Nukes 'r us, or Hunters for Dummies

Hey all :) This post originally came from my Guild's Class Guides forum, for which i had originally written it. I thought it would be of great help to those who need it, so i repost it here. Any and all comments are welcome :)

NOTE: This is NOT a raiding hunter guide. This is a guide to being a hunter, to knowing how to do hunter stuff, to know what people expect from you and how to meet their expectations. This is guide for people who reroll hunters or who are interested in casual playing. Raiding hunters will find much better information in other threads, that focus on raiding.


Contents :

1.[Hunter Basics

1.1 What is hunter?
1.2 Choosing a race
1.3 How to play?

2. Here, kitty kitty, or Pets and how to use them

2.1 What are pets?
2.2 Choosing a pet
2.3 Using a pet in combat
2.4 What to expect and not to expect from a pet

3. Aspect of the Huntard

4. Traps - rules and tricks

4.1 What are traps?
4.2 Choosing a trap
4.3 Trapping in and out of combat
4.4 Chain-Trapping

5. Stings and shots

6. Kiting for dummies

6.1 What is kiting?
6.2 How to kite

7.Tracking the trackers

7.1 What are track spells and when to use them?

8. To die or not to die, or the miracles of Feign Death

9. Zomg epixx, or Gear for Huntards

9.1 Common questions about gear
9.2 Agi or ap? crit or hit? what stats are good for hunters

10. Everything you wanted to know about talents but were afraid to ask

10.1 What is each talent tree for?
10.2 Full description of each talent
10.3 Gearing up to your build
10.4 Ready-to-use builds

11. Rotation in fight

12. Pre-kara gear

13. Potions, elixirs, etc




1. Hunter basics

1.1 What is hunter?

A hunter is an interesting combination of caster and melee dps. It doesnt depend on mana as much as casters do, and it deals mostly physical damage and not magical, but it is able to keep its distance from its target, unlike warriors, rogues, etc. Hunter also possesses an incredibly useful spell, called Feign Death, which allows him or her to escape from combat or reduce threat nearly without fail. it is because of this ability that good geared hunters can become the top of damage list in raids and parties, because after one or two feign deaths they can basically stop watching their aggro and nuke as hard as they can. Hunters are meant to be a dps class, and they excel at that, however they can also be able to offtank in normal instances as well if needed, but they will not be able to keep much aggro that way. However their health and dodge chances allow to live for long enough to allow main tank to regain armor, and offtanking with pet can be quiet successful as well. Like rogues, if hunter is an engineer, he can provide a fast wipe recovery if he uses Jumper Cables after emerging from feign death.



1.2 Choosing a race

Although it does not actually change gameplay alot like priest's racial ability, you will have a little bit different expirience depending on which race you choose.

As i am totally non-alliance player, i will not discuss the dwarf/night elf/draenei races.

Tauren :

Strength 25 Agility 18 stamina 23 intellect 15 spirit 23 health 80 mana 80
+5% max health, Warstomp (additional disable)


Orc :

strength 23 agility 20 stamina 23 intellect 17 spirit 24 health 76 mana 82
+5% pet damage, Bloodfury (+x to base ap (ranged and melee) for 15 sec)


Troll :

strength 21 agility 25 stamina 22 intellect 16 spirit 22 health 66 mana 81
+1% bow crit, berserking, +10% of normal hp regen in combat


Blood elf :

strength 17 agility 25 stamina 19 intellect 24 spirit 20 health 45 mana 145
Steal mana + gain mana and silence


As can be seen from this "table", Blood elf and troll are actually the worst races for being a hunter skillwise. While steal mana and silence + mana are useful for long-time fights, they will set your abilities on global cooldown for a few seconds, which means less dps for these 2 seconds.

Orcs are good hunters damagewise. Not only their pets will get extra damage bonus, but the bloodfury will come in handy as well, and although it decreases healing received by 50%, since hunter cannot heal himself other than by pots or bandages, during farming/soloing/grouping this wont make much trouble

Taurens are big. No. Big, with capital letter. Lots of health, +5% max hp, warstomp - all this allows them to survive longer than others. They also have quiet good hp/mana combination (80hp 80 mana, as opposed to 45hp 145mana for BE or 66hp 81mana for trolls).

But i will say this again - choosing the race will not influence the gameplay alot. It will barely even do so. The starting stats might be important for twinks and lowbies, but as soon as you get higher in lvl, they cease to matter. My hunter (soul) was made tauren just because i loved the taurens starting zone and for no other reason at all.


1.3 How to play

Hunters are RANGED dps class. Yes, hunters can do dps in melee as well, but they wont come even close to unlocking their potential until they get ranged. Therefore your target is to kill an enemy before he gets in melee range, or at least deal as much damage as you can so that you wont have to spend alot of time in melee. This is where pets come in. You can either let pet have aggro and slowly dps until mob is dead, or you can let your pet grab aggro and nuke hard, so that mob doesnt have time to attack you in melee.

If needed, you can also melee mobs to death though. In some places, like caves for example, it is hard to stay ranged because of high mob-per-square-game-meter ratio, so just send your pet in to attack and start meleeing. Aspect of monkey provides you with +8% dodge untalented, which is alot really. Also things like Disengage and Feign Death will help you get aggro back to your pet.

Dont forget, that although hunters are way less dependant on mana than priests/locks/mages/etc, having some will still be very good for dps, since shots/stings/etc provide a good increase in dps, and things like Feign Death or changing aspects need mana as well. Therefore always check that you have enough mana to last for incoming combat and to kill or escape the adds (if they come). Dont overnuke - dont spend multishot or arcane shot on an enemy which you know you will kill with next auto shot, but also dont be shy in using spells - better to spend extra mana on finishing the mob who is casting a nasty spell than having to restore hp/mana/pet hp/etc.



2. Here, kitty, kitty, or Pets and how to use them


2.1 What are pets?

Pets are your guardians and that extra damage that you might want. Pets keep the mob on a distance from you, so you may use ranged weapons. Pets deal damage to mobs (and players) so you might kill them faster. Pets can grab aggro from mobs to allow you to escape. And last but not least, good-looking pets draw attention of your fellow (and enemy) players :)


2.2 Choosing a pet

Pets are basically divided into three groups - Tanking, Dps and average.

Tanking - this group consists of pets who have a large amount of health and/or armor and can withstand alot of damage. They make great offtankers as well, but their damage is usually relatively small, therefore you might have hard time not overaggroing them. This group includes bears, turtles, and some others.

Dps - this group focuses on dealing damage. They attack fast and furious, but they dont usually have alot of health or armor. They can keep aggro better though, since their damage is alot higher than the tanking pets'. This group consists of raptors, cats, windserpents and others.

Average - this group is comprised of beasts which are neither tanks nor damagers. They are kind of both of the groups, but weaker than each of them (e.g. they have higher damage than tankers, but not as high as dps pets, but they have more health than dps pets). This group includes boars, gorillas, and some others.

Selecting a proper pet is crucial. If you are aiming at pvp, you will be better off either with a dps pet, or with a pet with a special power that you like, boar's charge, for example. If you find yourself trying to kill hard-hitting mobs, a tanker is preferable, but watch your dps. Dps pets are more efficient at soloing than tankers, but you might need to heal or revive your pet if the mob is too tough for it.


2.3 Using pet in combat

Although it might seem simple (send pet to attack, start shooting) its a bit more complicated. First of all, remember the aggro. Your pet is not your guild's main tank, able to tank the end-game boss without losing aggro. Make sure you either give your pet some time to gain aggro, or prepare for incoming mob. If a mob is ranged, you might start pounding on it right away, unless you want to conserve your health, for which you would try to keep aggro on pet.

If you managed to grab aggro from pet anyway, there are three choices for you. One, you might try to use disengage. This, if successful, will reduce your threat by certain amount, however mob will NOT switch to your pet until it gains some threat on it, e.g. by using growl. Second, you might use Feign Death. This will completely remove you from mob's aggro list, making it switch to your pet. Last, you might just keep pounding at mob at melee range, or use traps to assist you. Find what suits you best for the circumstances.

If you are against a tough mob, you also have three choices. First, throw a heal on your pet, use a misdirect shot (if u have it) or give pet some aggro time and start hitting mob, while healing pet whenever the HoT buff fades. Second, if you are Bm specc you might have a really low time on revive pet, so as soon as your pet is dead you can slow the mob

... slow the mob, revive pet, and keep pounding. Last, you can try to kite the mob (this will be explained later).

There is also a very nice way to use pet to escape unnecessary fights. Lets imagine you stopped to herb a dreamfoil, and suddenly you get attacked by a mob. You can send your pet on mob to gain aggro, get herb, put pet on passive and throw a Feign Death. Since your pet is on passive, you will leave combat mode, allowing you to mount up, and as soon as you do that, your pet will dissapear, making mob return to its original spot (evade run), while you can keep going wherever you were going.

If you need to escape from a long and boring cave filled with mobs, you can use your pet to grab aggro from all mobs in your way, running past them out of the cave. As soon as you are out, FD and mount up to save your pet. This saves alot of time, and is especially helpful when you find yourself out of potions or food/water. Just make sure your pet grabs aggro of all the mobs in your way, since one hit might make you dazed and ruin everything. Also remember that your pet is not a titan, and might die if there are too many mobs or if you delay for mine/herb/etc.

Also near the end-game content pet's usefulness will fade in raids/parties unless you are BM specc. However, if you have good micro, you can still get nice extra dps from pet, from both normal attacks and abilities (e.g. claw, bite), and from Kill Command.



2.4 What to expect and not to expect from a pet

Although pet is a mighty companion, its not too mighty, so you should know your pet's strengths and weaknesses. You might want to test how your pet soloes some mobs, to check out damage it deals and receives, so that if moment arrives you might make a correct decision. One too many times i had to fight with way more enemies than i expected, and for this my pet proved invaluable - with me killing one-two mobs and my pet attacking (keeping aggro/killing) the other one-two. Although you might need to ressurect your pet or use a pot, this might save you from a repair bill and corpse run, so know what to expect from your meow-kitty or oink-boar.


3. Aspect of the Huntard


Aspect is just like paladin's aura or druid's shapeshift. You can only have one of them at a time, but you have plenty to choose from. You should have one of them everytime though, since they dont cost any mana to maintain and they provide non-problem-causing bonuses


-Aspect of the Monkey : +8% dodge chance

This gives hunter more dodge chance than even rogue! And with talents, this might increase up to +13% dodge. Invaluable for both pve and pvp

-Aspect of the Hawk : +X ranged AP

This is very useful, since not only it adds a reasonable RAP, which is valuable for hunter, but with talents this might also give you extra attack speed bonus time to time! However the closer you get to level 70, the less valuable it is, because some items might provide bonuses comparable to or greater than the aspect, e.g. pants with 30agi, 70ap and sockets, while last rank of aspect of hawk provides 175 rap (or 155, dont remember).

-Aspect of the Cheetah : +30% running speed

Something that allows hunters to get normal-mount running speed before getting mount. Some people can even survive with just this until level 60, although i would prefer having a mount, since if you get hit with this aspect on, you will get dazed, slowing you to less the running speed than without the aspect.

-Aspect of the Pack : +30% running speed to party

Basically the same as cheetah, but gives bonus to all party. And the party member will get dazed too if attacked.

-Aspect of the Beast : Untrackable

This is useless in pve, but very helpful in pvp, especially in pvp areas like arenas and wsg/ab/etc. This way hunter may hide from other hunters/track potion users and ambush them or escape.

-Aspect of the Wild : +X nature resist
Usually useless in soloing, this might be very useful for party in instances like Underbog, AQ, Maraudon, etc.

-Aspect of the Viper : +% of your intellect in mana every 5 sec
(25% - 65%, depending on your current mana)

This might seem useless before end-game, and you might not want the mana regen. At level 70 however it becomes invaluable. Instead of providing static bonus (hawk, monkey) this gives you extra mana for your shots/traps/etc even while you are casting. And you will get more mana the more intellect you have, too! And although the mana regen it provides might seem low, if fight lasts long enough you will feel the difference good enough, and it also allows you to farm/fight through trash mobs without really drinking at all... Soulhound drinks once, maybe twice in any instance, even kara, although i spend alot of mana. Note that if you get mana drained its faster to just drink than wait for regen :)



[ u]4. Traps - rules and tricks[/u]

4.1 What are traps?
4.2 Choosing a trap


Traps is something unique to hunter class, like polymorph is to mage and stealth is to rogues. Basically, these are things you place on ground, which activate and cast some sort of spell whenever an enemy walks on or near them.

There are 5 different traps for hunter to use -

Freezing trap (makes enemy unable to move or do anything else at all for X seconds, breaks if attacked)

This is hunter's only CC apart from Talented Wyvern sting. Its not only helpful in instances, where you will disable a mob, this will help you in questing too, where you can freeze an add, freeze the mob to bandage/rest or to freeze the mob to be able to herb/mine/escape. At maximum level it lasts 20 sec with 30 second cooldown, so if timed good it allows you to chain trap (see later). You can have as many mobs frozen at one time as you want, however you will need to spend one trap on each of the mobs, so the more you trap, the harder it becomes to retrap them when trap breaks.


Frost trap (makes all enemies near it slowed by X %)

Useful in three cases : 1) pvp, to slow incoming/running players, 2) in instances and raids - to slow mobs so your party can run/range attack/aoe them, or 3) to escape mobs you do not wish to fight. If you remember the tactic i discussed about letting your pet grab all aggro in the cave so you can escape, then you might think about using a freezing trap to slow enemies, thats a good idea.

Exploding trap (instant damage + dot to all nearby enemies)

Kind of like mage's fire aoe, it even has same icon. Useful when you are killing more than one or two mobs, e.g. weak mobs in instances like groups of non-elites, or when you have 2-3 mobs on you and you want to deal damage to all of them.

Searing trap (DoT)

Higher damage than exploding trap, but only targets one target and doesnt deal damage instanly, but dots target instead. Good for when you are killing a single mob, and it comes in melee range, and you cant be arsed to FD or slow it to run in ranged attack mode again - just pop a searing trap and melee it. Also good for preventing Rogues from stealthing.

Snake trap (summons snakes)

Summons X snakes, which attack nearby targets and deal nature dmg + stacking dot (5 times). This trap seems %@%#ty at first, and i will be honest - i never used it before lvl 70. However later i discovered its true potential - the 5-stacked DoT deals 75 damage per tick + snakes attack as well, so when there are two mobs, both mobs will have fully-stacked DoT in just a few seconds. Very useful indeed.


4.3 Trapping in and out of combat

Well thanks to blizz hunters now actually can trap in combat. However there is a small time needed for trap to become active if its put into combat. Example - you place a trap and melee-attack a yellow mob standing near. As soon as it stands on trap its trapped. Second example - you attack a mob, wait until its in melee range, and then place trap. You will manage to place one/two more hits, depending on your weap, before target gets trapped. Is it worth it then? Yes, you bet it is. Its just a way to balance it, but its still as useful as ever. So if you can, try to put traps out of combat, but its absolutely no problem if you place them during, because by the time mob actually runs to near you, the timer would have already passed, and trap will activate instantly. Just make sure you are aware of cooldown on trap, so that you can chain-trap the mob.


4.4Chain trapping

Okay, here is where Hunter becomes a CC class comparable to rogue or mage. Yes, mage's sheep lasts longer and can be recast, BUT it can only sheep humanoids and beasts. Hunters can trap anything. Problem is, trap doesnt last too long, and thus you need to learn how to chain trap.
When you see you need to chain trap a mob, place a trap according to this timetarget: ideally, mob should become trapped when your trap cooldown is ready, so that you can place 2nd trap as soon as mob is trapped. This will start your cooldown again, so preferably place your trap somewhere where mob will have to run for it a little bit. usually, mob will become frozen 2nd time when you have about 5-6 seconds cooldown left on trap. As soon as its ready, place it again. Repeat this until mob starts attacking you and your trap is on cooldown. Then, use warstomp/deterrence/intimidate/scatter shot/engineering bomb/etc, anything that can prevent that mob from killing you, and as soon as trap cooldown is ready, place it, and FD when mob is frozen. You can also, as i said before, place the next trap a bit away from the mob, so that you can concussive-shot it to slow it down a bit. Your job is done. A good hunter can manage about 5 or 6 chain traps on mob, if his timing is perfect and mobs dont resist traps. If there are 2 hunters, then there is no limit on how many times the mob can be trapped.
(continued)

...Here is a bad part about trapping, resists. Unlike mages, our CC actually has a long (30 sec) cooldown, so if trap resists, we are defenseless really. Here is where pet and kiting comes. Try to make your mob attack your pet, and when it does, use concussive shot on it. Start running away (making sure pet is near you, and mob is targeting pet). Run somewhere where mob will take time to get to group, and place pet on "stand ground", and go away. As soon as mob reaches pet, distracting/multi/arcane shot it to grab aggro to you. Concussive shot again. Then feign death/stop/scatter shot, or make it attack pet again. By this time your trap cooldown will be ready, and you can trap it. If you feel confident, you can kite the mob around until your trap CD is ready, and then freeze it there, so you can still chain trap. This might not be as useful in normal instances as it is in heroics and Kara, because usually all the rest of the mobs are killed by trap #3, but better to overdo than to underdo, no? :)


5. Stings and shots

This one is really simple, but should be mentioned nevertheless. We currently have 4 stings - Serpent sting (DoT) and Viper sting (Mana over time).There is also Wyvern sting (sleep + DoT), but i never really used it tbh, since the DoT after sleep prevents all CC to be casted on it after. Serpent sting is only worth it for MM hunters due to their AP. Viper sting is for rare cases when mob needs to be mana drained, e.g. ZG Snake boss (nostalgy, lol). Also, there is a Scorpid sting, that reduces chance to hit with ranged and melee attacks by 5%. This is a bit useful in solo and quiet useful in PvP. If your MT is a paladin (read: doesnt need rage) or has enough rage generation anyway, you can use this on raid boss to reduce amount of damage the tank gets.

Note: some people say that if you overwrite wyvern sting's DoT with something else, then you can re-CC the target. Havent tested myself so i am not sure.

Arcane/aimed/multi/steady shots are damage spells, Concussive/Scatter are slow/cc spells and Misdirect shot is an imba shot (yeah, simple) :)
Arcane, distract, misdirect, concussive, scatter shots are instant-cast, while aimed, multi and steady are casted (3sec, 0.5 sec and 1.5 sec respectively)

Now to explain them.

-Aimed shot.

A high-damage shot with high-crit damage, but long (3sec) cast time. Should only be used in 2 cases: 1) Opening of fight, especially effective combined with Misdirect shot, and 2) When your actual shooting speed is 3 seconds or slower. The (2) is virtually impossible in high-end TBC, but while leveling hunter to 60 this can happen. In this case, spamming aimed shot will increase your dps significantly, but if your Attack Speed is faster than 3 seconds, you will actually reduce your dps. So only use Aimed Shot in (1) and (2). Also, Aimed shot applies Mortal Strike debuff, decreasing healing taken by target by 50%.

-Multi shot.

A total dps-bread-and-butter skill. Using it in your rotation will highly increase your dps, especially if you have imp.m.s. in MM talent tree. Hitting multiple mobs can be both good and bad though - its good when you can deal extra damage to the group of mobs, bad thing is when you can break CC by doing this. So only use multishot if there is no one CCed that is in multishot's range. Better to lose some dps because of not using it, than to wipe because your MS hit the sapped target.

-Arcane shot.

Commonly known as "cheap aimed", its actually a quiet useful tool. It is a bit useless for quick fights, as you can deal more damage in autoshot than with arcane, however its useful for when you need to quickly instant-damage the mob or when you are using a dps rotation (explained later). Scales with AP.

NOTE: Arcane Shot of rank 5+ will also remove a random magic buff from enemy.

-Steady shot.

Commonly known as "The-shot-that-destroyed-rotation". It might seem weak and useless at start, however its potential is enormous. See for yourself - its 1.5 sec cast spell that deals damage scaling with AP (1), it has no cooldown (2) and it deals extra damage against dazed (3) with low (4) mana cost. 4 reasons why its really great, and, imo, it didnt really destroy the rotation, it just changed it...alot... When using Steady shot, make sure to land a auto-shot in between, otherwise your DPS will actually go down. Note that SS, or any other shot for that matter, does NOT reset the shooting timer, so if your AS is 2.8, and you cast steady (1.5), 0.5 second global cooldown (0.5), then cast arcane (0), global cooldown (0.5), you will have used 2.5 seconds, and you will auto shot in 0.3 seconds, then you can repeat this "simple" rotation again and again.


-Concussive shot.

Highly useful shot for (solo) when aggro breaks and you need to slow mob down so pet can catch up with it or you can kill it or run away, (kiting) for slowing down mob so it cant reach and daze you, (raid) or for slowing mobs that are going for you/healers/casters/run away.

-Scatter shot.

Useful ONLY when your trap is on cooldown, or when you need to get far away from mob. Still very useful, but very situational as well, since it will break should any damage be dealt to scatter-shotted target.

-Misdirect shot.

A totally imba skill for hunters, which, unlike ALL other classes, allows us to start the fight with a high dps burst, instead of actually controlling it. Not only this helps the raid with getting the extra damage in asap, it also helps tanks enormously, as the starting aggro is hardest to get. And imagine what aggro tank gets when hunter misdirects him, and then aimed-shots mob for 3k crit? :D



6. Kiting for dummies

6.1 Whats kiting? Easy - kiting is making mob follow you, while you are keeping a safe distance. Reasons for kiting could be trying to solo a hard mob (e.g. Kiting a rare 70e in shadowmoon), removing one of mobs from combat when traps dont work (e.g. Kiting one of the two giants near the Hungerfen to entrance, so that group can focus on killing just one of them).

Now about the kiting itself. First thing that you should know about mob before attempting kiting - mob's speed, immunities and abilities. If mob moves faster than you in aspect of cheetah, has ranged stun or is immune to concussive/arcane/serpent shots, you should rethink your wish to kite it. It might still be possible, but very hard. You should always pull mob and make a test run of a few seconds to check how it will go (e.g. will you need cheetah aspect or not), before attempting a serious try. When you are ready,start with aimed -> concussive. Turn around and start running. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE EXACTLY YOU ARE GOING TO BE KITING THE MOB!!! Running "just where i can" will usually end in disaster. Time to time (every 3 seconds or smth), while still running, jump, turn in midair, shoot a serpent/arcane/concussive onto mob, turn back to where you are running to, and keep running. Make sure mob is not too far away from you - or it will just evade back. Also make sure you CONSTANTLY shoot it so it keeps following you. Dont stay too close to it - it will just daze you. A dazed kiter is usually a dead kiter, although there is a way to go on when you are dazed. Just make your pet attack the mob, feign death, QUICKLY arcane/multi shot the mob (make sure you damage it) and start running again. NOTE: Faction NPCs (Dark iron / scryers / aldor/ etc) will NOT help you fight any mobs. Only horde/alliance/Shattrath guards will.


7. Tracking the Trackers

Tracking is something unique to hunters, although warlocks (sense demons) have something thats close to us. Tracking will allow you to sense stuff you need, although most of time you will be just using your herb/mining tracker. Tracking can help when you are hunting specific targets (e.g. farming demons for felcloth or beasts for skinning). Its also useful in pvp, but i wont go in this direction :) using is easy - just select the tracking spell and use it. BTW, dont put the spells onto your action bars - you will have lots of other spells which are more needed, and you can always cast any needed tracking spell via spellbook.
BTW, hunters can track ALL possible creatures, except the "unspecified" ones (AQ bugs, etc).


8. To die or not to die, or the miracles of Feign Death.

FD is hunter's main card, something totally and absolutely unique to us, although rogues have some crap which can be compared to FD... something crap with 30min cooldown and totally bugged, thanks to blizzard :p

FD will allow you to kill or escape from mobs which other classes will have hard time with. FD will save your ass so many times that when you play other class you will have hard time remembering you dont have any FD.

But going specific, here are things you need to know about FD:

- It can be resisted. Although chance is small, it can. And by the way, if any mob in group resists the FD spell, then all group will keep attacking you.

- It requires some time to activate. When you cast it, you must keep still for a second or two, until you get "leaving combat" message. This was added to prevent people from running-hit FD - keep running, without any animation or pause.

- It removes you from the combat and reduces all threat to 0%

- It lasts for 6 min, and if after 6 min you dont move, you will die!

- If you are in FD, mobs can walk on top of you (pats) or spawn on top of you, and they will not aggro. When you are in FD you are NOT considered a player target, thus mobs cannot resist your FD if you are already feigning it.

- If your pet is attacking when you are feigning death, you will remain in combat. Your threat will be reduced to 0, however if you stop FDing, mobs will go after you when they are done with the pet. So either wait until pet is dead,

...(continued)

...wait until pet is dead, and you will leave combat, or order your pet to stop attacking before FDing

- If you or your pet get attacked, you enter combat. However if your pet gets attacks (=gets attacked), you FD (mob still on pet), you will leave the combat, although your pet will still be in one. And you will be able to mount/accept summon/etc. This is a very nice way of getting herbs/mines near mobs when you dont want to waste time killing them - land, attack with pet, pet stop attack, FD, mine/herb, mount and run. NOTE: Using a chest in a vicinity of a mob, even if that mob is fighting another player, will automatically put you into combat with that mob.

- FD does wonders in instances and raids. Misdirect shot and feign death will give you way to actually not control your dps, since you can always reduce it. Just make sure you know when you pass the 80% threat level of tank, then FD, and if successful, keep on pounding :) This is what makes hunters potentially more powerful dps class than any other - we dont have to control dps. At all. Ever.

- If one mob in combat against you resists FD, you will remain in combat with all of the mobs who are against you. Your threat, however, will be reduced to zero with those mobs which didnt resist your FD.


9. Zomg Epixxx! Or gear for Huntards

9.1 Common Questions

-Leather wearing. Although some classes (mainly druids and rogues) can object to hunter rolling or wearing leather, i dont see it such a problem. Yes, leather doesnt usually have int or other not-rogue-but-hunter stats, but it does have crit, hit, agi, ap, etc. And these are very useful for hunter. Armor value is totally useless since you will survive by not aggroing or using dodge/parry, not by armor. So to say short, if there is a rogue/feral druid in party that wants leather as well, i would ask him if he minds me rolling for it. If he does, ill pass, unless this item was my aim for whole instance (like i really needed Midnight Pants, and i rolled over rogue for them. He wasnt happy, but these pants were the only thing i needed from instance, so it was fair). In raids, priority for leather goes to leather-wearers, at least as far as i think it should be.

-Ammo question. I seen some hunters (inc raiding ones) who chose low-lvl ammunition over high-lvl. They motivated that dps difference was too low to notice, and that it costed way cheaper. Well for me its not a problem at all to farm cash needed for ammo, and the extra dps is really nice. So i would highly highly recommend using the best ammunition available. The only thing in question are Adamantite shells. They cost quiet alot, sometimes i see them on ah for 15g/stack, and a 18-slot quiver would cost 270 gold... ouch... So unless you can mine the adamantite and engineer the shells yourself, i would say use the vendor or rep ones.

-Dual wield or 2h? To be honest, it doesnt matter. Some could say that using raptor strike with dual wield is better, since it adds fixed damage, so you deal more, but note that you lose lots of mana like this, and dual wield with raptor cannot compare with you in ranged. So i would say, go for stats over anything else. In the end it doesnt matter what dps is your weapon, but what dps is your output.


9.2 The stats.

Leveling to around 50-60

Stats needed alot: Int, Agi, Ap, hit
Stats needed: crit
Stats needed less: sta


Leveling 60-70 and raiding

Stats needed alot: Agi, Ap, Crit
Stats needed: int, hit
Stats needed less: sta


This is an approximate table of stats, but remember, numbers are all. If you have to choose between 10 crit rating and 40 sta, go for sta. If you need to choose between 10 intellect and 1 agi, go for intellect. Its all numbers.
Also note that for different talent speccs, playstyle, gear and so on you might want to change this table to suit yourself more. For example, i myself value agi and crit over everything else, so i might choose smaller amount of agi and crit than larger amount of, say, hit and ap. But someone else might do it vice versa.

A few notes about +hit rating:

-before lvl 60 dont bother with +hit and prefer dps over +hit (e.g. agi, ap, crit)
-at 60-70 pay minimal attention to +hit, still mainly preferring agi/ap/crit over it
-at level 70 you have to consider following:
* Hit Cap for Special attack or ranged auto-attack, base 142 hit rating (9%)
* Hit Cap for Special attack or ranged auto-attack, with 3/3 Surefooted: 95 hit rating

What does hit-cap mean? It means that you have 0% chance to miss with your attack.
For 25-man raiding, you should be capped or close to being capped. For kara and heroics you should be on about +7% - +8% hit chance (around 125 hit rating). Pay attention to survival Surefooted talent - if you are already capped, there is no point taking extra + hit, unless you want the talents to compensate (so you can change some +hit gear to some other gear, for example).

Also note this: One agi is one ap. Also agi provides +crit chance, although i am not sure how much. I think its about 40agi/1 crit, or something like that. Note, however, that MM-specc favors AP overa agi, and Survival spec does vice-versa, because MM gain +% AP, while survivals get +% agility. Depending on your specc you should choose different stats.

Dont forget intellect and stamina as well. Remember, FD can resist, and dead hunter = 0dps. Make sure you have at LEAST 8k hp for kara, although some encounters (e.g. Doomwalker) require you to have at least 10.5k+ health. Intellect can be ignored, but to certain limits. With lowish mana even aspect of viper wont help you, so make sure you always maintain enough intellect for your playstyle and rotation to have mana to use.



10. All you ever wanted but were afraid to ask about talents

10.1 Basic talent trees overview

Well, i will start with BM. BM is focusing on your pet, its survivability and damage output. It is considered to be the best farmer specc ever, but its also really nice for both Raiding (if you are expirienced enough) and PvP (rocks for Pvp!!!)
When you are going for this build it might seem that you are dealing way less damage than before, however when you add your pet to damage lists, all will come to its places.

MM build, on the other hand, focuses on making your ranged attacks as strong as possible, with increases to ap, damage, extra spells, and so on. Your damage output will soar, but note, that you will be extremely weak in melee combat. This build is so far the worst i've tried for leveling and farming, it only is worth it for PvE damage dealers in raids and instances.

Survival build is more or less a hybrid - it gives you nice bonuses for both ranged and melee attacks, while at same time making sure you can survive longer. This build will be extremely weak until late 50s, so i do not recommend leveling with it, stick with BM. However once at 60+, especially at 70, the dps output of this build is completely unbelievable... In those 4 raids i was in kara, once i was 1st in dps list, 1 time second (1st oric, 2nd me, 3rd dragon), and 2 times 3rd (asi, dragon, me). Atm i am completely in love with this talent specc.




10.2 Talents discussion

Okay this is going to be a long part. I will try to give my explanation to all talents in all trees, so it will take time.

BM tree.

Tier one:

IAOH: Extremely useful for under 60, this talent will give you a great increase in dps. When you get Aspect of Viper, though, it becomes much less valuable. On soulhound, i barely ever use it now, because most of time i have AotV active. Survivalists and Marksmen should use AotV as well, in my opinion, however BM can use AotH, thus stay with this talent for as long as you are BM.

Endurance: Must have for BM tree hunters. lets your pet live longer, much longer, thus making you live longer as well. Also +5% hp to you is not that bad, especially at higher levels.


Tier two:

Focused Fire: I dont really consider it very useful. +2% damage isnt alot, even at 70, and you will be barely using kill command to be honest. Also, dont forget that you ONLY get kill command at lvl 66, so until then this talent is COMPLETELY useless. The only combo would be to use KC + Frenzy (later in tree), but i say just leave this talent.

IaoM: Extremely useful for PVP, not much useful for PvE. You shouldnt melee alot, you should be able to kill / seriously damage mob from ranged attacks, so i would say skip this talent unless you really really want to use AotM alot

Thick Hide: Increases your pets armor and your armor (which also increases pets armor) = a big furry tank by your side... I think the usefullness is pretty obvious :)

Improved pet revive: Pretty useful spell. With 1 point in it you will significantly reduce the downtime of your resting / ressing pet, and with 2 points you making it worthwhile ressing pet during combat when you are attacked, due to very low cast time and very low mana cost. If you can afford it, put 2 points here.


Tier three:

Pathfinding: Useful until lvl 40, when you will be using AotC to move around. At 40 you get +60% mount and this talent becomes completely useless.

Bestial Swiftness: Useful (maybe) for PvP, completely useless otherwise.

Unleashed fury: +20% damage to pet is very very nice increase, especially for full BM build.


Tier four:

Imroved mend: Having 1 point in here will reduce mana cost for mend pet by 10% and gives you chance on EVERY TICK of mend pet healing to remove a bad buff from your pet. Having 2 points reduces mana cost by 20% and increases chance to cleanse. In my opinion, 2 points is a waste, but 1 point is a must have if you can afford it.

Ferocity: simply a MUST have. +10% crit is a HUGE increase, no need for comments really.

...(continued)

...Spirit bond: Lets calculate. 2%hp per 10 seconds. At lvl 70 i now have about 9k hp, maybe a bit more. 2% of 9k is 180 health per 10 seconds. Thats less than one tick of bandage. So unless you specifically need it for some purpose (e.g. farming specific mobs), skip it

Intimidate: A must have. Not only this stuns your target (allowing you to get distance, heal, run, mend pet, etc), it also gives huge amount of threat to your pet, which is very useful.

Bestial Dsicipline: Depends on your specc and pet. If you have an ability like "claw" or similar (fast burning of focus), get 2 points. Otherwise see by situation


Tier five:

Animal Handler: At start of TBC there was a bug that allowed hunters with this talent to teleport to Azeroth while on flying mounts. Now its fixed. Not worth it, just forget it.

Frenzy: Go for it. Any time pet deals crit, it gains +attack speed = more chance to crit in same amount of time = frenzy will usually just keep going and going.


Tier six:

Ferocious inspiration: +3% damage to party. To 5 people. The only usefullness i can see is if you were in group with at least 3 more dps classes, which can only happen in raids, mainly in 25-man ones. So unless you are 25-man BM raider, skip it imo.

Bestial wrath: A very very very useful talent, especially if you have another one (beast within). This is what makes a BM specc THE bm specc. Gives a huge damage boost, and makes your pet immune to ANY kind of stun / sheep / slow / etc

Catlike reflexes: +9% dodge for pet = +time it lives = +time you live. take it.


Tier seven:

Serpent's swiftness: this thing is just amazing. This is what makes BM hunters dps like MM and Survival... WAY worth all 5 points. Imagine having a 3.00 bow... -15% from pouch = 2.55, -20% from this talent = 2.05... Get the drift?


Last tier:

The beast within: +10% damage and -20% mana cost, immune to all slow and immobilizing effects (inc polymorph, sap, etc)... Do i need to say why this is needed, or will you understand yourself? :)




MM Tree:

Tier one:

Imp Concussive shot: Useful for pvp. Useless for everything else.

Lethal Shots: +5% crit just for 5 points in talents? Take it take it take it!!!


Tier two:

Imp. Hunter's mark: Useless for leveling. Low to Medium usefulness in PvP, medium to high usefulness in raiding. If you are mainly a BM hunter or if you can spare some points, take it. DPS classes will say "thank you" :P

Efficiency: Useless for leveling, totally useless for PvP, very useful for raiding/instancing.


Tier three:

Go for the throat: Very nice to have - extra focus = more growl/claw/etc = more threat on pet and more damage on mob. Especially good to Marksman hunters, as if mob gets close to you (read: pet loses aggro) your dps potential goes down to below ground.

Improved arcane shot: Well... i dont like this one tbh. Its useful in pvp i guess, but the combat rotation for raiding is nice as it is atm, and i wouldnt waste points here.

Aimed shot: A very very useful spell, must have if you have a point to put in here. Good damage for opening combat & reduces healing. Great for PvP, Great for PvE

Rapid killing: Nice if you are farmer hunter or levelling. Good for pvp. medium-good for end-game, since the only useful thing is the rapid fire -2min cooldown...But then again extra speed can break your rotation... Decide by situation


Tier four:

Improved stings: Very useful for pvp, useless for everything else. Stings dont scale with anything, thus at about Kara level they will become totally useless, and at heroic-lvl better spend the points somewhere else anyway.

Mortal shots: Very nice, although there is one thing i am not totally sure about - whether its (normal damage + 30%)-critted, or (normal crit X 1.3)... either way i say go for it, its great bonus.


Tier five:

Concussive barrage: Pure PVP talent, useless for everything else.

Scatter shot: If you got this far in MM tree and have a point you can spend here, do so. This will increase amount of spells you have for controlling the mob, and give you an extra way of getting out of melee range.

Barrage: Great stuff. Volley damage is not worth mentioning, however extra multishot damage is quiet handy, and you will notice a really significant increase in damage output.


Tier six:

Combat Expirience: Might sound nice, but not worth it. First, 2% of agi. Imagine you have 600 agi unbuffed, 2% of 600 is 12 agi. Now, you have 300 intellect. 6% of 300 is 18. So for 2 talent points you get 12 agility and 18 intellect... Is it really worth it?

Ranged Weapons Specialisation: +5% damage permanently... for 5 points... Id say go for it since its in MM tree, and you are quiet far into MM already, although its not really great until heroic+ level epics.

Careful aim: Totally useless until kara+ level gear. 300 intellect = +150 ap, nice. 200 int = 90 ap = not worth it. Just check your stats and see how much you will actually gain from this.

Trueshot aura: If you got this far, take it. Otherwise is pretty useless - at last rank it will give 125 attack power... Come on, thats nothing... More than that, it doesnt scale with anything, so even if you are raiding Black Temple you will still get only 125 ap... There is however RUMOR that blizz is going to change it to +%hit instead of +ap, then it will become much much more valuable... Until then... well... :/

Improved Barrage: very very useful. Great addition for Volley, since now you actually can cast it while being attacked (although i dont see why you would want to do that), and even more damage for multishot. I like it.


Tier seven

Master Marksman: Calculate how much you will gain from taking this talent and see if its worth it. I say its only worth it at about 1800+ ap (+180ap), 1600+ if you are really eager to get it. Then again, see for yourself: Getting 100-200 ap for 5 full talent points... Maybe a waste?


Final tier:

Silencing shot: Great for pvp, great for instances. Worthless for raiding, except for Gruul. Choose yourself.



Survival

Tier one:

Monster/humanoid slaying: Always have 3 full points in both if you can afford it, these are just too good to waste. Plus they open way to other tiers.

Hawk eye: Useless for leveling and farming. Very nice for pvp, medium-nice for raiding, choose yourself.

Savage Strikes: Useful only for full survival hunters or for PVPers, totally useless for SSC+ raiding level.


Tier two:

Entrapment: Very useful for pvp, not really useful for rest. If you think its good for cc, then see this: when you use freezing trap, this talent goes completely to waste, since it will fade long time before trap fades.

Deflection: Great for PvP, not very useful for farmers / soloers, and a total waste for raiders. Why? Because in raids / instances you will mainly use traps to CC a mob, but freezing trap's effect lasts longer than talent's effect, therefore rendering the talent completely useless. Perhaps in case of breaking trap (not resist, but smone attacking trap) this might be a bit useful, but in my opinion not worth it

Imp. Wing Clip: yet again, pvp useful, crap for rest.


Tier three:

Clever traps: Medium useful for pvp, Greatly useful for instancing and kara - level raiding. Cant say about ssc+ because i dont know about mobs and traps in there.

Survivalist: very nice talent for all hunters. If you have 5 points, spend them here - both PvP and PvE aspects of game will benefit from this, and the better gear you get, the better the effect from this.

Deterrence: a MUST have for all hunters who can spare points. This ability basically allows you to tank ANY non-caster mob for all its duration... Increases your survivability i-dont-know-how-many-fold... I just love this ability, and i believe so will you! :P


Tier four:

Trap mastery: Useless for pvp, useful for instancing. Medium-useful for raiding.

Surefooted: Imba for pvp, imba for pve, just imba. I mean cmon, for 3 points you get +3% hit and +chance to resist movement slow effects... must have if you are not yet hit-capped! NOTE: Check your hit rating. If you have +9% to hit (142 hit rating), then gaining extra +hit% is completely useless. So you can either take other talents, or spend 3 points on +3% hit and swap your +hit gear on something else, your choice.

Improved FD: I dont really like it... I am quiet happy with my FD right now, and FD resist isnt very often. Id rather spend my points in smth else, and anyways t-4 bonus gives -FD resist chance anyway.


Tier five:

Survival Instincts: Might not seem totally great skill, however survival hunters usually lack ap, so this will help a bit. Also -% damage taken is good for when our FD actually fails, hehe, but see for yourself. I see this talent as something good to invest in to make way down to other talents

Killer Instinct: +3% crit for all attacks... do i need to say more?

Counterattack: Great for pvp, really great, but useless for everything else.


Tier six:

Resourcefullness: GREAT for pvp, GREAT for instancing. Medium to Great for Raiding (kara only), Sucks for farming, leveling, raiding beyond kara.

Lightning Reflexes: The key talent of Survival, +15% agi is simply alot... Must have for survival hunter.


Tier seven:

Thrill of the hunt: Totally useless for pvp and farming/levelling... but for raiding and instancing this is totally and completely great!!! With this and Aspect of viper on, your mana will last so much longer you wont believe it.

...(continued)

...Wyvern sting: Never used it myself, so cannot be totally truthful. I can see its potential as PVP, but for pve its useless, mainly because the DoT after sleep prevents any other CC from being applied to target. Other people say that this ability has saved their party / raid / pvp group / etc lives sometimes... Well i never tried and tbh i am quiet happy as i am, your call.

Expose Weakness: Sucks for leveling, sucks for farming. Quiet nice for pvp and TOTALLY ownage talent for raiding. Survival hunter in pre-kara gear can easily get round 600-650 agi buffed (my record was 825 with all buffs and totem). 25% of 650 = all physical attackers in RAID get +160 to attack power... which is alot ;)

Master Tactician: Great for leveling, great for farming, great for pvp, great for raiding - just great for everything... I mean come on, 6% on ranged attack to get +10% ranged crit chance? its friggin awesome, Soulhound has as much as 40%+ crit chance when this procs! But there is a small "but": This talent is only useful for as long as u have less than 35-40% crit. When you get 40% crit chance drop this talent, as having 40% is just as good as 50% (read: difference between 10% and 20% is much bigger than between 40 and 50).


Tier final:

Readiness: Well this is great for PVP, however its not that much of a use other than that. Traps? Better just deterrence/stomp/scatter/intimidate/etc. FD? Just go down on dps a bit and use disengage if needed... Imo can be skipped easily.



10.3 Gear up to your build.

This is a simple part aimed just at prioritising stats depending on build.

BM: Ap > Agi > Crit = Sta > Int
MM: Ap > Crit > Agi > Int
SV: Agi > Crit > Ap > Int


10.4 Ready-to-use builds.

BM Specc:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?5520310051501205013510550201000000000000003000000000000000000000

This is basic levelling and farming specc. provides great survivability and potential. Improved mark taken over -mana for shots, due to the fact that nearly all dps will be dealt by your pet, thus extra ap for it (melee) will come in more handy than -mana for your shots. Depending on your playstyle, you might want to take Spirit Bond, but i was completely fine without it. If you are a skilled player, its also not bad for raiding, however you might want to switch some points to take Raid-Buff talents.


MM specc:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?5300020000000000000000555201255013050135100200000000000000000000

This build is all about dealing max damage at range, either to kill the target before it comes closer, or to weaken it as much as possible. The +% talents are not taken because they are totally useless until some good lvl 70 gear, just calculate the amounts and see for yourself. The extra points in BM are taken because your pet will be your best ever friend for MM specc, since you are nothing in melee range. Imp serpent sting is taken because as a MM hunter you will have plenty of AP, with which Serp. sting scales, increasing damage it does by quiet an amount.


Surv specc

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000000525201005000000000033320000510302300530350

This build is all about making a lot of damage at lvl 70. Some talents i want to change (like mongoose and raptor crit for parry, or adding some points to traps maybe), but so far i found reasons not to. This is the build that allows you not only to farm and quest, but to have amazing dps output in instances.
Note that its not very good until about late 50s, and the true potential of it doesnt open until about 65 or something.
Also, its possible to swap the "go for the throat" points for "imp hunters mark", if you want.


Hybrid speccs:

Although i never wanted to be a hybrid hunter, mainly because the tree-specific talents are too good to skip, there are people who like them, and they can be understood.


BM/MM hybrid:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?5500320050401005010000555001005013050000000000000000000000000000

This focuses on getting Intimidation and Bestial wrath as soon as possible, and then going for the rest in MM for ranged ownage. Although with this you will have to choose - either get wrath, but skip trueshot, or get trueshot but forget about wrath, see which spell suits your playstyle more. Although i personally find it hard to like Wrath without the "beast within" talent.

MM/Survival hybrid:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?0000000000000000000000535001205013050100033300200510302300500000

This one is focused on being a nice ranged dps class, while still being able to survive in close combat. I find it the most useful of the Hybrid speccs for end-game instances, however for farming and levelling i would prefer the BM/Survival build.


BM/Survival hybrid:

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/hunter/talents.html?5500310050501003000000000000000000000000033303002210302300500300

A build i fully recognise: it has high damage potential of Survival combined with great survivability of BM (no pun intended). Not as dps-good as full mm / survival, but better for leveling/farming/etc or for casual playing. Another option is to go as far as intimidation or bestial wrath in BM, but then the survival part will not actually bring anything useful to the synergy.


11. A rotation on fight

What is rotation? Unlike mages/rogues/etc we dont have a constant spamming skill, so we use what is called a rotation. Warlocks, for example, cast dots, then shadowbolt/drain life, then repeat. This is a simple example of rotation - using spells and abilities in certain repeating order for maximising damage output.
The rotation will depend alot on talent builds, but doesnt really depend on gear. It will also depend on situation - e.g. do you want to kill your target asap (pvp/low life), efficiently (farming) or to deal as much damage as possible in total (raiding/instancing).

Here are abilities that can be used in rotation:

Arcane shot: little-scaled damage for small mana cost and small cooldown. Good for when your other abilities are on cooldown or for when you need to deal just that small extra damage to finish off the enemy.

Multi shot: scaling damage for small-medium mana cost and small-medium cooldown. Deals great damage, and hits multiple targets. Should be used in rotations unless you do not want to hurt additional targets (e.g. sheeped mob)

Steady shot: Scaling damage for small mana cost and no cooldown, but 1.5 sec cast. Should be used when your other abilities are on cooldown AND your next auto-shot wont happen less than 1.6 seconds later (Because you want to add this spell to autoshots, not substitute one for another).


Note: These shots do not reset auto-attack timer, so if you auto-shoot, then cast something, the new auto-shot will happen depending on previous auto-shot, not on the ability. BUT if you cast ability when auto-shot is about to happen, the shot will get cancelled.


Basic rotations:

Just-steady: Auto,steady,auto,steady, etc. Good for when you are not entirely sure of your dps, when you need to conserve mana, and when you want to deal good damage without fear of overaggro. Also helps getting used to timing your spells to your auto-shots. Best weapon speed - 2.2-2.6 seconds.

Complex-steady: Auto,multi,auto,steady,auto,multi(if ready) / steady, auto, etc. Basically you use multishot when it is ready, and use steady shot after. Uses a bit more mana than complex-steady, but also deals greater damage. Make sure you time an auto-attack in between all your shots.

Complex: Aimed/auto, multi, auto, arcane, auto, steady/multi, auto, steady/multi, auto, arcane, etc. Basically you use multi whenever its ready, then arcane whenever its ready and then steady. More or less: Auto, M or A or S, auto, M or A or S, etc. Uses alot of mana (so having mage/motw buff or AotV or mana regen pot will help alot. MAKE SURE TO HAVE AN AUTO SHOT IN BETWEEN ALL YOUR SHOTS! Its very hard to do so with this rotation and during some raid encounters, for example, but please do your best.

As a rule of the thumb:

BM: Aim for (after haste) a weapon speed as close to 1.5 as possible, WITHOUT making it lower. You should be using simple AS - SS - AS - SS rotation, as that will maximize your dps output with BM spec.

MM: Use the Complex-Steady rotation: sometimes you might want to skip up on special shots at all, but always use Multi shot whenever you can, so its AS - MS - AS - ArS / MS / SS - etc. Weapon speed should be around 2.0

Survival: Use all abilities whenever you can. AS - MS / ArS / SS - AS - MS / ArS / SS - etc. Make sure you dont lose an AS in between your shots! Best weapon speed (unhasted) around 2.8, not sure about hasted.

Other rotations you should think of yourself, just see how it goes.


12. Pre-kara gear

Note: PvP gear not included

Head:
Mask of the deceiver
http://thottbot.com/i32087 <======== This helm is even better than the Shade of Aran one!

OR

Warpstalker Helm
http://thottbot.com/i32085
(50 heroic badges)

OR

Mok'Nathal Mask of Battle
http://thottbot.com/i28215
(heroic durn)

OR

Mok'Nathal Beast-Mask
http://thottbot.com/i27414
(crypts)


OR

Stalker's helmet of second sight
http://thottbot.com/i31106
Reward of Gorefiend Armor chain in shadowmoon

OR

Cobrascale hood
http://thottbot.com/i29502
Created

OR

Deathblow X11 goggles
http://thottbot.com/i32478
Created


Enchant:

Glyph of Ferocity
http://thottbot.com/i29192
Cenarion Revered


Neck:

Bone Chain Necklace
http://thottbot.com/i27779
UB Heroic

OR

Jagged Bark Pendant
http://thottbot.com/i28343
Warp Splinter, Botanica

OR

...(continued)

...OR

Pendant of Cunning
http://thottbot.com/i31147
World drop

OR

Traitor's Noose
http://thottbot.com/i27546
SP Heroic

OR

Necklace of the Deep
http://thottbot.com/i32508
Created


Shoulder:

Wyrmfury pauldrons
http://thottbot.com/i28344
Durnholde heroic

OR

Beast lord Mantle
http://thottbot.com/i27801
SV

OR

Talbuk Hide Spaulders
http://thottbot.com/i29147
Mag'har Revered


Enchant:

Aldor enchants:
http://thottbot.com/i28888
http://thottbot.com/i28885

Scryer enchants:
http://thottbot.com/i28911
http://thottbot.com/i28907


Cloak:

Blood Knight War Cloak
http://thottbot.com/i29382
25 heroic badges

OR

Cloak of malice
http://thottbot.com/i27519
SH drop

OR

Dark Cloak of the Marsh
http://thottbot.com/i25540
Quest reward, find druids in ub/sp


Enchant:

+12 agility


Chest:

Felstalker Breastplate
http://thottbot.com/i25696
Crafted

OR

laughing skull battle-harness
http://thottbot.com/i28186
BM drop

OR

Shard Encrusted Breastplate
http://thottbot.com/i27823
MT Heroic

OR

Thick Netherscale Breastplate
http://thottbot.com/i29514
Crafted

OR

Primalstrike Vest
http://thottbot.com/i29525
Crafted


Enchant:

+6 to all stats


Bracers:

Shackles of Quagmirran
http://thottbot.com/i27712
SP heroic

OR

Felstalker bracers
http://thottbot.com/i25697
Crafted

OR

Primalstrike bracers
http://thottbot.com/i29527
Crafted


Enchant:

+24 ap



Hands:

handguards of the steady
http://thottbot.com/i32076
Mech heroic,pathaleon

OR

Netherdrake gloves
http://thottbot.com/i29511
Crafted

OR

Gauntlets of the redeemed vindicator
http://thottbot.com/i30370
Aldor quest

OR

beast lord handguards
http://thottbot.com/i27474
Enchant: +15 agility or +26ap




Waist:

Dunewind sash
http://thottbot.com/i27760
UB heroic

OR

Blessed Scale Girdle
http://thottbot.com/i29180
Sha'tar revered

OR

Telaari hunting Girdle
http://thottbot.com/i27521
SH drop

OR

Girdle of the blasted reaches
http://thottbot.com/i27478
Heroic Ramps



Legs:

Midnight Legguards
http://thottbot.com/i30538
SP heroic

OR

Scaled greaves of Patience
http://thottbot.com/i27430
Durnholde

OR

mag'hari huntsman's leggings
http://thottbot.com/i28173
Quest reward

OR

Barbaric Legstraps
http://thottbot.com/i27773
UB heroic

OR

Sunfury Legguards
http://thottbot.com/i30948
long quest in Shadowmoon valley, starting with Karabor Training Grounds


Enchant:

+40ap +10crit leg armor (Cobrahide leg armor, http://thottbot.com/i29533) , or +50ap +12 crit leg armor (NetherCobra leg armor, http://thottbot.com/i29535)



Feet:

Boots of the Endless Hunt
http://thottbot.com/i29262
Botanica heroic

OR

Wild stalker Boots
http://thottbot.com/i27450
heroic ramps

OR

Boots of the outlander
http://thottbot.com/i25941
MT drop


Enchant:

+12 agility


Rings:

Slayer's mark of the redemption
http://thottbot.com/i31077
SMW chain quest reward

Ravenclaw band
http://thottbot.com/i27925
Sethekk Halls drop

Conquerer's band
http://thottbot.com/i25811
Quest reward

Ring of umbral doom
http://thottbot.com/i28323
botanica drop

Truestrike Ring
http://thottbot.com/i31326
World drop


Trinkets:

Bladefist's breadth
http://thottbot.com/i28041
Quest reward

Bloodlust Brooch
http://thottbot.com/i29383
50 heroic badges

Abacus of violent odds
http://thottbot.com/i28288
Mech drop

Hourglass of the unraveller
http://thottbot.com/i28034
BM drop

Ancient Draenei War Talisman
http://thottbot.com/i31617
Quest




Weapon:

Sonic Spear <==== Best pre-TK hunter weapon apart from Legacy (Kara).
http://thottbot.com/i27903
Murmur drop, SL

OR

Crystalforged War Axe
http://thottbot.com/i31291
World drop

OR

Terokk's quill[
http://thottbot.com/i29329
Quest reward


OR

Blackened Spear
http://thottbot.com/i29167
Thrallmar revered



Enchant:

+35 agi or Savagery



Ranged:

Emberhawk Crossbow
http://thottbot.com/i28397
Arca drop

OR

Valanos' Longbow
http://thottbot.com/i31303
World drop

OR

Telescopic Sharprifle
http://thottbot.com/i28286
Mech drop

OR

Gyro-balanced Khorium Destroyer
http://thottbot.com/i32756
Crafted

OR

Marksman's bow
http://thottbot.com/i29152
Thrallmar exalted


Enchant:

Khorium scope +12 damage
http://thottbot.com/i23765

Stabilized Eternium Scope +28 crit rating
http://thottbot.com/i23766

Well this is the best i can think of, comments and advices welcome :)


13. Pots, enchants, etc

Potions: Keep the potion cooldown for potions, stuff like Heroic potion or haste potion is wasted on hunters. You will need either health, or mana (for raiding, usually mana).

Elixirs / flasks: See what your talent tree needs. If you are BM or MM specced, go for Flask of Relentless Assault or Onslaught Elixir and Elixir of Major Mageblood or Elixir of Draenic Wisdom. If you are survival specced, Elixir of Major Agility and Elixir of Draenic Wisdom is the way to go. Its easy to calculate: for survivals, 1agi = 1.15 agi, but agi also provides crit. Elixir itself also provides a crit, so agi elixir is best for you.

Enchants: As before, some depend on your spec. If you are MM or BM, try to get as much AP as you can, including savagery on your weapon. For survivals, yet again, agility is the way to go, and 35 agility on weapon will rock you hard.

Leg Armor: Unless you are PVPer, regardless of your specc you should get Cobrahide leg armor. If your leggings are very-very-very good (e.g. you somehow managed to obtain t-4 legs), then get ]Nethercobra leg armor on them, otherwise normal one will do the job.

Gems: Always look at socket bonus. If its really useful to you (+hit and you are low on +hit, +crit, +ap, etc) try to meet the sockets. HOWEVER always give it a thought: Example, socket bonus is 3 agi. But if you meet the socket bonus, you wont be able to put 3x 8 agi gems, so you should count how much more / less stats you will have if you meet or do not meet the socket bonus. If you are lacking +hit, getting some hit gems will only do you good, likewise with ap or crit. For survival hunters - ALWAYS try to get agility or, if you cant, at least crit chance gems. They are the only thing you basically need.




Final note:

I did my best to provide most correct info, however if you disagree with anything, i will be more than glad to take criticism. Also i am in love with my survival specc, so i might be a bit biased towards it and against others, please forgive me if i am ^_^

Haven't read it all yet, but:
Weaponskills can be skilled to 350, not 375
Trolls gain +1% crit when using bows, not +5 skill (it was changed a few patches ago)
Trolls also have 10% healthregen during combat, it's probably not worth mentioning, it will only save you 1 time in 1000.

Okay thanks, nothing like reposting to help you spot these small things you've missed out :)

Correcting it now, thanks again

awsome guide !
i expect to see this added to sticky list of informative threads,haven read it all but sure will ^^

A few quick corrections:

Aspect of the Cheetah/Pack is a 30% speed increase, not 40%.

Also:

"This one is really simple, but should be mentioned nevertheless. Sting is a EoT (effect over time) spell hunters have. We currently have 2 stings - Serpent sting (DoT) and Viper sting (Mana over time).There is also Wyvern sting (sleep + DoT), but i never really used it tbh, since the DoT after sleep prevents every and all other CC to be casted on it afterwards. Simple rule is, always have a serpent sting on mob you are attacking, unless it will need to get CCed. Viper sting is for rare cases when mob needs to be mana drained, e.g. ZG Snake boss (sigh, nostalgy, lol)."

The statement is a little off in a few parts. There's not just 2 stings, you yourself mention 3, and there is in fact 4. Also, you can reapply wyvern sting if you overwrite the dot effect with scorpid sting (the one you missed).

Good guide tho! Enjoyed reading it.

Excellent guide, reported to be added to the useful information thread :)

Oh yes thanks alot for the stings info, ill correct that asap :)

Thanks everyone for the comments, appreciate that!

Clearly you've spent some time on compiling all this stuff.. but I don't even know where to start... so many errors.. faulty specs advices and so on.

This is a guide alright.. but packed with stupid personal remarks of the maker which in most cases are wrong. Before making a guide.. atleast make sure you post correct information :/
You should save it somewhere and correct the countless errors and then repost it when you have spent more than 10 seconds looking over what you actually have written.

Effort: Perfect 10.
Content: No comment.
Conclusion: Play your hunter more, especially past Karazhan level and learn the class better.

Awesome guide for people new to hunters, reported for sticky.

Naaaaiiisss.. Reported for sticky

Very nice, leveling this alt for a while now and got some stuff out of this post what I was wondering about.

Quick question: what catagory of pets you mentioned do wolf's belong to?

---

Q u o t e:

Very nice, leveling this alt for a while now and got some stuff out of this post what I was wondering about.

Quick question: what catagory of pets you mentioned do wolf's belong to?

---

Balanced

This needs to be stickied Blizzard! :O

Just me that thinks this is really bad? It's so off in places that it's silly.

I hate to be an ass, but I wouldn't advise anyone to follow this guide without checking up with a knowledgable hunter with what you're doing.

Some examples (only really read the spec bit, so going from there):

Focused Fire: I dont really consider it very useful. +2% damage isnt alot, even at 70, and you will be barely using kill command to be honest. Also, dont forget that you ONLY get kill command at lvl 66, so until then this talent is COMPLETELY useless. The only combo would be to use KC + Frenzy (later in tree), but i say just leave this talent. You'd skip a straight 2% DPS increase? Interesting.

Thick Hide: Increases your pets armor and your armor (which also increases pets armor) = a big furry tank by your side... I think the usefullness is pretty obvious :) Yeah, it'd be useful if it made any difference at all, even if you do somehow get hit in raids...

Animal Handler: At start of TBC there was a bug that allowed hunters with this talent to teleport to Azeroth while on flying mounts. Now its fixed. Not worth it, just forget it. As BM, your DPS relies a lot on your pet, you should have points in there for hit.

Ferocious inspiration: +3% damage to party. To 5 people. The only usefullness i can see is if you were in group with at least 3 more dps classes, which can only happen in raids, mainly in 25-man ones. So unless you are 25-man BM raider, skip it imo. rofl? Debatably the most important BM talent (along with SS) and you say skip it?

Catlike reflexes: +9% dodge for pet = +time it lives = +time you live. take it. If you or your pet need to dodge in a raid, then you're doing something very wrong, as are your tanks.

Can't be bothered to go through any more. Seriously, nice effort and all, but you clearly don't know the class well enough to try and write a comprehensive guide like this and people that want advice could actually be worse off for following this.