Hunter Strategies & Tips

Tip 1.) Leatherworking and Skinning are the best suited professions for a Hunter. For one, you are going to be hunting beasts more than anything else so you'll not only get the benefit of food for your pet but also the benefit of leather for your tradeskill, and because your armor is Leather (until level 40 when you finally get Mail) you're going to be saving a ton of cash on the most expensive money sink for players: Armor. You'll be making armor for yourself at a FRACTION of the cost it would take to buy it from other players or vendors AND you'll be able to turn a profit by selling what you do make to other classes via the Auction House (located at all major cities). I can't express how much money you'll be saving yourself if you go this route. And that aside, it's just fun. In my opinion anyways.

Tip 2.) If it comes down to armor or melee weapons vs. a better rifle/bow? Go for the rifle/bow. Every single time. You're not going to get hit as often as the tanking classes and you certainly won't be using your melee weapons as often as your ranged weapon so make sure you invest in a new rifle/bow before going out and getting yourself one piece of armor or a new sword/dagger/axe.

Tip 3.) Always keep some form of tracking up at all times. Whether it be beasts while hunting, Undead while in haunted forests or Humanoids while PvP'ing... ALWAYS keep tracking up.

Tip 4.) Soon as you hit 15 head to Loch Modan and go to the Hunting Lodge to start doing the hunting quests given by Daryl and others there. You'll get yourself a good bow/rifle for your level and a 10 slot ammo pouch/quiver. I can't remember what the Horde equivalent of these quests are but I know they got it. It's been awhile since I played a Horde Hunter.

Tip 5.) As stated earlier, here is how you get from NE lands to Dwarf lands or Human lands. Go to the capital city of Darnassus, located west of your starting location. Just stay on the road all the way. When there head to the center of the city. In the center of the city is the bank. It's a tree with a shop set up inside of it. Drop off ALL of your gear into the bank. Once that is done head behind the bank and you'll see a big tree with a purple light surrounding it. Walk into the light and get transported to Rut'therin Village. From there, go to the Hippogriff trainer. He's located at the top of the catwalks. Get a ride from him to Auberdine. Once there head to the docks and look for the sign that says Menethil and take the ship from that dock. That will bring you to Menethil. Once in Menethil talk to the Griffon trainer there to get a new flightpath. Trust me, you'll be glad you do this. Now once that's done run outside of menethil and get yourself killed. I know, sounds crazy but it'll save you a bit of a walk. There should be plenty of gators right outside the gate so you should be able to die quickly. Once you die you'll spawn at the graveyard which is located in the middle of the wetlands. Bascially you just saved yourself 15 minutes of walking. Talk to the spirit guide and respawn. Now follow the road east and avoid ALL creatures, expect to die at least once while doing this last run. It's ok, it's gonna happen. That's why you deposited all your gear in the bank. Just run back to your corpse ressurect and keep heading East. Soon you'll hit a series of tunnels. Becareful of these because more often than not you'll have either Horde NPC's or Horde players hiding out on the other side of the tunnels.

Once you're through the tunnels or you recieve the "Entered Loch Modan", system message yourself killed again. You'll spawn at the Loch Modan graveyard speak with the spirit guide again and respawn there. Find the Griffon trainer in this small town (called Thelsamar) and get the flight path here as well. Once that's done follow the path south into the valley of kings. When you're in here take a right off of the main trail which will lead into South Pass. Run through here into Dun Morogh. Once in Dun Morogh get yourself killed again and you'll spawn and speak with the next spirit guide. You are now in Kharrano's. This is where you'll be centered at until you hit 11 or 12. Not far from here is Ironforge (the dwarven capital). It's just north, follow the road, and take the second right (it goes up a slope). Make sure to get the flight path from the Griffon trainer here (he's located in the center of the city to the right of the great forge. Now if you wanna get back to NE lands it's only a griffon and a boat ride away. Congratulations. You just made the trek in 20 minutes. If you need or want to go to the human lands instead for your beginning levels just take the tram from Ironforge (marked on your map) and that'll bring you to Stormwind which is the humans capital.

Tip 6.) If your pet is having trouble keeping aggro it's probably because he's running out of focus to keep "growling". In this case right click on Claw/Bite to take it off of autocast. You'll notice if something is on "Autocast" because it's borders will be glimmering/glowing. That means it constantly casts over and over again. Take claw/bite off of autocast and keep growl ON autocast. And it should keep aggro from here on out. Occasionally tap the claw/bite action so that your pet keeps it's damage dealing up. It's an extra click, sure, but you better ensure his capability of maintaining aggro. Until you can up his focus some via your talents (talked about this earlier).

Tip 7.) Make friends with an Engineer. They make the best upgrade for Hunters: Scopes. These babies add 1-3 points of damage to your ranged weapon. Upping the base and max damage and subsequently increasing the DPS (damage per second) which is always a good thing. You'll want to definitely start investing in these around level 20ish.

Tip 8.) Though Traps aren't very useful in PvP they are extremely useful while hunting solo and in parties. Take the time to experiment with them and see how they work. With creative use you'll find that such traps like your Ice Trap are pretty useful for things like taming animals.

Tip 9.) If you choose to go leatherworker as one of your professions the first thing you need to get, other then a skinning knife, is more bags. Save up every piece of linen that you find. Tailors will often make bags for free if you supply the linen for them. And you'll need as many bags as you can get your hands on. They fill up fast.

Tip 10.) Pay attention as your hunting. Some monsters are social. That means they bring a friend with them if you attack one. It's good to know what is and isn't social. Especially when you're hunting alone. Nothing can ruin a good pull like an add.

Tip 11.) Pay attention to your pets health. If it gets dangerously low turn off the Growl autocast and pull the aggro onto you. It's better to take a little bit of damage and let your pet live then have your pet die and loose happiness.

Tip 12.) When traveling the best way to stay alive is to have your pet attack whatever it is that's aggro'd on to you. Keep running, soon as the monster aggro's onto your pet click the "passive" button and your pet will follow you again with the monster in tow. You'll live and more than likely your pet won't even be scratched. Keeps you alive and makes for very safe traveling when on foot.

Tip 13.) Remember cooked food is always better then raw food. So try to work on your cooking skill while your at it. And if your chosen pet likes fish, well then learn fishing. = )

Tip 14.) As a Hunter you are required, BY LAW, to say "Oh what a cute pet! Where can I get one?" whenever you see a gnome in somone elses party.

Tip 15.) Be courteous. As a ranged character you have the luxury of being able to beat nearly anyone else at getting monster first. If you see someone going for a monster don't be a dork and shoot it first. Melee's HATE that. And if you see another Hunter's mark on a target, don't be a douche and go after it anyways. Courteousy will get you a long way in this game.