/Cobra Shot: No cost. Generates 9 Focus per shot (or 12 per second instead of 6).
 * Arcane Shot/Chimera Shot/Explosive Shot: 45 Focus.
 * Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot: 60 Focus.
 * Concussive Shot/Tranquilizing Shot: 35 Focus.
 * Rapid Fire/Master's Call/Disengage: 30 Focus.

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
In addition to the resource change and new abilities listed above, we intend to make adjustments to some of the other abilities and mechanics you already know well. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of what we’re going for with each spec.


 * A major change coming for the hunter is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows will now do damage without consuming ammunition at all. There will be no more ammo slot on the hunter’s character display. Any ammunition that a hunter has at the time of the change will become gray sellable items. Existing quivers will be converted into large bags—though each hunter can only have one and non-hunters will not benefit from this change—and we will not be making any additional quivers.
 * Pet management will also change. Hunters will now have two types of attainable pets: active pets and stored pets. Hunters will be able to have up to three active pets (perhaps five for Beast Mastery specialized players) and will have the ability to switch among these pets any time they are out of combat, without going to town. They will also be able to have a large number of pets in storage at the stables. In order to swap a pet from active to passive, a hunter will still need to visit their local Stable Master. However, this should afford ample storage for the many Spirit Beasts wandering the lands of Azeroth.
 * Additionally, hunters will now start with a race-appropriate pet at level 1 and will be able to tame a different pet at level 10. We are also changing many pet family abilities to provide important buffs and debuffs. The intention is to allow the hunter to be able to swap pets and fill a position if a certain role is missing from the group. The goal is to have all pets provide a damage increase that is very similar and no greater than any other pet. Some examples of the changes we are making to the pet families are listed below:
 * Wind Serpents: Will provide a debuff that increases the amount of spell damage taken by an enemy (similar to a weaker version of the warlock ability Curse of Elements).
 * Ravagers: Will provide a debuff that will increase an enemy's Physical damage vulnerability (similar to a weaker version of the warrior ability Blood Frenzy).
 * Hyenas: Will provide bleed damage (similar to a weaker version of the druid ability Mangle}).
 * Stings and other periodic effects will now benefit from haste and critical strike ratings. Hasted damage-over-time abilities do not lose duration, but instead add additional damage ticks.
 * Viper Sting will now restore 9 Focus every 3 seconds.
 * We are reinforcing hunters as a ranged class. To this end, the class will now start with ranged abilities at level 1, and we will be removing some melee abilities, such as Mongoose Bite.

New Talents and Talent Changes

 * Beast Mastery hunters will have a new talent called Careful Aim, which increases the damage of the next Steady Shot or Cobra Shot, but also increases the cast time of these abilities. The intention is to make the combination of spells into a decent damage opener, especially in conjunction with the new ability Camouflage.
 * Beast Mastery hunters will also have talents that make Cobra Shot superior to Steady Shot, such as Longevity reducing the cast time of Cobra Shot to 1.5 seconds.
 * Rapid Recuperation will cause Rapid Fire to give 20/40/60 Focus immediately and will cause Rapid Killing to generate 3 Focus per second.
 * Efficiency will reduce the Focus cost of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, and Arcane Shot.
 * Thrill of the Hunt grants Focus when you land a critical strike.
 * Hunter vs. Wild increases the hunter’s Focus generation when his or her pet is snared, stunned, or rooted.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

 * Beast Mastery
 * 1) Ranged Damage
 * 2) Haste
 * 3) Pet Damage: Many of the passive benefits to pet damage will no longer be available in the Beast Mastery talent tree. However, these will be provided through the new Mastery mechanic.


 * Marksmanship
 * 1) Ranged Damage
 * 2) Armor Penetration
 * 3) Double Shot: The hunter will have a chance to launch a free attack off of the global cooldown for 50% damage.


 * Survival
 * 1) Ranged Damage
 * 2) Ranged Critical Damage
 * 3) Elemental Damage: Hunter abilities such as traps, Black Arrow, and Explosive Shot will do elemental damage of the following types: Improves the Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature or Shadow damage of abilities like traps, Black Arrow and Explosive Shot.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and ask that you provide your initial thoughts and feedback on what was presented here. Please keep in mind that what you’ve just reviewed is a work in progress and as we move closer to the Cataclysm beta, you’ll see these planned changes as well as others continue to develop in response to feedback and testing. }}

End-game expectations
A hunter's primary responsibility in nearly all raid encounters is to sustainably generate 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 dealing damage. They will also need to monitor their focus usage and regen using Steady Shot.

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 beast masters, 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 30 seconds, but comes off of cooldown after only 30 seconds. With the new wrath patch, hunters are able to drop three types of trap at one time(snake,ice,dps), 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 beast mastery 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 marksmanship.

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.

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

Twinking

 * Level 19 hunter twinking guide
 * Level 29 hunter twinking guide
 * Level 60 hunter twinking guide