The Hunter in WoW Forever is still the ranged class with a pet at its side, but Blizzard rebuilt the parts that used to feel clunky. Every Hunter learns Aimed Shot at level 20, traps work in combat, and pets now scale with your gear. Every pet family also got its own ability, from the crocolisk's Dismember to the new fox's Trickster's Dance.
The talent trees push the three specs further apart. Beast Mastery can call two hawks with Summon Hawk, Marksmanship can play with no pet at all through Lone Wolf and ends in Sniper Shot, and Survival becomes a real melee spec with Strider Kick and Lacerating Strikes. The class still has one role, damage, and still cannot stun or interrupt on its own.
This guide sums up every Hunter change, lists the abilities you learn at each level, explains pets and Aspects, compares Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival and helps you pick a race before the November 4 launch.
Blizzard's goal for the Hunter was more flexibility while keeping it a ranged class with a trusted companion. The changes fall into three groups: shots and traps, pets, and a few retuned Aspects and stings.
The shot rotation and trap play changed the most:
| Ability | Level | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| Aimed Shot | 20 | Was a Marksmanship talent; now baseline for every Hunter |
| Arcane Shot | 6 | No longer shares a cooldown with Aimed Shot |
| Multi-Shot | 18 | Now shares a cooldown with Aimed Shot |
| Traps | 16+ | Usable in combat with a 30-second cooldown; Fire and Frost traps have separate cooldowns |
| Disengage | 20 | Removes twice as much threat |
Traps are the biggest quality-of-life gain. You no longer have to drop out of combat to lay a Freezing Trap, you can keep one Fire and one Frost trap active at once, and Fire traps like Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap scale with Attack Power. Traps are still placed at your own feet, though.
Pets now gain stats from your gear, so a gear upgrade for you is an upgrade for your pet, but they can no longer receive player buffs that raise their stats. Every family can learn Bite or Claw (some both) and Dive or Dash, and each family has one ability no other family can learn. Foxes join as a new tameable family. The full list is in the pets section below.
The October 15 beta build made Trueshot Aura raid-wide, so one Marksmanship Hunter now buffs every ranged attacker in the raid. Auto Shot again needs you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before it fires, as in early WoW, and a new setting switches between melee and ranged auto attack for you. Several pet abilities were nerfed: Dismember now cuts healing by 25% for 6 seconds, Sonic Blast slows casting by 30%, and the owl's Mine! disarm lasts 3 seconds on a 90-second cooldown.
We compare every talent in all three trees with its Classic version in our WoW Forever Hunter talents guide.
A Hunter learns new abilities from the class trainer every two levels and tames a first pet through a class quest at level 10. Hunters wear leather until level 40 and mail after that, and talent points start at level 10, one per level, for 51 points at 60. Dual Specialization opens at level 40.
The table lists the level at which you learn the first rank of each ability. Shots, stings and traps get new ranks every few levels, and your pet learns new ranks of its own abilities from the pet trainer.
| Level | New Abilities |
|---|---|
| 1 | Auto Shot, Raptor Strike, Track Beasts |
| 4 | Aspect of the Monkey, Serpent Sting |
| 6 | Arcane Shot, Hunter's Mark |
| 8 | Concussive Shot |
| 10 | Tame Beast, Call Pet, Revive Pet, Feed Pet (class quest), Aspect of the Hawk, Track Humanoids |
| 12 | Mend Pet, Wing Clip, Distracting Shot |
| 14 | Eagle Eye, Eyes of the Beast, Scare Beast |
| 16 | Immolation Trap, Mongoose Bite |
| 18 | Multi-Shot, Track Undead |
| 20 | Aimed Shot, Aspect of the Cheetah, Disengage, Freezing Trap |
| 22 | Scorpid Sting |
| 24 | Beast Lore, Track Hidden |
| 26 | Rapid Fire, Track Elementals |
| 28 | Frost Trap |
| 30 | Aspect of the Beast, Feign Death |
| 32 | Flare, Track Demons |
| 34 | Explosive Trap |
| 36 | Viper Sting |
| 40 | Aspect of the Pack, Volley, Track Giants |
| 46 | Aspect of the Wild |
| 50 | Track Dragonkin |
| 60 | Tranquilizing Shot |
Talents add the rest of the toolkit. The key talented abilities are Summon Hawk, Intimidation and Bestial Wrath for Beast Mastery, Scatter Shot, Trueshot Aura and Sniper Shot for Marksmanship, and Counterattack, Strider Kick and Lacerating Strikes for Survival.
Our WoW Forever Hunter leveling guide shows which of these abilities to use at each stage from 1 to 60.
Your pet and your Aspects are the two systems that set the Hunter apart from every other class. The pet tanks for you while leveling and adds a large share of your damage, and Aspects are self-buffs you swap depending on whether you are fighting, traveling or defending.
You tame your first pet with Tame Beast at level 10 and can tame any beast at or below your level. In Forever, the family you pick matters more than before, because each one has an ability no other family can learn. Since pets now scale with your gear, the choice comes down to that ability and to whether you want a sturdier or a harder-hitting pet.
| Family | Unique Ability | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Bat | Sonic Blast | Damage and slower spellcasting on the target |
| Bear | Swipe | Hits up to 3 targets |
| Bird of Prey (formerly Owl) | Mine! | Damage and a short disarm |
| Boar | Charge | Charges and immobilizes the target, then hits harder |
| Carrion Bird | Demoralizing Screech | Damages nearby enemies and lowers their Attack Power |
| Cat | Prowl | Stealth with a stronger opening attack |
| Crab | Pinch | Damage and a movement slow |
| Crocolisk | Dismember | Damage and reduced healing received |
| Fox (new) | Trickster's Dance | More dodge and attack speed for 12 seconds |
| Gorilla | Thunderstomp | Damages enemies in an area |
| Hyena | Tendon Rip | Movement slow and a bleed |
| Raptor | Savage Rend | Bleed over time |
| Scorpid | Scorpid Poison | Stacking damage over time |
| Spider | Web | Roots the target and deals damage over time |
| Tallstrider | Dust Cloud | Lowers the target's armor |
| Turtle | Shell Shield | Less damage taken but slower attacks for 12 seconds |
| Wind Serpent | Lightning Breath | Ranged attack from 20 yards |
| Wolf | Furious Howl | More melee Attack Power for the party |
For solo leveling, a sturdy pet like a boar or bear holds threat well, while cats and raptors kill faster. In groups and raids, the wolf's party buff and the tallstrider's armor reduction are the utility picks, and for PvP the crocolisk, bat and spider bring healing reduction, cast slows and roots. One fox you can tame early is the Gray Fox, a level 22 beast in Duskwood.
Only one Aspect can be active at a time. Swap them as the situation changes:
The Deadly Aspects talent, the new version of Improved Aspect of the Hawk, gives both Aspect of the Hawk and Aspect of the Beast a chance to grant 30% attack speed.
All three Hunter specs deal damage, but Forever gives each a clear identity: Beast Mastery doubles down on pets and hawks, Marksmanship can drop the pet entirely, and Survival moves into melee range. Each tree also has a new 16-point gold medal talent.
| Spec | Playstyle | Key New Talents | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beast Mastery | Ranged with pet and hawks | Focused Fire, Summon Hawk, Bestial Discipline | Easiest leveling, pet tanks for you | Damage drops when the pet dies |
| Marksmanship | Ranged, with or without a pet | Lone Wolf, Careful Aim, Sniper Shot | Longest range, raid-wide Trueshot Aura | Long casts, needs to stand still |
| Survival | Melee and ranged hybrid | Predator's Edge, Strider Kick, Lacerating Strikes | Fights in the dead zone, strong traps | Needs melee weapons and more gear |
Beast Mastery is the classic leveling spec. Focused Fire adds damage for you and your pet while the pet is out, Bestial Discipline now also lets half of your mana regeneration continue while casting, and Intimidation gives the pet's next attack a guaranteed crit. The new Summon Hawk sends a hawk at your target for 18 seconds, up to two at once, on a cooldown shared with Arcane Shot. Bestial Wrath still caps the tree.
Marksmanship is about big ranged hits. Careful Aim turns up to 100% of your Intellect into Attack Power, Rapid Killing shortens Rapid Fire and boosts your next Shot after a kill, and Trueshot Aura is now the 21-point talent and buffs the whole raid. Lone Wolf adds 20% damage while no pet is out, so a Marksmanship Hunter can choose a no-pet build, for example in raids where pets die to AoE. The 31-point Sniper Shot has a 4-second cast, 45-yard range and hits harder than Aimed Shot.
Survival answers the old dead zone problem: within 8 yards your shots do not work, so Survival makes melee worth it. Predator's Edge adds melee crit damage and off-hand damage for dual wielders, Expose Prey gives attacks on your Hunter's Mark target a chance to activate Mongoose Bite, and Strider Kick hits for weapon damage and adds 30% run speed for 3 seconds. Lacerating Strikes at 31 points makes every Mongoose Bite leave a bleed. Resourcefulness and Survivalist's Discipline make traps cheaper and more frequent.
Our WoW Forever Hunter tier set guide lists the raid set bonuses along with the crafted pieces.
Hunter is open to eight races in Forever: Orc, Tauren, Troll and Windshaper Skyborne for the Horde, and Human, Dwarf, Night Elf and High Order Skyborne for the Alliance. Damage racials and Haste matter most for a Hunter, so the table focuses on those.
| Race | Faction | Key Racials for a Hunter | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orc | Horde | Blood Fury: +10% Attack Power for 15 sec; Savage: +1% crit; Hardiness: shorter stuns | Raids and PvP |
| Troll | Horde | Berserking: +10% attack speed for 10 sec; Beast Slaying: +5% damage to Beasts | Leveling and raids |
| Tauren | Horde | War Stomp: AoE stun; Endurance: +5% health; Plainsrunning: up to 30% run speed | PvP and Survival |
| Windshaper Skyborne | Horde | Wind Blessed: +3% Haste; Skysight: +10% movement speed | Raids and open world |
| Night Elf | Alliance | Elune's Light: +10% crit for 15 sec; Shadowmeld usable in combat | PvP and raids |
| Dwarf | Alliance | Stoneform: removes bleeds and poisons; Big Game Hunter: +5% damage to Beasts | Leveling and PvP |
| Human | Alliance | Will to Survive: removes stuns; Ruthless: +2% crit with any weapon | Raids and PvP |
| High Order Skyborne | Alliance | Wind Blessed: +3% Haste; Read Leyline: double health and mana regeneration | Raids and leveling |
On the Horde side, Orc and Troll bring the strongest damage cooldowns, and Troll adds bonus damage to Beasts, the most common enemy while leveling. On the Alliance side, Human gets 2% crit with any ranged weapon through Ruthless, and Night Elf is the PvP pick thanks to Shadowmeld in combat. Both Skyborne branches trade burst for a steady 3% Haste.
For a full breakdown of the new race, see our WoW Forever Skyborne race guide. Our WoW Forever race tier list ranks every race for every class.
These are the questions players ask most about the Hunter before launch.
Yes. Hunter remains one of the easiest classes to level thanks to its pet, and Forever adds baseline Aimed Shot, traps in combat and pets that scale with your gear. Its limits are a single role, damage, and no stun or interrupt of its own.
Beast Mastery. Your pet tanks most mobs, Focused Fire and Bestial Discipline add damage and mana, and Summon Hawk at 16 points speeds up kills.
Yes. Aimed Shot is learned from the trainer at level 20 by every Hunter. It no longer shares a cooldown with Arcane Shot, but it does share one with Multi-Shot.
Yes. All traps can be placed in combat with a 30-second cooldown, and Fire and Frost traps have separate cooldowns, so you can have one of each active at once.
The fox. Foxes are a new tameable family with Trickster's Dance, which raises the pet's dodge chance and attack speed for 12 seconds.
Yes. The Marksmanship talent Lone Wolf gives 20% more damage while no pet is out, so a no-pet build is a real option in Forever.
Partly. Survival mixes ranged shots with melee, and new talents like Predator's Edge, Strider Kick and Lacerating Strikes make melee range a strength rather than a dead zone.
Orc, Tauren, Troll and Windshaper Skyborne for the Horde, and Human, Dwarf, Night Elf and High Order Skyborne for the Alliance.
These guides take your Hunter from the first level to the first raid:
