The Dwarf is a clear winner on the Alliance side. His Stoneform is quite powerful in PvE setting as it increases survivability and allows you to quickly remove any annoying or deadly Disease, Poison, and Bleed effects applied to you. However, Gun Specialization, while quite good on paper, does not make much of a difference because you will be using Bows, most of the time, anyway (and Ranged Attack mechanics make all ranged weapon specializations much less impactful than their melee counterparts).

1. Hit Rating - Increases your chance to Hit your Target. At level 60, with a Weapon Skill of 300, you have a 5% chance to miss with a special attack against a Target of equal level. Against level 63 Boss, who has 315 Defense skill, you need 9% Hit Rating to never miss a special attack. This means that getting 9% Hit Rating is paramount for a Raiding Hunter and should be your first goal when gearing up. If you've chosen the MM/SV Build, the magic number is 6% Hit Chance.

2. Critical Strike - Increases your chance to deal bonus (critical) damage with all your attacks. Crit is a powerful stat for any Hunter and should be prioritized after you get the Hit Cap.

3. Agility - Increases your Ranged Attack Power by 2 AP (and Melee Attack Power by 1 AP) per 1 Agility (at all levels), offers a small increase to your Dodge chance, and increases Critical Strike chance by 1% per 53 Agility (at level 60). This is Hunter's main primary statistic. It also scales well with buffs, which means that you get more value from your Agility in a Raid setting.

4. Attack Power - Increases your Damage done. All Hunter's attacks and offensive abilities scale with Attack Power, but this statistic should not be prioritized over Agility as 1 point of Agility is worth from ~2,5 to ~3 points of AP (depending on your current buffs).

5. Stamina - Increases your survivability by providing you with extra Health. This statistic does not affect your DPS directly but allows you to survive incoming Damage for longer (and dead Hunter deals 0 Damage).

6. Intellect - Increases your total Mana Pool and provides you with additional Spell Critical Chance. Hunter's DPS abilities, used in his standard rotation, do not count as 'Spells', so all this statistic provides is increased mana pool. This statistic should not be prioritized, but it shouldn't be overlooked either; some Intellect is needed to ensure that you don't run out of mana during a fight.

Statistic Priority for a Raiding Hunter:

Hit Cap ⇒Critical Chance ⇒Agility ⇒Attack Power⇒ Stamina ⇒ Intellect

Note: Strength is of close to 0 value for Hunters because it affects Melee Attack Power only and Spirit is a stat that affects your out-of-combat regeneration which has no impact on Hunter's DPS if you don't run out of mana mid-combat (if you do, 5-second rule kicks in and higher Spirit allows you to regen your mana faster, but this shouldn't happen; just use Major Mana Potions and Demonic Runes if needed).

MM/SV Hunter PvE DPS Build

Beast Mastery Tree:

• 2/5Improved Aspect of the Hawk - You will have Aspect of the Hawk active almost all the time while in combat, so this is a free DPS boost. Note: If you have 9% Hit Chance from items, you should put 5 Talent points here at the expense of Surefooted.

Marksmanship Tree:

• 5/5Efficiency - Makes your Stings and Shots 10% cheaper which improves your sustain by quite a bit.
• 2/5Improved Hunter's Mark - You take this mainly for occasional Solo/5-man Dungeon play as there will be a Hunter designated for putting 5 points into this Talent in very Raid (or at least there should be..)
• 5/5Lethal Shots.
• 1/1Aimed hot - Hard-Hitting ability on a rather long, 3-second cast and short 6-second Cooldown. One of your main sources of Damage.
• 3/3 Hawk Eye - Increases your maximum range by 6 yards. This minimizes your downtime by allowing you to attack from further away and makes you better at kiting (again, you can aggro mobs from further away).
• 5/5 Mortal Shots - Your Ranged Weapon Critical Strikes now deal 230% instead of 200% Damage.
• 1/1Scatter Shot - Short-Range CC ability. Great in situations when you accidentally pull aggro on an add; also useful for kiting.
• 3/3Barrage - Improves your Volley and Multi-Shot abilities by 15%, increasing your AoE and Cleave damage respectively.
• 5/5 Ranged Weapon Specialization - 5 Talent points for 5% more ranged damage dealt; a bargain.
• 1/1Trueshot Aura - Once activated, it increases the Attack Power of all group members within 45 yards. Note: its Attack Power and not Ranged Attack Power, which means that it affects DPS of Rogues and Warriors as well. This ability increases Hunter's viability in Raids and secures him a spot in melee groups.

Survival Tree:

• 3/3Monster Slaying - Makes you better at killing Beasts, Dragonkin and Giants, and these are common enemy types in Raids.
• 3/3Humanoid Slaying - Makes you better at killing Humanoids. A bit less useful than Monster Slaying, but quite good nonetheless.
• 2/5Deflection - 2% extra Parry chance. Treat these two points liberally; you can assign them to Entrapment or Improved Wing Clip instead - all three of these Talents have a minor impact and are heavily RNG-dependent, but you have to spend 2 points somewhere to unlock the third tier of Survival Talents.
• 2/2Savage Strikes - Provides you with 20% additional Critical Strike Chance on your Mongoose Bite and Raptor Strike abilities. Melee Hunter FTW (actually, this can be useful if you are forced into melee).
• 4/5Survivalist - 8% more Health. It makes you more likely to survive mistakes and Raid mechanics that force you to take a hit.
• 1/1Deterrence - 25% extra Parry and Dodge chance for 10 seconds on a 5-minute Cooldown. This can save your life, so it is nice to have (if you don't like it, you can take 2% extra health from Survivalist instead).
• 3/3Surefooted - Provides you with 3% extra Hit Chance. Great Talent if you are still Gearing up or your Hit Chance is lacking. After achieving 9% Hit Chance from Items, you should transfer these 3 points into Improved Aspect of the Hawk.

BM/MM Hunter PvE DPS Build

Beast Mastery Tree:

• 5/5Improved Aspect of the Hawk - 5% chance of increasing your Ranged Attack Speed by 30% for 12 seconds.
• 5/5Endurance Training - Makes your pet more durable by increasing its Health by 15%. Your overall DPS depends on your pet, so this Talent is very solid (it makes your pet much less likely to die and dead pets deal no damage). If you have problems with keeping your pet alive, you can move 2 points from this into Improved Revive Pet; doing this will save you some time, mana and being shouted at for slacking by Raid leader after an encounter in which your pet has died.
• 5/5Unleashed Fury - One of the reasons why you should master pet micromanagement. This Talent provides a 20% increase in your Pet's Damage.
• 5/5Ferocity - Another reason to learn pet micromanagement. This gives your pet 15% additional Critical Strike Chance.

Marksmanship Tree:

• 5/5Efficiency.
• 2/5Improved Hunter's Mark.
• 5/5Lethal Shots.
• 1/1Aimed hot.
• 3/3 Hawk Eye.
• 5/5 Mortal Shots.
• 1/1Scatter Shot.
• 3/3Barrage.
• 5/5 Ranged Weapon Specialization.
• 1/1Trueshot Aura.

Wolf's Furious Howl ability (grants 45-57 extra Damage on the next strike to all party members within 15 yards on a 10-second Cooldown) makes this pet type the best for Raiding. This is because a Wolf can stay on Passive mode in a relatively safe place and still affect the Raid's damage output.

Note: Wolves in Lower Blackrock Spire have the highest Rank of Furious Howl available early in Classic's content. You should try to tame one of them.

Boars have a high health pool which allows them to withstand damage and a charge ability that allows them to engage in combat quicker than other pet types, but their overall impact is lower than that of Wolves.

Note: Boars are great in PvP, however.

Cats have very high offensive capabilities - they deal good damage and have high attack speed. On top of that, they have an interrupt ability, which means that they improve Hunter's utility. Sadly, they don't have any ability that would impact their performance while they stay passive, so they are suited mainly for Leveling and PvP.

Note: Broken Tooth, a rare Badlands Cat spawn has the fastest attack speed in the game, which makes him great against Caster enemies. He is Level 37 however, so leveling him up might be problematic if you don't tame him at an appropriate level.

Similarily to Wolves, Wind Serpents can affect Raid's damage output from a distance. Unlike Wolves, Serpents do not buff your allies, they breathe Lightning Bolts instead! Lightning Breath ability ignores armor, which makes it great against Bosses.

Note: Son of Hakkar is the only Wind Serpent that has access to Rank 6 of the Lightning Breath. He resides in Zul'Gurub, however, which means that he is not available in Phase 1.

• Pre-Raid - Bone Slicing Hatchet (Drop from Maleki the Pallid, Stratcholme) /Dal'Rend's Sacred Charge (Drop from Warchief Rend Blackhand, Upper Blackrock Spire)
• Phase 1 - Brutality Blade (Drop from Garr, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Dal'Rend's Tribal Guardian (Drop from Warchief Rend Blackhand, Upper Blackrock Spire) / Bone Slicing Hatchet (Not unique, you can equip two)
• Phase 1 - Core Hound Tooth (Cashe of the Firelord, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Barbarous Blade (Drop from King Gordok, Dire Maul North)
• Phase 1 - MH + OH Dual Wield Combo is recommended
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Dwarven Hand Cannon (BoE World Drop, can be bought on AH) / Ancient Bone Bow (Drop from various bosses, Scholomance)
• Phase 1 - Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers (Reward from Hunter Class Quest started by Ancient Petrified Leaf that is dropped by Majordomo Executus in Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas (Quest Reward from 'The Greatest Race of Hunters', Dire Maul)
• Phase 1 - Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas / Rune of the Guard Captain (Quest Reward from 'Job Opening: Guard Captain of Raventusk Village', The Hinterlands)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Blackhand's Breadth (Quest Reward from 'For the Horde!' / 'General Drakkisath's Demise', Upper Blackrock Spire)
• Phase 1 - Blackhand's Breadth
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Mark of Fordring (Quest Reward from 'In Dreams', Western Plaguelands)
• Phase 1 - Onyxia Tooth Pendant (Quest Reward from 'For All To See' / 'Celebrating Good Times', Onyxia's Lair)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Tarnished Elven Ring (Contained in Gordok Tribute, Dire Maul) / Blackstone Ring (Drop from Princess Theradras, Maraudon)
• Phase 1 - Quick Strike Ring (Drop from Magmadar, Garr, Baron Geddon, and Golemagg the Incinerator, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Tarnished Elven Ring / Painweaver Band (Drop from General Drakkisath, Upper Blackrock Spire)
• Phase 1 - Band of Accuria(Drop from Ragnaros, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Blackwood Helm (Quest reward from 'The Treasure of the Shen'dralar', Dire Maul) /Mask of the Unforgiven (Drop from The Unforgiven, Stratholme)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Helmet (Drop from Garr, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Savage Gladiator Chain (Drop fromGorosh the Dervish, Blackrock Depths)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Breastplate (Drop from Golemagg the Incinerator, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Devilsaur Leggings (Created by Leatherworking, Recipe can be dropped in Un'Goro Crater)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Leggings (Drop from Magmadar, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Devilsaur Gauntlets (Created by Leatherworking, Recipe can be bought from NPC Nergal, Un'Goro Crater)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Gloves(Drop from Shazzrah, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Beaststalker's Boots (Drop from Nerub'enkan, Stratcholme)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Boots (Drop from Gehennas, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Truestrike Shoulders (Drop from Pyroguard Emberseer, Upper Blackrock Spire)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Epaulets (Drop from Sulfuron Harbinger, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Braces of the Eclipse (Drop from Prince Tortheldrin, Dire Maul West) / Deepfury Bracers (BoE World Drop, can be bought on AH)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Bracers (Trash Mobs (BoE), Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Warpwood Binding (Drop from Tendris Warpwood, Dire Maul West)
• Phase 1 - Giantstalker's Belt (Trash Mobs (BoE), Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

• Pre-Raid - Cape of the Black Baron (Drop from Baron Rivendare, Stratholme)
• Phase 1 - Cape of the Shrouded Mists (Drop from Ragnaros, Molten Core)
• Phase 2 - TBA
• Phase 3 - TBA
• Phase 4 - TBA
• Phase 5 - TBA
• Phase 6 - TBA

+12 Mp5 and +25 Healing Power for 30 minutes. Created by Enchanting. This is applied to a Weapon.

Note: You can also use much cheaper Lesser Mana Oil

1. Auto Shot

2. Cast Aimed Shot

3. Auto Shot

4. Cast Multi-Shot

5. Auto Shot

6. Free Global Cooldown

7. Cast Aimed Shot on Cooldown (with a fast Weapon) or after your next Auto Shot (with a slow Weapon)

1. If you want to deal more Damage and stand out from your Raid competition, Stack Consumables. Spending some additional Gold or a few extra hours grinding might secure you a spot in a Raid, as Raid leaders prefer dedicated and well-prepared players.

2. You can use your Rotation's free Global Cooldown to weave in a Raptor Strike. This will require you to stand near the melee range so that you can quickly close the distance, Cast Raptor Strike and disengage from melee (remember that minimal Ranged Attack distance is 8 yards).

3. Use Auto Shot Macro. This way, spamming your Auto Shot Hotkey will not cancel it.
   #showtooltip Auto Shot
   /cleartarget [dead]
   /targetenemy [noharm]
   /cast !Auto Shot

4. Use the Auto Shot Timer / Weapon Swing Timer addon. It will show you when your Auto Shot will trigger and enable you to maximize your DPS by timing your abilities correctly.

5. Always try to improve. Get an addon that tracks your performance and try to optimize your equipment and rotation.

END NOTE

This Guide should help you to prepare yourself for that legendary Vanilla Raiding Experience and allow you to progress through Raid Tiers efficiently and with a good amount of fun.

We hope that you have found this guide useful and informative. If we have missed a piece of information that is important to you, please let us know!

Please do note that this is an early version of our guide, and we will be happy to receive constructive criticism, that will help us improve it, so leave your suggestions in the comments section below.