Well, reading the posts, I decided to start one for hunters. Of course, Adonfanna is the only PC I have to date, now level 20, and rocking along.
Love the class...nothing bad to say...
My routine with my sole pet, a tiger is as follows (and I see a lot misuse the pet in my opinion)
Set down a fire trap just out of arrow range
creep forward to ensure you only get one mob
fire concussion to slow down
pull back to trap - fire poison
fire main arrow / click on pet attack
fire split arrow or poison as needed
Mob is on you by the 3rd/4th arrow
Wing the bastard
melee/wing with the beast ripping from behind.
Easy to solo up to 3 levels above...4 levels will require some rest...can usually do up to 2 three levels higher and survive if I'm lucky.
I don't send the pet out till the mob is close...allows me to wing the creature AND keeps the pet from pulling other downrange mobs.
Love the class...and works great in groups with the beast helping out priests, and range being a killer option with arrows. No massive damage...on a crit, will hit 104 or something...but I can work it well.
What else have you all found?
My routine with my sole pet, a tiger is as follows (and I see a lot misuse the pet in my opinion)
So what constitutes pet misuse in your opinion? My routine with my hunter is very different from yours. A typical combat goes something like:
-Maybe drop a firetrap
-shoot a DoT (Serpent Sting, IIRC)
-send out the pet
My pet (a raptor named Stillson :)) has Growl on autocast and can hold aggro as long as I get less than about 4 shots into yon wee slickit beastie before he gets his teeth into it. Stillson mauls, and I fill whatever it is with arrows. I''ll generally take the beats from an add until beast 1 dies, then we both switch to the add, where I''ll back up and unload more arrows (or bullets).
Works beautifully (up to lvl19, at least, and I don''t anticipate it changing). If my pet gets low on life, I''ll use Mend Pet. I can keep him alive against two even (or slightly higher) con mobs using just Mend.
I am more range based than you are, and make it a habit not to pull out my dagger unless critical.
I lay down fire trap and then mark it with hunters mark.
Pull with Concussive(sp) shot
Send pet to attack( time it so pet hits mob as mob hits fire trap)
use normal shots while waiting till pet pulls aggro using growl ( usually takes no time)
Follow up with serpent sting and arcane shot till mob dies.
The one thing I did do was to train in rifles. I am a NE Hunter so I had a bow auto-trained. I find this way I can pick up and use whatever rifles I find. I also have a guildie that is an engineer that loves making me stuff. I use my bow normally, but I like having the option of using a rifle when I find it.
I''ll generally take the beats from an add until beast 1 dies,
Funny how we all use different strategies. As soon as I get an add I send my pet after it. I keep poking at the initial mob till it dies, then turn on the add. I have no problem taking 2-3 even con mobs, though at times the 3 can make it touch and go. I figure I learned this strategy from my warlock.
Good topic, seeing as how I am a hunter. lvl 34 on Blackhand, alliance side.
I''ve tried a number of methods, yours included, although I wonder about a few of the things you say.
Why do you wingclip multiple times? To the best of my knowledge, wing only slows the creatures run speed down (and causes a few measly points of damage). It doesn''t slow the attack speed at all. As a result, you only want to wing once when the mob is about ready to run away. For mobs that fight to the death, you don''t need to wing at all. Its just a waste of mana.
Why don''t you use raptor strike? At lvl 34 my raptor strikes do about 125 points of damage and can crit for almost 300. It has a higher hit rate than a normal attack and does more damage. Best melee option you have.
Although the strategy I use is situational, more often than not, I send in the pet to draw aggro, aimed shot, concussion shot, poison, arcane shot. I will then spam arcane shot whenever it renews until dead. If I draw aggro I will raptor it to death instead.
Aimed shot is a fantastic opening shot! I can crit for almost 400 damage. Arcane shot is also my most used shot. It currently does like 60 damage normally and 120 for crits. It is insta-fire and can be fired on the run, which you normally can''t do.
The drawbacks to this strategy are (like you mentioned pig) that you risk more agrro when your pet is 20 yards away from you. Simple law of averages says that the more space you and your pet take up, the higher chance of a random mob walking in and adding.
I did go through a stage around lvl 20-25 where my pet was taking too much of a beating and I used almost the same strategy you currently use. One thing I did that worked out great is using disengage to control the battle. When I started to take damage, I would hit the mob with disengage and it would aggro my pet instead, spreading the damage out. The opposite applies with distracting shot. If my pet is taking a beating, I can fire a distracting shot and often pull aggro away from the pet.
Other skills I like for crowd control are scare beast and feign death. You can buy yourself an extra 10-15 seconds using scare beast if you pull an unwanted add. If things are hopeless, you can use feign death and it seems to work more often than not, although I haven''t used it enough to understand it fully.
Thats funny I was thinking of making a thread on this also after reading the priest thread.
I also love the hunter class.
My lvl 17 hunter seems to employ basically the same strategy as everyone else.
Although I like to take the add when they come and kind of leave my pet to fend for itself until I can deal with mine. Although lately it seems that my pet comes to help me before I come to help him.
I love the traps and the idea behind beast training is really well done. I saw some stuff they had in the beta where the skills you could train your pet were specific to its species. I can see why they narrowed it down to just 4, but I hope they add that stuff back in, it would add even more diveristy to the pets other than the high hp, high armor, high dps, average groupings we seem to have now.
I''ll generally take the beats from an add until beast 1 dies,Funny how we all use different strategies. As soon as I get an add I send my pet after it. I keep poking at the initial mob till it dies, then turn on the add. I have no problem taking 2-3 even con mobs, though at times the 3 can make it touch and go. I figure I learned this strategy from my warlock.
I generally use the same strategy as chumpy. If I pull an add, I just ignore it until we''ve killed the original mob. If it looks like things will get dicy, I can then run to my pet and the pet pulls aggro since I haven''t attacked the add yet. This allows me to easily back into firing range and use my gun on it.
I also use mend pet in certain situations and it works great keeping your pet alive to hold aggro so you can back up again and use your ranged weapon.
I don''t usually use traps unless I know its going to be a tough battle. I enjoy the challenge of taking on multiple mobs at once and traps can help with that strategy, especially the frost/freezing traps. If I''m fighting a single tough mob I will use the flame trap.
when I meant normal attack, I meant raptor strike - I use that like bread and butter, and I''m an aggressive hunter...ie. I take more pounding usually than my beast...
good call on the wing clip...didn''t read it right...thought it slowed it down overall...so will use it less (see - that''s the tips I needed).
good tips on the disengaging as well...need to try that since its my weakness area.
Arcane arrow and raptor are my most beefed up and most used items...I tend to aggro about 75% of the time...and my beasts only pulls even though growl is autocast...I put too much damage into the mob at this time. Maybe when I get a tougher pet...but I do like my cat...
Will not use guns...not in my characters persona as a hunter
I''ve also found for tougher mobs...I use concussion shot...pull back...and let the pet get a couple of hits in first...then I use arrows to work it. also, with my staff, I do quite well in hand to hand fighting...so not afraid to mix it up...but usually drops me down about 50% of hps for a 2-3 level above mob...
so...talent wise, what do you all think...
nice also if you aren''t engaged...to run up to the mob, and lay down a trap while its fighting your beast...and poof...damage on the spot...works quite well usually!
Talents are a good topic for discussion since I recently paid the jack to completely redo my talents.
Without explaining it in detail (not sure I can), it appears that improved hunters mark and aspect of the hawk are poor choices. At first, they seemed great but, based on some reading I did on the official forums, the talents don''t scale as you level up. In other words, they add some extra damage which is great at lower levels but at high levels they still only add the same amount of extra damage, which becomes negligible.
At this point, I am concentrating on improved critical strike and mortal strike or whatever its called. Aimed shot is also great. At first it doesn''t seem like much but as you level up your aimed shot can do up to 600 additional damage at the highest level. Not bad especially if you can crit it. I''ve also sunk some into beast mastery to get the extra health and speed for my pet.
I''m concentrating on beast mastery(after add 5 points to concussion shot for the daze).
I figure Im not going to be able to shoot all the time, and I won''t be doing a lot of melee combat(because I''ll always be trying to shoot things), but the one constant is that my pet will be with me...and if not I suspect I''m boned.
I''ve got a level 24 hunter, had great fun with him so far. Basically do the things you guys have said. Sometimes I lay down a freeze trap to buy a little time if I suspect I''m gonna pull an add
I''m in a fun little guild but get a bit frustrated - all these other guys are warlocks and mages, and I really think the hunter is the better ''puller'' in that kind of group. I try to explain the benefit of hunters mark and the like but they usually just blaze on lol. Which kinda pisses me off because I end up having to do the melee work for them when things go ass up, and Hunters dont seem to be ideal for that.
I''ve got trained on a lot of gear too and change around what I use a bit for varietys sake. Guns, bows, 2 handed sword, dual weilding a one handed sword and a dagger, 2 handed & one handed axes. Good fun.
Using ''eyes of the beast'' and freaking out newbies can be fun too!
Using ''eyes of the beast'' and freaking out newbies can be fun too!
How does that work? From a game mechanics point of view, I mean? I haven''t tried it yet, because I don''t really know what it''s for...
It passes over control from your character to the pet, so you can run off looking through the pets ''eyes''. You can attack something, jump around or just use it to scout.
Not sure its all that useful in most circumstances but I''ve run and jumped at a couple of low level players at times and they''ve stepped out the way - one guy run off. To be honest though most of the time they dont budge, and have a pretty good idea whats hapening. Having ''Ziba''s Pet'' written above the pet kinda gives the game away to all but the most confused.
But I can pretend Im freaking them out! Look! Theyre scared of my Lion! They''re not even moving! They''re paralysed with fear!
You take control of your pet for a minute.
So you basically control them instead of you.
I usually use it to jump off of things I have the urge to but not the balls.
(Like the damn in loch modan for instance).
You take control of your pet for a minute.
So you basically control them instead of you.
I usually use it to jump off of things I have the urge to but not the balls.
(Like the damn in loch modan for instance).
I''ve done that. It really hurts if you miss the water.
I have a level 18 Tauren hunter (on Mal''Ganis, FWIW). I''m still using a single-handed axe and a gun. They''re basically improved versions of the same weapons I had at level 1.
How do I learn to use bows or other melee weapons? I''ve travelled quite a bit and have never run across an NPC that offered to train me to use another class of weapon.
Theres weapons trainers in the 3 capitals - just ask at the gate for the location of the weapons master, I cant remember which ones train what though.
The Undercity guy trains 2 handed swords I think, and Guns are at thunderbluff, but you already have that. Usually costs 10 silver to get trained.
Definitly different strategies for different situations. If I''m pulling a mob that has an add attached to it, I''ll lay down a freeze trap, hit target 1 with concussive shot and send pet in. Untargeted mob gets frozen, targeted is usually dead by the time it reaches me, second mob then gets pummelled. =) If its a single mob, (and it usually is) I''ll send in the pet and let it get first strike. I do much more damage from afar, so i''ll let my pet tank and hold agro. if it''s a high level, or close to others, I''ll drop a fire trap, shoot aimed shot immediately followed by concussive, send pet, and do a scorpid sting before the mob gets to me. then I just dual weild it to death. =)
As far as I''m concerned, the job of my pet is to draw enough aggro to take the hits while I fill my enemies with arrows. That way if there is an add I can step in with full health and draw the new aggro to me. Reviving my wolf is way less time consuming than doing a corpse run 
For talents, I''m spreading them around a bit so far. There is one (in survival I think) that gives your traps a 25% chance to root your enemy once sprung. It''s really useful at times and you can attack them without losing the root! This means if my DOT fire trap springs and then roots my enemy all he can do is sit there and take damage.
Thanks for making this topic, Pigpen, because MAN do I love my NE hunter (huntress?). There''s so many worthwhile fighting options to pursue that the battles never gets old.
With an extremely fast unique ranged weapon, spending only points in the Marksmanship talents, 120+ AGI with item boosts, and the sweet Scorpid Sting (a significant stat debuff for mobs), I can often solo elites at a level or two above me at 28, enjoying a regular stream of criticals. I generally put on the Hunter''s Mark, sent my pet in to pound on the mob, while reading an Aimed Shot, followed by a Scorpid Sting. Wait until Arcane Shot is ready again, blast, rinse, repeat. A nice two-hander is generally sufficient to handle the heat if my pet drops aggro.
True, by the time the fight''s over my pet''s long-dead, but hey - that''s the price Pip the feathered serpent pays for the Mulgore Spice Bread she enjoys so much. 
What pets are people using? Any advantages/disadvantages to report?
So, my hunter... I''m level 17 right now, and definitely liking him more and more. Me and my cat are Best Friends Forever, and I''m liking the 2-handed axe.
What I want to know is, should I train in guns? My bow is fine, but I like the idea of having a gun too... only problem I can see is I probably want to just concentrate on 1, so I don''t need to have 2 ammo bags. Which do you guys prefer?
want to just concentrate on 1, so I don''t need to have 2 ammo bags. Which do you guys prefer?
I trained in both, that way I can take advantagfe of whatever drop I find. Also one of me guildies is an engineer so I can take advantge of him building me new guns and the like.
What pets are people using? Any advantages/disadvantages to report?
*bump*
I''m curious about this as well. I''ve not seen any significant difference in any pet that I''ve tried (which at this point encompasses a cat, a raptor and a pig). My raptor seems to do the most damage, but that observation barely qualifies as anecdotal. My pig, on the other hand, eats anything, which is a mighty nice attribute.
I have a Durotar Tiger named Sasha, who does me just fine. Apparently, from reading the forums, she''s one of the highest as far as DPS goes (the Raptor being the highest) but I just like her because she''s pretty.
She eats meat and fish, which is AWESOME... if she''s hungry, I can just fish for a bit.
I am sort of disappointed that we''re already ""Best Friends"" and that apparently, that''s as high as she goes. And that happened at level 15. Sure, I kept her well fed, but it seems sort of dumb that we''re as close as we''re going to get, after only 5 levels.
Untargeted mob gets frozen, targeted is usually dead by the time it reaches me
You must have a good weapon!
The 2 biggest things I weigh when choosing a pet is thier diet and what skills they can learn.
Bears are slick because they eat everything.
But really the only thing that matters to me is if they eat fish.
Bears and cats can be taught all 4 skills.
But my crab for instance can''t learn bite.
There are also 4 main categories of pets everybody seems to talk about(High Dps, High Health, High Armor and average).
But I''m just starting to explore how different they are really(Cat vs Crab)
all 4 skills.
My cat has cower, bite, and growl... what''s the 4th that I need to learn?
And where do you learn bite? (I''m still a bit shaky on where you pick up skills. The only non-growl pet skill I''ve seen was cower on some of the early-teen cats.)
If I''m getting swamped by 2 or 3 enemies, I get my pet to draw aggro from all of them. Then if necessary, I can use Mend Pet to heal him up or, if things are looking grim, I can run while he''s busy, then give him the order to run. Mobs have a harder time attacking my pet on the run then they do attacking me on the run.
According to the sticky post on the WoW Hunter forum, there are four groups of pets: crabs, crocs, scorpids, and turtles have high armor and are good at resisting melee attacks. Bears, gorillas, and tallstriders have high health so can stand a while against magic attacks. Cats, bats, owls, raptors, spiders, and wind serpents do good dps. Boars, carrion birds, hyena, and wolves are medium at everything.
Apparently cats, bears, and raptors can learn all of the pet skills (bite, claw, growl, cower).
My cat has cower, bite, and growl... what''s the 4th that I need to learn?
Claw.
I learned rank 1 from one of the snow leapords in the dwarf area right outside ironforge i think, and rank 2 from a lvl 9 owl in darnasus(or whatever the area is right outside there).
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