Hunters are known for their pets, long-range DPS, and traps. Each of the talent trees focus on improving one of these aspects. Depending on your playstyle, you may focus on one of these alone, or follow a hybrid build.
Although the hunter class may seem like a hybrid class, it is actually closer to being a straight DPS class (especially at level 60). This is greatly supported by the fact that each tree has a way to improve the DPS of a hunter. Because of this, hunters do not usually focus on speccing completely down one tree but use up 30 or 31 points to get the essentials then focus on another tree. No tree is a waste to a hunter and any build is viable in all spects of the game. Although that is true, each tree has an advantage for one specific facet of the game while it does not excel as well for other styles of play.
Beast Mastery[]
Most of the talents improve your pet and skills that pertain to them such as Thick Hide and Improved Mend Pet. Some of the other talent points improve your aspects (Improved Aspect of the Hawk). Beast Mastery is the only tree out of any classes without a level 20 learnable talent (the only thing that is close is Shaman's ability to use two-handed axes and maces). The talent attainable at level 30 is Sprit Bond and Intimidation, and the level 40 talent is Beastial Wrath.
The Beast Mastery tree is excellent for grinding. The majority of hunters chose a Beast Mastery spec when leveling because of how much quicker an enemy mob will go down. There in turn is not as much downtime, due to the increased healing and reviving abilities connected with your pet.
This tree can also be quite good for PVP up until level 60. The majority of players would rather fight only one person instead of one person and his/her pet. Also, casters have a hard time dealing with a fast pet that constantly interrupts their spells. However at level 60, you will come into contact with many "epicced" players and pets do not scale very well at level 60.
Some hunters have found success with using a pet in high level raids. It takes a lot of work to keep your pet alive and active, and the pet can only be used for certain fights, but it is still possible.
Marksmanship[]
Most of the talents deal with specifically increasing the ranged damage you can cause such as Mortal Shots. Some of the other talent points improve your stings (Improved Serpent Sting). The level 20 learnable talent is one of the most important talents for any hunter: Aimed Shot. The talent attainable at level 30 is Scatter Shot, which many hunters also consider to be a pivotal shot, and the level 40 talent is Trueshot Aura.
The Marksmanship tree is excellent for high-level instances and raiding. With such important talents like Barrage and Ranged Weapon Specialization, the Marksmanship tree scales with gear and it appears that with no matter what gear one can obtain, this tree will still remain the best.
This tree can also be quite good for grinding. With the more damage you can do, the less time you have to spend fighting a mob. Enemies can be done faster and when combinined with a Beast Mastery spec, grinding becomes incredibly fast and efficient.
Marksmanship is also great at PVP. The talents of Lethal Shots, Mortal Shots and Barrage add great burst damage for a hunter while Scatter Shot is a great tool to help deal with PVPers that get in your deadzone.
The majority of hunters will agree that although the Marksmanship tree is plagued with some of the most useless talents, it is also the best tree for us. No hunter would go wrong in choosing to spec Marksmanship.
Survivalist[]
Most of the talents deal with specifically increasing the melee survivablity such as Deterrence. Some of the other talent points improve your traps (Trap Mastery) and burst damage (Killer Instincts). The level 20, 30 and 40 learnable talents are Deterrence, Counterattack and Wyvern Sting, respectfully.
Also, the Survival tree is the most complete of any hunter tree with what many hunters consider to be no useless talents (although some argue over things like Improved Feign Death).
The Survival tree is excellent for PVPing. With such important talents like Improved Wing Clip and Counterattack hunters no longer have a deadzone. A hunter can choose to focus on improving his traps, his melee fighting skill or his ability to get back to ranged.
This tree can also be quite good for raiding. Although there are not many talents that increase your damage, Lightning Reflexes gets better with higher level gear. It is possible for a hunter to obtain over 700 agility with Naxxramas gear and Lightning Reflexes. Also, many hunters like the utility their characters have outside of the raid.
Some hunters have found success with being Survival and grinding. The trap talents make kiting a much easier task, and skills like Clever Traps and Wyvern Sting although a hunter to CC multiple targets at a time.
Summary[]
The most important thing to realize about hunters is that you can choose any build and find success with it. Even the seemingly useless builds like a Survival/Beast Mastery spec can be very good for people who solely want to PVP. The idea is to find the build that you like and which best fits your playing style.
Suggested Talent Builds[]
Beast Master builds[]
A Beast Master build is a very strong option for those who will spend much of their time solo. As a hunter is dependent on their pet; making the pet stronger improves the hunter.
Recommended talents.
Endurance Training 5/5.
Thick Hide 3/3.
Improved Revive Pet 2/2.
Unleashed Fury 5/5.
Ferocity 5/5.
Intimidation 1.
Bestial Discipline 2/2
Improved Mend Pet 1/2
Bestial Swiftness 1/1
Frenzy 5/5
Bestial Wrath 1/1
You can back-fill later with the next point of Improved Mend Pet. I would suggest later moving into the Marksmanship tree and obtaining aimed shot (you can only obtain scatter shot if you do not follow this tree all the way to the end, as you will run out of points at level 60 otherwise). The key elements in this build are Intimidation which provides you with a quick 2 second stun and a large amount of hate against the mob you are fighting and Bestial Wrath. Bestial Wrath is a great way to put a lot of damage on a mob quickly. It can also be of good use to finish off one mob to get to an add more quickly. Don't forget to use Initimidation as it can be a lifesaver in both PvE (to draw aggro off you or casters in your party) and PvP (to give yourself two precious seconds to bandage or run).
Hybrid Build[]
Marksmanship-30 points
- Improved Concussive Shot 5/5
- Efficiency 1/5
- Improved Hunter's Mark 5/5
- Lethal Shots 5/5
- Aimed Shot 1/1
- Hawk Eye 3/3
- Mortal Shot 5/5
- Ranged Weapon Specialization 5/5
Beast Mastery-13 points
- Improved Aspect of the Hawk 2/5
- Endurance Training 5/5
- Thick Hide 3/3
- Pathfinding 2/2
- Beastial Swiftness 1/1
Survival-8 points
- Monster Slaying 3/3
- Humanoid Slaying 3/3
- improved Wing Clip 2/5
Marksmanship Build[]
After playing my hunter for a year or so, running him through end-game including parts on BWL I've decided to share my spec. This build is best for max dmg/dps over a sustained period like an instance/raid/grind session. This build is also best for hunters with <400(before talents/buffs) agility, or great if your raiding, and like to give the other hunters/rogues/warriors/other melee dps a nice 100 attack power boost at lvl 60. It's a good build for lvling if you've decided not to go Beast Mastery Spec(Best for lvling)After each talent I'll explain it's usefulness, and what lvls you should be putting the points into it, if you aren't 60.
Marksmanship-31 points
- Improved Concussive Shot 5/5 lvl10-14
Best opening talent into the tree because it deal with the basic problem a hunter has, keeping things out of the deadzone(within 8 yards of you). It's also handy for mobs that require stunlocking, or for anything heading towards you or anyone you want to keep alive.
- Lethal Shots 5/5 lvl15-19
This is a must have talent for any hunter, regardless of your playstyle. Crit is helpful for any encounter, especially PvP.
- Aimed Shot 1/1 lvl 20
If you only want to put the minimum into Marksmanship this is where you'd stop. Aimed shot is the biggest damage ability in a hunter's arsenal, and is how u see a hunter doing up to 4k damage in a single shot(with epic gear).
- Hawk Eye 3/3 lvl 21-23
Another great talent. This shines best in PvE where being at max range gives more time for you to shoot an incoming target, and in many instances keeps you out of spell/debuff range(PvP you'll have the longest range of any range damage class).
- Efficiency 1/1 lvl 24
Lvl 24 is where disagreements might start. You could either put a point into improved arcane shot for PvP or Efficiency for longer high damage output during long fights(also adds up to less downtime when grinding). I'd choose Efficiency.
- Mortal Shots 5/5 lvl 25-29
Another talent that should belong in most hunter builds. This talent was once though so necessary by Blizzard that it's damage boost was nerfed from 50% to 30% that it is now. This basically makes your crits better, and helps for people who like to see big numbers on their shots(especialyl aimed shot).
- Scatter Shot 1/1 lvl 30
Again once you get to this point in the tree this talent is a must. It's basically a hunter's last ditch to keep people out of the deadzone when soloing. It's also handy in PvP because you can essentially force enemies to wander into a trap(Freezing Trap).
At this point again you have many options. You could either finish the talent where you put your point at lvl 24(I choose Efficiency) making it 5/5. Or take advantage of the handy Barrage talent, and have 1 left over point. For the sake of damage points will be allocated into...
- Barrage 3/3 lvl 31-33
After Aimed Shot Multishot is your highest damage ability. This talent in combination with the 8/8 piece Giantstalker set bonus can produce cripling multishots, and bring it's damage closer to Aimed Shot(up to 2.5k from what I've seen).
- Efficiency 2/5 lvl 34
With a spare point adding more to Efficiency is a good choice for all the reasons listed earlier.
- Ranged Weapon Specialization 5/5 lvl 35-39
Once you've either finished Efficiency/Improved Arcane Shot/followed the guide to this point the Marksmanship tree only has one good option in RWS. It's a straightforward talent, so for the purpose of damage calculations make sure you directly modify the weapon damage, and not the doll DPS after attack power is added.
- Trueshot Aura 1/1 40
At this point your really getting 100 Attack Power for one talent point(lvl 60). This attack power bonus helps you, your party, and all pets damage(non-spell).
- After this point you've put 31 point into Marksman ship which leaves you free with 20 points to either add to your pet's viability, or your own abilities. Again, I'll make the choice for maxing out the hunter's damage and lean towards survivability. Also from this point you've got a solid build so it doesn't matter when you put the points into a talent.
Beast Mastery-5 points
- Improved Aspect of the Hawk 5/5
Basically a nice damage boost, that lets you get off a few extra shots. This talent combined with Rapid Fire, Beserking(Troll Racial Ability), and a fast weapon will you a ridiculous ranged attack speed, and will most likely cause this talent to proc again.
Survival-15 points
- Humanoid Slaying 3/3
A great talent for PvP, and a decent one PvE. This gives s straight forward damage and crit increase.
- Monster Slaying 3/3
Same talent as above only this leans much more toawrd helping PvE. The only PvP damage this will increase is against shape shifted Druids, and other hunter's pets.
- Improved Wing Clip 5/5
Once a target has gotten within the deadzone you have three options to get out of melee range. Scatter Shot(decent cooldown), Freezing Trap(Feign Death, Trap cooldown, and ability to get out of combat all make this difficult), or as a last ditch you have Wing Clip. While Wing Clip makes it easier to run into shooting range, this talent enhances that.
The options here are almost all good, so I'll briefly mention each. Entrapment makes all your traps better, and helps you snare multiple targets.This really shines in areas where many targets are bunched up. Savage Strikes is for those times when running to get a shot off isn't the best option. Simply more damage for the hunter's only two melee damage abilities. Clever Traps works well in combination with Entrapment, and simply enhances the effect of every trap. The improves time on Freezing Trap is handy for taming new pets,PvP or when a group is short on crowd control(CC). Deterrence is a great talent for when you have to let a target hit you in melee(It works against ranged non-spell damage also). The greatest downfall of the talent is against warrior type targets that have the ability Overpower(all player controlled warriors). Overpower basically means that when you use this talent against a warrior your dodges will turn into extra damage that he can do to you.
- Survivalist 4/5
Survivalist is simply more health, which means you should live longer. Again for calculation's sake this modifies your total health, and not your Stamina(Which gives 10 health per). I choose to put my last 4 points here.
Survival builds[]
I mostly PvE so my build may not carry over effectively to PvP.
8 // 11 // 32 - planned
5/5 Beast health talent
3/3 Tough Hide +30% Armor for pet
5/5 Improved Concussive Shot
5/5 Lethal Shots
1/1 Aimed shot
3/3 Beast slayer
3/3 Humanoid slaying
5/5 Deflection
5/5 10% Health Bonus
3/3 Surefooted
I'll comment more when I've gained more levels and have the talent points. This works nicely to let you Pet tank, but gives you a nice DPS raise in close combat - I plan on Improved Wing Clip for the decent chance of snare, Lightning Reflexes for the 10% AGI bonus and debating if I want counterstrike enough to respec or just continue on to Wyvern Sting.
Skylark(37)s Survival build - Shining Mongoose
My own Survival build is alot more Survival oriented. The principle of the build is increasing damage indirectly, through keeping the hunter out of melee, and being efficient enough in melee for it not to matter. Ranged damage is still very important to the build, and I am strongly considering 20 points into marksmanship (imp concussive, Lethal, aimed and mortal Shot, and increased range) Notice how many of the talents taken overlap into both melee and ranged
Tier 1
Humaniod slaying 3/3 - I intend on doing a lot of group work in instances, which often contain many humanoid mobs. At level 60, this maybe moved into beast slaying
Deflection 5/5 - Much more for the improved chance of a counter attack, however +5% chance of avoiding an attack is not to be sneered at.
Tier 2
Savage strikes 2/2 - a truly awesome ability for just 2 talent points! with a weapon 3.1 or slower, you can apply raptor strike every other swing for improved damage and have a 30%ish chance of criting.
Entrapment 5/5 - (current) I'm presently working out whether this ability effects all targets within the radius of Frost and Explosive traps. If not, then the points may well be reallocated. So far I have no record of multiple mobs being rooted by the trap. Can someone confirm?
Improved Wing Clip - (future) a possible replacement for Entrapment. good for Pvp when you'll be applying wing clip every time meleers get within range. Also helps prevent fleeing.
Tier 3
Clever Traps 2/2 - An extra 30% duration on the freeze is very good, as it simplifies group work. It'll save priest healing, and casters/rogues always appreciate and extra 3 seconds to kill stuff. The great thing about this talent, is that it helps all your different trap types, most 2 point talents are much more situational.
Deterance 1/1 - This ability is just so good its unreal! I'm still wearing leather, and it makes me feel invulnerable.
Tier 4+5+6
Sure Footed 3/3 - Getting snared is horrible for a hunter, and spells doom in PVP. 15% to resist would be worth it without the +3% to hit improvement. Importantly, this affects both melee and ranged.
Counter Attack 1/1 - The auto root is just incredible, especially backed up by Deflection and/or Deterance.
Killer Instinct 3/3 and Lightning Reflexes5/5 - Just plain old good, and constantly active.
Tier 7
Wyvern Sting 1/1 - Really helps hunters make their mark as pullers. With this talent, hunters can change a group of 4 mobs into a single incoming target (with Freeze and Pet). Really proves that hunters should be groups primary pullers.
0/21/30 Survival PvP Build[]
This is the build I use mainly for PvP but it also works well with PvE.
Marksmanship is a great tree for various reasons and is probably a good tree to start out with at low levels. Aimed Shot is a must have for any hunter combine it with the outstanding crit bonuses in the tree and you get major DPS. Scatter Shot is a great skill to get some distance from melee and gives you a chance to Wing Clip if the target is moving around a lot. After you have the distance Improved Concussion Shot will allow you some extra time away from the target.
Survival, being the main tree for this build, has various talents to both help with melee and stat bonuses. Deflection, Deterrence, and Counterattack are all used to immobilize the target and get distance. Savage Strikes is useful for some high damage if you are forced to melee. Lightning Reflexes and Survivalist add some vital hunter stats while Killer Instinct gives even more critical strike chance. Sure Footed is a hunter's dream talent great for staying away from targets.
Some talents that aren't recommended for the build are the slaying talents because Deflection makes a big impact while you may not notice some extra damage doing much of anything. Wyvern Sting is another I don't recommend. Scatter Shot is much more useful unless the target is trying to run away and out of range.
Badger's Hunter PvP Build[]
This is the basic cookie cutter PvP spec. It is the second highest in DPS output overall, the highest being the PvE-oriented 5/31/15 (details below). It focuses on boosting agility so you can incorporate more +AP/+stam/+intel gear into your PvP set while using that same bonus to give you a huge amount of agility with a PvE set. You may disagree with the opinions I am about to post but I'm not going to argue over this stuff. These are commonly used builds that WORK.
Beast Mastery Talents - 0 point(s) - It's my opinion that Beast Mastery doesn't belong in PvP period. It's not BAD so much as there are better builds that can benefit you much more than Beast Mastery talents will (aside from Imp Hawk, which is nice, but is more for a PvE spec.)
Marksmanship Talents - 21 point(s) - No build should be without Imp Concussive Shot. Period. The 1 point in Efficiency is solely for opening up the 3rd tier for your Scatter Shot, and as such can be placed in any empty Tier 1 or 2 skill that you feel would benefit you most or give you that teeny tiny bit of an extra edge. Me, I like mana. <3 Scatter Shot is essential for PvP. You can PvP without it - I did for a while (lawl on me) - but you'll feel the disadvantage every time someone sticks you to the ground and your trinket is on cooldown.
- Improved Concussive Shot rank 5/5
- Efficiency rank 1/5
- Improved Hunter's Mark rank 0/5
- Lethal Shots rank 5/5
- Aimed Shot rank 1/1
- Improved Arcane Shot rank 0/5
- Hawk Eye rank 3/3
- Mortal Shots rank 5/5
- Scatter Shot rank 1/1
Survival Talents - 30 point(s) - I'm only going to say this once. WYVERN STING IS A WASTE OF A PERFECTLY GOOD TALENT POINT. Think about it. In PvE, you do a baby version of CC that lasts only a few seconds. Then the mob you were CCing wakes up and charges you. You either take the damage or feign the thing onto a cloth-wearing member of your party. Because the mob is now DOT'ed, it cannot be sheeped or frozen. Even in an organized setting this is not ideal for pulling. The only real use I can see for Wyvern Sting is if you're one of those little buggers who wants to be some sort of ranged OMGWTFCRIT rogues. I had Wyvern Sting for a while to test out its usefulness and not a whole lot of situations come up to use it. You are much better off having Scatter Shot than this. As for Monster Slaying - I put my points in there to double as an edge for PvE. Unless you can't possibly ever sleep at night again knowing you missed out on that +3% to parry, stick those points into extra damage against "monsters." If you get into an OHCRAPHALP melee situation, hit Deterrence. Also, Counter Attack isn't as useful when Imp Wing Clip will proc most of the time anyway. I tested having this skill for a while and it just came down to the fact that there is a better place to stick that point than there.
- Monster Slaying rank 3/3
- Humanoid Slaying rank 3/3
- Savage Strikes rank 2/2
- Improved Wing Clip rank 5/5
- Survivalist rank 5/5
- Deterrence rank 1/1
- Surefooted rank 3/3
- Killer Instinct rank 3/3
- Lightning Reflexes rank 5/5
Badger's Hunter PvE Build[]
Another basic cookie cutter spec. Also has the highest DPS output. I incorporated some PvP aspects to the Survival part of the build but if you're a hardcore raider, switch it up to suit your style. I'll talk about that a bit more in the Survival section. Please note that while this can of course be used fine with PvP, the other build I've posted increases survivability while still popping up those big yellow numbers you love.
Beast Mastery Talents - 5 point(s) - There are no words for how awesome Imp Hawk is. Except maybe awesome. But I covered that. >_>
- Improved Aspect of the Hawk - rank 5/5
Marksmanship Talents - 31 point(s) - Trueshot Aura is a pretty nice addition to any balanced party. Your tank will love you. Keep in mind that your crits can be dangerously large so be nice to the MT and mash Feign for serious boss fights or when things go wrong.
- Improved Concussive Shot - rank 5/5
- Efficiency - rank 2/5
- Lethal Shots - rank 5/5
- Aimed Shot - rank 1/1
- Hawk Eye - rank 3/3
- Mortal Shots - rank 5/5
- Scatter Shot - rank 1/1
- Barrage - rank 3/3
- Ranged Weapon Specialization - rank 5/5
- Trueshot Aura - rank 1/1
Survival Talents - 15 point(s) The slaying skills are great for PvE encounters, and Imp Wing Clip is a skill every build should have. I like Survivalist and Deterrence for a little insurance for when Feigns are resisted - this also allows for a better experience when you take this spec onto the battleground. If you're a real trap laying fiend and can't live without the bonus damage to fire traps or extra length to freezing, move a couple points from Survivalist to Trap Efficiency.
- Monster Slaying - rank 3/3
- Humanoid Slaying - rank 3/3
- Improved Wing Clip - rank 5/5
- Survivalist - rank 3/5
- Deterrence - rank 1/1