during the Blackhand encounter. Tabbing can also cause you target crowd-
controlled mobs, which can cause your Auto-Shot to break them. To avoid these
problems, simply keep a careful eye on what you’re targeting, and keep moving
while you’re Tabbing so that you won’t accidentally fire. The game’s built-in
raid icons can help a lot, if your leader knows how to put them to good use.
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Watch Your Pet
--------------
Many instances contain winding twists, turns, and jumps that your pet isn’t
going to follow on its own and oftentimes, a pet can destroy a group by aggro-
ing mobs as it tries to find a path to reach you. Nowadays, this isn’t a
problem, as pets usually know to jump after you when you leap off a cliff, but
if you’re not sure, you can either command your pet to stay put or Dismiss it.
You also have to be careful with your pet versus bosses. Certain bosses have
cone-shaped area effects that require that the tank face the boss in a certain
direction. Since Growl causes a lot of threat, it may generate enough threat
to cause the boss to switch its attention over to your pet, and when that
happens, you and your party could get hit with something bad. Make sure you
disable auto-cast on Growl for situations like that.
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c. PvP
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Short for “Player-versus-Player”, the rules of engagement change drastically
when you’re up against a player. Here are some things to watch out for when
you’re pursuing PvP.
---------------
Smarter Enemies
---------------
Since players are much smarter than computers (most of the time anyway), you’ll
have to do things differently from the typical mob-slaying routine. Most of the
time, a player will never touch your pet. They’ll immediately go after you so
you’ll have to keep players at bay with Traps and slowing abilities. You must
try to keep them away from your eight-yard no-firing zone as much as possible.
Once they get within that zone and snare you, things will get rough.
The only thing about fighting other players is that even though they’re smart-
er, they tend to use similar strategies and attack patterns tailored specific-
ally for your class. For example, most Warriors have a tendency to Charge or
Intercept you and then Hamstring you, followed by a Mortal Strike. Of course,
varying talent builds can mean different abilities, but generally, most players
will use similar tactics against you because they know what to expect from your
class.
Also, learn to adjust your attack patterns for different classes. Against
Rogues, Paladins, and Warriors, who must fight you at melee range, they can
easily fall for Freezing or Frost Traps. Rogues are especially easy targets
since you have Hunter’s Mark, Track Hidden, and Flare to your advantage. You
can slow down mana users with Viper Sting but be aware that Paladins and
Druids can quickly remove it.
Speed is also very important in PvP, where everyone is trying to inflict as
much damage in as little time as possible. Use Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot
whenever they’re available and maybe Aimed Shot if you can catch someone off-
guard. Gear that adds to your Critical Strike Rating especially makes a big
difference here since that burst damage can save you quite a bit of time.
---------------------
Limited Crowd Control
---------------------
All crowd control abilities versus players are capped at 12 seconds, which is
not a problem for Wyvern Sting, but for Freezing Trap, keep that in mind, and
learn to work with that limitation. The same goes for players of all classes.
---------
Team Play
---------
Whenever you’re grouped as a team for PvP, your job is to support whatever
melee players are in the front line with your shots while the healers keep
them healthy. Ideally, a solid group should consist of melee, healers, support,
and damage but unless you have a planned group, you won’t often have such a
balance. Hopefully, whoever you’re up against will focus on the melee instead
of you, but just watch out for anything that’s firing your way.
-------------
Warsong Gulch
-------------
In Warsong Gulch, a Hunter serves as excellent flag defense. In your home base,
a Frost Trap can slow down enemy players who are trying to take your flag,
especially if you have Entrapment. Once the Trap goes off, you can either start
shooting or run in and Wing Clip, or Feign and reapply another Frost Trap near
the doorways. On the offense, Hunters make great support for flag runners, who
should ideally be a Paladin, Shaman, or Druid. While they run with the enemy
flag, they’ll try to focus fire on that runner so slow down anyone who’s try-
ing to attack the flag runner.
If you’re feeling particularly crafty, head to the roof of either your base or
the enemy base, and keep an eye on the lobby below. Hunters with the Hawk Eye
talent should have enough of a firing range to rain down bullets and arrows on
their enemies. Just keep a Trap of some kind nearby just in case someone
happens to stumble upon the rooftop.
------------
Arathi Basin
------------
In Arathi Basin, you’ll be heavily supporting melee classes that will run in
and try to capture each flag. Follow your local Plate wearers and fire away at
whatever is attacking them. Since you’re also at a distance, you can safely
fire at anyone who is trying to take the flag. On the defense, Frost Traps
once again does wonders when placed near flags.
Because of the massive hills and open spaces in Arathi Basin, you’ll have a
wide field of vision, especially if you’re at the Blacksmith at the center of
the map. Use this to your advantage, and keep an eye open for anyone who is
trying to run over to a node.
--------------
Alterac Valley
--------------
These days, Alterac Valley games are a massive rush to the other side of the
map, and the strategies and attack patterns are generally the same for both
sides. In a typical AV game, your main focus is to follow the raid group
across the map, and attack whatever bosses and mini-bosses come your way.
As your group makes its way down, players will try to capture as many towers
and graveyards as possible. Most of the big battles are against mobs and not
the opposing players themselves.
What you want to do is survive for as long as possible, using whatever PvE
tactics you may have, such as Feign Death and Disengage. If you happen to get
yourself killed before one of the graveyards is fully captured, you’re going
to resurrect far behind the rest of the raid group, and when that happens,
you’re going to have a hard time trying to get back to the front line, as
you’ll have to get past a lot of heavy fire with little chance of survival.
For most of the battles, just tear the mobs apart with whatever you’ve got. If
the situation calls for it, you can position yourself at nearby graveyards,
and help protect them with Traps, Flares, and whatnot. Remember to Feign Death
and Disengage often, as the bosses can rip you pieces easily.
A lot of AV games are going to come down to purely luck. Your randomly chosen
teammates will either fall into place and work together, or waddle around aim-
lessly and get trampled. If things go well, you can finish a single game
in as little as 15 minutes.
----------------
Eye of the Storm
----------------
Most randomly-assembled teams will run around the map, capping one node and
running to the next without looking back. Your best bet is to follow your team-
mates around, and attack from a safe distance. Keep a close eye on where
they’re going. If you see an enemy player with a flag, attack fast and hard.
If you’re following a group, they’ll probably attack that same flag carrier.
Most of the time, your team will attempt to cap one node, and then quickly
move on to the next. As a Hunter, defensively play is tough on this map, as
there is an awful lot of open space at each node for enemy players to attack
you.
If you’re playing with an preassembled team, however, you can either try and
defend nodes, or follow the offense. Frost Traps work well against anyone who
is carrying a flag, especially if you have Entrapment.
----------------------
Practice Makes Perfect
----------------------
Regardless of whichever battleground you queue for, you’ll find that
the experience itself serves as a valuable learning tool. Because of the
varied strategies and attacks employed by both your teammates and
enemies, you’re forced to utilize all of your abilities to their fullest.
Abilities that you won’t use often in PvE, such as Flare and Aspect of
the Beast, become useful versus sneaky Rogues and careless Druids. You
learn which abilities are best when you’re cornered or snared and you
get used to fighting while on the move, as opposed to shooting a single
mob while standing in place.
Ideally, everyone in a Battleground should be grouped and cooperating
with one another but unless you play with a consistent group, you won’t
see that often. Oftentimes, you’ll encounter lone players who are there
just to reap Honor points and there are always players who just don’t do
well against other players. The best thing to do is to plan out your
visits to Battlegrounds and queue up with a team of people you know and
trust.
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d. Advanced Hunter Techniques
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every class has their unofficial tricks, and Hunters are no exception. This
section will go over some Hunter techniques that aren’t listed in most
strategies guides and manuals. They’re not easy at first but once you get them
down, you’ll be that much better at what you do.
---------
Jump Shot
---------
While running, jump, quickly make a 180-degree turn with your mouse, fire a
Shot or Sting, and immediately turn your mouse back the other way so that
you’re facing forward again. You should still be running in the same direction
that you were going when you land from your jump.
This ability will do you a lot of good in situations where movement is
important. The idea is that you’re trying to attack something that’s chasing
you without losing momentum on your footing.
Even if you don’t face forward on your landing, jumping helps you make quick
about-face turns, which is important in positioning yourself for an attack.
----------
Snack Time
----------
Hunters are the only class that has the ability to eat and drink mid-fight,
thanks to Feign Death’s ability to remove you completely out of combat. Simply
Feign Death and click on your food and drink. However, you must make sure that
your pet is not attacking anything or is attacked as you Feign. Otherwise, you
will remain in combat.
This can also be done during boss battles but you only have a few seconds to
start eating and drinking before reentering combat. Also, foods that restore a
set amount of health, such as Roasted Quails, will stop healing you once you
reenter combat. Curiously, foods that restore a percentage of your health,
such as the Harvest Festival foods, will continue to heal you while in combat.
If the Harvest Festival comes around, be sure to get an item called the Bounty
of the Harvest, which creates four Harvest Breads with a twelve-hour cooldown.
---------------
Resetting Traps
---------------
Originally, the only way to reset traps was to Feign Death to exit combat and
then immediately lay down a trap of your choice. Since the 2.01 patch, you may
now set traps while in combat but there is a two-second delay before it
actually goes off. Use this to your advantage while kiting. Freezing Traps are
especially handy since it gives you an open opportunity to use Aimed Shot.
-----------------------
Combat Control With Pet
-----------------------
While it’s easy to enter and exit combat with Feign Death, it gets a little
trickier to do so when your pet is on the front line. If you need to exit
combat, command your pet to stop attacking and then quickly Feign Death. You
will immediately exit combat completely, which will allow you to do all of
those little things that you can’t normally do while fighting. However, your
pet will remain in combat so just keep that in mind. This is handy for
situations where you need to make an escape on your mount.
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