Hunters are deadly marksmen, capable of bringing their enemies down from a distance with bows or rifles. Skilled survivalists, they can track enemies or lay traps to damage and entrap their foes. Hunters also possess a primal connection to the beasts of Azeroth, capable of taming and training them to keep as loyal guardians. Wearing light to medium armor, hunters can also dual wield weapons in combat, fighting beside their pets in battle.

The Hunter is a vicious damage dealer. With their ability to pull extremely well and hit monsters hard from far away, they certainly help take down monsters more quickly. Their pets add to the damage count and can aid somewhat in managing monster aggro. The variety of traps allows the Hunter to control crowds to an extent, as well. The combination of their extreme range, decent damage, and trap capability, Hunters are the perfect pullers for any group.

Available to: Night Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, Blood Elves, Draenei Type: Ranged Physical Damage Dealer Standard Bars:  Health/Mana Pet Bars: Health/Focus Available Armor: Cloth, Leather, Mail (level 40) Available Weapons:  Axes,  Daggers,  Guns,  Bows,  Crossbows,  Fist Weapons,  Polearms,  Staves,  Swords,  Thrown,  Two-Handed Axes,   Two-Handed Swords Comments: Excellent for those who like to solo with pets

The Hunter class is a vicious damage dealer, but mainly at range. Hunters have pets that add to their DPS and help manage aggro. Hunters track, tame and train animals and beasts found in the wild. Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends. * Hunters tame wild beasts of Azeroth and Outland, training them to fight at their side. Hunters, along with Warlocks (Summonable Demonic Minions), Mages (Summon Water Elemental talent), Druids (Force of Nature Balance talent), Shamans (elemental summoning totems) and Priests (Shadowfiend spell) make up the six classes that can have combat pets. Hunters, however, are the only ones that can name and feed their pets; Warlock pets are automatically given names when they are initially summoned and their damage is unaffected by "happiness". * Hunters excel in outdoor survival skills, such as tracking and laying traps. * Hunters wear leather and cloth armor until level 39. At level 40, they gain access to equipping Mail armor. Most Hunters start with an axe or dagger and a gun or bow. With training, they can learn all other weapon skills except wands, maces, and two-handed maces. They are unable to use shields or plate armor. * Hunters have many magical abilities that require mana, such as pet healing and special shots, but their mana pools are not as large as those of dedicated spellcasters. * Hunters can take on various Animal Aspects that grant special abilities, such as increased dodge, improved run speed, or even additional nature resistance.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Can tame and control various beasts	Possesses very few melee abilities
Excellent long range damage capability	Has a "Dead Zone" where neither ranged nor melee attacks can be used
Good at stopping enemies from fleeing	Unable to heal self or party members
Effective at pulling monsters in dungeons and raids
Great crowd control abilities thanks to traps that cause damage, slow or even freeze enemies

These are some relevant racial traits to hunters:

• Draenei - Heroic Presence affects pets. Their Gift of the Naaru ability also gives hunters a heal over time.
• Dwarf - Gun Specialization increases gun skill by 5. Also has Stoneform to counter various types of debuffs, such as Crippling Poison.
• Night Elf - Shadowmeld enables the Hunter to take advantage of unsuspecting enemies in PvP as well as mobs in PvE.
• Orc - Command increases pet damage by 5%. Also has the powerful Blood Fury ability.
• Troll - Bow Specialization increases bow skill by 5. Also has Berserking.
• Tauren - Endurance increases the total health of the Hunter by 5%. This stacks with the Endurance Training talent in the Beast Mastery talent tree and the Survivalist talent in the Survival talent tree. Also has Warstomp to help escape from their deadzone (melee range).

Other racial attributes can also be useful, but may not be specifically relevant to hunters as a class. As always, research into all the racial traits of each race will make a player’s decision better informed.