Hey guys! Can you guys elaborate more on the “its a high skill ceiling?” I understand the rotations and using either clipping or full rotations, but my question is, what are some things hunters have done that made you go “woah!” Any tips and tricks?
Thanks guys! Cant wait to get into classic!
When a 2H weapon drops with strength, and they roll need! I always think to myself, “man that hunter is good”.
All jokes aside, I think the first thing a Vanilla hunter did that impressed me was kiting the last boss in UBRS all the way down the hallway before feigning death to give the group time on the two mobs with the boss. At the time I had no clue that this was standard practice for the boss.
Even more impressive a hunter kited a world boss all the way to Stormwind across three zones and then set it loose on the auction house crowd.
+10 skill points in my book for that!
The skill ceiling thing, for me, is really only talking about pvp. They do have one of the hardest pve rotations because of how they have to watch their attack swings but if you have that down you really don’t have much more to learn in pve.
Very limited fights it can be a SLIGHT dps boost if you learn how to jump into melee between multi shots but I think that was calculated to be so minuscule that you are better off just sitting at range.
My worst WoW memory ever, going to ZG on my Arms Warrior and losing the 2 Hander to a Hunter…
Lol! You can only get that xmog from archeology now, right?
Yes and no.
It is the exact same model, but a keen eye will point out that you hold the archeology version upside down!
Huh, never noticed 
I’m curious if that was by design?
Well, I know hunters would feign death mid fight to get out of combat so they could eat and drink to regain Mana.
Yup. Kiting Drak was a big deal in vanilla, a rite of passage. I remember the first time I did it I was literally shaking, because if you screwed up you get one shotted and the group wipes. Jump shot ftw!
Being able to double trap is another big one. Lay down a freezing trap, wait for the cool down and then kite the mob into it. Immediately lay a second trap at its feet so the moment your first trap wears off he steps into the second one. Being able to chain CC like this in a busy dungeon is critical.
Going Survival helps a ton with this.
Kiting in general is a big one. I have had CC break and an elite starts going wild while traps are on cooldown, had to kite them away on the fly while the rest of the group finished off the remaining mobs. Then you just bring back the baddie to a grateful tank. Being able to pick up strays like that when CC fails or a wandering patrol joins the party is next level hunter stuff. Either misdirect to the tank, trap them yourself, or take them for a kiting run (don’t aggro other mobs!). A good hunter can still be in control of a situation when things start to fall apart.
In PvP it’s all about kiting. Or more specifically, it’s about being able to get back to range when melee is on you. Can you get away from that rogue who gets the drop on you? Warrior is in your grill going ham and has you in hamstring, can you reestablish range and start pumping damage into him? Mage is moving to blink into your deadzone then will nova and nuke you, can you make a play that will stop him?
And then finally, manage your pet well. Turning off growl in dungeons is just the start. Recognizing that pets have goofy pathing sometimes (won’t jump down with you, they will go around and aggro every mob on the way back to you). How to position them in fights and how to fight without them if necessary, like on the Drak pull.
Hunters are super easy to play 90% of the time, it’s that other 10% that takes some knowledge, timing, and execution.
Oh, and use Scare Beast on drood flag runners in WSG. Good times!
The biggest skill to learn as a hunter in pvp is the “spin shot”. Say you’re carrying the flag in WSG and you’re in cheetah aspect, the idea is to keep people from closing on you. While running, you jump, spin 180 degrees, hit someone with concussive shot, and spin the other 180 degrees before you land. Master this, and spinning around during disengage.
uhhhhhhhhh
Did disengage not send you flying back in vanilla? I didn’t play hunter much back then.
It doesn’t in vanilla. I am pretty sure it wasn’t until WotLK that it did. I didn’t play hunter in tbc and I don’t remember them using it then.
There was no disengage in Vanilla. No escape mechanism other than slow the opponent and run away.
Strafing in circles was king.
Private Server experience;
Be me; rank 12 Orc Warrior, destroying mid 50s Allies all over Burning Steppes. Have Rank 10 Shaman buddy healing.
Encounter Grand Marshal Slicyxd, Night Elf Hunter. I equip my rocket boots and frost reflector trinket. Don’t get to charge the Hunter before I am in combat, so I swap to defensive and tank the Beastial Wrath extremely powerful Lupos for a minute while my Shaman gap closes. Hunter scatters him, feign deaths, attempts to trap him, gets frozen due to Shaman having ice reflector. I switch to zerker stance and close in, intercept Hunter. Hunter rocket helms my Shaman. Rip, there goes my healing. I’m ~60% HP due to Lupos. Hunter pops deterrence and I can’t land anything, get wing clipped. Pop trinket to remove snare, get intimidated by Lupos. Hunter gets distance and opens fire. Almost dead, Shaman begins healing, takes me back to 100%.
Hunter tidal charms my Shaman and takes off. Nothing I can do at this point besides kill Lupos. Hunter disappears in the distance.
Neither of us can do a thing so we heal to full and continue on, looking for people to kill and herbs to farm.
Find a Black Lotus near Flame Crest, Shaman goes to get it, eats a frost trap. I can’t see the Hunter anywhere. Dude materializes from a distance Shadowmeld Aimed shotting. Hits my Shaman for 3.6k and nearly kills him. Lupos intimidates him, I go to engage the Hunter. Shaman eats a Gnomish death ray for 1700 and dies to that and Lupos. I charge, get scatter trapped, didn’t pop my reflector. Ree.
Shaman ankhs. Hunter times this perfectly and lands a thorium grenade right as his ankh goes off. Shaman is stunned (GG TAUREN) and gets serpent stung. Spends his mana on cleansing totem and spamming low rank lesser healing wave. He has to pop a night dragon breath to have SOME mana and health. Hunter is running away, lands another Aimed shot, Shaman dies. Hunter is healing Lupos. I still have my reflector, equip rocket helm.
I rocket helm Lupos and Charge the Hunter. Mistake. Hunter pops deterrence, wing clips me, I pop trinket, he murloc nets me, runs off. Doesn’t die. Shaman screaming at me on Discord for being a pleb.
Outplayed by a Night Elf.
Ree.
Nitpicky question. Misdirection was introduced in TBC, right? My pserver hunter has missed it, otherwise.
I’m sure you’re right, my bad. Those xpacs blend together after a while…
Yes yes, I mostly played hunter in TBC, but it was the same routine for CC’ing! The worst is when the trap would get resisted and you would have to improv keeping the mob off the healer until your CD ended. But, then again that made the game fun!
Oh, I should have kept reading! Sorry!
Dude, that was an awesome story! I was never able to get BW and BM in general to work in PvP I like hearing about how a real pro made it happen.
Now that I think of it, hunter was by far the most common, but it was really impressive to see non-hunter classes kite Drak and survive. Rogues with vanish come to mind, mages with blink was possible if they could outrun Drak. I remember at one point just choosing the lowest geared DPS (was most likely me) as a sacrifice… they pulled Drak to the end of the hall, fought back and tried to stay alive for as long as possible, and died for the group haha.