Hunter
Available Races: Night Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Tauren, Troll

The Hunter:

Hunters are the ranged attack class of World of Warcraft. They are also one of the 2 pet classes of World of Warcraft. Hunters use Guns or Bows to take down their foes. There are many special attacks for ranged weapons as a hunter, each has its own unique effect. Once the foe closes in, guns and bows may not be used, and you will have to switch to melee combat. Hunters do have a few melee combat abilities as well to assist them. That coupled with the pet's melee damage you'll have whats left of the mob's health gone in no time. You can even have your pet tank for you as hunters can heal their pets. Hunters also get a varity of self buffs to assist them in various ways.

Beast taming is one of the major "coolness" factors of the class. You can only tame targets that are classified as a "Beast" You will know which are beasts via the little tool tip window that pops up every time you target a mob. You will have to feed your pet to increase its happyness level. Happyness level dictates pet's melee damage and its responsiveness to your commands. Different pets like to eat different things, so you wont be able to feed that stack of meat to your herbavore pet. Later in your carreer you will receive Beast Lore, which will let you inspect the stats of every beast you come across. This can help you in choosing which beasts would make good pets, and which wouldnt. Each beast type has its own special abilities you can train it via different beast trainers around the world.

Hunters are a very versitle class and require an advanced style of play.

Class Travel: Aspect of the Cheetah

At this point its not clear if a hunter will one day be able to ride his pet as a mount, but for now, they do have 1 travel ability. Obtainable at level 20, Aspect of the Cheetah grants the hunter +20% to his normal run speed. This spell falls under your Aspect line which only allows 1 Aspect to be active at a time. So while hunting you'll want your other hunting related aspects active then. While Cheetah is on, if the hunter takes damage, he will be dazed for 4 sec before he can start running again. This coupled with the 1 buff limit for aspects strongly discourages Aspect of the Cheetah to be used for anything else but travel.

Down the road, at level 40, hunters obtain Aspect of the Pack, which is a group version of the spell. I am unclear as to if either of these aspects can be used at the same time as a mount. If so, hunters will be wanted in groups for their run speed boosts, even while on mounts.

Class Popularity

Here are some statistics for how popular the hunter was in the 9 day Stress Test. The full of this information can be found here.

18% of characters on alliance were hunters
13% of characters on horde were hunters

Hunters are the most played class on Alliance, and the 4th most played class on Horde

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Armor & Defense
Cloth
Leather
Chain
Lvl 40

Hunters suffer at earlier levels for armor, being restricted to leather and no shields puts them in the Druids position. However hunters dont get bear form at level 10 for armor. So technically from 10-39 hunter is in the worst shape for a non pure caster class. But once they hit 40 and gain Chain, things start to look up. At 40 and up only Shamans and Hunters will be wearing chain, so it will set you apart from everyone else. But armor is of little matter to the Hunter, for he has his pet to tank if needed, and can have the target nearly dead by the time it gets to him.

 

Weapons

Dwarf & Tauren start with Guns instead of Bows & can learn Bows later on

Starting Weapon Skills
Unarmed
Axes
Daggers
Bows/Guns
Learnable Weapon Skills
Sword
Fist Weapon
Spear
Staff
2H Sword
2H Axe
Cross Bow
Guns/Bows
     
Thrown
      

Weapon Abilities

Dual Wield
Lvl 20
Parry
Lvl 12

Dual Wield's Off-Hand damage is penalized by 50%
Hunter Abilities & Spells

Here are some things to note when looking through the Hunter's abilities. Any attack/spell that's labeled as an Instant, is just that, Instant, and is not affected or does not affect any other combat/casting timers. What this means is, you don't have to stop and cast the spell. You could cast it while running, or meleeing. It also means, you will keep doing your steady, auto hits based on the delay of your weapon, and instants, don't count for an attack round. So essentially, you could lands 2 hits at once...your normal timed auto-attack, and the instant. If the cast time is labeled as Next Melee or Next Ranged, then it wont perform the action until your next attack round comes. That is based on your weapons delay. It is not an additional attack, but takes the place of your normal auto attack for that round.

Also, as you will see, there is a # of Ranks next to each ability. For example, Arcane Shot has 8 ranks. This means there are 8 upgrades that follow from the level you get the ability to level 60. You can see what level you get Rank 1 of an ability by looking at the level under the picture for each ability. I did it this way so you could just skim through what a hunter can do, without having to filter through just basic upgrades. There are other sites out there that have this information. This page is intended to help you choose a race and a class, and fill you in on the capabilities of a Hunter.

Interrupting a spell in World of Warcraft just means prolonging the time it takes to cast it by X seconds. Where as stun, will completely stop and abort a spell from being cast and needs to be cast again.

Of course all spells below cost mana, unless otherwise noted. The mana cost & strength for each gets higher with each rank of the spell. Again I chose not to display mana cost details due to simplifying reasons of quickly browsing a hunters abilities. Though I did Italic the portion of the spell that grows stronger with each rank. Some spells may list something like 2-3 sec cast time in Italic. This means the spell starts at 2 seconds to cast at rank 1, then grow to 3 with higher ranks.

Spells that can be cast Instantly have their cast time of "Instant" underlined to stress the power of the spell. Instant spells are by far more powerful the spells that take time to cast, so I felt it must be noted when browsing through.

Ranged Attacks
Note - Italiced words in the description show what is improved with each rank.
Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target

Serpant Sting (8 Ranks)

Level 4

Category: DoT
Range: 8-35 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Duration: 15 sec
Description: Stings the target, causing Nature damage over 15 sec.

Arcane Shot (8 Ranks)

Level 6

Category: Direct Damage
Range: 8-35 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Cool Down: 6 sec
Description: Shoots the target with an arcane arrow causing arcane damage

Concussive Shot (6 Ranks)

Level 8

Category: Snare
Range: 8-35 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Duration: 2 sec
Cool Down: 10 sec
Description: Dazes the target, slowing movement speed to 50% of normal for 2 sec and causes addtional threat.

Multi-Shot (4 Ranks)

Level 18

Category: AoE Attack
Range: 8-35 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Cool Down : 10 sec
Description: Fires several missiles, hitting 3 targets.

Scorpid Sting (4 Ranks)

Level 22

Category: Debuff
Range: 8-35 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Duration: 20 sec
Description: Stings the target, reducing Strength and Agility

Viper Sting (3 Ranks)

Level 36

Category: Debuff
Range: 8-35 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Duration: 8 sec
Description: Stings the target, draining mana over 8 sec.

Volley (3 Ranks)

Level 40

Category: AoE Attack
Range: 8-35 yard
Effect Range: 8 yard
Cast Time: Next Ranged
Duration: 6 sec
Cool Down: 1 min
Description: Fires 1 shot a sec at the target area causing Arcane Damage to any enemy within 8 yards of target area.

    
Melee Attacks
Note - Italiced words in the description show what is improved/changed with each rank.

Raptor Strike (8 Ranks)

Level 1

Category: Bonus Damage
Cast Time: Next Melee
Cool Down: 6 sec
Description: A strong attack that increases melee damage

Mongoose Bite (4 Ranks)

Level 16

Category: Situational Attack
Situation: After you dodge
Cast Time: Instant
Cool Down: 5 sec
Description: Counterattack the enemy for extra damage. Can only be performed after you dodge

Disengage (3 Ranks)

Level 20

Category: Minus Threat
Cast Time: Instant
Description: Attempts to disengage from the target, reducing threat. Cancels combat

Pet Related Spells/Abilities
Note - Italiced words in the description show what is improved/changed with each rank.

Tame Beast

Level 10

Category: Permanent Charm
Targets: Beast Only
Cast Time: Channeled (20 sec)
Range: 30 yard
Description: Begins 20 second taming process that you must survive with weakened armor while the beast attacks you. Once the beast is tamed, you must feed it to raise its loyalty.

Feed Pet

Level 10

Category: + Loyalty
Targets: Pet Only
Cast Time: Instant
Range: 10 yard
Description: Feeds your pet the selected item. Feeding your pet increases happiness/dps/loyalty. Using food close to the pet's level & pets diet will have a better result.

Beast Training

Level 10

Category: Pet Upgrades
Description: Allows the hunter to teach his pet various abilities specific to the pet type at pet trainers.

Call Pet

Level 10

Category: Summon Pet
Cast Time: Instant
Description: Hunter calls for his currently tamed pet.

Revive Pet

Level 10

Category: Pet Ressurect
Targets: Pet Only
Cast Time: 10 sec
Description: Revive your pet, returning it to life with 15% of its health.

Mend Pet (7 Ranks)

Level 12

Category: Pet Heal
Targets: Pet Only
Cast Time: 5 sec
Range: 20 yard
Description: Restores pet's health, 1 chunk a second for 5 seconds.

Eyes of the Beast

Level 14

Category: Bind Sight
Targets: Pet Only
Duration: 1 min
Cast Time: 3 sec
Description: Take direct control of your pet and see through its eyes for 1 min.

Glimpse of Insticts

Level 24

Category: Reveal/Track
Targets: Pet Only
Duration: 30 sec
Cast Time: Instant
Description: Share your pet's senses, gaining any detection or tracking abilities for 30 sec

Beast Lore

Level 24

Category: Reveal Info
Targets: Beast Only
Cast Time: Instant
Range: 40 yard
Description: Gather information about the target beast. The tooltip will display damage, health, armor, any special resistances, and diet.
Buffs
Note - Italiced words anywhere in the totem stats show what is improved with each rank.
Only one Aspect can be active at a time.

Aspect of the Monkey

Level 4

Buff: Self (Dodge)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: Until Aspect Change
Description: The hunter takes on the aspects of a monkey, increasing chance to dodge by 8%.

Hunters Mark (4 Ranks)

Level 6

Buff: Self (Atk Power)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 10 min
Range: 100 yard
Description: Places the Hunter's Mark on the target, increasing the Ranged Attack Power of all attackers against that target. Shows target on mini-map and hunter can see target even if it stealths.

Aspect of the Hawk (6 Ranks)

Level 10

Buff: Self (Atk Power)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: Until Aspect Change
Description: The hunter takes on the aspects of a hawk, increasing Ranged Attack Power.

Eagle Eye

Level 14

Buff: Self (Zoom)
Range: 50000 yard
Cast Time: Instant
Description: Zooms in the hunter's vision to the viewpoint of targeted location. Outdoors only.

Apect of the Cheetah

Level 20

Buff: Self (Run Speed)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: Until Aspect Change
Description: The hunter takes on the aspects of a cheetah, increasing movement speed by 20%. If the hunter takes damage, he will be dazed for 4 sec.

Rapid Fire

Level 26

Buff: Self (Atk Speed)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 15 sec
Cool Down: 5 min
Description: Decreases shot time by 40%

Apect of the Beast

Level 30

Buff: Self (Reveal/Track)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: Until Aspect Change
Description: The hunter takes on the aspects of a beast, sharing any detection abilities with his pet, becoming untrackable and able to track beasts.

Apect of the Pack

Level 40

Buff: Group (Run Speed)
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: Until Aspect Change
Description: The hunter and his group take on the aspects of a pack of cheetahs, increasing movement speed by 20%. If a pack member takes damage, they will be dazed for 4 sec.

  
Traps
Traps can only be placed when out of combat. Only one trap can be active at a time.
Note - Italiced words anywhere in the stats show what is improved with each rank.

Immolation Trap (5 Ranks)

Level 16

Category: Proximity DoT
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 1 min
Cool Down: 15 sec
Description: Place a fire trap that will burn the first enemy to approach for Fire damage over 15 sec.

Freezing Trap (3 Ranks)

Level 20

Category: Proximity Mez
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 1 min
Cool Down: 15 sec
Description: Place a frost trap that freezes the first enemy that approaches, preventing all action for up to 10-20 sec. Any damage caused will break the ice.

Frost Trap

Level 28

Category: Proximity AoE Snare
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 1 min
Cool Down: 15 sec
Description: Place a frost trap that creates an ice slick around itself when the first enemy approaches it. All enemies within 10 yards will be slowed to 40% of their normal movement speed.

Explosive Trap (5 Ranks)

Level 34

Category: Proximity DD + DoT
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 1 min
Effect Duration: 20 sec
Effect Range: 10 yard
Cool Down: 15 sec
Description: Place a fire trap that explodes when an enemy approaches, causing Fire damage and burning all enemies for additional Fire damage over 20 sec to all within 10 yards.

    
Other Spells & Abilities
Note - Italiced words anywhere in the stats show what is improved with each rank.

Wing Clip (3 Ranks)

Level 12

Category: Snare
Range: 10 yard
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 10 sec
Description: Inflicts little damage and reduces the enemy target's movement speed to 50% of normal for 10 sec.

Scare Beast (3 Ranks)

Level 14

Category: Fear
Range: 10 yard
Cast Time: 1.5 sec
Duration: 10-20 sec
Cool Down: 30 sec
Description: Scares a beast, causing it to run in fear for up to 10-20 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Only one beast can be feared at a time.

Feign Death

Level 30

Category: Fake Death
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: up to 5 min
Cool Down: 10 min
Description: Feign death which may trick enemies into ignoring you. Lasts up to 5 min, but resurrection penalties are applied when the effect ends.

Flare

Level 32

Category: Reveal
Range: 30 yard
Effect Range: 30 yard
Cast Time: Instant
Duration: 30 sec
Cool Down: 15 sec
Description: Exposes all hidden and invisible enemies within 30 yards of the targeted area for 30 sec

    

Hunter Talents Coming Later...

Which Race to Choose...

Horde gets a better choice for race of a hunter then Alliance does. So alliance is confined to Night Elf and Dwarf, basically start with guns, or bows. Taurens for the Horde start with guns, the other 2 start with Bows. Each race has its advantages and disadvantages to being priest, and each race is a viable choice, you can not gimp yourself by choosing the wrong race. The races were balanced well. One of the most important factors in choosing a race is choosing one you like the look and feel of. Get a few choices in mind then look at the charts below to help you finalize that decision.
Hunter Stats by Realm
Green - Best
White - Average
Red - Worst
Hunter Attack Power/Dps is obtained by taking the average of str + agi combined
Alliance
Race
HP
MP
STR
AGI
STA
INT
SPR
Power
Armor
Dodge%
Crit%
Dwarf 80 56 23 19 24 19 20 24 40 3.93 4.13
Night Elf 48 57 17 27 20 20 21 26 56 5.67 5.87
Horde
Race
HP
MP
STR
AGI
STA
INT
SPR
Power
Armor
Dodge%
Crit%
Orc 72 54 24 19 23 17 22 25 40 3.93 4.13
Troll 64 54 21 24 22 17 22 27 50 5.02 5.22
Tauren 73 53 26 18 23 16 22 26 38 3.71 3.91

Hunter Olympics
Award
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
Hit Points
Dwarf
Tauren
Orc
Troll
Night Elf
Attack Power / Damage Per Second
Troll
Nelf
Taur
Orc
Dwarf
Armor Rating, Dodge & Critical Hit Chance
Night Elf
Troll
Dwf
Orc
Tauren
Mana, Spell Critical Hit Chance, Learning Speed
Night Elf
Dwarf
Orc/Troll
Tauren
Health Regen, Mana Regen, Proc Chance
Orc/Trl/Tar
Night Elf
Dwarf

Racial Population
Night Elf
Dwarf
Tauren
Orc
Troll
36%
18%
28%
19%
15%
These stats were collected during the WoW Stress Test via this website

Things to Consider...

Racial differences affect you through-out your character's life.

What I mean by this is, say I had a level 14 Tauren Warrior with 34 AGI from rings & buffs. A level 14 Night Elf warrior with 34 AGI, and Identical Armor, will still have more armor then I do. He will still get critical attacks more then I do, and he will still dodge more then I do. Its the same vice versa too, he will never hit as hard as I do, block as much damage as I do, have as many hit points as I do. So know that your choice will affect you for the rest of your character's life.

Remember to look at Racial Traits as well.

Be sure to factor in Racial Traits when deciding on the race for your Hunter. Night Elf have Shadowmeld ability, and bonus Nature Magic resistance. Dwarf have a Find treasure ability, and bonus frost resistance. Tauren have a racial ability of Plains Running. Orc and troll currently have nothing but check the racial sections for estimated guesses on what could be future racial benefits for Troll & Orc


Key & Formulas

Damage Reduction Formula:

Damage Reduction = (.3*(Armor Class-1)/(10*Level+89))

Okay, so lets make some sense of this formula. Lets say I want to figure out the damage reduction of a naked level 1 night elf rogue who has 58 armor.

So lets see, Armor Class - 1 = 57 * .3 = 17.1
10 * Level 1 + 89 = 99
17.1 / 99 = 0.1727
Which means 17.27%

Lets apply this to a higher level character now.

How about a level 13 Tauren Druid, wearing leather armor, fully buffed & in Bear form. He has 562 armor. So if we do the math the dmg reduction turns out to be about 77%
Abbreviation
Meaning
Abbreviation
Meaning
DD
 Direct Damage   Mez To mesmerize a target, stops it from fighting
DoT
 Damage over Time   CC Crowd Control - process to fight 1-2 monsters at a time
HoT
 Heal over Time   Buff A beneficial spell that improves your character
Proc
 To trigger a magical effect in a weapon   Debuff Opposite of Buff
AoE
 Area of Effect   Snare To slow run speed
PBAoE
 Point Blank Area of Effect   Haste Makes your character attack faster with melee
DPS
 Damage Per Second   Threat What monsters use to judge who to attack. Whoever has the most has the monsters attention
PVP
 Player vs Player   Nuke See Direct Damage
PVE
 Player vs Environment   Mob Mobile/Monster/Hostile NPC
DMG
 Damage   Agro Aggression - when a mob wants to kill you
HP
 Hit Points or Health Points   PC Player Character - human controlled
MP
 Mana Points or Magic Points   NPC No Player Character - computer controlled
STR
 Strength   Pet An NPC friend that follows your commands
AGI
 Agility   DS Damage Shield - A buff that hurts mobs who touch you
STA
 Stamina   Bleed Damage over time
INT
 Intellect   Rez To resurrect a player (bring them back from dead)
SPR
 Spirit   Taunt To get the monsters attention so it attacks you and no 1 else
Regen
 To recover   Wake Process of waking anything that is mezzed
Lull
 To lower the radius in which the monster will attack   Dispell to remove a magical effect
  • Strength
    • Adds to your Attack Power, Damage-Per-Second, Amount of damage blocked with shield in part by Strength (and other part by your shield)
  • Stamina
    • Increases Hit Points
  • Spirit
    • Increases Health and Mana regeneration in & out of combat. Spirit also increases your chance to 'proc' with weapons.
  • Armor
    • Protection gained from spells and armor. Higher yields more damage absorb.
  • Dodge
    • Chance to dodge a melee attack.
  • Agility
    • Increases chance to Critical Hit. The amount of bonus is higher per point on Rogues. Agility affect Dodge. Rogues get more Dodge per points of Agility then other classes. Agility Adds Directly to Armor.
    Intellect
    • Increases Mana Points as well as chance to Critical Hit with magic spells. Intellect also grants a higher chance to increase melee skills. Does not affect trade skills.
  • Power
    • Melee Attack Power Rating (higher yields more damage)
  • Crit
    • Chance to Critical with melee only. Intellect reflects crit chance for spells