Vyvenem
Veteran
Introduction
Greetings! This guide is designed to give you an idea of what to expect from your Marksman Hunter and provide a blueprint for gearing. Some things in this guide are my personal opinion, so take what you want from it and do the rest your way. Also keep in mind that this is NOT a PvP guide (at least not currently)! I am not good at PvP, but Hunters in general are very strong in PvP. You'll do fine. Lastly, parts of this guide are focused more towards F2Ps than Vets or Subs, but a lot of it can still apply to all three.10/25/22 Update: I will not be updating this guide for Dragonflight as I will no longer be playing a Hunter. Most of the information presented here is outdated. If mods want to remove the guide, that is fine by me. That being said, thank you to all who used this guide and gained valuable information from it.
Race Choice
Every race from the base game can play as a Hunter. There are some races that perform better in combat than others, but it isn't a fully dominating difference. You should choose whichever race you want to play as. After all, you'll be looking at them for a very long time. I personally chose Night Elf because I like how cool they are.This guide will not cover any of the Allied races as pure F2Ps cannot get them, but they all can also be Hunter.
ALLIANCE
{Draenei}Gift of the Naaru, Gemcutting, Heroic Presence, Shadow Resistance
{Dwarf}
Explorer, Frost Resistance, Might of the Mountain, Stoneform
{Gnome}
Arcane Resistance, Engineering Specialization, Escape Artist, Expansive Mind, Nimble Fingers
{Human}
Diplomacy, Will to Survive, The Human Spirit
{Night Elf}
Nature Resistance, Wisp Spirit, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Touch of Elune
{Worgen}
Aberration, Altered Form, Darkflight, Flayer, Running Wild, Two Forms, Viciousness
HORDE
{Blood Elf}Arcane Torrent, Arcane Acuity, Arcane Affinity, Arcane Resistance
{Goblin}
Time is Money, Best Deals Anywhere, Better Living Through Chemistry, Pack Hobgoblin, Rocket Barrage, Rocket Jump
{Orc}
Blood Fury, Command, Hardiness
{Tauren}
Brawn, Cultivation, Endurance, Nature Resistance, War Stomp
{Troll}
Regeneration, Beast Slaying, Berserking, Da Voodoo Shuffle
{Undead}
Cannibalize, Shadow Resistance, Touch of the Grave, Will of the Forsaken
BOTH
{Pandaren}Bouncy, Epicurean, Gourmand, Inner Peace, Quaking Palm
Stat Priority
When gearing your Hunter, the priority for stats are as follows:Agility > Critical Strike / Mastery > Versatility > Haste
Stamina / Leech for more survivability
Agility gives you a flat increase to all your damage sources. This is always top priority.
Mastery increases the range and damage of your skills. Try to get as much of this as possible, as its damage boost is amazing. The range increase also helps avoid attacks from enemies, increasing survivability.
Critical Strike increases your chance to get a critical strike, doubling your damage for the attack. Depending on how you build your character, you might want a LOT of this.
Versatility increases the damage and healing you deal while also decreasing the damage you take. The bonus is pretty decent, but you might neglect this if you're going for more Critical Strike.
Haste increases attack / cast speed and Focus regeneration. It also reduces some cooldowns. You'll get some Haste through your endgame gear but it doesn't provide enough of a boost to our character to warrant building around it.
Stamina increases your health as well as your pet's. The more you have, the longer you AND your pet can survive tanking and the more Mend Pet will heal both of you. Everything but trinkets have this by default, so you will get a decent amount. You will gain 11 health per 1 Stamina, and your pet will gain an average of 7.7 health per 1 Stamina.
Leech heals you for a percentage of the damage and healing you do to others. It's possible to get leech on a few pieces of gear with luck, but the real source of it comes from Ferocity pets which grant a flat 10% Leech. Mend Pet also leeches, meaning you can get a very tiny bit of healing out of it.
Two other stats you can acquire are Avoidance, which reduces damage you take from area of effect attacks, and Speed, which increases your movement speed. Both of them are very rare to obtain and neither of them help damage or survivability in any meaningful way. Armor is also good for taking reduced damage, but you'll just get whatever your armor pieces come with and nothing more.
If you plan on doing PvP battlegrounds, you and your gear will scale to whatever the level maximum is for the battleground you're doing. Your Agility and Stamina will scale UP and everything else will scale DOWN.
Mastery increases the range and damage of your skills. Try to get as much of this as possible, as its damage boost is amazing. The range increase also helps avoid attacks from enemies, increasing survivability.
Critical Strike increases your chance to get a critical strike, doubling your damage for the attack. Depending on how you build your character, you might want a LOT of this.
Versatility increases the damage and healing you deal while also decreasing the damage you take. The bonus is pretty decent, but you might neglect this if you're going for more Critical Strike.
Haste increases attack / cast speed and Focus regeneration. It also reduces some cooldowns. You'll get some Haste through your endgame gear but it doesn't provide enough of a boost to our character to warrant building around it.
Stamina increases your health as well as your pet's. The more you have, the longer you AND your pet can survive tanking and the more Mend Pet will heal both of you. Everything but trinkets have this by default, so you will get a decent amount. You will gain 11 health per 1 Stamina, and your pet will gain an average of 7.7 health per 1 Stamina.
Leech heals you for a percentage of the damage and healing you do to others. It's possible to get leech on a few pieces of gear with luck, but the real source of it comes from Ferocity pets which grant a flat 10% Leech. Mend Pet also leeches, meaning you can get a very tiny bit of healing out of it.
Two other stats you can acquire are Avoidance, which reduces damage you take from area of effect attacks, and Speed, which increases your movement speed. Both of them are very rare to obtain and neither of them help damage or survivability in any meaningful way. Armor is also good for taking reduced damage, but you'll just get whatever your armor pieces come with and nothing more.
If you plan on doing PvP battlegrounds, you and your gear will scale to whatever the level maximum is for the battleground you're doing. Your Agility and Stamina will scale UP and everything else will scale DOWN.
Skills
You have an amazing amount of skills available at level 20. The only thing you don't have is an Area of Effect / Multi-Target attack, but you make up for it with your other skills.Aimed Shot - This is always your opener as it takes time to cast, you can't move while casting it, and it does an incredible amount of damage. The cast time and cooldown can be reduced by Haste.
Arcane Shot - This is your basic resource spender. Use it often but carefully because you want to keep enough focus for an Aimed Shot going off cooldown or a Revive Pet when your pet dies. You learn rank 2 which reduces its Focus Cost to 20.
Aspect of the Chameleon - You will never use this skill. Learned from The Art of Concealment!
Aspect of the Cheetah - This skill is your distance maker in combat. It's also useful for running back through dungeons if you die.
Aspect of the Turtle - This is your best tool for survival. While active, you can heal, revive your pet, or run away. You can still take damage from some sources, but in general you will take little to no damage for the entire duration.
Beast Lore - The internet does a better job telling us about all the pets.
Bursting Shot - This is great crowd control if you're swarmed by enemies. Backpedal to get as much in front of you as possible, then fire! The hitbox can be a little off, so make sure you use it earlier rather than later so you know whether you need to run away.
Call Pet 1, Call Pet 2, Call Pet 3 - You can have up to 3 pets in your possession outside of your Stable. You can either have each Call Pet use their own action bar slot, or there's a Call Pet tab in your Spellbook that will show all three pets at once on one keybind and you just click whichever one you want to call.
Concussive Shot - This skill lets you kite enemies around. The cooldown is short enough to keep this up on a target for a very long time. Using Steady Shot on the same target will also increase its duration.
Countershot - Your basic skill for stopping spellcasting. It will also stop spellcasting from that school for 3 seconds.
Disengage - This is a great tool for creating distance or jumping gaps. If you use it as you're falling from any distance it will reset your fall distance, meaning you can survive ANY fall with it.
Dismiss Pet - Puts away the pet you have out currently. You can't switch pets until you do this. Your pet must be alive to dismiss and switch to another pet.
Exhilaration - This is your second best heal available to you, healing a flat 30%. Any healing is good healing.
Feed Pet - This doesn't work in combat and consumes items to use, so just use Mend Pet instead.
Feign Death - This is your last resort in a fight. Use it to escape ANY fight, and it gives you up to 6 minutes to re-engage. The cooldown doesn't start until you stand back up. In dungeons, you can run forward as far as possible then use this to reset all the enemies, potentially skipping a lot of encounters.
Fetch - Your pet can loot for you! It can even climb slopes to do it. You must be standing still and doing nothing while it's looting. Learned from Pet Training Manual: Fetch!
Fireworks - Use this to celebrate! Learned from Fireworks Instruction Manual!
Flare - This isn't too helpful in PvE since you're going to be much stronger than any stealthed enemy around your level to the point that it doesn't matter if you see them coming.
Freezing Trap - This skill helps when you're facing multiple enemies. The cooldown is short enough that you can refresh it endlessly.
Hunter's Mark - Useless in PvE. Using this on a stealthing player in PvP prevents them from using their stealth against you.
Mend Pet - This is how you make your pet a tanking superstar. You can keep it up indefinitely as long as you remember to reapply it every 10 seconds. If you have leech (ferocity pets give 10% leech), you also heal from it! Any healing is good healing.
Play Dead - Feign Death for your pet! This will remove your pet from combat and drop any threat it has. You can use Mend Pet while it's playing dead. This skill turns into Wake Up after use, and vice versa. Learned from Pet Training Manual: Play Dead!
Rapid Fire - Right after you use Aimed Shot as an opener, you'll want to use this so their cooldowns stack. Make sure you use it every time its cooldown finishes. Each individual shot has its own critical strike chance. Channel time reduced by Haste. You can cast this while moving.
Revive Pet - If your pet dies, this will bring it back really quick and at full health!
Steady Shot - This is your resource generator thanks to learning Rank 2 of this skill. Cast time reduced by Haste. You can cast this while moving.
Tame Beast - This takes 6 seconds to use, you can't move while using it, and you must have your pets dismissed first. If it won't work, the skill will not activate. You can tame pets that are affected by Freezing Trap!
Arcane Shot - This is your basic resource spender. Use it often but carefully because you want to keep enough focus for an Aimed Shot going off cooldown or a Revive Pet when your pet dies. You learn rank 2 which reduces its Focus Cost to 20.
Aspect of the Chameleon - You will never use this skill. Learned from The Art of Concealment!
Aspect of the Cheetah - This skill is your distance maker in combat. It's also useful for running back through dungeons if you die.
Aspect of the Turtle - This is your best tool for survival. While active, you can heal, revive your pet, or run away. You can still take damage from some sources, but in general you will take little to no damage for the entire duration.
Beast Lore - The internet does a better job telling us about all the pets.
Bursting Shot - This is great crowd control if you're swarmed by enemies. Backpedal to get as much in front of you as possible, then fire! The hitbox can be a little off, so make sure you use it earlier rather than later so you know whether you need to run away.
Call Pet 1, Call Pet 2, Call Pet 3 - You can have up to 3 pets in your possession outside of your Stable. You can either have each Call Pet use their own action bar slot, or there's a Call Pet tab in your Spellbook that will show all three pets at once on one keybind and you just click whichever one you want to call.
Concussive Shot - This skill lets you kite enemies around. The cooldown is short enough to keep this up on a target for a very long time. Using Steady Shot on the same target will also increase its duration.
Countershot - Your basic skill for stopping spellcasting. It will also stop spellcasting from that school for 3 seconds.
Disengage - This is a great tool for creating distance or jumping gaps. If you use it as you're falling from any distance it will reset your fall distance, meaning you can survive ANY fall with it.
Dismiss Pet - Puts away the pet you have out currently. You can't switch pets until you do this. Your pet must be alive to dismiss and switch to another pet.
Exhilaration - This is your second best heal available to you, healing a flat 30%. Any healing is good healing.
Feed Pet - This doesn't work in combat and consumes items to use, so just use Mend Pet instead.
Feign Death - This is your last resort in a fight. Use it to escape ANY fight, and it gives you up to 6 minutes to re-engage. The cooldown doesn't start until you stand back up. In dungeons, you can run forward as far as possible then use this to reset all the enemies, potentially skipping a lot of encounters.
Fetch - Your pet can loot for you! It can even climb slopes to do it. You must be standing still and doing nothing while it's looting. Learned from Pet Training Manual: Fetch!
Fireworks - Use this to celebrate! Learned from Fireworks Instruction Manual!
Flare - This isn't too helpful in PvE since you're going to be much stronger than any stealthed enemy around your level to the point that it doesn't matter if you see them coming.
Freezing Trap - This skill helps when you're facing multiple enemies. The cooldown is short enough that you can refresh it endlessly.
Hunter's Mark - Useless in PvE. Using this on a stealthing player in PvP prevents them from using their stealth against you.
Mend Pet - This is how you make your pet a tanking superstar. You can keep it up indefinitely as long as you remember to reapply it every 10 seconds. If you have leech (ferocity pets give 10% leech), you also heal from it! Any healing is good healing.
Play Dead - Feign Death for your pet! This will remove your pet from combat and drop any threat it has. You can use Mend Pet while it's playing dead. This skill turns into Wake Up after use, and vice versa. Learned from Pet Training Manual: Play Dead!
Rapid Fire - Right after you use Aimed Shot as an opener, you'll want to use this so their cooldowns stack. Make sure you use it every time its cooldown finishes. Each individual shot has its own critical strike chance. Channel time reduced by Haste. You can cast this while moving.
Revive Pet - If your pet dies, this will bring it back really quick and at full health!
Steady Shot - This is your resource generator thanks to learning Rank 2 of this skill. Cast time reduced by Haste. You can cast this while moving.
Tame Beast - This takes 6 seconds to use, you can't move while using it, and you must have your pets dismissed first. If it won't work, the skill will not activate. You can tame pets that are affected by Freezing Trap!
Talents
You have three talents to choose from. You can only have one active at a time, but you can freely switch between them in cities.Master Marksman - This is your go-to talent if you plan on building for high Critical Strike chance. This is a popular choice among most F2P hunters.
Serpent Sting - You apply a Damage over Time effect to a target, and you can have it active on multiple targets. This talent is great for farming multiple enemies at once (outside of dungeons). With great gear, the DoT can kill regular enemies the majority of the time by itself. If it doesn't kill, it puts them low enough where a single bite from your pet will kill it.
A Murder of Crows - This can only be applied to one target at a time, but it does more damage than Serpent Sting and deals it faster. This skill works better in PvP when you're focusing down one target at a time and can guarantee a kill for the cooldown reset.
Serpent Sting - You apply a Damage over Time effect to a target, and you can have it active on multiple targets. This talent is great for farming multiple enemies at once (outside of dungeons). With great gear, the DoT can kill regular enemies the majority of the time by itself. If it doesn't kill, it puts them low enough where a single bite from your pet will kill it.
A Murder of Crows - This can only be applied to one target at a time, but it does more damage than Serpent Sting and deals it faster. This skill works better in PvP when you're focusing down one target at a time and can guarantee a kill for the cooldown reset.
Gear Suggestions
When it comes to gearing, you get some preference in your choices based on which secondary stats you want to stack more of. Many of the best pieces of gear will have sockets on them, allowing you to boost your Agility, Stamina, and Critical Strike as you see fit (you have to make or buy the gems to socket though). You want to aim for as many sockets as possible while also getting the most of whatever secondary stats you choose to build around.MAKE SURE YOU ARE LEVEL 20 BEFORE YOU GET ANY GEAR!
Otherwise you will not get the best possible version of your gear!
Otherwise you will not get the best possible version of your gear!
[FILLER GEAR]
In the Mists of Pandaria expansion, you have two vendors that sells ilvl28 green armor in Longying Outpost, Townlong Steppes: Alin the Finder and Supplier Xin. Despite being listed at level 25, the armor turns into level 20 gear upon purchase (except the weapons which turn level 22). This gear costs very little gold and provides a healthy supply of Critical Strike and Mastery. Only use this gear to fill gaps until you farm for better stuff since this gear comes with zero sockets and you want as many of those as possible.Between the two vendors, these are the pieces you'll want to equip based on stats and gold cost:
Helm ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Helm
Neck ] Wasteland Necklace
Shoulder ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Spaulders
Back ] Wasteland Cape
Chest ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Armor
Wrist ] Wasteland Chain Wristguards
Hands ] Wasteland Ringmail Gauntlets
Waist ] Wasteland Chain Links
Legs ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Leggings
Feet ] Wasteland Ringmail Sabatons
Ring ] Mountainscaler Loop
Trinket ] Mountainscaler Emblem
[WEAPONS]
Dragon Slayer's Shortbow - This weapon has very high Critical Strike and Haste. This is easy to obtain through questing in Sholazar Basin, Northrend. Can upgrade to Epic.Hallowed Ossein Longbow - You want one with at least one gem socket. You can queue for the dungeon this drops in using LFG or you can just solo it. Most groups go for this one's boss first though, so if you want to go around doing other things while waiting in queue and JUST killing that boss, go for it.
Vlaros Corps Rifle - This drops from a rare enemy in Tiragarde Sound, Kul Tiras. Can upgrade with one gem socket.
Iron Lookout Arbalest - This is easily obtained just by looting an object in Gorgrond, Draenor. Can upgrade to Epic.
[HEAD]
Cenarion Thicket Helm - Provides three gem sockets and is easy to get. It can also upgrade. This is one of your best options as a main helmet ONLY if it's fully gemmed ( but not with the +1 Agility gems).Mok'Nathal Beast-Mask - Provides three gem sockets and is hard to get. Cenarion Thicket Helm gives more Stamina, so I tend to favor that one over this.
Deadly Retinal Armor - Requires 75 Pandaria Engineering and a Relic of the Past I to make as an ilvl19, and requires keeping 75 Pandaria Engineering to wear. The cogs require 75 Cataclysm Engineering to socket with cogwheels bought at a specific Engineering vendor in any main city. Using this helm sacrifices some Agility, Stamina, and Armor for a lot of secondary stats through the two cogwheel sockets and gives access to the rare Meta Gem socket. The cogwheel sockets provide any combination of 20 secondary points in cogwheels not used in other gear pieces. Very few items give Meta Gem sockets, so if you want to use a Meta Gem, this is your best option. You also need high level Alchemy to transmute the materials for it, so prepare to juggle some professions!
Gorrog's Serene Gaze - If you get one of these with one gem socket, consider yourself blessed. This is a world drop from Legion enemies, meaning the chances you'll find one are... almost impossible. This just barely beats out a fully +3 Agility gemmed Cenarion Thicket Helm through skill damage and Armor, but loses out on a few points of Critical Strike. I was blessed with this
[NECK]
Necks will be completely based on preference and how you're building your Hunter. It's a good idea to own several different ones and try them out for a bit, but eventually you will want to settle on one because you're going to put a very rare enchantment on it. Look for necks that have 22-23 points in any pairing between Critical Strike, Mastery, and Versatility.Brysngamen, Torc of Helheim - I want to give special mention to this neck as it is one of only two necks that have a special effect attached to it. If you find yourself dying a lot, this is a fun neck to help get back to your corpse faster.
Eternal Emberfury Talisman / Eternal Horizon Choker - Heirlooms are another type of neck that have a bonus effect on them. If you don't want to do Cataclysm Engineering for a MUCH BETTER healing cooldown, this is your only other option. Note that this is incredibly useful if you plan to do Arena PvP as the Cataclysm Engineering healing cooldown is disabled there. These two come with Critical Strike and Mastery...
Eternal Talisman of Evasion / Eternal Woven Ivy Necklace - ...and these two come with Versatility and Mastery!
[SHOULDER]
Pauldrons of Desolation - Gain a free Critical Strike boost from the Set Bonus if you have two pieces from the set. There are no other notable shoulders that are better than this when you have the set bonus. Provides two gem sockets.[BACK]
Parrotfeather Cloak - You want to get this with one gem socket and leech. You can settle for one with just the one gem socket. You could queue for this dungeon in LFG, but it's quicker to farm solo (can take about 3-5 minutes with decent gear to enter, kill Kragg, and exit).Cloak of Martayl Oceanstrider - If you get one of these with one gem socket, consider yourself blessed. This cloak is the best possible cloak if you don't need more Critical Strike and want 1 more Stamina. This is a world drop from Legion enemies, meaning the chances you'll find one are... almost impossible.
[CHEST]
Shamblehide Chestguard - This is the best chest armor you can have once you've obtained the gloves and shoulders from the Desolation Set Bonus. Provides three gem sockets.Hauberk of Desolation - Gain a free Critical Strike boost from the Set Bonus if you have two pieces from the set. Shamblehide Chestguard provides better stats than this, but if you need a second armor piece for the Desolation Set Bonus, use it. Provides three gem sockets.
[SHIRT]
Shirts are just cosmetic and have no bearing on your character's combat prowess. Still, there's a shirt you might want to get. That shirt is...Fashionable Undershirt - This is the only shirt that gives your character the Fashionable! buff, which does nothing but lasts as long as you wear the shirt. It's cool to have buffs though, and without this shirt, you would have one less buff. Hunters want all the buffs they can get... right? You can only get this shirt by winning the Trial of Style, which only happens twice a year, and buying it with its currency.
[WRIST]
Wristlinks of Alchemical Transfusion - You want to get this with one gem socket and leech, which is a completely random chance. You can settle for one with just one gem socket. You could queue for the dungeon this item drops in through the Dungeon Finder, but it can be potentially quicker to farm solo as most runs I've done in groups tend to put the boss at second to last when it is available right from the start. The boss is tough to solo, so bring your best gear if you go that route.Auchenai Bracers - This is a dungeon quest reward, and it can upgrade to Epic. Get this only if you're having bad luck finding another socketed wrist. Provides one gem socket.
[HANDS]
Gauntlets of Desolation - Gain a free Critical Strike boost from the Set Bonus if you have two pieces from the set. There are no other notable gloves that are better than this when you have the set bonus. Provides two gem sockets.[WAIST]
Tarren Mill Defender's Cinch - You have to clear the dungeon to complete the quest, but you're guaranteed to get it as a quest reward. This is the best possible belt you can get. This can upgrade to Epic. Provides two sockets.[LEGS]
Wyrmscale Greaves - This is the best possible legs you can get. Provides three gem sockets.[FEET]
Auchenai Boots - You have to clear the dungeon to complete the quest, but you're guaranteed to get it as a quest reward. This can upgrade to Epic. Provides two gem sockets.Dragon Slayer's Sabatons - This is better for builds that want Critical Strike, and also provides more Stamina and secondary stats than the Auchenai Boots. Provides two gem sockets.
[RING]
Rings will be completely based on preference and how you're building your hunter. It's a good idea to own several different ones and try them out for a bit. Look for rings that have 22-23 points in any pairing between Critical Strike, Mastery, and Versatility. Below are some special mentions of especially special rings.Precious Bloodthorn Loop - This ring has the unique effect of turning you invisible for 10 seconds at the cost of health. It's not really needed as a Hunter in PvE, but it's a cool effect for PvP. This can upgrade to Epic.
Glompmaw's Ring - This is just a silly ring that you want just for the swim speed boost, maybe. It's a Haste ring, unfortunately.
Signet of Stormwind / Mark of Orgrimmar - You get it for free as part of the introduction quests to the Legion expansion. It boasts 24 secondary stat points compared to most quest / dungeon rings' 23, but you don't want the Haste so there are better rings out there for us. This can upgrade to Epic.
Vastly Oversized Ring - If you get one of these with one gem socket, consider yourself blessed. This is absolutely the best Critical Strike ring you can ever get. This is a world drop from Legion enemies, meaning the chances you'll find one are... almost impossible.
Demar's Band of Amore - If you get one of these with one gem socket, consider yourself blessed. This is absolutely the best Mastery ring you can ever get. This is a world drop from Legion enemies, meaning the chances you'll find one are... almost impossible.
[TRINKET]
Armored Elekk Tusk - This provides a massive boost to your opening attacks with a massive 81 Mastery. Grab this as soon as you hit 20, as it's a 100% drop chance from looting a pile of bones in Draenor's Shadowmoon Valley. For some reason, the duration is doubled in PvP. This can upgrade to Epic.Ghost Iron Dragonling - Requires 50 Pandaria Engineering and a Relic of the Past I to make as an ilvl19. Provides three cogwheel sockets. The cogs require 75 Cataclysm Engineering to socket with cogwheels bought at a specific Engineering vendor in any main city. The cogwheels provide a multitude of combinations of 30 secondary stats. It's actually pretty easy to make, it just take a lot of time to finish and you have to mine in level 30 zones from Cataclysm. This is by far the best trinket you will ever get.
Harlan's Loaded Dice - You want to get this with one gem socket and leech, which is a completely random chance. You can settle for one with just one gem socket.
Inherited Insignia of the Alliance / Inherited Insignia of the Horde - This is one of the few heirlooms that can be useful for any class and is highly recommended for PvP usage, but the on-use effect can have its uses against certain boss mechanics as well.
Toy Windmill - I found this trinket while questing and held onto it through a month or two of questing and solo dungeon running before I obtained Ghost Iron Dragonling. It has a lot of stats and a summon to push extra damage if needed.
Gear Enhancements
There are many gems and enchantments available for level 20s. These are the ones I personally know about. There may be others.[GEMS]
Delicate Tourmaline is the gem you use first while waiting farm for the better gems. You can buy these at the inns in Honor Hold / Thrallmar in Hellfire Peninsula for about 1 gold each.Shifting Dreadstone is the best gem if you want to push for the maximum amount of Stamina while still having an acceptable amount of Agility. Of the gems available, this one is the hardest to farm. It requires a combination of Mining for rocks to prospect for Twilight Opals, level 65 in Alchemy to transmute the Opals into Dreadstone, and level 75 Northrend jewelcrafting to cut the Dreadstones. It will take you a month or more to get these gems, so be prepared.
Deadly Ornate Topaz is the best gem if you want to push for the maximum amount of Critical Strike while still having an acceptable amount of Agility. These require Marks of Honor which are a random drop from Crate of Battlefield Goods. You can get the crates only by winning Battlegrounds. You also have a chance to get the marks as a bonus reward from certain Legion Class Hall missions, so level up your champions!
Delicate Ornate Ruby is the best gem if you want to push for maximum Agility. These require Marks of Honor which are a random drop from Crate of Battlefield Goods. You can get the crates only by winning Battlegrounds. You also have a chance to get the marks as a bonus reward from certain Legion Class Hall missions, so level up your champions!
Jagged Deep Peridot is a unique gem that gives a whopping 3 Stamina AND 4 Critical Strike, but your character can only socket one of these. You need 10 Marks of Honor Hold / Marks of Thrallmar to purchase this, which requires killing enemy faction players in the three PvP towers in Hellfire Peninsula. You can farm the marks by either getting a friend to help or by making a second character of the opposite faction on a second account. You can also get one Delicate Blood Garnet the same way, but this will be replaced by better gems.
[COGWHEELS]
The only pieces of gear that use cogs are Ghost Iron Dragonling and Deadly Retinal Armor. The helmet is entirely preferential, but the dragonling is an absolute requirement for your final gear set.Each cogwheel provides +10 to a secondary stat, not +16. Each unique cogwheel can only be used once. You are REQUIRED to have 75 Cataclysm Engineering to place the cogwheels in the sockets. You are NOT REQUIRED to keep Engineering after you have finished socketing (but you will most likely want to keep Engineering for all the other stuff that requires having it).
For the Ghost iron Dragonling:
Fractured Cogwheel will always be used.
You will then use any two of Sparkling Cogwheel, Smooth Cogwheel, and Rigid Cogwheel to fill in the last two sockets
For the Deadly Retinal Armor:
Use whichever cogwheel is left over from the first three. The second slot gets a Precise Cogwheel or Quick Cogwheel
[ENCHANTING]
{Neck}Mark of the Hidden Satyr - Requires an Enchanting Profession questline in Legion to clear the Darkheart Thicket dungeon twice, once for the quest to learn Rank 1 and another for Rank 2 of the recipe to lower the cost (it will help a lot). You also need 15 Chaos Crystals for the Rank 1 version or 12 for the Rank 2 version, which requires disenchanting Legion Epic quality items. Go to your class hall and get the Order Advancement Rugged Upgrades to increase the Epic upgrade chance for quest rewards before doing ANY quests in Legion! Many world bosses also drop rare quality gear that can upgrade to Epic. If you don't reach 12 between those two sources, you'll have to farm Epics through world drops or crafting.
{Shoulders}
Boon of the Zookeeper - This doesn't make your character stronger, but if you're doing stuff in Legion, you'll want this. You can buy this enchantment from Draemus in Legion Dalaran's pet shop. You DO NOT need Enchanting to buy or apply this. With this enchantment, you'll occasionally get a Pile of Pet Goodies from enemies which contains 6-10 Shiny Pet Charms. If you're collecting pets and toys, you'll need THOUSANDS of these. Start early!
{Cloak}
Minor Power - Changes to +5 Agility.
{Chest}
Super Stats - Changes to +3 All Stats.
{Wrist}
Major Stamina - Changes to +5 Stamina.
{Gloves}
Crusher - Changes to +5 Attack Power.
{Boots}
Tuskarr's Vitality - Changes to +3 Stamina and +10% movement speed.
Blurred Speed
{Ring}
Breath of Mastery
Breath of Critical Strike
Word of Mastery - Changes to +1. Requires doing some Legion Enchanting quests.
Word of Critical Strike - Changes to +1. Requires doing some Legion Enchanting quests.
[ENGINEERING]
{Weapon}Deadly Scope - Gives +2 damage.
Sniper Scope - Gives +3 damage. You might never see one of these since the recipe is a world drop, so go for Deadly Scope first.
{Cloak}
Goblin Glider - On use: Jump on a glider, fly forward fast and fall slow for up to 2 minutes. This effect ends when you land. Must have Engineering to use. Doesn't work in dungeons.
{Belt}
Spinal Healing Injector - On use: Heal 400hp with a 1 minute cooldown. Must have Engineering to use. Doesn't work in arenas. This is absolutely required for Hunters who will be soloing dungeons.
[LEATHERWORKING]
{Legs}Primal Leg Reinforcements - Changes to +3 Agility and +2 Critical Strike. You only need level 1 Pandaria Leatherworking to make it and the material comes from a vendor, so you can get it right away!
Consumables
There are a handful of consumables you can obtain to boost your combat performance a little more.[ALCHEMY]
Alchemist's Flask - changes to +9 Agility. You need 300 Classic Alchemy to make it, but you only need to HAVE the Alchemy profession to use it. You only need to make one because it has unlimited uses![LEATHERWORKING]
Drums of Fury - Gives 15% Haste for 40 seconds. Has a 10 minute cooldown, so only use it if you're pushing for more damage to finally kill a boss.[HERBALISM]
Life's Spirit - Heals 399 health over 6 seconds. You have a chance to loot these while gathering Pandaren herbs or by planting and harvesting Enigma Seeds at your farm in Halfhill. It DOES NOT share a cooldown with Spinal Healing Injector. Makes for a great emergency heal![COOKING]
Grilled Squid - The best Agility food buff available. You can only farm the Winter Squid from September 23 through March 20, so stock up when you can! Otherwise...Mightfish Steak / Cooked Glossy Mightfish - Both of these give a 3 Stamina boost. Better than nothing, I guess.
Tamed Beasts
The best part about being a Hunter is that you're never alone. You can have up to three pets with you and TWO HUNDRED more in your pet stable!Each beast type has unique skills associated with it based on its specialization.
Ferocity pets give you Predator's Thirst. This is always going to be your primary choice for PvE content.
Cunning pets give you Pathfinding. Note that this DOES NOT STACK with the Movement Speed enchantments for your feet gear, so this is essentially useless if you have the enchantment.
Tenacity pets give you Endurance Training and Survival of the Fittest. This has good applications in PvP.
Each beast also has a skill unique to itself, and there are TONS to choose from. Pet choice matters less outside of dungeons and PvP, so pick whatever you think looks cool! I'll detail which pet I use in dungeons later on.
Check out Petopia for a list of pets you can tame! Not all of these pets will be available for a F2P to tame though, so do some research before hunting them down.
Ferocity pets give you Predator's Thirst. This is always going to be your primary choice for PvE content.
Cunning pets give you Pathfinding. Note that this DOES NOT STACK with the Movement Speed enchantments for your feet gear, so this is essentially useless if you have the enchantment.
Tenacity pets give you Endurance Training and Survival of the Fittest. This has good applications in PvP.
Each beast also has a skill unique to itself, and there are TONS to choose from. Pet choice matters less outside of dungeons and PvP, so pick whatever you think looks cool! I'll detail which pet I use in dungeons later on.
Check out Petopia for a list of pets you can tame! Not all of these pets will be available for a F2P to tame though, so do some research before hunting them down.
Soloing Dungeons
You might be wondering if Hunters can solo the dungeons required to get those awesome gear pieces mentioned earlier. Well, the answer is... YES! The dungeons you will be clearing are scaled low enough that they are all easily completed solo. What order you run the dungeons is up to you.Starting Gear for Soloing Dungeons
There are many pieces of gear you can achieve before beginning to farm dungeons solo for the rest of your gear. If you want to jump into grinding solo dungeons for gear as fast as possible, then below is my bare-minimum recommended setup for it.Weapon ] Vlaros Corps Rifle
Helm ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Helm
Necklace ] Wasteland Necklace
Shoulder ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Spaulders
Back ] Wasteland Cape
Chest ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Armor
Bracers ] Wasteland Chain Wristguards
Gloves ] Wasteland Ringmail Gauntlets
Belt ] Wasteland Chain Links
Legs ] Mountainscaler Ringmail Leggings
Boots ] Wasteland Ringmail Sabatons
Ring 1 ] Signet of Stormwind / Mark of Orgrimmar
Ring 2 ] Mountainscaler Loop
Trinket 1 ] Armored Elekk Tusk
Trinket 2 ] Toy Windmill
In terms of enchantments, gems, and consumables, I would recommend getting ALL of them as they would be a massive boost to your ability to solo. The one you absolutely want if you're aiming for a good time is the Spinal Healing Injector as it will be one of your biggest sources of healing. Sadly, it is randomly discovered while leveling Cataclysm Engineering, so you might be investing a lot of resources to get it. You do need 75 Cataclysm Engineering eventually though, so it won't be a complete waste of effort unless you plan to drop Engineering at any point before you finish your Ghost Iron Dragonling. As for everything else, it's all actually easier to get than you think. The hardest part is needing a ton of gold for Northrend Enchanting, which the majority of enchants are going to be in.
The only enchantment that you can't get right away is Mark of the Hidden Satyr as the recipe comes from a Legion Enchanting quest that requires completing a dungeon once for the recipe and twice if you want to use less materials. The only Cooking item that is time gated is the Grilled Squid since Winter Squid is only obtainable 6 months out of the year. All other enchants, gems, and consumables are obtainable outside of dungeons with some effort.
Pet Choice
My personal choice of pet for dungeons is the Scalehide. It provides Predator's Thirst for a flat 10% Leech, which is great for healing yourself, and has the skill Scale Shield, a 50% damage reduction for 12 seconds on a 1 minute cooldown, that you can activate yourself or set it to automatically activate when your pet reaches 50% health.Managing Threat in Combat
Threat is a hidden value that determines which player an enemy will attack. Normally, this does not matter when you are solo. However, you have the luxury of a pet who can also gain threat! Each pet has Growl, a taunt skill you can set to automatically activate which raises your pet's threat above yours and also guarantees a hold on threat for 3 seconds. Regaining threat on yourself is much harder at this point, which is what you want in dungeons.Some enemies can't be taunted by a pet. In this case, simply do as much damage as possible before you risk dying and use Feign Death to drop your threat value below your pet's. Stand back up, heal yourself, keep Mend Pet up, and let your pet keep the highest threat until your Feign Death is close to having its cooldown reset. Pump the damage again until you regain threat. Rinse and repeat.
Pulling a Group of Enemies
For each group of enemies, you're first going to want to use Freezing Trap on one. This will take it out of combat for 1 minute and can be refreshed. You'll want to send your pet to a second enemy to taunt. Whatever remains is coming after you!After sending your pet to attack, target another enemy and use Aimed Shot, then Rapid Fire if it's available, then Arcane Shot if the target is still alive. If you have the Serpent Sting talent, you can optionally apply it to your pet's target and each enemy coming after you to save some Focus in the long run and maximize the DoT duration. Just make sure you use up your cooldowns first.
Keep using Mend Pet to keep your pet alive. Most normal enemies will take a long time to kill your pet even without the healing, but it's also meant to heal you through Leech and every bit of healing counts.
Killing a Boss
Most dungeon bosses aren't complicated, so many of the fights will feel the same. Avoid mechanics (easy at range), keep Mend Pet up always, and maximize cooldown usage.For nearly all bosses, you will follow this opening routine:
Send Pet to Attack > Use Trinkets / Items > Aimed Shot > Rapid Fire > Serpent Sting if you have it > Aimed Shot
After your openers, you will use Arcane Shot and Steady Shot while maintaining 35 Focus for Aimed Shots as they recharge. Aimed Shot does have two charges with individual cooldowns, so if you don't have 35 Focus when one charge is up you don't have to worry. Just make sure you ALWAYS only have one charge at most and use it as soon as possible. Keep using Rapid Fire IMMEDIATELY after the cooldown finishes. You'll also want to keep reapplying Serpent Sting as the DoT finishes if you use it as your talent.
Staying Alive During Fights
There are five sources of healing for Hunters in battle:1. 10% Leech with a Ferocity pet's Predator's Thirst: You heal 10% of ALL damage you deal.
2. Spinal Healing Injector: Heal 400 health on a 1 minute cooldown
3. Exhilaration: Heal 30% of your health on a 2 minute cooldown
4. Using Mend Pet with Predator's Thirst: You heal 10% of whatever your pet heals for every 2 seconds
5. Life's Spirit: 399 health over 6 seconds on a 5 minute cooldown.
Mend Pet scales with your pet's health. It will only heal between 7 to 11 health per 2 seconds (depending on your Stamina), but every bit counts! Most fights can be 30 or more seconds, so that alone can account for over 100hp healed during the fight.
You can use all your healing effects while Aspect of the Turtle is active. If your pet is alive, you can use Feign Death and stand back up to heal while your pet holds threat.
Here are some additional tips for Soloing Dungeons
1. Bring food. You'll need it early on when your gear is lacking to heal in between pulls.2. Your pet does not enter the dungeon with Growl set to automatically activate. You must turn it on manually. If your pet dies and you use Revive Pet to bring it back to life, you will have to turn it on again.
3. Use Mend Pet always! The cooldown matches the duration, so you can keep it up endlessly. You also heal 10% of what your pet heals through Predator's Thirst if you're using a Ferocity pet (which you should be).
4. If you have the Ghost Iron Dragonling trinket, the spawn it makes has its own Area of Effect attack that will BREAK Freezing Trap! Keep an eye out for this.
5. If you run out of in-combat enemies while the Ghost Iron Dragonling spawn is still up, it will no longer attack for its duration. Don't expect it to keep helping you when you pull the next group. Also note that if your only enemy in combat is stuck in a Freezing Trap, that also causes it to stop attacking.
6. If a boss has a mind control effect, as long as your pet stays alive the fight will NOT end! Normally, the boss would reset after a mind control if you were alone. Your pet being alive prevents that.
7. Keep all the gear drops you get and disenchant them after the runs. This only applies to gear from expansions you need materials for to enchant your gear. It's also good if you're going for achievements, as some expansions have achievements for obtaining max level in ALL their professions.
8. For those fighting Epoch Hunter for gear: if you die to Epoch Hunter, the fight continues as long as Thrall is alive! You can revive yourself, mount up and run back to continue the fight if you kept Thrall's health high enough.
About Me
I've been playing as a Hunter since the Shadowlands prepatch when the F2P world opened up massively. Vyvenem is the only character I've ever made on this account, meaning every single thing I have on this account was obtained by him. Everything I have has also been obtained solo without ever grouping (outside of PvP stuff, which I do solo queue).-->Vyvenem & Scelaheid<--
Me as a fresh Hunter, ready to begin my great adventure!
Me as the Hunter I've become during my great adventure!
Me as a fresh Hunter, ready to begin my great adventure!
Me as the Hunter I've become during my great adventure!
Cool Stuff I did along the way...
Completed every zone's quests
Explored all places available to a Hunter
Soloed all 20s dungeons
Completed every zone's quests
Explored all places available to a Hunter
Soloed all 20s dungeons
Conclusion
Thanks for reading! I've never made a guide before, so I hope this one is able to help you! I will update it frequently as I try to refine it and add other data. My brain isn't exactly the most functional, so if something is wrong or typed incorrectly, please let me know!I'd also like to give a big thank you to this community. You're a big reason I decided to make this guide. Thanks everyone!
THIS GUIDE WAS LAST UPDATED 12 January, 2022
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