Azeroth is home to a wide variety of beasts. From the new world of Lordaeron to the old world of Kalimdor, all manner of creatures can be found. Some are friendly, some are ferocious and aggressive - yet they all have one thing in common. Each creature shares a special connection with Hunters. Hunters track, tame and slay all manner of animals and beasts found in the wilds. Whether they rely on bows or firearms, Hunters consider their weapons and pets to be their only true friends.
Comprehensive Guide to Hunter in World of Warcraft: Forever
Hunter is the lone survivalist, using animal companions, traps, and mastery with a ranged weapon to deal with anything that comes your way. The core fantasy of a Hunter lies in its role as a ranger, combined with access to a wide array of utility such as tracking, traps, animal handling, misdirection, and numerous crowd control options to always stay in control of a fight. Hunters thrive in a solo fight and are widely considered one of the best solo classes in the game, especially when it comes to leveling. Tame a companion, take aim as a master marksman, and lie in wait to deliver the first blow before anyone knows what hit them.
If you are planning to play Hunter, make sure to check back often as Blizzard continues tuning the class.
Forge a bond with a loyal beast and fight as one, overwhelming your enemies with the strength of your companion.
Master the bow and gun to strike your enemies from afar, delivering deadly shots with practiced precision.
Use traps, stings, and cunning tactics to outmaneuver your prey, adapting to whatever dangers the wild may bring.
Hunter in World of Warcraft: Forever
Beast Mastery functions mostly the same, heavily relying on your pet to become the main source
of your damage while also tanking enemies out in the world. The main new addition is the talent
Summon Hawk. Summon Hawk shares a cooldown with 
Arcane Shot
and will summon a hawk that attacks your enemy for up to 18 seconds. You can only have two hawks active
at any time in addition to your pet. The Beast Mastery rotation will focus on always keeping
two hawks active while weaving shots in-between uses.
Marksmanship is relatively unchanged from the traditional Classic Hunter apart from the
quality of life additions mentioned above. The primary new ability for Marksmanship is their
capstone talent 
Sniper Shot, which is a massive shot with a 4-second cast time.
Because of its excessive cast time, it's possible this ability will actually be a damage loss in PvE,
but it will be an extremely strong ability for any time you need burst damage.
Marksmanship also has the 
Lone Wolf talent early in its tree. This gives
you a 20% damage boost if you do not have an active pet. This is both a large damage buff
and can give players an option for if you do not want to worry about micromanaging your
pet in dungeons and raids.
Survival is by far the most changed specialization for Hunters. Survival is now designed to
be a primarily melee based spec, with talents like 
Savage Strikes and 
Predator's Edge
massively boosting your melee damage, specifically while dual-wielding. They also get access to the new
ability 
Strider Kick as another rotational melee ability, along with 
Expose Prey
and 
Lacerating Strikes which make Mongoose Bite a much
stronger ability that you can actually use more frequently. Overall Survival looks extremely promising,
especially with talents like 
Resourcefulness which should enable you to spam
out traps and melee attacks non-stop throughout any fight.
Changelog
- 12 Sep. 2026: Preliminary guide added with Blizzcon announcement.
