(Disclaimer: Mostly, I thought of this as something to not necessarily take literally, but as a fun talent calculator experiment. It is for a change in leveling experience for the Hunter.)
Build: Use all of Survival, except for the two “slaying” talents, Improved Feign Death, and put only 4/5 in Entrapment. In Beast Mastery, Get both Improved Aspects, and Pathfinding.
The goal here is to not go for being melee, exactly, but to keep the mob at range. But, once it gets in range, you’ll have melee abilities to finish it off. At level 16 you get Immolation Trap, and at 20, Freezing Trap.
Since you’re putting no points into boosting your pet (besides what you get from pet trainer), I suggest turning off your pet’s growl. You’ll have Imp. Aspect of the Monkey, 5% increased dodge; and Deflection, 5% increased parry; and Deterrence, 25% increased dodge and parry (5 minute cooldown). After parrying, you can use Counterattack, an extra melee ability.
Method: Orc would be most effective, while using axes, preferably a two-hander. Wolf would be the best pet, to make use of Furious Howl. Keep pet on defensive, and don’t let it attack until the mob reaches you–to boost your first melee attack, with Furious Howl. (1) Set Immolation just outside of your dead zone. (2) Pull with auto shot, followed immediately by Concussive Shot, then wait for auto, followed immediately by Serpent Sting.
You can switch Entrapment for 4/5 Improved Concussive, giving a 16% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds, or keep Entrapment, for 20% chance that Immolation will prevent them from moving for 5 seconds.
I think entrapment would be better, since Concussive already slows them. Either way, (3) if they are stunned or entrapped, keep Aspect of the Hawk up, and continue to shoot. If they aren’t stunned or entrapped, (4) hit them with Improved Wing Clip, then Disengage (which you get at lvl 20), and continue to shoot; OR stand your ground, switch to Aspect of the Monkey, fight melee with pet, finishing off the mob.
Immolation Trap does a lot of damage. With Clever Traps, you increase that damage by 30%. With Trap Mastery, you reduce the mob’s chance to resist the traps by 10%. Wyvern Sting gives extra crowd control, but you can have only 1 sting and 1 trap at a time.
Stats: I think Str>Sta>Agi. Lightning Reflexes increases your agility by 15%, making up for the extra points you put into strength.
Professions: Some tough choices to make here. Blacksmithing would give you good axes, and mail Str/Sta armor after 40. Leatherworking could let you round out your agility, after emphasizing strength elsewhere; but the advanced LW options don’t work too well for this build. I would pick Alchemy. You get all the elixirs to boost your stats, health and mana potions; plus, it’s easy to farm while leveling.
Sorry for the big wall of text. The more I think about it, this might be a fun alt for someone who really loves Hunter, but wants a little different game-play, while still playing their favorite class.
