Is Hunter for you in WoW Forever? The whole class, 1 to 60

A bow, a melee weapon and a beast

A Hunter carries a bow, gun or crossbow alongside a melee weapon, and can learn to dual wield. From level 1 you have Auto Shot, which fires on its own whenever you stand still for a moment, and Raptor Strike for enemies that reach you. At level 10 a class quest teaches taming, and a beast you found in the world becomes your partner. Different beasts can bring different skills, ranks and attack speeds.

Distance shapes every fight. Your shots work from 8 yards, your melee reaches about 5, and in the gap neither works; Blizzard calls it the dead zone. Most Hunters fight at range while the pet holds the enemy, but Forever also makes deliberate melee a build you can choose.

Sources: Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30 · Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode · Official Forever Podcast, Episode 2 (October 1)

What Forever changed from Classic

Classic Hunters could only place traps out of combat, one at a time. In Forever traps can be placed during a fight, with one Fire trap and one Ice trap active at once, on a 30 second cooldown.

Aimed Shot is no longer a Marksmanship talent. Every Hunter learns it at 20, with a 2 second cast instead of Classic's 3, on a 6 second cooldown shared with Multi-Shot.

Melee received the largest rework. Mongoose Bite now uses your melee weapon's damage, a new trained bleed called Lacerate arrives at 30, Rapid Fire speeds up swings as well as shots, and Aspect of the Beast adds melee attack power. Survival was rebuilt around these tools, and Wyvern Sting is gone from it.

Pets now gain stats from their Hunter's gear rather than from other players' buffs, every family has a unique ability, and the Fox is a new family. New talents reshape each tree: Summon Hawk for Beast Mastery; Lone Wolf, Sniper Shot and Careful Aim for Marksmanship; Expose Prey, Strider Kick and Lacerating Strikes for Survival.

Sources: Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30 · Development notes for the October 15 update (post 6, posted October 16 UTC) · Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode

Mana, Focus and the Auto Shot rhythm

The Hunter spends Mana on shots, stings, traps and aspects, while the pet uses Focus, which refills on its own: the reverse of modern World of Warcraft.

Auto Shot needs you to stand still for about half a second before it fires, which the October 15 notes describe as matching early versions of the game. Instant shots work on the move, so Hunters move between Auto Shots. Arcane Shot is an instant on a 6 second cooldown. Aimed Shot's cast does not stop Auto Shot, so it adds damage on top, and Multi-Shot hits 3 targets on the cooldown it shares with Aimed Shot.

Growl helps the pet become the target. Disengage, a melee range button on a 5 second cooldown, lowers your threat and disables auto-attack; it needs a pet or tank with threat to take over, and it is not a leap.

Traps hold the class's control. Against a second enemy, place Freezing Trap at your feet and call the pet back: the enemy chasing it is frozen for up to 10 seconds, longer at higher ranks. Any damage breaks the ice, including a ticking Serpent Sting, a stray Multi-Shot or your bear's Swipe.

Feign Death arrives at 30; level 40 brings mail, Volley, Aspect of the Pack and dual specialization. Talent points run from level 10 to 51 at 60, and each capstone needs 30 points in its tree, so capstones normally arrive at 40. The account-wide Legacy perk Talented, at its maximum, starts talent points at level 5 without moving trainer abilities, mail or dual spec.

Sources: Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode · Development notes for the October 15 update (post 6, posted October 16 UTC) · Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30 · Blizzard: the Legacy system

Beast Mastery and Marksmanship

Beast Mastery invests in the pet: health, armor, damage, speed, and Spirit Bond healing you both. At 16 points, Summon Hawk sends a hawk to attack for 18 seconds; you can have 2 out, and it shares a cooldown with Arcane Shot. Intimidation, at 21 points, makes the pet's next hit stun for 3 seconds and adds threat. Frenzy turns pet crits into faster attacks, and Bestial Wrath, at 31 points, gives the pet 50% more damage and immunity to fear and crowd control for 18 seconds, every 2 minutes. Bestial Discipline keeps half your mana regeneration running at all times.

Marksmanship puts the damage in your own shots. Careful Aim turns Intellect into attack power. Its mana loop runs through Serpent Sting: Rapid Recuperation keeps half your regeneration going for 15 seconds after the sting lands, and Rapid Killing makes your next shot 20% stronger after a kill, with regeneration rising to full when you use it. Scatter Shot works from point blank to 15 yards and disorients for 4 seconds, covering the dead zone.

Lone Wolf, at 11 points, gives 20% more damage with your own attacks while no pet is active, at the cost of the pet's damage, tanking and family ability. Trueshot Aura buffs ranged attack power within 45 yards and leads to Sniper Shot, a 4 second cast with a 45 yard base range that hits harder than Aimed Shot.

Sources: Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode · Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30

Survival: you decide the distance

Survival keeps the bow and adds tools to step in and back out. With Expose Prey, your attacks on a target carrying Hunter's Mark can unlock Mongoose Bite for 10 seconds without a dodge, and at 31 points Lacerating Strikes makes each Mongoose Bite leave a bleed worth 40% of the hit. Strider Kick hits with your weapon and grants 30% movement speed for 3 seconds; Counterattack, after a parry, roots the enemy for 5 seconds. Expose Prey and Strider Kick share a row and need 22 points together, so a level 30 Hunter without Talented picks one. Strider Kick, despite its name, is not an interrupt.

Deterrence adds dodge and parry for 10 seconds, feeding both Mongoose Bite and Counterattack, but not against spells. Survivalist's Discipline cuts the trap cooldown from 30 to 18 seconds, Entrapment roots enemies caught by a trap, and Resourcefulness turns ability crits into mana regeneration and makes traps and melee abilities 60% cheaper.

On the October 1 podcast the developers described two styles, ranged with trips into melee or staying close with two weapons, and called the close style the easier one.

Sources: Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode · Official Forever Podcast, Episode 2 (October 1) · Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30

Finding, teaching and keeping a pet

Taming is a 20 second channel during which your armor drops to 0, and you can only tame beasts at or below your level. Some pet skills come from the pet trainer; others only from wild beasts that know specific abilities at specific ranks. Fight alongside such a beast until a yellow chat line says your Hunter has learned the ability. The ability then belongs to your Hunter and can be taught to any pet whose family can use it, given the level and training points.

For Bite and Claw, rank 3 needs a level 16 pet, rank 4 needs 24, and later ranks open every 8 pet levels. Family abilities are the reason to own several pets: Crocolisks reduce healing, Bats slow casting by 30%, Spiders root from 20 yards, Bears Swipe up to 3 targets, Turtles take half damage for 12 seconds, Wolves boost party melee attack power, and the Fox gains dodge and attack speed. Pets inherit part of your attack power and armor, health from Stamina, and your higher crit chance. You get 3 slots, one active and 2 stabled; the developers plan more.

Sources: Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode · September 24 development notes · Official Forever Podcast, Episode 2 (October 1) · Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30 · Development notes for the October 15 update (post 6, posted October 16 UTC)

In the world, in groups, and which race

Eyes of the Beast, at 14, lets you steer your pet for 2 minutes at any distance while your Hunter stands still. In dungeons, turn Growl off and keep Aspect of the Pack off before pulls, because anyone damaged while it is active is dazed. Volley has no cooldown in Forever, so it can easily break crowd control. At 60, Tranquilizing Shot removes Frenzy, Aspect of the Wild adds Nature resistance, and how pets fare in raids without player buffs is still unknown.

Seven races can be Hunters across eight options: Human, Dwarf, Night Elf and Skyborne for the Alliance, Orc, Troll, Tauren and Skyborne for the Horde. The October 15 racial rework removed the old weapon specializations. Orcs, Trolls and Night Elves get burst cooldowns that line up with Rapid Fire and Bestial Wrath, and Tauren War Stomp stuns up to 5 nearby enemies, right in the dead zone.

The episode's verdict: Hunter suits players who like playing on their own terms and building a companion. Beast Mastery if the pet should carry more of the fight, Marksmanship if every big shot should be yours, Survival if you like choosing the distance.

Sources: Talents Forever, CC BY 4.0: client data export for build 70425 used in the episode · Blizzard: Forever race and class combinations · Development notes for the October 15 update (post 6, posted October 16 UTC) · Blizzard class deep dive: Hunter and Druid, September 30