WORLD OF WARCRAFT
WRATH OF THE LICH KING
Hunter Guide
Systems: PC, Mac
Author: UltimaZER0 (ultimazer0@msn.com, Jonathan Wong)
On Eredar Server: Eldrethor, Lv.80 Dwarf Hunter <The Hand of Fate>
Initial Release: 04/25/06
Current Release: 06/06/09
Current Version: 3.1.0
===============================================================================
----------------------------------[ UPDATES ]----------------------------------
===============================================================================
Version 3.1.0 – 06/06/09
- The Version number of this guide will now reflect the latest version of the
actual game. As a result, this version is titled 3.00 despite being an
update from the original version 3.05.
- Massive cleanup. All chapters and sections have been revamped and edited to
be more concise and accurate. All tooltips, professions, pet abilities, pet
stats, and many other parts of this guide have been revamped and updated for
the expansion.
- Since I have retired from World of Warcraft, this may be my final update.
I may choose to renew my account at a later time.
===============================================================================
---------------------------[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]-------------------------------
===============================================================================
I. Introduction
II. Legal Information
III. Combat Basics
a. About The Hunter
b. Choosing Your Race
c. Choosing Your Professions
IV. Hunter Abilities
a. Beast Mastery
b. Marksmanship
c. Survival
V. Hunter Talents
a. Beast Mastery
b. Marksmanship
c. Survival
VI. Talent Specialization
a. Beast Mastery (BM)
b. Marksmanship (MM)
c. Survival (SV)
VII. Pet Management
a. Pet Taming & Care
b. Using Your Pet
VIII. Pet Types & Skills
a. Pet Types
b. Trainable Skills Index
IX. Pet Families & Abilities
a. Standard Abilities
b. Ferocity Pets
c. Tenacity Pets
d. Cunning Pets
X. Building Your Character
a. Understanding Stats
b. Technical Issues
c. Gemming Your Equipment
d. Choosing Melee Weapons
e. Enchanting Your Equipment
XI. Raiding
a. The Progression Ladder
b. Passing The Gear Check
c. Attack Patterns
d. Important Add-Ons
e. What Equipment to Look For
XII. Future Plans
XIII. Milestones
XIV. Credits
===============================================================================
------------------------------[ I. Introduction ]------------------------------
===============================================================================
The hunter class has a lot going for it. You have the potential to inflict a
lot of damage, you have a knack for survival that other classes simply don’t
have, and you are incredibly versatile. However, a lot of that is meaningless
if you don’t know how your class works. This guide is designed to show you the
ins and outs of the Hunter class. I will be covering many topics, including pet
selections, talents, abilities, mechanics, and much more. My goal is to give
you a better understanding of how your class works, and how to make the most of
the many different abilities that you have.
Much of what is written here is what I’ve learned from personal experience,
research, and guidance from the hunter community. Though mostly accurate, I may
not always be right about certain things. I am always open to suggestions, and
you are always more than welcome to send me an e-mail if you believe that
something I’ve written is incorrect.
I also use some common abbreviations in my guide, some common, others not so
much. You will see me use the following:
BM-Hunter = Beast Mastery Hunter
MM-Hunter = Marksmanship Hunter
SV-Hunter = Survival Hunter
RAP = Ranged Attack Power
AP = Attack Power
Crit = Critical Strike
GCD = Global Cooldown
T7, T8, T9 = Tier 7, 8, 9 (Referring to 10-man Armor Sets)
T7+, T8+, T9+ = Tier 7, 8, 9 (Referring to 25-man Armor Sets)
DW = Dual Wield
2H, 1H = Two-Handed, One-Handed
I am also very PvE-oriented as a player so much of what I cover will focus very
heavily on the PvE aspect of the game.
===============================================================================
---------------------------[ II. Legal Information ]---------------------------
===============================================================================
This document is Copyright ultimazer0@msn.com. All rights reserved. This
document may not be altered or used for profit without the written consent of
its original author. As of the seventh of August, year two thousand and eight,
the following establishments have my permission to host their guide on their
websites or publications under said conditions:
GameFAQs.com
1Up.com
SuperCheats.com
GamersGuides.com
Gameabolic.com
Gamerstemple.com
DLH.net
s13.invisionfree.com/Ehgeiz/
<Random Acts> (www.randomactsguild.net)
Orderofarcane.com
www.honestgamers.com
Fatal Legacy (www.fatallegacy.org)
WoW Newsletter from “Melissa” of Topvideogameguides.com [Title Pending]
www.world-of-warcraft-tipps.de
www.hunterftw.com
www.gamertales.com
www.stvsweets.com
www.curse.com, www.curse-gaming.com
www.GamersHell.com
www.CheatMasters.com
If you bought this guide from auctioneers, you’ve been ripped off. This guide
is primarily hosted on GameFAQs for free.
===============================================================================
----------------------------[ III. Getting Started ]---------------------------
===============================================================================
This chapter will help you get started by introducing you to what the hunter
has to offer, what each selectable race has to contribute to the class, and
what each profession has in store for you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. About The Hunter
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So what does a hunter have to offer? Here is what you need to know...
-------------
Ranged Damage
-------------
At its very core, the hunter is an archer/ranger. As such, you have an innate
15% Haste built into your ranged attacks. You can make the most of bows, guns,
and crossbows with your wide arsenal of Shots and Stings, many of which can be
used quickly with little delay. Although you specialize in physical damage,
your abilities cover a wide array of elements, include Arcane, Fire, Shadow,
Nature, and to a certain degree, Frost.
----
Pets
----
A major highlight of the hunter class is the ability to tame wild beasts and
make them your companions. Unlike other classes that feature pets, there is a
lot of diversity when it comes to hunter pets. There are several pet families
available to you in a wide variety of skins. You can also customize your pet
with its own set of talents to choose from.
-------------
Group Utility
-------------
While a hunter may not be able to run around buffing players with spells like
Mark of the Wild, a party or raid can benefit greatly from having one around.
Ferocious Inspiration, Trueshot Aura, and Hunting Party are each raid-wide and
are generally potent enough that they are not easily overwritten by other
buffs. That and Misdirection allows you to safely apply an ample amount of
initial threat on a tank when pulling mobs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Choosing Your Race
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the start of the game, you have seven different races to choose from. Your
choice will affect your racial abilities, initial stats, and the location at
which the game begins. Each race is also associated with one of the two
factions: the dwarves, night elves, and draenei serve the Alliance, while the
orcs, trolls, tauren, and blood elves serve the Horde.
For convenience, here is quick Stats Comparison chart for each race.
Assume that these numbers are for a level 1 Hunter.
====================================================================
| RACE | STR | AGL | STA | INT | SPR | ARMOR | HEALTH | MANA |
====================================================================
| Dwarf | 22 | 19 | 24 | 19 | 20 | 40 | 86 | 84 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Night Elf | 17 | 28 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 58 | 46 | 85 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Draenei | 21 | 20 | 20 | 21 | 23 | 42 | 46 | 100 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Orc | 23 | 20 | 23 | 17 | 24 | 42 | 76 | 82 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Troll | 21 | 25 | 22 | 16 | 22 | 52 | 66 | 81 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Tauren | 25 | 18 | 23 | 15 | 23 | 38 | 80 | 80 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| Blood Elf | 17 | 25 | 19 | 24 | 20 | 54 | 45 | 145 |
====================================================================
-----
Dwarf
-----
22 Strength Health: 86
19 Agility Mana: 84
24 Stamina Armor: 40
19 Intellect
20 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Frost Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%.
Find Treasure: Activate to see treasure chests on mini map.
Gun Specialization: Your chance to critically hit with Guns is increased by 1%.
Racial Ability: Stoneform
EFFECT: While active, grants immunity to Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects.
In addition, Armor increased by 10%. Lasts 8 sec.
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
Racial Mount: Ram
---------
Night Elf
---------
17 Strength Health: 46
28 Agility Mana: 85
20 Stamina Armor: 50
20 Intellect
21 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Nature Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%.
Quickness: Reduces the chance that melee and ranged attackers will hit you by
2%.
Wisp Spirit: Transform into a wisp upon death, increasing speed by 75%.
Racial Ability: Shadowmeld
EFFECT: Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to
detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is
restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect.
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
Racial Mount: Nightsaber
-------
Draenei
-------
21 Strength Health: 46
20 Agility Mana: 100
20 Stamina Armor: 42
21 Intellect
23 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Shadow Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by Shadow spells by 2%.
Gemcutting: +5 Jewelcrafting
Heroic Presence: Increases chance to hit by 1% for you and all party members
within 30 yards.
Racial Ability: Gift of the Naaru
EFFECT: Heals the target 50 + 15/Level over 15 seconds.
RANGE: 40 yards
CAST: 1.5 sec.
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
Racial Mount: Elekk
---
Orc
---
23 Strength Health: 76
20 Agility Mana: 82
23 Stamina Armor: 42
17 Intellect
24 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Axe Specialization: Expertise with Axes and Two-Handed Axes increased by 5.
Command: Damage dealt by Hunter pets increased by 5%.
Hardiness: Duration of Stun effects reduced by an additional 15%.
Racial Ability: Blood Fury
EFFECT: Increases attack power by about 4 per character level (320 at 80), but
reduces healing effects on you 50%. Lasts 15 sec.
COOLDOWN: 2 min.
Racial Mount: Wolf
-----
Troll
-----
21 Strength Health: 66
25 Agility Mana: 81
22 Stamina Armor: 52
16 Intellect
22 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Beast Slaying: Damage dealt versus Beasts increased by 5%.
Throwing Specialization: Your chance to critically hit with Throwing Weapons is
increased by 1%.
Bow Specialization: Your chance to critically hit with Bows is increased by 1%.
Regeneration: Health regeneration rate increased by 10%. 10% of total Health
regeneration may continue during combat.
Racial Ability: Berserking
EFFECT: Increases your casting and attack speed by 10% to 30%. At full health
the speed increase is 10% with a greater effect up to 30% if you are badly
hurt when you activate Berserking. Lasts 10 sec.
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
Racial Mount: Raptor
------
Tauren
------
25 Strength Health: 76
18 Agility Mana: 80
23 Stamina Armor: 38
15 Intellect
23 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Cultivation: +15 Herbalism Skill
Endurance: Base Health increased by 5%.
Nature Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by Nature spells by 2%.
Racial Ability: War Stomp
EFFECT: Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
CAST: 0.5 sec.
COOLDOWN: 2 min.
Racial Mount: Kodo
---------
Blood Elf
---------
17 Strength Health: 54
25 Agility Mana: 25
19 Stamina Armor: 54
24 Intellect
20 Spirit
Racial Traits:
Arcane Affinity: +10 Enchanting
Magic Resistance: Reduces the chance you will be hit by spells by 2%.
Racial Ability: Arcane Torrent
EFFECT: Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec. In addition, you
gain 5 +1/Level Mana restored per Mana Tap charge currently affecting
you.
RANGE: 8 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 2 min.
Racial Mount: Hawkstrider
-------------------
The Choice Is Yours
-------------------
There are lots of factors when it comes to deciding which race you want. Some
players choose their race based upon stats, racial bonuses, and abilities,
while others choose their race based upon their overall aesthetics. Others may
prefer the sleek finesse of the Blood Elves while others prefer the stalwart
composure of the Night Elves. In the end, what really matters is not which race
has what but how you apply your skills and knowledge to the game with whatever
abilities you may have. A character is only as good as its player.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Choosing Your Professions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your profession will be a major helping hand to you in this game and choosing
the right ones will benefit you a lot. Here are your choices:
--------------
Leatherworking
--------------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Mail Armor Patterns Bracer Enchants
Ammo Containers Easy Leg Patches
Armor Patches
Leatherworking primarily allows you to craft leather and mail armor as you grow
in level but there is also a whole slew of other goods that you can make as a
leatherworker, including armor patches, ammo containers, and battle drums. As
your skill grows, you can branch off into Dragonscale Leatherworking, which
grants you access to higher grade mail armor patterns.
Because leatherworkers require leather, hides, and scales, the best gathering
profession to have is Skinning.
-----------
Engineering
-----------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Crafted Guns & Ammo Epic Helm
Jumper Cables & Repair Bots
Lots of Fun Toys
Engineering is a quirky profession because of the fun toys that you can craft
besides guns and bullets. You can craft a wild assortment of devices that make
your live a lot easier in one way or another, the most practical of which
happen to be Jumper Cables and Repair Bots. There are other devices too, many
of which are just bizarre: battle chickens, explosive sheep, target dummies,
arrow dispensers, and much more.
At a certain point, you will have to choose between Goblin Engineering and
Gnomish Engineering. Whichever one you choose will grant you access to
exclusive recipes, though neither one is really all that much better than the
other. While gnomes prefer machinery, goblins specialize in explosives.
Engineering tends to be tedious because many recipes require a wide range of
materials and reagents including cloth and leather, but nearly all recipes
require gems and precious metals that can be found with the Mining skill.
-------
Alchemy
-------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Potions & Elixirs Extended Consumable Effects & Durations
Transmutations
Alchemy Stones
As an alchemist, you can craft a wide variety of potions and elixirs for the
whole family. You can also transmute elemental reagents and change their
element from one to another, though that tends to come with a long cooldown.
While it seems like nothing is permanent, alchemists get the added bonus of
being able to craft Alchemy Stones, which are trinkets with very high stats
and an added bonus that boosts the effect of whatever potions you use.
----------
Enchanting
----------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Do-It-Yourself Enchants Ring Enchants
As an enchanter, you can disenchant items into reagents, which in turn can be
used to enchant your weapons and armor. Although anyone can enchant your gear,
having the profession grants you access to exclusive enchants that are
otherwise unavailable to you.
Enchanting is very costly because the only way to get the reagents you need is
by disenchanting whatever items drop your way. You can also try the Auction
House but bargains are hard to come by. For this reason, Enchanting should be
taken late when you can clear lower level dungeons more easily and have access
to daily quests that reward you with gold.
Since cloth is the primary material for enchanters, you are free to choose
whatever you’d like as a second profession.
-------------
Jewelcrafting
-------------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Crafted Rings, Necks, & Trinkets Jeweler’s Gems
Cut Your Own Gems
Jewelcrafting allows you to take metals and gemstones, and turn them into
rings, necklaces, and trinkets. As you make your way through the 70’s and 80’s,
you will also find recipes that teach you how to cut precious stones into gems
that can be placed in item sockets. As an added bonus, you gain access to
recipes for powerful high-end gems that can only be used by you.
-----------
Inscription
-----------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Craft Your Own Glyphs High-Quality Shoulder Enchants
Tarot Cards
Inscription allows you to craft glyphs, a series of power-ups that permanently
augment a player’s spells and abilities. Unlike other crafting professions,
new recipes are learned through Researching, which creates a random scroll or
glyph while adding a new recipe to your collection. You can also craft many of
those nifty stat scrolls that you come across every now and then. Inscription
also offers off-hand tomes and collectible cards but neither are really of much
use to you.
Inscription comes with a sub-profession called Milling, which allows you take
herbs and grind them into necessary reagents. For this reason, herbalism serves
as the ideal gathering profession to pair with this.
-------------
Blacksmithing
-------------
BENEFITS EXCLUSIVES
Endgame Melee Weapons Glove & Bracer Sockets
Some Mail Armor Patterns
Eternium Belt Buckles
This profession caters mostly to classes that wear plate mail. As such, much of
the weapons and armor that can be crafted are specifically tailored to the
needs of such classes. Blacksmithing generally isn’t recommended for hunters
because of the very low selection of gear available to you, but the ability to
apply sockets to your bracers and gloves is a great benefit to you, especially
if you have access to some of the exclusive gems that jewelcrafters can cut.
------
Mining
------
BONUS ABILITY
Toughness: All your hard work spent mining has made you exceptionally tough,
increasing your Stamina.
RANK SKILL BONUS
1 75-149 +3 Stamina
2 150-224 +5 Stamina
3 225-299 +7 Stamina
4 300-374 +10 Stamina
5 375-449 +30 Stamina
6 450 +50 Stamina
Mining allows you to gather ores, stones, and gems from mineral veins. Using a
sub-skill called Smelting, you can convert the ore to metal bars. These
materials can then be used for blacksmithing, jewelcrafting, and engineering.
Mining is generally the slowest of the three gathering professions because of
how far and wide mineral veins are at higher levels. However, it is very
rewarding because it gives you to chance to find rare materials that may
otherwise hit your wallet hard in the auction house.
--------
Skinning
--------
BONUS ABILITY
Master of Anatomy: Skinning all those dead animals has broadened your
anatomical knowledge, increasing your critical strike rating.
RANK SKILL BONUS
1 75-149 +3 Crit Rating
2 150-224 +6 Crit Rating
3 225-299 +9 Crit Rating
4 300-374 +12 Crit Rating
5 375-449 +20 Crit Rating
6 450 +32 Crit Rating
Skinning allows you to skin fallen corpses for leathers, hides, and scales,
making it the perfect gathering profession for leatherworks. It’s also very
easy to level since mobs are very abundant, especially in jungle habitats.
Conveniently, the Master of Anatomy bonus is a great buff for you as a hunter.
It also serves as a great incentive to take leatherworking, though some prefer
to take other crafting professions for the sake of exclusive bonuses such as
the extra sockets that blacksmiths can hammer into their gear.
---------
Herbalism
---------
BONUS ABILITY
Lifeblood: Uses your skill in Herbalism to absorb energy and nutrients from the
earth, healing you over 5 sec. Can be used while stealthed or invisible.
3 minute cooldown.
RANK SKILL BONUS
1 75-149 Heals for 300 health.
2 150-224 Heals for 480 health.
3 225-299 Heals for 720 health.
4 300-374 Heals for 900 health.
5 375-449 Heals for 1200 health.
6 450 Heals for 2000 health.
Herbalism allows you to find and gather many of the herbs that grow throughout
the lands, which in turn can be used by inscribers and alchemists. Just as with
mining, this profession requires that you travel cross-country to get the herbs
you need. However, herbs are abundant enough that you will find that your skill
will grow quickly as you progress through each region of the world.
Herbalism also provides you with a free self-healing spell called Lifeblood,
which runs on a three-minute cooldown. It comes in handy for those times when
you need a heal when bandages and potions are out of the question.
---------------------
Secondary Professions
---------------------
FIRST AID
This is an absolute necessity. With First Aid, you can convert cloth to
bandages that heal you for significant amounts of health. Bandages are useful
for any situation where you need quick and immediate health recovery.
First Aid also allows you to make antidotes for poisons but trying to collect
the materials needed to make them is more trouble than it’s worth.
COOKING
Knowing how to cook isn’t necessary but it would make your life a lot easier.
You can take raw meats and turn them into edible goods, many of which boost
your stats for a short period of time. Such foods are extremely valuable in a
raiding environment.
FISHING
There are plenty of Alchemy and Cooking recipes that use fish, and the one
profession that will help you get those materials is none other than Fishing.
It’s slow, boring, and takes a very long time to level but it’s the only way to
get the fish you need for those recipes. If you get lucky, you may fish up
something nice...
===============================================================================
--------------------------[ IV. Hunter Abilities ]-----------------------------
===============================================================================
This section will give you a full analysis of each of your abilities. As a
hunter, you will have many abilities to work with, which will easily take up
most of your action bars. The trackers already account for eight of your slots.
I recommend that you enable all of your action bars and set hotkeys to them.
Some players assign their Function keys to their top-left action bar. I prefer
to use my Shift-number keys instead.
To clarify mana costs, each ability costs a percentage of your base mana pool,
meaning that the cost that you see in-game is based on the amount of mana you
would have if you were to have 0 Intellect and no talents or buffs. Your base
mana will increase as you level, which means that your mana costs will rise
proportionally as you grow. Base mana varies from class to class.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Beast Mastery
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This set contains abilities that are related to your pet, as well as an
assortment of Aspects and several other support abilities.
-------------------
Aspect of the Beast
-------------------
ACTION: The hunter takes on the aspects of a beast, becoming untrackable and
increasing melee attack power of the hunter and the hunter's pet by 10%.
Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
30 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: This ability is very situational. Its hiding component is seldom used
because only druids and other hunters are capable of tracking you. Its damage
component is somewhat mediocre because you have very few melee options to work
with. However, you can use this Aspect instead of Monkey when you absolutely
must fight at melee right but are not on the receiving end of a melee swing.
You will not find yourself in that situation often though.
---------------------
Aspect of the Cheetah
---------------------
ACTION: The hunter takes on the aspects of a cheetah, increasing movement speed
by 30%. If the hunter takes damage, he will be dazed for 4 sec. Only one
Aspect can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
20 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Cheetah is a great way to travel through areas where you are unable
to use your mount. That and it is a key component for kiting. At 30% speed,
you run at roughly the same pace as elites in a five-man instance. The only
obvious downside is the Daze effect, which can ruin a well-executed kite.
Be careful of mobs that that have spells or ranged attacks.
------------------------
Aspect of the Dragonhawk
------------------------
ACTION: The hunter takes on the aspects of a dragonhawk, increasing ranged
attack power by 230 and chance to dodge by 18%. Only one Aspect can be active
at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
75 1 0 230 ranged attack power. 18% chance to dodge.
80 2 0 300 ranged attack power. 18% chance to dodge.
OVERVIEW: Switching between Aspects of the Hawk and Monkey may not seem so bad
but there are more than enough situations where the time it takes to do so can
be constraining on your performance. Taking the best of both Aspects, this
ability effectively replaces them by giving you best of both Hawk and Monkey.
With this, you’ll never have to go back to either Aspect ever again.
------------------
Aspect of the Hawk
------------------
ACTION: The hunter takes on the aspects of a hawk, increasing ranged attack
power by 20. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
10 1 0 Ranged attack power bonus starts at 20.
18 2 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 35.
28 3 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 50.
38 4 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 70.
48 5 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 90.
58 6 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 110.
60 7 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 120.
68 8 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 155.
74 9 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 230.
80 10 0 Ranged attack power bonus increased to 300.
OVERVIEW: As plain and simple as this ability looks, it’s the most used Aspect
that you learn. You will want this active at all times, switching only when a
situation calls for a different Aspect.
--------------------
Aspect of the Monkey
--------------------
ACTION: The hunter takes on the aspects of a monkey, increasing chance to dodge
by 18%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
4 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Early on, this Aspect helps mitigate some of the damage that your pet
would otherwise soak up. Sadly, it gets left off to the side once you acquire
a pet and Aspect of the Hawk. It’s not that it becomes useless. It’s just that
as you start accumulating more of your tactical abilities such as Freezing
Trap and Disengage, there is less of a need to switch to Monkey. That and at
level 75, Monkey is permanently replaced by Dragonhawk.
------------------
Aspect of the Pack
------------------
ACTION: The hunter and raid members within 40 yards take on the aspects of a
pack of cheetahs, increasing movement speed by 30%. If a pack member takes
damage, they will be dazed for 4 sec. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
40 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: This is basically Aspect of the Cheetah for the whole pack. It’s
good for running a group through long indoor environments. Just remember to
turn it off when your group runs into a fight.
-------------------
Aspect of the Viper
-------------------
ACTION: The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged and melee
attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. In
addition, you gain 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the
speed of your ranged weapon. Requires a ranged weapon. Only one Aspect can be
active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
64 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: When your mana pool is starting to run low, this is what you need to
get back on your feet. With every attack you do, you will gain a percentage of
your total mana equal to your weapon speed. Because your damage gets cut in
half, you need to spend as little time as possible in this Aspect. There are
quite a few ways to minimize your Viper time. More on this in a later section.
------------------
Aspect of the Wild
------------------
ACTION: The hunter and group members within 30 yards take on the aspect of the
wild, increasing Nature resistance by 45. Only one Aspect can be active at a
time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1.0 sec. (linked with other Aspects)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
46 1 0 Nature resist bonus starts at 45.
56 2 0 Nature resist bonus increased to 60.
68 3 0 Nature resist bonus increased to 70.
76 4 0 Nature resist bonus increased to 130.
OVERVIEW: This works the same way as a Paladin aura. It helps during encounters
that require Nature resistance.
----------
Beast Lore
----------
ACTION: Gather information about the target beast. The tooltip will display
damage, health, armor, any special resistances, and diet. In addition, Beast
Lore will reveal whether or not the creature is tameable and what abilities
the tamed creature has.
RANGE: 40 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
24 n/a 40 n/a
OVERVIEW: Beast Lore gives you a quick analysis of a beast-type mob or player
in a handy little tooltip. Highlights include health, armor, attack damage,
and resistances. It’s generally more of a novelty than anything else but you
never know when those bits of data may come in handy. Lasts thirty seconds.
-------------
Bestial Wrath
-------------
ACTION: Send your pet into a rage causing 50% additional damage for 18 sec.
While enraged, the beast does not feel pity or remorse or fear and it cannot
be stopped unless killed.
RANGE: 100 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 2 min.
NOTE: This move is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
40 n/a 12% n/a
OVERVIEW: As a standalone ability, Bestial Wrath is lethal when used with the
right pet, preferably Ferocity pets. The key to its potency lies in its
synergies with many of the talents in the Beast Mastery tree. With so many
bonuses contributing to your pet’s damage, Bestial Wrath simply takes
everything and pushes it over the edge for those eighteen seconds.
---------
Eagle Eye
---------
ACTION: Zooms in the hunter's vision. Only usable outdoors. Lasts 1 min.
RANGE: 50,000 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
14 n/a 1% n/a
OVERVIEW: Eagle Eye is great for outdoor recon. Target a spot on the ground or
on the side of a mountain and you get a nice view of the surrounding area as
though you were standing in that spot. The only problem with this ability is
that it leaves you completely wide open while the spell is active, which can
be a risk factor in a Battleground.
-----------------
Eyes of the Beast
-----------------
ACTION: Take direct control of your pet and see through its eyes for 1 min.
RANGE: 50,000 yards
CAST: 2 sec.
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
14 n/a 1% n/a
OVERVIEW: There are very few uses for taking direct control of your pet but
every now and then, there are moments when the AI isn’t capable of getting
your pet to where it needs to go.
--------
Feed Pet
--------
ACTION: Feed your pet the selected item. Feeding your pet increases happiness.
Using food close to the pet's level will have a better result.
RANGE: 10 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
NOTE: You receive this skill as a quest reward.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
10 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Feeding your pet is important because its happiness affects loyalty
and base damage. Each time you use Feed Pet, it gives your pet a ten-second
buff that increases its happiness over time, maxing at 35 Happiness per tick.
However, if it takes damage, the buff goes away. More on this later.
------------
Intimidation
------------
ACTION: Command your pet to intimidate the target on the next successful melee
attack, causing a high amount of threat and stunning the target for 3 sec.
RANGE: 100 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
NOTE: This move is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
30 n/a 8% n/a
OVERVIEW: Use this as you would with any interrupt ability. The high threat is
nice but the real kicker is that stun that comes with it. Even though the
effect only occurs on the next melee attack, Cobra Reflexes and Serpent’s
Swiftness can help speed up the process.
------------
Kill Command
------------
ACTION: Give the command to kill, increasing your pet's damage done from
special attacks by 60%. Each special attack done by the pet reduces the damage
bonus by 20%. Lasts 30 seconds.
RANGE: 45 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
66 1 3% Special attack bonus +60%.
OVERVIEW: Use this whenever you need your pet to throw in a few quick bursts of
damage. Keep in mind that although these bonuses may look small, your choice
of talents and pets will decide how much of a benefit you will gain from Kill
Command. A BM-Hunter with a Ferocity pet will obviously make better use of
this than a SV-Hunter with a Tenacity pet.
--------
Mend Pet
--------
ACTION: Heals your pet for 125 health over 15 sec.
RANGE: 20 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
12 1 13% Total healing starts at 125.
20 2 13% Healing increased to 250.
28 3 13% Healing increased to 450.
36 4 13% Healing increased to 700.
44 5 13% Healing increased to 1000.
52 6 13% Healing increased to 1400.
60 7 13% Healing increased to 1825.
68 8 9% Healing increased to 2375.
74 9 9% Healing increased to 4250.
80 10 9% Healing increased to 5250.
OVERVIEW: This spell ticks every three seconds for a total of five ticks.
Think of it as your own version of Renew. If you are ever in a situation
where you need to heal your pet, always pull your pet away from danger.
Mend Pet takes time to kick in so your furry companion can get killed during
those three seconds between the moment you cast the spell and the moment it
first ticks.
----------
Revive Pet
----------
ACTION: Revive your pet, returning it to life with 15% of its health.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: 10 sec.
COOLDOWN: n/a
NOTE: You receive this skill as a quest reward.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
10 n/a 80% n/a
OVERVIEW: The mana cost and casting time of this spell is one of many reasons
why keeping your pet alive is important.
-----------
Scare Beast
-----------
ACTION: Scares a beast, causing it to run in fear for up to 10 sec. Damage
caused may interrupt the effect. Only one beast can be feared at a time.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: 1.5 sec.
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
14 1 3% Fear time starts at 10 sec.
30 2 3% Fear time increased to 15 sec.
45 3 2% Fear time increased to 20 sec.
OVERVIEW: Unlike the paladin’s Turn Undead spell, there are enough beasts in
the game for you to get some decent mileage out of Scare Beast. That and it
works well against druids.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Marksmanship
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marksmanship abilities make up the core bulk of your ranged attacks. Nearly
every Shot and Sting in your arsenal falls under this category.
----------
Aimed Shot
----------
ACTION: An aimed shot that increases ranged damage by 5 and reduces healing
done to that target by 50%. Lasts 10 sec.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec. (linked with Multi-Shot)
NOTE: This ability is available only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
20 1 12% Ranged damage bonus starts at 5.
28 2 12% Ranged damage bonus increased to 35.
36 3 12% Ranged damage bonus increased to 55.
44 4 12% Ranged damage bonus increased to 90.
52 5 12% Ranged damage bonus increased to 110.
60 6 12% Ranged damage bonus increased to 150.
70 7 8% Ranged damage bonus increased to 205.
75 8 8% Ranged damage bonus increased to 345.
80 9 8% Ranged damage bonus increased to 408.
OVERVIEW: Aimed Shot has one key purpose: the healing reduction. Great for
situations where enemy healing is an issue and easy to maintain every ten
seconds. As a raw power shot, it causes roughly the same amount of damage
as Multi-Shot for its base mana cost but hits one target instead of three.
The cost can take a toll on your mana pool but that can be fixed with the
right talents.
-----------
Arcane Shot
-----------
ACTION: An instant shot that causes 15 Arcane damage plus 15% RAP.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 6 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
6 1 7% Base Arcane damage equals 15.
12 2 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 23.
20 3 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 36.
28 4 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 65.
36 5 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 91.
44 6 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 125.
52 7 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 158.
60 8 7% Base Arcane damage increased to 200.
69 9 5% Base Arcane damage increased to 273.
73 10 5% Base Arcane damage increased to 402.
79 11 5% Base Arcane damage increased to 492.
OVERVIEW: This is your primary Shot ability, which you will use whenever it’s
not cooling down. You can fire it while on the move, it mitigates armor,
has a low mana cost, and isn’t affected by spell reflection effects. Very
simple but very effective.
---------
Auto Shot
---------
ACTION: Automatically fire your ranged weapon at the target until cancelled.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Roughly 0.1 sec.
COOLDOWN: Based on Weapon
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
1 n/a n/a n/a
OVERVIEW: This is simply your basic attack with a ranged weapon. Unlike melee
attacks, you must be standing still in order for Auto Shot to fire. However,
you will find that the Shot quickly fires as soon as you stop moving. You
will also notice that it’s linked with your melee auto-attack, which means
that once you fire an Auto Shot, the cooldown occurs before you can swing
your weapon.
------------
Chimera Shot
------------
ACTION: You deal 125% weapon damage, refreshing the current Sting on your
target and triggering an effect:
Serpent Sting - Instantly deals 40% of the damage done by your Serpent Sting.
Viper Sting - Instantly restores mana to you equal to 60% of the total amount
drained by your Viper Sting.
Scorpid Sting - Attempts to Disarm the target for 10 sec.
This effect cannot occur more than once per 1 minute.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
NOTE: This ability is available only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
60 1 12% n/a
OVERVIEW: Chimera Shot is a major heavy hitter for MM-Hunters but its downside
is its high mana cost. While it can get plenty of mileage in dungeons, it’s
too costly to use while questing, especially if you don’t have the Rapid
Recuperation talent to gain back some of that lost mana. More on this later.
---------------
Concussive Shot
---------------
ACTION: Dazes the target, slowing movement speed by 50% for 4 sec.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 12 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
8 n/a 6% n/a
OVERVIEW: Concussive Shot serves both an offensive and defensive purpose. You
can use it to either catch targets that are trying to flee, or slow down an
enemy that’s trying to get near you. It also serves as a setup for Steady
Shot’s bonus damage, though most shot rotations do better without it due to
the global cooldown and the mana used by this Shot.
----------------
Distracting Shot
----------------
ACTION: Distracts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is
already attacking you. Lasts 6 sec.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 8 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
12 1 7% n/a
OVERVIEW: This is basically a ranged Taunt. Very useful for Freeze Trapping
mobs, and also a handy way to save cloth wearers from imminent doom. Note that
unlike the actual Taunt ability, your target will only stay focused on you for
those six seconds. If you are not the highest on threat when the Shot wears
off, it goes back to whoever is on top. This actually makes for a great aggro-
bouncing kiting strategy between you and a second player.
-----
Flare
-----
ACTION: Exposes all hidden and invisible enemies within 10 yards of the
targeted area for 20 sec.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 20 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
32 n/a 2% n/a
OVERVIEW: Flare is great for spotting hidden mobs and players but it’s always a
hit or miss. In PvE, most mobs are predictable enough that you can get away
with the Flare not revealing your target. In PvP, you will not get off the hook
that easily: chances are good that if you do not catch a rogue or druid on the
first Flare, you are entering a world of pain.
-------------
Hunter’s Mark
-------------
ACTION: Places the Hunter's Mark on the target, increasing the ranged attack
power of all attackers against that target by 20. In addition, the target of
this ability can always be seen by the hunter whether it stealths or turns
invisible. The target also appears on the mini-map. Lasts for 2 min.
RANGE: 100 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
6 1 3% Base power set to 20.
22 2 3% Base power set to 45.
40 3 3% Base power set to 75.
58 4 2% Base power set to 110.
76 5 2% Base power set to 300.
OVERVIEW: Hunter’s Mark is very important to you because of the high attack
power bonus that you get for Marking your target. In fact, the highest rank
grants you just as much of a bonus as the highest rank of Aspect of the
Dragonhawk.
---------
Kill Shot
---------
ACTION: You attempt to finish the wounded target off, firing a long range
attack dealing 200% weapon damage plus 410 and 40% of your ranged attack
power. Kill Shot can only be used on enemies that have 20% or less health.
RANGE: 5-45 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 15 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
71 1 7% Base damage set to 410.
75 2 7% Base damage increased to 500.
80 3 7% Base damage increased to 650.
OVERVIEW: True to its namesake, Kill Shot is an attempt at delivering a hard-
hitting, finishing blow to your target. With the right gear and talents, this
ability can crit for well over 10,000 damage. No matter what your shot
rotation look like, use this whenever it’s available.
----------
Multi-Shot
----------
ACTION: Fires several missiles, hitting 3 targets. Higher ranks cause bonus
damage.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: 0.5 sec.
COOLDOWN: 10 sec. (linked with Aimed Shot)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
18 1 13% No bonus damage.
30 2 13% Increases ranged damage by 40.
42 3 13% Increases ranged damage by 80.
54 4 13% Increases ranged damage by 110.
60 5 13% Increases ranged damage by 150.
67 6 9% Increases ranged damage by 205.
74 7 9% Increases ranged damage by 333.
80 8 9% Increases ranged damage by 408.
OVERVIEW: Multi-Shot is great for racking up damage against multiple targets.
You can use it against a single target but this tends to strain your mana pool
because of its mana cost. That little bit of casting time also means that you
have to stop moving if you want to use it. Conveniently, Aimed Shot is a
cheaper--but just as effective--alternative versus single targets.
----------
Rapid Fire
----------
ACTION: Increases ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 min.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
26 n/a 3% n/a
OVERVIEW: Rapid Fire is great for those times when you need a quick burst of
firepower. It affects mainly two abilities: Auto Shot and Steady Shot. Your
attack speed goes up and Steady Shot’s cast time goes down. It’s often best
used together with trinkets that grant AP on use.
---------
Readiness
---------
ACTION: When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your
other Hunter abilities.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 min.
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
50 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Readiness is an emergency button for those times when you need an
ability to finish cooling down right away. You can use it to quickly cool off
something defensive like Deterrence but you can also use it to crank out an
additional Rapid Fire if need to finish off a boss quickly.
-------------
Scorpid Sting
-------------
ACTION: Stings the target, reducing chance to hit with melee and ranged attacks
by 3% for 20 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
22 n/a 11% Chance to hit reduced by 3%.
OVERVIEW: Mobs have too short of a lifespan for a 3% hit reduction to matter,
but it can be useful against hard-hitting bosses. It is also a great way to
overwrite a Serpent or Viper Sting if you plan on caging a mob safely with
Freezing Trap.
-------------
Serpent Sting
-------------
ACTION: Stings the target, causing 20 Nature damage plus 20% RAP over 15 sec.
Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
4 1 13% Base damage dealt starts 20.
10 2 13% Base damage dealt increased to 40.
18 3 13% Base damage dealt increased to 80.
26 4 13% Base damage dealt increased to 140.
34 5 13% Base damage dealt increased to 210.
42 6 13% Base damage dealt increased to 290.
50 7 13% Base damage dealt increased to 385.
58 8 13% Base damage dealt increased to 490.
60 9 13% Base damage dealt increased to 555.
66 10 9% Base damage dealt increased to 660.
73 11 9% Base damage dealt increased to 990.
79 12 9% Base damage dealt increased to 1210.
OVERVIEW: This is a Hunter’s primary damage-over-time ability, which causes
damage every three seconds for a total of five ticks. For its given mana cost,
it’s not as efficient as some of the other abilities in your arsenal, but it
holds synergies with some vital talents, making it an important part of your
offense.
--------------
Silencing Shot
--------------
ACTION: Deals 50% weapon damage and silences the target for 3 seconds.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 20 sec. (unlinked from GCD)
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
51 n/a 6% n/a
OVERVIEW: Silencing Shot can be devastating because of your ability to hit
casters from as far as 41 yards away. It’s great for mobs that like to stand
in one place and cast spells. The best time to use it is just near the end of
a spell, at which point precious time will have been wasted trying to cast
that spell. Just be aware of your timing: that single bullet or arrow takes a
split second to reach its designated target.
-----------
Steady Shot
-----------
ACTION: A steady shot that causes unmodified weapon damage, plus ammo, plus 50
base damage, plus 20% RAP. Causes an additional 175 against Dazed targets.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: 2.0 sec
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
50 1 5% Base damage set to 45, dazed +175.
62 2 5% Base damage set to 108, dazed +175.
71 3 5% Base damage set to 198, dazed +175.
77 4 5% Base damage set to 252, dazed +175.
OVERVIEW: Steady Shot is what you use when everything else is cooling down.
It scales very well with gear since the bulk of the damage is dependent on
your weapon and ammo, plus it’s unlinked with Auto Shot, which means that it
doesn’t get in the way of Auto Shot. Beast Mastery Hunters especially make
great use of this Shot thanks to their Haste bonuses.
------------------
Tranquilizing Shot
------------------
ACTION: Attempts to remove 1 Enrage and 1 Magic effect from an enemy target.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 15 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
60 n/a 8% n/a
OVERVIEW: At first glance, this ability seems like the kind of thing that would
come in handy in PvP, but its high mana and long cooldown are more than enough
to deter you from using this Shot often. If anything, it will most likely come
in handy for certain PvE encounters but otherwise, your mana is better spent
on other abilities.
-------------
Trueshot Aura
-------------
ACTION: Increases the attack power of party and raid members within 45 yards by
10%. Lasts until cancelled.
RANGE: 45 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
40 1 0 Attack power multiplier starts at 10%.
OVERVIEW: Trueshot Aura’s scaling bonus can yield high gains with the right
gear, which makes it a rewarding buff to have as you progressively find better
weapons and armor. It also encourages you to have Careful Aim and Master
Marksman in your talent build, both of which contribute to the Aura’s bonus.
-----------
Viper Sting
-----------
ACTION: Stings the target, draining 616 mana over 8 sec. Only one Sting per
Hunter can be active on any one target.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 15 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
36 1 12% Total mana drained starts at 616.
46 2 12% Total mana drained increased to 848.
56 3 12% Total mana drained increased to 1108.
66 4 8% Total mana drained increased to 1368.
76 5 8% Total mana drained increased to 3092.
OVERVIEW: Mobs have too little health for this mana drain to matter and bosses
have too much mana for it to be effective. This Sting truly shines when used
against other players in PvP, especially against healers. Priests are
particularly not fond of this ability since there is little they can do to
remove Poison effects.
------
Volley
------
ACTION: Continuously fires a volley of ammo at the target area, causing 50
Arcane damage to enemy targets within 8 yards every second for 6 sec.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: 0.5 sec cast, 6-sec channel
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
40 1 24% Damage dealt per second starts at 75.
50 2 24% Damage dealt per second increased to 113.
58 3 24% Damage dealt per second increased to 150.
67 4 17% Damage dealt per second increased to 240.
74 5 17% Damage dealt per second increased to 414.
80 6 17% Damage dealt per second increased to 505.
OVERVIEW: This is your primary ranged area damage ability. Unlike the Volley of
old, this new version causes more damage, allows for critical hits, and no
longer has a cooldown. Much more useful but still comes with a very high mana
cost. Use only when area damage is necessary.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Survival
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Survival consists of a variety of supportive and defensive abilities. Many of
your minimap trackers, traps, melee attacks, and other essential tools fall
under this category.
-----------
Black Arrow
-----------
ACTION: Fires a Black Arrow at the target, increasing all damage done by you to
the target by 6% and dealing 788 Shadow damage plus 10% of your RAP over 15
sec. Black Arrow shares a cooldown with Trap spells.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
50 1 6% Base damage set to 788.
57 2 6% Base damage increased to 940.
63 3 6% Base damage increased to 1205.
69 4 6% Base damage increased to 1480.
75 5 6% Base damage increased to 2240.
80 6 6% Base damage increased to 2765.
OVERVIEW: Once you learn this ability, it becomes a staple. While it isn’t
going to make a difference in a daily quest grind, it makes a world of a
difference when you’re up against a raid boss.
-------------
Counterattack
-------------
ACTION: A strike that becomes active after parrying an opponent's attack. This
attack deals 40 damage plus 20% of your attack power and immobilizes the
target for 5 sec. Counterattack cannot be blocked, dodged, or parried.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 sec.
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
30 1 5% Base damage dealt starts at 48.
42 2 5% Base damage dealt increased to 84.
54 3 5% Base damage dealt increased to 132.
66 4 3% Base damage dealt increased to 196.
72 5 3% Base damage dealt increased to 288.
78 6 3% Base damage dealt increased to 342.
OVERVIEW: Counterattack can turn the tides in combat when your target is close
enough to take a swing at you. The only problem with it is that it relies on
your chance to parry, and it’s linked to the least appealing talent in the
Survival tree: Deflection. However, even with an innately low Parry chance,
it can be your saving grace from Warriors and Rogues if you are planning on
creating a Survival build for PvP.
----------
Deterrence
----------
ACTION: When activated, increases parry chance by 100% and grants a 100% chance
to deflect spells cast by targets in front of you. While Deterrence is
active, you cannot attack. Lasts 5 sec.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
20 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Deterrence is your emergency ability for those times when you are
about to get pounded into hamburger meat by a boss or player. You can also use
it if you want to be a tank for five seconds. Use it wisely.
---------
Disengage
---------
ACTION: You attempt to disengage from the target, leaping backwards. Must be
facing the target.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
20 1 5% n/a
OVERVIEW: Originally designed for threat reduction, Disengage now simply pushes
you back about 13 yards, a tactical move that would be very useful against
melee classes. The greatest downside with Disengage is that it can backfire if
you happen to be standing on an incline, or are standing not too far from the
edge of a cliff.
--------------
Explosive Shot
--------------
ACTION: You fire an explosive charge into the enemy target, dealing 221 to 265
Fire damage plus 14% RAP. The charge will blast the target every second for an
additional 2 sec.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 6 sec. (Linked with Arcane Shot)
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
60 1 10% Shot uses 144 to 172 base Fire damage.
70 2 7% Shot uses 221 to 265 base Fire damage.
75 3 7% Shot uses 325 to 391 base Fire damage.
80 4 7% Shot uses 386 to 464 base Fire damage.
OVERVIEW: Explosive Shot racks up a lot of damage, and each charge has a chance
to crit. It effectively replaces Arcane Shot in most situations, though you
should keep the latter handy for situations where you may not need to spend
the additional 2% mana.
--------------
Explosive Trap
--------------
ACTION: Place a fire trap that explodes when an enemy approaches, causing 100
to 130 Fire damage plus 10% RAP and 150 additional Fire damage over 20 sec to
all within 10 yards. Trap will exist for 1 min. Only one trap can be active at
a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
34 1 27% Inflicts 100-130 damage with 150 area damage.
44 2 27% Inflicts 139-187 damage with 240 area damage.
54 3 27% Inflicts 201-257 damage with 330 area damage.
61 4 19% Inflicts 263-337 damage with 450 area damage.
71 5 19% Inflicts 434-556 damage with 740 area damage.
77 6 19% Inflicts 523-671 damage with 900 area damage.
OVERVIEW: Unlike Immolation Trap, this trap causes instant damage along with a
damage-over-time component. Because of the high mana cost and the nature of
the effect, it’s best used against entire packs of mobs that will stay in one
place while the trap ticks. For this reason, it goes great with Volley.
-----------
Feign Death
-----------
ACTION: Feign death which may trick enemies into ignoring you.
Lasts up to 6 min.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
30 n/a 3% n/a
OVERVIEW: Feign Death wipes you clean of all threat and takes you out of
combat, allowing you to escape from dangerous mobs. Be aware that even though
a mob will not target you, you can still get hit with area damage effects.
That and Disorienting and Fear effects will cancel Feign Death by causing you
to stand up. Though it will not fool players in PvP, it can cancel their spell
while it’s being cast, and will cause them to un-target you.
--------------
Freezing Arrow
--------------
ACTION: Fire a freezing arrow that places a Freezing Trap at the target
location, freezing the first enemy that approaches, preventing all action for
up to 20 sec. Any damage caused will break the ice. Trap will exist for 1 min.
Only one trap can be active at a time.
RANGE: 40 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec. (Linked with all traps)
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
80 1 3% Target is frozen for 20 seconds.
OVERVIEW: Freezing Arrow is basically a ranged Freezing Trap. It makes trapping
a mob much easier and you can plant it several yards ahead of you when kiting
one around. Planting it while on the move will take a bit of getting used to
but it’s rewarding once you get the hang of it. The only problem with this
ability is that because its uses are very limited in PvP. Because it still
takes a second for the trap to arm and has a very vivid spell animation, it’s
easy for a player to completely sidestep the trap.
-------------
Freezing Trap
-------------
ACTION: Place a frost trap that freezes the first enemy that approaches,
preventing all action for up to 10 sec. Any damage caused will break the ice.
Trap will exist for 1 min. Only one trap can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
20 1 5% Freeze time starts at 10 sec.
40 2 5% Freeze time increased to 15 sec.
60 3 3% Freeze time increased to 20 sec.
OVERVIEW: Freezing Trap is a very handy form of crowd control because it’s not
limited to any specific subtype, though water elementals have a tendency to be
immune to it. Keep in mind that there is a 10-second difference between the
trap’s duration and its cooldown, which means that you may have to bide your
time if you intend on chain-trapping a mob. You can lessen the waiting time
by setting the trap early and letting the cooldown run.
----------
Frost Trap
----------
ACTION: Place a frost trap that creates an ice slick around itself for 30 sec
when the first enemy approaches it. All enemies within 10 yards will be
slowed by 60% while in the area of effect. Trap will exist for 1 min. Only one
trap can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
28 n/a 60 n/a
OVERVIEW: Frost Trap is extremely handy in situations where you need to slow
down a lot of incoming targets. Great for keeping adds and large packs under
control, but also a handy tool for slowing down hostile players in a
Battleground.
---------------
Immolation Trap
---------------
ACTION: Place a fire trap that will burn the first enemy to approach for 105
Fire damage plus 10% RAP over 15 sec. Trap will exist for 1 min. Only one
trap can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
16 1 13% Total base damage starts at 105.
26 2 13% Total base damage increased to 215.
36 3 13% Total base damage increased to 340.
46 4 13% Total base damage increased to 510.
56 5 13% Total base damage increased to 690.
65 6 9% Total base damage increased to 985.
72 7 9% Total base damage increased to 1540.
78 8 9% Total base damage increased to 1885.
OVERVIEW: This trap is the strongest damage-over-time ability that you have in
your arsenal. You aren’t going to use it often during your solo grinds but it
can be useful in situations where the extra damage is needed. Pair it with
Serpent Sting or Wyvern Sting.
-------------
Master’s Call
-------------
ACTION: Your pet attempts to remove all root and movement impairing effects on
the target, and cause them to be immune to all such effects for 4 sec.
RANGE: 25 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
75 n/a 7% n/a
OVERVIEW: Rooting effects are rare in the PvE world. Once in a while, you may
find a mob that has Hamstring, Wing Clip, or Entangling Roots but not often.
Master’s Call shines in PvP since it gives you or an ally a chance to escape
from snares. It’s like a lesser Hand of Freedom. The only problem is that it
can’t be used if you’re stunned so watch yourself. That and you need your pet
alive for it work.
------------
Misdirection
------------
ACTION: Threat caused by your next 3 attacks is redirected to the target raid
member. Caster and target can only be affected by one Misdirection spell at a
time. Effect lasts 30 sec.
RANGE: 100 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
70 n/a 9% n/a
OVERVIEW: With the amount of threat that Hunters can cause, Misdirection is a
great way to keep your target glued to your tanks, especially bosses. A
combination of Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, and Distracting Shot makes for an
excellent initial pull against heavy hitters. Although you are only given a
total of three charges, there are ways to make the most out of these charges
versus large packs of mobs. More on this later.
-------------
Mongoose Bite
-------------
ACTION: Attack the enemy for 25 damage plus 20% of your attack power.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
16 1 4% Base damage starts at 25.
30 2 4% Base damage increased to 45.
44 3 4% Base damage increased to 75.
58 4 4% Base damage increased to 115.
70 5 3% Base damage increased to 150.
80 6 3% Base damage increased to 280.
OVERVIEW: Whereas Raptor Strike occurs on the next melee swing, Mongoose Bite
can be used immediately. It isn’t a strong ability by any means but it gives
you a quick burst of damage to work with, especially since Raptor Strike is
affected the cooldown between Auto Shot and your melee swings.
-------------
Raptor Strike
-------------
ACTION: A strong attack that increases melee damage by 5.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Next Melee Swing
COOLDOWN: 6 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
1 1 6% Damage dealt starts at 5.
8 2 6% Damage dealt increased to 11.
16 3 6% Damage dealt increased to 21.
24 4 6% Damage dealt increased to 34.
32 5 6% Damage dealt increased to 50.
40 6 6% Damage dealt increased to 80.
48 7 6% Damage dealt increased to 110.
56 8 6% Damage dealt increased to 140.
63 9 4% Damage dealt increased to 170.
71 10 4% Damage dealt increased to 275.
77 11 4% Damage dealt increased to 335.
OVERVIEW: This is the Hunter variant of the Strike ability that most melee
classes have. It simply adds a little extra kick to your next melee swing.
Be aware that because your Auto Shot is linked to your melee swings, it will
cause a delay with your Raptor Strike if you try to use it immediately after
firing an Auto Shot.
------------
Scatter Shot
------------
ACTION: A short-range shot that deals 50% weapon damage and disorients the
target for 4 sec. Any damage caused will remove the effect. Turns off your
attack when used.
RANGE: 15 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
30 n/a 8% n/a
OVERVIEW: What makes Scatter Shot such an excellent ability is the fact that it
can interrupt spells from as close as melee range, and you can use the dazed
time to your advantage. You can use that time to either plant a trap or get
away from your target. The short cooldown also allows you to use it more
liberally than many of the other talent-based abilities that the class has to
offer.
----------
Snake Trap
----------
ACTION: Place a trap that will release several venomous snakes to attack the
first enemy to approach. The snakes will die after 15 sec. Trap will exist
for 1 min. Only one trap can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
68 n/a 9% n/a
OVERVIEW: This trap will release about six to eight snakes that spit out a
small variety of Rogue-based poisons including Deadly, Mind-Numbing and
Crippling. They are an absolute annoyance to just about any class but are
easily disposed of with a single area damage effect.
------------
Track Beasts
------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby beasts on the minimap. Only one form
of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
1 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: This is the first of a handful of tracking abilities that you will
learn as a Hunter. This particular tracker is handy because of the high number
of beasts in the game. Not only does it make it easier to find the right pets,
it can also detect Druids and Shamans in their shapeshifting forms.
------------
Track Demons
------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby demons on the minimap. Only one form
of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
32 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Many of the game’s demons reside in very specific areas. Being that
Kalimdor and Outland are where a lot of demonic magic was used in ancient
lore, demons are most prominent on those two land masses.
---------------
Track Dragonkin
---------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby dragonkin on the minimap. Only one
form of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
50 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Dragonkin are a very territorial breed of creatures. They reside in
specific regions of the world and tend to stay near other dragons of their
respective colors.
----------------
Track Elementals
----------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby beasts on the minimap. Only one form
of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
26 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Being that elementals are a prominent source of Primals, Essences,
and other materials vital to various crafts, they are often sought out and
hunted regularly. This ability gives you the upper hand by allowing you to
track them easily on your minimap.
------------
Track Giants
------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby beasts on the minimap. Only one form
of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
40 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Out of all the different subspecies in the game, giants are by far
the rarest. You will seldom use this but it comes in handy once in a while.
------------
Track Hidden
------------
ACTION: Greatly increases stealth detection and shows hidden units within
detection range on the minimap. Only one form of tracking can be active at a
time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
24 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Track Hidden will increase your detection by six levels, meaning that
at level 80 you will see stealthed targets as though you were level 86. It’s
used more for the stealth detection than the actual minimap tracking. It is a
valuable tool against Rogues and Druids.
---------------
Track Humanoids
---------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby humanoids on the minimap. Only one
form of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
10 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Humanoids are everywhere. All players count as humanoids, and
dungeons of all sizes are full of them. Great way to see what’s hiding just
around the corner. You will be using this more often than any other tracking
ability, especially if you are on a PvP server.
------------
Track Undead
------------
ACTION: Shows the location of all nearby undead on the minimap. Only one
form of tracking can be active at a time.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
18 n/a 0 n/a
OVERVIEW: Like many of the subspecies in this game, the undead are very
regional. This tracker is best used when roaming around sunken ships,
graveyards, and catacombs.
---------
Wing Clip
---------
ACTION: Maims the enemy, reducing the target's movement speed by 50% for 10 sec
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
12 1 6% Slows target by 50%.
OVERVIEW: Wing Clip is your saving grace against speedy mobs and melee classes.
Although this can potentially be countered with Hamstring or Crippling Poison,
you can combine this with Deterrence to get an upper hand on your target.
------------
Wyvern Sting
------------
ACTION: A stinging shot that puts the target to sleep for 12 sec. Any damage
will cancel the effect. When the target wakes up, the Sting causes 300 Nature
damage over 6 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on the target at
a time.
RANGE: 5-35 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
NOTE: This ability is accessible only through its respective talent.
LEVEL RANK MANA CHANGE
40 1 11% Total damage dealt starts at 300.
50 2 11% Total damage dealt increased to 420.
60 3 11% Total damage dealt increased to 600.
70 4 8% Total damage dealt increased to 942.
75 5 8% Total damage dealt increased to 2082.
80 6 8% Total damage dealt increased to 2460.
OVERVIEW: The poison damage kicks in fast and hard but the component that truly
shines is the 12-second sleep effect. Great for shutting down one target while
you go to town on another. The only problem with Wyvern Sting is the poison: it
only works if the sleep effect works.
===============================================================================
----------------------------[ V. Hunter Talents ]------------------------------
===============================================================================
What will set you apart from every other Hunter are the talents you invest in
your talent trees. These enhance your current moves and gives you access to
new ones based on whatever tree your talent points into. Here is a breakdown
of the Hunter’s available talents.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Beast Mastery
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These talents are associated with boosting the effects of your Aspects and
attack speed while strengthening your pet’s offensive and defensive
capabilities.
---------------------------
Improved Aspect of the Hawk
---------------------------
EFFECT: While Aspect of the Hawk or Dragonhawk is active, all normal ranged
attacks have a 10% chance of increasing ranged attack speed by 3/6/9/12/15%
for 12 sec.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: If you’re just leveling, you aren’t going to get that much mileage
out of this, but it’s very valuable for raiding. Not only does it increase
your attack speed, it’s a vital element in reducing the casting time of Steady
Shot across all talent specs.
------------------
Endurance Training
------------------
EFFECT: Increase the Health of your pets by 2/4/6/8/10% and your total Health
by 1/2/3/4/5%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: When mapping out your talents, Endurance Training is generally a good
place to put filler points simply because no matter what you do in this game,
the extra Health always comes in handy.
------------
Focused Fire
------------
EFFECT: All damage caused by you is increased by 1/2% while your pet is active
and the critical strike chance of your pet's special abilities is increased by
10/20% while Kill Command is active.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: The bonus critical strike chance on Kill Command is a nice touch but
the winning quality behind this talent is that 2% damage bonus simply for
having your pet active. This makes it an absolute staple for any BM-Hunter,
and a great side option for any other spec.
-----------------------------
Improved Aspect of the Monkey
-----------------------------
EFFECT: Increase the Dodge bonus of your Aspect of the Monkey and Aspect of the
Dragonhawk by 2/4/6%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: Having a little extra Dodge is a nice touch if you find yourself
taking a lot of melee swings but most players generally pass this up in favor
of other talents that are already available at this tier. Focused Fire and
Improved Revive Pet are typically better if you plan on raiding.
----------
Thick Hide
----------
EFFECT: Increases the armor rating of your pets by 7/14/20% and your armor
contribution from items by 4/7/10%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: The extra armor can come in handy if you do a lot of solo play but
both you and your pet can generally get away with not having it. Both you and
your pet gain roughly 3-4% more mitigation, which goes nicely with the damage
reduction bonuses from Aspect Mastery and Survival Instincts, but in most
cases, you can get a lot more mileage from some of the surrounding talents.
-------------------
Improved Revive Pet
-------------------
EFFECT: Revive Pet's casting time is reduced by 3/6 sec, mana cost is reduced
by 20/40%, and increases the health your pet returns with by an additional
15/30%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: Reviving a dead pet can take a lot out of you, which is why Improved
Revive Pet is a prime choice for many raiders because of how easily pets can
get demolished in a raid instance. The key behind this talent is the way it
drastically reduces your downtime whenever your pet bites the dust.
-----------
Pathfinding
-----------
EFFECT: Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of
the Pack by 4/8%, and increases your speed while mounted by 5/10%. The mounted
movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: While not a bad talent, it’s not really all that useful either. At
regular Cheetah speed, you can already outrun most mobs, and the additional
mount speed is a nice touch but isn’t really needed. Look for something a
little more useful.
--------------
Aspect Mastery
--------------
EFFECT: Aspect of the Viper - Reduces the damage penalty by 10%.
Aspect of the Monkey - Reduces the damage done to you while active by 5%.
Aspect of the Hawk - Increases the attack power bonus by 30%.
Aspect of the Dragonhawk - Combines the bonuses from Aspect of the Monkey and
Hawk.
RANKS: 1
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: This talent does a lot for you if you can afford to reach it. It’s an
absolute must for BM-Hunters and a great alternative to Scatter Shot for a
raiding MM-Hunter. SV-Hunters can reach it but there are a lot of valuable
talents in the MM tree that can make it difficult to afford Aspect Mastery.
--------------
Unleashed Fury
--------------
EFFECT: Increase the damage done by your pets by 3/6/9/12/15%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: A simple but very important talent. No BM-Hunter is complete without
this. Be sure to invest a full five points into this talent.
-----------------
Improved Mend Pet
-----------------
EFFECT: Gives Mend Pet a 25/50% chance of cleansing one Curse, Disease, Magic,
or Poison effect from your pet each tick.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 4
OVERVIEW: Pets usually don’t get a lot of love from healers since they are more
concerned about players than your furry companion, which is why this talent
often comes in handy. During encounters where debuffs cause a heap of trouble,
having Improved Mend Pet gives your pet a fighting chance. It’s generally not
as effective in PvP since many classes have talents that make their debuffs
harder to remove, but it’s a great tool for PvE.
--------
Ferocity
--------
EFFECT: Increase the critical strike chance of your pets by 3/6/9/12/15%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 4
OVERVIEW: Like Unleashed Fury, Ferocity is another staple for a BM-Hunter.
Invest a full five points into this talent.
-----------
Spirit Bond
-----------
EFFECT: While your pet is active, you and your pet will regenerate 2% of total
health every 10 sec., and increases healing done to you and your pet by 10%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: The Health recovery is so small that it makes little to no difference
in most encounters. The redeeming quality in this talent is that bonus healing
that you and your pet receive. While this has some potential in situations
where you or your pet will take hits repeatedly, the other nearby talents are
a lot more appealing than this.
------------
Intimidation
------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Intimidation.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: Great for any situation where you need to put a stop to something.
That and it’s linked with two very powerful talents. Don’t pass this up.
------------------
Bestial Discipline
------------------
EFFECT: Increase your pet’s Focus regeneration by 50/100%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: Your pet adds a significant amount of damage to your overall DPS but
it’s even more so if you’re a BM-Hunter. Those numbers on Claw and Bite may
not look like much but it adds up. This talent simply gives your pet more
fuel to work with. Try to squeeze this into your talent spec.
--------------
Animal Handler
--------------
EFFECT: Increases your pet's chance to hit by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of
your Master's Call ability by 5/10 sec.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 6
OVERVIEW: The reduced cooldown for Master’s Call is a nice touch but Hit rating
is just as important for your pet as it is for you, which is why Animal
Handler is yet another staple for BM-Hunters.
------
Frenzy
------
EFFECT: Gives your pet a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to gain a 30% attack speed
bonus for 8 seconds after inflicting a critical strike.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 6
NOTE: You must have 5 points in Ferocity to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Frenzy is yet another vital talent for BM-Hunters but unlike most
talents, you only need four points to get the most out of it. At 80%, it’s
enough for your pet to sustain the speed bonus for a long duration of time.
---------------------
Ferocious Inspiration
---------------------
EFFECT: When your pet scores a critical hit, all party and raid members have
all damage increased by 1/2/3% for 10 sec. In addition, increases the damage
dealt by Arcane Shot by 3/6/9%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 7
OVERVIEW: A scaling 3% damage bonus for both physical and caster classes alike.
Even though it only works if your pet lands a critical hit, your furry
companion will usually land enough critical hits to sustain it if you choose
the right talents for both you and your pet.
-------------
Bestial Wrath
-------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Bestial Wrath.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 7
NOTE: You must have 1 point in Intimidation to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: No BM-Hunter is complete without this talent. Along with all of those
talents that beef up your pet, Bestial Wrath turns your pet into a vicious
killing machine.
----------------
Catlike Reflexes
----------------
EFFECT: Increases your chance to dodge by 1/2/3% and your pet's chance to dodge
by an additional 3/6/9%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 7
OVERVIEW: From a PvE perspective, that additional chance to dodge is only
useful if you plan on using your pet to do some heavy duty tanking. It can
come in handy for PvP but generally, the offense-oriented talents are more
favorable for most of your adventures.
-------------------
Serpent’s Swiftness
-------------------
EFFECT: Increases ranged combat attack speed by 4/8/12/16/20% and your pet's
melee attack speed by 4/8/12/16/20%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 8
OVERVIEW: This massive 20% speed boost is an extremely important part of your
overall DPS as a BM-Hunter. Be sure to invest a full five points into this
talent as soon as you can.
------------
Invigoration
------------
EFFECT: When your pet scores a critical hit with a special ability, you have a
50/100% chance to instantly regenerate 1% mana.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 8
NOTE: You must have 3 points in Ferocious Inspiration to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Invigoration is good for conserving mana, and your pet will usually
land enough critical hits over a period of time for you to feel a difference.
To be fair, your attack speed as a BM-Hunter is high enough that you will not
likely stay in Aspect of the Viper often. For that reason, you may be able to
get away with skipping this talent.
---------
Longevity
---------
EFFECT: Reduces the cooldown of your Bestial Wrath, Intimidation and Pet
Special Abilities by 10/20/30%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 9
OVERVIEW: Reducing the cooldown on Bestial Wrath means that you’ll be able to
have it up and running more frequently, but there are also a lot of key pet
abilities that make excellent use of this talent such as Growl and Roar of
Recovery. Definitely a solid talent worth investing point into.
----------------
The Beast Within
----------------
EFFECT: When your pet is under the effects of Bestial Wrath, you also go into
a rage causing 10% additional damage and reducing mana costs of all spells by
20% for 18 sec. While enraged, you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you
cannot be stopped unless killed.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 9
NOTE: You must have 1 point in Bestial Wrath to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: This is a staple for any BM-Hunter. If BM is your chosen path, be
sure to get this as soon as you can.
-------------
Cobra Strikes
-------------
EFFECT: You have a 20/40/60% chance when you critically hit with Arcane Shot,
Steady Shot or Kill Shot to cause your pet's next 2 special attacks to
critically hit.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 9
NOTE: You must have 5 points in Serpent’s Swiftness to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Cobra Strikes is a tough call because it sits in the same tier as
Longevity, which is a solid talent on its own. I personally prefer the latter
for the sake of being able to use certain cooldowns more often but Cobra
Strikes isn’t a bad choice, especially when you acquire enough upgrades to
rack up a high crit chance.
---------------
Kindred Spirits
---------------
EFFECT: Increases your pet's damage by 4/8/12/16/20% and you and your pet's
movement speed by 2/4/6/8/10% while your pet is active. This does not stack
with other movement speed increasing effects.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 10
OVERVIEW: It’s a rehash of older talents but useful nonetheless. Your pet can
always use another 20% more damage, and the additional movement speed is a
nice touch, though it doesn’t affect your mounted speed since your pet is
dismissed when you summon your mount.
-------------
Beast Mastery
-------------
EFFECT: You master the art of Beast training, teaching you the ability to tame
Exotic pets and increasing your total amount of Pet Skill Points by 4.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 11
OVERVIEW: Even if you would rather stick to your favorite cat or raptor than
tame a fancy new devilsaur, the extra Pet Skill Points are valuable because
they grant you easier access to the high-end pet skills near the bottom of
their trees.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Marksmanship
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These talents are mainly associated with your ranged attack abilities. The key
goal of this tree is to maximize your ranged attack power and the damage that
your Shots and Stings inflict.
------------------------
Improved Concussive Shot
------------------------
EFFECT: Increases the duration of your Concussive Shot's daze effect by 1/2
sec.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: Extending Concussive Shot by two seconds can come in handy if you do
a lot kiting or solo play but you can get away with not having it, especially
when the two talents directly next to it are much better for your overall DPS.
-----------
Focused Aim
-----------
EFFECT: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting
Steady Shot by 23/46/70%, and increases your chance to hit by 1/2/3%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: Most hunters skip this talent in favor of the more offense-oriented
talents further down the tree, but Focused Aim has a lot of potential because
of the +Hit. The reduced pushback on Steady Shot can come in handy but there
are few situations where spell pushback is a major issue. Between this and
Lethal Shots, the latter is an overall better talent in general.
------------
Lethal Shots
------------
EFFECT: Increases your chance to land a critical strike with your ranged
weapon by 1/2/3/4/5%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: No matter what your talent spec is, Lethal Shots is universally
accepted as the one obligatory talent that every hunter should have. No build
is complete without it.
-----------
Careful Aim
-----------
EFFECT: Increases your ranged attack power by an amount equal to 33/66/100%
of your total Intellect.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: This is yet another universally-accepted staple to all specs. Be sure
to max this one out.
----------------------
Improved Hunter’s Mark
----------------------
EFFECT: Increases the bonus attack power granted by your Hunter's Mark ability
by 10/20/30%, and reduces the mana cost of your Hunter's Mark ability by
33/66/100%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: This makes a decent filler as you go down the tree but at its current
tier, it’s outmatched by two major staple talents. At max rank, you gain a
total of 90 RAP.
------------
Mortal Shots
------------
EFFECT: Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your ranged abilities by
6/12/18/24/30%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: Even though this no longer applies to Auto Shot, your other Shots
make up a large enough part of your offense to merit picking up this talent.
Like Lethal Shots, this is generally considered to be a staple for most
talent builds.
-----------------
Go For The Throat
-----------------
EFFECT: Your ranged critical hits cause your pet to generate 25/50 Focus.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: Pets can burn through their Focus very quickly, which is where Go For
The Throat comes in. MM- and SV-Hunters tend to skip this talent because most
of their damage comes from their Shots and not their pet’s abilities, but
BM-Hunters can especially get a lot of mileage out of this talent because
their pets make up a worthy portion of their overall DPS.
--------------------
Improved Arcane Shot
--------------------
EFFECT: Increases the damage done by your Arcane Shot by 5/10/15%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: BM- and SV-Hunters can skip this talent because Arcane Shot typically
gets replaced by other Shots. As for MM-Hunters, they use it so often that
it’s a staple to nearly every MM-based build.
----------
Aimed Shot
----------
EFFECT: Grants you access to the move Aimed Shot.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: Aimed Shot is and always has been an optional Shot but its uses as a
healing debuff has made it a staple to nearly every Hunter talent build in
existence. Since it can be fired on the go and is a great single-target
alternative to Multi-Shot, it has become a staple for most hunters.
-------------
Rapid Killing
-------------
EFFECT: Reduces the cooldown of your Rapid Fire ability by 1/2 min. In
addition, after killing an opponent that yields experience or honor, your next
Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot or Chimera Shot causes 10/20% additional damage. Lasts
20 sec.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: In past years, the cooldown reduction from Rapid Killing was a great
blessing but raid dynamics have changed so much now that you will seldom find
yourself using Rapid Fire more than once before a boss is dead. It’s still
great a good asset for PvP, and it can be useful in raids, but it’s no longer
the staple that it once was.
---------------
Improved Stings
---------------
EFFECT: Increases the damage done by your Serpent Sting and Wyvern Sting by
10/20/30% and the mana drained by your Viper Sting by 10/20/30%. In addition,
reduces the chance your Stings will be dispelled by 10/20/30%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 4
OVERVIEW: In past years, you would only invest in Improved Stings to boost
Viper Sting’s effect for PvP usage. Now that Serpent Sting synergizes with
Chimera Shot and Noxious Stings, it’s a must-have talent for MM- and
SV-Hunters.
----------
Efficiency
----------
EFFECT: Reduces the mana cost of your Shots and Stings by 3/6/9/12/15%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 4
OVERVIEW: As much as you would rather invest your points in the more offense-
oriented talents nearby, mana conservation is important. You can potentially
get away without it if you are a BM- or SV-Hunter, but MM-Hunters burn through
so much mana that it’s worth making room for.
------------------
Concussive Barrage
------------------
EFFECT: Your successful Chimera Shot and Multi-Shot attacks have a 50/100%
chance to Daze the target for 4 sec.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: This talent gives two of your hard-hitting abilities a built-in
Concussive Shot. Great for PvP, and the Daze effect adds to your Steady Shot
damage, but if you plan on doing mostly raids, skip this talent.
---------
Readiness
---------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Readiness.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: Readiness is a must-have for MM-Hunters since it’s linked with
Trueshot Aura, but it has some very interesting applications for players that
like to experiment with hybrid builds.
-------
Barrage
-------
EFFECT: Increase the damage done by your Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot, and Volley by
4/8/12%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: This talent allows you to rack up damage points against several
targets, but what makes Barrage even more useful than in previous years is the
fact that it now affects Aimed Shot. As a MM-Hunter, Aimed Shot is a regular
part of your rotation, much like Arcane Shot. That makes Barrage more
important than ever before.
-----------------
Combat Experience
-----------------
EFFECT: Increases your total Agility and Intellect by 2/4%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 6
OVERVIEW: 4% is a decent bonus but Combat Experience is more of a filler than
anything else. This is a worthy place to put talent points if you have nowhere
else to put them.
----------------------------
Ranged Weapon Specialization
----------------------------
EFFECT: Increase the damage you deal with ranged weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 6
OVERVIEW: This is yet another important staple to any MM-Hunter build.
No reason to pass this one by.
--------------
Piercing Shots
--------------
EFFECT: Your critical Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed
for 10/20/30% of the damage dealt over 8 sec.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 7
OVERVIEW: Additional damage that can be sustained with a high crit chance.
Definitely worth your time if you plan on doing a lot of raiding. The only
downside to this talent is its ability to break crowd control, though you will
seldom encounter situations where the bleed effect is a problem.
-------------
Trueshot Aura
-------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Trueshot Aura.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 7
NOTE: You must have 1 point in Readiness to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: 10% more attack power for the entire raid is a handy buff but even
as a self buff, it’s excellent. No MM-Hunter is complete without this.
----------------
Improved Barrage
----------------
EFFECT: Increases the critical strike chance of your Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot
abilities by 4/8/12% and gives you a 33/66/100% chance to avoid interruption
caused by damage while channeling Volley.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 7
NOTE: You must have 3 points in Barrage to gain access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Giving Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot a 12% crit chance bonus can come in
handy, especially in PvP. Throw in a Glyph of Trueshot Aura and you can bring
Aimed Shot’s crit chance up another 10%. It’s decent but most MM builds can’t
fit this talent into their budgets. As for Volley, I’ve run into few
situations where I had to contend with heavy pushback effects.
---------------
Master Marksman
---------------
EFFECT: Increases your critical strike chance by 1/2/3/4/5%, and reduces the
Mana cost of your Steady Shot by 5/10/15/20/25%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 8
OVERVIEW: You can always use a higher crit chance. That and the reduced cost of
Steady Shot helps when it comes to mana conservation. Definitely a staple for
any MM-Hunter build.
------------------
Rapid Recuperation
------------------
EFFECT: You gain 2/4% of your mana every 3 sec while under the effect of Rapid
Fire, and you gain 1/2% of your mana every 2 sec for 6 sec when you gain Rapid
Killing.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 8
OVERVIEW: Through a single duration of Rapid Fire, you can gain back a full 20%
of your mana, up to 40% if you reset it with Readiness. Rapid Recuperation is
another way of staving off the need to go into Aspect of the Viper. It’s a
decent talent but it puts a limit on when to use Rapid Fire, which is a
problem for players who like using it back-to-back at the start of a battle.
-----------
Wild Quiver
-----------
EFFECT: You You have a 4/8/12% chance to shoot an additional shot when doing
damage with your auto shot, dealing 80% weapon nature damage. Wild Quiver
consumes no ammo.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 9
OVERVIEW: Wild Quiver has a lot of promise since it mitigates armor and can
crit. You can also give it some additional backing with the help of Rapid Fire
and Improved Aspect of the Hawk. Its only downside is its unpredictably when
compared to other talents but it’s a good talent nonetheless.
--------------
Silencing Shot
--------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Silencing Shot.
RANKS: 1
TIER: 9
NOTE: You must have 5 points in Master Marksman to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Dedicated raiders skip this talent entirely since the silencing
effect is nearly useless in raids but it’s still nice to have an interrupt
available at your fingertips.
--------------------
Improved Steady Shot
--------------------
EFFECT: Your Steady Shot hits have a 5/10/15% chance to increase the damage
done by your next Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot or Chimera Shot by 15%, and reduce
the mana cost of your next Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot or Chimera Shot by 20%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 9
OVERVIEW: The most ideal use of Improved Steady Shot is to keep your finger on
Chimera Shot whenever this talent procs but that usually doesn’t happen. Even
if you don’t line up each proc with a Chimera Shot, it’s still a decent boost
to your overall DPS. A solid contender versus Wild Quiver.
----------------
Marked For Death
----------------
EFFECT: Increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your
pet's special abilities by 1/2/3/4/5% on marked targets, and increases the
critical strike damage bonus of your Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Kill Shot or
Chimera Shot by 2/4/6/8/10%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 10
OVERVIEW: This is an absolute staple to any MM build, and it encourages you to
use your Hunter’s Mark.
------------
Chimera Shot
------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Chimera Shot.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 11
OVERVIEW: This is the signature Shot for a MM-Hunter. Be sure to drop a point
here as soon as it’s available.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Survival
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The talents in this tree are geared towards bolstering your defense by reducing
your intake of damage, and giving you much more utility when in melee range.
-----------------
Improved Tracking
-----------------
EFFECT: While tracking Beasts, Demons, Dragonkin, Elementals, Giants, Humanoids
and Undead, all ranged damage done to those types is increased by 1/2/3/4/5%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: A free 5% more damage from your direct attacks simply for tracking
whatever you’re killing. It does nothing for mobs that are mechanical or
don’t fall under a specie but such mobs aren’t common. No matter which of the
three talent trees you’re planning on going down, this is a staple to any
talent build.
--------
Hawk Eye
--------
EFFECT: Increases the range of your ranged weapons by 2/4/6 yards.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: There was once a time when six yards meant the difference between
getting hit by a wide area effect and avoiding it completely while still
within attacking range of a boss. Nowadays, the extra distance seldom comes
in handy, and the talent itself is overshadowed by some of the more useful
talents that the tree has to offer.
--------------
Savage Strikes
--------------
EFFECT: Increases the critical strike chance of Raptor Strike and Mongoose
Bite by 10/20%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 1
OVERVIEW: This talent can allow you to hit very hard with a solid 2H weapon
but while there is nothing wrong with Savage Strikes, there are better
alternatives for those who want to focus mainly on their ranged firepower.
----------
Surefooted
----------
EFFECT: Reduces the duration of movement impairing effects by 10/20/30%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: This has some use in a PvP environment but there is little use for it
in PvE. That and while it’s nice to reduce the duration of snares and roots
used against you, there are better talent choices elsewhere.
----------
Entrapment
----------
EFFECT: Gives your Immolation Trap, Frost Trap, Explosive Trap, and Snake Trap
a 8/16/25% chance to entrap the target, preventing them from moving for 5 sec.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: Entrapment is one of two chance-based snares at this tier. It works
well with Frost Trap but with a 30-second cooldown between traps, it’s hard to
fully utilize it with single-target traps. You’re probably better off not
investing your points in this.
------------
Trap Mastery
------------
EFFECT: Frost Trap and Freezing Trap - Increases the duration by 10/20/30%.
Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow - Increases the periodic damage
done by 10/20/30%.
Snake Trap - Increases the number of snakes summoned by 3/6/9.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: When building a SV build, Trap Mastery is arguably the best of the
four talents in this tier, mainly because of the bonus that Black Arrow gets.
The increased duration of your Frost and Freezing Traps is also great for
those times when you’re in charge of crowd control.
------------------
Survival Instincts
------------------
EFFECT: Reduces all damage taken by 2/4% and increases the critical strike
chance of your Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, and Explosive Shot by 2/4%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 2
OVERVIEW: 4% damage reduction is a nice bonus but the real kicker is the bonus
crit chance on three of your Shots. Although SV-Hunters can make great use of
it, the fact that it’s located in the second tier means that MM-Hunters have
easy access to it.
-----------
Survivalist
-----------
EFFECT: Increases your Stamina by 2/4/6/8/10%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: Having 10% more Stamina is always a good thing to have, but what
makes this talent even better is the fact that it’s linked to a great talent
two tiers down: Hunter vs. Wild.
------------
Scatter Shot
------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Scatter Shot.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: Most raiders tend to stay away from Scatter Shot but it’s nice to
have it available, and it’s an absolute must for anyone who is interested in
PvP.
----------
Deflection
----------
EFFECT: Increases your chance to parry by 1/2/3%, and reduces the duration of
all Disarm effects used against you by 16/25/50%. This does not stack with
other Disarm duration reducing effects.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: It’s odd to see a talent like this for a class that has to keep
his/her distance to be effective. Unless you’re experimenting with a melee
build, Deflection does very little for you. You will seldom be in melee range
in a PvE environment, and you are generally in trouble if a melee class gets
close enough in PvP to Disarm or Dismantle you.
----------------
Survival Tactics
----------------
EFFECT: Reduces the chance your Feign Death ability and all trap spells will be
resisted by 2/4%, and reduces the cooldown of your Disengage ability by 2/4
sec.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 3
OVERVIEW: Survival Tactics gives your three major defensive abilities a greater
chance of keeping you alive. It’s a great talent if you do a lot of solo
questing, and the reduced cooldown on Disengage has a lot of potential in PvP
when augmented with its Glyph.
------
T.N.T.
------
EFFECT: Increases the damage done by your Explosive Shot, Explosive Trap, Black
Arrow and Immolation Trap by 2/4/6%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 4
OVERVIEW: An absolute must for any SV-Hunter.
-------------
Lock and Load
-------------
EFFECT: You have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target with Freezing Trap,
Freezing Arrow or Frost Trap and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage
with your Immolation Trap or Black Arrow to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or
Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no
ammo.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 4
OVERVIEW: In PvP, you can demolish your opponents with this talent when they
set off your traps but if you plan on raiding, there is no way of freely
getting that Lock and Load proc whenever you need it. Even so, it’s still a
valuable talent, and Resourcefulness can boost the uptime of Black Arrow.
---------------
Hunter vs. Wild
---------------
EFFECT: Increases you and your pet's attack power and ranged attack power equal
to 10/20/30% of your total Stamina.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 5
NOTE: You must have 5 points in Survivalist to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: This talent rewards you for keeping a healthy balance of Stamina in
your gear selection. It conveniently works well with PvP gear, which is high
in Stamina, and a small portion of that bonus ranged attack power gets
converted into additional AP for your pet.
---------------
Killer Instinct
---------------
EFFECT: Increases your critical strike chance with all attacks by 1/2/3%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 5
OVERVIEW: Killer Instinct is a major staple of any SV-Hunter build. Invest the
full three points here and move on down.
-------------
Counterattack
-------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Counterattack.
RANKS:RANKS:
TIER: 5
NOTE: You must have 1 point in Deterrence to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Chances are good that you probably didn’t put points into Deflection,
which would deny you Counterattack. Not that you did anything wrong by not
doing so. If you have access to this talent, you might as well drop a point
into it just to have it.
------------------
Lightning Reflexes
------------------
EFFECT: Increases your agility by 3/6/9/12/15%.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 6
OVERVIEW: This is yet another important staple to SV-Hunters. The only minor
flaw with this talent is that it makes you more selective about the weapons
and armor you equip. Once you have Lightning Reflexes, you will hesitate when
upgrading to a piece that lacks Agility. Aside from that, it gives you more of
the one stat you need most.
---------------
Resourcefulness
---------------
EFFECT: Reduces the mana cost of all traps, melee abilities and Black Arrow by
20/40/60% and reduces the cooldown of all traps and Black Arrow by 2/4/6 sec.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 6
OVERVIEW: When combined with Trap Mastery, you can keep a mob frozen with a
chain of Freezing Arrows but the real kicker is the bonuses that Black Arrow
gets. By reducing its cooldown, you can increase its uptime, which in turn is
great for sustaining that 6% damage boost.
---------------
Expose Weakness
---------------
EFFECT: Your ranged criticals have a 33/66/100% chance to grant you Expose
Weakness. Expose Weakness increases your attack power by 25% of your Agility
for 7 sec.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 7
NOTE: You must have 5 points in Lightning Reflexes to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Expose Weakness is yet another reason why Agility is such a vital
stat for SV-Hunters. Great synergy with Lightning Reflexes. Seven seconds is
not a lot of time but with a high enough crit chance, you may be able to
sustain it for a long period of time.
------------
Wyvern Sting
------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Wyvern Sting.
RANKS: 1
TIER: 7
NOTE: You must have 3 points in Killer Instinct to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Wyvern Sting’s crowd-control effect and fast-acting poison make it
one of the most powerful abilities in your arsenal. If you have come this far
down the Survival tree, be sure to drop a talent point here.
------------------
Thrill of the Hunt
------------------
EFFECT: Gives you a 33/66/100% chance to regain 40% of the mana cost of any
shot when it critically hits.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 7
OVERVIEW: Thrill of the Hunt is one of the two exclusive mana conservation
talents that the Survival tree has to offer. It only works if you land a crit
but this only means that the better your weapons and armor are, the more
likely you are to proc this. Definitely a must-have if you plan on doing a lot
of raiding.
----------------
Master Tactician
----------------
EFFECT: Your successful ranged attacks have a 10% chance to increase your
critical strike chance with all attacks by 2/4/6/8/10% for 8 sec.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 8
OVERVIEW: Master Tactician has a lot of potential but it gets overshadowed by
everything else around it. Part of the problem is that like most proc-based
talents, it only works when it wants to. That and there are so many good
talents in the higher tiers to choose from that it can’t even serve as a
filler. However, it’s not a bad talent. If you’re not concerned with Thrill of
the Hunt and Hunting Party, you can place some of those points here instead.
--------------
Noxious Stings
--------------
EFFECT: If Wyvern Sting is dispelled, the dispeller is also afflicted by Wyvern
Sting lasting 16/25/50% of the duration remaining, and increases all damage
done by you on targets afflicted by your Serpent Sting by 1/2/3%.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 8
NOTE: You must have 1 point in Wyvern Sting to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: The Wyvern Sting effect is a nice touch for PvP but the real winner
here is the bonus damage that you inflict for using Serpent Sting, yet another
reason why using the Sting is more important than ever before. This is a solid
talent that’s worth picking.
------------------
Point of No Escape
------------------
EFFECT: Increases the critical strike chance of all attacks on targets affected
by your Frost Trap, Freezing Trap and Freezing Arrow by 3/6%.
RANKS: 2
TIER: 9
OVERVIEW: Point of No Escape is a neat little talent that gives you a free 6%
bonus for keeping your targets waddling on a Frost Trap. Great for soloing and
instances. It also has a lot of potential in PvP if you set your Frost Trap in
the right spots. The only problem with it is that since most raid-level elites
are immune to either one of your cold traps, it’s useless if you’re working a
talent build specifically for raiding.
-----------
Black Arrow
-----------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Black Arrow.
RANK: 1
TIER: 9
OVERVIEW: Immolation Trap is a great ability but having to drop the trap under
your target every thirty seconds is very inconvenient. Fortunately, this
revived and reformed version of Black Arrow solves this problem. You should
get this talent as soon as you can.
---------------
Sniper Training
---------------
EFFECT: Increases the critical strike chance of your Kill Shot ability by
5/10/15%, and while standing still for 6 sec, you gain Sniper Training
increasing the damage done by your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Black Arrow and
Explosive Shot by 2/4/6% for 15 sec.
RANKS: 3
TIER: 9
OVERVIEW: Yet another valuable staple to most SV-Hunters. While there will
always be encounters where you have to be on the move, you will get plenty of
mileage out of this talent. The exception is if you do a lot of PvP, which in
that case, you will get less out of it. Regardless, it’s a very good talent,
and it’s one that you should definitely get if your main priority is PvE.
-------------
Hunting Party
-------------
EFFECT: Increases your total Agility by an additional 1/2/3%, and your Arcane
Shot, Explosive Shot and Steady Shot critical strikes have a 33/66/100% chance
to grant up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 0.25% of
the maximum mana per second. Lasts for 15 sec.
RANKS: 5
TIER: 10
NOTE: You must have 3 points in Thrill of the Hunter to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: The bonus Agility is just an incentive for the Replenishment buff
that you can bring to a raid with the help of this talent. It’s always a great
asset for any group but other classes can provide that same buff so if you
know someone else who has that covered, you can put those points elsewhere.
--------------
Explosive Shot
--------------
EFFECT: Grants you access to Explosive Shot.
RANKS: 1
TIER: 12
NOTE: You must have 1 point in Black Arrow to access this talent.
OVERVIEW: Excellent replacement for Arcane Shot in your rotation. That and
there are lots of talents in the Survival tree that heavily boost the
firepower of this Shot. Be sure to drop a point here.
===============================================================================
-------------------------[ VI. Talent Specialization ]-------------------------
===============================================================================
This chapter will give you an in-depth analysis of each talent trees. Each
section will provide you with a template build for each spec, as well as
playing tips on how to play with that spec.
Please understand that there are many ways to distribute your talents depending
on your style of play, and what you are planning on doing with your Hunter
(PvE, PvP, raiding). The sample builds may not be perfect but they will give
you an idea of how you can distribute your points.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Beast Mastery (BM)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By unleashing the animal spirit within, you become one with your loyal
companion. Your pet becomes one with you in mind, body, and soul. Its anger
becomes your anger. Its claws become your blades. Its bones become your armor.
Protect your companion and it shall protect you.
---------------
Sample Template
---------------
===============================================================================
| Primary: Beast Mastery (51) | Secondary: Marksmanship (15) |
===============================================================================
| 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk | 5/5 Lethal Shots |
| 1/1 Endurance Training | 5/5 Mortal Shots |
| 2/2 Focused Fire | 3/3 Careful Aim |
| 2/2 Improved Revive Pet | 1/2 Go For The Throat |
| 1/1 Aspect Mastery | 1/1 Aimed Shot |
| 5/5 Unleashed Fury | |
| 2/2 Improved Mend Pet |====================================
| 5/5 Ferocity | Tertiary: Survival (5) |
| 1/1 Intimidation |====================================
| 2/2 Bestial Discipline | 5/5 Improved Tracking |
| 2/2 Animal Handler | |
| 4/5 Frenzy | |
| 3/3 Ferocious Inspiration | |
| 1/1 Bestial Wrath | |
| 5/5 Serpent’s Swiftness | |
| 3/3 Longevity | |
| 1/1 The Beast Within | |
| 5/5 Kindred Spirits | |
| 1/1 Beast Mastery | |
===============================================================================
| Major Glyphs | Minor Glyphs |
===============================================================================
| Bestial Wrath | Feign Death |
| Steady Shot | Mend Pet |
| Serpent Sting | The Pack |
===============================================================================
This is about as basic as it gets for a BM-Hunter. It’s very offense-oriented
and is about as effective as you can get for questing and raiding. Note the 4/5
Frenzy. As mentioned in an earlier section, this is all you need for that
talent.
As for Glyphs, this is about as ideal as it gets for raiding. Glyph of Bestial
Wrath combines with Longevity brings the cooldown time of Bestial Wrath down
to just a little over one minute. Glyph of the Pack is interchangeable with
Glyph of Revive Pet or Scare Beast, depending on your needs.
-----------------
Design & Function
-----------------
Benefits
- Pet’s offensive power greatly increases.
- Both you and your pet gain a lot of +Haste bonuses.
- Ferocious Inspiration benefits all classes, and is easily sustainable.
- Not as gear dependent as other specs.
- Very simple shot rotation.
Downsides
- Base Shot damages are lower than other specs.
- A dead pet greatly reduces your DPS, and disables Bestial Wrath.
- Lower burst damage capabilities.
- Must be more selective in choosing the right pet talents.
- Haste rating on high-level epics is not as beneficial to BM-Hunters.
As the name of the tree implies, Beast Mastery focuses on increasing the damage
Inflicted by your pet. Although few talents affect the overall power of your
Shots and Stings, you can get plenty of offensive power from a good pet, and
you get a great deal of +Haste.
However, the downside to being a BM-Hunter is that a dead pet severely cripples
your DPS. Once your pet dies, you lose Focused Fire and Ferocious Inspiration,
and you will be left unable to use Bestial Wrath and The Beast Within. That and
several talents that boost your pet’s damage would immediately become useless,
and the downtime and mana drain from having to cast Revive Pet would slow you
down. Keeping your pet alive is a vital part of playing this spec.
-------------------
Trademark Abilities
-------------------
Intimidation
Bestial Wrath + The Beast Within
BM-Hunters gain two active abilities that are exclusive to their spec: a
3-second stun and an 18-second killing spree button, both of which can only be
used if your pet is active. Intimidation causes a high amount of threat towards
your pet but in most cases, you will be using it only for the stun effect and
not for threat gain. Great for soloing and instances but nearly useless for
raiding since most elites at that point are immune to stuns.
Bestial Wrath is generally only used when you need to go all-out on DPS. If you
decide to take Longevity and Glyph of Bestial Wrath, the short cooldown allows
you to use it liberally. Use it together with Rapid Fire, Kill Command, and
whatever on-use trinkets you may have. Throw in Rabid and Call of the Wild if
you have a Ferocity pet.
--------------
Shot Rotations
--------------
========================================================
| PRIO | PRIMARY SHOTS | SECONDARY SHOTS |
========================================================
| 1st | Kill Shot | Serpent Sting |
| 2nd | Arcane Shot | |
| 3rd | Aimed Shot | |
| 4th | Steady Shot | |
========================================================
Since BM-Hunters don’t gain any exclusive Shot abilities, their shot rotations
are very simple. Yours should be prioritized going down the list from top to
bottom. Use the topmost Shot and work your way down, casting Steady Shot only
when everything else is cooling down. Keep Serpent Sting up at all times,
reapplying when necessary.
----------------------
Building The Right Pet
----------------------
FEROCITY TOP-CHOICE PETS
2/2 Cobra’s Reflexes Devilsaur
1/1 Dash Cat
1/2 Bloodthirsty
3/3 Spiked Collar
1/1 Boar’s Speed
3/3 Spider’s Bite
3/3 Avoidance
1/1 Rabid
1/1 Call of the Wild
2/2 Shark Attack
2/2 Wild Hunt
Because your pet is an important part of your DPS as a BM-Hunter, you need to
be a little more selective about your choice of pet and pet talents. As a perk
for choosing Beast Mastery, you gain access to Exotic pets plus four additional
pet talent points.
Listed above is an example of what a DPS Ferocity build would look like. This
particular build is designed with raiding and instances in mind. It optimizes
your pet’s DPS while giving it some degree of endurance.
-------------------------
Beast Mastery Itemization
-------------------------
Hunters generally need +Haste to reduce the casting time of Steady Shot down to
1.5 seconds but BM-Hunters receive so much +Haste from talents that you aren’t
required to gather the amount of Haste that MM- and SV-Hunters need. However,
the endgame weapons and armor have so much of it that you will see no shortage
of Haste.
Most weapons and armor that are tailored specifically to hunters will have the
general Agility-Stamina-Intellect triangle with a spackle of AP and Haste but
if you happen to come across gem sockets, you will benefit most from gems that
have AP bonuses. Your pet will directly benefit from whatever AP you have.
There are a few pieces of armor that cater specifically to pets but those are
incredibly hard to come by at any level. If you find a piece, you can rejoice.
If you don’t, there is always the regular stuff.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Marksmanship (MM)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The marksman has a keen eye and a mastery of the finest bows and firearms. Once
he makes his mark, his careful aim and precision assures that his enemies will
feel the full impact of his shots.
---------------
Sample Template
---------------
===============================================================================
| Primary: Marksmanship (52) | Secondary: Survival (7) |
===============================================================================
| 5/5 Lethal Shots | 5/5 Improved Tracking |
| 3/3 Careful Aim | 2/2 Survival Instinct |
| 5/5 Mortal Shots | |
| 1/2 Go For The Throat | |
| 3/3 Improved Arcane Shot | |
| 1/1 Aimed Shot =====================================
| 3/3 Improved Stings | Tertiary: Beast Mastery (12) |
| 5/5 Efficiency =====================================
| 1/1 Readiness | 5/5 Improved Aspect of the Hawk |
| 3/3 Barrage | 1/5 Endurance Training |
| 5/5 Ranged Weapon Specialization | 2/2 Focused Fire |
| 3/3 Piercing Shots | 2/2 Improved Revive Pet |
| 1/1 Trueshot Aura | 1/1 Aspect Mastery |
| 5/5 Master Marksman | 1/5 Unleashed Fury |
| 1/1 Silencing Shot | |
| 3/3 Improved Steady Shot | |
| 5/5 Marked For Death | |
| 1/1 Chimera Shot | |
===============================================================================
| Major Glyphs | Minor Glyphs |
===============================================================================
| Chimera Shot | Feign Death |
| Steady Shot | Mend Pet |
| Serpent Sting | The Pack |
===============================================================================
This is an all-around balanced build that gives you a good amount of firepower
to work with in any given situation. 5/5 Efficiency is included to help with
the high mana consumption that comes with being a MM-Hunter. If you prefer a
little more utility, you can make room for Scatter Shot in exchange for Aspect
Mastery. You can also choose not to take Silencing Shot if you want to be a
dedicated raider but you never know when it can come in handy.
You can also swap Improved Steady Shot with Wild Quiver. Both are useful
talents but since they each rely on a chance to proc off an ability, you can’t
go wrong either way.
As for Glyphs, by reducing Chimera Shot’s cooldown to 9 seconds, you bring it
in line with the GCD, which gives you a smoother shot rotation. Glyph of Steady
Shot is a standard for any hunter but it’s interchangeable with Glyph of Kill
Shot. However, its viability is limited to mostly bosses. The former is usually
the better choice if you want something a little more well-rounded. As for
Glyph of Serpent Sting, it’s especially important for MM-Hunters because the
increased duration of Serpent Sting directly affects Chimera Shot’s damage.
-----------------
Design & Function
-----------------
Benefits
- High ranged attack power. This affects the threat that Growl causes.
- High Shot damage and greater burst capability than other specs.
- Readiness and Silencing Shot give you more utility.
- Trueshot Aura provides an entire raid with an AP bonus.
- Exclusive abilities have very short cooldowns.
Downsides
- Very poor mana efficiency.
- Few ways of getting out of melee range.
- Focused Fire relies heavily on your responsibility to keep pet alive.
The Marksmanship tree heavily emphasizes ranged weapon combat. Between the
bonuses to your ranged attack power and the damage multipliers all throughout
the tree, this spec greatly increases the damage that you cause with your
Shots and Stings, and gives you a bit more in the way of burst damage.
Readiness and Silencing Shot also give you a remarkable degree of flexibility.
The greatest downside to this spec is its poor mana efficiency. The high cost
of Chimera Shot, along with the tree’s few mana-restorative options, causes
MM-Hunters to run out of mana very quickly. Even with Rapid Recuperation and
Roar of Recovery, you may find yourself having to switch to Aspect of the
Viper more often than you’d like.
-------------------
Trademark Abilities
-------------------
Readiness
Silencing Shot
Chimera Shot
While questing, Readiness is what you would normally use if you are in grave
danger and can’t Feign Death or drop a trap. In a raiding situation, however,
you can typically use it offensively. Against bosses, use it immediately after
hitting Rapid Fire. In doing so, you can rack up a total of 30 seconds of
Rapid Fire.
The great thing about Silencing Shot is that it’s entirely off the GCD. You
would typically want to save it for when someone is about to cast a nasty spell
but being off the GCD means that you have a very quick Shot at your fingertips.
It may not be a whole lot of damage but sometimes it might just be enough to
kill your target.
As for Chimera Shot, you will typically use this with Serpent Sting. In PvP,
Viper Sting and Scorpid Sting have their uses but when you are running an
instance or raid, Serpent Sting is always your top choice.
To clear a common misconception, you do not need to wait for the Sting’s
duration to run down to its last tick. Chimera Shot will instantly trigger 40%
of the Sting’s total damage, regardless of how much of the Sting’s damage has
taken effect. Because of this, you must also be aware of how you can maximize
the Shot’s damage. Since Serpent Sting’s total damage is based upon your RAP,
be sure to manually apply the Sting whenever you gain a boost in AP. This can
come from trinkets, Call of the Wild, or some other buff.
--------------
Shot Rotations
--------------
========================================================
| PRIO | PRIMARY SHOTS | SECONDARY SHOTS |
========================================================
| 1st | Kill Shot | Serpent Sting |
| 2nd | Chimera Shot | |
| 3rd | Aimed Shot | |
| 4th | Arcane Shot | |
| 5th | Steady Shot | |
========================================================
This is the typical priority of Shots for a MM-Hunter. Kill Shot should be used
as soon as it’s available. Until then, use Chimera Shot, followed by Aimed,
Arcane, and Steady. Make sure that your own Serpent Sting is up and running
before using Chimera Shot. You will almost never have to worry about reapplying
the Sting since the Shot will continually refresh it.
----------------------
Building The Right Pet
----------------------
MM-Hunters don’t have to be too picky about their pets but there are a few
options in particular that you should look into.
Cunning pets have a pet talent called Roar of Recovery, which restores 30% of
your total mana over 9 seconds. Seeing how the only other way to restore mana
is Aspect of the Viper, you may want to keep a Cunning pet on hand.
If mana isn’t an issue, cats still reign as the best Ferocity pet that a
MM-Hunter can get for a raid. For PvP, wasps look very promising, thanks to
their armor-reducing Sting ability.
------------------------
Marksmanship Itemization
------------------------
MM-Hunters are very flexible when it comes to itemization. You don’t have to be
picky about gear, and most weapons and armor that cater to you have the typical
Agility-Stamina-Intellect triangle with a side of AP. If there are any gem
sockets or enchants available, you can go with either AP or Agility, whichever
you prefer. Choosing Agility can give you 10% scaling with Blessing of Kings,
while AP gets 10% scaling from Trueshot Aura.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Survival (SV)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The master huntsman becomes acquainted with his surroundings, looking carefully
for the dangers that lie in wait for him. No matter the peril, he is prepared
to outwit and outlast the ruthless laws of the wild.
---------------
Sample Template
---------------
===============================================================================
| Primary: Survival (53) | Secondary: Marksmanship (18) |
===============================================================================
| 5/5 Improved Tracking | 5/5 Lethal Shots |
| 3/3 Trap Mastery | 3/3 Careful Aim |
| 2/2 Survival Instincts | 5/5 Mortal Shots |
| 5/5 Survivalist | 1/2 Go For The Throat |
| 1/1 Scatter Shot | 1/1 Aimed Shot |
| 3/3 T.N.T. | 3/3 Improved Stings |
| 3/3 Lock and Load | |
| 3/3 Hunter vs. Wild =====================================
| 3/3 Killer Instinct | Tertiary: Beast Mastery (0) |
| 5/5 Lightning Reflexes =====================================
| 3/3 Resourcefulness | |
| 3/3 Expose Weakness | |
| 1/1 Wyvern Sting | |
| 3/3 Noxious Stings | |
| 5/5 Master Tactician | |
| 3/3 Sniper Training | |
| 1/1 Black Arrow | |
| 1/1 Explosive Shot | |
===============================================================================
| Major Glyphs | Minor Glyphs |
===============================================================================
| Explosive Shot | Feign Death |
| Steady Shot | Mend Pet |
| Serpent Sting | The Pack |
===============================================================================
This is an offense-oriented build that gives you lots of firepower but at the
cost of Thrill of the Hunt and Hunting Party. You probably aren’t going to
starve for mana too often though. Generally, your Shots aren’t terribly
expensive for the damage they cause. Note that I also included Scatter Shot.
While it’s not very useful in raids, it’s good to have it available just in
case you ever need it. If you feel like nitpicking, however, you can remove
that one point from Scatter Shot and place it in Improved Aspect of the Hawk.
Although I normally advocate taking spec-exclusive abilities for the sake of
having them available, I would avoid Counterattack entirely. Unless you have
an experimental melee build in mind, it isn’t worth taking, especially when
the prerequisite is having three points in Deflection.
As for Glyphs, this build includes the three Glyphs that are most common to
SV-Hunters. Glyph of Serpent Sting is especially handy, thanks to the Improved
Stings talent included in this talent build. Glyph of Steady Shot is
interchangeable with Glyph of Kill Shot versus raid bosses but generally,
the former is a better option if you want to retain an all-purpose build.
---------------
Design Function
---------------
Benefits
- Lots of defensive options available through talents.
- High crit chance.
- Unparalleled degree of crowd control.
- Explosive Shot causes high damage for its given cost.
- Can bring Replenishment buff to raids with Hunting Party.
Downsides
- More gear dependency than in other specs.
- Most defensive options are not worth taking.
- Explosive Shot becomes limited in situations where crowd control is close.
- Early levels in Survival are more difficult than in other specs.
Originally a melee/defensive tree, Survival has come a long way since the
Lacerate days. Now the tree has a lot more to offer in the way of ranged
offense. As a SV-Hunter, your tooltips will not indicate a direct increase in
Shot damages but the many proc-based talents, crit bonuses, and stat boosts
give you just as much firepower as a BM- or MM-Hunter.
While the Survival tree has a lot to offer, it’s also heavily gear dependent.
Lightning Reflexes and Hunter vs. Wild require that you look for weapons and
armor that have Stamina and Agility. Endgame blues and epics have plenty of
either stat but the same can’t be said for the many quest greens that you will
find along the way to level 80. There are also a few talents that proc only
when you land a critical strike. Fortunately, sustaining your buffs becomes
much easier as your acquire more upgrades.
--------------------------
Exclusive Active Abilities
--------------------------
Scatter Shot
Wyvern Sting
Explosive Shot
Aimed Shot (Marksmanship)
Counterattack (optional)
For being a SV-Hunter, you gain an interrupt, a crowd control Sting, an Arcane
Shot replacement, a Multi-Shot alternative, and a possible melee counter.
Scatter Shot and Wyvern Sting are there to give you more control over what
you’re up against. Both are unfortunately useless in a raid but outside of
that, you can use either one to disrupt enemy targets and make trapping
easier. A common strategy that many players use to extend the crowd control
time on Wyvern Sting is to throw a Freezing Arrow at the sleeping target’s
feet and overwrite the Sting with Scorpid Sting to prevent breakage.
Once you obtain Explosive Shot, it immediately becomes an effective replacement
for Arcane Shot. Overall, it’s a superior ability despite its higher mana cost.
The only time that you would need to switch back to Arcane Shot is if for some
reason, you need Arcane damage or an attack that uses less mana. This seldom
happens, however.
Counterattack gives you a chance to escape from melee range by rooting your
target but there are other ways to do that in a PvE environment, and it’s a
gamble in PvP since your chance to parry is innately low. For these reasons,
Counterattack and its linked talent, Deflection, both remain very unpopular.
--------------
Shot Rotations
--------------
========================================================
| PRIO | PRIMARY SHOTS | SECONDARY SHOTS |
========================================================
| 1st | Black Arrow | Serpent Sting |
| 2nd | Kill Shot | Arcane Shot |
| 3rd | Explosive Shot | |
| 4th | Aimed Shot | |
| 5th | Steady Shot | |
========================================================
Until you acquire Explosive Shot at level 60, you will be using Arcane Shot in
its place. Once you learn it, Arcane Shot can be removed from your normal shot
rotation entirely.
Just as with other specs, Serpent Sting needs to be kept active at all times.
For SV-Hunters, Black Arrow is top priority because of the 6% damage bonus that
comes with it. Use it whenever it’s available. From there on, use Kill Shot as
soon as it’s ready and work your way down the list.
The one thing to keep a lookout for is the Lock and Load procs. Against mobs
and players, you can force the proc with the help of your Frost and Freezing
Traps but against anything that is immune to crowd control, you will need to
rely on Serpent Sting and Black Arrow and hope for the best. If it does proc,
you can freely use it on two Explosive Shots but time it carefully so that you
don’t accidentally overwrite it before the last tick takes effect.
----------------------
Building The Right Pet
----------------------
As a SV-Hunter, you don’t have to be as picky about pets as a BM-Hunter. Cats
still lead the pack in terms of Ferocity DPS so those are worth bringing to a
raid. If you like rounding up mobs with your pet and then blasting them with
Explosive Shot, you may want to consider a gorilla for Thunderstomp. The
additional threat that it causes could come in handy.
--------------------
Survival Itemization
--------------------
Agility is generally a key stat for Hunters but it’s especially true for
SV-Hunters because they rely on critical hits for some of their talents to
work. That and Lightning Reflexes is a multiplier for Agility so the AP/crit
combo doesn’t fair as well for SV-Hunters as it does for other specs. The same
goes for Stamina and Hunter vs. Wild. A loss in Stamina will result in a loss
in RAP.
Curiously, your PvP armor set seems remarkably fit for an SV-Hunter. Though the
amounts of Agility are decent at best, the Stamina is great for Survivalist and
Hunter vs. Wild. The crit rating bonuses are also great for causing more Thrill
of the Hunt, Hunting Party, and Expose Weakness procs.
===============================================================================
--------------------------------[ VII. Pets ]----------------------------------
===============================================================================
Pets are extremely important to a Hunter. They serve as your personal companion
in battle, and are a key factor in a Hunter’s utility. This chapter will teach
you the mechanics of pet care, and will cover the different species that are
available in the game, as well as abilities that you can teach your pets.
The first section will introduce you to pet taming and maintenance while the
three sections that follow will explain pet families.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Pet Taming
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you first create your Hunter, you will notice that you have no abilities
or quests that pertain to pets. You’re on your own until level 10, at which
point your local Hunter Trainer will assign you a series of quests that will
reward you with Tame Beast and a few pet abilities. Make sure that you complete
the entire chain.
Now, onto taming...
------------------
The Taming Process
------------------
Once you have your abilities, it’s now time to look for a suitable pet. When
you use Tame Beast, make sure that you are at full health. Animals in the wild
don’t take too kindly to you casting the spell on them. Your armor also drops
to 0 while you’re channeling the spell, which can be a problem if you’re taming
something that could potentially kill you.
To soften the blow, you can also subdue your target with Freezing Trap. At
lower levels, it only lasts for 10 seconds but at the highest rank, 20 seconds
is just enough time for you to finish channeling the spell.
As you’re in the process of taming the beast, make sure that absolutely no one
else enters combat with it. Once that happens, Tame Beast will continue
channeling but it will be for naught. Do not let anyone heal you or attack your
target.
At the end of the 20-second channel, the beast will flash white, indicating
that it is officially yours.
----------------
Taming More Pets
----------------
As a Hunter, you’re not limited to just one pet. The local Stable Master allows
you to store your current pet in a stable slot to make room for a second pet.
The first slot costs an easy 5s but this cost goes up for each new slot you
purchase, up to 150g for the fifth and final slot.
As you grow in level, don’t be afraid of taming a pet that may be several
levels lower than you. No matter what your level is, a newly-tamed pet will
never be more than 5 levels lower than you. Even pets that get left in the
stable to collect dust will continue to grow as you grow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Using Your Pet
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section will help you make the most out of having a pet. Selected topics
such as your pet bar, feeding, and moods are explained in detail here.
-----------
The Pet Bar
-----------
Every command that you need to give your pet (besides Kill Command) is on that
pet bar that appears in the lower-left corner of your screen. Each button is
mapped to CTRL and a number key across the top of your keyboard. This is what
you will see going from left to right:
1: Attack Commands your pet to attack your target.
2: Follow Commands your pet to retreat back to you.
3: Stay Commands your pet to immediately stop moving.
4: ability Pet ability.
5: ability Pet ability.
6: ability Pet ability.
7: ability Pet ability.
8: Aggressive Your pet will attack nearby hostile targets automatically.
9: Defensive Your pet will attack hostile targets that attack you.
0: Passive Your pet will not react to hostile targets automatically.
The first three are the most important because they are direct commands to your
pet. Many new players tend to click on the commands in the pet bar, which
usually results in a slow reaction time. Try to get used to using your keyboard
instead. If you’re not comfortable with the CTRL-Number setup, remap your keys.
One recommendation is to remap them to the Function keys.
Your pet’s abilities take up the next four slots, which you can customize to
your liking. If you notice the yellow glimmer around the edges of each ability,
that is to indicate to you that it’s on auto-cast. Your pet will use that
ability automatically when it has the Focus for it. You may right-click the
ability to toggle off the auto-cast. It’s a good idea to keep major abilities
on this bar, such as Roar of Recovery and Call of the Wild.
The last three slots tell your pet how to behave. Any newly acquired pets are
automatically set to Defensive. Because of how complex many PvE and PvP
encounters become, learning to play with your pet set to Passive is critical
for your performance later on.
-------------------
The Feeding Process
-------------------
Notice that little red square that says “Unhappy” next to your pet’s health
meter? As long as it’s unhappy, its damage is reduced. To cheer it up, you
need to feed it using the Feed Pet ability. Your pet will only eat certain
types of foods, depending on what family it’s from. For example, while cats eat
meat and fish, gorillas prefer bread, fungus, and fruit. The next chapter will
tell you the diet of each pet family. For now, here is a list of the different
food groups:
===============================================================================
| TYPE | EXAMPLES |
===============================================================================
| Meat | Tough Jerky, Haunch of Meat, Mutton Chop |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Fish | Slitherskin Mackerel, Longjaw Mud Snapper |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Cheese | Darnassian Bleu, Dalaran Sharp, Spiced Onion Cheese |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Bread | Tough Hunk of Bread, Freshly Baked Bread, Moist Cornbread |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Fungus | Forest Mushroom Cap, Red-speckled Mushroom, Spongy Morel |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Fruit | Shiny Red Apple, Tel’Abim Banana, Snapvine Watermelon |
===============================================================================
As you can tell, identifying food types is just a matter of common sense.
Finding a vendor that sells what you need, however, can be a bit of a hassle.
Most towns and cities have vendors that specialize in certain food types. Some
sit out in the open while others are in one of the many shops all throughout
each city.
---------------
Your Pet’s Mood
---------------
As you feed your pet, its mood will start to improve. Here is the mood
hierarchy:
===============================================================================
| MOOD | COLOR | EXAMPLES |
===============================================================================
| Unhappy | Red | Pet inflicts 75% damage. |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Content | Yellow | Pet inflicts 100% damage. |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Happy | Green | Pet inflicts 125% damage. |
===============================================================================
Note that you can’t feed your pet in combat, and any damage that your pet takes
will immediately cancel the feeding effect. Be sure to find a safe place when
it’s feeding time.
Before you stuff your pet with a stack full of meat, you should have an
understanding of how Feed Pet actually works and what affects your pet’s mood,
which leads us to...
-------------
Pet Happiness
-------------
Your pet’s mood is affected by a hidden stat called happiness. As time goes on,
your pet’s happiness diminishes but can be refilled by feeding your pet. When
you use the Feed Pet ability, it gains a 10-second buff by the same name. Every
few seconds, this buff increases your pet’s happiness. You can see this in your
combat log.
The amount that your pet gains depends on your pet’s level and the food’s
level. The greater the difference in level, the less happiness the buff will
give. Here is a feeding chart for a level 80 pet that likes fruit:
===============================================================================
| FOOD | REQ.LV | HAPPINESS PER TICK |
===============================================================================
| Savory Snowplum | 75 | 35 Happiness |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Tundra Berries | 65 | 35 Happiness |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Skethyl Berries | 55 | 17 Happiness |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Deep Fried Plantains | 45 | 8 Happiness |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Moon Harvest Pumpkin | 35 | Will not eat. |
===============================================================================
Technically, foods that are within 15 levels of your pet will give it the most
happiness per tick, while a 35-level gap will give it the least. Any lower and
your pet will refuse to eat it. General rule of thumb is that the second-best
food that a vendor has to offer will give your pet the most happiness for the
lowest cost.
There are a few other ways to increase your pet’s happiness besides feeding it.
Glyph of Mend Pet instantly gives your pet 20 happiness each time it ticks. Pet
skills such as Bloodthirsty and Guard Dog also allow your pet to regain
happiness while in combat. These generally exist to maintain a happy mood while
in combat.
---------------------------------
Stat Growths & Your Contributions
---------------------------------
As you grow, your pet gains a certain percentage of your stats. Below is a list
of stats that your pet gets from you. Keep in mind that these numbers are
approximate at best:
45% of your Stamina
35% of your armor
22% of your RAP converted to pet AP
12.5% of your RAP converted to pet spell power
40% of your spell resistances
100% of your chance to hit
100% of your chance to crit
In addition to these scaling bonuses, your pet will also gain +1 Resist All
each level for a maximum of 80 at level 80.
===============================================================================
------------------------[ VIII. Pet Types & Skills ]---------------------------
===============================================================================
This chapter will explain the three pet types and their skill sets. Included in
this chapter is a large index of all trainable pet skills.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Pet Types
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All hunter pets in this carry an innate +5% to their health, armor, and attack
damage, but one of the things that differentiate them is pet types. Every pet
falls under one of three categories: Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning. Their
type will decide what set of pet skills is available. Below is a list of skills
for each category plus a basic cookie-cutter template.
For each given template, there are two columns. The first column is for MM- and
SV-Hunters, who only have a total of 16 points to distribute at level 80. Since
BM-Hunters can have 20 points, the right column is there to indicate where
those additional points can go.
--------
Ferocity
--------
============================================================================
| TIER | ABILITIES |
============================================================================
| 1st | Cobra Reflexes, Dash, Great Stamina, Natural Armor |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2nd | Improved Cower, Bloodthirsty, Spiked Collar, Boar’s Speed |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3rd | Avoidance, Lionhearted, Charge |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 4th | Heart of the Phoenix, Spider’s Bite, Great Resistance |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 5th | Rabid, Lick Your Wounds, Call of the Wild |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 6th | Shark Attack, Wild Hunt |
============================================================================
The Ferocity skill set is designed for one purpose: offense. The pet skills
that it acquires multiplies its attack damage, while Call of the Wild provides
you with a temporary AP buff that can be used when needed. As a compliment to
this skill set, most Ferocity pets generally have exclusive abilities that
benefit from having these offense-oriented skills.
=======================================================================
| MM-/SV-HUNTERS | BM-HUNTERS |
=======================================================================
| 2/2 Cobra Reflexes | 2/2 Cobra Reflexes |
| 1/1 Dash | 1/1 Dash |
| 3/3 Spiked Collar | 3/3 Spiked Collar |
| 1/1 Boar’s Speed | 1/1 Boar’s Speed |
| 3/3 Avoidance | 3/3 Avoidance |
| 3/3 Spider’s Bite | 3/3 Spider’s Bite |
| 1/1 Rabid | 1/1 Rabid |
| 1/1 Call of the Wild | 1/1 Call of the Wild |
| 1/2 Shark’s Bite | 2/2 Shark’s Bite |
| | 2/2 Wild Hunt |
| | 1/2 Bloodthirsty |
=======================================================================
This particular Ferocity build maximizes your pet’s attack damage while still
offering protection from some very hard-hitting area damage effects with the
help of Avoidance, but this offense comes at the price of the survivability
that Bloodthirsty, Heart of the Phoenix, and Lick Your Wounds has to offer.
Know when to retrieve your pet when there’s imminent danger. Fortunately, Glyph
of Mend Pet can help compensate for the lack of Bloodthirsty.
--------
Tenacity
--------
============================================================================
| TIER | ABILITIES |
============================================================================
| 1st | Cobra Reflexes, Charge, Great Stamina, Natural Armor |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2nd | Spiked Collar, Boar’s Speed, Blood of the Rhino, Pet Barding |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3rd | Avoidance, Guard Dog, Lionhearted, Thunderstomp |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 4th | Grace of the Mantis, Great Resistance |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 5th | Last Stand, Taunt, Roar of Sacrifice, Intervene |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 6th | Silverback, Wild Hunt |
============================================================================
Tenacity pets are built for defense. These are skills with a tank in mind,
which is why this tree has so many modified versions of warrior abilities such
as Taunt, Last Stand, and Intervene. While these skills are generally not what
you would want in a raid, they can build a pet that’s sturdy enough for soloing
dungeons and questing.
=======================================================================
| MM-/SV-HUNTERS | BM-HUNTERS |
=======================================================================
| 3/3 Great Stamina | 3/3 Great Stamina |
| 2/2 Natural Armor | 2/2 Natural Armor |
| 3/3 Spiked Collar | 3/3 Spiked Collar |
| 1/1 Boar’s Speed | 2/2 Blood of the Rhino |
| 2/2 Blood of the Rhino | 2/2 Pet Barding |
| 2/2 Pet Barding | 2/2 Guard Dog |
| 2/2 Guard Dog | 1/1 Thunderstomp |
| 1/1 Thunderstomp | 2/2 Grace of the Mantis |
| | 1/1 Roar of Sacrifice |
| | 2/2 Wild Hunt |
=======================================================================
This setup is designed with solo questing in mind. This build gives your pet a
hefty load of damage mitigation while maximizing the threat generation caused
by Growl and Thunderstomp. If you prefer a build that leans more towards caster
mobs, you can custom-tailor this build to include Avoidance and Great
Resistance.
-------
Cunning
-------
============================================================================
| TIER | ABILITIES |
============================================================================
| 1st | Cobra Reflexes, Dive, Great Stamina, Natural Armor |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 2nd | Boar’s Speed, Mobility, Owl’s Focus, Spiked Collar |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 3rd | Avoidance, Lionhearted, Carrion Feeder |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 4th | Great Resistance, Cornered, Feeding Frenzy |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 5th | Wolverine Bite, Roar of Recovery, Bullheaded, Grace of the Mantis |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 6th | Wild Hunt, Roar of Sacrifice |
============================================================================
While Ferocity is designed for offense, and Tenacity is built for defense,
Cunning falls somewhere in between. It consists of a delicate mix of tactical
and supportive abilities that keep you and your pet alive while still retaining
a certain degree of offense. This skill set is generally a viable choice for
PvP since you and your pet are both potential targets in any Battleground or
arena match, and pets that fall under this category tend to have abilities that
compliment it.
=======================================================================
| MM-/SV-HUNTERS | BM-HUNTERS |
=======================================================================
| 2/2 Cobra Reflexes | 2/2 Cobra Reflexes |
| 1/1 Dive | 1/1 Dive |
| 1/1 Boar’s Speed | 2/2 Mobility |
| 3/3 Spiked Collar | 2/2 Owl’s Focus |
| 3/3 Avoidance | 3/3 Spiked Collar |
| 1/1 Carrion Feeder | 3/3 Avoidance |
| 2/2 Feeding Frenzy | 1/1 Carrion Feeder |
| 1/1 Wolverine Bite | 2/2 Feeding Frenzy |
| 1/1 Roar of Recovery | 1/1 Wolverine Bite |
| 1/2 Wild Hunt | 1/1 Roar of Recovery |
| | 2/2 Wild Hunt |
=======================================================================
Since Cunning has a more varied assortment of offensive and defensive abilities
than Ferocity and Tenacity, your build can be tailored to whatever your needs
may be. In this particular case, the template that you see here has been
designed to lean towards offense. Although you are without protective skills
such as Roar of Recovery and Bullheaded, you have access to skills that boost
damage, such as Wolverine Bite and Wild Hunt. Roar of Recovery has also been
included as a tactical measure. It’s there if you are ever in need of mana.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Trainable Skills Index
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section lists the different skills that are available across all three
skill trees. Everything has been sorted in alphabetical order.
---------
Avoidance
---------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 3
EFFECT: Reduces the damage your pet takes from area of effect attacks by
25/50/75%.
OVERVIEW: This is an absolute must-have for any pet that you plan on taking
with you to raids. Area of effect attacks are very common in raids, and they
tend to cause a lot of damage, which is why you need to minimize that damage
as much as possible.
------------------
Blood of the Rhino
------------------
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Increases your pet's total Stamina by 2/4% and increases all healing
effects on your pet by 20/40%.
OVERVIEW: This skill is one of the reasons why Tenacity pets make great tanks.
If you plan on building a tanking pet, be sure to pick this up.
------------
Bloodthirsty
------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Your pet's attacks have a 10/20% chance to increase its happiness by 5%
and heal 5% of its total health.
OVERVIEW: Bloodthirsty is a great way to keep your pet alive and happy, and
it maintains your pet’s DPS by keeping it happy while in combat. You can stay
focused on your own DPS with minimal concern for your pet. The one deterrent,
however, is that Mend Pet and its Glyph does the exact same thing. If you
prefer to rely on that instead, you can invest your points elsewhere but just
be aware that doing so cuts off your access to Blood of the Phoenix and Lick
Your Wounds.
------------
Boar’s Speed
------------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Increases your pet's movement speed by 30%.
OVERVIEW: The speed increase from Boar’s Speed is generally better suited for
PvP but it’s a very convenient skill to have in PvE as well, especially if
you have a pet that has no access to Dive or Dash.
----------
Bullheaded
----------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss
of control of your pet, and reduces damage done to your pet by 20% for 12 sec.
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
OVERVIEW: Not very useful for PvE but definitely a handy skill to have in PvP.
The damage reduction portion is especially great when used with Cornered in
mind.
----------------
Call of the Wild
----------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet roars, increasing your pet's and your melee and ranged attack
power by 10%. Lasts 20 sec.
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 min.
OVERVIEW: A very handy buff to have. It’s especially great when paired with
Rapid Fire. Unless you have a very specific build in mind, make room for this
skill.
--------------
Carrion Feeder
--------------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet can generate health and happiness by eating a corpse. Will not
work on the remains of elemental or mechanical creatures.
RANGE: 5 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
OVERVIEW: This can help reduce the cost of shopping for pet food but it’s not
an essential skill to have. Best used when not in combat. If you are really
low on cash, you can always use the cheapest method: Glyph of Mend Pet.
------
Charge
------
ACCESS: Ferocity, Tenacity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet charges an enemy, immobilizing the target for 1 sec, and
increasing the pet's melee attack power by 25% for its next attack.
RANGE: 8-25 yards
COST: 35 Focus
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 25 sec.
OVERVIEW: Charge is great for tacking on a little extra damage into your pet’s
opening attack, especially if the buff is going towards something that hits
multiple targets such as Thunderstomp, but once your pet has entered the fray,
that will most likely be the last time it will ever use Charge against the
same target. A good ability but not a staple by any means.
--------------
Cobra Reflexes
--------------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Increases your pet's attack speed by 15/30%. Your pet will hit faster
but each hit will do less damage.
OVERVIEW: Despite the reduced base damage, you will find that your pet’s melee
attack DPS actually goes up roughly 10%. For BM-Hunters, this is an absolute
must because it helps in sustaining Ferocious Inspiration. That and the
additional speed is great for spell pushback.
--------
Cornered
--------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: When at less than 35% health, your pet does 25/50% more damage and has
a 30/60% reduced chance to be critically hit.
OVERVIEW: A very critical PvP ability. Pets are more than likely to take a
good beating in PvP, especially in an arena match.
---------
Dash/Dive
---------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Increases your pet's movement speed by 80% for 16 sec.
COST: 30 Focus
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 32 sec.
OVERVIEW: Great for getting your pet into the fray as quickly as possible, but
it can make for a quick retrieval if something goes wrong. It’s especially
great when augmented with Mobility.
--------------
Feeding Frenzy
--------------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Your pet does 8/16% additional damage to targets with less than 35%
health.
OVERVIEW: A must-have for any Cunning pet that’s built for offense. Since
bosses can take a long time to kill, this skill especially comes in handy in
raids.
-------------------
Grace of the Mantis
-------------------
ACCESS: Tenacity, Cunning
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Reduces the chance your pet will be critically hit by melee attacks
by 2/4%.
OVERVIEW: Crits can be devastating to your pet, and chances are good that if
are in a situation where you need a Tenacity or Cunning pet, your companion
will likely take a few good swings to the face. Invest in this skill if you
are building a pet for PvP or tanking.
----------------
Great Resistance
----------------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 3
EFFECT: Your pet takes 5/10/15% less damage from Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature
and Shadow magic.
OVERVIEW: Unless you are specifically building a caster-killing pet, you can
get by without it in most situations. You can get a lot more mileage out of it
in PvP, however, so it’s something to consider if you plan on going up against
players often, especially if you are a BM-Hunter.
-------------
Great Stamina
-------------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 3
EFFECT: Increases your pet's total Stamina by 4/8/12%.
OVERVIEW: Plain and simple but this is a good skill to have if you plan on
building a tanking pet. It’s also a good choice for PvP, since players who
know a thing or two about hunters will know to kill your pet as soon as
you send it into combat.
--------------------
Heart of the Phoenix
--------------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: When your pet dies, it will miraculously return to life with full
health.
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 min.
OVERVIEW: Keeping your pet alive isn’t always easy to do. Fortunately, this
exists as a way to set aside the need for Revive Pet in the event that your
pet does bite the dust. A solid choice for PvP, and a very good safety net
for BM-Hunters. However, if you are good at micro-managing your pet, you can
do without it.
--------------
Improved Cower
--------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Your pet's Cower also decreases damage taken by 20% for the next 10 sec
OVERVIEW: This can be useful if you think your Ferocity pet is likely to take a
lot of damage but there aren’t a whole lot of situations where that is likely
to happen. It could potentially help your pet tank a little but if it ends up
needing to do that, Cower isn’t going to help your pet maintain threat.
---------
Intervene
---------
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet runs at high speed towards a group member, intercepting the
next melee or ranged attack made against them.
RANGE: 8-25 yards
COST: 20 Focus
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
OVERVIEW: Great ability for those situations where someone is about to take a
massive hit. For example, if a tank is taking a severe beating from a boss,
you can potentially Intervene and have your pet take the next hit. The only
thing that you need to be aware of is that minimum range.
----------
Last Stand
----------
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet temporarily gains 30% of its maximum health for 20 sec.
After the effect expires, the health is lost.
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 6 min.
OVERVIEW: Yet another skill that can help keep your pet alive in a dire
situation. While it does have its uses in PvP, it isn’t as useful in PvE
simply because there are few occasions where your pet really needs that
additional health. If your pet is truly in danger of getting killed, there
are other ways to save your pet, such as with Distracting Shot and Mend Pet.
----------------
Lick Your Wounds
----------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet heals itself for 100% of its total health over 5 sec while
channeling.
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
OVERVIEW: When Mend Pet isn’t enough, this can help quickly patch things up.
If you are good at keeping your pet alive, you can avoid this entirely, but
while that is easily doable in PvE, it’s never that easy in PvP. If you plan
on building a Ferocity pet for PvP, take Lick Your Wounds into consideration.
-----------
Lionhearted
-----------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Reduces the duration of all Stun and Fear effects used against your
pet by 15/30%.
OVERVIEW: While not very useful for PvE, it is a very good skill to have in
PvP. While you are more likely to be on the receiving end of a stun or fear
than your pet, it’s good to have it going into an arena match or
Battleground.
--------
Mobility
--------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Reduces the cooldown on your pet's Dash/Dive ability by 8/16 sec.
OVERVIEW: A nifty skill to have. By reducing the cooldown of Dash or Dive to
16 seconds, you can continually reuse it as soon as it’s done cooling down.
30 Focus is costly but Go For The Throat can offset that cost.
-------------
Natural Armor
-------------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 3
EFFECT: Increases your pet's armor by 5/10%.
OVERVIEW: Great for tanking pets but not very useful for pets that are built
for raids, since pets aren’t expected to take much physical damage in raids.
You will most likely want this on a Tenacity pet but not so much for Ferocity
pets.
-----------
Owl’s Focus
-----------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Your pet has a 15/30% chance after using an ability that the next
ability will cost no Focus if used within 8 sec.
OVERVIEW: Tough call. While it’s nice to have a freebie attack once in a while,
there are talents that offset the cost of most abilities. Even with only one
talent point in Go For The Throat, you will crit often enough to warrant not
needing Owl’s Focus, especially if you are acquiring upgrades from raiding.
-----------
Pet Barding
-----------
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Increases your pet's armor by 5/10% and chance to Dodge by 1/2%.
OVERVIEW: This extension of Natural Armor is naturally available to Tenacity
pets. An excellent skill for a tanking pet.
-----
Rabid
-----
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet goes into a killing frenzy. Successful attacks have a chance
to increase attack power by 5%. This effect will stack up to 5 times.
Lasts 20 sec.
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 45 sec.
OVERVIEW: You will find that Rabid reaches the full five stacks very quickly.
Excellent ability, especially if you plan on leaning your Ferocity pet more
towards offense and less on survivability.
----------------
Roar of Recovery
----------------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet's inspiring roar restores 30% of your total mana over 9 sec.
RANGE: 40 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
OVERVIEW: This is one way of regaining mana without having to switch your
Aspects. It can especially be useful in PvP, since it’s much harder to find a
moment to sit down and drink.
-----------------
Roar of Sacrifice
-----------------
ACCESS: Tenacity, Cunning
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet absorbs damage done to you, transferring 30% damage taken to
the pet. Lasts 12 sec.
RANGE: 40 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 30 sec.
OVERVIEW: While its uses are limited to very specific situations in PvE, you
can get a lot of mileage out of this skill in PvP, especially if you have
Longevity. Excellent skill to have when going into a Battleground or an arena
match. Tenacity pets can learn this ability with ease but for Cunning pets,
it requires that you budget your points carefully since it is sitting at the
very bottom of the tree.
------------
Shark Attack
------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Your pet does an additional 3/6% damage with all attacks.
OVERVIEW: Attack multipliers are always beneficial to a Ferocity pet. MM- and
SV-Hunters will only have enough points for the 3% bonus but BM-Hunters should
have enough for the full 6%. If you have room for this skill, be sure to
invest your points in this.
----------
Silverback
----------
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Your pet's Growl also heals it for 1/2% of its total health.
OVERVIEW: This is one of two skills at the bottom of the Tenacity tree that
can’t be maxed in rank without the additional skill points from Beast Mastery.
2% may not be a lot but it’s actually affected by Blood of the Rhino and
Spirit Bond. Add Longevity to reduce the cooldown on Growl and this can turn
out to be a very solid skill.
-------------
Spider’s Bite
-------------
ACCESS: Ferocity
RANKS: 3
EFFECT: Increases the critical strike chance of your pet by 3/6/9%.
OVERVIEW: Yet another must-have talent for any Ferocity pet. It is also an
absolute essential for BM-Hunters, since the additional crit can proc certain
talents. Make room for this skill.
-------------
Spiked Collar
-------------
ACCESS: All Types
RANKS: 3
EFFECT: Your pet does an additional 3/6/9% damage with all attacks.
OVERVIEW: Excellent pet skill. No matter how you choose to distribute your
skill points, you should always make room for this.
-----
Taunt
-----
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Your pet taunts the target to attack it for 3 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 3 min.
OVERVIEW: Taunt abilities are often great to have around but not in this case.
This version of Taunt causes no additional threat and has a woefully long
cooldown with little help from Longevity. If your pet doesn’t gain enough
threat within those three seconds, you are on your own. There are far better
skills to invest your one point in.
------------
Thunderstomp
------------
ACCESS: Tenacity
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: Shakes the ground with thundering force, doing 3 to 5 Nature damage to
all enemies within 8 yards. This ability causes a moderate amount of
additional threat.
RANGE: Melee
COST: 20 Focus
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
OVERVIEW: Thunderstomp is great for sustaining aggro on multiple targets, which
is great for situations where you may be overwhelmed by a large number of
mobs, as in Stratholme. It also allows you to safely cast Mend Pet without
drawing too much attention. Even if you are only attacking one target, the
threat from this ability goes nicely with Growl.
---------
Wild Hunt
---------
ACCESS: Ferocity, Tenacity
RANKS: 2
EFFECT: Increases the contribution your pet gets from your Stamina by 20/40%
and attack power by 10/20%.
OVERVIEW: This is another high-level skill that can’t be maxed unless you are a
BM-Hunter. For Ferocity pets, Shark Attack is easily the better of the two,
but if you intend on maximizing the offensive power of a Tenacity pet, you
will want to choose this over Silverback.
--------------
Wolverine Bite
--------------
ACCESS: Cunning
RANKS: 1
EFFECT: A fierce attack causing 5 damage, modified by pet level, that your pet
can use after its target dodges. Cannot be dodged, blocked or parried.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
OVERVIEW: At level 80, this ability can hit for a surprisingly high amount of
damage. Of course, the catch is that your target has to dodge an attack first.
Even so, your pet will use this ability often enough to make it worth your
while.
===============================================================================
-----------------------[ IX. Pet Families & Abilities ] -----------------------
===============================================================================
In addition to the three skill set types, pets are also categorized into
families. Each pet family features an ability that is unique to that family.
Oftentimes, the ability compliments the pet’s type.
For players who are familiar with the stat differences between families, those
differences are no more. All pets now have an innate 5% bonus to health,
damage, and armor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Basic Pet Abilities
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While this chapter lists abilities that are unique to each family, this section
is here to give you a look at the basic abilities that are common between
families.
---------------
Bite/Claw/Smack
---------------
EFFECT: Bite/Claw/Smack the enemy, causing 4 to 6 damage.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: n/a
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 25 Causes 4 to 6 damage.
8 2 25 Causes 8 to 12 damage.
16 3 25 Causes 12 to 16 damage.
24 4 25 Causes 16 to 22 damage.
32 5 25 Causes 21 to 29 damage.
40 6 25 Causes 26 to 36 damage.
48 7 25 Causes 35 to 49 damage.
56 8 25 Causes 43 to 59 damage.
64 9 25 Causes 54 to 76 damage.
72 10 25 Causes 91 to 129 damage.
80 11 25 Causes 118 to 168 damage.
OVERVIEW: All pets have one basic attack ability that they can dump their Focus
into, and that’s either Bite, Claw, or Smack. Whichever one your pet learns
depends on the pet family but the function for all three is exactly the same.
Generally you will want to keep this ability set to auto-cast at all times.
-----
Growl
-----
EFFECT: Your pet growls at the target, generating threat and increasing the
likelihood the target will attack it.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 15 Generates 50 threat.
10 2 15 Generates 65 threat.
20 3 15 Generates 110 threat.
30 4 15 Generates 170 threat.
40 5 15 Generates 240 threat.
50 6 15 Generates 320 threat.
60 7 15 Genetates 415 threat.
70 8 15 Generates 664 threat.
80 9 15 Generates 1234 threat.
OVERVIEW: Growl is what allows your pet to tank. Instant threat every 5
seconds. Although the tooltip never indicates how much threat it generates,
each rank has a set base amount before your ranged attack power is applied.
Listed above are the base threat values for each rank.
-----
Cower
-----
EFFECT: Cower, causing no damage but lowering your threat, making the enemy
less likely to attack you.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 20 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Reduces threat by 30.
15 2 0 Reduces threat by 55.
25 3 0 Reduces threat by 85.
35 4 0 Reduces threat by 125.
45 5 0 Reduces threat by 175.
55 6 0 Reduces threat by 225.
65 7 0 Reduces threat by 360.
OVERVIEW: Whereas Growl allows your pet to tank by generating Threat, Cower
does the exact opposite, and at no cost. Cower is a tough ability to judge
properly because of how little threat your pet causes in comparison to what
you and other players can cause. However, pet damage looks to be a lot more
prominent now than in previous years. A BM-Hunter pet with the right Ferocity
talents could potentially cause a lot of threat. Whatever the case may be, it
wouldn’t hurt to set to auto-cast whenever your pet isn’t tanking.
-----
Prowl
-----
EFFECT: Puts your pet in stealth mode, but slows its movement speed by 50%.
The first attack from stealth receives a 20% bonus to damage. Lasts until
cancelled.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 50% speed decrease. 20% bonus damage to first attack.
40 2 0 45% speed decrease. 35% bonus damage to first attack.
50 3 0 40% speed decrease. 40% bonus damage to first attack.
OVERVIEW: Prowl is the pet version of a Rogue’s Stealth ability. It’s a great
ability but it’s usually best if you have auto-cast disabled. Your pet will
have a hard time trying to keep up with you as long as it’s set to auto-cast.
Only two pets actually know this ability: the cat and the spirit beast.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Ferocity Pets
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ferocity pets are built for offense. Their signature abilities generally focus
on inflicting damage. These pets are most ideal for raids and dungeons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrion Bird
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat, Fish
SIGNATURE: Demoralizing Screech
EFFECT: Blasts a single enemy for 7 to 9 damage and lowers the melee attack
power of all enemies in melee range by 25. Effect lasts 10 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 7 to 9 damage. Reduces melee attack power by 25.
16 2 20 12 to 16 damage. Reduces melee attack power by 45.
32 3 20 17 to 23 damage. Reduces melee attack power by 70.
48 4 20 27 to 37 damage. Reduces melee attack power by 100.
64 5 20 42 to 58 damage. Reduces melee attack power by 210.
80 6 20 85 to 129 damage. Reduces melee attack power by 410.
The carrion bird family is comprised of buzzards, rocs, vultures, and condors.
It comes as no surprise that many of them can be found in dry, arid regions of
the world such as the Badlands and Westfall. Some also reside in areas that are
abundant in dead things.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cat
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw, Prowl
DIET: Meat, Fish
SIGNATURE: Rake
EFFECT: Rake the target for 2 to 4 bleed damage and an additional 1 damage over
9 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 2 to 4 bleed damage. Additional 1 damage.
16 2 20 3 to 5 bleed damage. Additional 1 to 3 damage.
32 3 20 4 to 6 bleed damage. Additional 1 to 3 damage.
48 4 20 7 to 9 bleed damage. Additional 2 to 4 damage.
64 5 20 12 to 16 bleed damage. Additional 3 to 5 damage.
80 6 20 24 to 34 bleed damage. Additional 22 to 28 damage.
Cats are very popular choice for many Hunters because of their easy diet and
abundance of different skins. They also perform well as a DPS pet, which is why
they are a popular choice in raids. The fact that their Rake ability is a bleed
effect also means that it isn’t easily removed by most dispel effects.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Core Hound
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic Pet
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Lava Breath
EFFECT: Your pet breathes a double gout of molten lava at the target for 7 to
13 Fire damage and reduces the target's casting speed by 50% for 10 sec.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 7 to 13 Fire damage.
16 2 20 Causes 17 to 23 Fire damage.
32 3 20 Causes 24 to 32 Fire damage.
48 4 20 Causes 40 to 52 Fire damage.
64 5 20 Causes 60 to 80 Fire damage.
80 6 20 Causes 128 to 172 Fire damage.
Core hounds are big, hulking, scary, two-headed dogs. Most players remember the
orange lava-skinned kind that lurk in Molten Core but there is actually one
that looks like an actual dog and has white fur: The Kurken on Azuremyst Isle.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Devilsaur
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic Pet
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Monstrous Bite
EFFECT: Your devilsaur ferociously bites the enemy, causing 7 to 9 damage, and
boosts its own damage by 3% for 12 seconds. This effect stacks 3 times.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 7 to 9 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 12 to 16 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 17 to 23 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 28 to 36 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 43 to 57 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 91 to 123 damage.
The devilsaur is a T-Rex with spines sticking out of its back. They’re a
terrifying force to be reckoned with, especially when Bestial Wrath, Rabid, and
Monstrous Bite all kick in. That makes one mean killing machine. Being that the
Un’goro Crater is pretty much Jurassic Park, it comes as no surprise that you
can find most of them hulking around there.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hyena
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Tendon Rip
EFFECT: Tears at an enemy's legs for 2 to 4 and reducing movement speed by 50%
for 6 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 20 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 2 to 4 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 7 to 9 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 13 to 17 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 21 to 29 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 33 to 45 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 49 to 69 damage.
Hyenas are a lot like carrion birds in the sense that they can be found in dry,
barren regions of the world. While their cackle and snarl aren’t going to win
them any pet show awards, their ability to quickly dash across a field and
Tendon Rip a moving target can come in handy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moth
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Only available with The Burning Crusade.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Smack
DIET: Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Serenity Dust
EFFECT: The moth's wings produce a cloud of dust that increases its attack
power by 10% and heals it for 40 over 15 sec.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Heals for 40 health.
16 2 20 Heals for 150 health.
32 3 20 Heals for 210 health.
48 4 20 Heals for 340 health.
64 5 20 Heals for 555 health.
80 6 20 Heals for 850 health.
For a Ferocity pet, moths can get a lot of healing between Serenity Dust, Lick
Your Wounds, and Mend Pet. Even more if you have Gift of the Naaru and Spirit
Bond. In fights where your pet would be taking a lot of damage, a moth could
come in handy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raptor
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Savage Rend
EFFECT: Slashes the enemy with the raptor's talons for 5 damage, and causes
the target to bleed for 1 damage every 5 sec for 15 sec. Successful critical
strikes with this ability temporarily boost the raptor's attack power.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 5 damage. Bleeds for 1 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 8 to 10 damage. Bleeds for 2 to 4 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 11 to 15 damage. Bleeds for 3 to 5 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 18 to 24 damage. Bleeds for 6 to 8 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 28 to 38 damage. Bleeds for 10 to 12 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 59 to 83 damage. Bleeds for 21 to 27 damage.
Raptors are a fun pet for anyone looking to own a dinosaur. Locating one is
never a problem since they seem to be everywhere. As for their Savage Rend
ability, it works well if you and your pet have the right talents, specifically
Spider’s Bite and Ferocity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spirit Beast
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic pet. Only available with Wrath of the Lich King.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw, Prowl
DIET: Meat, Fish
SIGNATURE: Spirit Strike
EFFECT: Burns the enemy for 6 Arcane damage and then an additional 6 after 10
sec.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 6 damage. Burns for 6 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 12 to 16 damage. Bursts for 12 to 16 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 16 to 20 damage. Bursts for 16 to 20 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 26 to 34 damage. Bursts for 26 to 34 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 40 to 52 damage. Bursts for 40 to 52 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 85 to 115 damage. Bursts for 85 to 115 damage.
The spirit beast is perfect for any Hunter looking for a challenge. There is
only one tamable spirit beast in the game, and it’s a rare spawn that is sought
after to fulfill an achievement. Good luck finding Loque’nahak!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tallstrider
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Dust Cloud
EFFECT: Your tallstrider kicks up an obscuring cloud of dust, causing all
enemies within 10 yards to miss their next attack. Lasts for 8 sec.
RANGE: 10 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 40 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 n/a 20 n/a
Tallstriders are like miniature ostriches. They’re actually great-looking pets,
especially Mazzranache the rare spawn in Mulgore that looks like a pink
flamingo. It’s such a shame that Dust Cloud is the least useful ability that a
pet can have. As nice as it would be to have your target’s next attack miss
entirely, the cooldown is too long for it to be effective.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wasp
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Only available with The Burning Crusade.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Smack
DIET: Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Sting
EFFECT: Your wasp stings for 4 to 6 Nature damage, and decreases the armor of
the target by 175 for 20 sec. While affected, the target cannot stealth or
turn invisible.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 6 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 4 to 6 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 175.
16 2 20 Causes 9 to 11 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 285.
32 3 20 Causes 12 to 16 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 395.
48 4 20 Causes 20 to 26 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 505.
64 5 20 Causes 30 to 40 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 610.
80 6 20 Causes 64 to 86 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 1260.
Surprisingly, you can find plenty of wasps fluttering around the southern parts
of Kalimdor but you can only tame the ones that are found in the expansion
packs. They have a lot of potential in PvP because of the armor reduction from
Sting but is limited in groups and raids by Sunder Armor, Faerie Fire, or
Expose Armor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wolf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Furious Howl
EFFECT: Increases melee and ranged attack power by 2 for party and raid members
within 45 yards of the wolf. Lasts 10 sec.
RANGE: 45 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 n/a 20 Attack power gain equals approx 2x pet’s current level.
Wolves are great companions for soloing because of Furious Howl. It’s a nice
little buff that can easily be sustained if you’re careful about how you spend
your Focus. Furious Howl tends to lose its effectiveness in groups and raids
because it doesn’t stack with Battle Shout and Blessing of Might. However, it
does stack with Trueshot Aura.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Tenacity Pets
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tenacity pets are pros at defense. Though they have fewer offensive options
than Ferocity or Cunning pets, they make up for it with their defense-oriented
abilities. These are the kind of pets that you would take with you while
questing or situations where you need a personal tank.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bear
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Meat, Fish, Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Swipe
EFFECT: Swipe 3 nearby enemies, inflicting 6 to 8 damage.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 5 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 6 to 8 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 13 to 17 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 17 to 23 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 28 to 38 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 42 to 58 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 90 to 126 damage.
Bears are awesome. They’re big and fluffy, and they’ll eat just about anything.
Their Swipe ability looks a bit weak but its low cooldown makes up for it,
though it can be risky if used near crowd control. Aside from that, bears are
easy to feed so conjured foods make it easy on your wallet.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boar
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOVES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat, Fish, Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Gore
EFFECT: Your boar gores the enemy for 9 to 11. Causes double damage if used
within 6 sec of a Charge.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 6 to 8 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 13 to 17 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 17 to 23 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 28 to 38 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 42 to 58 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 122 to 164 damage.
Boars are a lot like bears when it comes to food. They pig out on whatever you
choose to feed them. Having that kind of a diet makes buying pet food a lot
easier on you. That and conjured foods can save you a lot of money. As for
Gore, the fact that it gains a damage bonus off of Charge pretty much makes
Charge mandatory. You probably aren’t going to get more than a single Charge-
Gore combo off on a single target but the little bit of extra damage is worth
having.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crab
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Fish, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Pin
EFFECT: Pins the target in place, and squeezes for 4 damage over 4 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 40 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes a total of 4 damage.
16 2 20 Causes a total of 16 damage.
32 3 20 Causes a total of 20 damage.
48 4 20 Causes a total of 36 damage.
64 5 20 Causes a total of 56 damage.
80 6 20 Causes a total of 112 damage.
Crabs are easy to underestimate. At an early level, they’re tiny enough to be
laughable. At later levels, they look like the seafood special at a Red
Lobster. Crabs are a lot mightier than they look, thanks to their handy snare
ability. Pin can help quickly stop your target from fleeing but it can also
help you regain distance when you’re up against another player.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crocolisk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOVES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat, Fish
SIGNATURE: Bad Attitude
EFFECT: Snap back for 7 to 9 damage at any target that strikes you for the next
45 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 2 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 7 to 9 damage per return attack.
16 2 20 Causes 12 to 16 damage per return attack.
32 3 20 Causes 17 to 23 damage per return attack.
48 4 20 Causes 27 to 37 damage per return attack.
64 5 20 Causes 42 to 58 damage per return attack.
80 6 20 Causes 89 to 125 damage per return attack.
Crocolisks are quite possibly the meanest of the Tenacity pets, thanks to their
signature ability Bad Attitude. Modeled after Retaliation, it gives your pet a
way to rack up damage against multiple targets at once.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gorilla
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Smack
DIET: Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Pummel
EFFECT: Pummel the target, interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell
in that school from being cast for 2 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Spell lock duration set to 2 sec.
Gorillas are commonly found in jungle and rain forest habitats such as the
Un’goro Crater and Stranglethorn Vale. While most pet abilities are perfectly
fine when set to auto-cast, you will have to manually use Pummel on your own.
Your pet will almost always use it whenever it’s not needed. Hotkey it
somewhere, preferably a mouse button if your mouse has more than two buttons
and a scroll wheel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhino
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic pet. Only available with Wrath of the Lich King.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Smack
DIET: Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Stampede
EFFECT: Your rhino slams into a nearby enemy, causing 14 to 18 damage to all
enemies within 10 yards, and knocking them back 10 yards.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 14 to 18 damage.
16 2 0 Causes 24 to 32 damage.
32 3 0 Causes 34 to 46 damage.
48 4 0 Causes 55 to 73 damage.
64 5 0 Causes 85 to 115 damage.
80 6 0 Causes 182 to 246 damage.
Rhinos can be a tactical advantage for you if you know when to use Stampede.
It makes a nice spell interrupt in addition to knocking back your target but
the cooldown is long enough that you have to be selective about when you
should use it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scorpid
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Scorpid Poison
EFFECT: Stings an enemy for 5 Nature damage over 10 sec. Effect can stack up
to 5 times on a single target.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 4 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 5 Nature damage over time.
16 2 0 Causes 10 Nature damage over time.
32 3 0 Causes 10 Nature damage over time.
48 4 0 Causes 15 Nature damage over time.
64 5 0 Causes 20 Nature damage over time.
80 6 0 Causes 45 Nature damage over time.
Scorpids are great pets versus classes that can dispel debuffs, thanks to
Scorpid Poison. Its stacking effect makes it harder for dispellers to remove
certain debuffs. Many Hunters use this in conjunction with Viper Sting for
this very reason.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Turtle
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Fish, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Shell Shield
EFFECT: The turtle partially withdraws into its shell, reducing damage taken by
50% for 12 sec.
RANGE: n/a
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 n/a 0 n/a
Out of all the Tenacity pets, turtles take the prize as the most durable tanks
that a Hunter can have. Shell Shield gives them a tremendous advantage over
other pets. Even though it only lasts for 12 seconds, you can get a lot done in
that little time if you act quickly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warp Stalker
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Fish, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Warp
EFFECT: Teleports to an enemy up to 30 yards away and gives the pet a 50%
chance to avoid the next 3 melee attacks. Lasts 4 sec.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 15 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 n/a 0 n/a
Warp’s evasion effect gives warp stalkers a chance to start a fight on the
right foot but it also gives them a level of mobility that Dive and Dash just
can’t touch. Using Warp, a BM-Hunter can land a quick Intimidation on his/her
target, or save a fellow player from a killing blow with Taunt.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Worm
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic pet.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Cheese, Bread, Fungus
SIGNATURE: Acid Spit
EFFECT: Your worm spits acid at an enemy, causing 8 to 12 Nature damage and
reducing its armor by 10 per Acid Spit for 30 sec. Can be applied up to 5
times.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 8 to 12 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 10.
16 2 20 Causes 17 to 23 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 120.
32 3 20 Causes 24 to 32 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 250.
48 4 20 Causes 38 to 54 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 360.
64 5 20 Causes 58 to 82 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 520.
80 6 20 Causes 124 to 176 Nature damage. Reduces armor by 785.
Worms aren’t the prettiest pets out there but they pack a mean pet ability.
Their Acid Spit is like having a portable Sunder Armor wherever you go. The
only drawback is its long cooldown, which would mean that you would need at
least 50 seconds to apply all five stacks. Realistically, you aren’t likely to
see that fifth stack unless it’s a raid boss that takes a while to kill.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. Cunning Pets
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cunning pets are very tactical. The general focus of their abilities is to
cause some kind of effect that would give you a tactical advantage, whether it
be a Disarm effect, a stun, or a spell lock. Cunning pets are great choices for
PvP for this very reason.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bat
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Sonic Blast
EFFECT: Emits a piercing shriek, inflicting 4 to 6 Nature damage and stunning
the target for 2 sec.
RANGE: 20 yard
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 4 to 6 Nature damage.
16 2 0 Causes 9 to 11 Nature damage.
32 3 0 Causes 12 to 16 Nature damage.
48 4 0 Causes 19 to 27 Nature damage.
64 5 0 Causes 29 to 41 Nature damage.
80 6 0 Causes 62 to 88 Nature damage.
Bats have a new trick up their sleeve: Sonic Blast. The damage portion is weak
enough to be negligible but the stun works very well as an interrupt. The fact
that it costs no Focus also means that you can use it whenever you need it.
Very handy to have while Intimidation, Scatter Shot, or Silencing Shot are
cooling down.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bird of Prey
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Meat, Fish
SIGNATURE: Snatch
EFFECT: The bird of prey grabs the enemy's weapon with its talons, causing 7 to
9 damage and disarming them for 6 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 1 min.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 7 to 9 damage.
16 2 20 Causes 12 to 16 damage.
32 3 20 Causes 17 to 23 damage.
48 4 20 Causes 27 to 37 damage.
64 5 20 Causes 42 to 58 damage.
80 6 20 Causes 89 to 125 damage.
Bird of prey is an extension of the owl family, which now includes eagles and
hawks. Their Snatch ability can get hampered by talents that reduce Disarm
durations but it’s still a great tool to have at your fingertips.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chimaera
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic pet.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Froststorm Breath
EFFECT: Your pet simultaneously breathes frost and lightning at an enemy
target, inflicting 7 to 13 Frost and Nature damage and slowing the target for
5 sec.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 7 to 13 Frost and Nature damage.
16 2 20 Causes 17 to 23 Frost and Nature damage.
32 3 20 Causes 24 to 32 Frost and Nature damage.
48 4 20 Causes 40 to 52 Frost and Nature damage.
64 5 20 Causes 59 to 81 Frost and Nature damage.
80 6 20 Causes 128 to 172 Frost and Nature damage.
Chimaeras pack a mean pet ability. Since the snare from Froststorm Breath isn’t
classified as a specific effect type such as Curse, Poison, or Magic, it can’t
be dispelled. That and snare removals are currently ineffective against it.
Combined with Longevity and Concussive Shot, you can keep your target slowed
without having to pull a drive-by Wing Clip.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragonhawk
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Only available with The Burning Crusade.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat, Fish, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Fire Breath
EFFECT: Breathes Fire on the target for 3 to 5 damage plus 2 damage over 2 sec.
RANGE: 20 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 3 to 5 Fire damage. Burns for 2 Fire damage.
16 2 20 Causes 6 to 8 Fire damage. Burns for 6 Fire damage.
32 3 20 Causes 8 to 10 Fire damage. Burns for 8 Fire damage.
48 4 20 Causes 13 to 17 Fire damage. Burns for 14 Fire damage.
64 5 20 Causes 20 to 26 Fire damage. Burns for 22 Fire damage.
80 6 20 Causes 43 to 57 Fire damage. Burns for 44 Fire damage.
With the elimination of caster pet stats and the change to Fire Breath,
dragonhawks are now much better than they used to be. Rather than channeling
fire in a frontal cone, Fire Breath is now a simplified version of a Mage’s
Fireball spell. It’s simple but it gets the job done.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nether Ray
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Only available with The Burning Crusade.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat, Fungus
SIGNATURE: Nether Shock
EFFECT: Instantly lashes an enemy for 4 to 6 Shadow damage. Also interrupts
spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 2 sec.
RANGE: 20 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 40 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 4 to 6 Shadow damage.
16 2 0 Causes 9 to 11 Shadow damage.
32 3 0 Causes 12 to 16 Shadow damage.
48 4 0 Causes 20 to 26 Shadow damage.
64 5 0 Causes 30 to 40 Shadow damage.
80 6 0 Causes 64 to 86 Shadow damage.
Nether rays are very good at shutting down casters with their Nether Shock.
While it’s not a massively long duration, it can be used from 20 yards away,
and BM-Hunters can reduce the duration to 28 seconds with Longevity.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ravager
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Only available with The Burning Crusade.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Ravage
EFFECT: Violently attacks an enemy for 8 to 10 damage, stunning it for 2 sec.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 40 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 8 to 10 damage.
16 2 0 Causes 15 to 19 damage.
32 3 0 Causes 21 to 27 damage.
48 4 0 Causes 32 to 44 damage.
64 5 0 Causes 50 to 70 damage.
80 6 0 Causes 106 to 150 damage.
Ravagers are one of two pets that have a stun for a pet ability, the other one
being bats. Even though bats can use their stun from 20 yards away, ravagers
make up for this by having a 40-second cooldown as opposed to Sonic Blast’s 1
minute. The damage may also look higher in the tooltip but keep in mind that
Ravage inflicts physical damage, which can be reduced with armor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serpent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Poison Spit
EFFECT: Spits poison at an enemy, dealing 4 Nature damage over 8 sec and
reduces the target's casting speed by 50% for 8 sec.
RANGE: 30 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 4 Nature damage in total.
16 2 0 Causes 12 Nature damage in total.
32 3 0 Causes 16 Nature damage in total.
48 4 0 Causes 32 Nature damage in total.
64 5 0 Causes 48 Nature damage in total.
80 6 0 Causes 104 Nature damage in total.
Serpents are very convenient in PvP because of their Poison Spit ability. That
slowing effect on casting speed makes it easier for you to time an interrupt,
and it makes healers struggle to get that heal spell off. While it’s an easy
debuff to dispel, it’s still a great ability for those who don’t have access
to a core hound for Lava Breath.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silithid
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Exotic pet.
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Claw
DIET: Meat, Fungus
SIGNATURE: Venom Web Spray
EFFECT: Sprays toxic webs at the target, preventing movement for 4 sec and
causing Nature damage over time.
RANGE: 20 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 40 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Causes 1 Nature damage per second.
16 2 0 Causes 7 to 9 Nature damage per second.
32 3 0 Causes 13 to 17 Nature damage per second.
48 4 0 Causes 21 to 29 Nature damage per second.
64 5 0 Causes 33 to 45 Nature damage per second.
80 6 0 Causes 46 to 68 Nature damage per second.
Silithids are a lot like spiders in the sense that they are both bugs with a
web snare but what sets them apart is the damage component that Venom Web Spray
has. Though the tooltip doesn’t indicate the amount of damage that this ability
causes, each rank has a set damage range, which is listed here in the chart
above.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spider
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABILITIES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Meat
SIGNATURE: Web
EFFECT: Encases the target in sticky webs, preventing movement for 4 sec.
RANGE: 20 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 40 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 0 Immobilizes target for 4 seconds.
It’s amazing how many varieties of spiders there are in this game. Azeroth is
just crawling with them. In any case, a spider can be a great asset if you
know when to use its Web ability. Because it’s ranged, it can be used to
prevent a moving target from getting away from you. At the same time, it can
also be used to snare a target that’s trying to catch up to you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sporebat
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Only available with The Burning Crusade.
MOVES: Growl, Cower, Smack
DIET: Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit
SIGNATURE: Spore Cloud
EFFECT: Dusts nearby enemies with spores causing 1 to 3 Nature damage every 3
sec for 9 sec and reducing armor by 90.
RANGE: Melee
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 1 to 3 Nature damage. Armor reduced by 90.
16 2 20 Causes 2 to 4 Nature damage. Armor reduced by 130.
32 3 20 Causes 4 to 6 Nature damage. Armor reduced by 200.
48 4 20 Causes 7 to 9 Nature damage. Armor reduced by 360.
64 5 20 Causes 11 to 13 Nature damage. Armor reduced by 520.
80 6 20 Causes 22 to 28 Nature damage. Armor reduced by 700.
Sporebats make for some really trippy pets, which is funny when you consider
that they live in a mushroom marsh that has lots of things that glow in the
dark. In the way of function, they have come a long way since the days when
they were nearly useless. While Spore Cloud doesn’t reduce as much armor as
other pet abilities, the fact that it affects an area makes it a great ability
for mob packs where it would be impossible for anyone to quickly apply armor
debuffs on several targets in a short period of time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wind Serpent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MOVES: Growl, Cower, Bite
DIET: Cheese, Fish, Bread
SIGNATURE: Lightning Breath
EFFECT: Breathes lightning, instantly dealing 6 to 8 Nature damage to a single
target.
RANGE: 20 yards
CAST: Instant
COOLDOWN: 10 sec.
LEVEL RANK FOCUS CHANGE
1 1 20 Causes 6 to 8 Nature damage.
16 2 20 Causes 12 to 14 Nature damage.
32 3 20 Causes 16 to 20 Nature damage.
48 4 20 Causes 26 to 34 Nature damage.
64 5 20 Causes 40 to 52 Nature damage.
80 6 20 Causes 80 to 120 Nature damage.
Wind serpents haven’t really changed much in the time that they’ve been around.
They still make great pets but now that Lightning Breath has a 10-second
cooldown, it has to rely more on Bite as a Focus dump now.
===============================================================================
------------------------[ X. Building Your Character ]-------------------------
===============================================================================
Knowing what weapons and armor to look for and how to maximize your potential
is an important aspect of building your character. This chapter will help you
understand your stats, and will cover the equipment that you will need on the
road to level 80 and beyond.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. Understanding Stats
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section will help you understand what your stats mean for you and what you
can do to maximize your full potential as a DPS class.
-------------
Primary Stats
-------------
As a Hunter, the three primary stats that are most important to you are:
Agility: increases your attack power, +dodge, and +crit.
Stamina: increases your total health.
Intellect: increases your total mana.
Agility does a lot for you. It increases your attack power, chance to dodge,
crit chance, and gives you a tiny bit of armor. For this reason, Agility is an
extremely important stat for you, even more so than pure attack power.
Stamina is also a very important stat because it keeps your alive and allows
you to withstand hits. Even when you aren’t directly taking melee swings, area
effect damage can be detrimental to you if you don’t have enough health to
withstand it.
Intellect increases your total mana, which in turn boosts your staying power in
combat by providing more fuel for your abilities. That and Careful Aim depends
on it. While Aspect of the Viper gives you a way to restore mana, you generally
want to minimize the amount of time you spend in that Aspect. Having more
Intellect is the best way to do this.
---------------
Secondary Stats
---------------
A lot of Hunter-based weapons and armor also have many other bonuses in
addition to raw stats. Blues and epics typically have a lot of these. Here is
a list of secondary stats that you will see:
Attack Power: increases your attack damage.
Crit Rating: increases critical strike chance.
Hit Rating: increase chance to hit.
Haste Rating: increases your attack and casting speed.
Mana Tick: regenerates mana every 5 sec.
While these bonuses are undoubtedly useful to you, some of them have
limitations to them, which will be explained in a later section.
----------------------
Stats Conversion Table
----------------------
To give you an idea of what your stats are doing for you, here is a conversion
table of stats, numbers, and percentages for a level 80 Hunter. Certain numbers
have been rounded up to make gear planning easier.
=========================================================
| STAT | CONVERSION |
=========================================================
| 14 Attack Power | 1 Damage Per Sec. |
| 1 Agility | 1 Attack Power |
| 1 Agility | 2 Armor |
| XX Agility | 1% dodge rate |
| 84 Agility | 1% critical strike chance |
| 46 Crit Rating | 1% critical strike chance |
| 1 Stamina | 10 Health |
| 1 Intellect | 15 Mana |
| 33 Hit Rating | 1% to hit |
| XX Haste Rating | 1% attack speed |
| XX Dodge Rating | 1% chance to dodge |
| 33 Haste Rating | 1% Haste |
=========================================================
---------------
Hit Percentages
---------------
The chance to miss in an RPG is traditionally set to 1-in-20, and this carries
over to World of Warcraft. There is a base 5% chance to miss against targets
equal to your level. Against higher-level targets, this chance to miss
increases. To close the gap, you need +Hit bonuses, which can be found on
weapons, armor, and accessories.
Below is a chart of the Hit rating needed against each level above 80.
===========================
| LV. | MISS% | +HIT REQ. |
===========================
| 80 | 5.00% | 165 |
---------------------------
| 81 | 5.20% | 172 |
---------------------------
| 82 | 5.40% | 179 |
---------------------------
| 83 | 8.00% | 263 |
===========================
To close the 5% gap, you will need a Hit rating of 165 at level 80. This is
ideal for PvP and most dungeons. For raids, however, you will need a close an
8% gap against level 83 targets, which can be achieved with 263 Hit rating.
While there isn’t anything beyond level 82, bosses that feature a skull in
place of a level number are treated as level 83 targets.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Technical Issues
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section will help you build your character properly by examining technical
issues that many new players commonly face upon hitting level 80. As you read,
you should gain a better understanding of the tiny little details in your class
and how you can improve your technique.
--------------------------
Steady Shot’s Casting Time
--------------------------
Steady Shot’s in-game casting time is 2.0 sec, which is 0.5 more than your GCD.
This half a second may not seem like a big deal but it becomes disruptive to a
shot rotation. Fortunately, this casting time is affected by +Haste, as well
as your built-in ranged Haste.
At level 80, your built-in 15% Haste reduces the casting time to roughly 1.70
sec. To cover the remaining 0.25 sec, you need about 16% Haste. There are a
few ways to do this:
1. Cobra Reflexes
The 20% Haste from this talent completely negates the need
for any further +Haste. However, this is generally restricted
to BM-Hunters.
2. Improved Aspect of the Viper
Easily accessible by BM- and MM-Hunters. SV-Hunters can make
the most out of it by removing one talent point from Scatter
Shot and using Glyph of the Hawk.
3. Haste Rating
You will need 523 Haste rating to cover the 16% Haste gap.
Although raiding gear is abundant in Haste, reaching 523 is no
easy feat. Improved Aspect of the Hawk procs can help ease
this requirement, as can Heroism/Bloodlust and Rapid Fire,
if only for a little while.
4. Haste Gems
+Haste exists as a “yellow” stat but such gems are generally
not recommended since much of the endgame gear at level 80
have plenty of Haste.
By the time you are fully equipped with epic armor, you will just barely have
enough to bring the casting time down to 1.50 sec. Anything beyond that is
generally a waste since you would not be able to recast Steady Shot until the
GCD fully takes its course.
--------------------------
Controlling Your Auto Shot
--------------------------
Unlike other classes, your Auto Shot and melee auto-attack are linked together
under the T key. At a distance, you will fire your ranged weapon, but you will
automatically swing your melee weapon when you step into close proximity.
Although there is an option to unlink the two, understanding how to make the
most of this two-in-one system will help you greatly. Here are some things that
you should be aware of:
1. Steady Shot Enables Auto Shot
One of the most common mistakes is when a player cancels a
Steady Shot cast but is suddenly surprised to see that Auto
Shot fired. Keep in mind that as soon as you start casting
Steady Shot, your Auto Shot will go off, regardless of whether
or not you finish casting the Shot.
2. You Can Do A Stop-and-Go Auto Shot
Since Auto Shot has a very quick casting time, you can’t fire
your weapon while on the run. However, if you time your Auto
Shots correctly, you can quickly stop for a split second to
fire one shot and then keep running. Many new players often
keep running with their finger on Arcane Shot, not realizing
that stopping for less than half a second is all they need in
order to fire Auto Shot.
3. Auto Shot Sets to Auto-Cast When Out of Range
Another common mistake that many players make is that if you
press the T key and are out of range, you may not fire your
weapon but Auto Shot is set to auto-cast until you press T
again. When this happens, a player may sometimes step into
firing range and accidentally pull a group or start a boss
encounter. Be aware of the auto-cast toggle on your Auto Shot.
If you aren’t sure, you can place it in one of your Action Bars
as an indicator.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Gemming Your Equipment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section will instruct you on how to properly tailor your gear to your
needs. Not only will it improve your character’s potential, it also looks a
lot more impressive when raid leaders examine your weapons, armor, and
accessories.
----------------
Gemming Properly
----------------
There are lots of gems to choose from but sometimes it can be hard to tell
what’s good for you and what’s not. Here is a list of the gems that I prefer.
Note that these are all rare quality. Epic gems may eventually be added to
the game.
=======================================================================
| SOCKET | NAME | BONUS |
=======================================================================
| RED | Delicate Scarlet Ruby | +16 Agility |
| | Bright Scarlet Ruby | +32 Attack Power |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| YELLOW | Rigid Autumn’s Glow | +16 Hit Rating |
| | Smooth Autumn’s Glow | +16 Crit Rating |
| | Glinting Monarch Topaz | +8 Agility, +8 Hit Rating |
| | Deadly Monarch Topaz | +8 Agility, +8 Crit Rating |
| | Pristine Monarch Topaz | +16 Attack Power, +8 Hit Rating |
| | Wicked Monarch Topaz | +16 Attack Power, +8 Crit Rating |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| BLUE | Shifting Twilight Opal | +8 Agility, +12 Stamina |
| | Balanced Twilight Opal | +16 Attack Power, +12 Stamina |
| | Vivid Forest Emerald | +8 Hit Rating, +12 Stamina |
| | Jagged Forest Emerald | +8 Crit Rating, +12 Stamina |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You will notice that I follow a certain trend for each color socket:
RED Since red gems are a prime source for Agility and AP,
I prefer to use purely red gems for that type of socket.
I try not to use orange or purple gems if I can help it
but in my experience leveling from 70 to 80, I never had
to resort to that.
YELLOW These gems are a good source of secondary offense stats
such as +Hit and +Crit. Since I try to get as much Agility
and AP from my gems as possible, I prefer orange gems for
this type of socket, which is why I specifically picked
out the Monarch Topaz.
BLUE This color is a good source for defensive and passive stats
such as Stamina and Intellect. I prefer the Twilight Opals
just so I can get as much Agility and AP out of my sockets
as possible. I only resort to the Forest Emeralds when I
absolutely need the additional yellow to fulfill a meta
gem requirement.
One thing that you should be aware of is that although it’s usually a good idea
to fulfill socket bonuses, not all socket bonuses are worth getting. Let’s take
your T7+ helm as an example: for matching a blue socket with a blue gem, you
get +8 Agility. Since this is a good bonus, I would gladly use a purple gem to
obtain it.
Your T7+ gloves, on the other hand, offers a measly +4 Haste Rating for
completing a yellow socket. I would rather use a red gem and get a full
+16 Agility or +32 AP. Otherwise I would be giving up half that much Agility/AP
for such a small gain. Always consider the value of your socket bonuses. If
they aren’t worth it, just use a Scarlet Ruby in its place.
---------
Meta Gems
---------
Meta gems generally go in your helmet, and are activated only when you fulfill
its color requirements. These are the major meta gems that you need to look at:
==================================== ====================================
| Swift Skyflare Diamond | | Swift Starflare Diamond |
==================================== ====================================
| +42 Attack Power | | +34 Attack Power |
| Minor Run Speed Increase | | Minor Run Speed Increase |
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
| Requires at least 2 Yellow gems | | Requires at least 1 Yellow gems |
| Requires at least 1 Red gems | | Requires at least 1 Red gems |
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
These two offer a nice 8% speed boost and are very affordable, which makes them
an easy fit in your budget while leveling. The Swift Starflare Diamond can be
purchased in Winterspring for an easy 15 Stone Keeper’s Shards. Use either one
for your greens and blues but once you find yourself a nice epic helm, use one
of these next two meta gems.
==================================== ====================================
| Chaotic Skyflare Diamond | | Relentless Earthsiege Diamond |
==================================== ====================================
| +21 Critical Strike Rating | | +21 Agility |
| 3% Increased Critical Damage | | 3% Increased Critical Damage |
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
| Requires at least 2 Blue gems | | Requires at least 1 Red gems |
==================================== | Requires at least 1 Yellow gems |
| Required at least 1 Blue gems |
====================================
These two are your top choices for raiding but are can also very pricey unless
you have a reliable source. I favor the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond because
of the Agility. That and it’s easier to find red and yellow sockets than two
blues.
================================================
| Thundering Skyflare Diamond |
================================================
| Chance to Increase Melee/Ranged Attack Speed |
------------------------------------------------
| Requires at least 1 Red gems |
| Requires at least 1 Yellow gems |
| Requires at least 1 Blue gems |
------------------------------------------------
This meta gem triggers an effect called Skyflare Swiftness, which grants you
480 Haste rating for 6 seconds. This effect occurs roughly every 45 seconds.
The problem is that this pattern is extremely rare, and it’s hard to compare
a six-second burst of speed to what the Relentless Earthsiege Diamond has to
offer. If you aren’t sure where to go with this, I would stick to the latter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. Choosing Melee Weapons
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While finding a ranged weapons isn’t very difficult, it can be hard to pick out
a decent melee weapon. Here are some guidelines that will help you out.
-------------------------
Boost Your Ranged Attacks
-------------------------
When you are looking for a melee weapon, you need to look for something that
will increase your ranged damage. As a hunter, the speed and base damage of a
melee weapon mean very little to you. Try to look for a weapon with a
combination of any of these stats:
Agility
Stamina
Attack Power
Crit Rating
Hit Rating
Haste Rating
Armor Penetration
Early in the game, you will seldom find a decent mix of such stats. However,
there is a decent selection of weapons available once you step into Northrend.
Here are two examples of what you should be looking for:
Icier Barbed Spear Whale-Stick Harpoon
Two-Hand, Polearm Two-Hand, Polearm
372-558 Damage, 3.20 Speed 449-675 Damage, 3.60 Speed
(145.3 DPS) (156.1 DPS)
+62 Agility +69 Agility
+52 Stamina +103 Stamina
EQUIP: +61 Crit Rating Requires Lv.78
EQUIP: +88 Attack Power Requires The Kalu’ak - Revered
EQUIP: +40 Hit Rating
EQUIP: +100 Attack Power
While the Harpoon is self-explanatory, you can get the Spear from completing
the Amphitheater of Anguish quest line in Zul’Drak. Notice how each of these
weapons features stats that add to your ranged attacks. That is what you need
to look for in a weapon.
------------------------
Dual Wield or Two-Handed
------------------------
This is a common question for many new players, and the answer is: it doesn’t
matter. The same principles apply to either one. Some will tell you that it can
make a difference in PvP because you can swing a pair of 1H weapons more
frequently due to their faster attack speeds, but in practice, it really does
not matter. What matters most is the stats that are going towards your ranged
attacks.
I personally prefer 2H weapons for two reasons. First, it is much easier to
replace a 2H weapon with another 2H weapon than it is to mix and match a
plethora of 1H weapons. Second, the 1H weapons at level 80 seem as though they
are tailored more towards rogues than hunters. That and the overall gain in
stats for a pair of 1H weapons are often lower than for a 2H weapon. Although
I keep a set of 1H weapons in my inventory, I have never had the need to equip
them over my current 2H weapon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e. Enchanting Your Equipment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section will help you select the proper enchants for your equipment. While
most can be done with the help of an enchanter, some need to be purchased from
vendors or crafted. Keep in mind that you aren’t limited to what is available
here. Depending on your professions, you may have access to greater enchants.
-------------
Helm Enchants
-------------
Arcanum of Torment
Binds when picked up
Requires Level 80
Requires Knights of the Ebon Blade - Revered
USE: Permanently adds 50 AP and 20 Crit Rating to a head slot item.
To obtain this, you need to complete a quest line in which you help the Knights
of the Ebon Blade capture the Shadow Vault in Icecrown. Once this is done, the
quartermaster there will be sell it for a base price of 150g.
-----------------
Shoulder Enchants
-----------------
Lesser Inscription of the Axe
Binds when picked up
Requires Level 80
Requires The Sons of Hodir - Honored
USE: Permanently adds 30 AP and 10 Crit Rating to a shoulder slot item.
Greater Inscription of the Axe
Binds when picked up
Requires Level 80
Requires The Sons of Hodir - Exalted
USE: Permanently adds 40 AP and 15 Crit Rating to shoulder armor.
To obtain this, you must become complete a long quest chain in the Storm Peaks
in which you become Friendly with the Sons of Hodir. The Lesser Inscription is
sold for a base price of 75g, while the Greater is sold for 100g.
--------------
Cloak Enchants
--------------
Enchant Cloak - Major Agility
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (8), Greater Cosmic Essence (2), Dream Shard (2)
Permanently enchant a cloak to increase Agility by 22.
--------------
Chest Enchants
--------------
Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
Reagents:
Dream Shard (4), Abyss Crystal (4)
Permanently enchant chest armor to increase all stats by 10.
----------------
Bracers Enchants
----------------
Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (24), Greater Cosmic Essence (6)
Permanently enchant bracers to increase attack power by 50.
--------------
Glove Enchants
--------------
Enchant Gloves - Crusher
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (20), Greater Cosmic Essence (4), Dream Shard
Permanently enchant gloves to increase attack power by 44.
Enchant Gloves - Precision
Reagents:
Greater Cosmic Essence (4)
Permanently enchant gloves to increase hit rating by 20.
Enchant Gloves - Major Agility
Reagents:
Greater Cosmic Essence (4), Dream Shard
Permanently enchant gloves to increase your Agility by 20.
You have a good selection here but I always lean towards Crusher and Major
Agility. Unless you are really struggling for +Hit, you can get by without
Precision.
-------------
Belt Enchants
-------------
Eternal Belt Buckle
Requires Level 70
USE: Permanently attach an eternal belt buckle onto a belt, adding a socket
to the belt.
Consult a blacksmith for this belt buckle, or shop at the auction house.
------------
Leg Enchants
------------
Frosthide Leg Armor
Requires Level 80
USE: Permanently attach frosthide armor onto pants to increase Stamina by 55
and Agility by 22.
Icescale Leg Armor
Requires Level 80
USE: Permanently attach icescale armor onto pants to increase attack power
by 75 and critical strike rating by 22.
Both of these can be crafted by a leatherworker. I personally lean more towards
the Icescale Leg Armor since that is tailored more towards offense, whereas the
former is more ideal for tanks and PvP.
--------------
Boots Enchants
--------------
Enchant Boots - Greater Assault
Reagents:
Greater Cosmic Essence (4), Dream Shard (4)
Permanently enchant boots to increase attack power by 32.
Enchant Boots - Superior Agility
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (16), Greater Cosmic Essence (4)
Permanently enchant boots to increase Agility by 16.
Enchant Boots - Icewalker
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (8), Crystallized Water
Permanently enchant boots to increase critical strike and hit rating by 12.
There is a good selection of enchants here but just as I favor red gems over
yellow, I tend to favor Assault and Agility over Icewalker.
------------------
1H Weapon Enchants
------------------
Enchant Weapon - Accuracy
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (20), Greater Cosmic Essence (4), Dream Shard (4),
Abyss Crystal (6)
Permanently enchant a melee weapon to increase critical strike and
hit rating by 25.
Enchant Weapon - Superior Potency
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (10), Greater Cosmic Essence (2), Dream Shard (2),
Abyss Crystal (4)
Permanently enchant a melee weapon to increase attack power by 65.
Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Agility
Reagents:
Dream Shard (4), Eternal Air (4)
Permanently enchant a melee weapon to increase Agility by 26.
Enchant Weapon - Major Intellect
Reagents:
Large Prismatic Shard (2), Greater Planar Essence (10)
Permanently enchant a melee weapon to increase Intellect by 30.
Although Major Intellect is dated, it’s still valuable if you would like to
keep a pair of 1H weapons around to give a small boost to Aspect of the Viper.
------------------
2H Weapon Enchants
------------------
Enchant 2H Weapon - Greater Savagery
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (6), Greater Cosmic Essence (2)
Permanently enchant a two-handed weapon to increase attack power by 85.
Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre
Reagents:
Infinite Dust (40), Greater Cosmic Essence (6), Abyss Crystal (6)
Permanently enchant a two-handed weapon to increase attack power by 110.
Use Greater Savagery for some of the lesser weapons that can be found while
leveling. For epic weapons earned from raiding, go the extra mile and invest
in Massacre.
----------------------
Ranged Weapon Enchants
----------------------
Diamond-cut Refractor Scope
Requires Level 70
USE: Attaches a permanent scope to a bow or gun that increases its damage
by 15.
Sun Scope
Requires Level 70
USE: Attaches a permanent micro stabilizer to a bow or gun that increases
your ranged haste rating by 40.
Heartseeker Scope
Requires Level 70
USE: Attaches a permanent scope to a bow or gun that increases its ranged
critical strike rating by 40.
Since the Refractor Scope only boosts the damage of Auto Shot, I don’t
recommend it for endgame content. The Sun Scope is good if you are low on
Haste at level 80, but this will not be the case as you accumulate more gear
in the endgame content.
===============================================================================
-------------------------------[ XI. Raiding ]---------------------------------
===============================================================================
Once you reach level 80, the only way to get better gear is by either running
heroic instances, raiding, or PvP. This section will cover the ins and outs of
raiding, and what is expected of you from a raid leader.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. The Progression Ladder
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To understand how the progression ladder works, you must understand that the
epic weapons, armor, and accessories that are found at level 80 all vary in
terms of item level. This item level is what determines how strong or how weak
an item is. As you progress from one raid dungeon to the next, the item levels
of the overall drops increases. However, the encounters become more difficult
as well.
There is a 10-man and 25-man version of every raid dungeon but here is a very
general idea of how to progress, plus relative item levels of loot:
=========
| Lv.80 |
=========
|
=================
| 5-Man Heroics | (200)
=================
/ \
T7 / \ T7+
==================== ======================
(200-213) | Naxxramas | ----------> | H-Naxxramas | (213-226)
-------------------- ----------------------
(200) | Obsidian Sanctum | | H-Obsidian Sanctum | (213)
-------------------- ----------------------
(213) | Malygos | | H-Malygos | (226)
==================== ======================
| |
T8 | | T8+
==================== ======================
(219-226) | Ulduar | ----------> | H-Ulduar | (226-232)
(219-232) | Hard Mode Ulduar | | Hard Mode H-Ulduar | (226-239)
==================== ======================
| |
| |
===== =====
| ? | | ? |
===== =====
Once you hit level 80, you will need gear, starting with the 5-man heroic
instances. From that point on, you can either do 10-man raids or heroic 25-man
raids. However, you can also use the 10-man raids as platforms into the
25-man content.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Passing The Gear Check
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raid leaders will always be keeping an eye on two things: your performance and
your equipment. We will discuss performance issues later on but for now, we
will focus on making sure that you pass the gear check.
----------------
Time For Heroics
----------------
As soon as you reach level 80, you will most likely be wearing a mix of greens
and mid-level blues. No raid leader ever wants to see a player walking into a
raid dungeon with that kind of gear, and rightfully so. Before you venture into
Naxxramas, you need endgame blues and epics from 5-man heroic instances. Here
is a list of gear that you should keep an eye out for. Try to gather as much
of this equipment as possible:
Plunderer’s Helm Hauberk of the Arcane Wraith
Helm Chest
985 Armor 1212 Armor
+60 Agility +56 Agility
+42 Stamina +61 Stamina
+27 Intellect +43 Intellect
[ ] Meta Socket [ ] Blue Socket
[ ] Red Socket Socket Bonus: +4 Agility
Socket Bonus: +12 Stamina Equip: +45 Crit Rating
Equip: +36 Crit Rating Equip: +154 Attack Power
Equip: +124 Attack Power
Spaulders of the Abomination Grips of the Beast God
Shoulder Hands
909 Armor 758 Armor
+50 Agility +37 Agility
+45 Stamina +57 Stamina
+29 Intellect +30 Intellect
[ ] Red Socket [ ] Red Socket
Socket Bonus: +6 Stamina Socket Bonus: +4 Hit Rating
Equip: +30 Crit Rating Equip: +40 Hit Rating
Equip: +100 Attack Power Equip: +100 Attack Power
Raging Construct Bands Cord of Swirling Winds
Wrist Waist
530 Armor 682 Armor
+43 Agility +39 Agility
+29 Stamina +54 Stamina
+28 Intellect +33 Intellect
Equip: +18 Hit Rating Equip: +42 Haste Rating
Equip: +86 Attack Power Equip: +116 Attack Power
Hollowed Mandible Legplates Dragon Slayer's Sabatons
Legs Feet
1061 Armor 833 Armor
+62 Agility +42 Agility
+60 Stamina +38 Stamina
+40 Intellect +25 Intellect
[ ] Red Socket [ ] Red Socket
[ ] Red Socket [ ] Red Socket
Socket Bonus: +6 Haste Rating Socket Bonus: +9 Stamina
Equip: +41 Haste Rating Equip: +30 Haste Rating
Equip: +124 Attack Power Equip: +100 Attack Power
Cloak of the Gushing Wound Necklace of Arcane Spheres
Back Neck
145 Armor +29 Agility
+43 Agility +45 Stamina
+64 Stamina Equip: +42 Crit Rating
Equip: +29 Hit Rating Equip: +86 Attack Power
Equip: +56 Attack Power
Mobius Band Stained-Glass Shard Ring
Finger Finger
+43 Agility +30 Agility
+46 Stamina +39 Stamina
Equip: +25 Hit Rating Equip: +43 Haste Rating
Equip: +86 Attack Power Equip: +86 Attack Power
Sphere of Red Dragon's Blood Meteorite Whetstone
Trinket Trinket
Equip: +55 Hit Rating Equip: +74 Crit Rating
Use: +670 AP for 20 sec Chance: +444 Haste Rating for 10 sec
Runeblade of Demonstrable Power Drake-Mounted Crossbow
2H Sword Crossbow
474-711 Damage, Speed 3.50 290-436 Damage, Speed 2.80
(169.3 DPS) (129.6 DPS)
+63 Agility +29 Agility
Equip: +67 Crit Rating Equip: +26 Crit Rating
Equip: +33 Haste Rating Equip: +56 Attack Power
Equip: + 168 Attack Power
LOCATIONS BOSS DROPS
Utgarde Keep Ingvar the Plunderer Helm
The Nexus Anomalus Chest
Culling of Stratholme Meathook Shoulder
Gundrak Gal’darah Hands
Halls of Stone Tribunal of Ages Wrist
Halls of Lightning Ionar Waist
Azjol-Nerub Hadronox Legs
The Nexus Keristrasza Feet
Violet Hold Erekem Back
Violet Hold Xevozz Neck
Culling of Stratholme Chrono-Lord Epoch Finger (L)
Ahn’kahet: Old Kingdom (Random Drop) Finger (R)
The Nexus Keristrasza Trinket (L)
Utgarde Pinnacle King Ymiron Trinket (R)
Knights of the Ebon Blade (Revered Reputation) 2H Weapon
Utgarde Keep Ingvar the Plunderer Crossbow
There are several alternatives to what you see here, some of which can be found
in the auction house. Each piece in this set is a level-200 blue with the
exception of the crossbow, which is an epic. This is about as good as it gets
before venturing onward to Naxxramas.
---------------
Enchants & Gems
---------------
Another critical factor that you will affect your potential is your selection
of enchants and gems. Follow the previous chapter and make sure that you have
acceptable enchants. If you are walking in with endgame blues, you don’t have
to get the best enchants for everything but if something can be enchanted or
gemmed, make sure that it is. Once you start replacing them with epics, be
sure to use the best enchants available.
----------------------
Bringing The Right Pet
----------------------
Most raids aren’t going to criticize you for your choice in pets but for your
own sake, you should be selective about the kind of pets to bring to a raid.
TENACITY: none
FEROCITY: Cat, Wolf, Raptor, Wasp, Devilsaur
CUNNING: Sporebat, Wind Serpent
Tenacity pets are not recommended because they don’t bring enough to the table
in a raid. While Roar of Sacrifice is a nice defense mechanism against area
effect damage, there are too few situations where it actually comes in handy.
Ferocity pets are the most optimal choice for raids because of their offense-
oriented pet skills, including Rabid and Call of the Wild. In this group, cats,
wolves, raptors, and devilsaurs all cause high damage. Wasps can bring armor
reduction with their Sting ability if no one else in the raid has it, which
does happen in a 10-man raid.
Finally, Cunning pets have a lot of potential if given a good selection of pet
skills, including Roar of Recovery. This mana recovery is particularly useful
for 10-man raids, where you may not necessarily have a good selection of
restorative buffs to work with. Sporebats can bring a small bit of armor
reduction, while wind serpents bring a high damage output.
-------------
Final Verdict
-------------
If you are wearing a good set of blues, all properly gemmed and enchanted, then
you are all set to start raiding. Gear is only half the endeavor, however. The
other half is getting your technique down, which I will explain in the next
section.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Attack Patterns
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All raid instances have one basic dungeon makeup: trash pulls and bosses.
While both may require specific strategies, there are only a few simple ways to
attack them. Here is the breakdown of how to handle pulls in raids.
-----------
Trash Packs
-----------
For most of the T7 content, including 5-man instances, Naxxramas, and Obsidian
Sanctum, mobs tend to come at you in whole groups of four or more. These trash
packs are easy enough that it requires little more than some area effect
damage, but I like to change it up a bit. Here is how I handle them:
1. Run up to the pack and drop an Explosive Trap. Get back!
2. Spam Volley as soon as the GCD is finished taking its course.
3. Use Explosive Shot or Multi-Shot as the number of targets dwindle.
4. Use Tab key to switch targets as threat builds on current target.
To make aiming Volley faster and easier, set it to a key that is easily
accessible to you. For example, I use the tilde key above Tab for Volley.
You must also remember to Feign Death if your threat is getting too high.
Between Explosive Trap, Volley, and Multi-Shot, you are going to cause a lot
of threat.
--------------
Single Targets
--------------
Single-target pulls in the T7 bracket are less common than trash packs but for
the few pulls where you have to attack one strong target instead of several
weaker ones, the most you need is just your shot rotation to handle them.
You can use some of your long cooldown abilities such as Rapid Fire and Bestial
Wrath but you will seldom need to do so.
------------------
Attacking The Boss
------------------
Bosses will always have varied strategies that may require you to attack adds
or move around, but when it’s time to turn your attention to the boss itself,
you need little more than your shot rotation. However, there are certain things
that you can do is maximize your DPS flow:
1. Use all of your major cooldown abilities as soon as you start
attacking the boss. This includes Rapid Fire, Call of the Wild,
Kill Command, Rabid, and any trinkets with an on-use ability.
Using a simple macro, you can activate everything at the touch
of a button. As each ability finishes cooling, use them again.
2. Keep Hunter’s Mark and Serpent Sting active at all times.
The Sting is especially important because it’s linked to
many other abilities. MM-Hunters never have to worry about it
since Chimera Shot refreshes it but SV- and BM-Hunters need to
keep an eye on it.
3. Make sure that you are tracking the boss. Improved Tracking
makes up 5% of your DPS but many players often forget to change
their tracking to match a boss’s subtype.
4. Feign Death if you have to but don’t overdo it since it’s
disruptive to your offense. The amount of threat that a tank
can push these days is much greater than in previous years, so
you aren’t as likely to pull aggro. However, be sure to keep
a close eye on your threat. If you are climbing too high,
be sure to Feign.
5. Take advantage of Immolation Trap if the opportunity presents
itself. Certain bosses will move or teleport to specific spots
in their chamber. Heigan the Unclean and Gothik the Harvester
both do this. You can also drop one while running through
Thaddius. SV-Hunters are an exception to this since Black
Arrow’s cooldown is linked to your traps.
6. Keep any time spent in Aspect of the Viper to a minimum. This
can be tough if there are few restorative buffs in the raid,
especially in a 10-man group. You can always bring some mana
potions. If there are any pauses in the middle of the battle,
take the opportunity to spend a few seconds with Viper active
to regain some mana.
Aside from these guidelines, you should also get to know each boss and the
strategies involved. For some bosses, you may have to make certain adjustments.
For example, you may run into an encounter where it may not be in your best
interest to immediately use all of your major cooldown abilities. Aside from
that, the rest is up to you. Your reflexes, sense of awareness, and ability
to keep a smooth shot rotation will affect your overall performance in a raid.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. Important Add-Ons
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raiding can require a lot of attention to detail, and good communication.
The following is a list of third-party add-ons that you should have enabled
when raiding. Most can be found with a simple Google search.
--------------------
Ventrilo & TeamSpeak
--------------------
The pace of raids often become so hectic that typing becomes somewhat
inefficient for communication. In that case, voice communication becomes the
better option, but the built-in voice communication is so faulty that most
raiders rely heavily on the big names in the gaming community: Ventrilo and
TeamSpeak. I personally like Ventrilo because the codecs are very good, and
I find that it’s easier to use than TeamSpeak.
Of course, this service isn’t free. If you are a player looking for a raid
group, most established raiding guilds will already have an active Ventrilo
server. However, if you are a prospective guild or raid leader, you may need
to either sign up for one or find someone who has one.
--------------------
Recount Damage Meter
--------------------
While some players will argue that having damage meters may cause players to
become reckless, I am an advocate of them because they help me check my
performance against other players. If another hunter is performing better than
me, I can use Recount to get a detailed look at what abilities he is using and
how much damage each ability is contributing to his overall DPS.
Recount is especially great for keeping track of how other players are
performing. You can see who is doing their job and who isn’t, along with
detailed lists of what abilities each person is using.
---------------
Deadly Boss Mod
---------------
This add-on provides in-game warnings for when bosses are about to perform
specific actions that require your attention. It also allows you to broadcast
these warnings to the entire raid. Very useful, if not vital, to any raid.
===============================================================================
----------------------------[ XII. Future Plans ]------------------------------
===============================================================================
I have officially retired from World of Warcraft. Although there is the chance
that I may someday renew my account, that possibility is very unlikely. This
may possibly be the last update that I will do. It’s been fun. While I know
that I may not have always been right about certain things, I am not perfect
and never strived to be perfect. This last update, however, was made to be very
clean and accurate. I hope that you’ve learned much from this guide. Good luck
in all of your future endeavors!
===============================================================================
----------------------------[ XIII. Milestones ]-------------------------------
===============================================================================
Many of today’s new players missed out on the many different changes that the
game has gone through over the years, and the Hunter class of today is
certainly not the same as it was in the game’s earlier years. This section
stands as a reminder to all players of what the class went through since the
time of the game’s initial release.
--------
Lacerate
--------
The 31-point Survival talent Wyvern Sting wasn’t always there. Before the
Hunter talent review in Patch 1.7, an entirely different ability stood in its
place: Lacerate. It was a melee bleed effect whose total damage was so
incredibly poor that few could ever consider it to be more than just a joke.
At Rank 3, it inflicted a miserable total of 133 damage for 95 mana. To add
insult to injury, this was its total damage at level 60.
-----------
Black Arrow
-----------
Before the release of the game, the Hunter had an interesting ability in its
arsenal of Shots and Stings. Known as the Black Arrow, it was basically a
combination of Concussive Shot, Serpent Sting, and Viper Sting. This shot would
slow the target's movement speed by 70% and cause 150 Shadow damage while
draining 150 mana over 30 seconds. Although the spell never received additional
Ranks, the ability was deemed too powerful and was removed from the game before
its initial release. However, four years later, it made a return in Patch 3.1.
------------------------------------------
Rhok’delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers
------------------------------------------
Hunters were once treated to an epic quest line, which began with the Ancient
Petrified Leaf from Molten Core. You had to go kill four demons, all of which
were disguised as humanoids. You had to fight each of them alone, without your
pet to assist you. Your raid would also take you to Onyxia’s Lair in hopes of
coming home with a Mature Black Dragon Sinew. Once you had gathered all of the
materials, your final reward was an amazing epic bow.
Today, you can still get your hands on the Leaf but finding a group that is
willing to do Molten Core and Onyxia may not be an easy task.
----------------------
The Version 2.00 Patch
----------------------
On 12.05.06, Blizzard released a patch that would pave the way for their
Burning Crusade expansion. This patch drastically changed Hunter mechanics,
ultimately changing the way the class is played. So what was the game like
before the big changes? Here’s how life once was:
- 1 Agility = 2 Ranged Attack Power. You needed 56 Agility for 1% Crit. All of
the old Hunter set armors had only Agility before this was changed.
- Talent were limited to 31-point trees, ending with Spirit Bond, Trueshot
Aura, and Lacerate. After the Hunter talent review, Bestial Wrath and Wyvern
Sting took their place as last-tier talents.
- Aimed Shot’s casting time used to be 3.0 seconds but always had a 6-second
cooldown. It also wouldn’t reset the Auto-Shot timer so Hunters would use it
over Arcane Shot.
- Arcane Shot was pretty weak back in the day. It would cause base damage
without the bonus from ranged attack power.
- Viper Sting never had a cooldown, which meant that you could hit every caster
you saw with it.
- Scorpid Sting used to reduce Strength and Agility rather than Hit chance.
- Pets were bland when the most they had were Growl, Cower, Bite, and Claw.
Their Growl ability was also weak. It wouldn’t take more than a few shots
to pull aggro off your pet.
- Traps had a 15-second cooldown but could only be set out of combat. For the
Double Trapping effect to work, a Hunter would have to Feign Death before he
could plant the second trap.
- Wyvern Sting couldn’t be used while in combat.
- Ranged weapons were relatively weak back then. The great Rhok’delar was only
44.0 DPS before the 2.00 Patch upped it to 53.3.
- Hit and Crit percentages were once stats, not just the result of Hit and Crit
Ratings. When a weapon said +1% Crit, it was an absolute +1% Crit.
------------
The Deadzone
------------
For over two years after the game’s initial release, all Shots and Stings were
limited to a 8-35 yard range. Melee range is roughly 5 yards. This left a
troubling 3-yard area in which a hunter could not cause any damage. This made
Hunters easy prey for nearly every other class in the game, and this was
especially bad in Arenas where an enemy could simply immobilize you and stand
within your deadzone. Blizzard finally made the decision to close the gap in
Patch 2.3 by increasing the minimum range of all Shots and Stings to 5 yards.
While this has weakened the usefulness of some of the Survival tree’s talents,
this was a welcome change for the Hunter community.
===============================================================================
------------------------------[ XIV. Credits ]---------------------------------
===============================================================================
I give thanks to the following people:
CJayC (Jeff Veasey)
- If it weren't for you and GameFAQs, I would never have had the opportunity
to even consider writing this FAQ. Thanks Jeff Veasey.
DJellybean (Dingo Jellybean)
- It was you who came up with the style of borders that I use now for my
FAQ's. Thanks Dingo!
You, The Reader
- I’ve received a lot of e-mail from you guys and I must say that I’m grateful
for all of your feedback. Thank you for your support of my guide!
A very special thanks to the kind and loving folks at <The Hand of Fate>!
Phoebus Nehalennia Lorillus Socxinfinity
Rize Zelos Spook Jkealy
Euripades Fuqua Graphico Karnic
Demodocus Joonho Flan Taiju
Blowy Leith Masterofone Nickademus
Ismaela Fuzukuraki Villar Boram
Derjager Aachor Raithen Lennex
Taelar Warbeard Minionite Trogdornator
Barristan Ainvar Manthoray Lelania
Davidmelech Riodon Kw Meyer
(There’s a lot more but that’s all I can
remember off the top of my head right now!)
It’s been fun!
===============================================================================
| THE END |
===============================================================================
