Hunter Guide

Beast Mastery Hunters command beasts of the wild to fight by their side, relying on their loyal pets to tear through enemies while the Hunter attacks from afar. Masters of controlling their companions, Beast Mastery Hunter abilities focus on commanding the pet to attack, or summoning additional Beasts to attack.

Beast Mastery has a fast-paced, high-mobility playstyle that feels a lot like the fast-paced melee specs of the game, but at range. Its key feature is that none of these abilities require you to stand still, making Beast Mastery Hunter fully mobile no matter what mechanics it has to deal with.

In Raids, Beast Mastery is always very popular due to its unique ability to do full DPS while on the move. It is a massively popular spec for Raid Leaders, who need to be able to call and execute mechanics while performing a simple rotation.

In Mythic+, Beast Mastery provides excellent mass AoE damage, especially on large pulls, and great ease of play. It is not often used in the most competitive high-keys, but it is a very solid entry for low-medium keystones where its ease of play lets you focus on kicks, stuns, and the other mechanics of Mythic+ that aren't just DPS.

Marksmanship Hunters are deadly sharpshooters who excel at bringing down foes from afar with precise, powerful shots. Without the need or desire for a constant pet, these lone wolves channel all their focus into powerful ranged attacks, piercing through armor and exploiting weaknesses with unmatched precision.

Marksmanship's playstyle is about cooldown management and stringing together sequences of powerful shots, alternating between long cast times and instant casts that empower them. It alternates between being a slow and methodical playstyle, and a fast-paced one during its cooldowns.

In Raids, Marksmanship provides incredibly strong AoE damage on medium-sized pulls, but tends to struggle with boss damage and single-target, and can suffer from constant and inefficient movement. Marksmanship generally excels more in the hands of more experienced players. It has excellent burst damage and good Marksmanship Hunters know exactly when to use and when to save their cooldowns.

In Mythic+, Marksmanship has some of the strongest pure AoE in the game, though it has mediocre single-target damage. It also suffers greatly on larger pulls, as its AoE is hardcapped to 6 targets maximum.

Survival Hunters are fierce trackers and rugged brawlers, blending ranged attacks like Wildfire Bomb with brutal melee strikes like Butchery to engage their enemies up close alongside their pet, using abilities that synergize with their pets like Flanking Strike. Embracing their primal instincts, they wield deadly polearms and spears and deploy bombs to tear and blow apart enemies.

Survival has a medium-paced playstyle that can effortlessly weave in and out of melee combat, though it thrives the most in melee. It has to juggle many different cooldowns with effects that depend on one another, weaving Kill Commands between other abilities to buff them with Tip of the Spear.

In raids, Survival is relatively unpopular despite its objective strength; because most Hunters are Hunters for the Ranged specs, and because melee raid spots are simply fewer and the competition is tighter. Yet, by its adherents, Survival is considered some of the most fun you can have in WoW, and it is often underplayed relative to its power level.

In Mythic+, Survival provides good single-target while in AoE builds, and is also perhaps the most durable of the Hunter specs. A melee kick is a clear advantage as well.