Hunter leveling in WoW Forever: weapons, spells by level, pets and rotation

The short answer

Level Beast Mastery. The pet tanks and deals damage, and Growl keeps enemies on it, so you shoot and rarely get hit. Marksmanship works but has less pet support and more threat trouble, and do not take Lone Wolf while leveling because it removes the pet. Survival is the hardest to level: it needs melee weaving, traps and crowd control.

You get your pet at level 10 with Tame Beast. Until then use Aspect of the Monkey, open with Auto Shot and Serpent Sting, use Arcane Shot on cooldown and kite backward, and use Raptor Strike only when something reaches you.

• Lone Wolf
• Tame Beast
• Aspect of the Monkey
• Serpent Sting
• Arcane Shot
• Raptor Strike

Weapons to level with

The weapon that matters is the ranged weapon, and it is the same for all three specs. Bows, guns and crossbows are all valid for leveling, so take the one with the best damage per second that you find, from a dungeon, a quest or Engineering. You train bows, guns, crossbows and thrown weapons at weapon masters, and a ranged upgrade is worth more than any other piece.

Melee weapon: Beast Mastery and Marksmanship only use it for its stats, so any one-handed or two-handed weapon will do. Survival fights up close, so keep a real melee weapon up to date; Hunters learn Dual Wield and Polearms at level 20 and can use axes, swords, daggers, fist weapons and staves. See the dungeon guide for ranged drops.

Spells by level

These levels come from the game data. 1: Raptor Strike. 4: Serpent Sting and Aspect of the Monkey. 6: Arcane Shot and Hunter's Mark. 8: Concussive Shot. 10: Aspect of the Hawk, Tame Beast, Call Pet, Feed Pet and Revive Pet. 12: Mend Pet and Wing Clip. 16: Mongoose Bite and Immolation Trap. 18: Multi-Shot. 20: Aspect of the Cheetah, Freezing Trap, Disengage and Dual Wield.

25: Summon Hawk, a talent that adds two hawks for 18 seconds. 26: Rapid Fire. 28: Frost Trap. 30: Aspect of the Beast and Feign Death. 34: Explosive Trap. 36: Viper Sting. 40: Aspect of the Pack, Volley and dual talent specialization. 46: Aspect of the Wild.

• Raptor Strike
• Serpent Sting
• Aspect of the Monkey
• Arcane Shot
• Hunter's Mark
• Concussive Shot

Pet and rotation

Pet: a Cat for damage, a Boar for a sturdier tank that holds threat with Charge, and a Wolf for group utility; see the pets guide. Let the pet hit a few times before you shoot so it holds threat. A pet's Dash is not trained: you tame a beast that already has it and use it in combat.

Beast Mastery: keep Aspect of the Hawk up, send the pet in while you shoot with Auto Shot, apply Serpent Sting, cast Summon Hawk on cooldown, then Arcane Shot and Rapid Fire. Arcane Shot and Summon Hawk share a cooldown, so Arcane Shot matters less once you have the hawks. If the pet loses the enemy, use Wing Clip, Concussive Shot or Frost Trap. Switch to Aspect of the Cheetah only to travel.

Beast Mastery talents such as Pathfinding, Ferocity, Intimidation and Frenzy are the usual first picks. The full level 60 split is in the talents guide and on the Hunter page.

• Aspect of the Hawk
• Serpent Sting
• Summon Hawk
• Arcane Shot
• Rapid Fire
• Wing Clip