Basin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Hunter (World of Warcraft)

2007-03-02T12:30:15Z

Solitude Dragon: /* Talents */

:''This article is about the World of Warcraft class. For the Hellgate: London class, see [[Hunter (Hellgate)]].''

Azeroth is home to a wide variety of beasts. From the new world of Lordaeron to the old world of Kalimdor, all manner of creatures can be found. Some are friendly, some are ferocious - yet they all have one thing in common. Each creature shares a special connection with Hunters. Hunters track, tame, and slay all manner of animals and beasts found in the wild. Whether they rely on bows or firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.

The hunter is one of the easier characters to solo with, especially after lv 10 when one is able to charm a pet.

A quick breakdown on attack power vs dps and agi/crit. (copied from the Hunter forum on the WoW boards)

Does attack power affect ranged attack power? 
Attack power from equipment increases ranged attack power. 
Attack power from buffs like battleshout do not. 
This means that the black dragonscale set does increase ranged dps, but blessing of might does not. 

How many attack power for 1 dps? 
14 attack power = 1 dps 

How many attack power from 1 agility? 
1 agi = 2 attack power 

How many agility for 1% crit 
It’s roughly 53 agility for 1% crit at level 60 

[http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?class=Hunter Hunter Spell List]

==Survival==

* Raptor Strike - The hunter's main close combat skill, used mainly as a finishing move or to 'joust' through an enemy while attempting to regain range. 
* Mongoose Bite - Damage dealing melee skill, can only be performed after you dodge an attack. 
* Wing Clip - Largely a PvP skill, Wing Clip slows the target, allowing the hunter to get back to range. Talents can give a 20% chance to immobilize for 5 seconds. (Useful in PvE to slow a mob that would run when its life gets low, thus preventing additional mobs being aggroed.) 
* Disengage - Lowers your aggro. This skill helps a hunter who has drawn aggro to transfer aggro to a pet or a tank. 
* Feign Death - Complete aggro wipe, on a 30 second cooldown. Feign also takes you out of combat (briefly), which allows you to set traps, drink, or change equipment, which you can't otherwise do in combat. Talents can make this (ever so slightly) less likely to be resisted. 
* Tracking - One of the best hunter skills. There are very few mobs in the game that can't be tracked by one of the hunters' tracking skills. Mousing over the dots on the minimap will show you the name of that mob. Track Hidden has been improved, but is still spotty for spotting stealthed rogues. If you expect to run into PvP, keep humanoid tracking up. 

* Traps - The hunter has 4 traps available, which can be improved through the trap mastery talent. Traps must be set while out of combat, and a hunter can only have one trap laid at a time. 
- Immolation Trap - applies a 15-second Fire DoT to the mob. 
- Explosive Trap - a Fire trap that explodes and does AoE damage. 
- Frost Trap - an Ice trap that has an AoE slowing effect, but does no damage. 
- Freezing Trap - an Ice trap that completely immobilizes an enemy for 20 seconds at its highest rank (23 seconds with Trap Mastery talent). Freezing Trap is an amazing skill, since enemies that can't otherwise be crowd controlled with polymorph or sap can still be frozen with freezing trap. Also, it is possible for a hunter to trap a single mob for 2 durations of freezing trap, if they trap the mob, then feign death to get out of combat, and drop another freezing trap so that the mob will trigger it when the first trap wears off. This tactic is dependent on feign not being resisted, but keeping a single mob out of the fight for 40-46 seconds is great when possible. 

Survival Spells requiring talents: 
* Counterattack - a melee attack that can only be applied after you parry. Counterattack deals damage and stuns for 5 seconds, and can't be blocked, dodged, or parried, so it's a great skill for PvP. 
* Wyvern Sting - a sting that can only be used out of combat, Wyvern Sting is a 12 second 'sleep' effect. After the sleep wears off, there is a 12-second Nature DoT applied to the target (likely to prevent trapping the target after sleeping it). 

==Marksmanship==

* Hunter's Mark - This spell marks the target with a very noticeable arrow, which makes it a great skill for party play, to help the party know what mob to focus fire on, or which mob you'll be trying to catch in a freezing trap. It adds ranged attack power to everyone attacking the target, and also can be used in PvP to prevent rogues from vanishing.
* Flare - an AoE effect that shows all hidden targets in its radius. Great to expose vanished rogues and stealthed mobs.
* Distracting Shot - used to pull aggro to the hunter. If someone else is pulling, this can be used to pull a specific mob to the hunter, often used to pull a mob into a freezing trap
* Concussive Shot - slows the target by 40%, talents add a 20% chance to stun. Note that concussive has higher threat than many shots, so may not be the best shot to use while soloing if your pet has trouble holding aggro.
* Arcane Shot - an instant shot that's great for pulling and adds arcane damage.
* Multi-Shot - a semi-instant shot that hits up to 3 targets. Be careful using this around crowd controlled mobs.
* Volley - Volley is the hunter's only AoE shot (Explosive Trap is our other AoE), and does arcane damage.

Stings: Each hunter can only apply one sting. Also, the only sting that stacks is serpent sting, so if you're partying with other hunters, organize what sting you'll be using. 
- Serpent Sting - a nature DoT. More useful now that the debuff limit has been increased, but be careful using this if you might need to control the mob later on, as an active DoT will prevent trapping or sheeping. 
- Scorpid Sting - Reduces the strength and agility of the target, lowering its damage. Good vs. physical attackers, can help to keep your pet or party tank from taking too much damage. 
- Viper Sting - drains mana from the target. Note that most caster mobs have a large mana pool, so viper may not have a significant impact, unless used in conjunction with the mana drain of another class to keep an empty mana pool from regenerating.

Marksmanship skills requiring talents:
* Aimed Shot - Aimed Shot takes 3 seconds to cast, but adds a significant amount of damage (600 at max rank), and can be devastating when the shot is a critical strike, particularly against low-armor targets.
* Scatter Shot - a close-range 4 second confuse effect, great for PvP to drop a trap and get back to range. Any damage done will cancel the effect.

==Beast Mastery==

* Eagle Eye - Good for scouting crowded areas, to see which mobs one can pull. Tip: To turn it off, just sit down by typing "x". 
* Beast Lore - When cast, the tooltip will show you information about beasts, most importantly whether they are tameable.
* Mend Pet - The hunter's only healing spell, to help you keep your pet on his/her feet. With talents, Mend Pet can also clear debuffs from your pet.
* Scare Beast - a single-target fear, useable on beasts only. In PvP, it can be used on Druids in beast form and other hunters' pets.

Aspects - the hunter has 5 aspects available, only one of which may be active at a time. Most hunters spend the lion's share of their time in Aspect of the Hawk. 
- Aspect of the Hawk - Main aspect, increases ranged attack power. 
- Aspect of the Monkey - Increases dodge percentage, great for melee and PvP. 
- Aspect of the Cheetah - Increases your run speed by 30%, great for getting around before you have a mount. Caution must be used when traveling through areas with hostile mobs, since any hit will daze you for 4 seconds. 
- Aspect of the Wild - Gives your entire party added Nature Resist (60 resist at max).
- Aspect of the Pack - Basically an Aspect of the Cheetah for your entire party, including the daze effect upon being hit. Good for traveling inside an instance, when mounts and travel forms can't be used. 
Aspect of the Beast - Makes you show up as a beast on other hunters' tracking, can be used to 'hide' from other hunters in PvP. 

Beast Mastery Spells requiring talents:
* Spirit Bond - passively increases the health regeneration of you and your pet.
* Intimidation - a 3 second stun
* Bestial Wrath - doubles your pet's damage and makes it immune to crowd control for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 2 minutes.

Pet Control Skills: These skills are mandatory if you have a pet, and are acquired through the hunter class quests that start at level 10 from the hunter trainer. The first quest is to tame (charm) 3 particular animals, and once you complete that quest, you'll get a second quest (that gives you feed pet and the rest of the pet skills) once you visit a pet trainer in a main city. 
* Revive Pet - to ressurect your pet when it dies. 
* Feed Pet - you need to keep your pet happy by feeding it food that it likes. Keep a close watch on your combat log, to be sure that the food you're feeding your pet is giving it 35 happiness per tick. If you're getting less happiness, you need to switch to a higher level of food. Your pet will require food of higher level as it levels. Different species eat different foods, check the Pet screen to see what your pet's diet is. 
* Tame Beast - to tame new pets. You can only have one 'active' pet at a time, so you'll need to stable your current pet, or permanantly abandon it in order to train a new one. 
* Beast Training - to train your pet with new skills, see the Pet Skills section below. 
* Dismiss Pet - for when you want your pet to temporarily unsummon. Useful for times when your pet might not follow you, like making jumps in instances, or when you won't need your pet for a while and don't want it to lose happiness from standing around. 
* Call Pet - to call your pet to your side when it's currently unsummoned.

==Taming Pets==

As listed above, hunters can tame pets after completing their class quests, which start at level 10.

A list of tameable pets is listed on the WoW Community forums [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-hunter&t=155&p=1&tmp=1#post155 here].

A good page to check out the colour of various pets is [http://www.tkasomething.com/species.php here], for the fashionable hunter.

==Pet Skills==

You will get rank 2 Growl for free. Higher ranks of growl can be learned from the [http://hunter.worldofwar.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=3&page=1 pet trainer], who can normally be found near the Hunter trainer. The train pet skill is located in your general skill page, where your racial spells, professions and skills like dual-wield and throw are listed.

Pet skills cost training points (except Growl, which is free to train). To see your pet's current training points, check the Pet Details. Training Points are equal to Loyalty Level * (Pet Level - 10), so even level 60 pets can gain points by gaining loyalty levels. A level 60 pet at the highest loyalty level will have 300 Training Points.

In addition to Growl, pets can also learn other skills. Passive skills are available from the Pet Trainer, and active skills (other than growl) are available from training other animals. Note that some active skills can only be learned by particular species of pet.

Passive Skills (no limit other than training point cost):
Great Stamina
Natural Armor
Resistances - Fire, Frost, Arcane, Nature, Shadow. Each school of resist is trained separately.

Active Skills (limited to 4 per pet):
* Growl - a taunt that your pet can use to hold aggro on a mob, allowing you to fight from range.
* Cower - decreases aggro on your pet, used in solo play to shift aggro to the hunter when the pet is in trouble.
* Claw - fast casting added damage. Can use up a pet's focus if left on auto-attack.
* Bite - slow casting added damage.
* Dash - a sprint that you can use to have the pet quickly approach and engage a target.
* Prowl - pet will go into stealth. Pet moves slower while in stealth mode, but the first attack from stealth has added damage. Useful for ambushing in PvP.
* Screech - only trainable by owls, bats, and carrion birds, screech is an AoE attack power debuff, so it's great for PvP.
* Furious Howl - this wolf-only skill is an AoE party buff that adds damage to the next attack, great for raiding.
* Scorpid Poison - a stackable nature DoT, obviously used only by Scorpids.
* Lightning Breath - Trainable to Wind Serpents, Lightning Breath is a ranged single-target nature damage spell.

A list of which pets to tame for particular skills is [http://www.goodintentionsguild.info/hunters.html#petabilities here].

This [http://petcalc.tripod.com/ tool] can be used to plan your pet's skills. If you want to make a change, you can visit a Pet Trainer to have your pet's training points reset. Like a talent reset, this gets progressively more expensive the more times you do it.

==Role in party==

Hunters can pull in parties, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/hunter.php This] is an interesting article on party placement during pulls.

Even if not pulling, a hunter makes a great group leader, with being able to use tracking to spot patrols, and having the ability to use hunter's mark to direct the group. Freezing trap is great crowd control when someone else is pulling, just pick and mark your mob (make sure it's a non-caster mob that will run to engage you), and immediately after the pull is started (by someone else), use distracting shot to pull the mob to your trap, away from the group. If you keep your pet from engaging, you may be able to double-trap the mob if your feign works.

Hunter pets work great as main tanks for groups up to about Uldaman, and even after that, a pet whose master is specced in Beast Mastery and who has spent their training points on Stamina or Armor (or both!) can do a great job at tanking with healing support. Even non-BM specced pets can do off-tanking duty in Dire Maul and the other end-game instances.

In groups, you'll generally want to keep your pet's growl off. Pets are great at grabbing aggro on an unexpected add, or on a mob that's breaking from the main group and going for the healer.

==Soloing==

Soloing is an area where hunters shine, since they have a built-in tank to help them out. You'll generally want your pet to get an unresisted growl in before you start shooting (you can put up a hunter's mark in the meantime). In general, you'll want to keep doing steady damage, and won't want to pull aggro off your pet, so you won't typically use shots like aimed and concussive, because of the extra damage/threat they cause. Scorpid sting can be good to keep low health/armor pets alive a little longer, and for hardier pets, you can use serpent to take the target down a little faster, or use your mana on arcane and (if you're sure you won't accidentally pull adds) multi-shot.

==Gear==

Some hunter gear, for various builds and at various levels, is listed [http://69.41.171.43/hunter.htm here].

'''Top 40 Hunter Weapons Post 1.10 Normalization (Pre-Naxxramas)'''

Note: This does not take into account any other equipment worn, not even quiver bonuses. Only the weapon's DPS.

1. Huhuran's Stinger

2. Ashjre'thul, Crossbow of Smiting

3. Blessed Qiraji Musket

4. Grand Marshal's Repeater or Hand Cannon

5. Dragonbreath Hand Cannon

6. Rhok'Delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers

7. Heartstriker

8. Blastershot

9. Crossbow of Imminent Doom

10. Gurubashi Dwarven Destroyer

11. Polished Ironwood Crossbow

12. Mandokir's Sting

13. Silithid Husked Launcher

14. Hoodoo Hunting Bow

15. Striker's Mark

16. Crystal Slugthrower

17. Deep Strike Bow

18. Dwarven Hand Cannon

19. Core Marksman Rifle

20. Ancient Bone Bow

21. Xorothian Firestick

22. Stoneshatter

23. Bloodseeker

24. Dark Iron Rifle

25. Flawless Arcanite Rifle

26. Carapace Spine Crossbow

27. Bow of Taut Sinew

28. Grand Marshal's Bullseye

29. Blackcrow

30. Heartseeking Crossbow

31. Outrider's/Outrunner's Bow

32. Willey's Portable Howitzer

33. Satyr's Bow

34. Riphook

35. Screeching Bow

36. Shell Launcher Shotgun

37. Eaglehorn

38. Hurricane

39. Steelarrow Crossbow

40. Megashot Rifle

==Talents==

Keep in mind any skills you may want at the top of the talent tree. Most builds focus on heavy Marksmanship investment to get Trueshot Aura, or heavy Beast Mastery to get Bestial Wrath. Investing in Survival is wise if you plan to do a lot of PvP, since you won't be able to rely on keeping attackers at range, but Wyvern Sting is generally seen as not worth the investment, so that frees up points to use in the other trees. PvP builds often include enough Marksmanship talents to get Scatter Shot. You can use [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html this tool] to plan your talents.

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival/Beast Mastery) - Sjur===
Removed - Outdated.

===Various Builds - martini (Rhyssa)===

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511301000002300052512323151 Surv/Marks] - Rhyssa's current build, made mostly to play with the new Survival tree and with Wyvern, which I never use, so I'll probably spec out of it eventually.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Surv/Marks] - Probably what I'll go back to when I respec Rhyssa.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5500300152521011500511302000000300000000000000 BM/Marks build] - purely theory, but is what I'm working towards for my hunter on Tich.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Typical 5/31/15 PvE build]

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511305100000320052310323150 PvP Surv/Marks build]

2006-02-15T08:08:04Z

2006-01-24T10:35:31Z

Solitude Dragon: /* PvE Talent Build Post Talent Change (Marksmanship/Beast Mastery) - Solitude Dragon */

Azeroth is home to a wide variety of beasts. From the new world of Lordaeron to the old world of Kalimdor, all manner of creatures can be found. Some are friendly, some are ferocious - yet they all have one thing in common. Each creature shares a special connection with Hunters. Hunters track, tame, and slay all manner of animals and beasts found in the wild. Whether they rely on bows or firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.

The hunter is one of the easier characters to solo with, especially after lv 10 when one is able to charm a pet.

[http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?class=Hunter Hunter Spell List]

==Survival==

* Raptor Strike - The hunter's main close combat skill, used mainly as a finishing move or to 'joust' through an enemy while attempting to regain range. 
* Mongoose Bite - Damage dealing melee skill, can only be performed after you dodge an attack. 
* Wing Clip - Largely a PvP skill, Wing Clip slows the target, allowing the hunter to get back to range. Talents can give a 20% chance to immobilize for 5 seconds. 
* Disengage - Lowers your aggro. This skill helps a hunter who has drawn aggro to transfer aggro to a pet or a tank. 
* Feign Death - Complete aggro wipe, on a 30 second cooldown. Feign also takes you out of combat (briefly), which allows you to set traps, drink, or change equipment, which you can't otherwise do in combat. Talents can make this (ever so slightly) less likely to be resisted. 
* Tracking - One of the best hunter skills. There are very few mobs in the game that can't be tracked by one of the hunters' tracking skills. Mousing over the dots on the minimap will show you the name of that mob. Track Hidden has been improved, but is still spotty for spotting stealthed rogues. If you expect to run into PvP, keep humanoid tracking up. 

* Traps - The hunter has 4 traps available, which can be improved through the trap mastery talent. Traps must be set while out of combat, and a hunter can only have one trap laid at a time. 
- Immolation Trap - applies a 15-second Fire DoT to the mob. 
- Explosive Trap - a Fire trap that explodes and does AoE damage. 
- Frost Trap - an Ice trap that has an AoE slowing effect, but does no damage. 
- Freezing Trap - an Ice trap that completely immobilizes an enemy for 20 seconds at its highest rank (23 seconds with Trap Mastery talent). Freezing Trap is an amazing skill, since enemies that can't otherwise be crowd controlled with polymorph or sap can still be frozen with freezing trap. Also, it is possible for a hunter to trap a single mob for 2 durations of freezing trap, if they trap the mob, then feign death to get out of combat, and drop another freezing trap so that the mob will trigger it when the first trap wears off. This tactic is dependent on feign not being resisted, but keeping a single mob out of the fight for 40-46 seconds is great when possible. 

Survival Spells requiring talents: 
* Counterattack - a melee attack that can only be applied after you parry. Counterattack deals damage and stuns for 5 seconds, and can't be blocked, dodged, or parried, so it's a great skill for PvP. 
* Wyvern Sting - a sting that can only be used out of combat, Wyvern Sting is a 12 second 'sleep' effect. After the sleep wears off, there is a 12-second Nature DoT applied to the target (likely to prevent trapping the target after sleeping it). 

==Marksmanship==

* Hunter's Mark - This spell marks the target with a very noticeable arrow, which makes it a great skill for party play, to help the party know what mob to focus fire on, or which mob you'll be trying to catch in a freezing trap. It adds ranged attack power to everyone attacking the target, and also can be used in PvP to prevent rogues from vanishing.
* Flare - an AoE effect that shows all hidden targets in its radius. Great to expose vanished rogues and stealthed mobs.
* Distracting Shot - used to pull aggro to the hunter. If someone else is pulling, this can be used to pull a specific mob to the hunter, often used to pull a mob into a freezing trap
* Concussive Shot - slows the target by 40%, talents add a 20% chance to stun. Note that concussive has higher threat than many shots, so may not be the best shot to use while soloing if your pet has trouble holding aggro.
* Arcane Shot - an instant shot that's great for pulling and adds arcane damage.
* Multi-Shot - a semi-instant shot that hits up to 3 targets. Be careful using this around crowd controlled mobs.
* Volley - Volley is the hunter's only AoE shot (Explosive Trap is our other AoE), and does arcane damage.

Stings: Each hunter can only apply one sting. Also, the only sting that stacks is serpent sting, so if you're partying with other hunters, organize what sting you'll be using. 
- Serpent Sting - a nature DoT. More useful now that the debuff limit has been increased, but be careful using this if you might need to control the mob later on, as an active DoT will prevent trapping or sheeping. 
- Scorpid Sting - Reduces the strength and agility of the target, lowering its damage. Good vs. physical attackers, can help to keep your pet or party tank from taking too much damage. 
- Viper Sting - drains mana from the target. Note that most caster mobs have a large mana pool, so viper may not have a significant impact, unless used in conjunction with the mana drain of another class to keep an empty mana pool from regenerating.

Marksmanship skills requiring talents:
* Aimed Shot - Aimed Shot takes 3 seconds to cast, but adds a significant amount of damage (600 at max rank), and can be devastating when the shot is a critical strike, particularly against low-armor targets.
* Scatter Shot - a close-range 4 second confuse effect, great for PvP to drop a trap and get back to range. Any damage done will cancel the effect.

==Beast Mastery==

* Eagle Eye - Good for scouting crowded areas, to see which mobs one can pull. Tip: To turn it off, just sit down by typing "x". 
* Beast Lore - When cast, the tooltip will show you information about beasts, most importantly whether they are tameable.
* Mend Pet - The hunter's only healing spell, to help you keep your pet on his/her feet. With talents, Mend Pet can also clear debuffs from your pet.
* Scare Beast - a single-target fear, useable on beasts only. In PvP, it can be used on Druids in beast form and other hunters' pets.

Aspects - the hunter has 5 aspects available, only one of which may be active at a time. Most hunters spend the lion's share of their time in Aspect of the Hawk. 
- Aspect of the Hawk - Main aspect, increases ranged attack power. 
- Aspect of the Monkey - Increases dodge percentage, great for melee and PvP. 
- Aspect of the Cheetah - Increases your run speed by 30%, great for getting around before you have a mount. Caution must be used when traveling through areas with hostile mobs, since any hit will daze you for 4 seconds. 
- Aspect of the Wild - Gives your entire party added Nature Resist (60 resist at max).
- Aspect of the Pack - Basically an Aspect of the Cheetah for your entire party, including the daze effect upon being hit. Good for traveling inside an instance, when mounts and travel forms can't be used. 
Aspect of the Beast - Makes you show up as a beast on other hunters' tracking, can be used to 'hide' from other hunters in PvP. 

Beast Mastery Spells requiring talents:
* Spirit Bond - passively increases the health regeneration of you and your pet.
* Intimidation - a 3 second stun
* Bestial Wrath - doubles your pet's damage and makes it immune to crowd control for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 2 minutes.

Pet Control Skills: These skills are mandatory if you have a pet, and are acquired through the hunter class quests that start at level 10 from the hunter trainer. The first quest is to tame (charm) 3 particular animals, and once you complete that quest, you'll get a second quest (that gives you feed pet and the rest of the pet skills) once you visit a pet trainer in a main city. 
* Revive Pet - to ressurect your pet when it dies. 
* Feed Pet - you need to keep your pet happy by feeding it food that it likes. Keep a close watch on your combat log, to be sure that the food you're feeding your pet is giving it 35 happiness per tick. If you're getting less happiness, you need to switch to a higher level of food. Your pet will require food of higher level as it levels. Different species eat different foods, check the Pet screen to see what your pet's diet is. 
* Tame Beast - to tame new pets. You can only have one 'active' pet at a time, so you'll need to stable your current pet, or permanantly abandon it in order to train a new one. 
* Beast Training - to train your pet with new skills, see the Pet Skills section below. 
* Dismiss Pet - for when you want your pet to temporarily unsummon. Useful for times when your pet might not follow you, like making jumps in instances, or when you won't need your pet for a while and don't want it to lose happiness from standing around. 
* Call Pet - to call your pet to your side when it's currently unsummoned.

==Taming Pets==

As listed above, hunters can tame pets after completing their class quests, which start at level 10.

A list of tameable pets is listed on the WoW Community forums [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-hunter&t=155&p=1&tmp=1#post155 here].

A good page to check out the colour of various pets is [http://www.tkasomething.com/species.php here], for the fashionable hunter.

==Pet Skills==

You will get rank 2 Growl for free. Higher ranks of growl can be learned from the [http://hunter.worldofwar.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=3&page=1 pet trainer], who can normally be found near the Hunter trainer. The train pet skill is located in your general skill page, where your racial spells, professions and skills like dual-wield and throw are listed.

Pet skills cost training points (except Growl, which is free to train). To see your pet's current training points, check the Pet Details. Training Points are equal to Loyalty Level * (Pet Level - 10), so even level 60 pets can gain points by gaining loyalty levels. A level 60 pet at the highest loyalty level will have 300 Training Points.

In addition to Growl, pets can also learn other skills. Passive skills are available from the Pet Trainer, and active skills (other than growl) are available from training other animals. Note that some active skills can only be learned by particular species of pet.

Passive Skills (no limit other than training point cost):
Great Stamina
Natural Armor
Resistances - Fire, Frost, Arcane, Nature, Shadow. Each school of resist is trained separately.

Active Skills (limited to 4 per pet):
* Growl - a taunt that your pet can use to hold aggro on a mob, allowing you to fight from range.
* Cower - decreases aggro on your pet, used in solo play to shift aggro to the hunter when the pet is in trouble.
* Claw - fast casting added damage. Can use up a pet's focus if left on auto-attack.
* Bite - slow casting added damage.
* Dash - a sprint that you can use to have the pet quickly approach and engage a target.
* Prowl - pet will go into stealth. Pet moves slower while in stealth mode, but the first attack from stealth has added damage. Useful for ambushing in PvP.
* Screech - only trainable by owls, bats, and carrion birds, screech is an AoE attack power debuff, so it's great for PvP.
* Furious Howl - this wolf-only skill is an AoE party buff that adds damage to the next attack, great for raiding.
* Scorpid Poison - a stackable nature DoT, obviously used only by Scorpids.
* Lightning Breath - Trainable to Wind Serpents, Lightning Breath is a ranged single-target nature damage spell.

A list of which pets to tame for particular skills is [http://www.goodintentionsguild.info/hunters.html#petabilities here].

This [http://petcalc.tripod.com/ tool] can be used to plan your pet's skills. If you want to make a change, you can visit a Pet Trainer to have your pet's training points reset. Like a talent reset, this gets progressively more expensive the more times you do it.

==Role in party==

Hunters can pull in parties, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/hunter.php This] is an interesting article on party placement during pulls.

Even if not pulling, a hunter makes a great group leader, with being able to use tracking to spot patrols, and having the ability to use hunter's mark to direct the group. Freezing trap is great crowd control when someone else is pulling, just pick and mark your mob (make sure it's a non-caster mob that will run to engage you), and immediately after the pull is started (by someone else), use distracting shot to pull the mob to your trap, away from the group. If you keep your pet from engaging, you may be able to double-trap the mob if your feign works.

Hunter pets work great as main tanks for groups up to about Uldaman, and even after that, a pet whose master is specced in Beast Mastery and who has spent their training points on Stamina or Armor (or both!) can do a great job at tanking with healing support. Even non-BM specced pets can do off-tanking duty in Dire Maul and the other end-game instances.

In groups, you'll generally want to keep your pet's growl off. Pets are great at grabbing aggro on an unexpected add, or on a mob that's breaking from the main group and going for the healer.

==Soloing==

Soloing is an area where hunters shine, since they have a built-in tank to help them out. You'll generally want your pet to get an unresisted growl in before you start shooting (you can put up a hunter's mark in the meantime). In general, you'll want to keep doing steady damage, and won't want to pull aggro off your pet, so you won't typically use shots like aimed and concussive, because of the extra damage/threat they cause. Scorpid sting can be good to keep low health/armor pets alive a little longer, and for hardier pets, you can use serpent to take the target down a little faster, or use your mana on arcane and (if you're sure you won't accidentally pull adds) multi-shot.

==Gear==

Some hunter gear, for various builds and at various levels, is listed [http://69.41.171.43/hunter.htm here].

==Talents==

Keep in mind any skills you may want at the top of the talent tree. Most builds focus on heavy Marksmanship investment to get Trueshot Aura, or heavy Beast Mastery to get Bestial Wrath. Investing in Survival is wise if you plan to do a lot of PvP, since you won't be able to rely on keeping attackers at range, but Wyvern Sting is generally seen as not worth the investment, so that frees up points to use in the other trees. PvP builds often include enough Marksmanship talents to get Scatter Shot. You can use [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html this tool] to plan your talents.

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival/Beast Mastery) - Sjur===
Removed - Outdated.

===PvE Talent Build Post Talent Change (Marksmanship/Beast Mastery) - Solitude Dragon===
The 3 points in survival are essentially due to the fact that I couldn't think of anyplace else to put them. I figured 3% damage and 3% crit damage on humanoids isn't half bad (players are humanoids as well).
[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5505000000000000500505305130510300000000000000 Link]

'''Beast Mastery Talents - 15 points'''

Improved Aspect of the Hawk - rank 5/5

Endurance Training - rank 5/5

Improved Aspect of the Monkey - rank 5/5

'''Marksmanship Talents - 33 points'''

Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5

Lethal Shots - rank 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot - rank 5/5

Barrage - rank 2/2

Mortal Shots - rank 5/5

Scatter Shot - rank 1/1

Hawk Eye - rank 3/3

Ranged Weapon Specialization - rank 5/5

Trueshot Aura - rank 1/1

'''Survival Talents - 3 points'''

Humanoid Slaying - rank 3/3

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival) - Solitude Dragon===
If I ever decide to actually start to PvP, this would be the build I'd go for (post hunter talent changes).

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500505305100000050052510323100 Link],

'''Marksmanship Talents - 24 points'''

Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5

Lethal Shots - rank 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot - rank 5/5

Mortal Shots - rank 5/5

Scatter Shot - rank 1/1

Hawk Eye - rank 3/3

'''Survival Talents - 27 points'''

Deflection - rank 5/5

Improved Wing Clip - rank 5/5

Trap Efficiency - rank 2/2

Survivalist - rank 5/5

Deterrence - rank 1/1

Surefooted - rank 3/3

Improved Feign Death - rank 2/2

Killer Instinct - rank 3/3

Counterattack - rank 1/1

Improved Feign Death - rank 2/2

Killer Instinct - rank 3/3

===Various Builds - martini (Rhyssa)===

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511301000002300052512323151 Surv/Marks] - Rhyssa's current build, made mostly to play with the new Survival tree and with Wyvern, which I never use, so I'll probably spec out of it eventually.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Surv/Marks] - Probably what I'll go back to when I respec Rhyssa.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5500300152521011500511302000000300000000000000 BM/Marks build] - purely theory, but is what I'm working towards for my hunter on Tich.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Typical 5/31/15 PvE build]

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511305100000320052310323150 PvP Surv/Marks build]

Hunter (World of Warcraft)

2006-01-24T10:27:43Z

Solitude Dragon: /* PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival) - Solitude Dragon */

Azeroth is home to a wide variety of beasts. From the new world of Lordaeron to the old world of Kalimdor, all manner of creatures can be found. Some are friendly, some are ferocious - yet they all have one thing in common. Each creature shares a special connection with Hunters. Hunters track, tame, and slay all manner of animals and beasts found in the wild. Whether they rely on bows or firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.

The hunter is one of the easier characters to solo with, especially after lv 10 when one is able to charm a pet.

[http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?class=Hunter Hunter Spell List]

==Survival==

* Raptor Strike - The hunter's main close combat skill, used mainly as a finishing move or to 'joust' through an enemy while attempting to regain range. 
* Mongoose Bite - Damage dealing melee skill, can only be performed after you dodge an attack. 
* Wing Clip - Largely a PvP skill, Wing Clip slows the target, allowing the hunter to get back to range. Talents can give a 20% chance to immobilize for 5 seconds. 
* Disengage - Lowers your aggro. This skill helps a hunter who has drawn aggro to transfer aggro to a pet or a tank. 
* Feign Death - Complete aggro wipe, on a 30 second cooldown. Feign also takes you out of combat (briefly), which allows you to set traps, drink, or change equipment, which you can't otherwise do in combat. Talents can make this (ever so slightly) less likely to be resisted. 
* Tracking - One of the best hunter skills. There are very few mobs in the game that can't be tracked by one of the hunters' tracking skills. Mousing over the dots on the minimap will show you the name of that mob. Track Hidden has been improved, but is still spotty for spotting stealthed rogues. If you expect to run into PvP, keep humanoid tracking up. 

* Traps - The hunter has 4 traps available, which can be improved through the trap mastery talent. Traps must be set while out of combat, and a hunter can only have one trap laid at a time. 
- Immolation Trap - applies a 15-second Fire DoT to the mob. 
- Explosive Trap - a Fire trap that explodes and does AoE damage. 
- Frost Trap - an Ice trap that has an AoE slowing effect, but does no damage. 
- Freezing Trap - an Ice trap that completely immobilizes an enemy for 20 seconds at its highest rank (23 seconds with Trap Mastery talent). Freezing Trap is an amazing skill, since enemies that can't otherwise be crowd controlled with polymorph or sap can still be frozen with freezing trap. Also, it is possible for a hunter to trap a single mob for 2 durations of freezing trap, if they trap the mob, then feign death to get out of combat, and drop another freezing trap so that the mob will trigger it when the first trap wears off. This tactic is dependent on feign not being resisted, but keeping a single mob out of the fight for 40-46 seconds is great when possible. 

Survival Spells requiring talents: 
* Counterattack - a melee attack that can only be applied after you parry. Counterattack deals damage and stuns for 5 seconds, and can't be blocked, dodged, or parried, so it's a great skill for PvP. 
* Wyvern Sting - a sting that can only be used out of combat, Wyvern Sting is a 12 second 'sleep' effect. After the sleep wears off, there is a 12-second Nature DoT applied to the target (likely to prevent trapping the target after sleeping it). 

==Marksmanship==

* Hunter's Mark - This spell marks the target with a very noticeable arrow, which makes it a great skill for party play, to help the party know what mob to focus fire on, or which mob you'll be trying to catch in a freezing trap. It adds ranged attack power to everyone attacking the target, and also can be used in PvP to prevent rogues from vanishing.
* Flare - an AoE effect that shows all hidden targets in its radius. Great to expose vanished rogues and stealthed mobs.
* Distracting Shot - used to pull aggro to the hunter. If someone else is pulling, this can be used to pull a specific mob to the hunter, often used to pull a mob into a freezing trap
* Concussive Shot - slows the target by 40%, talents add a 20% chance to stun. Note that concussive has higher threat than many shots, so may not be the best shot to use while soloing if your pet has trouble holding aggro.
* Arcane Shot - an instant shot that's great for pulling and adds arcane damage.
* Multi-Shot - a semi-instant shot that hits up to 3 targets. Be careful using this around crowd controlled mobs.
* Volley - Volley is the hunter's only AoE shot (Explosive Trap is our other AoE), and does arcane damage.

Stings: Each hunter can only apply one sting. Also, the only sting that stacks is serpent sting, so if you're partying with other hunters, organize what sting you'll be using. 
- Serpent Sting - a nature DoT. More useful now that the debuff limit has been increased, but be careful using this if you might need to control the mob later on, as an active DoT will prevent trapping or sheeping. 
- Scorpid Sting - Reduces the strength and agility of the target, lowering its damage. Good vs. physical attackers, can help to keep your pet or party tank from taking too much damage. 
- Viper Sting - drains mana from the target. Note that most caster mobs have a large mana pool, so viper may not have a significant impact, unless used in conjunction with the mana drain of another class to keep an empty mana pool from regenerating.

Marksmanship skills requiring talents:
* Aimed Shot - Aimed Shot takes 3 seconds to cast, but adds a significant amount of damage (600 at max rank), and can be devastating when the shot is a critical strike, particularly against low-armor targets.
* Scatter Shot - a close-range 4 second confuse effect, great for PvP to drop a trap and get back to range. Any damage done will cancel the effect.

==Beast Mastery==

* Eagle Eye - Good for scouting crowded areas, to see which mobs one can pull. Tip: To turn it off, just sit down by typing "x". 
* Beast Lore - When cast, the tooltip will show you information about beasts, most importantly whether they are tameable.
* Mend Pet - The hunter's only healing spell, to help you keep your pet on his/her feet. With talents, Mend Pet can also clear debuffs from your pet.
* Scare Beast - a single-target fear, useable on beasts only. In PvP, it can be used on Druids in beast form and other hunters' pets.

Aspects - the hunter has 5 aspects available, only one of which may be active at a time. Most hunters spend the lion's share of their time in Aspect of the Hawk. 
- Aspect of the Hawk - Main aspect, increases ranged attack power. 
- Aspect of the Monkey - Increases dodge percentage, great for melee and PvP. 
- Aspect of the Cheetah - Increases your run speed by 30%, great for getting around before you have a mount. Caution must be used when traveling through areas with hostile mobs, since any hit will daze you for 4 seconds. 
- Aspect of the Wild - Gives your entire party added Nature Resist (60 resist at max).
- Aspect of the Pack - Basically an Aspect of the Cheetah for your entire party, including the daze effect upon being hit. Good for traveling inside an instance, when mounts and travel forms can't be used. 
Aspect of the Beast - Makes you show up as a beast on other hunters' tracking, can be used to 'hide' from other hunters in PvP. 

Beast Mastery Spells requiring talents:
* Spirit Bond - passively increases the health regeneration of you and your pet.
* Intimidation - a 3 second stun
* Bestial Wrath - doubles your pet's damage and makes it immune to crowd control for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 2 minutes.

Pet Control Skills: These skills are mandatory if you have a pet, and are acquired through the hunter class quests that start at level 10 from the hunter trainer. The first quest is to tame (charm) 3 particular animals, and once you complete that quest, you'll get a second quest (that gives you feed pet and the rest of the pet skills) once you visit a pet trainer in a main city. 
* Revive Pet - to ressurect your pet when it dies. 
* Feed Pet - you need to keep your pet happy by feeding it food that it likes. Keep a close watch on your combat log, to be sure that the food you're feeding your pet is giving it 35 happiness per tick. If you're getting less happiness, you need to switch to a higher level of food. Your pet will require food of higher level as it levels. Different species eat different foods, check the Pet screen to see what your pet's diet is. 
* Tame Beast - to tame new pets. You can only have one 'active' pet at a time, so you'll need to stable your current pet, or permanantly abandon it in order to train a new one. 
* Beast Training - to train your pet with new skills, see the Pet Skills section below. 
* Dismiss Pet - for when you want your pet to temporarily unsummon. Useful for times when your pet might not follow you, like making jumps in instances, or when you won't need your pet for a while and don't want it to lose happiness from standing around. 
* Call Pet - to call your pet to your side when it's currently unsummoned.

==Taming Pets==

As listed above, hunters can tame pets after completing their class quests, which start at level 10.

A list of tameable pets is listed on the WoW Community forums [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-hunter&t=155&p=1&tmp=1#post155 here].

A good page to check out the colour of various pets is [http://www.tkasomething.com/species.php here], for the fashionable hunter.

==Pet Skills==

You will get rank 2 Growl for free. Higher ranks of growl can be learned from the [http://hunter.worldofwar.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=3&page=1 pet trainer], who can normally be found near the Hunter trainer. The train pet skill is located in your general skill page, where your racial spells, professions and skills like dual-wield and throw are listed.

Pet skills cost training points (except Growl, which is free to train). To see your pet's current training points, check the Pet Details. Training Points are equal to Loyalty Level * (Pet Level - 10), so even level 60 pets can gain points by gaining loyalty levels. A level 60 pet at the highest loyalty level will have 300 Training Points.

In addition to Growl, pets can also learn other skills. Passive skills are available from the Pet Trainer, and active skills (other than growl) are available from training other animals. Note that some active skills can only be learned by particular species of pet.

Passive Skills (no limit other than training point cost):
Great Stamina
Natural Armor
Resistances - Fire, Frost, Arcane, Nature, Shadow. Each school of resist is trained separately.

Active Skills (limited to 4 per pet):
* Growl - a taunt that your pet can use to hold aggro on a mob, allowing you to fight from range.
* Cower - decreases aggro on your pet, used in solo play to shift aggro to the hunter when the pet is in trouble.
* Claw - fast casting added damage. Can use up a pet's focus if left on auto-attack.
* Bite - slow casting added damage.
* Dash - a sprint that you can use to have the pet quickly approach and engage a target.
* Prowl - pet will go into stealth. Pet moves slower while in stealth mode, but the first attack from stealth has added damage. Useful for ambushing in PvP.
* Screech - only trainable by owls, bats, and carrion birds, screech is an AoE attack power debuff, so it's great for PvP.
* Furious Howl - this wolf-only skill is an AoE party buff that adds damage to the next attack, great for raiding.
* Scorpid Poison - a stackable nature DoT, obviously used only by Scorpids.
* Lightning Breath - Trainable to Wind Serpents, Lightning Breath is a ranged single-target nature damage spell.

A list of which pets to tame for particular skills is [http://www.goodintentionsguild.info/hunters.html#petabilities here].

This [http://petcalc.tripod.com/ tool] can be used to plan your pet's skills. If you want to make a change, you can visit a Pet Trainer to have your pet's training points reset. Like a talent reset, this gets progressively more expensive the more times you do it.

==Role in party==

Hunters can pull in parties, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/hunter.php This] is an interesting article on party placement during pulls.

Even if not pulling, a hunter makes a great group leader, with being able to use tracking to spot patrols, and having the ability to use hunter's mark to direct the group. Freezing trap is great crowd control when someone else is pulling, just pick and mark your mob (make sure it's a non-caster mob that will run to engage you), and immediately after the pull is started (by someone else), use distracting shot to pull the mob to your trap, away from the group. If you keep your pet from engaging, you may be able to double-trap the mob if your feign works.

Hunter pets work great as main tanks for groups up to about Uldaman, and even after that, a pet whose master is specced in Beast Mastery and who has spent their training points on Stamina or Armor (or both!) can do a great job at tanking with healing support. Even non-BM specced pets can do off-tanking duty in Dire Maul and the other end-game instances.

In groups, you'll generally want to keep your pet's growl off. Pets are great at grabbing aggro on an unexpected add, or on a mob that's breaking from the main group and going for the healer.

==Soloing==

Soloing is an area where hunters shine, since they have a built-in tank to help them out. You'll generally want your pet to get an unresisted growl in before you start shooting (you can put up a hunter's mark in the meantime). In general, you'll want to keep doing steady damage, and won't want to pull aggro off your pet, so you won't typically use shots like aimed and concussive, because of the extra damage/threat they cause. Scorpid sting can be good to keep low health/armor pets alive a little longer, and for hardier pets, you can use serpent to take the target down a little faster, or use your mana on arcane and (if you're sure you won't accidentally pull adds) multi-shot.

==Gear==

Some hunter gear, for various builds and at various levels, is listed [http://69.41.171.43/hunter.htm here].

==Talents==

Keep in mind any skills you may want at the top of the talent tree. Most builds focus on heavy Marksmanship investment to get Trueshot Aura, or heavy Beast Mastery to get Bestial Wrath. Investing in Survival is wise if you plan to do a lot of PvP, since you won't be able to rely on keeping attackers at range, but Wyvern Sting is generally seen as not worth the investment, so that frees up points to use in the other trees. PvP builds often include enough Marksmanship talents to get Scatter Shot. You can use [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html this tool] to plan your talents.

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival/Beast Mastery) - Sjur===
Removed - Outdated.

===PvE Talent Build Post Talent Change (Marksmanship/Beast Mastery) - Solitude Dragon===
The 3 points in survival are essentially due to the fact that I couldn't think of anyplace else to put them. I figured 3% damage and 3% crit damage on humanoids isn't half bad. In addition, this can get you through Alterac Valley as most of the time, you will be able to shoot as opposed to the smaller and more melee focused Battlegrounds.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5505000000000000500505305130510300000000000000 Link]

'''Beast Mastery Talents - 15 points'''

Improved Aspect of the Hawk - rank 5/5

Endurance Training - rank 5/5

Improved Aspect of the Monkey - rank 5/5

'''Marksmanship Talents - 33 points'''

Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5

Lethal Shots - rank 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot - rank 5/5

Barrage - rank 2/2

Mortal Shots - rank 5/5

Scatter Shot - rank 1/1

Hawk Eye - rank 3/3

Ranged Weapon Specialization - rank 5/5

Trueshot Aura - rank 1/1

'''Survival Talents - 3 points'''

Humanoid Slaying - rank 3/3

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival) - Solitude Dragon===
If I ever decide to actually start to PvP, this would be the build I'd go for (post hunter talent changes).

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500505305100000050052510323100 Link],

'''Marksmanship Talents - 24 points'''

Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5

Lethal Shots - rank 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot - rank 5/5

Mortal Shots - rank 5/5

Scatter Shot - rank 1/1

Hawk Eye - rank 3/3

'''Survival Talents - 27 points'''

Deflection - rank 5/5

Improved Wing Clip - rank 5/5

Trap Efficiency - rank 2/2

Survivalist - rank 5/5

Deterrence - rank 1/1

Surefooted - rank 3/3

Improved Feign Death - rank 2/2

Killer Instinct - rank 3/3

Counterattack - rank 1/1

Improved Feign Death - rank 2/2

Killer Instinct - rank 3/3

===Various Builds - martini (Rhyssa)===

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511301000002300052512323151 Surv/Marks] - Rhyssa's current build, made mostly to play with the new Survival tree and with Wyvern, which I never use, so I'll probably spec out of it eventually.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Surv/Marks] - Probably what I'll go back to when I respec Rhyssa.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5500300152521011500511302000000300000000000000 BM/Marks build] - purely theory, but is what I'm working towards for my hunter on Tich.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Typical 5/31/15 PvE build]

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511305100000320052310323150 PvP Surv/Marks build]

Hunter (World of Warcraft)

2006-01-24T10:17:45Z

Solitude Dragon: /* PvE Talent Build Post Talent Change (Marksmanship/Beast Mastery) - Solitude Dragon */

Azeroth is home to a wide variety of beasts. From the new world of Lordaeron to the old world of Kalimdor, all manner of creatures can be found. Some are friendly, some are ferocious - yet they all have one thing in common. Each creature shares a special connection with Hunters. Hunters track, tame, and slay all manner of animals and beasts found in the wild. Whether they rely on bows or firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.

The hunter is one of the easier characters to solo with, especially after lv 10 when one is able to charm a pet.

[http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html?class=Hunter Hunter Spell List]

==Survival==

* Raptor Strike - The hunter's main close combat skill, used mainly as a finishing move or to 'joust' through an enemy while attempting to regain range. 
* Mongoose Bite - Damage dealing melee skill, can only be performed after you dodge an attack. 
* Wing Clip - Largely a PvP skill, Wing Clip slows the target, allowing the hunter to get back to range. Talents can give a 20% chance to immobilize for 5 seconds. 
* Disengage - Lowers your aggro. This skill helps a hunter who has drawn aggro to transfer aggro to a pet or a tank. 
* Feign Death - Complete aggro wipe, on a 30 second cooldown. Feign also takes you out of combat (briefly), which allows you to set traps, drink, or change equipment, which you can't otherwise do in combat. Talents can make this (ever so slightly) less likely to be resisted. 
* Tracking - One of the best hunter skills. There are very few mobs in the game that can't be tracked by one of the hunters' tracking skills. Mousing over the dots on the minimap will show you the name of that mob. Track Hidden has been improved, but is still spotty for spotting stealthed rogues. If you expect to run into PvP, keep humanoid tracking up. 

* Traps - The hunter has 4 traps available, which can be improved through the trap mastery talent. Traps must be set while out of combat, and a hunter can only have one trap laid at a time. 
- Immolation Trap - applies a 15-second Fire DoT to the mob. 
- Explosive Trap - a Fire trap that explodes and does AoE damage. 
- Frost Trap - an Ice trap that has an AoE slowing effect, but does no damage. 
- Freezing Trap - an Ice trap that completely immobilizes an enemy for 20 seconds at its highest rank (23 seconds with Trap Mastery talent). Freezing Trap is an amazing skill, since enemies that can't otherwise be crowd controlled with polymorph or sap can still be frozen with freezing trap. Also, it is possible for a hunter to trap a single mob for 2 durations of freezing trap, if they trap the mob, then feign death to get out of combat, and drop another freezing trap so that the mob will trigger it when the first trap wears off. This tactic is dependent on feign not being resisted, but keeping a single mob out of the fight for 40-46 seconds is great when possible. 

Survival Spells requiring talents: 
* Counterattack - a melee attack that can only be applied after you parry. Counterattack deals damage and stuns for 5 seconds, and can't be blocked, dodged, or parried, so it's a great skill for PvP. 
* Wyvern Sting - a sting that can only be used out of combat, Wyvern Sting is a 12 second 'sleep' effect. After the sleep wears off, there is a 12-second Nature DoT applied to the target (likely to prevent trapping the target after sleeping it). 

==Marksmanship==

* Hunter's Mark - This spell marks the target with a very noticeable arrow, which makes it a great skill for party play, to help the party know what mob to focus fire on, or which mob you'll be trying to catch in a freezing trap. It adds ranged attack power to everyone attacking the target, and also can be used in PvP to prevent rogues from vanishing.
* Flare - an AoE effect that shows all hidden targets in its radius. Great to expose vanished rogues and stealthed mobs.
* Distracting Shot - used to pull aggro to the hunter. If someone else is pulling, this can be used to pull a specific mob to the hunter, often used to pull a mob into a freezing trap
* Concussive Shot - slows the target by 40%, talents add a 20% chance to stun. Note that concussive has higher threat than many shots, so may not be the best shot to use while soloing if your pet has trouble holding aggro.
* Arcane Shot - an instant shot that's great for pulling and adds arcane damage.
* Multi-Shot - a semi-instant shot that hits up to 3 targets. Be careful using this around crowd controlled mobs.
* Volley - Volley is the hunter's only AoE shot (Explosive Trap is our other AoE), and does arcane damage.

Stings: Each hunter can only apply one sting. Also, the only sting that stacks is serpent sting, so if you're partying with other hunters, organize what sting you'll be using. 
- Serpent Sting - a nature DoT. More useful now that the debuff limit has been increased, but be careful using this if you might need to control the mob later on, as an active DoT will prevent trapping or sheeping. 
- Scorpid Sting - Reduces the strength and agility of the target, lowering its damage. Good vs. physical attackers, can help to keep your pet or party tank from taking too much damage. 
- Viper Sting - drains mana from the target. Note that most caster mobs have a large mana pool, so viper may not have a significant impact, unless used in conjunction with the mana drain of another class to keep an empty mana pool from regenerating.

Marksmanship skills requiring talents:
* Aimed Shot - Aimed Shot takes 3 seconds to cast, but adds a significant amount of damage (600 at max rank), and can be devastating when the shot is a critical strike, particularly against low-armor targets.
* Scatter Shot - a close-range 4 second confuse effect, great for PvP to drop a trap and get back to range. Any damage done will cancel the effect.

==Beast Mastery==

* Eagle Eye - Good for scouting crowded areas, to see which mobs one can pull. Tip: To turn it off, just sit down by typing "x". 
* Beast Lore - When cast, the tooltip will show you information about beasts, most importantly whether they are tameable.
* Mend Pet - The hunter's only healing spell, to help you keep your pet on his/her feet. With talents, Mend Pet can also clear debuffs from your pet.
* Scare Beast - a single-target fear, useable on beasts only. In PvP, it can be used on Druids in beast form and other hunters' pets.

Aspects - the hunter has 5 aspects available, only one of which may be active at a time. Most hunters spend the lion's share of their time in Aspect of the Hawk. 
- Aspect of the Hawk - Main aspect, increases ranged attack power. 
- Aspect of the Monkey - Increases dodge percentage, great for melee and PvP. 
- Aspect of the Cheetah - Increases your run speed by 30%, great for getting around before you have a mount. Caution must be used when traveling through areas with hostile mobs, since any hit will daze you for 4 seconds. 
- Aspect of the Wild - Gives your entire party added Nature Resist (60 resist at max).
- Aspect of the Pack - Basically an Aspect of the Cheetah for your entire party, including the daze effect upon being hit. Good for traveling inside an instance, when mounts and travel forms can't be used. 
Aspect of the Beast - Makes you show up as a beast on other hunters' tracking, can be used to 'hide' from other hunters in PvP. 

Beast Mastery Spells requiring talents:
* Spirit Bond - passively increases the health regeneration of you and your pet.
* Intimidation - a 3 second stun
* Bestial Wrath - doubles your pet's damage and makes it immune to crowd control for 15 seconds. Cooldown of 2 minutes.

Pet Control Skills: These skills are mandatory if you have a pet, and are acquired through the hunter class quests that start at level 10 from the hunter trainer. The first quest is to tame (charm) 3 particular animals, and once you complete that quest, you'll get a second quest (that gives you feed pet and the rest of the pet skills) once you visit a pet trainer in a main city. 
* Revive Pet - to ressurect your pet when it dies. 
* Feed Pet - you need to keep your pet happy by feeding it food that it likes. Keep a close watch on your combat log, to be sure that the food you're feeding your pet is giving it 35 happiness per tick. If you're getting less happiness, you need to switch to a higher level of food. Your pet will require food of higher level as it levels. Different species eat different foods, check the Pet screen to see what your pet's diet is. 
* Tame Beast - to tame new pets. You can only have one 'active' pet at a time, so you'll need to stable your current pet, or permanantly abandon it in order to train a new one. 
* Beast Training - to train your pet with new skills, see the Pet Skills section below. 
* Dismiss Pet - for when you want your pet to temporarily unsummon. Useful for times when your pet might not follow you, like making jumps in instances, or when you won't need your pet for a while and don't want it to lose happiness from standing around. 
* Call Pet - to call your pet to your side when it's currently unsummoned.

==Taming Pets==

As listed above, hunters can tame pets after completing their class quests, which start at level 10.

A list of tameable pets is listed on the WoW Community forums [http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-hunter&t=155&p=1&tmp=1#post155 here].

A good page to check out the colour of various pets is [http://www.tkasomething.com/species.php here], for the fashionable hunter.

==Pet Skills==

You will get rank 2 Growl for free. Higher ranks of growl can be learned from the [http://hunter.worldofwar.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=3&page=1 pet trainer], who can normally be found near the Hunter trainer. The train pet skill is located in your general skill page, where your racial spells, professions and skills like dual-wield and throw are listed.

Pet skills cost training points (except Growl, which is free to train). To see your pet's current training points, check the Pet Details. Training Points are equal to Loyalty Level * (Pet Level - 10), so even level 60 pets can gain points by gaining loyalty levels. A level 60 pet at the highest loyalty level will have 300 Training Points.

In addition to Growl, pets can also learn other skills. Passive skills are available from the Pet Trainer, and active skills (other than growl) are available from training other animals. Note that some active skills can only be learned by particular species of pet.

Passive Skills (no limit other than training point cost):
Great Stamina
Natural Armor
Resistances - Fire, Frost, Arcane, Nature, Shadow. Each school of resist is trained separately.

Active Skills (limited to 4 per pet):
* Growl - a taunt that your pet can use to hold aggro on a mob, allowing you to fight from range.
* Cower - decreases aggro on your pet, used in solo play to shift aggro to the hunter when the pet is in trouble.
* Claw - fast casting added damage. Can use up a pet's focus if left on auto-attack.
* Bite - slow casting added damage.
* Dash - a sprint that you can use to have the pet quickly approach and engage a target.
* Prowl - pet will go into stealth. Pet moves slower while in stealth mode, but the first attack from stealth has added damage. Useful for ambushing in PvP.
* Screech - only trainable by owls, bats, and carrion birds, screech is an AoE attack power debuff, so it's great for PvP.
* Furious Howl - this wolf-only skill is an AoE party buff that adds damage to the next attack, great for raiding.
* Scorpid Poison - a stackable nature DoT, obviously used only by Scorpids.
* Lightning Breath - Trainable to Wind Serpents, Lightning Breath is a ranged single-target nature damage spell.

A list of which pets to tame for particular skills is [http://www.goodintentionsguild.info/hunters.html#petabilities here].

This [http://petcalc.tripod.com/ tool] can be used to plan your pet's skills. If you want to make a change, you can visit a Pet Trainer to have your pet's training points reset. Like a talent reset, this gets progressively more expensive the more times you do it.

==Role in party==

Hunters can pull in parties, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/hunter.php This] is an interesting article on party placement during pulls.

Even if not pulling, a hunter makes a great group leader, with being able to use tracking to spot patrols, and having the ability to use hunter's mark to direct the group. Freezing trap is great crowd control when someone else is pulling, just pick and mark your mob (make sure it's a non-caster mob that will run to engage you), and immediately after the pull is started (by someone else), use distracting shot to pull the mob to your trap, away from the group. If you keep your pet from engaging, you may be able to double-trap the mob if your feign works.

Hunter pets work great as main tanks for groups up to about Uldaman, and even after that, a pet whose master is specced in Beast Mastery and who has spent their training points on Stamina or Armor (or both!) can do a great job at tanking with healing support. Even non-BM specced pets can do off-tanking duty in Dire Maul and the other end-game instances.

In groups, you'll generally want to keep your pet's growl off. Pets are great at grabbing aggro on an unexpected add, or on a mob that's breaking from the main group and going for the healer.

==Soloing==

Soloing is an area where hunters shine, since they have a built-in tank to help them out. You'll generally want your pet to get an unresisted growl in before you start shooting (you can put up a hunter's mark in the meantime). In general, you'll want to keep doing steady damage, and won't want to pull aggro off your pet, so you won't typically use shots like aimed and concussive, because of the extra damage/threat they cause. Scorpid sting can be good to keep low health/armor pets alive a little longer, and for hardier pets, you can use serpent to take the target down a little faster, or use your mana on arcane and (if you're sure you won't accidentally pull adds) multi-shot.

==Gear==

Some hunter gear, for various builds and at various levels, is listed [http://69.41.171.43/hunter.htm here].

==Talents==

Keep in mind any skills you may want at the top of the talent tree. Most builds focus on heavy Marksmanship investment to get Trueshot Aura, or heavy Beast Mastery to get Bestial Wrath. Investing in Survival is wise if you plan to do a lot of PvP, since you won't be able to rely on keeping attackers at range, but Wyvern Sting is generally seen as not worth the investment, so that frees up points to use in the other trees. PvP builds often include enough Marksmanship talents to get Scatter Shot. You can use [http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html this tool] to plan your talents.

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival/Beast Mastery) - Sjur===
Removed - Outdated.

===PvE Talent Build Post Talent Change (Marksmanship/Beast Mastery) - Solitude Dragon===
The 3 points in survival are essentially due to the fact that I couldn't think of anyplace else to put them. I figured 3% damage and 3% crit damage on humanoids isn't half bad. In addition, this can get you through Alterac Valley as most of the time, you will be able to shoot as opposed to the smaller and more melee focused Battlegrounds.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5505000000000000500505305130510300000000000000 Link]

'''Beast Mastery Talents - 15 points'''

Improved Aspect of the Hawk - rank 5/5

Endurance Training - rank 5/5

Improved Aspect of the Monkey - rank 5/5

'''Marksmanship Talents - 33 points'''

Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5

Lethal Shots - rank 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot - rank 5/5

Barrage - rank 2/2

Mortal Shots - rank 5/5

Scatter Shot - rank 1/1

Hawk Eye - rank 3/3

Ranged Weapon Specialization - rank 5/5

Trueshot Aura - rank 1/1

'''Survival Talents - 3 points'''

Humanoid Slaying - rank 3/3

===PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival) - Solitude Dragon===
If I ever decide to actually start to PvP, this would be the build I'd go for (post hunter talent changes).

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500505305100002300052510323100 Link], note that scorpid is excluded since there aren't enough points.

'''Marksmanship Talents - 24 points'''

Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5

Lethal Shots - rank 5/5

Improved Arcane Shot - rank 5/5

Mortal Shots - rank 5/5

Scatter Shot - rank 1/1

Hawk Eye - rank 3/3

Improved Scorpid Sting - rank 3/3

'''Survival Talents - 27 points'''

Monster Slaying - rank 2/3

Humanoid Slaying - rank 3/3

Improved Wing Clip - rank 5/5

Trap Efficiency - rank 2/2

Survivalist - rank 5/5

Deterrence - rank 1/1

Surefooted - rank 3/3

Improved Feign Death - rank 2/2

Killer Instinct - rank 3/3

Counterattack - rank 1/1

Improved Feign Death - rank 2/2

Killer Instinct - rank 3/3

===Various Builds - martini (Rhyssa)===

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511301000002300052512323151 Surv/Marks] - Rhyssa's current build, made mostly to play with the new Survival tree and with Wyvern, which I never use, so I'll probably spec out of it eventually.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Surv/Marks] - Probably what I'll go back to when I respec Rhyssa.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5500300152521011500511302000000300000000000000 BM/Marks build] - purely theory, but is what I'm working towards for my hunter on Tich.

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?5000000000000000500512305130512300052300000000 Typical 5/31/15 PvE build]

[http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/hunters/talents.html?0000000000000000500511305100000320052310323150 PvP Surv/Marks build]

Classic (Stormrage)

2005-12-10T10:40:43Z

2005-08-02T08:50:30Z

Solitude Dragon: /* PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival) - Solitude Dragon */

Stratholme

2005-07-10T06:32:23Z

Solitude Dragon: /* Neutral */

Stratholme is a level 55-62 instance in the northern part of [[Eastern Plaguelands]]. Recommended player level is 57+. There are multiple ways that this instance can be approached. Each method takes a different amount of time.

It actually has two entrances - one (the front) is in the northwestern end of the zone, and the other (the back, or service gate) is just east of Plaguewood. The service gate entrance requires the Key to the City, which drops off of Magistrate Barthilas inside the instance.

As one might guess, the instance is effectively split into two halves, which I'll refer to here as the '''Scarlet side''' and the '''Scourge side'''. (I welcome any suggestions for better designations. --[[User:Teiran|Teiran]])

== External Guides and Maps ==
'''[http://worldofwarcraft.gameamp.com/game_map/game_map/77.php Annotated Map of Undead Side] from gameamp.com''' 
'''[http://www.worldofwar.net/cartography/instances/stratholme.php Map of whole instance] from worldofwar

== Quests ==

===Alliance===
None

===Horde===
61 The Scarlet Oracle, Demetria Horde
Eastern Plaguelands Nathanos Blightcaller
<Champion of the Banshee Queen>
Eastern Plaguelands or or
8550 XP

62 Ramstein Horde
Stratholme Nathanos Blightcaller
<Champion of the Banshee Queen>
Eastern Plaguelands or
7050 XP

This is the final quest in a long chain that begins with Sylvanas sending you to talk to Nathanos Blightcaller. You will have to complete some prerequisites in EPL that include killing two elites outside the instance (Duskwing and Borelgore).

===Neutral===

53 (60) [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?q=2019 Of Love and Family] - This quest is a continuation of the Fordring series. It is obtained from Artist Renfray in the Western Plaguelands. The object needed is found in the Scarlet Bastion.

55 (61) [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?q=883 The Archivist] - This quest is obtained from Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff in the Eastern Plaguelands. The objective of the quest is to kill the Archivist and burn his room. The Archivist can be found in the Scarlet Bastion.

55 (61) [http://thottbot.com/?q=1703 The Restless Souls] - The quest's prerequisite is the same name as this one. Caretaker Alan, located just South of Light's Hope Chapel, asks you to locate Egan. Egan is in a house in Terrordale (14, 33 unconfirmed). Egan's Blaster is also useful for preventing the Spectral Ghosts and Citizens on consecutive runs from agroing mage AE's of the undead groups at the beginning of the instance.

55 (61) [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?q=887 Houses of the Holy] - This quest is obtained from Leonid Barthalomew the Revered in Eastern Plaguelands. The objective is to collect Holy water from chests scattered around the instance. These items can be collected while part of a raid group. The possible rewards are the cloth Crown of the Penitent, or the [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=3367 Band of the Penitent] ring plus healing/mana potions.

55 (61) [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?q=884 The Flesh Does Not Lie] - This quest is obtained from Betina Bigglezink in Eastern Plaguelands. The required objects drop from undead inside the instance.

55 (61) [http://www.thottbot.com/?q=881 The Great Fras Siabi] - This quest is obtained from Smokey LaRue in Eastern Plaguelands. The reward is [http://www.thottbot.com/?i=3388 Smokey's Lighter], a trinket that does 125 fire damage like a flamethrower.

58 (61) [http://www.thottbot.com/?q=2623 The Active Agent] - This quest is obtained from Betina Bigglezink in Eastern Plaguelands. The reward is the [http://www.thottbot.com/?i=16050 Seal of the Dawn] trinket (+81 Atk Power when fighting undead).

57 (62) [http://www.thottbot.com/?q=4781 Above and Beyond] - This quest is obtained from Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff in Eastern Plaguelands. The object of this quest is to kill Baron Rivendare and bring his head back to Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff.

62 Cap of the Scarlet Savant Horde and Alliance
Winterspring Malyfous's Catalogue
Winterspring

62 Breastplate of Bloodthirst Horde and Alliance
Winterspring Malyfous's Catalogue
Winterspring

62 Leggings of Arcana Horde and Alliance
Winterspring Malyfous's Catalogue
Winterspring

62 Breastplate of the Chromatic Flight Horde and Alliance
Western Plaguelands Catalogue of the Wayward
Western Plaguelands

61 Sweet Serenity Horde and Alliance
Blacksmithing Lilith the Lithe
Winterspring
8550 XP

61 Corruption Horde and Alliance
Blacksmithing Seril Scourgebane
Winterspring
8550 XP

== Bosses ==

Hearthsinger Forresten (57+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13652 Piccolo of the Flaming Fire] (trinket)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=23132 Rainbow Girdle] (plate belt)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=8173 Songbird Blouse] (leather chestpiece)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18609 Woolies of the Prancing Minstrel] (mail leggings)

The Unforgiven (57+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17202 Mask of the Unforgiven] (leather helm)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=21992 Soul Breaker] (MH axe)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?s=Tearfall Tearfall Bracers of...] (cloth wrist)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=19346 Wailing Nightbane Pauldrons] (plate shoulders)

Postmaster Malown (60+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18955 Magister's Boots] (cloth boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=21709 Malown's Slam] (2h mace)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=21721 The Postmaster's Band] (cloth helm)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=12533 The Postmaster's Seal] (ring)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=21144 The Postmaster's Treads] (cloth boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=23145 The Postmaster's Trousers] (cloth leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17146 The Postmaster's Tunic] (cloth chestpiece)

Cannon Master Willey (60+ humanoid)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=10121 Cannonball Runner] (trinket)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=20122 Master Cannoneer Boots] (plate boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=10139 Miniature Cannon Balls] (ammunition)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=24405 Plans: Heartseeker] (blacksmithing plans)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=9463 Shadowcraft Spaulders] (leather shoulders)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13423 Willey's Portable Howitzer] (gun)

Archivist Galford (60+ humanoid)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=20876 Devout Gloves] (cloth gloves)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=20444 Tome of Knowledge] (off-hand item)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?s=Archivist+Cape Archivist Cape of...] (cloak)

Grand Crusader Dathrohan (62+ humanoid)

Balnazzar (62+ demon)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18613 Crown of Tyranny] (mail helm)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=10540 Demonshear] (2h sword)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=12957 Fire Striders] (cloth boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17773 Gift of the Elven Magi] (dagger)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=22033 Lightforge Boots] (plate boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=14039 Star of Mystaria] (necklace)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17206 Wyrmtongue Shoulders] (leather shoulders)

Timmy the Cruel (58+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18377 Grimgore Noose] (cloth belt)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18424 The Cruel Hand of Timmy] (1h mace)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13410 Timmy's Galoshes] (mail boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18191 Vambraces of the Sadist] (plate wrist)

Stonespine (60+ undead; rare spawn)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13764 Gargoyle Shredder Talons] (off-hand fist weapon)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13816 Stoneskin Gargoyle Cape] (cloak)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=11919 Verdant Footpads] (leather boots)

Baroness Anastari (59+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=20923 Banshee Finger] (wand)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=15798 Dreadmist Sandals] (cloth boots)

Nerub'enkan (60+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=19334 Beaststalker's Boots] (mail boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17352 Husk of Nerub'enkan] (shield)

Maleki the Pallid (61+ humanoid)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=22905 Devout Boots] (cloth boots)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=25077 Plans: Hammer of the Titans] (blacksmithing plans)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=21708 Skull of Burning Shadows] (off-hand item)

Magistrate Barthilas (58+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=11881 Royal Tribunal Cloak] (cloak)

Ramstein the Gorger (61+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17566 Band of Flesh] (ring)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=23345 Crest of Retribution] (shield)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=14646 Gauntlets of Valor] (plate gloves)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13351 Ramstein's Lightning Bolts] (trinket)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=23258 Slavedriver's Cane] (staff)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13865 Soulstealer Mantle] (cloth shoulders)

Baron Rivendare (62+ undead)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=25821 Runeblade of Baron Rivendare] (2h sword; epic drop)
* Deathcharger's Reins (epic mount; epic drop)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=24339 Bonescraper] (dagger)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13406 Cape of the Black Baron] (cloak)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=16550 Dracorian Gauntlets] (mail gloves)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=18953 Robes of the Exalted] (cloth chestpiece)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=22975 Scepter of the Unholy] (MH mace)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=14960 Seal of Rivendare] (ring)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=19910 Skullforge Reaver] (1h sword)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=13437 Beaststalker's Pants] (mail leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=20129 Devout Pants] (cloth leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=16550 Dreadmist Leggings] (cloth leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17565 Leggings of Elements] (mail leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=20624 Legplates of Valor] (plate leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=19639 Lightforge Legplates] (plate leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=23031 Magister's Leggings] (cloth leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=17207 Shadowcraft Pants] (leather leggings)
* [http://www.thottbot.com/index.cgi?i=23777 Wildheart Kilt] (leather leggings)

== Item List ==
'''Cloth'''

'''Leather'''

'''Mail'''

'''Plate'''

'''Weapon/Shield/Ranged'''

'''Jewlery'''

'''Misc'''

== Walkthrough ==

The '''Scarlet side''', despite nominally being the 'first' half, is very time-consuming. I would estimate that it takes about two and a half hours to complete, and that the zone respawn is one and a half hours. What follows is a walkthrough from the front instance portal to the end of the Scarlet Bastion.

The first few pulls on the Scarlet side consist of ~3 elite zombies, all melee, and ~4-5 non-elite skeletons, evenly split between casters and melee. Upon dying, the zombies will reanimate; if not killed quickly, they will explode and do ~800 AoE damage. You'll also probably see clickable Supply Crates on either side of the street; some of these contain supplies such as potions and scrolls, not to mention the quest item Stratholme Holy Water. Others contain lots of plagued rats/maggots/insects that you'll want to AoE down. In fact, you'll be seeing a lot of plagued AoE fodder if you get too close to the sides of the street, as the pests seem to be proximity-triggered spawns. Be wary of all barrels and crates in Stratholme. (Note that dwarves can use their Find Treasure racial ability to identify which crates are 'good.')

Monsters other than the zombies and skeletons include various forms of ghouls (Plague Ghouls, 57+) and abominations (Patchwork Horrors, 58+). These wander around and are not linked to the zombie/skeleton groups, so they can and should be pulled singly. The abominations here, like those outside the instance, have knockback.

Also of note are the non-aggro Spectral Citizens that wander the streets. To free them, you'll need the Egan's Blaster quest item. Otherwise, avoid damaging them, as they pose no threat to you. Turn left at the first intersection to proceed onward, where you'll again have the choice of going left or right. Going left here brings you to a cul-de-sac where the Stratholme Courier (57+) spawns. If you kill the Courier, he'll drop keys to open three of the five postboxes scattered throughout Stratholme. If you go right instead, you'll see an open gate. This is one of Stratholme's many gate traps--once somebody clears the gate threshold, it will drop, and mass AoE fodder will pour in from a side passage. It is possible to fake the gate out by crossing and re-crossing the threshold, but if it goes wrong, keep in mind that the gate blocks LoS and will thus prevent healing.

Once you pass the gate trap, you'll see another fork in the road. Hearthsinger Forresten (57+, initially non-aggro) often spawns in this area. If you proceed left, you should see a large raised iron gate--this is your goal. The pulls in this area remain the same as those at the entrance. Once you make it to the gate, you'll see the first signs of life in Stratholme--an imposing barrier of Scarlet Crusaders standing amongst some boxes and crates.

From here on out, you will be dealing mainly with humanoids. It's standard procedure to sheep pull from this point onward; this is because each pull consists of 3-4 Scarlets--two melee and one to two casters. Kill the melees first (they have the annoying ability to charge in combat), then turn your attention to the sheep and have a mage Counterspell to force the mob to try and melee. The entire section pulls this way.

Clear the courtyard and make your way to the door of the Bastion; it requires the Scarlet Key from [[Scarlet Monastery]], but can be lockpicked. Go through the short entrance hall and hang a left. Welcome to the Scarlet Bastion!

Systematically begin clearing the pulls as described above. Be advised that when you clear a room, a Scarlet Crusader will yell something about the Scourge breaking in--this means that you should expect undead adds (non-elite skeletons) from the rear. If your group knows they're coming, they'll be easy to dispatch. Of note in the first real hall: a patrol of two Scarlet Conjurors comes all the way to the end, and may aggro you while you're in the entrance hall if you're not careful. At the far end of the hall, in a side room to the left, is Malor the Zealous (60+), who drops nothing of note.

Eventually you'll come to a hall with two locked doors--the door to the Hoard at the near end, and the door to the Hall of the High Command at the far end. The Hoard is home to Cannon Master Willey (60+) and resembles the Barracks in SM. Trash mobs include Scarlet Defenders (paladin NPC's, 58-59+) and Scarlet Priests, in mixed groups of (you guessed it) 3-4. The Scarlet Hammersmith (60+) also spawns here from some blacksmithing plans on a table.

At the end of this section is Cannon Master Willey (60+ humanoid), flanked by two cannons pointing down toward the end of the hall. Don't worry, he won't be using these cannons--but you will! Leave someone in charge of cannon duty while the rest of the party rushes Willey. At intervals during the fight, ranged adds will appear behind the party at the end of the hall. Whoever is on cannon duty must click the piles of cannonballs around Willey to obtain ammunition for the cannon, and then load and fire at the adds. If your cannoneer is diligent in spotting adds, they should never come into play during the fight. Willey himself is a strictly melee boss who shouldn't pose much of a problem. His drops include the Master Cannoneer Boots (plate boots, +21 sta, +10 str), Shadowcraft Spaulders (rogue set leather shoulders), Cannonball Runner (trinket), the plans to the crafted dagger Heartseeker, and Willey's Portable Howitzer (gun).

Once you've killed Willey, return to the main hall and hang left to avoid aggro from the mobs standing in the hall. You may notice a new type of mob here, one wielding a staff in one hand and a glowing orange sword in the other--this is a Crimson Battle Mage. Much like player mages, they can deal massive AoE damage in the form of Arcane Explosion and Blast Wave. (more)

Congratulations, you've reached the final hall of the Scarlet Bastion. Keep doing what you've been doing. Once you clear the far pull, a group of four Scarlets will filter in from the right--if you've been careful enough to stay back, they won't aggro immediately, and you can treat them the same as any other pull. Dispatch them and turn your attention to the side room on the left; this is the room of Archivist Galford (60+), quest objective of The Archivist. Kill him and burn his archive to complete the quest. On the right wall of this room, you'll find a painting of twin moons; this is the painting, "Of Love and Family," that Artist Renfray in Caer Darrow sends you to recover and bring back to Tirion Fordring as part of that quest line.

Turn around and look across the hall. Sitting on the Crimson Throne is Grand Crusader Dathrohan (62+), the final boss of the Scarlet side. Don't be intimidated; he has strong physical attacks, but he's by himself and doesn't summon any adds. That's the good news. The bad news is that he's really a dreadlord. At some point, Dathrohan will transform into the mighty, and much larger, Balnazzar (62+); he may also regenerate all his health. Balnazzar hits hard in melee and can AoE fear. [I need to figure out what his special abilities are.]

Eventually he will die. If you've already completed and turned in The Archivist, you'll be able to loot Balnazzar's head to deliver to Duke Nicholas Zverenhoff at Light's Hope Chapel. Drops include Demonshear (53.9 dps 2h sword), Star of Mystaria (necklace), Wyrmtongue Shoulders (+23 agi, +10 sta leather shoulders), Crown of Tyranny (mail helm; +20 sta, -10 spi, +40 atk pwr, +1% crit), Gift of the Elven Magi (41.3 dps dagger).

You'll have to exit the Scarlet Bastion to continue, but you'll notice that it's been overrun with undead. You'll have to fight your way out through about a dozen spawns of 1-2 elite ghouls and non-elite skeletons. Once outside, you'll see a ghoul doing laps around the front courtyard of the Bastion; this is Timmy the Cruel (58+). Other than his yelling "TIMMY!" there's nothing special about him. Drops include the Grimgore Noose (cloth belt), The Cruel Hand of Timmy (40.1 dps 1h mace), Vambraces of the Sadist (plate bracers; +7 sta, +6 spi, +2% chance to hit; +1% crit).

[more to come, including directions on obtaining the Key to the City from this point]

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The '''Scourge side''' of Stratholme effectively begins at the back instance portal. Every mob you'll meet from the service gate entrance all the way through to the Baron (with the exception of Thuzadin Necromancers and Shadowcasters) will be undead. It's imperative that your priest be judicious with shackles, and that you help the priest by leaving shackled targets alone. While your mages won't be using Polymorph quite as often as they did on the Scarlet side, the aforementioned Necromancers and Shadowcasters are humanoid and therefore can be sheeped. Additionally, the Scourge side is full of casters that are pull-resistant, so mages' Counterspell ability will be useful for dragging these mobs back to the group.

You need the Key to the City to unlock the gate protecting the back instance portal. Once inside the instance, you'll still need the Key to unlock various other gates--including the service gate itself. If you leave the gate closed and look on the other side, you'll see the same pull that greeted you at the front instance portal: ~3 elite zombies, ~4-5 non-elite skeletons. You may also see Magistrate Barthilas hanging out just beyond the first pull. When you unlock the gate, though, Barthilas will run away. Don't worry, you'll see him again later.

The first open area after the service gate consists of three of these pulls, at which point someone with the Key will have to open the gate straight ahead at the far end. Go down the passageway and proceed to the right, using the Key to open the gate there. This is the Gauntlet, arguably the most difficult part of Stratholme.

The Gauntlet has five main mob types: 1) '''Crypt Walkers''' (59+) and '''Crypt Beasts''' (60+); 2) '''Rockwing Gargoyles''' (57-58+) and '''Rockwing Screechers''' (58-59+); 3) '''Wailing Banshees''' (58+); 4) '''Plague Ghouls''' (57-58+), '''Ghoul Raveners''' (58-59+) and '''Fleshflayer Ghouls''' (60+); 5) '''Thuzadin Shadowcasters''' (58-60+) and '''Thuzadin Necromancers''' (59-61+). Of these, only the ghouls and the Rockwing Gargoyles will immediately attempt to melee the party--the other mobs all have some sort of ranged attack that could cause problems when pulling. Be especially careful of the Rockwing Screechers, which have the ability to AoE fear the party; if surrounding mobs haven't been cleared, this can easily result in a wipe.

To proceed on from the Gauntlet, you'll have to clear three towers. On the map to which we've linked, the towers are marked 3 (Nerub'enkan), 4 (Baroness Anastari), and 5 (Maleki the Pallid). Each has a boss parked in front of its door, and clearing each tower involves killing the boss, entering the tower, and killing the six acolytes within. Once you accomplish this, you'll hear a zonewide yell along the lines of "Thuzadin Acolyte yells: An Ash'ari Crystal has fallen!..." This is the signal that the tower has been 'cleared.' Be warned that if a tower is left alone for too long, its crystal will be re-summoned, and you'll have to go back and kill the acolytes again to re-clear it.

If you're entering the Gauntlet from the service gate area, you'll be facing east. In front of you, past a gamut of mobs, one of the three towers should be visible--this is location (4), the tower of the banshee Baroness Anastari (59+ undead). Clear to her tower, taking special care to watch for the fast-moving, and fast-respawning, gargoyle patrols. Anastari herself has two noteworthy attacks: her Banshee Wail is twice as powerful as those of the non-named banshee in Stratholme, and she has the ability to possess a party member and turn him or her against the rest of the group for two minutes or until the group can kill the possessed person. Sometimes Anastari will leave the body of the possessed person before he or she actually dies--this is the ideal outcome, next to not being possessed at all. There is little to say about the fight itself; simply beat on her when she isn't possessing someone, and hope for the best if she tries her banshee tricks. Her blue drops are the Dreadmist Sandals and the Banshee Finger (59.7 dps frost-based wand).

At location (3) is the tower of Nerub'enkan (60+ undead), a boss Crypt Lord. He behaves in much the same way as other Crypt Lord-type mobs in Stratholme--he can web you and summon tiny crypt scarabs--but Nerub'enkan hits harder. Still, the fight against him is fairly straightforward. His blue drops include the Beaststalker's Boots (hunter set mail boots) and the Husk of Nerub'enkan (shield).

(more to be added later)