Hunter Leveling Guide

The Hunter knows the wilderness like the back of their hand, and can navigate the open world better than any other class in World of Warcraft. With a trusty beast companion at their side, plenty of tools for tracking and trapping, and three different damage dealing builds to choose from, no foe is too great a challenge. As a result, Hunters are frequently seen as one of the strongest classes for solo questing and farming, a trend that continues in the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

This guide will help you choose a build, equipment, professions, rotation, and where to go as a Hunter to get from 1 to 90 as efficiently as possible so you can focus on what you’re really here for – taming all of the coolest-looking beasts.

Strengths

• The Hunter’s beast pets provide tons of utility and survivability. It’s almost like having a built-in leveling partner.
• Tracking allows you to see all sorts of creatures on the minimap, which is immensely helpful for questing and farming in the open world.
• You have plenty of mobility thanks to Disengage and Aspect of the Cheetah. You also get Camouflage at level 85, which gives you the option to sneak past mobs and avoid engaging altogether.
• Hunters have some excellent crowd control options with their many traps and Concussive Shot. This combined with their mobility makes them masters of kiting who almost never get hit.
• If all else fails, you can always Feign Death and start over.

Weaknesses

• While your beast pet is one of your greatest strengths, it does add a layer of complexity and micromanagement to the class. They can even be a liability if you don’t keep a close eye on them.
• Hunters are a pure DPS class, so you won’t be able to tank or heal for faster dungeon queues or a change of pace.
• The class’s survivability is based on avoiding getting hit, so you won’t have many options to mitigate or heal damage.

Talent Builds

The Hunter is a pure DPS class with three different specializations focused on dealing damage. The minimum range has been removed from ranged weapons in Mists of Pandaria, but Hunters will still find it beneficial to keep their targets at a safe distance most of the time. The Beast Mastery specialization excels in solo content due to its emphasis on your ever-useful beast companion, and it remains the recommended leveling build. Marksmanship is the quintessential sniper spec and provides the strongest burst damage, which can be very satisfying in the open world. Survival focuses more on utility and crowd control, which are not as effective for simply plowing through quests and mobs, although they can be useful against tougher enemies and in PvP.

Talents

Because of the changes to talent trees in this expansion, all of your class’s specializations share the same set of talent options. Our recommendations are the same regardless of spec:

• Level 15: Posthaste
  Mobility is king for leveling, and this gives you a little more. Narrow Escape and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chimera can be useful for defense, but hopefully you won’t be needing them too much while leveling.
• Level 30: Blinding Shot
  A strong crowd control on a short-ish cooldown, great to throw out if you accidentally over-pull. Wyvern Sting is more situational and Intimidation only stuns one target on a longer cooldown.
• Level 45: Spirit Bond
  This is a nice steady passive healing effect that will keep you chain pulling mobs. Exhilaration is also a strong choice if you prefer an on-demand healing cooldown instead – just remember that you have to actually use it for it to have any value. Aspect of the Iron Hawk is not as useful in solo content, particularly since it doesn’t affect your pet at all.
• Level 60: Fervor
  Give yourself and your pet extra Focus on a short cooldown with this ability. Dire Beast is just as good or better on a single target, but falls behind any time you are fighting more than one enemy. Thrill of the Hunt is okay if you want something passive instead so that you have one less cooldown to remember to use.
• Level 75: Blink Strikes
  This talent will ensure that your pet is right on top of your target as soon as you are, and not lagging behind. It also consistently increases their damage. A Murder of Crows and Lynx Rush are on longer cooldowns and you will have to remember to use them in order for them to have any value.

Glyphs

Like talents, glyphs have been trimmed down and have a more subtle impact than they did in previous expansions. The glyphs below are our recommendations for leveling, but your mileage may vary based on your own preferences and playstyle (and what cosmetic effects you may want). Our recommendations for Hunters are the same regardless of build.

Major

• Level 25: Glyph of Pathfinding
  You’ll be able to move faster on foot as well as on your mount, which makes for faster questing and farming.
• Level 50: Glyph of Mending
  Keeping your pet in the fight will be easier with this glyph that improves your Mend Pet ability.
• Level 75: Glyph of Camouflage
  You’ll be able to move around in stealth with this glyph, which can be useful for getting around the open world uninterrupted. You won’t have Camouflage until level 85, however, so feel free to use something else until then.

Minor

• Level 25: Glyph of Fetch
  You’ll quickly come to appreciate not having to run up and loot every corpse, and it will save you a lot of time over the long run.
• Level 50: Glyph of Aspect of the Cheetah
  You’ll be free to leave your Aspect of the Cheetah active as you run around the world, without fear of being dazed by any random mobs you run past.
• Level 75: Glyph of Tame Beast/Glyph of Revive Pet
  Any time you’re planning to tame a new pet, you can use a glyph to make the process easier. The rest of the time you can glyph your Revive Pet spell to make it easier to resurrect your pet when you need to.

Pet Specialization

In Mists of Pandaria, any pet can be set to use one of three specializations. Tenacity is the tanking specialization and is recommended for leveling and other solo content, as it will make your pet sturdier and better able to hold aggro while you deal damage from range. Ferocity is the best specialization for dealing damage in group content where your pet does not need the extra tankiness. Cunning is best used in PvP to give your pet some extra mobility and to give yourself some extra defense.

Stat Priority

Always try to stack your main stat above all. For all Hunters, that will be Agility.

Equipment

Hunters are able to equip Bows, Crossbows, and Guns as well as Fist Weapons, Polearms, Staves, and both One-Handed and Two-Handed Axes and Swords. The Ranged weapon slot has been removed in Mists of Pandaria, with Ranged weapons instead being used in the Main Hand slot. Hunters will not be able to use many of their abilities if they do not have a Ranged weapon equipped, so they will always want to use a Bow, Crossbow, or Gun. Ranged weapons no longer require ammunition as they did in the vanilla days. The minimum range for Ranged weapons has also been removed, allowing you to fire them even at point blank. Weapon upgrades will often be the biggest damage increase while leveling. If you’re using an Heirloom weapon, it will upgrade automatically each time you level.

Hunters can equip Cloth and Leather from level 1, and they can use Mail starting at level 40. It you use Mail heirlooms, they will automatically be treated as Leather for the first 40 levels. From level 50 on, you will always want to use Mail Armor due to your Mail Specialization passive ability, which gives a 5% buff to your most important stat. Before that, feel free to wear whatever gives you the best stats. Hunters can’t use Shields.

Heirlooms

Heirlooms can considerably speed up the leveling process by granting you increased experience gains and making your character a lot stronger. They’re also a lot more convenient than having to replace your gear every few levels. To get heirloom equipment for your Hunter, you’ll have to buy it on another character who has enough of an appropriate currency.

Any heirloom gear is better than nothing. If you happen to have some lying around after leveling another character, feel free to use them rather than buying new ones (as long as the stats are good for you). But these are the best pieces if you’re looking to purchase some Heirlooms specifically for leveling your Hunter:

• Head: Tarnished Raging Berserker’s Helm
• Shoulder: Champion Herod’s Shoulder
• Back: Inherited Cape of the Black Baron
• Chest: Champion’s Deathdealer Breastplate
• Legs: Tarnished Leggings of Destruction
• Finger: Dread Pirate Ring
• Trinket: Swift Hand of Justice x2
• Weapons: Charmed Ancient Bone Bow

Professions

You can approach professions while leveling in one of two ways: you can either start working on the skills you want to use at level 90 or you can pick up some professions to help you along the way. It’s more efficient in the long run to level your endgame professions at the same time that you level your character, but most professions will significantly slow down the leveling process if you do this. So if you just want to make it to level 90 as quickly as possible, it might make sense to grab something else for the time being.

As far as professions that specifically make leveling easier, gathering skills are the best choice. Herbalism and Mining have been changed in Mists of Pandaria to allow you to gather materials from any node in the game with a level 1 skill. These two professions, along with Archaeology, also give you character experience as you gain skill. On top of that, all three gathering professions – Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning – each offer useful passive bonuses that can help you in your journey, even if you don’t bother to level them at all.

Hunters have an additional advantage with gathering skills since they can distract mobs with their pet or use Feign Death to drop combat, allowing them to gather from a node without having to first deal with all of the nearby mobs. Hunters are also able to see Beasts on the minimap with Track Beasts, which makes them particularly good at finding mobs for Skinning.

Crafting professions require a lot more work (or a lot of gold to buy the materials on the Auction House). Many professions will allow you to craft items that you can use while leveling, with Leatherworking and Engineering being particularly useful. It’s not worth investing time in these skills just for leveling, though. If you pick up a crafting profession, it should either be in preparation for endgame or as a means of supporting your other characters.

Rotation

Now that you’re all set up, here are what buttons you should push and in what order!

Starting out you’ll have a pet specific to your character’s race. Be sure that you always have your pet summoned/alive and attacking your target. You’ll be using Arcane Shot whenever you have enough Focus and keeping Auto Shot enabled otherwise. At level 3 you’ll get Steady Shot, which you should use whenever you don’t have enough Focus for Arcane Shot.

At level 10 you can start to transition to the rotation for your build. You’ll also be able to start taming other beast pets.

Beast Mastery

• Maintain your Aspect of the Hawk buff at all times (level 12+).
• Use Hunter’s Mark to apply the debuff to your main target (level 14+).
• Use Kill Command on cooldown.
• Use Kill Shot if it is available (level 35+).
• Use Serpent Sting to apply its debuff.
• Use Focus Fire when your pet has 5 stacks of Frenzy (level 32+).
• Use Multi-Shot to apply the Beast Cleave buff to your pet if you are fighting more than one target (level 24+).
• Use Arcane Shot if you have extra Focus.
• Use Cobra Shot to generate Focus (level 81+).
• Use Steady Shot until you get Cobra Shot.

Marksmanship

• Maintain your Aspect of the Hawk buff at all times (level 12+).
• Use Hunter’s Mark to apply the debuff to your main target (level 14+).
• Use Serpent Sting to apply its debuff.
• Use Steady Shot twice in a row to apply and maintain the Steady Focus buff on yourself (level 63+).
• Use Multi-Shot whenever you have enough Focus if you are fighting 4 or more targets (level 24+).
• Use Chimera Shot on cooldown (level 60+).
• Use Aimed Shot when you have 3 charges of Master Marksman (level 58+).
• Use Kill Shot if it is available (level 35+).
• Use Aimed Shot if you have extra Focus.
• Use Steady Shot to generate Focus.

Survival

• Maintain your Aspect of the Hawk buff at all times (level 12+).
• Use Hunter’s Mark to apply the debuff to your main targets (level 14+).
• Use Serpent Sting to apply its debuff.
• Use Explosive Shot on cooldown.
• Use Kill Shot if it is available (level 35+).
• Use Black Arrow on cooldown to apply and maintain its debuff if you expect the target to live for the full duration (level 50+).
• Use Multi-Shot if you have enough Focus and you are fighting more than one target (level 24+).
• Use Explosive Trap if it will hit more than one target (level 38+).
• Use Arcane Shot if you have extra Focus.
• Use Cobra Shot to generate Focus (level 81+).
• Use Steady Shot until you get Cobra Shot.

Where To Level

Getting Started

Like all classes except for Death Knights, you’ll begin in the starting zone for your character’s race. Completing your starting zone should get you through the first dozen or so levels. After that, you can head to your faction’s capital city to train professions, use the Auction House, and decide where to go next. A good place to start is the Hero’s Call Board in the center of The Trade District in Stormwind City or the Warchief’s Command Board in front of Grommash Hold at The Valley of Strength in Orgrimmar. This board will always have a couple of quests directing you to a zone in your level range.

Leveling Beyond Your Starting Zone

Level 20 is when you’ll be able to get your first mount. After that, you should train new riding skills as soon as they become available to help you get around more quickly. Don’t forget to also train your professions, upgrade your gear, and pick up glyphs when you have new slots available. At level 30, you can learn Dual Specialization from your class trainer, which will allow you to have an alternate build that you can swap to when you feel the need.

For the first 58 levels, you’ll be questing or dungeon grinding in Classic zones and instances on the continents of Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. When you get into the higher levels, you should head to the next expansion’s zones as soon as you’re able to: Outland at level 58, Northrend at 68, Cataclysm at 78, and Pandaria at 85. There’s a big jump in loot and experience for each expansion that makes it well worth abandoning whatever you were doing before and moving on.

If you’re not worried about taking the fastest, most direct path to level 90, feel free to break up your leveling process by trying out different activities. There are plenty of things to do in World of Warcraft that grant experience besides questing and killing mobs. You can get a little bit of experience from gathering with Archaeology, Herbalism, or Mining. You can run dungeons with other players, or compete against them in PvP battlegrounds. The new pet battle system also gives experience.