The Hunter: -Last Updated 6-19-2004

Available to: Night Elf, Dwarf, Orc, Tauren, Troll Best For: Dwarf, Tauren Primary Attributes: Agility, Intelligence Skills Require: Mana Allowable Armor: Cloth, Leather, Chain (With Training at level 40) Starting Weapon Skills: Axe, Guns (Dwarf, Tauren), Bows (Troll, Night Elf, Orc), Trainable Skills: Fist, Spears, Swords, Staves, Two Handed Axes, Two Handed Swords The hunter is a fighter/mage hybrid, able to deal large amounts of damage from afar and confusing enemies with their many traps. While hunters do not possess the endurance of warriors, they are able to deal lethal damage from range, and have a pet to make sure the enemy stays there.

Playing the hunter requires a certain degree of planning, and a good amount of skill. It's suited for players who like blasting enemies from range, while still not having to rely completely on ranged combat. In addition, they have a pet to manage, which increases the amount of micro-management required, but ensures that you always have something to do. hunter to kill his enemies far away for the majority of the battle.

Pet Mechanics:

Hunters are able to take control and tame animals of their choice once they've purchased the appropriate skill at Level 10. Pets acted as mercenaries did in Diablo 2, and raise levels are the player kills additional creatures. Pets play an integral role. In battle, a hunter typical sends out his pet to take the brunt of the enemy's fire, which in turn allows him to stay away, and blast the enemy with missiles.

Pet Happiness:
Pets in World of Warcraft have a happiness rating. The happier a pet is, the greater the damage it deals, and the faster it gains affection for the player. As a pet fights and takes damage for the player, he gradually becomes less happy, and eventually can leave or even turn on the player. In order to increase happiness, a player must feed his pet. Different pets prefer different foods, and for maximum effectiveness, a player should always feed food of the highest quality to his pet.

Affection:
When a hunter first tames a pet, that et will have Level 1 affection. As the pet and the hunter journey's together, the pet will gradually gain affection for the player. The higher the affection, the less food it is required to keep your pet happy. Affection gives the player an incentive to keep their old pets, rather than go off taming new ones whenever the possibility arises.

Elite Pets:
Players should always take the opportunity to take Elite animals, as these do significantly higher damage than non elite animals of the same level. The lowest level Elite pets for the Horde are Deviate Raptors, which can be found in the entrance of Wailing Caverns in the Barrens. The Alliance can find Ol'Sooty on North Eastern Loch Modan.

Spells Mechanics:

Players purchase spells from Hunter Trainers in World of Warcraft, including higher ranked versions of their current spells. A Hunter can use a wide range of combos instead without penalty. Thus the most successful hunter is the one who develops the best spell combo, as opposed to the one who was able to save all skill points and put them all into the most powerful spell.

Spell Types:
There are three major types of spells in world of Warcraft.

Sorcery Spells:
Take time to cast, but have no cool down. They can be used as much as casting time allows. However, if the caster is struck while casting the spell, the casting time increases and the spell may be disrupted altogether. Thus casting sorceries while under attack is questionable. Any sorcery with over 2.5s casting time should not be used in melee. Eg: Revive Pet

Instant Spells:
No casting time, but have a cooldown timer. They are great in mid combat as there's no chance they will be disrupted. In addition, you can cast them immediately after a sorcery, or even between two attacks! Their drawback is that you have to wait a while to use them again. Note that, different instant spells have separate cooldown timers, so you can cast two different instant spells one after the other for brutal damage. Eg: Fire Blast, Frost Nova

Next Ranged Spells:
The Hunter has a number of spells that require the use of a bullet and are executed instead of the next ranged attack they make. These spells typically boost the power of the hunter's next attack, and must be used from a certain distance. As a hunter has numerous such spells, it is quite essential for the

Ranged Combat:

Hunters are the Masters of Ranged combat, be it with Gun or Bow. Thus, they have an entire set of skills devoted to enhanced their ability to deal massive damage from far away.  These spells are required the Hunter to be at least a certain distance from the enemy, and thus, a Hunter should always aim to stay as far away from enemy as possible.

Many of the ranged attacks are in the form of 'stings'. Only one sting can affect one target per hunter, thus, the choice of the right string to use is critical to a hunter's success.
 

	Serpent Sting: -Instant Duration: 10 minutes Target: Enemy One of the most mana efficient damage spells in the Hunter's arsenal. This is a good general purpose to launch at targets at the start of battle. Excellent against low hp enemies, such as offensive casters, when you're soloing.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Damage Damage/Mana 1 4 1 15 8-35 yrd 20hp over 15s 1.33 2 10 4 30 8-35 yrd 40hp over 15s 1.33 3 18 29 50 8-35 yrd 80hp over 15s 1.60 4 26 90 80 8-35 yrd 140hp over 15s 1.75 5 34 180 115 8-35 yrd 210hp over 15s 1.82 6 42 2 150 8-35 yrd 290hp over 15s 1.93 7 50 350 190 8-35 yrd 385hp over 15s 2.02 8 56 530 230 8-35 yrd 490hp over 15s 2.13
	Hunter's Mark: -Instant Duration: 10 minutes Target: Enemy Increases the Attack Power of Ranged attacks on the target. In addition, the target cannot stealth or go invisible and appears on the Hunter's Mini-map for the Spells Duration. Excellent for ganking newbies. Always use this before combat. It's huge range allows you to cast it well away from the enemy.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Power Increase 1 6 1 15 100 yrd 20 2 22 56 30 100 yrd 45 3 40 160 45 100 yrd 75 4 58 530 60 100 yrd 110
	Arcane Shot: -Next Range Cooldown: None Target: Enemy The Hunter's direct damage spell from afar is not very mana efficient, and should only be reserved for tight situations where dealing quick damage is absolutely necessary. It only does marginally more damage than the Hunter normal ranged attack, and costs too much mana to be used constantly as cool down allows. The damage it deals however, is the Arcane, rather than Physical, and thus this spell is marginally useful when against enemies with very high armor.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Damage Damage/Mana 1 6 1 25 6.0s 8-35 yrd 13 0.52 2 12 8 35 6.0s 8-35 yrd 21 0.60 3 20 29 50 6.0s 8-35 yrd 33 0.66 4 28 81 80 6.0s 8-35 yrd 59 0.74 5 36 150 105 6.0s 8-35 yrd 83 0.79 6 44 250 135 6.0s 8-35 yrd 115 0.85 7 52 530 160 6.0s 8-35 yrd 145 0.91 8 60 470 190 6.0s 8-35 yrd 185 0.97
	Multi-shot: -Next Range Cooldown: None Target: Enemy A high mana costing, and rather powerful AOE spell. Multi-shot allows the Hunter to shoot 3 targets at once, and at higher ranks, deal considerable bonus damage to each person. This is a great spell to use in groups when against lots of low level mobs. In the right situation (ie: when there are 3+ non-elite targets), a player should cast this spell as much as mana and cooldown allows.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Bonus Damage Damage/Mana 1 18 29 100 10s 8-35 yrd 0 0 2 30 80 145 10s 8-35 yrd 40 0.28 3 42 3 175 10s 8-35 yrd 80 0.46 4 54 5 210 10s 8-35 yrd 120 0.57
	Scorpid Sting: -Next Range Cooldown: None Target: Enemy Rather than dealing damage, Scorpid Sting severely weakens them by reducing the agility and strength. It's use is unfortunately rather limited for soloing, as the strength of the enemy does not usually come into play till he reached you, and as a hunter, you're going to avoid that from happening. The ability is best reserved for party situations, where it can significantly increase the ability of the warrior to tank. It is also excellent when used in Cnnjunction with the Warlock's Curse of Weakness and the Shaman's Stoneskin Totem!   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Strength/Agility Reduction 1 22 56 70 8-35 yrd 20 2 32 150 90 8-35 yrd 25 3 42 3 125 8-35 yrd 45 4 52 350 165 8-35 yrd 68
	Rapid Fire: -Instant Cooldown: 5 Minutes Target: Self Causes the hunter to shoot at a greatly improved rate. This spell is usable only once every 5 minutes, and should thus be reserved for tough encounters. It however, always doubles your damage output, and the effect in PVP combat is amazing.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Shot Time Reduction 1 26 90 100 40%
	Viper Sting: -Next Range Cooldown: None Target: Enemy Viper Sting drains the target of a lunch chunk of mana, While it designed specifically used to counter casters, in practice it is really only useful against healers. Using this spell against a mage is rather pointless, as mages would much prefer you knock out their mana over their life. The spell, is however, lethal against fighter mages with limited mana supplies, such as the Shaman, the Paladin and other Hunters.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Range Mana Drained Mana Drained/Mana 1 36 150 125 8-35 yrd 468mp over 8s 3.74 2 46 370 165 8-35 yrd 656mp over 8s 3.97 3 56 640 210 8-35 yrd 888mp over 8s 4.23
	Volley: -Channeling Target: Enemy A powerful AOE spell that's designed to decimate large numbers of low level opponents. This is an ideal spell for use in instances such as Sunken Temple where a player is warmed by non elite enemy units. The only weakness is the spell's channeling nature, which coupled with the fact that it has a minimal range, means that it can only be used effective when the enemy is rooted in place or aggroed on someone else. Thus, it is the best used in conjunction with Blizzard, Frost Nova, or Snares such as Earthbind Totem.   Rank Required Level Cost Mana Cooldown Range Damage Damage/Mana 1 40 160 100 10s 8-35 yrd 40hp/s for 8s 0 2 50 350 145 10s 8-35 yrd 50hp/s for 8s 0.28 3 58 530 175 10s 8-35 yrd 60hp/s for 8s 0.46

Outdoorsmanship:
Outdoorsmanship is a set of skills that the hunter may use outside ranged combat. They feature a few melee skills, mostly designed to finish weakened foes or slow them in some fashion so that the Hunter can retain his range advantage. In addition, this skill set features a number of traps. Only one trap may be in effect at any one time and they must be set out of combat, but a hunter always use a trap. These are the devices that'll help deal that final blow, and snare the enemy, and let the hunter return his advantage of range.
 

Raptor Strike: -Next Melee Attack Duration: 10 minutes Target: Enemy Increases the damage of your next attack, this is a weaker form of the warrior's strike ability. While the damage bonus is not very significant, it still offers the Hunter a good close combat finishing move. The spell is mana inefficient, and should be retrained from use at higher levels.   Rank Required Level Cost