Hunter or mage? Help me to decide

Community General Discussion
1

I am torn between these 2 classes. I have tried both and they seem to be fun. Because my limit time, I would like to play only one of those mentioned.

I would play only Surv/mm Hunter or Fire/frost mage. I do not like BM (or any heavy pet class)

Questions

  1. What spec has more fun/better engaging rotation overall?
  2. Better mogs and aesthetics?
  3. Better soloing/survivability?
  4. Better at pvp?
  5. Looking better in shadowlands?
  6. Better lore (Your opinion)
3

I have both at 120;

  1. Frost has the most engaging rotation as it will change somewhat as you switch between AoE and ST in a dungeon. Fire relies on mostly the same kit/style once you get all the ‘exodia’ pieces (CD reduction arms, overlapping trinket windows and blaster master, etc).
    Survival in ST is not very engaging but MT Wildfire infusion does vary your playstyle based on the bombs you get. Haven’t got enough experience with marksmanship to talk.

  2. Mage no doubt. Go for a civilian look? No worries. Ancient mage? No problem. Skimpmogs? Easily.

  3. Hunter is excellent at soloing things. Have been 5§ quests going up thanks to the fast revive rep time, just respawn it and let it taunt again. Only really a concern for survival.

  4. Warlock Both are good at PvP. Notably though Fire mage with gpros and a rogue makes a loveable combo.

  5. Casters in general have a slightly harder time at the start of an expansion due to them relying more on secondary stats. This doesn’t diminish that mage will still be an enjoyable class, but hunter will start off good and generally remain the same throughout. They get a slight nerf as revive pet is now 6 seconds.

  6. I can’t make up my mind on the last one. Hunter lore is very strong as you actually perform and make decisions on the pet you carry through the game.

2 Likes
4

TY very much for this great response since I need a little push in order to choose.

What class would you choose and why?

5

If you want me to choose for you. I choose Hunter.

2 Likes
6

I played Mage for 8 years and swapped to Hunter main in BFA. Looking to continue my hunter into SL.

  1. Fire mage. Hands down. The second would be Frost Mage. Hunter is not fun based on it’s rotation, it’s fun based on it’s simplicity and utility. Being able to be a mobile ranged is so much fun. Fire mage is probably one of the other mobile ranged specs though. Hunter also has long range, knockbacks, a heal, jumps and traps.
  2. Personal preference. I’d say MM has a great aesthetic to its abilities especially in SL but overall I’d say Mage has more visually pleasing aspects. That’s actually the big perk of a caster.
  3. Hunter. Easy.
  4. This is a question that any answer can be irrelevant at any moments notice. Typically, Frost mage is good at PVP (good track record). Although right now Fire mage is insanely good. Hunter is fun, I really enjoy the “run and gun” style of play. I really dislike casters in PVP when you’re being focused it’s just not fun.
  5. MM hunter is looking very good to me personally, excited to get it. Each hunter spec looks better in SL than it is in BFA. Mage looks worse off overall, each spec looks worse in SL than BFA.
  6. Mage. Not much to really say here, hunter doesn’t have a huge lore background to me personally.

IMO go hunter.

7

Fire mage.

Who doesn’t want to chuck massive cinderbursts at people and watch em ignite.

8

Go druid. better than both

1 Like
9

  1. I find survival to have a very engaging playstyle in pvp and it is quite strong there. In PVE it feels lacking but I haven’t played much PVE on it as I tend to swap to BM in PVE. Recently I have been getting annihilated by survival hunters in higher keys, one did 93k overall dps which is insane and actually managed to out dps me by a little.

  2. I like my hunter mogs more than my mage ones but its personal preference.

  3. Hunters by far.

  4. In team based areas it is mages, in solo pvp where you are relying more on yourself it is hunters, you have a knockback for arathi basin and eye of the storm (2 if you are MM) and I love those. Also survival is really engaging in pvp.

  5. Fire is going to be gutted in shadowlands, frost looks fun and the hunter specs still look fun.

  6. I love hunters, its cool to be a master of the wild and dogs are mans best friend and now you can have your own virtual one. Mages are cool but hunters are cooler.

2 Likes
10

I find survival hunter to be fun, it’s a nice take on the hunter class. Feels unique and keeps you on your toes dps wise.

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11

Ty guys for all your responses. It seems hunter sounds more convincing

12

This. Hunter is so much more fun and you won’t be made of glass like mages.

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13

Mage, You get portals, food and your class is usually always pretty good. Blink is an amazing movement option/stun remover in dungeons, and Ice Block is leagues better than turtle shell.

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14

If you don’t want to touch BM, just go mage. MM is a clunky mess and Surv just shouldn’t exist, but that is just my personal bias. Either way, neither can hold a candle to Fire Mage.

15

Well, I’m surprised to see so many people pushing towards Hunter… but then again I’m a hunter too.

Hunter Pros:

  • Really good at soloing thanks to the pet.
  • Decent utility across the board, has an answer for everything.
  • SV is melee, but can be almost completely ranged when it needs to be.
  • SV is currently the best (generally speaking) hunter spec for PvP.
  • SV is very mobile.

Hunter Cons:

  • MM and SV are middle of the road at best in BfA. I expect the same to happen going in SL, or worse if we don’t get more changes.
  • MM is a really slow spec. Your main source of damage will be Aimed Shot going in SL, and you won’t be able to move much as a result.
  • BM is the all-mighty spec for hunters. If you don’t do PvP, then you’ll still have that nagging feeling that BM would outdps you ten-fold with 3 buttons.

Mage Pros:

  • Really unique and useful tools like portals and food. I can’t tell you how great it feels to teleport wherever you want.
  • Better utility in general than hunters. Ice Block > Turtle, Shimmer > Disengage/Cheetah, stuff like that.
  • Both Fire and Frost out-damage SV and MM, and it’s likely to continue into SL.
  • Fire has a super satisfying playstyle with the huge instant pyroblasts.
  • Fire ends up being more mobile than MM thanks to the short cast time on Fireball.
  • Frost is… Okay, I’ll level with you, I never play frost. I hear it’s really powerful too though, and it looks like it’s more mobile than MM too.
  • Not as overpopulated as Hunter.

Mage Cons:

  • Really squishy class. You will struggle to solo most content once you ding max level unless you get really good at using your mage toolkit. If you do get good, it should be about the same as Hunter if you ask me.
  • Not as mobile as BM or SV hunter.
  • Arcane will likely be a dead spec for you. I personally love it, but most players find the playstyle at odds with Fire/Frost, and it doesn’t always perform that well.

Fair warning that I main SV and Arcane, so I am biased towards SV and I don’t have as much experience with Fire and Frost.

In general though, if you care a lot about having high damage, then mage is a much safer choice. SV is rarely touched outside of PvP since Legion, and MM is just literred with problems. Fire and Frost on the other hand are usually good and powerful specs in anything.

If you go hunter, you may be pigeonholed into playing BM, assuming you play higher level PvE content.

1 Like
16

Thank you for this response. If you had to choose one which one would you choose and why?

I love arcane so I am with that spec. Actually I like the 3 mage specs while hunter I like only MM and SV

17

I am all in for hunter but BM is my favorite spec by a good margin. Other two can be fun, SV has its moments, but BM is ranged and mobile.

18

Honestly I would’ve picked Mage.

I don’t know, Hunter is nice and all but there’s an objective “best spec” in the form of BM, and it’s not even a spec I enjoy. I only play it now because I have my fingers crossed for changes in SL for my SV spec. The class in general is just littered with issues from Legion’s spec-focused design and it really hurt MM and especially SV. I don’t think the dev team even knows what to do with SV anymore, as it has gotten 3 reworks in the last 3 xpacs.

Hunter in general just gets constantly reworked, so you can’t get attached to the playstyle you love.

Mage is always powerful, and the specs have remained constant for a while. They don’t change much from xpac to xpac so if you want a long time choice, then Mage is objectively better. You don’t have to worry about losing the playstyle you love as much, and the 3 specs aren’t usually far off damage-wise. It only loses in the soloing department against Hunter.

Plus hah, you like all 3 mage specs! That alone is a really big plus for picking mage if I was in your boat.

19

Pets are such a huge part of the Hunter class fantasy, it’s hard to imagine the class without them. Times have changed, sure. And chainmail mog is pretty meh compared to cloth.

I’d go Mage.

20

Hunter. There’s a bloodlust pet, there’s a water walking pet, there’s a pet pet. Hunter.

Slow fall pet. Healing pet. Hati pet.

21

Hunter has survival, which is cooler than all the lame nerd non-melee of mage