World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

 Solo Play

Playing solo as a Hunter is rather easy and won’t require much skill or thinking on your part. For any additional information needed visit our Hunter 1-40 guide. 

Group Play 

Hunters can be a valuable asset to a group as they provide excellent damage, and much utility. Hunters are easily able to fill various rolls in a group and if played correctly can make any instance much easier. The roles Hunters typically fill in groups are: Puller, Off-Tank (pet), Crowd Control, or basic DPS.

Hunters are ideal for pulling mobs thanks to their handy Misdirection shot. Misdirect can be placed on any target, and that target will then receive the threat caused by the Hunter’s next damaging attack, and all other actions taken for 4 seconds afterward. Using Misdirection will lessen the chances of accidental pulls and reduce the risk of your group wiping to a hoard of unexpected, and angry mobs.

Pulling well is not the only trick Hunter’s have up their sleeve; Hunters can also be excellent sources of crowd control. Who needs Mages anyway? Using a well placed Freezing Trap Hunters can keep almost any mob at bay for an unlimited amount of time. The easiest way to achieve this is to lay the Freezing Trap before a pull, and lure the mob into the trap once the pull is made. Once the mob is effectively trapped walk a short distance away and lay another trap. Eventually the old trap will break and the mob should run right into the new trap. Rinse and repeat as needed.

In times of need Hunters can also use their pet to step up and take the role of tank or off-tank. Tenacity pets tend to be better suited to this job (Bear, Gorillas, Turtles, etc.) but any pet can do the job in a crisies. Simply turn your pet’s aggro gaining ability on and send it into the fray. This should at least buy your group some valuable time for the mob to be killed, a real tank to pick it up, or to allow your group time to retreat. Also please note that while playing in a group setting keep your pet on Defensive, turn off any aggro gaining abilities it might have unless it’s tanking, and also avoid anyd AoE damage until after all crowd controlling is done.

For the most part Hunters will be called upon to provide basic DPS, and Hunters truly do shine in this department especially when not hindered by other duties. Hunters can easily push out massive amounts of damage and keep stride with or even bypass other DPS classes. With their ability to drop aggro (Feign Death), Hunters are truly made to be pew pew machines.

PvP Combat

Hunters can be a force to be reckoned with in PvP, to learn more feel free to visit the Hunter PvP Basics page located here.

Aspects

Aspects are very similar to the blessings or auras of the Paladin class. They have many beneficial effects such as increasing your dodge, range attack or run speed. They do not have a time limit and will remain on until you activate another aspect or until you turn them off. Only one Aspect can be active at a time. Each Aspect has it’s benefits and it’s certain place where it can and should be used.

Aspect of the Hawk: Increases your ranged attack power, increasing the overall damage you are able to do. This aspect should be used whenever possible.

Aspect of the Cheetah: Increases your movement speed. Best used while traveling, but do not use while in combat as your movement will be slowed when attacked.


Aspect of the Pack:  Increases the movement speed of the Hunter and all raid members within 40 yards. Great for traveling, however like Aspect of the Cheetah do not use while in combat as any damage will cause you to be dazed for 4 seconds.

Aspect of the Wild: Increases Nature resistance for the Hunter, group and raid members within 30 yards. Best if used when high Nature Resistance is needed.

Aspect of the Fox: Available at level 83 this aspect allows the Hunter to shoot Steady Shot and Cobra Shot while moving. Also causes the Hunter to gain two Focus whenever a melee attack is received.

Shot Overview

Steady Shot - A ranged cast time shot that deals physical damage and tends to be a basic filler shot. Steady Shot also generates Focus, allowing the Hunter to use other abilities.

Aimed Shot - (Marksman Hunters Only) - A powerful ranged shot that deals a large amount of damage. Use this shot as your first attack on enemies when possible.

Chimera Shot - (Marksman Hunters Only) - An instant shot that causes ranged weapon damage plus additional damage. Also refreshes the duration of your Serpent Sting and heals you for 5% of your total health.

Multi-Shot - Fires several missiles, hitting your current target and all enemies within 8 yards of that target for 55% of weapon damage.

Explosive Shot - (Survival Hunters Only) - A core ability of any Survival Hunter this shot is a powerful ranged attack that deals fire damage over 2 seconds. This shot can be partially resisted and also shares a cooldown with Arcane Shot.

Arcane Shot - A ranged instant shot that causes Arcane damage to the target.

Serpent Sting - Stings the target, causing nature damage over 15 seconds. Every Hunter should strive to keep this sting active at all times.

Black Arrow - (Survival Hunters Only) - Fires a Black Arrow at the target, dealing Shadow damage over 15 seconds. Black Arrow shares a cooldown with other Fire Trap spells.

Cobra Shot- Available at level 81 this shot deals weapon damage plus additional Nature damage. Also increases the duration of Serpent Sting on the target by 6 seconds and generates 9 Focus.

Basic Macros

Steady Shot Rotation

This macro can be used with or without the second line, which is there for beast mastery hunters. If you do not have kill command simply remove the line. The macro ensures that you can not interupt your autoshot with a steady shot and lower your damage. Simply replace your steady shot on your toolbar with this macro.

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget,exists] Kill Command
/castsequence reset=2/target !Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear();

Misdirection

This macro with misdirect to your focus target (which should be set to your tank with /focus "tanks name") or if the tank is dead or not set, to your pet.

#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus,help][help][target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection