Hunter was already one of the fastest classes to level in Classic, and Forever made it stronger. Pets now scale with your gear, inheriting all of your critical strike chance and part of your Attack Power, armor and Stamina, and they learn new abilities such as Dismember, Web and Sonic Blast. Traps work in combat on a shared 30-second cooldown, a new Summon Hawk talent adds two extra attackers, and pets finally have a move command. The result is a class that kills from range while its pet tanks, and that rarely has to stop.
Below, we explain why Beast Mastery is the leveling spec, give ready talent builds for our calculator, and cover the rotation, the best pet for each starting zone, weapons, races, professions, Legacy talents and dungeons for both factions. Levels 1–30 are tested on the beta, which is capped at 30; levels 31–60 follow beta data and will be updated after the November 4 launch.
The answer is the same as in Classic, only more so: Beast Mastery. Your pet now scales with your gear and tanks for you, so every Beast Mastery talent that makes it stronger or faster also makes you safer. Speedrunners preparing for the world-first race to 60 have settled on Beast Mastery with a Marksmanship splash.
| Spec | Best for | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beast Mastery | Solo questing, dungeons, almost everyone | Pet does most of the damage and tanks; Summon Hawk and Intimidation early | Pet management in dungeons |
| Marksmanship | Players who want a lone-wolf ranged style | Sniper Shot from 45 yards, Lone Wolf bonus without a pet | Slower, needs a stationary cast, weaker sustain |
| Survival | Trap-heavy AoE farming and melee experiments | In-combat traps with shorter cooldowns, Entrapment | Few useful leveling talents in the middle of the tree |
Marksmanship and Survival are viable endgame and PvP specs, but neither beats Beast Mastery for leveling. Spend your 31st point onward in Beast Mastery and only then dip into Marksmanship for critical strike and Trueshot Aura.
Hunter Leveling Builds
Pick a build to open it in the talent calculator
Beast Mastery Build: Levels 10–30
Pet tanks, you shoot · Solo questing and dungeons
The first points go into your pet's survival and your movement: Endurance Training for pet health and armor, Focused Fire for damage, and Pathfinding so Aspect of the Cheetah is stronger as soon as you get it. From there you rush Summon Hawk at 25 and Intimidation at 30.
Beast Mastery Hunter, level 30
The talents that carry it:
Beast Mastery Build: Levels 31–60
Full Beast Mastery with a Marksmanship splash · Follows beta data
Past 30 you finish Ferocity and Bestial Discipline, take four points in Frenzy and grab Bestial Wrath at 40, then spend the rest in Marksmanship for Lethal Attacks, Careful Aim and Trueshot Aura. This part follows beta data and will be checked after launch.
Beast Mastery Hunter, level 60
Your real resource while leveling is mana, so the rotation is about spending it efficiently while your pet holds the mob. Forever also reshuffled shared cooldowns: Multi-Shot now has a 6-second cooldown shared with Aimed Shot, which is baseline at 20 with a 2-second cast, and Arcane Shot shares its cooldown with Summon Hawk.
Before you have a pet, kill mobs from range and keep moving:
Once your pet tanks, the loop looks like this:
Melee weaving still works in Forever. Your melee and ranged swing timers are separate, so a Raptor Strike between two Auto Shots is free damage when a mob is already on you.
Traps now work in combat, each school on its own 30-second cooldown, so you can Freezing Trap one mob and drop Immolation Trap on the next. Pets also have a new move command that places them anywhere you click, which makes pulling single mobs out of a camp much easier. If a mob switches to you, Disengage now removes twice as much threat as before, and Feign Death from level 30 drops you out of combat completely.
Your pet is your tank and half of your damage, and in Forever it scales with your gear: it inherits 100% of your critical strike chance, 10% of your Attack Power, 30% of your armor and 2 health for every point of Stamina, according to beta testing. Pets can no longer receive player buffs, so do not ask your group to buff them.
Tame your first pet at level 10 and look for one that already knows Bite 2, so you do not need to train it:
| Race | First pet | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Tauren | Prairie Wolf Alpha in Mulgore | Bite 2 and Furious Howl |
| Dwarf | Starving Winter Wolf in Dun Morogh | Bite 2 |
| Night Elf | Webwood Silkspinner in Teldrassil | Strong early spider |
| Human | A prowler in eastern Elwynn Forest | Best early cat |
| Orc, Troll | Elder Mottled Boar or a surf crawler in Durotar; Oasis Snapjaw in the Barrens at 15 | Boars bring Charge; the turtle has Bite 2 |
Around level 16, many players switch to a bear. Bears belong to the defensive pet family, can learn Bite, Claw and the new Swipe, and hold several mobs at once while you Multi-Shot.
Forever added family abilities that change how you pick a pet. You learn them by taming a beast that already knows the ability and fighting with it until the chat confirms you learned it; after that you can teach it to any pet of that family.
Rare pets with unique skins, such as Humar the Pridelord in the Barrens or Mistmane on Zephras Isle, are worth a detour if you like collecting, but a well-trained bear or croc levels just as fast.
A Hunter needs ranged upgrades less than a Warrior needs melee ones: your pet often caps your threat before your bow does. Buy the vendor bows and guns at levels 3, 11, 14 and 16, keep your ammo up to date, and plan for the bow from the Stranglethorn Vale hunting quest chain once you reach the zone. For stats, Agility comes first; on the beta, Leatherworking's Brawler's Leather Helm was one of the best Agility pieces available.
Eight races can be Hunters in Forever, including Humans and both sides of the Skyborne. Because your pet inherits your critical strike chance, crit racials now boost both of you.
| Race | Faction | Key racials for a Hunter | Why it helps while leveling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Night Elf | Alliance | Elune's Light, Quickness, Shadowmeld | 10% crit for you and your pet, 2% movement speed, and Shadowmeld in combat drops you to the bottom of the threat table |
| Human | Alliance | Sword Specialization, Will to Survive | 2% crit on all attacks, ranged included, while a sword is equipped |
| Dwarf | Alliance | Stoneform, Big Game Hunter | 5% more damage to beasts, the most common mobs while leveling |
| Skyborne (High Order) | Alliance | Read Ley Line, Wind Blessed | Doubled regeneration between pulls and 1% haste |
| Troll | Horde | Rapid Regeneration, Berserking, Beast Slaying | Heals 50% of your health over 6 seconds while your pet holds the mob |
| Orc | Horde | Blood Fury, Axe Specialization | 10% Attack Power for you and your pet, crit with an axe equipped |
| Tauren | Horde | Plainsrunning, Endurance, War Stomp | Up to 30% movement speed while running; dominant from 1 to 10 |
| Skyborne (Windshaper) | Horde | Skysight, Wind Blessed | 10% movement speed buff and 1% haste |
For pure leveling speed, Night Elf and Troll are the strongest picks. Plainsrunning makes Tauren the fastest Hunter to level 10, but it does not stack with Aspect of the Cheetah, so its value drops once you have Cheetah at 20.
Forever keeps the Classic experience curve but pushes players into the open world. Since the October 1 beta build, dungeon quests give half their old bonus experience, and dungeon mobs give far less than in Classic even after the 20% increase on October 8. Low-level mobs were trimmed on purpose too, so once a zone turns green, move on. Hunters lose the least from this: questing is where the class is strongest.
| Levels | Horde | Alliance |
|---|---|---|
| 1–10 | Durotar, Mulgore or Zephras Isle | Dun Morogh, Teldrassil, Elwynn Forest or Zephras Isle |
| 10–20 | The Barrens, Silverpine Forest | Westfall, Loch Modan, Darkshore |
| 20–30 | Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale, Hillsbrad Foothills | Redridge Mountains, Duskwood, Wetlands, Ashenvale |
| 30–40 | Thousand Needles, Desolace, Arathi Highlands, Stranglethorn Vale | Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Stranglethorn Vale |
| 35–45 | Riverglades (new in Forever) | Riverglades (new in Forever) |
| 40–50 | Tanaris, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Badlands | Tanaris, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Badlands |
| 50–60 | Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Burning Steppes, Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands | Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Burning Steppes, Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands |
Run each dungeon once for its quests and gear: Ragefire Chasm or The Deadmines, the new Ruins of Lordaeron, Wailing Caverns (where you can also tame a Dismember croc), Shadowfang Keep (Sonic Blast bats), Blackfathom Deeps, and the new Excavation Site and City of Dalaran in the late 20s. Our WoW Forever dungeons overview lists every dungeon with its level range.
If your schedule does not leave room for a full climb, our WoW Forever leveling service can take a Hunter to 60 while you focus on the endgame.
The classic Hunter pair is the right one in Forever too, and every crafting profession awards a Legacy point at 150, 225 and 300 skill.
Our WoW Forever professions guide covers every recipe path from 1 to 300.
Mana is your real limit, so Thrill of Adventure is a strong first pick: at 5/5 every non-trivial kill outside dungeons, raids and battlegrounds returns 5% of your health and mana over 10 seconds, which refills your whole mana bar every 20 kills. On an alt, Talented is even better: five extra talent points early means Summon Hawk and Intimidation several levels sooner. Drinking while walking, a Classic speedrun trick, no longer works in Forever, which makes both talents more valuable.
We explain where every Legacy point comes from in our WoW Forever Legacy Points guide.
Hunters bring steady damage, crowd control and pulling tools to a group, but a careless pet causes more wipes than anything else.
These habits from the beta save the most time:
These are the questions players ask most often about leveling a Hunter in Forever.
What is the best Hunter spec for leveling in WoW Forever? Beast Mastery. Your pet scales with your gear and tanks for you, and talents like Summon Hawk, Unleashed Fury and Intimidation make it both faster and safer.
What is the best first pet? One that already knows Bite 2 at level 10: the Prairie Wolf Alpha for Tauren, the Starving Winter Wolf for Dwarves, or a boar with Charge in Durotar. Many players switch to a bear around level 16.
Do Hunter pets scale with gear in WoW Forever? Yes. On the beta, pets inherit all of your critical strike chance, 10% of your Attack Power, 30% of your armor and 2 health per point of your Stamina.
Can Humans be Hunters in WoW Forever? Yes, Humans join Dwarves, Night Elves and the High Order Skyborne on the Alliance side, and Sword Specialization works with ranged attacks.
Is melee weaving still worth it? Yes, when a mob is already on you. Your melee and ranged swing timers are separate, so a Raptor Strike between Auto Shots is extra damage.
Once you reach 60, these guides take your Hunter further:
