Classic Hunter DPS Guide (2024)

Last updated on Nov 16, 2021 at 21:36by Impakt53 comments

Hunters are master marksmen and, with the help of a fierce animal companion,can deal damage from range without ever letting their target get close. Withspecial tracking abilities, traps, and a wide range of utility spells, Huntersare a great choice for anyone looking for a strong solo class with lots ofranged damage and versatility.

Although the Season of Mastery brings with it a number ofchanges to how you may experience the content of WoW Classic, these tweaks donot include any adjustments to how you play Hunter. As such, this guidewill cover all you need to know regardless of which version of Classic you wishto play.

However, due to certain pieces of content from later Phases now being availableat an earlier date, gearing recommendations for Hunter will be different.Because of this, we have created additional pages detailing your best in slotitems for both pre-raid gear and the current raids available.

• The easiest and fastest class to level from 1-60
• Strong damage in the first raids and dungeons
• The best class in the game for most solo content
• One of the best classes for open world PvP
• Strong utility and crowd control
• Easy to learn, hard to master

• Damage falls off in later tiers
• Gearing can be difficult because you compete with Rogues and Warriors forlots of pieces
• Lots of extra items needed, such as ammo and pet food
• No self healing or major defensive cooldowns

The best Horde Hunter race for PvE is Troll, while for PvP or a mixof PvP and PvE, the best race is Orc.

Troll and Orc are very close in terms of damage gained, but Troll is slightlybetter due to Berserking being such a strong ability. Orc is thebest race for PvP because of Hardiness and will help you againstmelee more than Tauren's War Stomp. For a mix of both PvE andPvP, Orc is the best choice, as you still get a competitive damage bonusfrom Command while being the dominant PvP race.

• Beast Slaying gives a 5% damage bonus against Beasts.
• Berserking is a 3-minute cooldown that gives you between10-30% increased attack and casting speed depending on your health, with theeffect being greater the more hurt you are.
• Bow Specialization increases your skill with Bows by 5, whichincreases your chance to hit with a bow.
• Regeneration gives +10% passive health regeneration andallows you to regenerate 10% of your total health regeneration during combat.

Trolls are the best choice if your goal is to maximize your damage. Berserking is the most powerful racial ability of any race andwill let you get more auto shots off while it is active. Keep in mind that it ismore effective when used while you are missing health. Beast Slaying is powerful while leveling, but is only useful for ahandful of bosses in raids and dungeons. Bow Specialization isalso useful, but not as powerful as weapon specializations for other classes. Auto Shot cannot be parried or be a glancing blow, which makes weaponskill less important, but is still a noticeable boost to your chance to hit. AtLevel 60, it is much easier to get hit capped and this bonus becomes lessimportant.

• Axe Specialization increases your skill with Axes by 5, whichincreases your chance to hit and lowers your chance to be parried or deal aglancing blow with axes.
• Blood Fury is a 2-minute cooldown that increases your basemelee Attack Power by 25% for 15 seconds and reduces healing effects on you by50% for 25 seconds.
• Command increases your pet damage dealt by 5%.
• Hardiness increases your chance to resist stuns by 25%.

Orc is the go-to PvP race choice for hunter. Hardiness is an incredibly powerful racial and can change theoutcome of any fight where you resist a stun, especially against Rogues. Command provides a nice damage bonus to your pet, making Orccompetitive with Troll for damage. The Axe Specialization willhelp you for the first few levels, but once you get your pet at Level 10, youwill rarely melee. For the same reason, Blood Fury is not agreat cooldown for Hunters and does not provide much use past Level 10.

• Cultivation increases your Herbalism skill by 15.
• Endurance increases your total health by 5%.
• Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
• War Stomp is a 2-minute cooldown that stuns up to 5 enemieswithin 8 yards for 2 seconds, with a 0.5 second cast time.

War Stomp can be a great ability for PvP and the 5% increasedhealth from Endurance is nice, but Tauren does not give anydamage increase. War Stomp is also only situationally useful, as it requiresyou to be close to your target, which only really happens when you have amelee target chasing you. Tauren is the weakest choice for PvE and onlysituationally good in PvP.

The best Hunter Alliance race for PvE is Night Elf, while forPvP or a mix of PvE and PvP, the choice is down to personal preference.

Night Elf and Dwarf are both strong races and you should not feel compelledto pick either one. Night Elf is technically stronger for pure damage, but onlybecause of the higher base Agility, which is a very minor gain. For PvP, it comesdown to whether you prefer Shadowmeld or Stoneform, which depends on what you will mainly be doing. Foropen world PvP and defending in battlegrounds, Shadowmeld is going to be betterbecause it allows you to sit stealthed, scouting out enemy positions and gettingthe opener on anyone approaching without them knowing you are there. For duelsand fighting against melee, Stoneform is strong and can potentially be thedifference between winning and losing if you have a melee on you.

• Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
• Quickness increases your Dodge Chance by 1%.
• Shadowmeld is an ability that allows you to become stealthedwhile standing still when used, on a 10 second cooldown. This cannot be used incombat.
• Wisp Spirit causes you to transform into a wisp upon death,increasing your movement speed by 50% while dead.

Shadowmeld is a powerful ability for PvP which allows you tostealth in a single spot, potentially giving you the opener if you can positionyourself carefully. It is also very useful while leveling because you can macroShadowmeld together with your food and water to eat and drink while stealthed,reducing the chance that something will catch you off guard. Endurance is also useful in PvP when fighting melee. Night Elfis technically superior to Dwarf for damage, but only because of their higherbase Agility, meaning the difference is marginal.

• Find Treasure allows you to sense nearby treasure (chestsmainly), making it appear on the minimap.
• Frost Resistance increases your Frost Resistance by 10.
• Gun Specialization increases your skill with Guns by 5, whichincreases your chance to hit with a gun.
• Stoneform makes you immune to all bleed, poison, and diseaseeffects, as well as increasing your armour for 8 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown.

Gun Specialization is not as good as Troll's Bow Specialization because guns are much rarer. At Level 60, none ofthe best weapons from any raid or dungeon are guns, which makes it much lessuseful. You can use guns occasionally while leveling, but they are still rarerthan bows and crossbows. Stoneform is a very powerful abilityfor PvP and can give you the edge when fighting Warriors and Rogues, asyou can immune their bleeds and poisons.

The best profession to have as a Hunter is Engineering. It provides powerfulitems that you can use in both PvE and PvP content to either deal damage or helpyou get out of a tough spot.

Leatherworking is also a great choice for Hunters. The Devilsaur set is a BiScrafted set that you can make for when you are max level, and is very strongthroughout the first raid tier.

While Engineering and Leatherworking are great professions, the likely moreimportant thing to think about is how you plan to make gold. Gold is incrediblyimportant in WoW Classic for a number of reasons and will be quite hard to comeby, especially at the start. Check out the Hunter Goldmaking sectionfor more information on other potential professions for making gold.