Hunter builds


 * For old builds before Patch 4.0.1, see Hunter builds/Archive.

Hunters can specialize in Beast Mastery, Marksmanship or Survival. All 3 trees are viable for both PvE and PvP styles of play. Beast Mastery gives the Hunter more control over his pets, Marksmanship gives more powerful ranged abilities and Survival favours venoms, explosives and traps.

As of 4.0.6a, there is currently a lead in terms of DPS in favor of Survival with Marksmanship close behind and Beast Mastery last. However Survival AoE DPS is still supreme in comparison to the other two talent trees and all around is better at the arts of crowd-control and trapping due to the improved traps in Trap Mastery and an additional crowd control in Wyvern Sting.

Beast Mastery

 * | (31/9/1) Raiding/Instancing Build
 * Standard Beast Mastery build for raiding/instancing but provides sub-optimal DPS compared to Survival or Marksmanship builds as current of Patch 4.06a

Marksmanship

 * (3/32/6) Raiding/Instancing Build
 * This is an optional build to the (0/9/32) Raiding/Instancing Bread and Butter Build, as it provides equal if not more DPS as of patch 4.06a, however it's AoE efficiency is still poor and Survival Hunter still providing better Crowd Control as it has improved traps. Overall it is great for single-target DPS but still falls short of Survival as the cookie-cutter build for hunters.

Survival

 * | (0/9/32) Raiding/Instancing Bread and Butter Build
 * This is the current standard Hunter raiding/instancing build for all Hunters.
 * Optional talents:
 * Serpent Spread - 2 points in for a more AOE oriented instances, otherwise 1 point should be enough.

Beast Mastery

 * | (37/7/3) PVP build
 * An mostly underused PVP build, however has the best survivability over other builds along with higher health for pets allowing for them to stay on target for much longer.

Marksmanship

 * | (0/32/9) PVP build
 * With the recent buff to Marksmanship, this build will be one of the highest damaging PVP builds for Hunter. With Aimed Shot getting buffed on the recent 4.0.6a patch.

Survival

 * | (7/3/31) PVP cookie-cutter build
 * Standard PVP cookie-cutter survival build providing good survivability for PVP.