Hunters have always been one of thebest classes in World of Warcraft Classic in terms of DPS, and that hasn’t changed much in Season of Discovery. In fact, one could argue that they’re even stronger than before. WhileMages can become healersand both Rogues andWarlocks can become tanks in SoD, Hunters continue to be a dedicated DPS class and are now the only class in the game that can claim that title.
In addition to their usual abilities, Hunters can also take advantage of Runes to dish out big damage in Season of Discovery. You probably won’t end up usingall Hunter Runes, but some of them are absolutely crucial as they unlock powerful new core abilities like Kill Command, Beast Mastery, and Aspect of the Lion. Keep reading to find out more about these abilities, as well as everything else you need to know about playing a Hunter in World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery Phase 1.
RacesRunesRotationStat PriorityProfessionsTalentsBiS GearConsumables
Best Races For Hunter DPS In Season Of Discovery
Choosing your race as an Alliance Hunter is mostly a matter of preference. Only Dwarfs and Night Elves can pick this class, and neither of the two races provides any significant benefits for Hunters. That said, Dwarfs are the slightly better choice thanks to their Gun Specialization Racial ability. Of course, this only comes into play while you’re using guns. Stoneform can also come in handy on occasion, but don’t expect to get much use out of it outside of PvP.
As far as Night Elves are concerned, you can get some use from out of Quickness and Shadowmeld, but these abilities are more suitable to Rogues and Druids than Hunters. The only notable advantage Night Elves have over Dwarfs is that they start with more Agility, which is an important stat for Hunters. This won’t make a huge difference once you hit late-game content, but will help you deal with mobs quicker in the early game.
Horde Hunters can expect quite a few more benefits compared to their Alliance counterparts. Trolls are arguably the best pick here since both Beast Slaying and Bow Specialization are helpful to Hunters. Just like the Dwarf’s Gun Specialization, the Troll’s Bow Specialization won’t provide any benefits unless you’re using bows. Meanwhile, Berserkering is always a powerful ability for pretty much any class, Hunters included.
Orcs are also a very good choice if you’re planning to play a Horde Hunter. Picking this race will give your pets a 5% damage buff thanks to Command and an edge in melee combat thanks to Axe Specialization. While Hunters rely primarily on ranged weapons, melee-focused builds are also very viable in Season of Discovery. If you’re thinking about trying out a melee build yourself, you’ll also be able to take full advantage of the Orc’s Blood Fury ability.
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Best Runes For Hunter DPS In Season Of Discovery
Runes are a new mechanic that plays a very important role in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery. You can acquire Runes in a variety of ways, from completing class quests to solving puzzles. Sometimes you can even stumble upon them randomly in the world. Hunters get access to 12 Runes, however, they can only equip three of them at any one time. Needless to say, it’s vital to choose the three Runes that work best with your build. Here are the ones we recommend you stick with throughout Phase 1.
Aspect of the Lion is a very powerful Rune that acts similar to the Paladin’s Blessing of Kings. However, the aspect provides a sustained buff that doesn’t run out after a certain amount of time. It also comes with the added benefit of increasing the Hunter’s own stats by an extra 10%. Using the Aspect of the Lion means you won’t be able to use the Aspect of the Hawk, but the tradeoff is well worth it. However, if you already have a Hunter in your party that uses Aspect of Lion, you’re better off using the Master Marksman Rune in conjunction with Aspect of the Hawk.
If you’re playing a Beast Mastery Hunter, which you should because the spec is extremely strong right now, we recommend getting the Beast Mastery Rune to go along with it. This Rune will significantly improve your pet’s DPS while also making it more difficult to kill. Explosive Shot used to be the best Rune for this slot until recently, but these days you’ll want to stay away from it. At least until Blizzard decides to reverse the nerf and make it viable again.
As far as the Legs slot Rune is concerned, you have two great options at your disposal. Flanking Strike is a good Rune to have in your arsenal if you’re going for a melee-focused Hunter, a build that sees a surprising amount of play in Season of Discovery. However, Kill Command is overall the best choice at the moment. Kill Command is particularly potent when used alongside a Scorpid, but works well with other pets as well
Hunter DPS Rotation In Season Of Discovery
Your rotation as a Hunter in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery is pretty straightforward. Players are capped at level 25, so you won’t have access to a good chunk of your abilities until later phases. In addition, the best Hunter build right now revolves around Beast Mastery and uses a very specific pet, meaning your rotation will also have to be very consistent to account for that. The pet in question is a Scorpid, but there are several other good pet options out there, too.
Keep Aspect of the Lion active at all times, especially while you’re doing group content. There are certain instances where you may want to switch to Aspect of the Hawk instead, such as when there’s another Hunter in the party, but for the most part, you’ll want to stick with Aspect of the Lion.
Start by casting Kill Command and send your pet toward your target of choice. Kill Command has a fairly long cooldown of 1 minute, so try to avoid wasting it on weak enemies. Scorpid Poison will do much of the heavy lifting for you in terms of DPS and should always be set to autocast.
The rest of your rotation is simply a matter of alternating between your Shot abilities. You won’t have access to either Chimera Shot or Explosive Shot if you’re focusing on Beast Mastery, so you’re pretty much left with only Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting. Of course, you’ll also want to incorporate some basic Auto Shots here and there.
Stat Priority For Hunter DPS In Season Of Discovery
Hunters can do a lot of damage just by using their pets and auto-attacks, but that doesn’t mean you should remain passive in combat. Using a proper rotation and equipping good gear that increases your stats will greatly boost your DPS. As with most classes, some stats are more helpful than others while you’re playing as a Hunter. Here are the most important ones:
Importance:Agility is by far your most important stat as a Hunter. Increasing this stat brings numerous benefits, including more ranged Attack Power, more Armor, increased Dodge Chance, and increased Critical Strike Chance.
Notes:Every point of Agility gives you 2 points of ranged Attack Power, 1 point of melee Attack Power, and 2 points of Armor. Additionally, Hunters gain 1% Critical Strike Chance for every 53 points of Agility and 1% Dodge Chance for every 26 points of Agility.
Weapon Skill
Importance:This is a pretty straightforward skill that increases your proficiency with a certain weapon type. In the case of Hunters, that’s mostly going to be Bows and Guns. Your Weapon Skills will increase naturally over time and provide you with extra Critical Strike Chance and Hit Chance.
Notes:You can increase your Weapon Skill only up to a certain point depending on your level. The formula for your maximum Weapon Skill is your current level x 5. Since players in Season of Discovery Phase 1 are capped at level 25, you can expect your maximum Weapon Skill to only go up to 125.
Critical Strike Chance
Importance:This stat dictates the frequency with which you can expect to land Critical Strikes. There’s always an element of RNG when it comes to chance-based stats like this, but you can tilt the odds in your favor by increasing your Agility.
Notes:In addition to boosting your Agility as much as possible, you can also increase your Critical Strike Chance by acquiring certain pieces of gear, or via enchants and consumables.
Hit Chance
Importance:Just as its name indicates, this stat represents your chance to hit enemies, and it applies both to basic attacks and certain abilities.
Notes:Your attacks have a chance to miss their mark, especially when fighting higher-level enemies, but you can reduce that chance by increasing this stat. You only need a 5% Hit Chance to guarantee a successful attack against enemies of equal level and a 9% Hit Chance against enemies up to three levels higher.
Importance:Strength increases your damage with melee attacks, which is fairly important in Season of Discovery. This stat mainly comes into play if you’re running a melee-focused Hunter and is less relevant if you’re focusing primarily on ranged attacks.
Notes:Hunters receive 1 point of melee Attack Power for every point of Strength they have. You don’t need to invest too much effort into increasing your Strength, but having a few points certainly won’t hurt.
Best Professions For Hunter DPS In Season Of Discovery
Picking the best professions for your class is usually a tough decision, but that’s not really the case here. As a Hunter, you’ll want to go with Leatherworking and Engineering pretty much every time. Both professions provide useful items for the class, however, they do come with a little caveat. Since both of them crafting professions, you’ll need to buy all the mats you need from the auction house or other players.
Engineering
Leatherworking
Engineering is a no-brainer for Hunters, especially if you favor guns over bows. Some of the explosives are pretty gimmicky but they can deal quite a bit of damage. As far as the goggles are concerned, they’re one of the only pieces of head gear available in phase one, making them valuable despite being a cloth item.
Leatherworking allows you to craft your own gear, and there are many good pieces you may make even at lower levels. The Void-Touched Leather Gloves and Void-Touched Leather Gauntlets are definitely the biggest highlights during Phase 1, but there are a few other items worth mentioning, including the Deviate Scale Belt and Dark Leather Shoulders.
Best Talent Spec For Hunter DPS In Season Of Discovery
Beast Mastery is currently the best Hunter DPS spec, but that may very well change as new patches roll out. For now, focusing on maximizing the damage output and survivability of your pet seems to yield the best results in PvE. A mix of Marksmanship and Survival will likely end up being the better choice as the game progresses, however, we recommend sticking with Beast Mastery at least until they make Explosive Shot good again.
BIS Gear For DPS Hunter In Season Of Discovery
For a full breakdown of the best in slot items for Hunter DPS in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery check out the link below.
Hunter Best in Slot (BIS) Gear | Phase 3 WoW SoD
Hunter players can discover which gear works best for this particular class in WoW Classic Season of Discovery with this handy guide.
Best Raid Consumables For DPS Hunter In Season Of Discovery
Season of Discovery Phase 1 introduces a new 10-man raid in the form of Blackfathom Deeps. This reworked version of the classic dungeon is quite challenging, so it pays to go in well-prepared. Make sure to grab some of the consumables listed below before you head in.
