• Sharpshooter (Marksman Hunter):

Pretty much the only choice before patch 1.7, the marksman build is all about maximizing ranged DPS. A solid end-game instance build, where pets will get you into trouble, some marksman will trade point in the survival tree to get entrapment, trap efficiency, and/or deflection for more crowd controlling utility. Others may pull out of the beast tree entirely (improved AotH may be too inconsistent for some) and go deeper into survival, which can can be seen here.

• Ranger (Survival Hunter):

A relative newcomer to the hunter community, the survival tree was given a complete overhaul in patch 1.7 giving birth to this very versatile, and deadly hunter. The title build is the most common style of setup for the survival hunter, with some hunters may swap points into the trap talents and/or the parry talent. Alternately, some hunters will swap the 20 points from the marksman tree in to the beast mastery tree to get a more utilitarian build around the much buffed pets which can be seen here.

• Beastmaster (Beast Mastery Hunter):

Once laughed at, the new beast mastery hunter can wreak havoc on the battlefield, especially casters. While not an end-game instance friendly build, for soloing and PvP this build, with the right pet, has made many hunters take a second look at this once black-sheep tree. Most hunters will go into the marksman tree as seen in the title build. Some will place points into improved AotH instead of the improved revive/mend pet and bestial discipline. Others will dump much, if not all, of the marksman tree and go in to the survival tree, which can be seen here.

This loot list is dedicated for helping you gear up your hunter as best as possible. This list includes all loot up to, but not including, patch 1.6 items(1.7 coming soon, 1.8 later) end-game content (Molten Core, Onxyia, ect...). The list is split into the following parts:

• Instance Loot & Notable Instance Quest Rewards
• BoE World Drop Loot
• Crafted Loot
• The Beaststalker Set Compilation
• Sample Crit PvP Build
• Sample DPS PvE Build
• NEW: Hunter Talent Guide

Some abbreviations used:

• BoE: Bind on Equip
• BoP: Bind on Pickup
• 1h: One-Hand (Can be used in either main or Off-Hand)
• MH: Main-Hand Only
• OH: Off-Hand Only
• 2h: Two-Hands
• (B): Boss NPC - Level Hidden

Hunters are the master soloers of WoW, they start strong, play strong throughout their life, and are well-off in end-game. A well-played hunter is a great master assist and puller, has excellent aggro and crowd controlling skills, and benefits from the survivability of ranged combat while wearing mail.

The hunter in 1.7 has received some pretty drastic changes. Once a minor nuisance in PvP and fairly weak end-game, pets are truly getting the respect they deserve (some say too much). The only real complaint of hunters hunter still have in 1.8 is a pretty much unidirectional playstyle during routine combat - send in pet and shoot.

Hunters can equip a huge range of weapons and is probably the class that has drawn more anger then any others due to our flexibility in gear. IMHO, a hunter's primary concern when looking for melee weapons should be stats boosting, never direct damage, but I will admit that a hunter can be surprisingly strong in close-range combat, especially with the very nicely revamped survival tree.

That said, almost all hunters value Agility and Stamina with a moderate amount of Intellect and Spirit. Mail with these stats are not exactly common (you're going to hate the Shaman mail slant) but if you're willing to hit a lot of instances(another issue) you can be a powerhouse.

Please note: This list is by no means a "hunter's have exclusive rights to this" equip list. Please be considerate of your group members and respect loot rules. Most of the higher-end items are useful to multiple classes and there may be items listed here that, although useful on a hunter, are possibly more effective in another classes hands.

This build is all about hitting the biggest damage critical hits from range. Since we are still dealing with 1.6, and hutner's pet is not a very significant factor in battle (although they do contribute), this build is all about maxing +Crit and +STA.