Starting a Hunter WoW

A Hunter's primary mode of damage is ranged, meaning that hunters favor ranged combat over melee. Hunters are the only non-caster class in the game that possess the Auto-Shot skill which allows them to continuously fire a ranged weapon. Warlocks, Priests, and Mages can auto-shoot with wands. Wands, however, do not derive stat bonuses for damage the way other ranged weapons do.

Hunter Class Best Race

The Hunter Class Best Race has a couple of really strong choices, for Horde, you will likely want to choose Orc but Troll are also a strong option. Alliance have two strong picks Night Elf being the first and then the Dwarves which we recommend players use if they plan to PVP with this class.

Basic Pet Handling

From maximum range, command your pet to attack. Let it get in a few hits before starting your volley. The longer you let your pet attack, the less likely you will pull aggro when you start. At later levels you will get the ability to heal your pet to make it last longer as a tank.

If you shoot first, open with Concussive Shot, and then Serpent Sting, and then repeat Arcane Shot as it become available from cooldown and focus regeneration.

If you send your pet in first, always try to keep at least half your focus available for Kill Command, which causes your pet to deal a high-damage blow. A good pet tanking strategy is to start with Serpent Sting, then Kill Command, and then Steady Shot until you have enough focus to generate another Kill Command (after its cooldown).

Both [Cower (pet)] and [Growl (pet)] have auto-cast turned on by default, Growl will allow your pet to hold your enemy while you use your ranged attack from a distance. You can use [Cower (pet)] to lower the damage your pet takes for a few seconds.

A tip on Pet abilities. Pet icons that are active (dancing borders), will be automatically cast by the pet at a time of its choosing. You can change this behavior by right-clicking on that icon, which will make it completely under your control. This is extremely useful for cat-type pets with the Prowl ability. If you let the cat self-cast this ability, it will cast it whenever possible, meaning that it will always be invisible and slow unless it is attacking. This can get annoying because it can't keep up with you as you're running. By de-activating Prowl, you can control when it becomes invisible and slow and when it becomes visible and runs at your speed.

Grouping

The Hunter's goal is to stay away from the mob and shoot at it from range. When you team up with other players this becomes more difficult. When the mob decides to attack other party members it will get within your minimum range if you're standing next to the rest of the party. For that reason, it's best to stay away from other party members during combat. That way, if the mob attacks them or rushes toward them, you can still continue to fire at range.

Also, let party members know that they should never run toward you because that will also bring the mob within your minimum range. Make it clear to other group members that you're going to be slightly away from them during combat to maintain effective maximum range. Another thing to watch out for is other party members pulling the mob. Often it's best to use the Hunter or the Hunter's pet to pull.