[ Soloing 1-40 | Soloing 41-60 | Soloing 61-80 ]

By now you should have a firm grasp on how the Hunter class handles.
You should know the basics of your attacks and how best to deliver...

[ Soloing 1-40 | Soloing 41-60 | Soloing 61-80 ]

By now you should have a firm grasp on how the Hunter class handles.
You should know the basics of your attacks and how best to deliver them
against your enemy. If you are lacking in this knowledge please read
the first guide I wrote about this called ' href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/solo1-40"
target="_blank">Soloing the Hunter 1-40'
as it will give you some good ideas. Keep in mind this guide is just
one way you can deliver your attacks as a Hunter. It's up to you to
determine what works best for you and find your own groove.

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64420" title="Gear"
target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/64420" alt="Gear"
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Gear up your Hunter to
turn him into a killing machine.

Aspects and Downtime

One thing you will start to use more and more of is the juggling of
aspects as you fight. This is akin to twisting songs like a bard in style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest. The
general idea is to use an aspect that will support your damage like href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Hawk"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Hawk
or href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Beast"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Beast
and when you get low on mana switch over to href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Viper"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Viper
as this will allow you to gain mana while you attack. Learning
to juggle your aspects can keep downtime to a minimum and if you're
good at it, avoid it all together. If you have chosen to work on your First
Aid skill you can easily patch up your hit points during a
battle and regenerate mana with ' href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Viper"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Viper'
completely removing downtime in many situations.

Gear

If you haven't already started you should be gearing up (preferably in
Mail) with gear that has a high focus on agility and stamina. Intellect
is a nice additive as it provides more mana and with certain talent
specs more damage, but agility and stamina should be a priority and in
that order. Agility is like crack for the Hunter, it increases attack
damage, critical strike rating, and armor. If you can't tell, it is
pretty much our key stat. Work on getting a decent ranged weapon and
some better armor. Always be looking for that next big upgrade.
Instances are your best source for these, but the auction house can
also supply you with some good options. Just be prepared to pay big.

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64418" title="Wolf Mount"
target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/64418" alt="Mounts"
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It's not enough to just
have a fast mount, but you also need one with style.

Mounts

You get your first mount at level 30 but by level 60 you will have the
opportunity to get a different and better kind of mount. You will be
able to purchase the epic mounts from vendors in the major cities. If
your reputation is good enough you can buy different kinds, but they
are all pretty much the same. Epic mounts provide a movement speed
boost of 100%. While all epic mounts are equal in speed, some just look
a lot cooler than the others.

Levels 40-60

At level 40 you gain a lot of new skills that can provide you with a
few different ways to approach combat. You can go at a single enemy
with high damage attacks or with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Volley"
target="_blank">Volley
and href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Explosive_Trap"
target="_blank">Explosive Trap
you can tackle multiple enemies at once. Since I speced my Hunter using
the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Beast Mastery
tree, I find that I can to take out 2-4 normal enemies at a time. The
trick is using your pet to hold aggro while you pour on the area of
effect (AoE) damage. Generally, I have two methods of attack. One I use
for solo encounters and the other I use for multiple enemy encounters.
I'll go over each and how I use them, but you may find that you prefer
other methods than what I use. Don't be afraid to experiment with
different approaches. The Hunter is, if nothing else, a class that can
be used in a number of ways.

Normal Single Encounters

Engaging a single normal encounter as a Hunter is pretty easy. A normal
encounter is equivalent to those poor guys that wear the red shirts on
Star Trek. They only last about as long as it takes to yell, "Captain!
Over here I found something! AHHHH!" If you choose the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Beast Mastery
tree your pet will easily have the tools to hold aggro. If you went
with one of the other trees he can still hold aggro, but not as well.
You will find href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Feign_Death">Feign
Death to be a useful tool for dumping aggro in
this case. In any case a normal encounter won't last long and if you go
into a fight with one at full health and mana, and you somehow manage
to lose, reroll now and pick a new class.

For a single encounter I begin with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Hawk"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Hawk
or href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Beast"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Beast
(this is all a matter of preference). There are even some decent runes
that you can get to enhance your pet's damage while using href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Aspect_of_the_Beast"
target="_blank">Aspect of the Beast.
I then use href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Hunters_Mark"
target="_blank">Hunter's Mark
and pull with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Concussive_Shot"
target="_blank">Concussive Shot.
Not everyone likes the idea of pulling with Concussive href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Concussive_Shot"
target="_blank"> Shot,
but I do as my very next attack is href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Steady_Shot"
target="_blank">Steady Shot
(Gained at level 50). While a target is stunned from href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Concussive_Shot"
target="_blank">Concussive Shot,
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Steady_Shot"
target="_blank">Steady Shot
gains an attack bonus. By this time my pet usually has his teeth firmly
implanted in the enemy's muffins. My follow up attacks include
Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting. Some people prefer to use Viper Sting
here depending on the encounter.

 Multiple Enemy
Encounters

If you're feeling brave and think you can handle it, try this area of
effect multi-enemy kill tactic. Keep in mind that you should only try
this with normal mobs. If you do something silly like attempt this with
elites, make sure your Azeroth Equity Life Insurance is paid up first.
This particular approach works best with the href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Bestial Wrath
build as you will be using your pet to juggle aggro. The real trick
here is to make sure he is switching targets and keeping aggro while
you're dropping AoEs.

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64421"
title="Multi-fight" target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/64421"
alt="Multi-fight"
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Taking on multiple
enemies is one benefit to being a skilled Hunter.

To start, mark an enemy and pull with a
ranged attack like href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Serpent_Sting"
target="_blank">Serpent Sting
or href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Concussive_Shot"
target="_blank">Concussive Shot.
Let the pet jump on him and start building aggro. While your pet is
taking a bite out of crime, go pull your next target. Once he is on the
way, have your pet switch targets and head for him and make for a
third. Do the same thing once more and your pet should have all three
beating on him. Make sure to drop a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Mend_Pet"
target="_blank">Mend Pet
and lay an href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Explosive_Trap"
target="_blank">Explosive Trap
in that little cluster of enemies. If you chose to build a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Beast Mastery
Hunter you will have href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Bestial Wrath.
Use this Immediately! If you are also an Orc use your racial skill of 'Blood
Fury' to boost your damage output and then start popping href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Volley"
target="_blank">Volley.
When one ends, fire another, but while you are doing this keep an eye
on your enemies. If one breaks off and comes after you get your pet on
him. If you did go with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Beast Mastery
you will also have 'Intimidation' and you can
have your pet pull aggro off you. Repeat this until all enemies are
dead. Lay a new href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Explosive_Trap"
target="_blank">Explosive Trap
when the cool down is up and keep using href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Volley"
target="_blank">Volley.
The last and most important thing you need to do is keep you pet alive.
If you get into trouble use href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Feign_Death"
target="_blank">Feign Death
for a quick escape.

This is a fun way to break the
repetitiveness of single pulling all day.

 Fighting Elites

Fighting an Elite is pretty much the same from 40 to 60 with two small
differences between those levels. At level 50 you get Steady Shot which
works great with Concussive Shot and at level 60 you get Deterrence
which is useful for something I'll explain as we go on.

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href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/64419" title="Outland"
target="_blank"> src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/64419" alt="Outland"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px; height: 119px;">

Outland will provide you
with many opportunties to engage elite enemies.

At level 60 you can engage an Elite with
all the above mentioned skills, but you can usually down one of these
big boys by fighting smart. My general fight with an elite will last a
while, but most of the time I come out on top. Like every encounter,
mark your target first. Pull him with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Concussive_Shot"
target="_blank">Concussive Shot
to scramble his eggs and follow that up with href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Steady_Shot"
target="_blank">Steady Shot.
By that time your pet should be nipping at his ankles and drawn him
off. Use any buff you have at this point from href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/talents"
target="_blank">Bestial Wrath
to 'Blood Fury' and unload on your target. I
usually fire href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Scorpid_Sting"
target="_blank">Scorpid Sting
to reduce the enemy's damage output, Arcane Shot, and the 'Concussive
Shot/Steady Shot' combination. It's also a good idea to drop
in behind the target and plant an Immolation or Snake Trap. Keep your
pet healed and you should be able to burn this type of enemy down in a
lengthy battle.

In some cases your pet may become decor
for the local landscape and if he does there are a couple of things you
can do to try and salvage a victory. Start casting href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Revive_Pet"
target="_blank">Revive Pet
as soon as your pet goes down. You'll take a few hits, but this trick
usually works for me. Once the pet is up cast a href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Mend_Pet"
target="_blank">Mend Pet
and use href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Deterrence"
target="_blank">Deterrence
immediately. This will allow you a 100% chance to parry the enemy's
attacks for five seconds. The moment that drops use href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/classes/hunter/spells1-40#Feign_Death"
target="_blank">Feign Death.
What you have done here is healed your pet to nearly full and deflected
a good portion of damage back at your enemy. When the enemy turns back
to your pet jump up, use bandages or potions if needed, heal your pet
again and get back in the fight. This trick has earned me tons of kills
that I might have otherwise lost more times than I can count.

 Know Where to
Hunt

There are a number of places you can hunt from levels 40-50 in the Eastern
Kingdoms and Kalimdor, but you need to
know where the best hunting grounds are for your faction. Below is a
list of places you can go to earn that ever so elusive experience.

 

 

Leveling from 50-60 and
Expanding Your Horizon

Once you reach level 58 you can pass through the Outland portal and
expand your leveling, but you will first have to get to level 58 before
the powers that be will let you pass. That means you get to explore
more of Azeroth!

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways you can choose to play the Hunter. I have given
you a few options, but there are many more and a lot of different
approaches you can choose to take in combat. Learn all the perks of
this class and you can solo in a number of ways and take down multiple
enemies at once without breaking a sweat. Just don't get over
confident. Even the most skilled of fighters can go from assailing
champion to crying schoolgirl by being sloppy.