Hunter Arena Guide
Hunters take more "outside configuration" then most classes. What I mean by this is, aside from just choosing your normal things like talents, gems, enchants etc etc. A hunter also needs to choose the right pet, talents for his pet and make sure the pet is max level. Choosing the right pet will depend on your spec and team makeup.
For a Hunter Scorpions are a preferred pet for a mana draining team and usually cats are a common choice for maximizing your DPS. Ask around to learn what the best pet is for you (It changes almost every patch and it's too much of a pita to keep updating, sorry!) Hunters are very potent opponents from afar. They aren't as powerful up close, however. This makes your greatest challenge trying to keep distance on your opponent.
The most important thing for you to learn on your Hunter is how to kite. Learning how to kite one opponent is very basic. Learning how to kite more then one enemy, while doing something else like saving your healers life or assisting in killing someone is when it gets challenging. You will need to be a master of Multi-tasking to perfect playing a Hunter.
Tips
- Don't forget to turn off Aspect of the Cheeta or don't @#%$ing use it.
- Choosing the right pet is half the battle! Also don't forget to spec your pet properly and keep him well fed so he does maximum damage.
- You need to constantly be on the move in the arena, so don't use Steady Shot.
- Before you use an ability like Serpent Sting make sure the target you use it on isn't going to get crowd controlled.
- Don't forget you can Feign Death and drink! Also along the lines of self preservation you're able to bandage yourself and your pet!
Specs
Beast Mastery: This is the most uncommon spec for Hunters in the Arena. Since BM spec is focused around the pet, which is an NPC it isn't a smart choice for the tactical enviroment that is the arena. Beast Mastery is good however for the less skilled hunters (Sorry!) and because the pet has great sustained damage, along with a stun.
Marksmanship: Marks used to be the best build for awhile, but now is still heavily beat by Survival. Marksmanship offers great damage out put, but still lacks the utility and burst that survival gives.
Survival: Currently thee only spec for a Hunter. Survival spec gives you the most burst DPS on a Hunter and a lot more utility than Marks and BM. Survival will improves your traps and offer you, well better survivability!
Tactics
Aside from choosing the right pet, the hardest thing for you to do as a Hunter will be to learn how to micro-manage and kite. I'm going to seperate this section of the guide into 3 individual sections to help teach you how to kite.
What is Kiting and How do I do it?
Kiting is keeping your opponent away from you, ultimatly not allowing him to do a quater of what he could be doing to you. To begin kiting, first you will need to gain range on your opponent. This is easily done with abilities such as Scatter Shot, Frost Trap, Freezing Trap and Wingclip.
Once you have range, you will need to keep him at range. The abilities above will help you keep him at range as well as Concusive Shot. To help keep your opponent at range, you will need to know what abilities he has that he can use to catch up to you. You will also need to know what abilities he HAS used to catch up to you.
Know what abilities your opponent has, has used and will use is where micro-managing comes in.
Kiting 101
So, now that you know what kiting is and the basics on how to do it, it's time to give you more advanced advice. One ability that you can use to help yourself gain distance from an opponent is Aspect of the Cheeta. Now this ability is very handy for kiting, but only in the right hands.
Aspect of the Cheeta increases your movement speed by 30% and if you're struct in combat you will be dazed for 4 seconds. If you use this ability you will need to be 110% aware of your surroundings and make 110% sure nothing is going to hit you. Using Aspect of the Cheeta is almost like putting a bullseye on your head, so it's important to keep it on only for how long you need it.
Also, when you're kiting more then one player you will need to make a split second decision of which one to use concussive shot on. You will also need to decide if Scattershot should or should not be used on one of the two players. In the Arena many things come into play aside just from your survivability.
How Do I Stop a Kiting Hunter?
To stop a Hunter from kiting you, you will need to stun him or slow him. The classes that are most vulnerable to being kited are Rogues, Warriors and DK's. Warriors have intercept which will help them catch up to the Hunter, Rogues have Sprint and Death Knight's have Death Grip. Our of all 3 of these classes the Rogue will have the hardest time continually catching the Hunter.
Rogues also have Deadly Throw available to them, to help them catch the pesky Hunters. This ability is also not a Spamm-able ability such as Death Grip or Intercept, but every little bit helps. If the Hunter uses Aspect of the Cheeta, use that as your time to strike.