Hunter Leveling Guide

[Luthixx 138]

5 hours ago, Guest Arcelas said:

As a MM hunter, I cannot stay alive long enough to kill the groups of mobs, that this guide recommends. I mean at all. Dying every pull is a great way to end up throwing keyboard at the wall and going back to Skyrim. Please advise.

Use a pet or level as BM. Just keep misdirecting to your pet and keep it on tenacity spec. 

[Valks 2,373]

5 hours ago, Guest Arcelas said:

As a MM hunter, I cannot stay alive long enough to kill the groups of mobs, that this guide recommends. I mean at all. Dying every pull is a great way to end up throwing keyboard at the wall and going back to Skyrim. Please advise.

Just to add also, it's worth bursting specific mobs for Exh resets rather than doing blanket damage and killing nothing.

[Guest Alteraego]

Problem is, this MM guide says: "When leveling, the idea is to tag as many mobs as possible. The best way to do this is with Barrage and Sidewinders, ideally using Barrage to pull as many targets as possible, and then using Sidewinders to mark them, and Marked Shot to deal damage to them. At this point, most mobs will be dead."  This, as has been pointed out, is not true when you get to Azuna and start pulling demons...even with the 20% buff to demon damage from the floating tomes. This in-and-of-itself really calls in to question the usefulness of this guide. I have a 619 ilevel and I cant get close this kind of result.

[Valks 2,373]

11 hours ago, Guest Alteraego said:

Problem is, this MM guide says: "When leveling, the idea is to tag as many mobs as possible. The best way to do this is with Barrage and Sidewinders, ideally using Barrage to pull as many targets as possible, and then using Sidewinders to mark them, and Marked Shot to deal damage to them. At this point, most mobs will be dead."  This, as has been pointed out, is not true when you get to Azuna and start pulling demons...even with the 20% buff to demon damage from the floating tomes. This in-and-of-itself really calls in to question the usefulness of this guide. I have a 619 ilevel and I cant get close this kind of result.

What level are you? A 619 item level is exactly the reason why you are having issues - do you have any heirlooms, do you have your artifact?

[Guest KingofHeroes]

Why hasn't this been updated in over a year?

[Valks 2,373]

12 hours ago, Guest KingofHeroes said:

Why hasn't this been updated in over a year?

What have you found that needs updating?

[diSayne 0]

On 9/4/2017 at 11:50 AM, Blainie said:

What level are you? A 619 item level is exactly the reason why you are having issues - do you have any heirlooms, do you have your artifact?

I just came across the very same problem. As a fresh 100 with no heirlooms I had massive problems in Azsuna, even with the Artifact weapon. I feel like it should be mentioned that mass pulling mobs without heirlooms is a very bad idea. And if theres a ilvl requirement for a leveling guide then please write that down too.

[Evincare 39]

I'd wager that method doesn't work anymore - until you get geared.

TBH I cannot see any reason to lvl a Hunter as anything else than BM, apart from when you really want to lvl as slowly as possible. True, BM may have a slight disadvantage when it comes to self-sustain, since there is no way to reduce Exhil CD. IIRC there is an artifact trait though, that heals you for some every time you cast Kill Command. Then again, you don't need any self-sustain as you should not get hit in the first place.

If your goal is to learn MM spec for raiding or whatnot - switch to it when doing dungeons. But as far as open world content goes, nothing beats BM, Tankpet in tenacity spec. Can solo almost everything. I have leveled quite a few classes an nothing nearly as quickly as a BM hunter.

As far as you criticize the guide itself, I'd say use it as what it is - a guide. No point in following it to a T when you realize, something the guide suggests doesn't work for you. I have found all of the classguides to be an excellent starting point for every class (which translates basically to big thanks icy veins guide-writers). As soon as you get an understanding for the class, you can adapt as you see fit.

Edited June 13, 2018 by Evincare
Added a sentence or two

[Valks 2,373]

On 6/12/2018 at 10:55 AM, diSayne said:

I just came across the very same problem. As a fresh 100 with no heirlooms I had massive problems in Azsuna, even with the Artifact weapon. I feel like it should be mentioned that mass pulling mobs without heirlooms is a very bad idea. And if theres a ilvl requirement for a leveling guide then please write that down too.

There's not an item level requirement so to speak, it's just that you have to be aware of what your gear level is. If you are worse geared, you will need to control the amount you pull, while a character in full Hellfire Citadel Mythic gear can pull the whole area. I can ask for a note to be added.

[Valks 2,373]

On 6/13/2018 at 4:05 PM, Evincare said:

TBH I cannot see any reason to lvl a Hunter as anything else than BM, apart from when you really want to lvl as slowly as possible. True, BM may have a slight disadvantage when it comes to self-sustain, since there is no way to reduce Exhil CD. IIRC there is an artifact trait though, that heals you for some every time you cast Kill Command. Then again, you don't need any self-sustain as you should not get hit in the first place.

The leveling guides were aimed at players that wanted to level at the start of Legion, a time when the artifact power you put into your artifact was fairly important. Nowadays, as you say, you can level as BM, or even SV. It makes no difference due to the massive amounts of AK you receive as soon as you ding 110, but just wanted to give the reasoning behind it being MM for leveling.

[Evincare 39]

I know - and I did use that very guide just for that. IIRC the guide itself gives exactly that reasoning. In fact, that's why I tried leveling as MM - with pet - in the beginning of Legion. I switched at 102, because BM felt quicker (maybe, just maybe, Hati was a factor as well). Then again I'm no min/max player.

TBH I just commented because two ppl seemed to blame the guide for their own failure instead of doing some thinking on their own. Add the note, but I assumed folks would adapt and switch their approach if something keeps failing... You lined out the basic thoughts pretty well IMO.

But again - thx Blainie for always taking your time!

Cheers

 

[Valks 2,373]

2 hours ago, Evincare said:

I know - and I did use that very guide just for that. IIRC the guide itself gives exactly that reasoning. In fact, that's why I tried leveling as MM - with pet - in the beginning of Legion. I switched at 102, because BM felt quicker (maybe, just maybe, Hati was a factor as well). Then again I'm no min/max player.

TBH I just commented because two ppl seemed to blame the guide for their own failure instead of doing some thinking on their own. Add the note, but I assumed folks would adapt and switch their approach if something keeps failing... You lined out the basic thoughts pretty well IMO.

But again - thx Blainie for always taking your time!

Cheers

I did the same for leveling my Mage - started as Fire, didn't like it, went Frost and then just swapped back to fire for end-game at the expansion launch. 

I can understand that, if a player is new to the class, they might struggle with understanding that BM could be better suited to them, especially if they have never played it before. @diSayne might have never played Hunter before, so is unaware of the pros/cons of the specs. 

I'll see what we can do!