Melee Hunter ONLY Guide - Learn how to dominate WoW Season of Mastery as a Melee Hunter

Classes Hunter
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Intro
Originally, hunters were designed to be played as a ranged class and the legitimacy of a hunter in the melee role was rarely considered. However, with a game that has been dissected for over a decade this dated notion has now been disregarded. It’s crucial to remember your melee journey demands a large amount of effort for players to recognize. Painting yourself in the most positive light possible will have lasting results. See Video to learn more. Being attentive and well mannered will have positive ripple effects later on. You want as much working for you as possible. If done properly, you’ll be known as not only a skilled Hunter but a proficient Melee Hunter who goes above and beyond expectations.

Race
Video: Melee Hunter - Best Races? - Video Explanation
Horde races have the benefit of Windfury Totem, thus the superior faction. The best races being Troll excelling on ~45 seconds fights due to Berserking & Orc with Blood Fury excelling on longer fights. See Video to learn more.

Pet
Video: Melee Hunter - What Pet? - Youtube
A pet contributes a decent amount to our general damage. But, if you don’t cater to the survival of a pet it will be a detriment to your DPS. Therefore, it’s not only advised to move out of the “giant fire” on the ground but also manage the position of a pet. Those who master this notion, should consider investing into buffs for their pet. Cats are the optimal pet family for damage.

Professions
Video: Melee Hunter - Which Professions?
Engineering for: Gnomish Battle Chicken, Goblin Sapper Charge, Goblin Jumper Cables XL among many other items. It also helps if party engineers use Gnomish Battle Chicken since Battle Squawk stacks to 25%. As a second profession, pick an easy or high gold generating one, this helps you buy powerful potions. See Video to learn more.

Buffs + Debuffs
Video: Melee Hunter - Buffs
Here’s a list of Buffs and Debuffs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSt10Pfk4nceGy3nB_6tqKRo7ZP_E6fRCika8gWxqFKeVMmuSksvF0ZlSFCaCxLAh_snRPkvzW3deoR/pubhtml that are relevant.

Phantom of the Wing Clip
The basic spell Wing Clip performs a “Phantom Strike”, which causes a melee swing but no actual damage is dealt but it will still trigger effects that require a melee swing to activate, ex: Windfury Totem among others.

Gear + Enchants
Video: Melee Hunter - How to gear? - Video Explanation
We gear similarly to a traditional ranged hunter. It’s possible to play as a ranged hunter and get Melee Hunter gear without anyone noticing. General Stat Priority: Dual-Wield Melee Hit Cap (16%) > Agility > Strength/Attack Power > Intellect. See Gear List: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vRqConpOc8uI4Twi_ByKJYU3R7INp3joopKCv8COm0UxZT4E1eaFN6zzBCC8GSo8fFtj8CB2Uee5V3g/pubhtml Enchants are tailored the same way as the gearing process. See the list of Enchants: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQLYzXBjwG01hjwFf4SO8aao6tvtK51qAF4o4eiLsqzeJEfKjFWRg309q9JkwYRCyrqVBi4AsdPgJ9s/pubhtml to learn more.

Talents

  • Short Fights: 31/0/21 https://tinyurl.com/y4mzk3yz Mostly for ~2min fights. It’s crucial to keep you pet alive for as long as possible. If this is not feasible, consider the next setup. Going 31/0/21, if there’s a 2nd Hunter in the group is the optimal setup for the most damage possible from a Melee Hunter.

  • Long Fights: 0/33/18 https://www.classicwowbuilds.com/build/view/a1b510a8-ee6b-49ff-a695-d7280af22546/melee-hunter-som/0 Mostly for fights above 2min. Great damage while also increasing party physical damage. Push the potential damage of this setup by being the hunter who pulls the boss.

Rotations
Video: Melee Hunter - Rotation

  • Pre Pull: Use Aspect of the Monkey. But, if the fight has moments when you can’t go in melee than instead use Aspect of the Hawk. If the fight requires attacking targets that have distance between each other use Aspect of the Cheetah to reach the next target faster.
  • Pulling: Call Pet and ask the Raid for the few remaining buffs.
    • You’re Pulling: Aspect of the Hawk, Immolation Trap, Aimed Shot (if talented). Multi-Shot, Rapid Fire, Serpent Sting.
    • Not pulling/run in: Aspect of the Cheetah. Equip a weapon with a lot of +Spell damage and start running in along side other melee, cast Serpent Sting & Arcane shot. Immediately after swap to your normal weapons.
  • Combat: The mob is now in melee range, use Raptor Strike while pressing Wing Clip. Use a trinket, ex: Earthstrike. Spam WC until RS comes of cooldown. Continuously repeat the WC & RS process.
    • Combat-Situational: If you accidentally Aggro a target and it’s about to attack you. Use the talent spell Deterrence to enable the possibility to Mongoose Bite, after use Limited Invulnerability Potion (cancels Aggro), after help the tank reposition the mob and go behind its back.

Feedback is appreciated!

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This is a very impressive guide… I rarely see guides which includes videos like this! What a great idea.

I don’t play MSV, but all the same, I thought this very impressive. I just wanted to let you know. :slightly_smiling_face:

Well done!

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That whole channel sounds like it’s from an alternative reality. The discussion about the actual proficiency of this approach is absent (likely because it’s utterly non-proficient). That first video is completely laughable; he seems to see melee Hunter as a totally legitimate and simply alternative path of playing a Hunter and how you might get people to view it that way. People are never going to view it that way because it’s simply not true. You might get a guild that accepts you playing a joke meme build, but that’s ultimately what everyone’s going to see it as so let’s not pretend it will be seen as anything more than that.

Here’s something the channel doesn’t tell you: agility in classic gives 2 ranged attack power for every 1 melee attack power. I got a laugh out of his gearing video when he highlighted Lightning Reflexes as “superb scaling”. The scaling is bad even for a ranged Hunter! Hunters are the worst scaling DPS class because Blizzard back then had the prescience to balance the Hunter’s damage around having a pet yet they neglected to make the pet actually scale with gear. By going melee you’re giving up even more of your scaling. So you start off bad and just get worse and worse. By Naxx you’ll be a complete joke DPS wise. I mean, it’s a joke long before that, but as I said it gets worse as everyone gets more gear.

So, forget performance. People play this for the gameplay!.. right?

Have a look at the rotation video. It’s just 3 minutes and even then most of that is padding. The “rotation” for a melee Hunter is ultimately pressing Raptor Strike every 6 seconds. That’s your gameplay. I’m not sure there’s anyone in the word who finds that engaging or thrilling, so most of that channel just comes across as a “quirky” identity choice. Personally I respect my fellow raiders too much to force them to deal with shenanigans like that. If someone wants to be melee so badly there are actual fleshed-out classes for that.

Ultimately you’re picking a ranged class and ignoring most of the key iconic strengths of the class for unenaging gameplay (even by Classic standards) and abysmal performance. Why not just play as ranged and employ melee weaving? That way you’re playing something actually engaging, you’re not forcing your team to carry your bad performance just so you can come off as a bit more quirky and different, and you still get to Raptor Strike every 6 seconds for that thrilling melee Hunter gameplay.

This whole youtube channel has a fun time pretending this is just some acceptable alternate build but the only reason it may be “acceptable” is the same reason for all the alternate “off-meta” build choices you like to post, Caperfin: Classic is so easy and non-competitive that absolutely anything is passable. Running in with no talents spent at all is “acceptable” because bosses are mostly easy undertuned tank-and-spanks that fall over. So sure, you can have a blast hitting that one melee damage ability every 6 seconds, but let’s not entertain the illusion that it’s anything more than a meme.

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Imagine being so angry that you simply cannot help but going into any thread talking about melee hunter and derailing it. I also enjoy the hypocrisy because you’ll claim in another thread that you never, ever try to derail threads.

To the OP, it’s great to see people trying things other than what guides or convention tell them like the lemming above me. Glad you found something you enjoy. Keep it up.

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i am happy that you are having fun with a spec that was ripped from our hands and lives with no vote. i hope that blizzard dont remove melee survival and would just hope that they give me and others back our ranged version as a 4th spec option as i wouldnt want you to go through what we went through when they ruined the spec as a whole and took it from us.

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Firstly, I’m not derailing. My post is 100% relevant to the topic of the thread.

Secondly, you clearly didn’t read or understand anything about the OP’s post or mine. “Glad you found something you enjoy” is a patently ridiculous statement when describing a “build” whose entire rotation is ignoring >90% of your class’s toolkit and casting 1 ability every 6 seconds.

I know you like to shill for melee Hunter in as many threads as possible but the fact of the matter is melee-only Hunter in classic is a piss take. Ultimately it amounts to dragging your guild down to play your class in an unengaging and unviable way (again, literally just ignoring most of your class’s toolkit and strengths) just to come across as quirky and different.

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You may have missed this in the last six years of your ranting, but this is a video game that most normal people do for fun. Everything you said after that point was ludicrous drivel justifying your continued toddler-like responses to anyone who mentions melee.

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People who find gimping themselves and pressing 1 button every 6 seconds forever are not “normal people”.

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People who spend hours every day whining about something that happened in a video game six years ago are not normal people.

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This thread actually wasn’t at all about Legion onwards, it’s about Classic. But apparently I’m the one that derails ¯\(ツ)/¯

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It doesn’t need to be about Legion for your idiotic anti-melee bias to shine bright.

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why would you play a melee hunter in classic lol. its like youre a bad version of a warrior spamming heroic strike except ours has a cd. even worse because fury is actually a broken spec in vanilla.

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In my experience,I prefer carrion birds over cats

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No. Body. Cares. Stay. Pathetic.

  • I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT I AM EVER FUGGIN TALKING ABOUT*

Yes. You deliberately went out of your way once again but play stupid afterwards. Def on the spectrum.

Well, if you actually know how to do it, its pretty great and effective. Most people have zero idea how it works properly and jump to HUR DUR 1 BUTTON.

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OP should watch this informative video on how Survival works in Classic (i.e. not a melee spec but one that sticks to ranged as much as possible and uses melee situationally):

As it says at that timestamp, you only have 4 melee abilities, 2 of which are mainly for escaping melee. So you’re left with Raptor Strike i.e. 1 damage ability every 6 secs a, and Mongoose Bite which is only available after dodging so isn’t applicable to most PvE scenarios.

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its a very informative video. Thanks betamale

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Shaman Tank
is my forte but I’ve recently taken an interest to Melee Hunter. I’m glad to hear you like it.
Thank you for your support, if you have any questions, let me know.

Thank you. I’m quite shocked at the vitriol from some players over something that was more than acceptable on pservers and years before that, DPS only got better over time.

Usually this overall distain comes from misinformed people who are playing the game for the very first time and don’t know any better.

Many players have been playing the same old game for years, Melee Hunter offers a fresh new way of playing the game.

Most of the time, Melee Hunters find a place in a hardcore/min maxing guild. They are able to appreciate/acknowledge the massive amount of effort that is required in order for a Melee Hunter to perform optimally. They know I MUST now the fight, come fully consumed, etc…

I’d love to know your experience as a Melee Hunter in Classic.

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Calling me misinformed yet implying that anyone ever viewed melee-only hunter as anything more than a meme :rofl:

It was only “acceptable” because no Classic content is hard. You can also be a wand mage. You’ll be nothing but a detriment to your group but that doesn’t matter in easy content.

You might not view it this way but the videos you posted are misinformation, mainly by omission. Not once in that channel did I hear a mention that each point of Agility gave 2 ranged attack power and 1 melee attack power, or that pets don’t scale with stats at all. He portrays melee Hunter as a perfectly valid and competitive choice when it just isn’t; again, it’s not competitive at all. A Hunter that puts a modicum of effort into the standard choices and the Aimed/Multi/Auto weave is going to stomp all over anyone parking themselves in melee range and spamming Wing Clip and Raptor Strike. If you think that’s not true, find me a raid log that shows otherwise. In any case, a new player who doesn’t know the class well and watches this channel would walk away being extremely misinformed by omission of these facts.

Again, many guilds probably won’t care because it’s Classic and everything is stupid easy anyway. But what I disagree with is the pretence that

  • Melee Hunter is viewed as anything more than a meme
  • Melee Hunter can be competitive
  • Melee Hunter requires effort
  • Melee Hunter isn’t a burden on the raid team (same goes for every off-meta talk you give BTW)

What, by pressing Raptor Strike every 6 seconds?

Just look at the rotation section you posted as well as the accompanying video. If you remove all the padding, your entire interaction with the class is ignoring most of its toolkit and pressing Raptor Strike every 6 seconds and spamming Wing Clip. I don’t think that’s engaging by anyone’s standards but Classic players do have a way of surprising me on that front. I would even consider the standard Aimed/Multi/Auto weave to be unengaging yet it’s a hell of a lot more engagement than that.

This hardly amounts to a “fresh new way of playing the game”. Why not just do melee weaving instead? It’s far more engagement and requires far more effort to pull off, you might even get more damage out of it and therefore not be a total burden to your team, and you still get to press Raptor Strike every few seconds.

Enough talking. Show the logs.

Lol? Shall I remind you of the content of your own rotation section?

Even all the talk of gearing and speccing throughout this “guide” doesn’t amount to any more effort than preparing a proper ranged Hunter aside from the part where you need to try to psychologically manipulate your own team members into accepting you into the raid team.

Easy. In actual Classic, 2005, I wondered if Hunters were meant to be meleeing more given my melee weapon was higher DPS than my ranged weapon. I tried some naive “weaving” i.e. running in to Raptor Strike and found it highly innefective and unwieldy. It was then explained to me that Hunters had a full-fledged ranged toolkits, a wealth of talents and effects that buffed ranged attacks, and literally double the scaling for ranged damage from our main stat Agility. Given that I didn’t want to be a burden for my own group and that if I wanted to play melee there were plenty of fully-fleshed-out melee classes to try out instead I decided to stick to ranged combat.

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This is a contradiction. So basically, you’re not a detriment?

That’s because this is a guide about playing Melee not range, naturally, I would not mention range stuff. I do mention agility and it’s relation to attack power: https://youtu.be/OkKabda3EIA?t=109

  • Why would I mention pet scaling with a hunters’ stats, if it wasn’t a thing?
  • Please find where I said you will deal more damage as a Melee hunter than a Range Hunter. I’ve never said Melee Hunter is competitive and if a player is somehow under this misguided impression, you’re quickly met with the current state of affairs long before you reach level 60.
  • Actually, Multi-Shot + range auto weave is part of the Melee Hunter rotation. It just requires an insane amount of finesse to range weave perfectly. The lazier option would be to Arcane Shot/Serpent Sting weave if you need to run to another target, as you can see in SoM running all over the place is quite mandatory in certain fights, ex: Shaz, Gehenass, etc.

You do realize this sentence of yours is followed by: " But what I disagree with is the pretence that... Melee Hunter isn’t a burden on the raid team (same goes for every off-meta talk you give BTW)"

If you’re mad at this, you must be absolutely livid at the rotation of conventional specs and the boring feeling that everything is figured out and nothing will change.

You cant keep saying “burden” and say that the game is easy. You’re either a burden because the game is hard or are allowed to perform sub optimally because the game is easy, please choose.

Ah, so you never played a Melee Hunter in a serious context, got it.