Hunter Class Overview

Tamer of beasts and having a strong connection to the wild, the Hunter is both a melee and ranged class in World of Warcraft. Hunter can be played in three different ways, however all three fall under the category of DPS; Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, and Survival. Regardless of Specialization or playstyle, all Hunters use Mana as a resource.

Looking to dive right into the content? Head over to the Hunter Leveling Guide to start your adventure in Azeroth!

• Beast Mastery — This talent tree revolves around the special relationship a Hunter forms with their pets, increasing their damage and utility.
• Marksmanship — Just as a pet is important to a Hunter, so is their weapon. Marksmanship revolves around increasing the damage a Hunter can deal with their chosen ranged weapon.
• Survival — A good Hunter can spend days in the wild chasing their prey and Survival maximises their ability to do so, enhancing their survivability, trap, and melee abilities.

Due to the differences between Classic and modern World of Warcraft, players won't spec completely into a specific Specialization. For Hunter, most players will opt to focus Beast Mastery for leveling and Marksmanship, with a few Talents in either Beast Mastery or Survival to round builds out, for endgame. For a more in depth look at what this looks like, head over to our detailed Hunter Guide linked below.

If you are still deciding if the Hunter class is the proper choice for you, feel free to check out the video below from WillE, an avid player and long time content creator for World of Warcraft! This video will give you a solid overview of what Hunter is like to level and what it excels at in endgame content and PvP.

Hunters can be played as Night Elves and Dwarves for the Alliance and Orcs, Tauren, and Trolls for the Horde in Classic.

Hunters are able to wear Cloth and Leather at any level, as well as Mail after reaching Level 40. Hunters are one of the most versatile classes and are able to use a huge variety of weapons, including Axes, Bows, Crossbows, Daggers, Fist Weapons, Guns, Polearms, Staves, Swords, Thrown, Two-Handed Axes, and Two-Handed Swords. For best-in-slot lists, please head over to our Hunter Gearing Page, linked below.

For information on how best to play your Hunter in Classic, you can check out the following guides.

• Hunter PvP Guide
• Hunter Leveling Guide
• Addons and Macros Guide for Hunters
• Making Gold as a Hunter

Find our new guides for Hunter in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.

With the introduction of new Runes in Season of Discovery, not only will old builds be increased in power, but Survival Hunter now has the option of being played as a Melee DPS.