The Last Hunter PvE Guide You'll Ever Need

[Papasmokes]

With all of the new boosted Hunters running around in end game content, I felt a need to post a PvE guide to give them a basic understanding of the Hunter class.

Hunters are a ranged DPS class with the best mobility in the game. They are "easy" to play but very difficult to master. If you follow a few simple steps that I will outline in this guide, you'll be well on your way to being a professional hunter.

Many people will refer to you as a "Huntard" because some bad Hunters have given us all a bad name. Ignore these individuals and just use the rotations and Hunter "secrets" I will reveal to you.

Before we get into your actions, you must decide on your new Hunters appearance and a name fitting of a mighty woodsman! If you want to optimize your experience as a Hunter, your name must contain some version of "Legolas", whom we all know was the greatest archer ever to walk the planet. We all strive to be created in his image. Blizzard knows this as well, so they offer incentives to all Hunters who name themselves after Legolas.

This can be done many different ways, some great examples of Hunter names would be:

Legolas
Xlegolasx
Legolaz
LegØlas
XlegØlasx
Lleeggoollaass
etc, etc.

You'll notice that many versions of the name "Legolas" will be taken already, because all pro Hunters know that you get 10% increased reputation gains if your name has "Legolas" in it. This bonus reputation jumps to 50% if you are a Night Elf Hunter with "Legolas" in your name, and 100% if you have a cat as your pet.

First off is the key to Hunter DPS - Jumping .

As I'm sure you have noticed, Hunters jump around constantly. Many believe this is because they have a bad case of ADHD or it's just because they can continue to use their abilities while jumping - this is completely wrong. Jumping is a Hunter's #1 DPS tool. If you jump 20-30 times per minute, your DPS will increase by at least 30k. More jumping is recommended for better results, but not necessary. I, like many other Hunters, have every ability macro'd to jump. This results in optimal DPS.

*Keep your jumping skills toned here: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1225421/

Once you have your jump rotation down, you have to move onto the Hunter's most important key abilitty - Pet Taunt.

Pet Taunt should be on at all times. If you're having difficulty finding this ability, open up your ability window, go to the pet tab, and find the icon that looks like a set of teeth with a red-ish background. Move this onto your pet's bar, and right click it until there is a gold border flashing around it.

Your pet is a huge portion of your DPS, and taunting will give it more aggro. The more aggro that your pet has, the more damage it will take, giving it Vengeance. Vengeance is a mechanic that multiplies attack power based on damage taken, and keeping your pet's taunt on at all times will maximize it's DPS. Tanks will probably yell at you to turn it off, or you may get whispers from an add-on called "Bad Pet", but that add-on is out of date, and the tanks don't know what they're talking about. They're just super jelly that your pet is getting all of that vengeance and they're not getting any. You're helping them out by taking aggro off of them anyway! It gives healers enough time to get them back to full health, which they probably need since they are worse tanks than your pet.

Using a full load of Tenacity pets during raids is highly recommended. You can find a list of the best Tenacity pets here http://www.wow-petopia.com
I suggest turtles, bears, and beetles.

The ability that is your most important raid-wide contribution is Aspect of the Pack. We all know that if you take damage while Aspect of the Pack is on, you will be temporarily dazed. A little known fact about AotP though, is that while you are dazed, your spell power and attack power is increased by 15%! This is a balancing mechanic that Blizzard put in for Mist of Pandaria. They tried to remove the daze, but couldn't get the code right, so they decided to give us bonus SP / AP while dazed to make up for it. Your raid will surely badger you about turning it off, but they don't realize that the bonus damage from the daze buff, more than makes up for the reduced movement speed.

Once you've mastered these two key elements of the Hunter class, you may notice that your DPS is very high above the rest of the raid. It could be so high that you pull aggro off of your pet even! This is a big problem for you because if you pull aggro, you could die, and if you're dead, you can't jump and your raid will no longer get the damage bonus from your Aspect! To alleviate yourself from this aggro that you're pulling with your super leet Hunter deeps, you have two different options.

The first is Misdirection. The best people in your raid to misdirect your aggro onto are healers. You don't want to do it on the tanks because your pet would get less vengeance, thus decreasing your DPS, and definitely not other DPS because then you might hit enrage timers! Healers may not appreciate the extra aggro, but it will make them better players in the long run.

The second option is Feign Death. Feign Death should never be a reactive move, it should always be proactively used. You should work FD into your rotation so that you never pull aggro. Another little know fact about Hunters, is that the more time you spend feigning death, the more threat reduction it offers. You should spend about 10 seconds every minute FD, to make sure you never pull aggro off of the tanks (or your pet). However, do not FD for too long if it interferes with your jump rotation. Jumping is always your #1 priority. If it seems a wipe might happen, just FD and wait for it to play out because no one wants repair bills!

The last thing to know about playing a Hunter is that most everything that goes wrong is a raid is your fault. You will see people constantly blaming "huntards" for other's mistakes. This blame is rightfully placed. As a Hunter, you are the most important person in the raid. Your every action effects the outcome of each fight entirely. Usually when the raid wipes, it's because you weren't jumping enough.

Jumping increases DPS exponentially, but it also has hidden mechanics that no one but the super secret squirrels at Blizzard understand. The greatest WoW minds have come together and have collectively decided that Hunters jumping is the only thing that determines a boss fight's outcome.

Long story short, get used to taking the blame because it is most definitely your fault.

I hope all of you new Hunters paid very close attention to this guide, as we can't have the lot of you running around giving the rest of us a bad name. Follow these simple steps I've laid out for you, and watch your DPS get so high, that 14/14 H-SoO guilds will be recruiting you in your fresh 483 ilvl boosted gear.

Thanks for reading, and happy hunting!

[Azortharion]

ಠ_ಠ

10chars

[Littlepinch]

This needs to be sticky now!!!!! thanks made me lol so hard while reading.

[ritsunero]

yes please sticky lol

[Deleted]

Lmfao, take note 'Okay'

[Avada Kedavra]

+1 internets to you sir -

i vote for a sticky as well

[Anastacy]

Will jumping still increase my DPS by 30k after 6.0 hits?

Or is jumping shorter heights part of the stat squish?

[aHeeRo]

This..........this is spot on.

[Alvarie]

Very interesting...

[mistahwilshire]

I jump because I can, frankly. 100% uptime while moving is sadly the coolest thing we do.

[Deleted]

+1

[Deleted]

Thank you! Thank you for making my day!

[Xionyus]

Can u share ur macros pls

+1

[Jeremypwnz]

You're the best Hunter I know Papasmokes, I'm well on my way to becoming as good as you!

[Papasmokes]

You're the best Hunter I know Papasmokes, I'm well on my way to becoming as good as you!

Follow the simple steps outlined here and you will be there in no time. This is rock solid information, all veteran Hunters can confirm.

[Kissthebaby]

You forgot to add hunters pulling bosses before the countdown because they accidentally left click auto shot. Hunters are the best class at pulling early. "Who pulled early?" Random person says " I saw an auto shot". Always the scapegoat

[Jakezor]

I can't only hit like low 90s for jumping uptime, any hints from the pros?

[Frozenhawk]

Having a third arm to spam the space bar is THE best way to get 100% jumping uptime for mass dps.

Also this thread is amazing.

[Teucer]

What about levitate?

[Illana]

What about levitate?

you can't jump while levitated

dps loss.