The Hunter is a pure damage dealing class and isn’t able to either tank or heal. Their main damage comes from their ranged attacks which they make with a Gun, Bow, or Crossbow. The Hunter is well known for his ability to tame pets which can fight for him. The Tame Beast ability becomes available after doing some Hunter quests at level 10. Once you tame a beast you will be able to summon him whenever you please. You can also leave your pet at a stable, which can usually be found outside the Inn and near Hunter trainers, and tame another one. You can have two pets in your stable and one at your side and can then change pets for different occasions, think about a PvP-pet, Tank-pet, Damage-pet etc. The pets have recently obtained their own talent tree which makes them even more powerful than they were before the WoTLK.
A Hunter isn’t only about the pets he can use though. The Hunter will, in most cases, do a lot more damage than his pet still and has great abilities. The Hunter mainly fires shots and stings from a distance. However, he has great slowing abilities to keep enemies away from him like traps, and slowing shots. The Hunter is a versatile damage dealer that should move around a lot. Even though it is not often needed in PvE and while leveling because there is either a Tank or the Pet to keep the mobs on him, ‘kiting’ is sometimes needed and no class can do that as good as the Hunter.
The Hunter can Feign Death. This will save the Hunter in a lot of scenarios from being killed which will save him a lot of gold in the long run. The Hunter does have some other expenses other classes don’t have like the need for ammunition and food for their pet.
The Hunter can be played by Night Elves, Dwarves and Draenei of the Alliance and Taurens, Orcs and Trolls of the Horde. The tree talent trees are called Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, and Survival. A combination of these talent trees is usually best even if it was just because on the top of each talent tree some nice talent can be found. On the top of the Beast Mastery talent tree you can find Improved Aspect of the Hawk, in the Marksmanship tree you have Lethal Shots, and in the Survival tree you got Hawk Eye. All three of these are great talents.
From there on one can choose if he or she wants to follow one tree or still make sort of a hybrid build. The Beast Mastery talent tree will boost the power of a Hunters pet mainly, even though it also has some nice features that will strengthen the Hunter. The Marksmanships tree gives the Hunter’s shots and stings more power and also provides him with some new shots. Same goes for the Survival build but this tree also focuses on the survival capabilities off the Hunter as well which makes this tree great for PvP.
Want to learn how I leveled my hunter to 85 quick and easy? Check out the Dugi Leveling Guide!
