WoW Classic 39 Hunter Twink Guide

Hunters are amongst the most rewarding and fun classes to play in World of Warcraft (WoW), while also being one of the least difficult to master.  In Player vs. Player, they excel at both ranged damage and Crowd Control (CC), with their various traps and specialty shot attacks.  They also offer mild team support with some of their Hunter’s Aspects that can augment the abilities of your allies in unexpected ways.  They also make excellent scouts.

Content

• Races:  Which races can play as Hunter’s and which have traits that benefit a Hunter in PvP the most?
• Professions:  Which professions are the most useful to a Twink and which offer the most benefits to Hunters?
• Spells and Abilities:  What abilities are available to a Hunter at level 39 and how best can they be employed in PvP?
• Talents:  Which talents are the best for Hunters engaging in PvP and which build specs are the most logical?
• Gear:  What is the Best in Slot (BiS) gear for a level 39 Twink Hunter and how can It be acquired?
• Enchantments:  Which enchantments offer the best benefits for a level 39 Twink Hunter?
• Buffs:  Which potions, scrolls, elixirs and other consumables are available to a level 39 Hunter and which ones have noticeable benefits in PvP?

Races

Hunters can be played by members of both factions and have a fair number of available races to choose from.  Here are the races that Hunters are able to play and the racial traits from those races, that are the best for Twinking a Hunter.

Alliance

• Dwarf:  Gun Specialization and Stoneform are, by far, the best racial traits that Dwarves have for Hunters doing any kind of PvP.  Being better at range and being able to escape any form of CC are invaluable in PvP.  With Frost Resistance you get a bit of moderate protection that is useful to any class.  Find Treasure is great also, just for the extra bit of gold you’ll earn from the chests you find.
• Night Elf:  Any form of magical resistance is great, which makes Nature Resistance a useful trait to have. Quickness is great as well.  While Shadowmeld might not always be useful, when it is, it really is.  You can combine it with Disengage to great effect in PvP arenas and BGs.  Finally, Wisp Spirit might not seem like much, if you don’t have a Healer to resurrect, being able to get back to your body faster is important.

Horde

• Orc:   One of the best orc racial trait for Hunters is  Command and it might just be the best racial trait at all for the class.  Axe Specialization can get that weapon skill up faster.  While Blood Fury is good if you find yourself in melee range, make sure not to do it when you are at low health.  Hardiness is one of the best racial traits for PvP and probably even out of the CC escape traits in the game, as it is passive.
• Tauren:  As with Night Elves, Nature Resistance offers a solid passive damage resistance that is good for just about any class.  Endurance is nothing any Tauren ever complained about, as all classes benefit greatly from just having more health than other races.  War Stomp, which gives you a quick burst of CC, is another great trait that saves you from being overwhelmed, or can just stop a retreating foe from escaping.  Also, if you use War Stomp in conjunction with Feign Death and Freezing Trap, you won’t get Diminishing Returns the way that you will should you use Scatter Shot.
• Troll:  Trolls have the most abilities that are of use to a Hunter out of all the other races.  Beast Slaying, is great for dealing with enemy Druids, or the pets of other Hunters.  It’s also useful for when you are leveling.  Berserking increases your attack speed, which increases your DPS and more DPS is always a good thing for a Hunter.  Is probably more useful than Throwing Specialization, but if you really want to be a Troll Axe Thrower, you can.  Lastly, Regeneration is, by and large, the best racial trait that the Troll offers for any class at all.

Professions

There are a lot of professions to choose from, which can make deciding which ones to go with hard.  Fortunately, one of the coolest professions is also an absolute necessity for a Twink of any class.  Engineering.  There are a plethora of gadgets, devices and bombs that are extremely useful within Battlegrounds and you won’t want to miss out on them.

While Engineering is a necessity, you’re other Profession is also important.  Which ones you’ll be interested in will largely depend on your class.

What follows is a description of each of the Professions that should be of interest to a level 39 Twink Hunter and why.

Engineering

For Twinks of any class, this profession is an absolute must-have.  Along with all of the engineering gadgets and doodads you get before reaching 230 in engineering, there are some seriously fantastic items at this level that are of extreme use in PvP.  Make sure you get all of them.

The Major Recombobulator is especially useful for countering the Crowd Control (CC) effects of Polymorph.  You’ll be the one that saved the day if you carry the Goblin Jumper Cables XL and can rez the Healer when your whole team gets ganked.  Other items of note are the   Alarm-O-Bot, which can help in detecting Rogues and other Druids and the Dark Iron Bomb, which is the absolute best bomb in early Classic WoW, with the most damage and longest CC duration.  There are also three energy reflectors; Gyrofreeze Ice Reflector, Hyper-Radiant Flame Reflector and Ultra-Flash Shadow Reflector, which all reflect their type of damage for 5 seconds.  This is extremely useful and can quickly turn the tables on any caster in the game.  Finally, there is the Arcane Bomb, which absorbs mana and does half of what is absorbed as damage to anyone in range.

All of these items are incredibly useful in PvP and are the best engineering has to offer at this level.  Not to mention all of the fun fireworks and pet companions you can make.

Enchanting

Enchanting is probably the best choice for players who are not supporting their Twink with another character.  It has few expensive reagents that must be truly gathered, most being products of disenchanting items you are already likely to pick up.  It also offers lucrative selling opportunities with the many materials you will acquire from breaking down all of the Green and Blue items you do not need.  It can also offset the cost of getting your own enchantments some, as higher level enchanters are sometimes on the lookout for lower level materials.

Alchemy

If you are being supplied herbs and reagents by another character, then Alchemy can be an extremely useful Profession to endeavor upon.  The ability to simply create the many potions and elixirs that offer decided advantages in PvP at this bracket, instead of having to go shop for them, almost pays for itself.  Alchemy can also be a great way to make money, especially if the reagents and materials can be acquired cheaply.

Other Professions

Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning should be avoided entirely, unless you are hoping to compliment your Engineering with Mining and take some pressure off of the character supporting your Twink.  This might also be a good way to make some gold, as ore and bars sell well.  Tailoring is completely useless to a Hunter, as is Blacksmithing.  Leatherworking is somewhat useful, as it allows you to craft your own Pre BiS armor.

Another use for for Alchemy, Leatherworking and Tailoring is to sell the various high level components and transmutes that only these Professions can craft.  Alchemists can transmute metals with recipes like Recipe: Transmute Arcanite, Leatherworkers can craft the Cured Rugged Hide and Tailors can use Pattern: Mooncloth to purify Felcloth.

Secondary Skills

Cooking

Cooking has but one benefit to any Twink at any level bracket.  The Well Fed Buff.  The food that offers the highest possible Well Fed bonus at this level is Spider Sausage, the recipe for which can be purchased from virtually any standard Cooking trainer.  Another fun and useful food the cooks can make at this level is Dragonbreath Chili, the recipe for which can be purchased from Helenia Olden (Alliance) or Ogg’marr (Horde) in Duskwallow Marsh.  It can also be purchased from Super-Seller 680 in Desolace.

First Aid

The only thing to worry about here is to get your First Aid maxed as high as it will go, so that you can use the Heavy Runecloth Bandage, which can heal you almost completely full with just one bandage.  To do this, you will need the three books Expert First Aid – Under Wraps, Manual: Heavy Silk Bandage and Manual: Mageweave Bandage.  The only trouble is that, because you still can’t get your Secondary Skills up to 300 yet, you’ll have to find someone to craft the bandages for you.  Alternatively, you could simply purchase them off of the AH.

Fishing

This skill is not as important at this level bracket, but it’s still a great way to increase your income, especially while you’re bored and waiting around near some water.  Take any opportunity you can to fish, because each time you fish is a chance to catch a rare fish that can earn you some good money.  It’s also not a bad way to get Cooking and Alchemy reagents to increase those skills.

Spells and Abilities

The Hunter’s prowess at range is put simply, unmatched.  There are some who can compete with a Hunter for damage itself, but none that can compete in range.  Distance is a Hunter’s greatest weapon, but they also possess a number of powerful and useful abilities.  Hunter abilities can be broken down into three basic groups:  Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival.  What follows is a list of the abilities that are available to a Hunter of level 39, that are also useful in PvP.

• Beast Mastery
• Marksmanship
• Survival

Maintaining your distance is critical in PvP.  That isn’t to say that you won’t ever find yourself engaged in melee, which is why some of these abilities are available to the Hunter.  Just in case.  Let your pet and Allies do the intense close range stuff, and support them with covering fire from afar.

Talents

For talents there are two builds that are effective; Marksmanship for maximizing ranged DPS and Survival for some crowd control and survivability.

With this Marksmanship build, the goal is the max possible damage output.  Aimed shot in particular is a massive damage increase here, while scatter shot and improved concussive shot help with CC.

The survival build is extremely useful in WSG for CTF, because entrapment (which  can repeatedly proc off of frost trap ) along with the increased trap duration + lower resist chance offers a LOT of CC superiority. In WSG, you’ll typically be on defense making use of flare and frost trap at choke points to prevent rogues from sneaking in, and generally slowing enemy offense. There’s also some nice offensive talents with Lightning Reflexes and Killer Instinct. while Deterence is one of the best responses to being dead zoned.

If you’re really dying to try it out yourself and don’t want to listen to the advice that this guide has provided for you specifically to play a Hunter to the best possible ability…then go ahead and check out the Hunter Talent Calculator.  Cause you’d know best, right?  Seriously though, if you want to see what you can do, go for it.  All of the best builds come from experimentation.

BiS Gear

For Twink Hunters, the name of the game is range.  So you are going to want to focus on the gear that builds on Agility the most, but also Stamina and Intellect (in that order).  Acquiring all of this BiS gear won’t be easy and it is advised that you get financial backing from a Main to get the items from the AH, which will make the task much easier.  Listed below are all of your BiS gear slot items and how, or where to get them. Good Luck!

• Head
  • What: Miner’s Cap of the Deep (Best Balance) / Goblin Rocket Helmet / Gnomish Mind Control Cap  / Nocturnal Cap (of the Monkey 12/12)
  • Where:  Stone Steward, Uldaman 0.016% /Goblin Rocket Helmet – Engineering / Gnomish Mind Control Cap – Engineering / Gilmorian, Swamp of Sorrows 1.124%

• Neck
  • What: Scout’s Medallion (Best Balance) / Sentinel’s Medallion (Best Balance) / Necklace of Calisea
  • Where: Sold By – Illiyana Moonblaze/Kelm Hargunth (Requires Honored with WSG) / Murderous Blisterpaw, Tanaris 0.0056%

• Shoulders
  • What:  Flintrock Shoulders (Best Balance) / Fleshhide Shoulders (Stamina Oriented)
  • Where: Scarlet Diviner, Scarlet Monastery 0.02% / Glutton, Razorfen Downs 50%

• Cloak
  • What:  Tigerstrike Mantle (Best Balance) / Wing of the Whelpling  (Stamina Oriented) / Battlehard Cape (Horde Alternative)
  • Where: Prince Raze, Ashenvale 0.005% / Broken Tooth, Badlands 0.005% / Quest – A Grim Discovery

• Chest
  • What:  Robes of the Lich (Survival)/ Warden’s Wraps (Best Balance)/ Wolffear Harness 
  • Where: Amnennar the Coldbringer, Razoefen Downs 20%/ Lord Angler, Duskwallow Marsh 0.641% / Broken Tooth, Badlands 0.005%

• Bracers
  • What:  Unearthed Bands of the Monkey (Best Balance) -or- of Agility (AP oriented) / Branded Leather Bands
  • Where: Earthen Sculptor, Uldaman 0.06% / High Inquisitor Fairbanks, Scarlet Monastery 33%

• Gloves
  • What: Arachnid Gloves of the Monkey (Best Balance) / Gloves of Holy Might (AP oriented) / Skilled Handling Gloves
  • Where:  Tuten’kash, Razorfen Downs 33%/Crushridge Warmonger, Alterac Mountains 0.0013% / Quest – Return to Apothecary Zinge

• Belt
  • What: Ogron’s Sash (Best Balance)/ Defiler’s Leather Girdle -or- Highlander’s Leather Girdle / Gnomish Harm Prevention Belt
  • Where: Narillasanz, Alterac Valley 0.0167% / Sold By – Illiyana Moonblaze/Kelm Hargunth (Requires Honored with WSG) / Gnomish Harm Prevention Belt Engineering

• Legs
  • What: Basilisk Hide Pants (Best Balance) / Wolf Rider’s Leggings of the Monkey
  • Where: Narillasanz, Alterac Valley 0.0167% / Razortalon, The Hinterlands 0.641%

• Boots
  • What: Defiler’s Lizardhide Boots -or- Highlander’s Lizardhide Boots / Swampwalker Boots (Pre AB) /Gnomish Rocket Boots /  Goblin Rocket Boots
  • Where: Sold By – Illiyana Moonblaze -or- Kelm Hargunth (Requires Honored with WSG) / Broken Tooth, 0.005% /Gnomish Rocket Boots – Engineering /  Goblin Rocket Boots – Engineering

• Ring One
  • What: Ring of the Underwood (Best Balance)/ Assault Band (AP oriented)
  • Where: Lost One Cook, Swamp of Sorrows 0.005% /

• Ring Two
  • What: Charged Gear of the Monkey (Best Balance)/ Assault Band (AP oriented)
  • Where: Mekgineer Thermaplugg, Gnomeregan 25%/ Narillasanz, Alterac Mountains 0.0167%

• Trinket One
  • What: Arena Grand Master / Arena Master / Mark of the Chosen
  • Where: Quest – Arena Grandmaster / Arena Treasure Chest 100% / Quest – The Pariah’s Instructions

• Trinket Two
  • What:  Tidal Charm / Rune of Duty, Rune of Perfection
  • Where: Prince Nazjak, Arathi Highlands 45% / Sold By – Illiyana Moonblaze/Kelm Hargunth (Requires Honored with WSG) /

• Main Hand
  • What: Vanquisher’s Sword
  • Where: Quest – Bring the End (Horde) / Bring the Light (Alliance)

• Off-Hand
  • What: Nordic Longshank / Speedsteel Rapier / Scout’s Blade / Sentinel’s Blade / Skull of Impending Doom
  • Where: Baelog, Uldaman 50% / Burgle Eye, The Barrens 0.0056% / Sold By – Illiyana Moonblaze/Kelm Hargunth (Requires Honored with WSG) / Quest – Forbidden Knowledge

• Two Handed
  • What: Headstriker Sword (of the Monkey, Eagle, Falcon), Advisor’s Gnarled Staff / Lorekeeper’s Staff
  • Where: Gilmorian, Swamp of Sorrows 1.124%, Sold By – Illiyana Moonblaze/Kelm Hargunth (Requires Honored with WSG)

• Range
  • What:  Shadowforge Bushmaster / The Silencer / Bow of Searing Arrows (This one is very situationally good against Casters, as the proc gives them push back to spell casting)
  • Where: Stonevault Flameweaver, Uldaman 0.04% / Narillasanz, Alterac Mountains 0.0167% / Crushridge Warmonger, Alterac Mountains 0.0013%

Make sure to pick up the Heavy Quiver, which can be purchased from Benijah Fenner (Horde) or Marda Weller (Alliance), or if you go guns, the Heavy Leather Ammo Pouch which can be crafted from Leatherworking.  Either of these bags offers a more than 10% increase in ranged attack speed, which is too much of a bonus to overlook.

Hunter Pets

One of the most important aspects of any Hunter, Twink or not, is your Hunter pet.  Unlike in modern WoW, Hunters do not start out the game with their pets. At level 10 there is a quest called The Hunter’s Path, which has four different versions based on race and faction.  Upon completion of the quest, the Hunter learns the ability Tame Beast, which they can then use to acquire their first pet.

There are also far fewer choices of pets and pet abilities in WoW Classic, especially at this level.  There are also certain families of pets, such as the Turtle, that should simply be avoided, because their abilities are not at all helpful in PvP.  While other types, like Cats are often sought after for their PvP centric aspects.  What follows is a list of the best and most useful pets from PvP viable families available to a Hunter at level 39.

Broken Tooth

Cats are probably the best family of pets in Classic WoW for PvP, just because of their high attack speed and 10% increase to all damage.  Not to mention the fact that all Cats are able to learn Prowl with ease.  Broken tooth is the best, highest level Cat that can be acquired at level 39 and starts with the Dash ability.

Barnabus

Wolves are, more often than not, most Hunter’s second choice for of pet for PvP, though they are in reality more of an equal to the Cat family, just with a trade off.  Wolves tend to have a slightly slower attack speed to Cats, but are often heartier.  They can also all learn the Furious Howl ability, which is a decent buff that makes them welcome in groups.  Barnabus is the best Wolf at this level bracket and starts with a level 6 Bite attack.

Arikara

Windserpents are another highly sought after family of pets in Classic WoW, and also one of the rarest.  They are debatably just as useful to a Hunter in PvP, because they are the only Hunter pet in the game that can do ranged damage, using their Lightning Breath ability.  Because threat isn’t a factor in PvP, it’s not always necessary to have your pet engage at melee range, nor is it important that they can always soak up damage.  Being able to add damage to your own, especially when neither of you has been noticed yet, could be the difference between victory and defeat.  Arikara is the best Windserpent to be had at level 39, though it itself is only 28 and must train to use Lightning Breath.

Rotting Agam’ar

While less viable than other pets, especially at this level, Boars are still very useful, because of their charge ability, which some Hunters prefer over other PvP abilities.  Rotting Agam’ar is the best Boar that can be acquired at this level and he starts with charge, but is only level 28 himself.

Enchantments

The enchantments for your gear are almost as important as the gear itself.  Make sure to get all of the best enchantments for each gear slot item that can be enchanted.  If your Main is not an enchanter, then acquiring these enchantments will be expensive, so keep that in mind.  Here are all of the best enchantments for a level 39 Twink Hunter.

• Head: Lesser Arcanum of Voracity (Agility) / Lesser Arcanum of Constitution
• Shoulders: Might of the Scourge
• Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Lesser Agility
• Chest: Enchant Chest – Greater Stats
• Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Superior Stamina
• Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Superior Agility
• Legs: Lesser Arcanum of Voracity (Agility) / Lesser Arcanum of Constitution
• Boots: Enchant Boots – Greater Agility / Enchant Boots – Minor Speed
• Weapons: Enchant Weapon – Agility / Enchant 2H Weapon – Agility

Buffs

There are a plethora of buffs to be had at this level and some of them are incredibly useful.  If you’ve taken Alchemy, you’ll be able to acquire most of these, fairly easily.  Otherwise, you can get them through other players who are Alchemists, or simply from the AH. Some of them are often sold by vendors in a limited quantity as well.

Elixirs

Remember that only one Battle and one Guardian Elixir can be active at a time.

Battle Elixirs

• Elixir of Greater Agility: An upgrade from the last bracket, this Elixir will greatly increase your ranged damage.

Guardian Elixirs

• Elixir of Fortitude:  Not a single character in all of WoW has ever complained about having more health.  You shouldn’t either.
• Mighty Troll’s Blood Potion:  This one is great to pop right before a long fight.  It helps mitigate damage to you and let’s your Healer take it a bit easier.
• Elixir of Greater Defense:  More armor is always a good thing, especially in these quantities.
• Gift of Arthas: Hard to come by and somewhat situational with respect to the resistance, but definitely worth the defensive proc.  Being able to disease opponents is very useful in PvP.
• Elixir of Water Walking: This one might only be useful when running away from something, but when you can walk on water and your opponents can’t you’ll be glad you bought this.

Potions

• Lesser Stoneshield Potion: One thousand extra armor?  Yes, you can easily find a situation where this is useful.
• Invisibility Potion: Makes you invisible.  What’s not to love?
• Swiftness Potion: No matter what bracket you’re in, no matter what class you play, this potion will never not be useful in some way in PvP and in CTF it is invaluable.
• Restorative Potion: Expensive, but worth the price and extremely utilitarian.  You can just keep this in your back pocket just in case and rest east, knowing you have an answer for almost every debuff.
• Jungle Remedy: You might have to spend a lot of time farming these, or a bit of gold buying them, but they are worth it.
• Magic Resistance Potion: If 50 resistance in all schools of magic doesn’t seem like enough to you, you are wrong.  This potion is perfect for when every caster on the field is flinging different colored light at each other and
• Dreamless Sleep Potion: Makes you vulnerable for a awhile but pretty much completely restores your health and mana.  Good to use right after a some kind of mass CC has just occurred, like Psychic Scream, or Fear.
• Wildvine Potion: Kind of a gamble, but might be worth having for when things are really down and out.
• Superior Healing Potion: The healing potion is a staple of adventurers everywhere.  Use it in good health.
• Superior Healing Draught: Not as effective as the above, but plentiful and cheap.  You can only use them in BGs though.
• Greater Mana Potion: As a hunter, you won’t always need one of these, but when you do, you do.

Scrolls

• Scroll of Protection III: Use this when you don’t have an Elixir of Defense.
• Scroll of Agility II: Use this when you don’t have an Elixir of Greater Agility.
• Scroll of Intellect III: Use this when you don’t have a Mage who can give you Arcane Intellect.
• Scroll of Spirit III: Use this when you don’t have a Priest who can give you Divine Spirit.
• Scroll of Stamina III: Use this when you don’t have a Priest who can give you Power Word: Fortitude.
• Scroll of Strength II: Use this whenever you can, because the class buffs that grant Strength also grant other stat buffs and they stack.

Use all of them if you are alone, because they are cheap and why not?

Team Buffs

You gain a solid benefit from just about all of the long term team buffs out there.  Arcane Intellect will increase your mana pool, while Power Word: Fortitude increases your health pool.  Blessing of Kings is also a great buff that the Paladin gets access to at level 20.  So if you are Alliance, get it.  Mark of the Wild is the class buff that likely offers the best bonus for a Hunter all around.

Other Consumables

• Rumsey Rum Black Label: Being a little tipsy is a small price to pay for extra 15 Stamina.
• Dragonbreath Chili: As stated above, this is a great little added boon that you can get easily if you cooking skill is high enough.
• Spider Sausage: Again, make sure you have some of this sausage before heading out there.  The well fed buff shouldn’t be ignored.

Well there you go!  You now have everything you need to create the perfect level 39 Hunter Twink and dominate the Arenas and Battlegrounds of Azeroth!  Go meet new and interesting people…and kill them!  Have fun!