Here are the simple answers to 90% of the questions asked in this forum. Please rate and/or post improvements.

1. Starting out and levelling
2. Pets
3. Talent builds and glyphs
4. Gear and enchants
5. Shot rotations and macros
6. Help! My DPS is really terrible
7. Professions

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1. Starting out and levelling

Q: What is the best (Horde/Alliance) race for a hunter?
A: It depends what you want to do. For PvE, the 1% crit to bows/guns provided by the troll and dwarf racials is quite strong, although the orc +5% pet damage racial is considered to be stronger especially as BM and the draenei +1% hit racial is probably the best for endgame raiding. For PvP, Alliance players might want to go for a night elf for increased dodge and Shadowmeld, and Horde players for an orc for the stun reduction. However racials are relatively minor effects, and the most important thing is to choose something you feel comfortable with.

Q: What is the best levelling build?
A: The easiest and fastest way to level is to invest heavily in the Beast Mastery talent tree. This will allow your pet to do much more of the work for you and ensure that he's the one that gets hit all the time. This is important because he can be healed up much more quickly than you can, enabling you to get on with the next thing sooner. There are also talents that improve your movement speed in this tree which you should take, as moving to quest locations takes up a lot of time while levelling which can be reduced.

Q: OK I understand that, but what talents exactly?
A: 10-14 Endurance Training, 15-17 Thick Hide, 18-19 Focused Fire, 20-21 Pathfinding, 22-26 Unleashed Fury, 27-31 Ferocity, 32 Intimidation, 33-34 Spirit Bond, 35-36 Bestial Discipline, 37-39 Frenzy, 40 Bestial Wrath, 41-43 Catlike Reflexes, 44 Frenzy, 45-49 Serpent's Swiftness, 50 The Beast Within, 51-53 Cobra Strikes, 54 Longevity, 55-59 Kindred Spirits, 60 Beast Mastery. After this start building up points in the Marksmanship tree and get Go for the Throat as soon as you can.

Q: I am bored of levelling as BM, can I level as survival or marks instead?
A: Sure. You can level with any combination of talents or in fact no talents at all. You will level more slowly, but you may have more fun, if you enjoy a challenge.

Q: What sort of stats should I look for on gear while levelling?
A: Agility, attack power, and crit rating are your priorities. Ignore anything with strength on it and melee weapons with an on-hit effect. A somewhat small proportion of your armour and stamina (35% for armour, 30% for stamina) is inherited by your pet and can therefore make them a bit more sturdy, however as long as you are attacking mobs of the same or similar level of yourself this is not necessary. Finally, intellect increases your mana pool and mana regeneration rate which is good for reducing downtime between fights.

Q: What twink enchants can I use on the heirloom bow and weapons to help me levelling?
A: You cannot put a scope on the Charmed Ancient Bone Bow until you are of a sufficient level to use the scope, reducing its utility significantly. Although you can get a high level alt to apply the scope, the bonus it confers is unusable until you are of a sufficient level to apply it yourself. You can however use Enchant Weapon - Agility on two Balanced Heartseekers for +30 agility.

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2. Pets

Q: When can I get a pet?
A: At level 10, via a quest given by the hunter trainer.

Q: What pets are there in the game?
A: See Petopia http://www.wow-petopia.com/

Q: My pet doesn't have any talents, I thought he did?
A: He gains his first talent point at level 20 and one every 4 levels after that.

Q: What are these pet families and what are they for?
A: Much like talent trees, families represent different focuses or flavours of pet. Pets can only have talents from one family, however. Tenacity talents are oriented towards tanking with stamina, armour and threat improvements. Ferocity talents are focused more on doing damage. Cunning pets have talents that improve control and mitigation against stuns and the like.

Q: What is the best pet for levelling?
A: Any pet in the Tenacity family will be fine. Bears are often chosen especially at low levels because of their abundance and their swipe AoE ability. Crocolisks also have a Thorns-like AoE ability enabling them to keep good threat on multiple targets.

Q: I am a blood elf, there are no tenacity pets in my area?
A: There are turtles you can tame in the lake just west of Tor'watha.

Q: Can I rename my pet?
A: Yes you can, find a friendly scribe.

Q: How can I learn new skills for my pet?
A: Your pet automatically learns new levels of skills as he levels up.

Q: I left a pet in the stable for ages and he is really low level, should I just abandon him?
A: Pets will level to at most 5 levels below you automatically when tamed or retrieved from the stable, so just level him up.

Q: What is the fastest way to level a new level 75 pet at level 80?
A: Do heroic dungeons.

Q: What happened to loyalty? I hear my pet won't run away any more?
A: That's right, there is no more loyalty. However your pet can still become unhappy if you don't feed him and he will do less damage if so. All hunters should get Glyph of Mend Pet which allows you to use Mend Pet instead of food to keep them happy.

Q: Why does my pet get smaller when tamed?
A: All beasts become the size appropriate for other beasts of the same level when tamed. Some beast mobs had a size modifier applied when they were a mob to make them artificially bigger than other beasts of the same level, they lose this modifier when tamed.

Q: I heard of someone taming an elite pet and he stayed with his elite frame when he was a pet?
A: This was a bug when the hunter named the pet the same as some elite mob, and the elite dragon frame would never show for the hunter, only other players.

Q: Are there tameable beasts with special abilities that other pets of the same family don't have?
A: No, all beasts of the same family and level have the same stats and abilities (barring talents).

Q: I have an exotic pet, but I respecced out of BM. How do I get the exotic pet out of the stable to abandon him?
A: You can't, except by speccing back to BM. However just ticket a GM and they will happily remove the pet for you if you don't want to do that.

Q: My pet always seems to lose aggro quickly, is this normal?
A: Make sure that the pet has Growl on autocast. If the pet is still not making enough threat, make sure he has enough focus to use his abilities normally (spend at least one point in Go for the Throat).

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3. Talent builds and glyphs

Q: What is the best spec for levelling?
A: See section 1: Starting out and levelling.

Q: What is the best spec for endgame raiding?
A: It tends to vary slightly with every patch release as different things are balanced. It also depends on whether your raid wants you to buff them, or whether they have other members who provide those buffs and want you to do all-out damage. At the time of writing, survival is strongest in starter and medium raiding, and marksmanship starts to take over once you get T8 gear with a lot of armour penetration. BM is currently slightly inferior to the other two trees, but viability has improved with the 3.2 patch. See below for the various options.

Q: What is the best raiding survival build?
A: If your raid needs replenishment do this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cZ0eVooZx0ci0cIhedAhsd:NAfzM0 (this also gives Aimed Shot for a good debuff if there is no Arms warrior, if you do not need this move the point from Aimed Shot into IAotH and replace Serpent Sting glyph with Glyph of the Hawk). If you have enough replenishment from other sources in the raid and do not need the MS debuff, do this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxoZ0eVoZx0ci0cIhedVhsz:NAfzM0

Q: What is the best raiding marksmanship build?
A: If there are no other hunters providing Improved Hunter's Mark: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eAsRhzGIoguqox00b:IfAMz - if there are at least 3 hunters in the raid, swap the Kill Shot glyph for Glyph of Hunter's Mark. If your raid needs the +10% raid damage buff: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVsRhzGIsguqox00b:IfAMz ; if you don't need either of these: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVsRhzGIcguiox00b:IfAMz .

Q: What is the best raiding BM build?
A: Use http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#ctbMztxRwu0est0emoZx:VbiMz with a Devilsaur pet specced as follows: http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc#cud00fc00hoRb

Q: What glyphs should I use?
A: They are included in the builds I gave.

Q: What is the best PvP spec?
A: I have no idea.

Q: What about a melee spec?
A: No.

Q: Pet tanking spec?
A: Something like http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cVbhzggRwzhest0eVb:VcMzM and http://www.wowhead.com/?petcalc#0s0G0rGzbz0b should work well.

Q: These specs are wrong, I saw a different max DPS build at EJ?
A: These specs are intended as a relatively bulletproof guideline for starting and intermediate raiders to get you going immediately and make you not look like a nub. The exact talents which will produce maximum DPS for you depend on your exact gear, enchants, gems, race etc. Ultimately, if you need a better answer than a simple one-size-fits-all template build, you will need to find and use a DPS spreadsheet, correctly configured with your gear and stats.

Q: I can't use the spreadsheet, I am on a Mac/don't have enough money to buy MS Office?
A: Rivkah has kindly provided a webpage adaptation of the spreadsheet which you can access here: http://www.femaledwarf.com/

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4. Gear and enchants

Q: When can I start to wear mail armour?
A: At level 40, you can train it at your local hunter trainer.

Q: What's with quivers now?
A: You can still only put ammo in them, and you can put more ammo than you would be able to put in a bag mostly (as they tend to have more slots). However you don't need to equip one to get the "quiver haste", that is built into auto shot now so if you just want to use bags instead you can.

Q: I'm just starting raiding, what gems and enchants should I use?
A: If you're just starting, then you probably don't have enough hit rating so cap that first. After that, gem for agility if you are survival or MM and AP if you are BM. Ignore the socket bonuses unless they are really good, and use one prismatic gem (e.g. Enchanted Tear) to fulfil the requirements for your meta gem (which should be Relentless Earthsiege Diamond).

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5. Shot rotations and macros

Q: What is a good macro to DPS with?
A: There are no spammable macros that you can use any more, all that died with the release of WotLK. If you try to use a spammable macro you will provably always make less damage than if you time your shots by hand.

Q: What should my shot rotation be?
A: It is better not to think of doing your shots in a set sequence. Instead, think of your shots in terms of the priority they have when one or more of them is available to you. See below for more details.

Q: What is the priority for survival?
A: Rapid Fire > Kill Shot > Explosive Shot > Multi-Shot or Aimed Shot > Black Arrow > Serpent Sting (if not applied) > Steady Shot. In addition, whenever Lock and Load procs, just use a sequence of 3 Explosive Shots with a half-second delay in between them so as not to clip.

Q: What is the priority for marksmanship?
A: Rapid Fire > Serpent Sting (if not applied) > Chimera Shot > Kill Shot > Multi-Shot or Aimed Shot > Arcane Shot > Steady Shot. Note that Silencing Shot is off the global cooldown and should therefore be used whenever it is off its own cooldown: the best way to achieve this is to macro it into all your other shots.

Q: What is the priority for beast mastery?
A: Bestial Wrath > Rapid Fire > Kill Shot > Arcane Shot > Multi-Shot or Aimed Shot > Serpent Sting (if not applied) > Steady Shot.

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6. Help! My DPS is really terrible

Q: I've just hit 80 and I want to do some heroics but my DPS is way under par?
A: First check that your gear, enchants and gems are vaguely suitable using a tool like http://be.imba.hu/ or http://www.maxdps.com/ - these are not accurate but they will give you a good idea. Use a site like http://www.wowhead.com/ to find gear that would be an improvement for you. Concentrate on getting hit capped first, then just go for agility (or attack power if you are BM). Make sure you follow the shot priorities for your spec (see section 5). Make sure you have the right aspect (Dragonhawk) and are not in Viper the entire fight. Make sure you are using the best quality ammunititon and that your weapon skill is maxed. Make sure you are using the highest trainable level of your abilities. Finally, work on maximising your time on target (time actually spent damaging, instead of running around or being confused).

Q: What is the hit cap?
A: It is 8%, which by itself is 263 hit rating. Note that you can also spend talent points in Focused Aim to reduce the cap, and if you are in a party with a draenei (or are one yourself) it reduces the cap by 1%.

Q: I am hit capped but my combat log shows misses. Is there always a chance to miss?
A: No, once you hit the cap you will never miss. Probably you were fighting Archavon or somesuch who cast a spell that temporarily reduced your chance to hit.

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7. Professions

Q: What professions are best for a hunter?
A: Most professions are viable. Skinning and leatherworking is a common choice, because leatherworking can produce good quality gear usable by the hunter, especially while levelling. Alchemy and herbalism are less useful since the restorative effect of herbalism and most alchemy products should not apply to you as a hunter (you shouldn't be being hit). Engineering can allow you to make your own guns and ammunition. Enchanting, jewelcrafting and inscription are less useful while levelling but can become powerful at a high level. The vast majority of the artifacts from tailoring and blacksmithing are of no use to a hunter. In endgame raiding, however, nearly all professions confer a specific buff or advantage that has been balanced to be more or less equally beneficial to hunters, the exceptions being mining and herbalism which have very little value.

Reserved for Flaming - A lot of this is out of date or misinformation.

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Q u o t e:
Q: What is the best (Horde/Alliance) race for a hunter?

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Dreanei +1% Hit Aura is the best Alliance Racial

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Q u o t e:
Q: What sort of stats should I look for on gear while levelling?

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Add Int and Stamina to this list. Stamina boosts your pet stamina, Int reduces downtime.

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Q u o t e:
A: See Petopia http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/

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Website has moved.

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Q u o t e:
Q: What is the best pet for levelling?
A: Any pet in the Tenacity family will be fine. Bears are often chosen especially at low levels because of their abundance and their swipe ability. Later on gorillas can be popular because their attack causes nature damage that bypasses armour.

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Thunderstomp is now a talent for all tenacity pets. No mention of Turtles/Crocolisks?

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Q u o t e:
Q: What professions are best for a hunter?
A: Most professions are viable. Skinning and leatherworking is a common choice, because leatherworking can produce good quality gear usable by the hunter, especially while levelling. Alchemy and herbalism are less useful since the restorative effect of herbalism and most alchemy products should not apply to you as a hunter (you shouldn't be being hit). Engineering can allow you to make your own guns and ammunition. Enchanting, jewelcrafting and inscription are less useful while levelling but can become powerful at a high level. The vast majority of the artifacts from tailoring are of no use to a hunter. And finally, blacksmithing has almost nothing of use to a hunter.

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Pretty much only herbalism and mining sucks. Most of the info in this part is just wrong.

I've skipped over the specs etc - but I'll come back to that.

Original post updated. Please remember that the audience here is much wider than the particular focus you have, the FAQ needs to address hunters of all levels.

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Q u o t e:
3. Talent builds and glyphs

Q: What is the best spec for endgame raiding?
A: It tends to vary slightly with every patch release as different things are balanced. However, at the time of writing, the best specs are variations on a 0/14/54 survival build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cZ0eVoZx0ci0cIhedAhsz:NAfzM0
or a marksmanship build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVsRhzGIoghAox00b:fAbzM0
For the survival build, people often pad out either with Aimed Shot/Improved Aspect of the Hawk (with glyph) if they are going for all-out damage or with Hunting Party if their raid needs replenishment, or a combination of these. There are 2 points left over in the marksmanship build that you can put wherever you want, either in Hawk Eye to gain some range or in Efficiency to reduce mana consumption. The survival build is stronger in starting raiding gear. The marksmanship build starts to take over in high end T8 gear, especially with a lot of armour penetration.

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Incorrect data if you ask me.
Marksman build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVsRhzGIctuAox00b:fAizM0
Survival build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxoZ0eVoZx0ci0cIhedVhsz:NAfzM0

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Q u o t e:
Marksman build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxbZ0eVsRhzGIctuAox00b:fAizM0
Survival build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#cxoZ0eVoZx0ci0cIhedVhsz:NAfzM0

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I updated the OP to include these as best "selfish" DPS builds ;)

It's not really selfish tbh, mages paladins and Spriets can do Replenisment
Trueshot Aura aka Unleashed Rage and Abominal Might

Might want to squeeze in that Pets learn there first talent point at level 20, then another for every 4 levels.

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Q u o t e:

Q: What professions are best for a hunter?
Engineering can allow you to make your own guns and ammunition.

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I'de change guns [since they are nearly all BoE] to the glove enchants and bombs, they give a significant boost to DPS.

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Q u o t e:
Might want to squeeze in that Pets learn there first talent point at level 20, then another for every 4 levels.

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Done, thank you.

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Q u o t e:
I'de change guns [since they are nearly all BoE] to the glove enchants and bombs, they give a significant boost to DPS.

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Sure. As I mentioned virtually every profession gives a little something which is a significant boost at a very high level. This is more about what might be generally useful to casual inquirers; expert raiders or PvPers would probably think nothing of abandoning a profession and levelling a new one each patch release in order to gain a fraction of an advantage, but they probably wouldn't be asking questions here.

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Q u o t e:
but they probably wouldn't be asking questions here.

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Very true :)

Also requested for sticky, very well written guide.

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Q u o t e:
Also requested for sticky, very well written guide.

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Thank you, although I am really not trying to make a step-by-step guide at all, only a collection of the right (or at least most useful) answers to the most commonly asked questions here.

Might be pointless, but you stated that Crocolisks can be tamed at higher levels. It's possible to tame level 10 crocolisks in The Barrens.

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Q u o t e:
Might be pointless, but you stated that Crocolisks can be tamed at higher levels. It's possible to tame level 10 crocolisks in The Barrens.

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Thanks, I updated the post.

Are there any more questions anyone feels are asked commonly enough to be addressed here?

The MM specs are not optimal and you don't bring up the question of imp HM or not, if none has it it's still better than the options even if you are the single hunter in the raid. Also Imp Barrage is a stronger talent than Imp Steady past the first point. Having only one point in Rapid Recuperation might look good in the spreadsheet but in reality I'd really recommend taking 2/2 there.

Im guessing you use the steady shot glyph because the spread sheet modeled chimera as a 0 dps upgrade which it does if you don't alter the lag settings, chimera is a better glyph for almost everyone (not running arp setup)

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Q u o t e:


Q: What is the shot priority for marksmanship?
A: Rapid Fire > Kill Shot > Serpent Stin

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OK use Rapid Fire when you can in a long fight ( I macro it into one of my shots and dont think about it)

but what about Chimera? Arcane? Multishot? Steady?

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Q u o t e:


OK use Rapid Fire when you can in a long fight ( I macro it into one of my shots and dont think about it)

but what about Chimera? Arcane? Multishot? Steady?

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Rapid Fire isn't even a "shot" so how can it be in the shot rotation? :)

Kill Shot -> Chimera Shot (with sting ofc..) -> Aimed Shot -> Arcane Shot -> Steady Shot
And do Silencing Shot whenever it's off cooldown (If you don't have Silenceing Shot as raid spec, then you don't have a proper raid spec :))

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Q u o t e:
Kill Shot -> Chimera Shot (with sting ofc..) -> Aimed Shot -> Arcane Shot -> Steady Shot
And do Silencing Shot whenever it's off cooldown (If you don't have Silenceing Shot as raid spec, then you don't have a proper raid spec :))

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Chimera Shot before Kill Shot if the tareget will live for another 8 seconds. Chimera with Piercing Shots do more damage than a Kill Shot.