Classic Hunter DPS Stat Priority

1. Hit chance until 9% (Hit Cap)
2. Critical Strike chance;
3. Agility;
4. Attack Power;
5. Stamina;
6. Intellect;
7. Spirit;
8. Strength.

While you can follow the basic priority above, it is important to understand how the stats are measured. The base stat you can use to compare all of the others is attack power, or AP. AP makes your abilities hit harder, and based on the increase in damage provided by the other stats, it is best to express them in terms of how much AP they would be worth.

As a Hunter, your ranged attacks cannot be parried or be glancing blows; your attacks can only miss or be blocked. Against targets your level, you have a 5% chance to miss attacks. Raid and dungeon bosses are considered to be 3 levels above you, meaning your chance to miss attacks is slightly higher at 8.6%. Reaching the cap on hit means having a 9% increased chance to hit through gear. In terms of damage, hit is equal to critical strike chance, but Hunters have important utility abilities, specifically Tranquilizing Shot, where you cannot afford to have the ability miss. This is why reaching 9% hit is critical for raiding. A 1% increased chance to hit is worth ~32 AP at Level 60. Keep in mind that if you are a Troll or a Dwarf and are benefiting from your racial weapon specialization, then the amount of hit that you need is lowered.

When you deal a critical strike, your attacks will do 100% increased damage. As a Hunter, this is slightly higher due to your Mortal Shots talent, which increases your damage from critical strikes by 30%. This makes your chance to critically strike with attacks quite important. A 1% increased chance critically strike is worth ~32 Attack Power, but this amount can vary slightly based on your gear level.

As a Hunter, 1 Agility gives you 2 ranged Attack Power, 1 melee AP, a small increase to your chance to critically strike (~53 Agility = 1% Crit Chance), 2 armor, and a small increase to your chance to dodge. Agility is a very valuable stat because it also scales with certain buffs. With no buffs and by yourself, 1 Agility is worth ~2.5 Attack Power. If you have a full set of raid buffs and world buffs, 1 Agility is worth ~3 Attack Power. Agility will be your main source of Attack Power and is the best stat to maximize outside of hit and critical strike.

Attack Power increases the damage you deal. The damage of all of your abilities and attacks are calculated based off your AP. It is important to note that ranged attack power and melee attack power are separate stats. If something increases your attack power, it affects both, but sometimes items will specify either ranged or melee attack power, which only affect your ranged and melee attacks respectively.

Stamina increases your health, and is important for your survival. A higher amount of health means that you can take more damage before dying, which gives healers more time to heal you during raids or dungeons.

Intellect increases your Mana pool and your chance to critically strike with spells. Spells refer to magic damage, and none of the hunter abilities that you use in your normal rotation count as spells in this context. The increased Mana pool is useful to make sure we never run out of Mana during a fight.

Spirit increases your out of combat health regeneration and your Mana regeneration. Your Mana regenerates according to the 5 second rule, which is easy to follow for Hunters because your spells are used when you open on an enemy and then you will finish most enemies off with Auto Shot, allowing your Mana to naturally regenerate. Spirit is ranked low because you should not normally be losing much health, due to your pet tanking, and you can naturally regenerate most Mana if you use the correct rotation without needing additional spirit.

Lastly, Strength increases your melee attack power. This is not useful to hunters since the majority of damage we deal is ranged damage, which is unaffected by melee attack power. There are small exceptions on some bosses and encounters where you can occasionally use melee attacks between shots, but these are rare enough that you should not gear for them.