Welcome to Overgear Guide to Hunter. Here we will look into class mechanics and overall changes. Hope you can find all the essential and relevant information to answer any questions you have. It’s time to get some snacks, we are about to start!
Hunter Overview
Hunter is a ranged and melee class depending on spec. Average difficulty mechanics are pretty straightforward and won’t cause many problems for new players. You spend resources called ‘focus’ to use abilities. It’s easy to play this class, but it is hard to master. Playing Hunter might be interesting for players who want to do various solo-content activities. For example, it is the only class whose abilities allow players to collect various rare pets. Don’t forget that they are the only ones who can carry the famous Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury as transmog!
Dragonflight Hunter Spec Choice
Beast Mastery
Beast Mastery Hunter is a ranged DPS spec with ultimate mobility. It is the only Ranged spec that can follow its rotation while moving without any DPS loss. This makes this spec newbie-friendly as it helps deal with mechanics easily.
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Marksmanship
Marksmanship is the opposite of Beast Mastery. It is the least mobile spec, as its long casting time doesn’t allow you to move. Marksmanship gameplay is fairly simple, with only a few main abilities you have to control for maximum efficiency.
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Survival
Survival is the only Melee spec. It is pretty mobile, and it has a unique playstyle if you compare it with any other Melee spec. You should definitely try it out.
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Dragonflight Hunter changes
Due to the talent trees revamping in Dragonflight, Hunters got some changes. Check out major points here:
- Hunters can now tame a new pet type: Lesser Dragonkin;
- Lesser Dragonkin is a Ferocity pet;
- Lesser Dragonkin has a new pet family ability, Shimmering Scales — which reduces your pet’s magic damage taken by 70% for 8 seconds on a 90-second cooldown;
- Cloud Serpents have had their pet family changed from Serpents to Lesser Dragonkin, but the ability to tame Cloud Serpents has not changed;
- The Valdrakken faction in Dragonflight will reward Lesser Dragonkin taming;
- Lesser Dragonkin include creatures like Hornswogs from Dragonflight, Feathered Drakes from Ardenweald, or Faerie Dragons in Feralas;
- Wing Clip Focus cost reduced by 10;
- Nesingwary’s Trapping Apparatus was removed;
- Wailing Arrow — Silence lowered to 3 seconds (was 5). Wailing Arrow now clarifies it only silences non-player targets;
- Binding Shot is now a 3-second stun (was an 8-second root). Huge loss, but the following spell below explains this change;
- New Talent: Entrapment — When your Tar Trap is activated, all enemies in the area are rooted for 4 seconds;
- Improved Mend Pet renamed to Wilderness Medicine;
- Hunter’s Agility was renamed to Hunter’s Avoidance;
- Agile Movement renamed to Pathfinding;
- Latent Poison Injectors were renamed to Poison Injection;
- In for the Kill renamed to Hunter’s Prey;
- Qa’pla, Eredun War Order renamed to War Orders;
- Flamewalker’s Cobra Sting was renamed to Cobra Sting;
- Rylakstalker’s Piercing Fangs were renamed to Piercing Fangs;
- Killing Blow was renamed to Killer Accuracy;
- Dead Eye was renamed to Deadeye;
- True Aim renamed to Target Practice;
- Predator renamed to Flanker’s Advantage;
- Concussive Shot will now replace Wing Clip and no longer requires a Ranged Weapon.
Dragonflight Hunter Talents
Beast Mastery Hunter
Let’s see some new or reworked talents:
- War Orders now grants Barbed Shot a 25/50% chance to reset the cooldown of Kill Command (was 50/100%);
- Healing done to your pets from Mend Pet or Exhilaration no longer grants any healing to Hunters from Leech;
- Dire Beast — Damage increased by 400%;
- Barbed Shot — Damage reduced by 23%.
Marksmanship Hunter
The main change we got:
Aimed Shot damage was reduced by 15%.
Survival Hunt
Outside of the newly implemented Talent System, this spec has not got any changes at all. The gameplay remains totally the same. The spec is still about maximizing Raptor Strikes on single-target and Wildfire Bomb benefit in AoE situations.
Dragonflight Hunter Stats Priority
Beast Mastery Hunter
- Agility is a primary stat. Increases Attack Power;
- Mastery – increases the damage done by all the pets and creatures that you summon. This includes your main pet, Dire Beasts, and more;
- Critical Strike – gives a chance to deal additional damage;
- Haste – increases attack and casting speed. Decreases global cooldown;
- Versatility – increases all the damage and healing you do and decreases all damage you take.
Marksmanship Hunter
- Agility is a primary stat. Increases Attack Power;
- Mastery – grants you increased damage on all your abilities and increases your maximum shot range;
- Critical Strike – gives a chance to deal additional damage;
- Versatility – increases all the damage and healing you do and decreases all damage you take;
- Haste – increases attack and casting speed. Decreases global cooldown.
Survival Hunter
- Agility is a primary stat. Increases Attack Power;
- Haste – increases attack and casting speed. Decreases global cooldown;
- Mastery – increases the damage to you and your pet’s Focus-spending abilities. Heal slightly both of you every 5 seconds. The damage increase and healing per 5 seconds are based on the amount of Mastery;
- Critical Strike – gives a chance to deal additional damage;
- Versatility – increases all the damage and healing you do and decreases all damage you take.
Dragonflight Hunter Leveling
The most efficient way to level up your Hunter is doing that in a Beast Mastery spec. This spec includes easy-to-remember rotation, outstanding damage, and insane survivability due to the fact that your pets will take all the damage. Talking about pets… They do the same damage, but they have different utility and special abilities. For Leveling, the best choice is a Ferocity pet. They can heal themselves upon inflicting damage.
Ferocity pets also can grant Primal Rage for your party, which is an analog to Bloodlust effect.
The fastest way to level up is to run dungeons with a premade group. That will save you time drastically as you won’t be forced to travel around the world. Note that this way sometimes can be inefficient if you do it with pugs as they tend to have problems during their runs. It is a great idea to combine this type of leveling with questing. In this case, you have a choice between two expansions that have been proven to work well. Zones of Warlords of Draenor and Legion expansions provide a lot of quests conveniently packed together to reduce your time for running around.
Don’t hesitate to spend some gold on the following items, as they will ease your life drastically.
- Gunshoes – increase your movement speed on the ground;
- Goblin Glider Kit – having a few in your bags is always helpful;
- Light-Step Hoofplates & Comfortable Rider’s Barding – improve your ground mounts;
- Bear Tartare – killing monsters increases your speed;
- Drums of Deathly Ferocity – a Bloodlust effect;
- Spectral Flask of Power – The old flask will give you a pretty decent stat increase.
Dragonflight Hunter Best Race
Even though multiple races compete for the title of being the best Hunter race for the Alliance, Dwarves win the competition. Their Might of the Mountain passive boosts the damage of all critical strikes by 2%. Considering the Crit is a good stat for all Hunters, there is nothing much to say here. The Dwarves’ Stoneform ability is also good as it helps you to cleanse debuffs from you.
Orcs are the best on the Horde side. Blood Fury just works like a free trinket boosting your attack power. The Command racial also gives a permanent damage boost.
Dragonflight Hunter Best Professions
Professions give you almost nothing but a stable gold income. When it comes to quality-of-life things, some professions are obviously better than others. Think of leveling up Engineering as it provides you with a battle resurrection device like Disposable Spectrophasic Reanimator. Do I really have to explain the importance of this device? It can make a difference between a successful fight and a wipe.
Alchemy and Enchanting are the best choices for gold making. Both professions can provide players with major upgrades that will be viable during the whole expansion. For more detailed information, check out our various in-depth Dragonflight Profession guides.
Dragonflight Hunter Macro
Mouseover Interrupt
#showtooltip
/focus [@mouseover,nodead,exists];[@target,exists]
Kill Shot Mouseover Macro
#showtooltip
/use [@mouseover,exists,harm][]Kill Shot
/use [@pettarget]Claw
/use [@pettarget]Bite
/use [@pettarget]Smack
Misdirection Mouseover/Focus Macro
#showtooltip Misdirection
/use [@mouseover,help,nodead][@focus,help,nodead]Misdirection
Petattack Macros
#showtooltip Kill Command
/petattack
/use Kill Command
#showtooltip Multi-Shot
/petattack
/use Multi-Shot
#showtooltip Aimed Shot
/petattack
/use Aimed Shot
We are really happy that you’ve read our Hunter guide, hope we were able to improve your gameplay with it. Please, rate this guide. Feedback is very important to us. Stay tuned, as we are going to adjust this guide later! Don’t forget to check out Overgear Gearing Services!
