Windfoot’s guide to the Hunter

[Windfoot]

I am no longer a hunter. But I did travel as a hunter for 60 seasons, and enjoyed virtually all of it. For those who wish to listen, here are my thoughts regarding life as a hunter.

In all truth, hunters are loners.

Some people snobbishly disparage hunters as “WoW lite”. The hunter is probably the strongest and easiest class in the game to play PvE. You wear mail, have steady and high DPS and have pets to hold aggro and to die for them. Ursa (my bear companion) and I breezed through most of the game.

On the other hand, the hunter is probably the weakest class for teaming and certainly is the weakest class for PvP. It is best if you accept this as a given. A strong player can, of course, compensate and play a hunter well both in an instance and PvP, but in my opinion will never be as strong (or as much in demand) as a Priest, Warrior, or Mage.

The basic hunter battle-sequence:

1. trap (almost always immolation)
2. mark
3. release pet
4. serpent sting
5. arcane shot
6. use pet to pull mob to trap
7. repeat sting and shot as necessary

ALTERNATE: You can also release your pet and run up and place a trap under the mob before attacking, then back up and get to work as set out above.

ALTERNATE: you can also pull with a shot, then release your pet to grab the aggro. You will have to either fight HTH or back up for range.

EXCEPTIONS:
A. if the monster aggros to you (and you can’t handle it), you feign death to break the aggro and move to a distance again;
B. if your pet is getting weak, you mend pet; and
C. if your pet is going to die and you are too weak to defeat the mob on your own, you run, leaving your pet to hold the aggro until you are out of range from the mob (or at least have a head start). Once you perfect this, you will be able to avoid your pet dying, as they will “disappear” when you get far enough away.

Class Abilities:

USELESS ABILITIES:

Sadly, the following powers have little or no use or value. I held onto several of them in my quick slots thinking I “might someday use them” but never did (except for RP purposes). If you want to streamline, cut these first.

Aspect of the Beast
Scattershot
Disengage
Eagle Eye
Eyes of the Beast
Glimpse of the Instincts
Track Hidden

MOSTLY-USELESS ABILITIES:

Slightly better than useless, you could probably remove all of the following and only improve your hunt.

Aimed Shot - Most newbie players LOVE aimed shot, but the fact is that it’s little more than a toy. It wastes a lot of mana, bring on more “down time,” with a net result of fewer kills, and less experience. In a team, Aimed shot is also a “dangerous” power (see below) because of the aggro it draws.

Beast Lore – usable to find out if a pet is tamable, but more often results in getting you killed. Better to just check on one of the various websites which tells you what you need to know about pets.

Frost Trap – Like Aimed Shot, is used by many newbies, but not really much use. The slowing doesn’t really accomplish much. You are better off doing damage (immolation).

DANGEROUS ABILITIES:

The following are aggro-grabbing powers, do little real damage, and should never be used, except possible to grab aggro to save a teammate. Be warned, most teammates dislike hunters who use these powers, as hunters die quickly against multiple opponents.

Explosive trap
Multi-shot
Volley

[Kalmorith]

Thank you, Lord Windfoot for this! Of course, as would be expected from a Hunter with 60 Seasons of travel, you have provided a solid bit of information for us hunters.

I am actually relieved to see that almost everything you have written reflects the way I am playing now.

I will admit, I often forget to trap, and I should because it provides a lot of extra damage, and every bit counts.

I am very careful with Multi-Shot now (you have personally seen me misuse it!) but I am much more careful with it. But I will use it when I have only one single target in my "arc of fire" and I know it will only send out a single arrow. I do this because the arrow-firing sequence of non-magical shots continues in addition to magic shots, so when all other magical shots are "cooling off" the multi-shot is often the only one ready to go. And using it will send out another arrow right away. I also may be imaging it, but I seem to have had a disproportionate amount of critical hits with a single-arrow multi-shot.

I also use multi-shot when there are two monsters on one comrade, and one of the monsters is only a sliver away from death. The two-arrow multi-shot will often kill the first monster and put damage on the second. I then Mark and Target the second and resume the pin-cushioning process.

I try to only use multi-shot on more than two targets when I am absolutely certain all targets are well-engaged with the "tanks".

The other spells Windfoot mentions as "useless" truly appear to be so to me. I have played with "Disengage" which I REALLY wanted to work, and cannot get any dependable results from it.

However, a High Season character once told me he saw a Hunter do a magnificant thing which truly impressed him. The group was ambushed by a high number of baddies. The hunter entered the body of his pet, and ran to the monsters and pulled all their aggro to create a train. He then ran off down the cavern dragging the train away from the group, thus saving them. I am not sure of the details, but this player (who is very experienced) said that hunter was the best he ever partied with. Has anyone else used this tactic?

[Windfoot]

Chapter 2: Your Animal Companion

Essential reading: www.goodintentionsguild.info/hunters.html

One of the best things about being a hunter is that you can have an animal companion (and you get to name them). Ursa and I formed a spirit-bond so strong that I almost never had any other companion throughout all of our travels. So strong, in fact, that she and I have now become one. It is her feral spirit that shapes my destiny as a druid.

Choosing your companion is important but should, in my opinion, be primarily a RP decision. Not all hunters find a soul mate, as I did, but I do not believe that it makes a great deal of difference which animal you travel with. High DPS pets kill faster but need more healing, which uses up your mana (producing more downtime). Tanking pets kill slower but need less healing. In the end, you travel at about the same speed. In my opinion, high DPS pets are better for groups (with cower on and growl off), tanking pets are better for solo. But that’s quibbling.

Training:

Blizzard has suggested that they are going to rework pet training (see: forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-hunter&t=200544&p=1&tmp=1#post200544). The sooner the better, as suggestions look good and the current design is poor.

With any pet you spend much time with you will have tons of unused training points. It is not initially apparent how to train your pets. I have met hunters of 30 seasons who had untrained pets, which is a tragedy. You need to open "Beast Training" in your Spellbook to bring up the training menu. My advice, drag and drop “Beast Training” into one of your quick slots on the desktop (on the right, not one with a shortcut key). Once you know level 4 claw, you do not have to teach a new pet level 1, then level 2, then level 3, but you can “waste” training points this way. Just wait until you have enough for level 4 claw (28 points or whatever) and teach it that.

You earn training points by spending time with a happy pet. Going up seasons also seems to help (I found that training new pets was slower at higher levels).

You learn Growl from a trainer. Everything else you learn from spending time with your companion. You need to stable your pet and travel with other pets to learn new pet abilities (claw, bite, cower etc.) and to learn new levels of ability (e.g. level 4 Bite). There are also season requirements to learn new levels of ability (e.g. season 56 for level 8 Claw from diseased grizzly).

Feeding:

Feeding your companion makes them happier. Feed them right away and feed them often. Your companion will become more loyal over time, and will need to be fed less, but will always eat a lot. Remember to take the right food along to feed to a new pet.

Bears are particularly good in this regard as they will eat virtually everything. Turtles are a pain.

Beast dies, hunter lives:

In my opinion, the most import ability of a pet if Growl. It is hypothetically possible to make an HTH hunter (with Survival talents), but not really. A hunter wants to stand a range, and let the companion take virtually all the damage. Turn Cower off, keep Growl always on.

Sending your companion into melee (rather than pulling mobs to you with a shot) is important because it helps establish “hate” for your companion. Release your pet and wait a second or two, don’t use aimed shot, and the mobs will usually remain focused on your companion. Hunters have sustained high DPS. Your pet takes the damage, you do the damage, the mobs die.

If you see that your pet is going to die, and you cannot save them, that is usually your cue to get running. The hunter is the weak heart of the hunter-beast combo. If the mob does enough to kill your pet, it will probably do more than you can handle. Leave your pet to hold the aggro until you are out of range from the mob (or at least have a head start). Once you perfect this, you will be able to avoid your pet dying, as they will “disappear” when you get far enough away.

[Windfoot]

Chapter 3: The Talents

I remember well the day that I met Turi. I was young and eager in those days, barely a day beyond my fourtieth season, and more than a little arrogant. In my arrogance, I had little esteem for dwarves, considering them all uncivilized, rude drunkards. Elune had plans for me! *laughs*

Keryth was then Lord of the House of the Beast, and called me before him to be blooded. When I arrived he introduced me to Turi, a dwarf of even seasons with me. I had read the Charter and understood that I was to defeat him in battle, so looked at him closely, measuring his strength. I quickly decided that I had nothing to worry about from “this dwarf” as his weapon was not as swift as mine, and his armor was a motley collection in comparison with my supple elven armor. In addition, he traveled with an unnamed feline companion who looked at me and Ursa lazily, appearing to care less about the goings-on. With a small smile I bowed to Turi and signaled I was ready.

Imagine my surprise when he bested me easily! It was all over in a matter of seconds, and I was left aching and more than a little embarrassed on the ground. Keryth instructed me to bandage my wounds and asked if I wanted to stop. With a growled “no”, I challenged Turi to another round. Perhaps he had just gotten lucky, I thought.

But again he bested me! His boom-stick and axe hurt, but his companion’s claws were truly ferocious. Ursa and I could not match their combined raw damage. As I kneeled on the ground defeated my first and possibly greatest lesson in humility set in. With a certain amount of horror I had to admit that "this dwarf" was a greater warrior than me (the “horror” was something the old Windfoot felt. Now, of course, I just have fond memories of my own lesson in humility).

Again Keryth told me to bind my wounds and asked if I wished to stop. Again I shook my head “no”. But my mind was racing. Realizing Ursa and I could not defeat Turi and his cat is a “fair” fight. I needed an advantage. And I had one.

As the third duel began I ignored Turi and turned my attention to his cat. I summoned the most frightening visions I could think of and forced them into the mind of the beast. Cat became terrified and ran off aimlessly in fear. I was wounded, but not yet defeated. Turning back to Turi, Ursa and I quickly overmatched him and won the duel. Success!

Turi and I became blooded that day, and as Turi’s blood mingled with mine my old prejudices melted away. We rode forth together blood brothers, and fast friends. We remain so to this day.

As we rode away into the Alterac mountains I turned to Turi and asked him, “what talents have you trained in?” He called back, “Why, beast mastery of course!”


You talents matter. Their cumulative effect is significant.

In my opinion, Beast Mastery and Marksmanship both play to the strength of the hunter: PvE. As a pure agility hunter, I can easily do 1500 pt damage criticals with my Aimed Shot (when fooling around, of course, as using Aimed Shot is not something I encourage (see above)).

Beast Mastery is likely better for PvP than Marksmanship, as you usually cannot keep your opponent at range in a PvP battle. Beast Masters usually want a high DPS pet, as that works best with Spirit Bound.

Survival MIGHT be the strongest PvP talent tree, but hunters are weak at PvP. I tried it and immediately felt incredibly ineffective. I do not recommend making a Survival talent hunter. Go ahead, prove me wrong!

[Finney]

Haha, this whole "run from the pet as it attacks a monster until the point the pet disappears" worked like a charm the other day when I was running through the furlbog caves on my way to Moonglade. There were enemies in their mid 50's while I was at level 45 that kept attacking my croc, while I just kept summoning him back to attack others as I continued running.

I made it through relatively unscathed. Highly recommended.

[Heng Arikana]

This advice is quite wizened (and very well aged at this juncture) but still obviously very useful.

I have two questions. Hopefully someone can lend an experienced ear towards them.

I have read, and have seen, that multi-shot is very useful in dealing damage. The downsides are mana drain, and the potential to pull another target accidentally (though the latter happens infrequently if your eyes are actually open as you draw your bowstring back). But the upside appears to be quicker fights, and Sweet Nectar is cheap as an after-battle elixir.

But Windfoot suggested that it wasn't so. I've heard other hunters speak of "cycles", using their Arcane Shot around their auto-shot, with their multi-shot thrown in. Any Defender hunters - or druids with past lives as hunters - wish to give me some insight in their thinking?

Also, and maybe even more importantly: Windfoot placed disengage on the B-list too. I've found I use it often when my cat can't hold aggro (critical hits come at poor times, especially in the start of a fight and too infrequently at the end). It gets the creature off me, and on to my cat again (rarely, it jumps on to my shadow/battle priest, who can't resist the temptation to throw her two cents into the fray...). Feigning, while it has the upside of scaring the heck out of Daramoon, tends to get resisted more often than disengage. Windfoot put that under the heading of useless. Is it still so?

Also, has volley any use (aside from the pleasure derived from watching arrows rain out of the sky and onto helpless casters, that is...)?

On the strategy front: if my battle cleric pulls something on to her, I try to pull it on to me instead - which is easier than having my pet change targets and attempt to gain its hatred, and also takes far less time (usually one or two well placed arrows in the backside does the trick). While I know this gives her two things to heal - me and my pet - it's better than having her get pummeled into oblivion...isn't it?

[sorrieenrei]

Each has their own style of playing. To address each of your points from my point of view (Landorian, 60 hunter):

I have read, and have seen, that multi-shot is very useful in dealing damage. The downsides are mana drain, and the potential to pull another target accidentally (though the latter happens infrequently if your eyes are actually open as you draw your bowstring back). But the upside appears to be quicker fights, and Sweet Nectar is cheap as an after-battle elixir.

As a hunter, during a regular fight with a single (my level or within 4 up or down) I have never ran out of mana. As far as using multi-shot, I would say that while soloing use it at your discresion. I use it as part of my cycle and it is great. You need to be aware of your surroundings because you can pull an extra mob. When grouping or raiding, I recommend not to use it. It is to easy to pull extra mobs and killing yourself is one thing, your party that is not good at all.

When I solo I hunters mark, pull with Aimed shot, if you do not have aimed start with concussion, I would follow with concussion, sting, arcane, multi and if the mob was still alive more than auto shot could handle I would do another arcane. This worked well for me and I hardly ever had downtime. (keep drink on hand.)

Also, and maybe even more importantly: Windfoot placed disengage on the B-list too. I've found I use it often when my cat can't hold aggro (critical hits come at poor times, especially in the start of a fight and too infrequently at the end). It gets the creature off me, and on to my cat again (rarely, it jumps on to my shadow/battle priest, who can't resist the temptation to throw her two cents into the fray...). Feigning, while it has the upside of scaring the heck out of Daramoon, tends to get resisted more often than disengage. Windfoot put that under the heading of useless. Is it still so?

I never used disengaged much but I have always tried to control my agro. But on the occasion that I got agro I have used it to much success. As far as Feign death, I use it like a champ! Learn to use your FD wisely and you will become an excellent hunter. FD is used to multi trap, disengage mobs, scare the healer, lose combat and many other things.

Also, has volley any use (aside from the pleasure derived from watching arrows rain out of the sky and onto helpless casters, that is...)?

I use volley while raiding. Now make sure you listen closely to me because I don’t want you to get in trouble and blame me lol. I only use it when the mobs are manageable (ie not elite) or the mage is already in there aoe and there is no way my piddley little volley is going to pull agro. I wouldn’t use it if you are not comfortable with agro control.

As a general rule, I do not use any, ANY special shots until the mob is at 90%. I do not use any large damage shots until the mob is at 80%. In other words, I only use auto shot until 90% the other time is spent either Ccing a mob with a trap, pulling a mob off someone to bring back to a trap, or marking etc. I do not use Multi or Aimed until after 80%. This has helped me greatly with agro control. Now granted, sometimes you get that 1500 crit Aimed shot that pulls agro and that will happen. The tank will freak out and scream don’t use Aimed shot!Q@!! If you are a high Agility and crit gear hunter, I would not use Aimed in raids. Just my 2 cents.

I hope this helps ya.

[Windfoot]

Thanks Heng. I wrote this guide ages ago, and disengage was "fixed" (somewhat) in a later patch.

As MT for the raids, I've said my fair share of "please do not use aimed shot" to hunters (which might FEEL to the hunter like "The tank will freak out and scream don’t use Aimed shot!Q@!!"). It sure is troublesome running after yanked mobs to regain aggro-control. However, there are hunters who use aimed shot well. There are two ways to do this: 1. use it when you won't pull aggro; 2. use it intentionally to pull aggro. The trouble is that many hunters do not use it well, and just like to see the big crit numbers. As a leader I, and others, find it safer and more fun for everyone if hunters are asked not to use aimed shot while instancing.

In my (rather dusty) opinion, your pet's growl is the best way to pull aggro off a healer. But I'm not an expert any more.

[Celera]

In general, I agree that the pet, with growl, is the best choice for getting aggro off a healer. Usually the pet isn't doing anything critical.

But the best choice in general isn't always the best choice at any given moment. In a pinch, I'll go over an melee a mob to get it off a healer.

Aimed shot, multishot and volley all have their uses. I hate to say always or never, because situations can be unpredictable. But you do have to know how much aggro they will draw, how much aggro your pet or the tank can hold, and have a backup plan. I usually save aimed shot for when the mob is nearly dead or there are enough people tanking him that I feel pretty sure I won't rise to the top of the hate list.

it is fun to see those big crit numbers. But not so much fun if you only see them as you are dying

[Heng Arikana]

Thank you all for your wisdom. From it, I can see that I should let my cat try to get aggro off my healer, even if she is MT in our small groups. Though Daramoon knows my style of play already and will accept having to heal two of us, another healer might not understand. In coming battles, I will change her target should my healer get attacked - and if aggression does not change, then I'll pull the foe on to me. Can't let my healer die, regardless of my fate.

I admit that I do need to cut down on my specialty shots also, even in small combat, as I have found that I often run low on mana which leaves us in a predicament should other foes join the fray unexpectedly.

Certain things become habit-forming, and if I do not break some of my bad habits, it might cause the deaths of my comrades at some future time.

And, M'Lord Windfoot, your advice is most welcome, regardless of whether it has been two days or two months since you last pulled an arrow from your quiver.

[sorrieenrei]

which might FEEL to the hunter like "The tank will freak out and scream don’t use Aimed shot!Q@!!"

This comment was not aimed at you and was mainly for humor. Hopefully it was taken that way.

Heng, the best advise I can give to you in a group or raids situation is control your agro and control your pet. There have been a few times where I was either tired or just having an off day and I dismissed my pet. Sometimes you just have too. It is better to not have it than to have it running all over the place getting you in trouble. I have also had to just not use Aimed shot. As Wind said some hunter can use it, most cannot to be honest. It is hard to not get agro when you do constant high damage and then pop a huge 1500 on top of it. As I said before, don't use them until at least 80% and you should be fine but if you find that you are getting agro off the tank (which wont always be your fault, sometimes Tanks have a hard time keeping agro) just stop using them.

[Kalmorith]

Regarding Multi-Shot, the determining factor in using it safely is knowing the proximity of your target to un-aggroed mobs. Multi-Shot uses a circular radius around the target to detemine its kill-zone. Anything in that radius, up to the limit of arrows in the Multi-Shot, will get hit. Knowing this radius will allow you to safely put damage on multiple mobs, which is an asset. Misjudging can cause an embarrassing situation. When used carefully, it can drop three or four well-aggroed and damaged mobs, and end the fight very quickly. It really should only be used on mobs that are clearly isolated from any unaggroed baddies.

Disengage is a simple aggro-shedding spell. It's effect on aggro is the same as a priest's Fade and the like. It simply subtracts a set amount of aggro from you. If you use it the moment you gain hate (which means your aggro surplus has just exceeded the level the mob had on the tank) then you can usually drop your aggro below that threshhold and lose the hate. If your "tank" is your pet, same effect. If it fails, you can always throw your arms up, shout "Argh!!" and play dead.

By the way, speaking of pets, I now always leave Growl on. Growl does NOT emit a constant threat to mobs. It is simply an aggro-gathering spell that the pet uses on a targeted mob. I don't send my pet out after baddies much in groups, but have lately been putting her on "stay" near the healer so that she is close by in case needed. 'Staying' a 'growled' pet near the healer is a great way to keep an aggro-pulling option close at hand. On the same note, a 'growled' pet sent to compete with the Main Tank is a huge pain in the butt, and should not be done. It only makes the tank's job harder. A 'cowered' pet can nip away at the main tank's target, with a much less chance of exceeding the tank's level of gathered aggro.

[Celera]

Kal, that is an excellent idea.

I've been sending the pet in, and then calling them back if they are needed to help the healer. Having to turn growl on and off complicates this quite a bit, especially since I have the slower reflexes that come with advanced age

I have been working on more specialized pets -- Tim is great for soloing, but Nigel will eventually have no growl and just do damage, and the boar will be all about tanking. That would make the boar perfect when "healer protection" is the priority and Nigel just fine when extra dps would help.