Hunter (World of Warcraft)

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.

One of the easier characters to solo with, especially after lv 10 when one is able to charm a pet. This is meant to be a beginning, so any players that have had experiences with higher level ranged hunters, (rangers), (mine was only lv 23), feel free to add aditional info. Also do not be afraid to disagree on some of my impressions, point here being to give input about the class.

Outdoorsmanship

Raptor Strike - My main close combat skill, a last resort kinda thing if I drew too much aggro. More often then not, by the time the monster had gotten to me, one whirl from RS was enough to kill it.

Beast mastery

Aspect of the Monkey - Main aspect when in close quarters, gives % to dodge.

Aspect of the Hawk - Main aspect when ranged skills. Increases ranged attack power.

Aspect of the Cheetah - Good when low lv for transportation. (For instance the trek from Darkshore to IF/SW).

Eagle Eye - Good for scouting crowded areas, to see which mobs one can pull. Drawback: Didn't find a way to shut it off, (lasted a tad too long for my taste).

Revive Pet, Feed Pet, Tame Beast, Train Pet - All these are mandatory if you have a pet. You get these for free through the 2 hunter quests the hunter trainer will give you at level 10. The first quest is to tame (charm) 3 particular animals, and the second quest (that gives you feed pet) asks you to visit a pet trainer. Mend pet is IMHO optional,(I didn't use it anyways), but necessary prereq for "Spirit Bond", (talent that tranfers pet hits to 20 life for it's master. ).

A list of tameable pets is listed on the WoW Community forums here.

Note! You will get rank 2 Growl, (a pet skill that makes mobs more aggressive towards your pet), for free. Higher ranks of growl can be learned from the pet trainer, which in some towns hangs out with the Hunter trainer. The train pet skill is located in your general, (racial and so on), skill page. Train Pet will be available once the second hunter quest is completed.

In addition to Growl, pets can also learn Cower, Claw, and Bite. Different pets have different abilities, and you can learn them by stabling your "main" pet, taming a pet with the ability you want, and fighting with it for a while, until you've learned it (message in combat, or check your spellbook under Train Pet. Once you have learned a pet skill, that ability is available to train on your primary pet and all future pets. A list of which pets to tame for particular skills is here.

Scare Beast - As there are a lot of mobs of the beast class, this may be a useful skill if ones resources are wearing thin, and or one wants to finish off another first.

Ranged attacks

Scorpid Sting - Good vs. physical attackers, (bow/gun/melee). Decreases agility/str for 20 seconds.

Serpent Sting - DOT, (Nature dmg), usually my third attack after Aimed- and Concussive- Shot. Some monster classes were immune.

Aimed Shot - Usually my opening shot. Adds 70 dmg to base. (Gained from talent tree).

Arcane Shot - Usually my fourth attack. Deals additional arcane dmg.

Concussive Shot - Slows and stuns, (can add talent points to get 20% to stun).

Multi-Shot - Shoots up to three missilles. Demands tactical use to not draw too much attention to yourself. Not that vise to use solo.

Hunter's Mark - Great skill for party play! Shows which mob to pull next, (and adds ranged attack power).

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 Spirit Bond. 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 the top skill (Lacerate) is generally seen as not worth the investment, so that frees up points to use in the other trees.

Role in party:

Hunters mark, pulling, Concussive Shot, draw aggro with pet, (Growl). In addition to general damage dealing of course. If caster class accompanied with grunts, I found out that while rest of the party took care of the meleers, I'd send my pet to engage the caster, this seemed to work pretty well.

Soloing:

I usually scout/check area thoroughly first, if sure I will not draw aggro from several I send my pet to draw aggro with Growl, while he approaches I throw Hunters Mark. Then as mentioned above use a sequence of shots. The time it takes to build Aimed Shot is usually enough to stick monster to pet for the duration until kill. Some situations require one to pull first before engaging pet, usually it's wise not to use skills that causes great dmg then, so it is possible to derail aggro over to pet.

Next time around I'll also give the frost traps a go. I experimented some with immolation trap, and the range for it to spring was workable, so for crowd control it might be good.

PvP Talent Build (Marksmanship/Survival) (Sjur)

Note! This build is adjusted for playing on the PvP server, and I've not taken chance to hit into consideration, (regarding talents that give % to hit, (attack power). Hopefully some input regarding hitting warriors/paladins will be posted somewhere soon.

Marksmanship Talents (24 points)

Improved Concussive Shot - 5/5 points Gives your Concussive Shot a 20% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.

Lethal Shots - 5/5 points Increases your critical strike chance with ranged weapons by 5%.

Improved Hunter's Mark - 2/5 points Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Hunter's Mark spell by 6%.

Aimed Shot - 1/1 point An aimed shot that increases ranged damage by 70.

Barrage - 2/2 points Increases the damage done by your Multi-Shot and Volley spells by 10%.

Mortal Shots - 5/5 points Increases your ranged weapon critical strike damage bonus by 50%.

Scatter Shot - 1/1 point A short-range shot that deals 50% weapon damage and confuses the target for 4 seconds. Any damage caused will remove the effect.

Hawk Eye - 3/3 points Increases the range of your ranged weapons by 6 yards.

Survival Talents (27 points)

Precision - 5/5 points Increases your chance to hit with melee weapons by 5%.

Lightning Reflexes - 3/3 points Increases your Dodge chance by 3%.

Improved Wing Clip - 5/5 points Gives your Wing Clip ability a 20% chance to immobilize the target for 5 seconds.

Entrapment - 5/5 points Gives your Immolation Trap, Frost Trap, and Explosive Trap a 25% chance to entrap the target, preventing them from moving for 5 seconds.

Deterrence - 1/1 point When activated, increases your Dodge and Parry chance by 25% for 10 seconds.

Deflection - 5/5 points Increases your Parry chance by 5%.

Improved Freezing Trap - 3/3 points Increases the duration of your Freezing Trap by ?.

PvE Talent Build (Marksmanship/Beast Mastery) (Solitude Dragon)

Beast Mastery Talents (16 points)

Improved Aspect of the Hawk - 5/5 points Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Aspect of the Hawk by 20%.

Endurance Training - 5/5 points Increases the Health of your pets by 10%.

Bestial Swiftness - 1/1 points Increases the outdoor movement speed of your pets by 30%.

Unleashed Fury - 5/5 points Increases the damage done by your pets by 10%.

Marksmanship Talents (35 points)

Improved Concussive Shot - 5/5 points Gives your Concussive Shot a 20% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.

Improved Hunter's Mark - 5/5 points Increases the Ranged Attack Power bonus of your Hunter's Mark spell by 15%.

Lethal Shots - 5/5 points Increases your critical strike chance with ranged weapons by 5%.

Mortal Shots - 5/5 points Increases your ranged weapon critical strike damage bonus by 50%.

Hawk Eye - 3/3 points Increases the range of your ranged weapons by 6 yards.

Aimed Shot - 1/1 points An aimed shot that increases ranged damage by 70.

Improved Serpent Sting - 5/5 points Increases the damage done by your Serpent Sting by 10%.

Ranged Weapon Specialization - 5/5 points Increases the damage you deal with ranged weapons by 5%.

Trueshot Aura - 1/1 points Increases the Ranged and Melee Attack Power of party members within 30 yards by 30.