Demon Hunter Leveling Guide

Once upon a time, Illidan Stormrage, in his wisdom (?) decided to create the Demon Hunter. A tool to use against the endless demon hordes threatening Azeroth and elsewhere.

The Demon Hunters were, themselves, part demon, and used the same powers of their enemies. These were deemed necessary to have a chance against the Burning Legion. Naturally these powers make the Demon Hunter a bit suspect in the eyes all the other races of Azeroth.

And now, that’s you.

You enter the world at level 8, in a place called Mardum, and your one drive in life is to develop your powers and destroy the legion. You will have plenty of opportunity to do just that.

And the world of Azeroth will have use of your demonic abilities against the many challenges facing it.

Demon Hunter Leveling Contents

• • The Overview
  • Race choice
  • Abilities
    • Havok and Vengeance
  • Talents
    • Havok
    • Vengeance
  • Stats and Gear
  • Leveling Tips
  • Faster Leveling

Demon Hunters of Havok and Vengeance

Demon Hunters are unique among the World of Warcraft classes in that they have only two specializations (specs:) Havok and Vengeance. There is no healer, no ranged damage or spell casting, etc. Both are the “In Your Face” melee types.

Havok is the damage dealer. Not as tough as Vengeance, but you do more damage and do just fine smashing your way through the demonic, and other, forces.

Vengeance is the “Tank.” Good at rounding up, controlling, and burning down larger groups. You do not do as much damage as Havok, but you a definitely tougher and can handle larger groups with ease.

Both specs use Fury as their resource (previously Vengeance used “Pain.”) Agility is  your primary stat and you use leather armor.

Weapons? You rather like the War Glaives, but can also use fist weapons and one-handed axes and swords. All Demon Hunters can dual wield.

Shadowlands moved some abilities around, and a few are now common to both specs, for example: Immolation Aura. Drop down to the abilities section to see what’s what. Ditto the talents. And, of course the mighty level squish (120 became 50) and a similar item level squish.

You now start at level 8, instead of 98, and you will start your career in Mardum. Once you’re out, you can just follow the quests and head into legion, or take a side trip into your capitol city and either talk to Chromie or check the mission board near the front gate.

For the Demon Hunter leveling? You will find few, if any, problems. You’ll mow through all the opposition easily, all the way to the cap. Want to go faster? Get a high level friend to pull you through the various dungeons, and/or use the “Recruit a Friend” system, and/or look at Dugi.

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A Difficult Racial Choice for Demon Hunter

Night Elf (Alliance) or Blood Elf (Horde.) Brutal choice. How will you possibly choose among such a variety?

More seriously, Demon Hunters are the most exclusive class, by far, of all of the World of Warcraft classes. So it really boils down to: Do you want to play Alliance? Or Horde?

And it answers the “Which race is best for PvP” question, with the same answer.  Oh, and Demon Hunters are just fine in PvP.

Night Elf

Shadowmeld : Activate to slip into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled or upon moving. Any threat is restored versus enemies still in combat upon cancellation of this effect. Against certain spells, if you have really good timing, you can S’meld after it’s cast and thus dodge it.

A bit more Dodge and movement speed (2% of each,) via your Quickness .

Touch of Elune gives you a bit more (1%) Crit by day and Haste by night.

Transform into a  Wisp Spirit  upon death, increasing movement speed by 75%. Hopefully you will only rarely have any use for this trait.

Blood Elf

Your Arcane Torrent removes one beneficial effect from any nearby enemies (8 yards) and restores some of your resource (Fury.)

And your Arcane Acuity gives you a bit more crit (1%.)

Naturally your Arcane Affinity gives you +10% to the Enchanting skill.

And your Arcane Resistance allows you to take 1% less Arcane damage.

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Demon Hunter Abilities

You have a set of abilities common both the Havoc and Vengeance specializations (specs.)

Generate Fury with one set of abilities and spend it with the others.

You will start at level 8 in Mardum and eventually emerge into the regular world with a nice set of gear. As for abilities, some of the abilities shown below are quest rewards for various Mardum tasks, so you will probably want to complete all of those tasks. When all done you will be level 16 or 17 and ready for your life of player, er.. um… Demon Hunting.

P = Passive effect, CD = Cooldown. DOT = Damage Over Time effect.

• • Critical Strikes, level 1, P, adds 5% to your crit chance.
  • Spectral Sight, 1, 10 seconds of seeing hidden things, such as stealthed or invisible targets, or those behind a barrier. Also lets you see treasures (and there are a few in the starting area, as well as elsewhere.) 1 min. CD.
    • Spectral Sight, Rank 2, 42, cuts the CD to 30 seconds.

  • 

    Double Jump, 8, gives you the extended “jump.” With your “Glide” ability (see below) if you are at a cliff you can run off, hit “jump,” and you will glide down to your landing.

  • Glide, 8, Extend your jump or glide after a fall. Hit the “jump key” in mid-leap or fall. 1.5 sec. CD. The glide is not timed. Yes, you can jump off of Dalaran and glide until you safely land (I did exactly that.)  Do NOT hit the jump key again until after you land, since that will cancel the glide.
  • Metamorphosis, 8, You will be transformed into your demonic self for 30 seconds, granting you some improved abilities.
  • Shattered Souls, 8, P, sometimes grants a “soul fragment” after killing an enemy. Coming near the fragment heals you for 20% of your max health and the fragments also fuel the heals provided by certain abilities. If the fragment was from a demon kill then you will have a +20% damage buff for 15 seconds.
  • Torment, 9, insults the enemy, forcing them to attack you.
  • Demonic Wards, 13, P, your tattoos reduce incoming magical damage by 10%. They still work even if you have no visible tattoos.
  • Immolation Aura, 14, does a small amount of damage to all enemies within 8 yards for 6 seconds and generates 20 Fury over that time.
    • Immolation Aura, Rank 2, 18, now does Instant damage to all enemies within 8 yards.
  • Consume Magic, 17, removes one beneficial buff from the target. It only removes buffs from those areas: Fire, Nature, Frost, Shadow, Arcane. So it will not remove that Holy buff on your opponent.
    • Consume Magic, Rank 2, 37, now grants you 20 Fury when it removes an effect.
  • Throw Glaive, 19, lets you throw a Glaive at the target (even if you have swords equipped.) The glaive can ricochet to one more target within 10 yards. 9 second recharge, 1 charge.
    • Throw Glaive, Rank 2, 19, can now ricochet to two targets.
  • Disrupt, 29, interrupts an enemy spellcast and locks it out of that school of magic (eg: Arcane) for 3 seconds. 15 second CD. Melee range. Generate 30 Fury on a successful interrupt.
    • Disrupt, Rank 3, 46, adds 10 yards to the range.
  • Imprison, 34, incapacitates your target for up to 1 minute (far less for players.) Only works on Humanoids, beasts, or demons. 45 second CD. Damage breaks the effect.
  • Chaos Brand, 49, P, your damage marks the target, causing them to take 5% more magical damage from all sources.

Abilities for Havoc and Vengeance Demon Hunters

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Demon Hunter Talents

With the levels being SMASHED!! in Shadowlands, you now get  your talent pics at 15, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50. Play around with them a bit to best suit your game. For example, taking it nice and easy while questing through the open world will use one set or talents, but if you are blasting through the dungeons or doing a lot of PvP you might want another.

Fortunately you can change your spec any time you’re out of combat. Do some PvP as Havok, switch up to Vengeance to tank a dungeon or to round up that large group of outdoor mobs, then back again. You just need to be out of combat and you can switch up anytime. You do not need any special items or souls or demon parts to switch back and forth.

Your individual talents can also be changed IF you’re in a “rested XP” area, such as your garrison, an inn, or the big city. No reagents, trainers, or special rituals (or player sacrifices) required.

What if you are in the raid/dungeon or out on the world and need to change talents before the next fight? Buy or make (with Inscription) a stack of Tome of the Quiet Mind, which will work up to level 59. From 51 to 60 you can use a Tome of the Still Mind. Either will give you one minute to switch up your talents.

The picks below are for general questing and outdoor leveling. If one suggested talent doesn’t work for your style, change it up.

Havok Leveling Talent Build

Our general picks are checked, , but do note that you might want to change now and then, depending on the particular fight.

CD= Cooldown, P = Passive, DOT = Damage over Time

Tier 1 Talents, Level 15

• 1. Blind Fury (P) causes your Eye Beam to generate 40 Fury each second and to last 50% longer (adding that much more damage.)
  2. Demonic Appetite (P) causes your Chaos Strike to have a chance to generate a Lesser Soul Fragment. Consuming that fragment adds 30 Fury.
  3. Felblade is a short charge (15 yards, and more of a leap) to the target, doing fire damage to that target, and has a chance to reset it’s own CD. No minimum range, so you can “charge” something that is fighting you. Generates 40 Fury, 14 second CD.

Tier 2 Talents, Level 25

1. 1. Insatiable Hunger (P) causes your Demon’s Bite to do 20% more damage and to also generate 5-10 additional Fury. A nice, steady Fury generation.
   2. Burning Hatred (P) causes your Immolation Aura to generate 60 Fury over its 12 second duration.
   3. Demon Blades (P) gives your Auto Attacks a chance to to do additional Shadow damage and also generate Fury. Replaces your Demon’s Bite. Makes the rotation a bit more awkward.

Tier 3 Talents, Level 30

• 1. Trail of Ruin (P) causes the final slash of your Blade Dance to do added damage over 4 seconds to all targets hit. Easy to use and more damage to your targets.
  2. Unbound Chaos (P) buffs the damage of your next Fel Rush by 300% after you activate Immolation Aura.
  3. Glaive Tempest sends two glaives whirling about, striking up to 5 nearby enemies, and doing its damage over 3 seconds. 18 second CD. Doing a lot of group fights? Then this is a good pick.

Tier 4 Talents, Level 35

• 1. Soul Rending (P) increases your Leech effect by 5%, and another 25% when your Metamorphosis is active. A constant small heal. If you’re just cruising and questing the open work and not getting smashed, then this is a good pick.
  2. Desperate Instincts (P) causes your Blur to reduce damage by an additional 10%. Blur is also automatically triggered if you fall below 35% health, if it is not on cooldown. How often do you need Blur?
  3. Netherwalk lasts 5 seconds, makes you immune to damage, and increases your movement by 100%, but you cannot attack while it is active.  Have some damage or an affect or a mechanic you need to ignore?  More for raids and high level dungeons than questing, unless you want some extra movement.

Tier 5 Talents, Level 40

• 1. Cycle of Hatred (P) reduces the CD of your Eye Beam whenever your Chaos Strike refunds Fury.
  2. First Blood (P) drops the Fury cost of your Blade Dance by 20 and increases its damage to the first target hit.
  3. Essence Break strikes all enemies in front of you for Chaos damage and adds 40% to the damage done by your Chaos Strike and Blade Dance. Lasts 8 seconds, 20 second CD. Try and have Max Fury saved up first, to then use on those strikes.

Tier 6 Talents. Level 45

• 1. Unleased Power (P) reduces the Fury cost of your Chaos Nova to zero, and also reduces its CD to 40 seconds, down from 1 min. Fighting lots of groups?
  2. Master of the Glaive (P) adds a charge to your Throw Glaive ability, and your glaives now slow all enemies hit by 50% for 6 seconds. Might be more for PvP than open world content.
  3. Fel Eruption stuns the target for 4 seconds and also damages them (by impalement.) Need the stun? Then grab this one.

Tier 7 Talents, Level 50

• 1. Demonic (P) causes you to enter your Demon form, for 6 seconds, after Eye Beam finishes its effect.
  2. Momentum (P) adds +15% to all your damage (for 6 seconds) when you use your Fel Rush, reduces the CD of Vengeful Retreat by 5 sec., and that Retreat generates 80 Fury over 10 seconds if your retreat damages at least one enemy. Requires a bit of  practice to use well.
  3. Fel Barrage deals chaos damage to up to 8 enemies, within 8 yards, over 3 seconds. It is channeled (no moving around) and has a 1 minute CD.

PvP (War Mode) Talents

Live dangerously, level with War Mode on. You gain +10% XP, and might get +30% if your side is greatly outnumbered on your server.

The talents suggested here are for general questing and are not optimal for PvP. Of course, like any other talents, you can change them whenever you are in a “rested XP” area, such as an Inn. You can also turn War Mode off there.

Grab them in the order that works best for you. You can choose PvP talents at 20, 30, and 40, though certain talents require other levels.

• • Unending Hatred, P, 20, gives you Fury when you take Magical damage. More damage = more Fury.
  • Demonic Origins, P, 20, reduces the CD of your Metamorphosis by two minutes, but the change only lasts 15 seconds.
  • Mana Rift, 20, costs 50 Fury. It it like your Sigils in that it has a delay (2.5) seconds. It opens a 6 yard wide rift under the target and does up to 8% of its max health in damage and removes a similar amount of its mana. 10 sec. CD.
  • Cover of Darkness, 40, P, Increases the chance for you and allies to avoid damage, while within your Darkness effect, by 50%.

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Vengeance Leveling Talent Build

This build is aimed at mostly questing and some tanking. Round up groups of enemies and crush them.

Our general picks are checked, , but do note that you might want to change now and then, depending on the particular fight.

CD= Cooldown, P = Passive, DOT = Damage over Time

Tier 1 Talents, Level 15

• 1. Abyssal Strike (P) causes your Infernal strike to drop a Sigil of Flame when you land, and its CD is reduced by 8 seconds. More Strikes (and more movement) per minute and more flames. What’s not to like?
  2. Agonizing Flames (P) causes your Immolation Aura to last 50% longer (now is 12 seconds) and also increase  your movement speed by 20% while active. A. Strike has better mobility and damage.
  3. Felblade is a charge (more of a leap) to the target, doing fire damage to that target, and has a chance to reset it’s own CD. No minimum range, so you can “charge” something that is next to you. Generates 40 Fury, 14 second CD. Good for single targets, nice Fury generation, not so hot for groups, and the “charge” cannot be used for general movement.

Tier 2 Talents, Level 25

• 1. Feast of Souls (P) causes your Soul Cleave to heal you (a small heal) over 6 seconds. Too small to be interesting.
  2. Fallout (P) gives your Immolation Aura a 60-70% chance to pop out Lesser Soul Fragments from your targets on its initial burst. More and more interesting as your number of opponents increases.
  3. Burning Alive causes your Fiery Brand to spread from the initial target to an additional enemy every 2 seconds, up to 5 additional enemies. Each opponent gets the full duration. The spread ends when your initial opponent dies. The damage reduction from Fiery Brand also spreads.

Tier 3 Talents, Level 30

• 1. Infernal Armor (P) causes your Immolation Aura to increase your armor by 20% and causes attackers to suffer a bit of fire damage.
  2. Charred Flesh (P) increases the duration of your Fiery Brand by 0.5 seconds if your Immolation Aura does damage. The duration is extended each time the ability does the damage, but is capped at +5 seconds.
  3. Spirit Bomb (30 Fury) causes you to explode (!!) after consuming (up to) 5 soul fragments within 25 yards. The explosion damages nearby enemies for a bit of fire damage per fragment, and inflicts them with Frailty for 20 seconds. While they are frail you will heal for 10% of the damage you do to them.

Tier 4 Talents, Level 35

1. 1. Soul Rending (P) increases your Leech effect by 5%, and another 25% when your Metamorphosis is active. A constant small heal. If you’re just cruising and questing the open work and not getting smashed, then this is a decent pick.
   2. Feed the Demon (P) reduces the CD of your Demon Spikes by 0.5 seconds for each soul fragment you consume.
   3. Fracture replaces your Shear. It does more damage, generates 2 soul fragments (instead of one,) now has 2 charges, and generates 25 Fury (instead of 10.) But also now has a 5 second CD. THis is thepick for most situations.

Tier 5 Talents, Level 40

• 1. Concentrated Sigils (P) targets your Sigils to your location, no targeting necessary, so they will go off at your feet. Zero range. Duration is increased by 2 seconds. Losing the targeting function is a hit to your Sigils’ versatility, but if it works for your game then go for it.
  2. Quickened Sigils (P) activates your Sigils1 second faster and reduces their CDs by 2 seconds. Not as generally useful as Chains.
  3. Sigil of Chains grabs all enemies in its (8 yard radius) area and pulls them to the center. They are then snared, which reduces their movement speed by 70% for 8 seconds. The grab will also interrupt any spells being cast at that moment. 1.5 min. CD. This Sigil is much like the Death Knight’s Gorefiend’s Grasp, but with half the radius of effect.

Tier 6 Talents. Level 45

• 1. Void Reaver (P) causes enemies struck by your Soul Cleave to to 6% less damage to you for 12 seconds. A nice talent that you don’t have to think about.
  2. Demonic (P) causes you to enter your Demon form, for 6 seconds, after Fel Devastation finishes its effect. This is the only one of the trio that adds to your damage.
  3. Soul Barrier puts up a shield for 12 seconds, absorbing some damage. Will consume all Soul Fragments within 25 yards and each one boosts the damage absorbed by the shield.

Tier 7 Talents, Level 50

• 1. Last Resort (P) changes you into your Metamorphosis form when you take fatal damage. 8 minute CD. Nice if that boss has a “squish tank” ability. Probably won’t see it much in world content. Might have use if you have War Mode on…
  2. Ruinous Bulwark (P) increases the amount that your Fel Devastation heals you by 15%. Any “over healing” becomes an absorb shield that lasts 10 seconds. The heal and shield are pretty small.
  3. Bulk Extraction smashes all nearby enemies, for a bit of Fire damage, and extracts up to 5 Less Soul Fragments which you immediately consume. Pretty much only useful when whatever you are doing is not life threatening.

PvP (War Mode) Talents

Live dangerously, level with War Mode on. You gain +10% XP, and might get +30% if your side is greatly outnumbered on your server.

The talents suggested here are for general questing and are not optimal for PvP. Of course, like any other talents, you can change them whenever you are in a “rested XP” area, such as an Inn. You can also turn War Mode off there.

Grab them in the order that works best for you. You can choose PvP talents at 20, 30, and 40, though certain talents require other levels.

• • Cleansed by Flame, Requires level 20, cleans magical effects from you when you use Immolation Aura.
  • Jagged Spikes, 20, causes your Demon Spikes to damage your attacker with 30% of the damage they do to you.
  • Sigil Mastery, 20, reduces the CD of your Sigils by 25%.
  • Everlasting Hunt, 20, your movement speed is increased by 15% when you do damage. This does not stack. As long as you are doing damage you will have the bonus.

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Demon Hunter Stats and Gear

1. 1. Agility is #1, always.
   2. Higher item level is better than lower, due to the increased agility.

While leveling, that’s pretty much it for stats, since stacking other stats will be awkward.

If you do have the choice between pieces with similar item level and Agility, then Haste and Versatility are the stats to get. Crit is nice, but is random and you won’t be able to stack a lot. Mastery isn’t useless, but it’s close.

1. 1. Item Level (Agility)
   2. Haste speeds up everything you do, such as cooldowns.
   3. Versatility adds to all damage and healing, and 1/2 that value in damage reduction.
   4. Critical Strike gives  you a % chance to do 2x damage (1.4x in PvP.)
   5. Mastery is not really useless. It increases Chaos (not fire) damage for Havok. For Vengeance it increases the armor of your Demon Spikes. But for both specs the other stats are preferred for better overall effect.

Getting the gear

When you exit the Demon Hunter starting area (Mardum) you will have a nice set of good (blue) gear. For upgrades you have the questing, dungeons, PvP, and the Auction House.

Dungeons and PvP can result in nice gear. Dungeons if you get a bit lucky and run them regularly, PvP by accumulating Honor or Conquest points and then spending them on gear.

The Auction House often (not always) has gear of the sort you want. The prices may or may not be to your liking, however.

If you have the resources, then Heirlooms are the way to go. A change in Shadowlands is that heirloom pieces no longer give extra XP, but if  you are wearing several pieces then you do get a set bonus. The bonuses mostly let your Rested XP last significantly longer. If you happen to level up in the middle of a fight, you will do a nice bit of burst damage and gain 40% to your Agility for 2 minutes.

The greatest benefit is that you can forget chasing gear until they top out at (currently) level 59. The base Heirloom tops out at level 29. You can then buy five stages of upgrades that will allow them to go to levels 35, then 40, then 45, 50, and then 59. Figure 14k gold to give the armor, ring, or trinket a level 50 max., and 18.5k for a weapon. (Need more gold?)

The nice thing about heirlooms is that  you only have to buy them once. You can then share them to any or all of your alts.

Where to buy them? Heirlooms (Weapons, Shoulders, Chests, Necks, most Trinkets, as well as upgrades to all pieces) can be purchased from Vendors Krom Stoutarm (Alliance) and Estelle Gendry (Horde.) Bring plenty of gold.

Krom is in the Hall of Explorers in Ironforge, and Estelle can be found either in the Rogues’ Quarter of Undercity, or on top of the Orgrimmar Main gates.

Difficult levels

Yes, WoW has difficulty levels. Sort of…

• 1. Easy mode: Get the best gear you can, all the way. Heirlooms are great. Skip the PvP.
  2. Moderate: Nothing better than quest/dungeon gear. Use only what you find or buy. No heirlooms.
  3. Harder: Nothing better than quest rewards. No blue or purple items.
  4. Naked?? Once upon a time a Naked Troll leveled to 60 with no gear, other than his weapon. Naturally he was a Hunter, DHs weren’t invented yet. So if you want “really hard mode” …
  5. Now do #3 or #4 with War Mode on.  Battlegrounds anyone? (Wink)

Enchants

So you want to squeeze every bit of goodness out of whatever gear you have? Drop some enchants on it. Note that you will level out of most gear quickly enough that it’s probably not worth it. They’re good for your Heirlooms, though.

Note that there are some better enchants in Shadowlands (Chest, boots, rings, weapons,) but they require your level to be 50+.

Also Note that your heirlooms top out at item level 59.

This first group is for items that are available as heirlooms. 

Note that some of these require a level 32+ character to apply the enchant. Send them to a higher level alt to the chores, or trade with a higher level player. The heirloom goes into the “will not be traded” box of the trade window.

• • Head, Trinkets: : None.
  • Neck: Mark of the Claw: Sometimes increase Crit and Haste by 16 for 6 seconds. Max item level 60. Requires a level 32+ to apply
  • Back: Binding of Agility, +3 Ag, Cannot be used past item level 60.
  • Chest: Glorious Stats: +4 to all stats, max item level is 50.
  • Cloak: Binding of Agility: +3 Ag., max item level is 60.
  • Shoulders: Tiger Claw, +5 Ag, +2 Crit, max item level is 50.
  • Legs: Shadowleather Leg Armor, +6 Ag, +3 Crit, Requires a level 32+ to apply, item level 50 max.
  • Rings: Get Accord of Haste or Crit or mastery or Versatility, each adds +9. Requires a level 32+ to apply
  • Weapons: Force Multiplier: Sometimes gain +28 Ag and +18 Mastery, Haste, Or Crit (it picks your highest stat.) 15 seconds. Max item level is 140, which will get you a ways into the Shadowlands areas. Requires a level 32+ to apply

Non-heirloom pieces

• • Wrist: Greater Agility, +5 Ag, Max is 50.
  • Gloves: Superior Haste, +8 Haste, 50 item level max.
  • Belt: Engineers can add some “enchants” to their own belts and Blacksmiths can add a gem socket.
  • Boots: Greater Precision, +4 Crit; Greater Haste, +4 Haste; Panda Step, +3 Mastery and slightly faster run; all max out at item level 50.

For the Shadowlands, All require character level 50+

• • Back: Enchant Cloak – Fortified Leech: +20 Stam and +30 Leech. Or you can take one with +30 Speed or Avoidance, or one with +30 Stam.
  • Chest: Enchant Chest – Eternal Stats: +30 to all stats
  • Rings: Enchant Ring – Tenet of Versatility: +16 vers. Mastery, Haste, and Crit are also available if you prefer.
  • Boots: Eternal Agility adds +15 to your Ag.
  • Weapons:
    • Enchant Weapon – Sinful Revelation: sometimes the target will take 6% more damage from your attacks.
    • Enchant Weapon – Celestial Guidance: Sometimes increases your Ag. (or Int, if Mistweaver) by 5% for 10 seconds. Does not stack, but additional procs will refresh the duration.
    • Enchant Weapon – Lightless Force: Sometimes sends out a wave of Shadow Force, hitting up to 5 targets in front of you. Like rounding up the groups?
    • Enchant Weapon – Ascended Vigor: Sometimes will get +12% to any healing done to you, for 10 seconds.
  • Other armor and trinkets:: None

Demon Hunter Professions

For leveling purposes the crafting professions (yours would be Leatherworking) do not offer a lot. There are points where a nice piece of gear can be made, but you will level out of it quickly. At max level you can make some interesting pieces which can be made into legendary items, but that won’t do anything for you while leveling.

So on the assumption that you want to get to 60 ASAP, skip the crafting, for now.

Two professions that are worth getting are Herbalism and Mining. Why? You get nice experience for each flower or node you acquire. Skinning provides zero XP. All these provide stuff that you can sell on the Auction House.

Skinning can provide raw materials for your leatherworking, Herbalism for Alchemy, and Mining for Engineering and Blacksmithing.

Enchanting can be useful too, as it will let  you disenchant any junk items you find and then sell the parts.  It will be expansive to make stuff, though.

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General Demon Hunter Leveling Tips

When you start your Demon Hunter, you will be level 8 and in a demonic area called Mardum. You will spend the next few levels helping your fellow (NPC) Demon Hunters clean up the demon infestation in the area. After that you will emerge into the regular world with a nice set of gear (if you are not wearing heirlooms.) Where you go from that point is your call.

As mentioned at the top of the page, once you’re out, you can just follow the quests and head into the Legion areas, or take a side trip into your capitol city and either talk to Chromie or check the mission board near the front gate. If you do that then you will have the option of leveling in other “expansions,” such as Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, Battle for Azeroth, etc.

Do note that as you get higher level in any of those zones, except BFA, the XP will start to slow down around 30 or 40 and you will out level the opposition. When that happens you can move to the Battle for Azeroth zones and keep up a better leveling pace. Or just start there.

Some suggestions:

1. 1. Your Auction House Banker is an alt you set up at your favorite Auction House. You mail all your gatherings and sellable loot to this character and get back to your leveling. Then when done, you log into the banker and post all of it.
   2. The Auction House carries a variety of Quest Items. If you’re having a hard time gathering bits for some “Collect X GoreTusk Livers” quest then you can buy them off the AH, frequently at shockingly low prices (and, ahem, sometimes not so low…) Buy the stuff, hand it in, finish the quest in a fraction of the time. It helps to have a bank alt for this as it will save you lots of travel time. The alt buys it and mails it to your questing character.
   3. Buy the biggest bags you can afford.
   4. Set yourself up so that you don’t have to go to town very often. Potions, bandages, food, etc.
   5. Stock up on buffing foods (buy them or level up your cooking skill.) They’ll buff your Stamina at low level, and other stats at higher level.
   6. Stock up on bandages even if you’re a healer. Your healer won’t use it often, but there are the odd times when nothing else will do. Besides, it’s fun to troll someone with your Druid healer by using a bandage on him. If he’s cool then you can give him a real heal.
   7. Stock up on potions and scrolls.  Scrolls can buff any of your stats and last for 30 min. Potions and scrolls do not stack.
   8. If you’re using edged weapons look into the Sharpening Stones made by Blacksmiths. The stones are usually dirt cheap. Similar enchants are quite expensive. Maces are hard to sharpen, so get a “weightstone” for those.
   9. Upgrade your weapon(s) as often as you can, the rest of the stuff can generally lag a bit behind. If you have heirlooms than you can forget the upgrades, at least until you hit 59.
   10. Grinding? (Why???) Consider getting the local “kill X of this beast…” quests for more XP, if you’re going to be killing them anyway…
   11. Learn to use HotKeys and macros and then memorize them. All of your game experience will be much faster and more efficient and somewhat less tedious. Gamepedia has a nice “how to macro” page.
       1. Or hop over to YouTube and search for WoW keybindings or WoW macros. Here is a keybinding video.
   12. The Gathering:
       1. Get the skinning skill if you’re killing beasts (and you’ll be killing a lot of them.) The gold you make from the skins will easily buy your mounts. If you like, kill a bunch and then skin them. Feel free to skin what others kill.
       2. Herbalism and Mining are also good money makers, but they also award nice XP for each time you exercise the skill.
   13. The Grinding
       1. If you have a choice between killing beasts and humanoids go for the latter, the drops are better.
       2. In Classic WoW you might find that grinding is actually a good choice.
   14. Dugi’s Guide is a killer fast leveling guide, to whatever the current level cap is. Check it out, here.

More Leveling Tips

• • Always log out at an inn, for the rest XP when you come back.
  • If you rotate two or more characters you can play the first, log out when you’re out of rest XP, start the next, and so on.
  • If you’re not using a leveling guide then use your main map and group quests so that you can finish them off in the most efficient order.
  • Taking time to work on professions will slow you down. Taking time to gather (herbalism or mining) pays enough XP to be worth it.
  • A DPS (Damage,) Tanking, or PvP build will work just fine for leveling (questing,) though if you’re actually dungeoning or PvPing then you’ll want the appropriate build.
  • Gear doesn’t matter too much when questing, but better gear lets you kill things and groups of things much more effectively.  If  you’re playing with War Mode on, then gear matters a lot more.  Also if you are working the dungeons then set of enchanted heirlooms will help a lot.

Dungeon leveling

Open up the Dungeon Finder tool and you can “Queue” for the dungeon of your choice or even a random dungeon of the tool’s choice.

Then you wait. If you’re Havok. But, if you’re a tank (Vengeance) then your queue to get into dungeons with the Dungeon Finder tool will generally be very short. Get a decent group and dungeons can be fun and fast XP, not to mention maybe getting you into some nice gear.

You will find that most of the people in your team will have heirlooms and/or generally nice gear. They also want to move quickly and might be… critical if you’re a bit slow. Guild runs should be a lot more mellow.

But what about classic WoW? No dungeon finder. Gather a group and walk, run, ride, or fly to the nearest dungeon.

PvP Leveling

Get the best gear you can if you are going to be anything other than casual and want to help your side win.

Don’t be like so many of the BG clowns. Figure out what it takes to win and help your team do that. Fighting other players on the roads or the middle zones is fun, gets you a bit of honor, and helps your team to lose. You also get far less XP and honor by losing, but lots of people prefer than for some reason.

Well, Ok, they like to grind kills for the achievements and glory, but wins bring more XP and honor points.

Some of your opposition will be much better geared than you, but many won’t, so don’t worry about it too much. Grow a thick skin, jump in, have fun, get nice XP (if you win.)

The (Really) Fast Demon Hunter Leveling Guide

The best way to get to level to the level cap fast is to do it with a pre-written, automated, in-game leveling guide. WoW has thousands of quests and a few million mobs to grind and it’s easy to get lost (in terms of what to do or where to go next ) or just bored. A full-blown guide will make your blast to the top much smoother.

Zygor’s Guide is what you want: constantly showing you where to go and what to do, without ever having to leave the game to look something up:

Assuming you stay focused on leveling (as opposed to shopping, PvP sessions, and RPing) you will be able to hit the level cap much faster than without the guide, even if you are brand new or have full heirlooms and Recruit a Friend.

Zygor is always fully updated for all new expansions, even Shadowlands, and so will never be obsolete. You can snag your copy of Zygor’s Guide here and cruise through the levels.