Newly updated for Cataclysm! Feeling a little bit Huntarded?  We can help you out with that.  Hunters are a ranged DPS / pet class.  Note that rolling a Blood Elf Hunter does not make you Legolas, and even if you tame a panther, your Night Elf Hunter will not be Drizzt.  With that out of the way, let’s get to the basics.  Hunters start off wearing leather and upgrade to mail armor at 40.  They have a wide variety of instant speed shots with varying effects and damage types, and can handle themselves decently at close range as well.  They have the ability to tame pets from level 1, effectively allowing them to remain at range permanently while questing.  Alliance players can choose between Dwarf, Night Elf, and Draenei, and Horde-side Orcs, Trolls, Taurens, and Blood Elves can choose to be Hunters.

Hunter Leveling Stats

Agility.  That’s it, you’re done.  No, just kidding, but it’s almost true.  You want agility first, followed by crit and haste.  Note that just how much each stat is worth to you depends on your spec.  Survival Hunters will get slightly more out of agility, Marksmanship Hunters will want to keep up a steady stream of crits,  and Beast Mastery hunters might benefit a little better from haste than crit, although you shouldn’t completely forego one for the other.  When in doubt though, opt for agility.

Hunter Leveling Build

Marksmanship is great for big sticky crits, and Survival has excellent sustained damage, but if you’re looking for the king of soloing, Beast Mastery is the spec for you.  Beast Mastery turns your pet into a walking (or flying) meat grinder, meaning you’re much less likely to worry about aggro and you can unload without worry.  This is just as true in Cataclysm as it was before.  BM has excellent survivability, is the best at handling adds, and puts out more than enough damage to hold your own on the meters in pre-80 instances.

The ideal BM build should buff your pet to ridiculous levels while giving you a bit of extra firepower in the process.  Here’s my personal recommended Cataclysm hunter leveling spec – click here.

By the way, as soon as you get the ability to train an “exotic” pet, you should definitely get on it.  A lot of people are running around with Devilsaurs and plain vanilla core hounds, but my personal choice is the white core hound known as The Kurken.  He stands out from the pack a little bit, and the core hound ability set is pretty awesome.

Other Hunter Leveling Specs

OK, so even though it is my personal recommendation that you go with Beast Mastery, it is still perfectly possible to level as Survival or Marksmanship.  The reality of it is that you can easily make it through the game using nothing more than a macro to send your pet in and turn on autoshot.  Hunters are probably the strongest leveling class in the game, so if you feel more comfortable with or drawn to the Marksmanship or Survival trees, don’t let me stop you from going that route.  Marksmanship offers some of the best single-target damage in the game, and Survival gives you a decent amount of  damage over time as well as a bit more utility in groups.

If you’re looking for my personal recommendation for a Marksmanship or Survival Cataclysm leveling build – Click here for Marksmanship OR Click here for Survival.

OMG What Pet Do I Use?

Simple answer?  Which ever one you want.  Some people choose based on looks, others prefer certain abilities.  I used a wolf until 60, then went and grabbed myself The Kurken.  For me it was a combination of looks and abilities.  When you get into raiding, you might want to start choosing your pets based purely on stats, but for the most part, pet choices while leveling are completely open.  Don’t forget to spend your pet talent points!