Cataclysm Guide to Warcraft Classes – Playing a Hunter
The hunter represents one of the most versatile classes in Warcraft. During the levelling process it is possible for hunters to approach the game in many different ways. In 2008 I was in a raid where a hunter in the party rolled “need” for every single item that dropped. And with some justification. Hunter’s skills have been trimmed back a bit since then, but they are still about the most versatile class in the game.
The talent trees for hunters allow for very diverse gameplay. Levelling in particular can be done in a number of ways. Survival is about crowd control. Trapping certain foes and rooting them or damaging them with ice, fire etc. A skilled hunter might keep several foes occupied at once with good use of skills and a suitable pet.
Beast Mastery is the pet talent tree. In the past it was just about possible to use the pet to “off tank” in the easier instances. Some hunters claim they can still do this, but for the past eighteen months this has become harder. For leveling, a pet will tank very efficiently for one hunter, but for end game, even off tanking is no longer really a role for hunters pets.
Marksmanship is a big DPS (damage per second) spec. Now that survival is also a DPS talent tree, it can be difficult to choose between the two if levelling and DPS is the role you want to take.
Your pet choice is vital. Hunter’s pets come in three sorts. Tank pets – such as turtles will absorb damage and keep threat, allowing you to stand back and “nuke” from distance. Damage pets such as cats provide some threat, but more importantly excellent damage of their own. Finally Cunning pets like spiders will use traps themselves to control enemies. Pick the pet that suits your play style and talent choices.
At end game expect to have to re-learn everything you thought you knew whilst levelling. The expectations on you will be very different. Many hunters become “nukes”, providing massive damage from range.
Hunters are still a very versatile class. Quick to level and providing very good damage in the end-game instances. The one downside is that because of this they are quite common. You’ll rarely see a shout like “Daily Heroic, 1 space left LF DPS”. If you want to be popular in instances then the harder levelling roles of tank or dedicated healer will be more sought after. You will always see shouts for these player types.
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