Hunter

The Hunter is now three clearly different classes in one: Beast Mastery keeps the pet and adds dive-bombing hawks, Marksmanship can go petless with Lone Wolf, and Survival can fight in melee with traps that work in combat. Blizzard said nothing Hunter-specific in the Deep Dive, so everything here is datamined or beta-tested by players, and the best single source is a community wiki. Hunter is the easiest leveler in every ranking and one of the most gear-forgiving raid DPS classes. If you want to hit 60 first and still contribute, or you want to try the one melee build vanilla never had, read on.

Why play it in Forever

Three fan sites agree on the shape: BM keeps the pet and adds hawks, MM can go petless, Survival fights in melee with traps. verified (lfcarry, zockify.) The forever-hunter wiki on GitHub, last updated 2026-09-23, is the most complete tracker of what the beta client actually does. verified

For a guild, Hunter is the safe pick for people with less time: expcarry rates BM leveling S-tier, and the class is A-tier in PvP for “range, traps, tracking and kiting”. verified The raid ranking is undecided: expcarry’s level 60 sim puts MM at 906 DPS (S band) but keeps it at B “pending stronger beta validation”, with BM and Survival also B. verified wowforeverbuilds ranks nothing.

The catch is the same as every class: the beta caps at 20 (rising to 30), and Summon Hawk does not arrive until 25, so almost every rotation below is untested past the first dungeon tier.

What changed from vanilla

Trained abilities, beta client export (build 1.60.1.69876) unless tagged. Wiki-only claims are marked. verified

Ability	Forever	Vanilla
Aimed Shot	Trained at 20 (ranks 20/28/36/44/52/60), 2 sec cast, 6 sec cooldown shared with Multi-Shot	21-point MM talent, 3 sec cast
Multi-Shot	Level 18, single rank, 0.5 sec cast, 6 sec cooldown, 13.9% base mana, hits 3	Instant, 10 sec cooldown, ranks
Volley	Level 40, no cooldown, 70 Arcane per sec for 6 sec in 8 yd at rank 1	1 min cooldown
Arcane Shot	6 sec cooldown, scales with 10% Ranged AP, no spell power scaling (wiki)	Scaled with spell power
Serpent Sting	15% RAP over the duration, ticks can crit (wiki)	Flat
Scorpid Sting	Level 22, single rank, -2% hit for 20 sec (wiki)	Str/Agi reduction
Viper Sting	15 sec cooldown added (wiki)	None
Rapid Fire	Level 26, +40% ranged and melee attack speed for 15 sec, 5 min cooldown	Ranged only
Aspect of the Beast	Level 30, 4 ranks (30/40/50/60): untrackable and +50/70/90/110 melee AP	Untrackable only
Aspect of the Monkey	100-yard aura so the pet benefits (wiki)	Self only
Traps	All 30 sec cooldown (were 15), usable in combat. Fire and Frost traps are on separate cooldowns but currently cannot both be active (bug, wiki)	15 sec, out of combat only
Feign Death	Level 30, 30 sec cooldown, lasts up to 6 min and then you actually die	30 sec cooldown
Raptor Strike	10 mana at rank 1 (was 15), weapon damage plus bonus
Mongoose Bite	Level 16, weapon damage plus a bonus (15 at rank 1, 57 at rank 4), 5 sec cooldown, still needs a dodge unless Expose Prey procs it	Flat damage
Auto Shot	Can fire during another cast; melee attacks reset the ranged swing timer (wiki)
Dead zone and Disengage	Unchanged: the 8-yard minimum still exists verified
Hunter’s Mark	Ranks 6/22/40/58; rank 4 bug shows 71 RAP, less than rank 3 (wiki)
Aspect of the Hawk	Rank 6 bug shows 55 RAP (wiki)

Pets

verified (foreverchanges.pro and the forever-hunter wiki)

Scaling from the Hunter: 2 pet health per Stamina, 30% of your armor, 10% of your highest AP source, 100% of your crit chance. Pets no longer receive external buffs. Focus regen doubled to about 10 per sec. Happiness decays much more slowly. Pets can be sent to a location. They despawn at about 100 yards.
Speed: every pet swings at 2.0 baseline with a family passive (Faster Attack I to VII, Slower Attack II to III). Cats reach 1.0, the slowest 2.7. 18 families, a new Fox family, Owl renamed Bird of Prey, 501 tameable beasts.
New family abilities: Bear Swipe (3 targets), Bird of Prey Mine! (disarm 4 sec), Crab Pinch (50% slow), Crocolisk Dismember (-50% healing 10 sec, the “Mortal Strike pet”), Hyena Tendon Rip (slow), Raptor Savage Rend (bleed), Spider Web (root), Tallstrider Dust Cloud (-armor), Fox Trickster’s Dance (+50% dodge, +30% attack speed 12 sec), Gorilla Thunderstomp. Furious Howl (wolf) is now a melee AP party buff. Trained at 12/24/36/48/60 for most.
Devilsaur Tooth changed from a guaranteed pet crit to a free Revive Pet within 30 sec (wiki).

Beast Mastery tree

Removed: Improved Aspect of the Hawk, Improved Eyes of the Beast, Thick Hide. New: Focused Fire, Summon Hawk, Deadly Aspects.

Row	Talents
1	Deadly Aspects 5/5 (Hawk: 10% Auto Shot chance for +30% ranged speed 12 sec; Beast: same for melee); Endurance Training 5/5 (+15% pet health and armor)
2	Focused Fire 2/2 (+2% all damage for you and pet while the pet is out); Improved Aspect of the Monkey 3/3 (+6% dodge, pet gets 50%); Pathfinding 2/2; Improved Revive Pet 2/2 (-6 sec, -40% mana, +30% health)
3 (11 pt)	Bestial Swiftness (+30% pet speed, indoors too); Unleashed Fury 5/5 (+15% pet and hawk damage)
4 (16 pt)	Summon Hawk (dive-bomb for 32 Physical, then attacks for 18 sec, max 2 hawks, shares Arcane Shot’s cooldown; trained ranks 25/36/48/60); Improved Mend Pet 2/2; Ferocity 5/5 (+10% pet and hawk crit)
5 (21 pt)	Intimidation (pet stun 3 sec, that attack gets +100% crit, high threat); Spirit Bond 2/2 (1% health per 5 sec for both); Bestial Discipline 2/2 (+20% Focus regen, 50% of your mana regen continues while casting)
6	Frenzy 5/5 (pet +30% attack speed 8 sec after a crit, 100%)
7 (31 pt)	Bestial Wrath (+50% pet damage 18 sec, CC immune)

Marksmanship tree

Removed: Lethal Shots, Improved Hunter’s Mark, Aimed Shot (now trained), Improved Serpent Sting, Improved Scorpid Sting. New: Improved Stings, Careful Aim, Rapid Killing, Lone Wolf, Rapid Recuperation, Sniper Shot.

Row	Talents
1	Hawk Eye 3/3 (+6 yd); Improved Concussive Shot 5/5; Lethal Attacks 5/5 (+5% crit with all attacks)
2	Improved Stings 3/3 (+20% Serpent Sting, Viper -6 sec cooldown, Scorpid +45 sec); Efficiency 5/5 (-15% shots, stings and melee abilities); Careful Aim 5/5 (+AP equal to 100% of Intellect)
3 (11 pt)	Lone Wolf (+20% damage with all attacks while no pet is active); Rapid Killing 2/2 (Rapid Fire -2 min; a kill or a Serpent Sting target dying grants +20% to your next Shot within 20 sec); Improved Arcane Shot 5/5 (-1.5 sec, does not affect Summon Hawk)
4 (16 pt)	Trueshot Aura (+30 Ranged AP to the party, 30 min; vanilla was +50 AP to all attacks); Mortal Shots 5/5 (+30% ranged crit damage)
5 (21 pt)	Scatter Shot; Rapid Recuperation 2/2 (Serpent Sting hits grant 50%, consuming Rapid Killing 100%, of mana regen while casting for 15 sec); Barrage 3/3 (+10% Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot, Volley)
6	Ranged Weapon Specialization 5/5 (+5%)
7 (31 pt)	Sniper Shot (+160 ranged damage; 4 sec cast, 15 sec cooldown, 8 to 35 yd per classicwow.gg; trained ranks 40/48/58 adding 225 and 295 per the wiki) verified

Survival tree

Removed: Monster Slaying, Humanoid Slaying, Trap Mastery, Improved Feign Death, Killer Instinct, Wyvern Sting. 8 new.

Row	Talents
1	Improved Tracking 5/5 (+5% damage to the tracked creature type: Beasts, Demons, Dragonkin, Elementals, Giants, Humanoids, Undead); Deflection 5/5 (+10% parry)
2	Entrapment 5/5 (all trap-triggered targets rooted 5 sec); Savage Strikes 2/2 (+4% melee ability crit); Survivalist 5/5 (+10% health); Improved Wing Clip 3/3 (20% root)
3 (11 pt)	Deterrence (+25% dodge and parry 10 sec); Clever Traps 2/2 (+30% Freezing/Frost duration, +30% Immolation/Explosive damage); Surefooted 3/3 (+3% hit, -30% snare duration)
4 (16 pt)	Counterattack (after a parry: 50% weapon damage + 13, 5 sec root, cannot be avoided); Survival Tactics 2/2 (+10% trap and Feign Death hit); Predator’s Edge 5/5 (+30% melee crit damage, +50% off-hand damage)
5 (21 pt)	Strider Kick (100% melee weapon damage, 8 sec cooldown); Resourcefulness 2/2 (traps and melee abilities -60% mana; crits give a 60% chance of 50% regen while casting for 30 sec); Expose Prey 2/2 (attacks on Hunter’s Mark targets have 10% chance to activate Mongoose Bite for 5 sec); Survivalist’s Discipline 2/2 (trap and Deterrence cooldown -40%)
6	Lightning Reflexes 5/5 (+15% Agility)
7 (31 pt)	Lacerating Strikes (Mongoose Bite also bleeds for 40% of its damage over 21 sec; requires Expose Prey)

Milestone talents

Tree	11-point	16-point (new)	21-point	31-point
Beast Mastery	Bestial Swiftness	Summon Hawk	Intimidation	Bestial Wrath
Marksmanship	Lone Wolf	Trueshot Aura	Scatter Shot	Sniper Shot
Survival	Deterrence	Counterattack	Strider Kick	Lacerating Strikes

Known beta bugs on the official list: pet hit chance and expertise not displayed, pet movement speed wrong on the sheet. verified Community-found: Hawk rank 6 and Hunter’s Mark rank 4 regressions, Fire and Frost traps cannot coexist (wiki).

The three trees

Spec	Role	Playstyle	Strengths	Weaknesses
Beast Mastery	Ranged DPS, pet-led	Pet in first, Auto Shot never clipped, Multi-Shot and Arcane Shot or Summon Hawk on cooldown, Bestial Wrath plus Rapid Fire plus hawks for burst	Two scaling damage sources, pets scale with your gear, Intimidation, easiest leveler	A dead pet turns off most of the tree; less personal shot damage; hawks compete with Arcane Shot
Marksmanship	Ranged DPS, pet optional	Aimed Shot opener, Auto Shot, Multi-Shot on cooldown, Arcane Shot while moving, Sniper Shot in a 4 sec window	“All the damage is yours”; Trueshot Aura; Surefooted hit; big crits; Careful Aim	Lone Wolf is a guess; ranged weapon dependent; Sniper Shot’s cast is awkward
Survival	Ranged DPS with trap duty, or melee DPS	Ranged: Improved Tracking, Surefooted, short-cooldown traps, Deterrence. Melee: Aspect of the Beast, Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite procs, Strider Kick, Lacerating Strikes	Best trap kit, +10% health, Agility multiplier, a genuine melee option	Nobody can test melee at 60; Improved Tracking is useless on untrackable types; 2H vs dual wield unresolved

Beast Mastery

Role: ranged DPS with the pet doing a large share of the work.

Playstyle: send the pet first, never clip Auto Shot, Multi-Shot and Arcane Shot on cooldown, Summon Hawk instead of Arcane Shot when the target lives 18+ seconds (they share a cooldown). Serpent Sting on long fights. Burst is Bestial Wrath plus Rapid Fire plus two hawks. Deadly Aspects gives you attack-speed windows off Auto Shot.

Strengths: two scaling damage sources, and the pet scales with your gear now. Intimidation is a stun and a threat tool. Easiest leveler in every ranking. verified

Weaknesses: a dead pet turns off Focused Fire and most of the tree. Less personal shot damage than MM. Summon Hawk and Arcane Shot fight for one cooldown.

Verdict: the leveling spec and a fine raid spec. expcarry’s sim puts it in the B band with the others, pending beta validation. verified

Marksmanship

Role: ranged DPS, pet optional.

Playstyle: Aimed Shot once the tank has threat, then Auto Shot, Multi-Shot on cooldown between autos, Arcane Shot while moving or when Multi is down, Serpent Sting on long fights to fuel Rapid Recuperation, Sniper Shot when a 4 sec cast is safe. Rapid Fire often; Rapid Killing cuts it to 3 minutes.

Strengths: “All the damage is yours.” Trueshot Aura for the ranged party. Surefooted gives 3% hit from the Survival tree. Lethal Attacks, Mortal Shots and Barrage stack crit damage. Careful Aim turns Intellect into Attack Power.

Weaknesses: “Lone Wolf is a guess. Nobody knows yet whether dismissing your pet beats a living pet”. verified Ranged weapon dependent. Sniper Shot’s 4 sec cast is awkward in a moving fight.

Verdict: the highest sim number of the three (906 DPS) but held at B “pending stronger beta validation”. verified Bring one MM per ranged group for Trueshot Aura.

Survival

Role: ranged DPS with the raid’s best trap kit, or an experimental melee DPS.

Playstyle, ranged: Improved Tracking on the boss type, Surefooted for hit, traps on 18 sec cooldowns with Survivalist’s Discipline, Deterrence when adds reach you. Otherwise shoot like MM.

Playstyle, melee: Aspect of the Beast (+110 melee AP at rank 4), Raptor Strike queued before each swing, Mongoose Bite whenever Expose Prey procs (which needs Hunter’s Mark on the target), Strider Kick every 8 seconds, Counterattack after a parry, traps in combat for control. Rapid Fire buffs melee speed now, and Deadly Aspects procs off melee autos under Aspect of the Beast, so the melee build is not starved of cooldowns.

Strengths: best trap kit (Survivalist’s Discipline, Entrapment roots, in-combat traps). +10% health. Lightning Reflexes is an Agility multiplier. A genuine melee option that vanilla never had.

Weaknesses: “nobody can test that at 60 yet”. verified Improved Tracking does nothing against untrackable creature types. Two-hander versus dual wield is unresolved.

Verdict: ranged Survival is a legitimate raid slot for trap duty. Melee Survival is an experiment, not a raid slot, until someone parses it.

Leveling 1 to 60

Beta data covers 1 to 20. Summon Hawk arrives at 25 under the 30 cap. Everything past 20 is theorycraft. unverified

What testers run at 20

Level 20 beta BM build verified: Deadly Aspects 5 (10 to 14), Pathfinding 2, Focused Fire 2, Improved Revive Pet 2. expcarry’s 20: Deadly Aspects 5, Endurance Training 5, Bestial Swiftness; and its 30: add Unleashed Fury 5, Summon Hawk, Focused Fire 2, Pathfinding 1, Intimidation. verified mmoexp’s 21/0/0 at 30 puts Summon Hawk and Unleashed Fury in and says use Arcane Shot instead of hawks on short fights. verified

Rotation 10 to 30: “Send the pet first and let it build threat for a second or two. Aspect of the Hawk in combat, Aspect of the Cheetah when traveling. Serpent Sting and Arcane Shot on the target, then Auto Shot while the pet tanks.” Buy ammo in bulk.

Beast Mastery 10 to 60

verified (wowforeverbuilds; foreverwisp proposes the same 31/20/0 shape and calls it “untested theorycraft”)

Levels	Talent
10 to 14	Deadly Aspects 5
15 to 16	Focused Fire 2
17 to 19	Endurance Training 3
20 to 24	Unleashed Fury 5
25 to 29	Ferocity 5
30	Bestial Swiftness
31	Intimidation
32 to 33	Spirit Bond 2
34	Summon Hawk
35 to 39	Frenzy 5
40	Bestial Wrath
41 to 42	Endurance Training 5
43 to 44	Bestial Discipline 2
45 to 46	Improved Mend Pet 2
47 to 51	Careful Aim 5 (MM)
52 to 56	Efficiency 5 (MM)
57 to 58	Rapid Killing 2 (MM)
59 to 60	Improved Revive Pet 2

Pets: cat for damage, boar for Charge and durability, wind serpent for Lightning Breath. “Boar is the easiest recommendation for a new Hunter”. verified Broken Tooth in the Badlands in the high 30s vanilla baseline; the guide assumes it still exists. Gear: ranged weapon first, always a full quiver.

Marksmanship 20 to 50

For people who hate pet babysitting. verified Deadly Aspects 5, Careful Aim 5, Efficiency 5, Lethal Attacks 5, Rapid Killing 2, Trueshot Aura (32), Mortal Shots 5, Rapid Recuperation 2, Barrage 3, Ranged Weapon Spec 5, Sniper Shot (48), Improved Stings 2. Let a boar or bear hold threat first because you will out-damage it. Chain kills for Rapid Killing.

Survival 30 to 60 melee hybrid

verified Improved Tracking 5, Deadly Aspects 5, Survivalist 5, Surefooted 3, Deterrence (28), Savage Strikes 2, Counterattack (31), Improved Wing Clip 3, Survivalist’s Discipline 2, Resourcefulness 2, Expose Prey 1, Lightning Reflexes 5 (40 to 44), Expose Prey 2, Lacerating Strikes (46), Focused Fire 2, Endurance Training 3, Unleashed Fury 5, Ferocity 4.

Method: track the right type, pet in, Mark, Sting, Auto Shot, trap the second mob. When a mob reaches you: Raptor Strike, Mongoose Bite on proc, Counterattack after a parry, Wing Clip and step back. Keep a strong two-hander with Agility.

Leveling tips

Feign Death lasts up to 6 minutes and then kills you. Cancel it.
Traps work in combat now. Drop a Freezing Trap on the second mob mid-fight instead of pre-placing.
Pets no longer get external buffs. Mend Pet and Endurance Training are the only ways to make it tougher.
Track the right creature type if you took Improved Tracking, and switch when the target changes. verified

See Leveling overview and Dungeons.

Endgame builds

All theorycraft, level 60 untested. Raid sizes: Barrow Deeps 10, Hyjal Summit 20, Onyxia’s Lair 40. Guild default composition: 2/3/5, 3/5/12, 4/10/26. See Raids overview and Raid composition.

Beast Mastery raid, 31/20/0

Talents verified: BM: Deadly Aspects 5, Endurance Training 3, Focused Fire 2, Bestial Swiftness, Unleashed Fury 5, Ferocity 5, Summon Hawk, Intimidation, Bestial Discipline 2, Frenzy 5, Bestial Wrath. MM: Careful Aim 5, Efficiency 3, Lethal Attacks 5, Rapid Killing 2, Trueshot Aura, Mortal Shots 4.

Priority:

Aspect of the Hawk, Hunter’s Mark, pet on passive until the tank has threat, pet behind the boss.
Auto Shot uninterrupted.
Multi-Shot and Arcane Shot on cooldown; Summon Hawk instead of Arcane Shot when the target lives 18+ sec.
Serpent Sting on long fights.
Mend Pet early, not late.
Burn: Bestial Wrath plus Rapid Fire plus two hawks.
Tranquilizing Shot if assigned. Feign Death for threat.

Stats: hit, Agility, crit, AP, Intellect (Careful Aim), Stamina. Skinning’s +5% vs Beasts and Dragonkin is a real raid bonus if Onyxia counts as Dragonkin vanilla baseline (she did).

Consumables: Elixir of the Mongoose, Elixir of Greater Agility, Grilled Squid, Major Mana, runes, ammo stacks, pet food. New: Elixir of Ferocity (+18 Str/Agi) and Major Frenzy Potion (+40 AP) once verified. See Alchemy.

Raid fit: in a 10, your pet is a legitimate add-holder for a few seconds. In 20 and 40, keep it out of cleaves. Devilsaur Tooth (free Revive Pet) is the raid insurance trinket. Tier 1 Wildstalker Armor datamine: 2pc +1% attack and casting speed, 3pc Frost and Freezing Trap -3 sec, 4pc +36 AP vs Beasts, 5pc Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot -1 sec. unverified

Marksmanship raid, 0/38/13

Talents verified: MM: Careful Aim 5, Improved Stings 3, Efficiency 5, Lethal Attacks 5, Rapid Killing 2, Lone Wolf, Trueshot Aura, Mortal Shots 5, Rapid Recuperation 2, Barrage 3, Ranged Weapon Spec 5, Sniper Shot. SV: Improved Tracking 5, Survivalist 5, Surefooted 3.

Priority:

Aspect of the Hawk, Trueshot Aura, Hunter’s Mark. Dismiss the pet (Lone Wolf) or leave it passive.
Aimed Shot once the tank has threat.
Auto Shot.
Multi-Shot on cooldown between autos.
Arcane Shot while moving or when Multi is down.
Serpent Sting on long fights (Rapid Recuperation).
Sniper Shot when a 4 sec cast is safe. Rapid Fire often.

Stats: hit (Surefooted counts), crit and Agility, AP, Intellect, Stamina.

Datamined but unreleased effects mentioned: “Improved Aimed Shot” and “Hydra Shot” item procs. unverified

Survival raid, ranged, 0/21/30

Talents verified: SV: Improved Tracking 5, Entrapment 1, Survivalist 5, Clever Traps 2, Surefooted 3, Deterrence, Survival Tactics 2, Counterattack, Resourcefulness 2, Expose Prey 1, Survivalist’s Discipline 2, Lightning Reflexes 5. MM: Careful Aim 5, Efficiency 3, Lethal Attacks 5, Rapid Killing 2, Trueshot Aura, Mortal Shots 5.

Job: “Ranged damage with the best trap kit in the raid.” Rotation as MM without Sniper Shot. Stats as MM but Stamina higher because you stand near adds.

Raid fit: the Hunter you assign to Freezing Trap and Frost Trap duty on add fights. Tier 1 3pc (-3 sec on traps) is built for this build.

Survival raid, melee, 0/10/41

unverified (leprestore, single source, theorycraft.) Predator’s Edge, Expose Prey, Strider Kick, Lightning Reflexes, Lacerating Strikes, Counterattack, Deterrence.

Priority: Aspect of the Beast, Hunter’s Mark on the target (Expose Prey needs it), Raptor Strike queued before each swing, Mongoose Bite on every Expose Prey proc, Strider Kick every 8 sec, Counterattack after a parry, traps in combat for control.

Weapon: “No confirmed universal answer yet” between a two-hander (better per-strike for Strider Kick and Mongoose Bite) and dual wield (Predator’s Edge +50% off-hand).

Raid fit: none yet. Treat it as an experiment. Nobody has parsed this at 60.

PvP notes

MM 0/31/20 verified: Hawk Eye, Improved Concussive Shot, Lethal Attacks, Mortal Shots, Scatter Shot, Sniper Shot; Entrapment, Surefooted, Deterrence, Counterattack, Deflection. “Viper Sting on healers and traps on melee over damage shots.” Champion’s Pursuit 4pc gives -1 sec Concussive Shot.
BM 32/19/0 verified: Intimidation, Bestial Wrath, Improved Aspect of the Monkey, Improved Mend Pet, Spirit Bond, Hawk Eye, Improved Concussive Shot.
Survival 0/21/30 “melee deterrent” verified: Improved Wing Clip, Counterattack, Entrapment, Lightning Reflexes, Survivalist’s Discipline, Survival Tactics. Stand at the flag and let Warriors and Rogues come to you.
New pet tools matter: Crocolisk Dismember (-50% healing), Bird of Prey disarm, Spider Web root. verified
expcarry rates Hunter PvP A-tier. verified

Battleground details are on PvP.

Race choice

Hunter races: Orc, Tauren, Troll, Windshaper Skyborne; Human (new), Dwarf, Night Elf, High Order Skyborne. No Undead or Gnome Hunter. verified Skyborne is a paid unlock. Racials from the beta client. verified

Alliance

Race	Hunter-relevant racials	Notes
Human (new)	Sword Specialization +2% crit (melee and spell crit, not ranged, per the wiki); Will to Survive; The Human Spirit; Perception	Melee Survival with a sword likes it. Ranged Hunters get only the stun break. leprestore: Human and Night Elf for Alliance PvE verified
Dwarf	Big Game Hunter +5% vs Beasts; Stoneform (also -10% Physical 8 sec); Mace Specialization; Find Treasure	The vanilla Gun Specialization is gone. Big Game Hunter is the raid racial if bosses are Beasts
Night Elf	Quickness +1% dodge, +2% speed; Elune’s Light +10% crit 15 sec; Shadowmeld; Wisp Spirit	Elune’s Light lines up with Rapid Fire and Bestial Wrath. classicwow.gg: “timed crit windows and movement bonuses” verified
High Order Skyborne (paid)	Wind Blessed +1% haste (ranged included); Read Ley Line +100% regen; Walk on Air; +5% vs Elementals	Haste is a clean ranged DPS racial. Walk on Air is a free Disengage down a cliff

Horde

Race	Hunter-relevant racials	Notes
Orc	Blood Fury +10% AP and Spell Power 15 sec; Hardiness; Axe Specialization (melee); Shatter Curse	Blood Fury is a percentage now, so it scales. The vanilla “Orc Hunter best” logic still holds. Pets “benefit from applicable racial bonuses” (wiki, vague)
Tauren	Endurance +5% health and +1% hit; War Stomp (0.5 sec cast, 5 targets, 2 sec); Plainsrunning; Cultivation	leprestore: “one of the easiest all-round Hunter recommendations” verified. The hit racial is the raid argument
Troll	Berserking +10% attack and cast speed 10 sec; Beast Slaying +5% vs Beasts; Regeneration; Rapid Regeneration	Classic pick still valid. Beast Slaying value depends on raid creature types
Windshaper Skyborne (paid)	Wind Blessed +1% haste; Skysight +10% movement; Walk on Air; +5% vs Elementals	Haste plus mobility. The kiting racial

expcarry: “there is no single verified best Hunter race”. verified Pick Tauren or Troll on Horde, Night Elf or Dwarf on Alliance, unless you are paying for Skyborne haste. See the full race grid.

Professions for this class

Goal	Pairing	Why
Leveling and gold	Skinning + Leatherworking	Mail and leather, armor kits with AP, and Skinning’s +5% vs Beasts and Dragonkin is a permanent DPS racial for a Hunter verified
Raiding and PvP	Engineering + Mining	Scopes, guns, grenades, net projector, new trinkets; Mining +5% health verified
Consumables	Herbalism + Alchemy	The third option per expcarry verified

Dwarves get Find Treasure; Tauren get Cultivation herbs without Herbalism. See Professions overview, Leatherworking, Engineering.

Pre-raid gear philosophy

“Weapon DPS affects too much of the Hunter’s core output” to sacrifice for set bonuses. Ranged weapon first, then hit, Agility, AP, crit. verified classicwow.gg: “Your bow or gun is everything”. verified
Ammo and quivers: arrows up to 20.0 DPS (Doomshot), bullets to 20.5 (Miniature Cannon Balls), quiver haste up to 15%, ammo stacks of 200. verified (wiki, Forever values.)
Sets: Beaststalker (dungeon) and Beastmaster (upgrade) reworked with AP and mana regen across 2 to 6 pieces. expcarry: “evaluate efficiency, don’t force”. All provisional. unverified
Sources: Dire Maul, UBRS, Stratholme, Blackrock Spire, Blackmaw Hold, Shaper’s Terrace. verified (New dungeon names are single-sourced.)
Melee Survival needs a second gear plan: a real two-hander or two one-handers with Agility, Aspect of the Beast, and sharpening stones (the wiki lists Elemental Sharpening Stone as “melee crit only”). verified

See Pre-raid gear and Loot rules.

Common mistakes and pro tips

Summon Hawk shares Arcane Shot’s cooldown. Bind them separately: hawk on anything that lives 18 sec, Arcane Shot on things about to die. verified
Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot share a 6 sec cooldown. “Choosing your next shot also means choosing which shot to delay”. verified Auto Shot fires during a cast now, so a 2 sec Aimed Shot no longer costs you an auto.
Melee swings reset your ranged swing timer. Do not tap a mob in melee and back out expecting an instant Auto Shot.
Traps are 30 sec cooldowns and Fire and Frost cannot both be active (bug). Survivalist’s Discipline (-40%) and Tier 1 3pc (-3 sec) are the fixes.
Feign Death lasts up to 6 minutes and then kills you. Cancel it.
Pets no longer get external buffs. Nobody needs to Blessing of Kings your cat. Improved Mend Pet now cleanses 50% of the time.
Careful Aim makes Intellect a DPS stat. Do not vendor mail with Intellect.
Trueshot Aura buffs Ranged AP only. It does nothing for your Warriors. Furious Howl (wolf) is the melee AP party buff instead.
Hawk rank 6 and Hunter’s Mark rank 4 are bugged downward in this build. Use the previous rank until fixed.
Lone Wolf: dismiss the pet, do not just park it, or the talent is off.

Addons and macros under the Forever API

Forever uses the retail (Midnight) addon API. See Addons that work and Macros.

Pet frames: UnitHealth("pet") is presumably a secret value like every other unit, so third-party pet health bars and “Mend Pet at 40%” WeakAuras are gone; the default pet frame still shows the bar. unverified (The addon-breakage article does not test pets specifically.)

Swing timer for Auto Shot: classic Hunter swing timers (Quartz) depend on combat log events that are not documented as secret. Whether a Forever-flavored one exists is unknown, and Blizzard’s native one is unconfirmed (see the Warrior page). Check CurseForge for a Forever tag before launch.

Known issue: queuing Raptor Strike (an on-next-attack ability) disables your spell queue window. verified

Macros that still work, retail syntax, from the forever-hunter wiki dated 2026-09-16. verified

Auto Shot with auto-target:

#showtooltip
/targetenemy [noexists][dead][help]
/cast !Auto Shot

Melee panic button:

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Raptor Strike
/startattack
/cast Mongoose Bite

Pet attack with charge and dash:

#showtooltip
/targetenemy [noexists][dead][help]
/petfollow
/petpassive
/petattack
/cast Charge
/cast Dash
/cast Dive

Freezing Trap with pet control:

#showtooltip
/stopattack
/cast Freezing Trap
/cast [combat] Feign Death
/petstay [@pettarget,harm]
/petpassive [@pettarget,harm]

Aspect swap:

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Aspect of the Cheetah
/cast Aspect of the Hawk
/cast Aspect of the Monkey

Melee Survival will want an Aspect of the Beast / Aspect of the Hawk toggle and a /cast [@mouseover,harm][] Hunter's Mark, since Expose Prey only procs on marked targets.

Unknown as of 2026-09-24

Lone Wolf versus a live pet at 60. Every source says “test both.”
Melee Survival at 60: no parses, no consensus, one boost-site build.
Two-hander versus dual wield for melee Survival.
Raid DPS ranking among the three specs; expcarry’s sim favors MM but holds all three at B.
Pet frames and UnitHealth("pet"): assumed secret, not tested.
Whether a Forever-flavored Auto Shot swing timer exists, and whether Blizzard’s native one ships.
Whether Onyxia, Hyjal and Barrow Deeps bosses are Beasts or Dragonkin, which decides the value of Big Game Hunter, Beast Slaying, Skinning and Improved Tracking.
“Improved Aimed Shot” and “Hydra Shot” item procs: datamined, unreleased.
Forever hit cap. Vanilla numbers with disclaimers everywhere.
Set bonuses (Beaststalker, Beastmaster, Wildstalker): datamined, provisional.
Beta level 21 to 30 data, and whether Broken Tooth and other vanilla rare pets still exist.