WoW Classic Hunter class icon

WoW Classic Hunter Guide

The fastest class to level, and the one that never has to stop to drink.

  • RoleRanged DPS
  • ArmorLeather, Mail from 40
  • ResourceMana
  • FactionAlliance & Horde

A hunter and its pet kill things without either of them taking much damage, and that is the whole appeal while levelling. The pet holds the target, the hunter shoots it, and mana is barely a constraint because most of the damage comes from a bow. Nothing else gets from 1 to 60 with fewer interruptions.

In a raid a hunter is steady ranged damage plus a set of jobs nobody else does: tranquillising shot, distracting shot to pull, freezing traps to hold a second target, and pets that pick up runners. Damage is respectable rather than dominant, and much of it depends on ammunition and a good bow.

Beast Mastery makes the pet strong, Marksmanship makes the shots strong, and Survival is the trap and utility tree that most Classic hunters take pieces of rather than committing to.

Talent trees

A Hunter spends 51 talent points by level 60 across three trees. Open any of them in the calculator, build what you want, and share the link.

Where to train a Hunter in Classic

Every hunter trainer in Classic, by zone. Coordinates come from the 1.12 game data, not from a present-day map: Cataclysm redrew several of these zones, and a modern percentage points at ground the Classic map does not contain.

Alliance

  • Alenndaar LapidaarAshenvale
  • Danlaar NightstrideAshenvale
  • KaerbrusDarkshore
  • DorionDarnassus
  • Jeen'ra NightrunnerDarnassus
  • JocasteDarnassus
  • Grif WildheartDun Morogh
  • Thorgas GrimsonDun Morogh
  • Daera BrightspearIronforge
  • Olmin BurningbeardIronforge
  • Regnus ThundergraniteIronforge
  • Dargh TrueaimLoch Modan
  • Einris BrightspearStormwind City
  • Thorfin StoneshieldStormwind City
  • Ulfir IronbeardStormwind City
  • Ayanna EverstrideTeldrassil
  • DazalarTeldrassil

Horde

  • Jen'shanDurotar
  • ThotarDurotar
  • Lanka FarshotMulgore
  • Yaw SharpmaneMulgore
  • Ormak GrimshotOrgrimmar
  • Sian'durOrgrimmar
  • Xor'juulOrgrimmar
  • KraggStranglethorn Vale
  • OgrommSwamp of Sorrows
  • Holt ThunderhornThunder Bluff
  • Kary ThunderhornThunder Bluff
  • Urek ThunderhornThunder Bluff

Which races can play a Hunter?

  • AllianceDwarf, Night Elf
  • HordeOrc, Tauren, Troll

Race is not cosmetic in Classic — racials like Will of the Forsaken, Stoneform and Fear Ward change how the class plays, particularly in PvP.

Strengths and weaknesses

What it is good at

  • Fastest and most self-sufficient leveller
  • A pet that tanks anything you can pull
  • Traps, pulls and utility raids rely on

What it struggles with

  • Damage falls behind the top raid specs
  • Needs ammunition and a good bow
  • Melee range turns off almost everything you can do

Professions for a Hunter

Two that pay off, and why. Each links to its own route from 1 to 300 — the steps, the material total and where every trainer stands.