Classic Hunter DPS Spell Summary

Hunters will always have one of their Aspect abilities active. These are essentially different buffs where you can choose which one you want to have active. As a default, you should always be in Aspect of the Hawk for the extra ranged attack power that it gives. All of the different Aspects are listed below.

• Aspect of the Hawk increases your ranged attack power, and is a great default choice if you are not sure what Aspect to use. This is your only Aspect that increases your damage dealt.
• Aspect of the Monkey is the first Aspect you will learn and it increases your Dodge Chance. Use this Aspect if you have a melee attacking you and you do not think that you will be able to get away from them.
• Aspect of the Cheetah increases your movement speed by 30% (more with Pathfinding). This is a great Aspect to use whenever you are running anywhere, especially before you get your mount.
• Aspect of the Pack is the same as Aspect of the Cheetah, except it affects your whole party, not just you.
• Aspect of the Beast makes other players and Hunters unable to track you. This is useful if you are waiting to ambush someone in the world, or are out scouting trying to find enemy players, and you are worried that they might be using Track Humanoids.
• Aspect of the Wild increases your and your group's Nature Resistance. This is useful whenever you and your group are going to be taking Nature damage.

These are your core damaging abilities that you will use frequently, either while leveling or at max level.

• Auto Shot is your basic ranged attack and will be the majority of your damage. It is slightly different than other basic attacks however, and you should read more about it here.
• Aimed Shot is your hardest hitting ability, but has a 3 second cast time. Use this on cooldown and preferably right as you are opening on a new enemy. Keep in mind that this is a talent and you will not have this until you spend the necessary points in the Marksmanship tree.
• Multi-Shot is your other core damage ability at Level 60. This and Aimed Shot both are Physical damage, so they scale with attack power, making them better as you get more gear. Since this hits multiple targets, it is also extremely good for AoE.
• Hunter's Mark applies a debuff on the target that lasts forever, increasing the ranged attack power of anyone who attacks the target. This can only be active on one target at a time, and should always be up. Cast this before you engage a new enemy, since it will not start combat with them.
• Arcane Shot is an instant shot that deals Arcane damage. This is useful for quickly attacking enemies when lots of people are around. This does share a cooldown with Aimed Shot however, and will not be used much once you get Aimed Shot.
• Serpent Sting is a damage over time effect that deals Nature damage. This is a great spell to use while leveling, but is not used at Level 60 because its damage does not scale with attack power and it takes up a debuff slot.

Hunters have a minimum range on their ranged attacks, meaning if an enemy is within 8 yards, they must resort to using melee attacks. These are your different melee attacks that you can utilize.

• Raptor Strike is your most powerful melee ability. It works like a Warrior's Heroic Strike, dealing bonus damage on your next melee swing. Use this on cooldown while fighting a target in melee.
• Mongoose Bite is your second strongest melee ability, and only usable after you dodge an attack. Use this when available while fighting a target in melee.
• Wing Clip is a melee attack that deals a small amount of damage and slows the enemy's movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds. You should always keep this debuff up on an enemy if they are within melee range, as it is your best way to get away from them.
• Counterattack is a talent in the Survival tree and only usable after you parry an attack. This deals damage and roots the target for 5 seconds, making it very useful for escaping melee attackers.

Traps are one of the Hunter's most iconic class features, allowing them to place traps on the ground that will do something when an enemy walks over them. You can only have one trap of each type (Fire and Frost) out at a time. Traps can also only be placed while you are out of combat, which means you either need to place them ahead of a fight or after using Feign Death.

• Immolation Trap is a Fire trap that puts a Fire damage over time effect on the enemy that triggers it.
• Explosive Trap is a Fire trap that deals a burst of Fire damage to all enemies within 10 yards when triggered, and additionally puts a Fire damage over time effect on all of the enemies hit. This is a powerful AoE ability when dealing with lots of targets.
• Freezing Trap is a Frost trap that freezes the enemy who triggers it for 10 seconds. This prevents all action while frozen, but any damage will break the freeze.
• Frost Trap drops a patch of ice on the ground when triggered that slows all enemies inside by 60%. This can be very useful for kiting large groups of enemies.

Hunters are able to use their tracking abilities, such as Track Humanoids or Track Beasts, to track specific types of enemies. You can only have one tracking ability active at any time and, while active, you will be able to see all enemies of the type you are tracking on your minimap.

• Track Humanoids tracks nearby Humanoids on your mini map, which includes both friendly and enemy players.
• Track Beasts tracks nearby Beasts on your mini map.
• Track Undead tracks nearby Undead on your mini map. This does not include Undead players.
• Track Hidden tracks nearby hidden targets on your mini map. This includes players who are stealthed.
• Track Elementals tracks nearby Elementals on your mini map.
• Track Demons tracks nearby Demons on your mini map.
• Track Giants tracks nearby Giants on your mini map.
• Track Dragonkin tracks nearby Dragonkin on your mini map.

Hunters have several abilities that are classified as "stings." They all apply a debuff of some sort to your enemy target, and only one sting can be active at any given time.

• Serpent Sting is a damage over time effect that deals Nature damage.
• Scorpid Sting is a debuff that reduces the target's Strength and Agility.
• Viper Sting is a debuff that drains the target's Mana over 8 seconds. This is incredibly powerful against casters or any class that uses Mana.
• Wyvern Sting is an instant shot that puts the target to sleep for 12 seconds. This is the final talent of the Survival tree.

While pets have their own abilities, you also have several abilities related to healing, feeding, and interacting with your pet in general. All of your abilities related to your pet are listed below.

• Tame Beast allows you to tame a Beast, making it your pet. For more information about pets, go to the Classic pet page.
• Call Pet will call your pet to your side if your pet is alive and currently dismissed.
• Revive Pet revives your pet if it is dead.
• Feed Pet should be used on food in your inventory to feed your pet, increasing its happiness. Different pets will eat different types of food. Use Beast Lore to learn what your pet's diet is.
• Dismiss Pet dismisses your pet from your side until you use Call Pet to bring it back. This is very useful whenever you want to make sure your pet does not accidentally pull extra enemies, such as when you jump down from a ledge.
• Mend Pet is a channelled ability that heals your pet.
• Eyes of the Beast allows you to control your pet and run around while viewing its perspective.
• Beast Lore tells you information about the type of pet you have, including its category, diet, and lore.
• Intimidation is a Beast Mastery talent that commands your pet to stun the target for 3 seconds, also causing high amounts of threat.

These are the few cooldowns that Hunters have. Cooldowns are powerful abilities that do something special, but have a longer cooldown period before you can use them again. These can be incredibly important abilities, but due to their long cooldown periods, require careful consideration and planning for where you should make best use of them.

• Rapid Fire is a Hunter's most important cooldown. It increases your ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds, which also affects your Aimed Shot cast time. This is a huge damage increase and should be used when you need the extra damage the most.
• Scatter Shot is a Marksmanship talent that is an instant shot. It will disorient the target for 4 seconds, causing them to not be able to use abilities or move, but damage will break the effect. This is a powerful ability, because, unlike every other ranged ability that Hunters have, does not have a minimum range. This means you can cast it on melee targets who are on top of you, making it an extremely useful tool to get away from melee attackers.
• Deterrence is a Survival talent that increases your Dodge and Parry Chance by 25% when activated for 10 seconds. This is a powerful defensive cooldown against melee attackers.
• Wyvern Sting is an instant shot that puts the target to sleep for 12 seconds. This is the final talent of the Survival tree, and is considered a "sting" ability.
• Volley is a large, channeled, AoE ability that rains down arrows on all enemies within 8 yards of where you cast it. This is relatively weak on individual targets, so you should not use this unless there is a large group (10+) of enemies.

Hunters have several important utility spells in their arsenal that enable them to do things that other classes cannot.

• Concussive Shot could be considered a core rotational ability due to how much you will use it. It is an instant shot that slows the enemy target by 50% for 4 seconds. This is very useful when kiting in PvE and PvP.
• Distracting Shot is an instant shot that generates threat against your target. If you need to get an enemy's attention, this is how you do it.
• Scare Beast is like a Warlocks Fear, but only usable against beasts. This is also usable against Druids in their beast forms.
• Eagle Eye allows you to see very far away. This is very useful for scouting out in the world.
• Disengage will lower your threat against your current target. If an enemy is attacking you and you want it to change target, use this ability frequently.
• Feign Death causes you to play dead, which drops your combat along with all threat against any target that was attacking you. This is also very useful in PvP, as it causes enemy players to lose you as their target when you use this ability.
• Flare throws a flare at a location, revealing hidden targets in that area and makes them unable to hide again while the flare is active. This is very useful for fighting against Rogues and Druids when you do not want them to stealth.
• Tranquilizing Shot is an instant shot that removes a frenzy effect, such as an enrage buff, from a enemy. This is perhaps a Hunter's most valuable utility spell in a raid and is why at least one Hunter is in every raid group, since Hunters are the only class with an ability that removes frenzy effects.
• Trueshot Aura is the final talent on the Marksmanship tree. It is a 30 minute buff that increases your and your party's Attack Power. This is a powerful buff and is one of the main reasons that Hunters are brought to raids.