WoW Forever Hunter Leveling Guide (1-60)

In short

• Beast Mastery all the way; the last 20 points go into Marksmanship.
• Tame your first pet at 10. Before that, kite with Concussive Shot.
• Every Hunter trains Aimed Shot at 20; it sits on one 6 sec cooldown with Multi-Shot.
• Summon Hawk (25) shares its cooldown with Arcane Shot. Keep two hawks up.
• New spells are not placed on your bars. Drag them in after every training visit.
• At 60 our simulation puts Survival first and Beast Mastery second.

Level 1 to 60 at a glance

Why this spec

Beast Mastery wins for leveling because the pet does the hard part. It holds aggro, so you shoot from range, and your downtime stays short. Every talent in the first band either makes the pet tougher or speeds up your own damage, and Summon Hawk at 25 adds two extra attackers for one global cooldown each. Marksmanship is fine if you like playing without a pet (Lone Wolf rewards that), but its capstone, Sniper Shot, only arrives at 40. Survival is a melee-weave spec in Forever. Our simulation rates it highest at 60, but weaving in and out of melee while leveling is slower and riskier than letting the pet tank.

Level by level

1-10No pet yet: kite and use your Stings

You start with Auto Shot and Raptor Strike. Open with Serpent Sting from 4 and Arcane Shot from 6, and slow anything that reaches you with Concussive Shot at 8. Auto Shot has a minimum range, so a mob in your face stops it: step back instead of trading blows. Hunter's Mark at 6 is cheap extra damage on longer fights. Respawns are fastest in starting zones, so you rarely run out of mobs. Skyborne players start on the new Zephras Isle, which covers about 1-12; everyone else uses the usual starting zone.

• Auto Shot
• Raptor Strike
• Serpent Sting
• Arcane Shot
• Hunter's Mark
• Concussive Shot

10-20First pet and first talent points

At 10 you get Tame Beast, Call Pet and Aspect of the Hawk, and your first talent point. Pets also learn Growl, Great Stamina and Natural Armor once tamed. Send the pet in first, wait for it to grab aggro, then shoot. Mend Pet arrives at 12, Multi-Shot at 18. Your first milestone talent opens at 11 points, which is level 20 for most players. Zones in this range: Westfall, Loch Modan, Darkshore or Redridge for Alliance, The Barrens and Silverpine Forest for Horde. New dungeons: Hall of Thanes (13-18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (15-20).

• Tame Beast
• Call Pet
• Aspect of the Hawk
• Mend Pet
• Multi-Shot
• Growl

20-30Aimed Shot, traps and Summon Hawk

Level 20 is a big training visit: Aimed Shot (now baseline, 2 sec cast), Aspect of the Cheetah, Freezing Trap and Disengage. Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot run on the same 6 sec cooldown, so each window gets one of them. At 25 you can take Summon Hawk; each hawk fights for 18 sec and two can be out at once. Rapid Fire comes at 26 and Frost Trap at 28. Duskwood and Wetlands suit Alliance here, Ashenvale and Hillsbrad Foothills suit Horde. Excavation Site: Wetlands (24-29) is a new dungeon in this range.

• Aimed Shot
• Aspect of the Cheetah
• Freezing Trap
• Disengage
• Summon Hawk
• Rapid Fire

30-40Feign Death, Intimidation, Bestial Wrath

Feign Death and Intimidation come at 30, and Bestial Wrath, the Beast Mastery capstone, arrives around 40. City of Dalaran (28-33) needs an attunement quest first; The Drowned City (35-40) is the other new dungeon. Riverglades, a new contested zone, opens from about 35. At 40 you can buy dual spec and train riding. If you want a Survival or Marksmanship set for later, put it on the second spec.

• Feign Death
• Intimidation
• Bestial Wrath
• Volley

40-50Marksmanship points and new zones

Spend the last 20 points in Marksmanship: Lethal Attacks, Careful Aim, Rapid Killing, Efficiency, then Trueshot Aura and Mortal Shots. Our level-60 Beast Mastery build in the simulation lands on almost the same picks. Aspect of the Wild comes at 46. Zones for this range: Tanaris, The Hinterlands and the new Shen'dralas. Krol'dok Stronghold (40-45) and Alcaz Island Prison (48-53) are the new dungeons.

• Lethal Attacks
• Careful Aim
• Aspect of the Wild

50-60Finish the build, get ready for 60

Finish Mortal Shots and keep upgrading your ranged weapon. Tranquilizing Shot is a level 60 spell. Zones for 50-60: Burning Steppes, the Plaguelands, Winterspring and Silithus. Blackmaw Hold (55-60) and Shaper's Terrace (58-60) are new dungeons, and Mount Hyjal opens at 60. At 60 the picture changes: our simulation puts Survival on top, so respec or set up a second spec if you want to push raid damage.

• Efficiency
• Trueshot Aura
• Mortal Shots
• Tranquilizing Shot

Class quests

Talent plan

How to fight

Stats · Gear

Tips

• Sit at a campfire before logging out. It gives rested XP after a short sit.
• Crafted food can add a small XP bonus. Cook if you can.
• Legacy points are shared across your characters; the Adventure tree has Well Rested for more rested XP.
• The Legacy Talented perk unlocks talents up to 5 levels early.
• Class training from 1 to 60 costs about 206-207 gold. Save some for level 20 and 40.
• Since the 9 Nov hotfix, dungeon mobs give 50% more XP, so dungeon runs with the quests picked up pay well.
• A party member far above the mob level stops XP for the whole group, so do not count on a 60 carrying you.
• The 9 Nov hotfix stopped Hunters from pulling distant mobs just by targeting them.

Common mistakes

• Pressing Arcane Shot over and over and leaving no room for Summon Hawk.
• Standing too close to the mob, where Auto Shot stops firing.
• Shooting before the pet has aggro and pulling the mob onto yourself.
• Forgetting to drag new spells onto your bars after training.
• Fighting elites with a weak pet and spending more time on Revive Pet than on killing.

Questions