This page has moved

All the information below is rather old and will not be updated. It is left here for legacy's sake. For the newer hunter pages, use these links:

• Our Hunter leveling guide.
• Hunter Overview - a general overview of the Hunter class
• Beast Mastery DPS guide - BM for PvE content
• Marksmanship DPS guide - MM for PvE content
• Marksmanship PvP .
• Survival DPS guide - for PvE content

Contents

The Hunter

When I think of hunter, I think Beastmaster. No, not the actual talent build I mean the movie, it's just that instead of commanding a pair of ferrets we get our pick of a few slightly larger and more powerful specimens.  This makes them useful for killing yes, but they lack the inherent likability of ferrets, leaving us instead with lean, mean, destruction machines – A regrettable downgrade.

However, pets provide us with an amazing synergy between what is the greatest non-player tank and what may be the highest solo DPS class in the game. A Hunter and his pet being almost the equivalent of a priest/warrior leveling team, just packed into a single class. And then again, some pets can tank.

Click Here to check it out.

WorldOfWarcraft.com says:

These expert marksmen drop foes dead in their tracks with flawless shots from a bow or rifle. With the ability to wield two weapons simultaneously, hunters can unleash a flurry of blows against anyone unfortunate enough to stumble into close combat with them.

The art of survival is central to the isolated life of a hunter. Hunters track beasts with ease and enhance their own abilities by attuning themselves to the feral aspects of various creatures. Hunters are known for the lifelong bonds they form with animals of the wild, training great hawks, cats, bears, and many other beasts to fight alongside them.

 

The "Buffs and Nerfs " Game

Class "balance" has always been something that the WoW developers strive for, but sometimes it's a hit and miss thing. Especially after an expansion or big patch the balance between classes, or even builds within the same class may become a little iffy.

With the 4.0 patch this was certainly the case. With everything supposedly "balanced" at level 85 the balance at other levels became... interesting. Once day class A is in god mode, the next day it's in the dog house. For example, today, Survival is the top DPS tree. Next week it may be different.

The point is that we're not going to play a "flavor of the moment (FOTM)" game here. We'll present info that will make you a better Hunter and we'll leave the balance dance to Blizzard and the FOTM game to the forums.

Hunter Races

With Catalclysm Gnomes are the only race that cannot be hunters. Probably because they're too busy repairing their city or they're too short to use a bow. Actually, they probably let the Dwarves do the hunting and just trade with them.

The best racial choice for a Hunter is one that you enjoy playing. It doesn't matter if one race has no special abilities if you like playing that race more than others. None of the racial abilities make that much of a difference. Your skills will far outshadow any racials.

Alliance

Draenei - I suppose it's reasonable that space squids that crashed their spaceship should pick up crossbows and start hunting the local game, right?

To begin with we’ll check out the Draenei, an all round good hunter race to choose due to a couple reasons.  First would be the presence of a small HoT, Gift of the Naaru, giving you a viable method of reducing downtime/surviving tough battles if need be.

Second, and far more useful, especially for raiding at higher levels, is the +1% hit racial. This ability was once an aura that effected the entire team/raid, but with 4.0 it's self-only.

They also have an increase to Jewelcrafting skill, which will get get a Draenei jeweler into those nice self-only gems that much sooner.

Night Elves - If that attack came out of nowhere then it was probably a Nelf.

The Nelf Shadowmeld racial coming in handy for ambushing unsuspecting players in both world PvP, Battlegrounds, and Arena.  Additionally it can be used for hiding from higher levels/gank squads while leveling.

Night Elf hunters also gain the benefit of a 2% dodge chance increase, another bonus to stack with Aspect of the Monkey when forced into melee. More often times this’ll happen in PvP, as opposed to PvE.

Dwarves - Yes, short, rock munchers like to hunt, too.

Dwarf hunters might be considered by many to be the best overall alliance race choice due to gun specialization, increasing the chance to critically strike with all guns by 1%.

Additionally the stone form ability is icing on the cake, highly useful against rogues (and various other classes) in PvP. Rogues are something of our mortal enemy in many battlegrounds. With 4.06 this ability decreases damage by 10%.

Archeology skills and frost resistance have their uses, but there's nothing there specifically for the Hunter.

Human - They should have been Hunters since day 1.

With Cataclysm Humans will finally get to be hunters (it's never made sense that they couldn't be Hunters.) They have nothing that's specifically useful for Hunters, though their escpae ability is quite nice and their diplomacy skill will help with the rep gains with the many factions of Azeroth, the Outlands, and the new Cataclysm zones.

Humans used to have an increased perception, or "stealth detection," but that's been removed.

Worgen - One word: Fleas

It certainly makes sense that were-wolf type critters could be Hunters, what with their legendary sense of smell, not that said sense appears in-game. They have a general 1% increased chance to crit, which is nice and which puts them right up their with the Dwarves, and they can "periodically move more quickly," which definitely has it's uses.

Their increased skinning skill and speed is a nice convenience. Skinning & Leatherworking is a nice combo for Hunters.

 

Horde Races

Blood Elves - Best hair of any Hunter race.

Of the horde races we’ll begin with the Blood Elves, a rather "meh..." race, as far as Hunters are concerned. Their big ability is Arcane Torrent, which can be used as an AoE silence/interruption when forced into melee range, with, for example, Paladins and Death Knights. Ideally Hunters want to avoid "melee range" like the plague.

But, at least they look good.

Tauren - Big, fuzzy, lovable.

Tauren are yet another generally PvP viable Hunter race, gaining a 5% bonus to health that is always valuable in the realm of massive PvP burst damage, where every point counts. Unfortunately, it doesn't scale well at high level.

You’ll also gain the benefit of Warstomp, an AoE stun that may allow you to gain range from melee classes, but like the Blood Elves, you don't want to be in melee, so War Stomp isn't as useful as it if for a Warrior or other melee class.

Herbalism provides a nice little heal and a Haste effect, both of which are nice for Hunters and the Tauren's increased Herbalism skill will get you into that heal just that much faster.

Trolls - Winners of the "Best Tusk" competition.

Trolls are probably the best of all the races for Hunters. Trolls possess the Berserking racial, a potent DPS increase for sustained DPS. Trolls also get Bow Specialization, a 1% increase to critical chance with all bows

Their best ability, for leveling, is the +5% damage to beasts. Given the number of beasts in the game this makes a small, but nice, increase to killing efficiency whicle leveling and in some raiding situations.

A somewhat useful PvP ability is the reduced duration Trolls get from movement reducing effects.

Orcs - Like dwarves, but not short. And they're green.

Orcs, on the other hand gain, are also a contender for "best Hunter race." They get the benefit of Blood Fury, another great DPS increaser, as well as 5% more pet damage via Command, and a 15% resistance to all stuns with Hardiness, useful in PvP situations due to the prevalence of Rogues and other classes with stuns.

Undead (Cataclysm) - Well... Sylvanis is a Hunter (Ranger,) so why not?

Naturally the Undead start with a giant spider as a pet. They have no special Hunter abilities, but their "Will of the Forsaken" can wipe off sleeps, charms, etc., a nice abilitiy to have, especially in PvP.

Goblin (Cataclysm) - These guys obviously mush have bribed their way into the Hunters guild...

Rocket Jump has definite uses at times, especially as "gain range" ability in PvP. An increase to Haste is generaly useful and an increase in Alchemy skill, along with a greater effect from your own healing potions, is also nice.

 

Tradeskills

My recommendation for tradeskills/professions is to pick any two of skinning, herbalism, or mining, allowing you to make decent amounts of cash.

Generally, crafting skills should be avoided unless you have that excess cash, since they are very expensive to level.

• Leatherworking - for the gear , but it's expensive to level. Very nice bracer enchant at high level.
• Skinning - to make money and support your leatherworking skill. Skinning also adds to your crit rating.
• Mining and Herbalism are great cash grinding skills. Mining will add to your Stamina and Herbalism will give you a small heal and a haste buff.
• Inscription used to be a great skill to make money, but has too much competition now. You can still make some money with it, but it takes some work. If you just want your glyphs then, on most servers, it's way cheaper to buy them than to level this profession. Very nice shoulder enchant at high level.
• First aid is essential. Keep it maxed at all times.
• Cooking is useful as many of the foods you create will have interesting buffs, as well as allowing you to regain health and mana.
• Alchemy has lots of useful potions and you get more effect from your own potions.

For those who have the cash, and/or want to level a prof while leveling, each of the professions has at least one interesting item. Leatherworking is clearly the best for Hunters, and jewelcrafting or inscription might be next.

For the min-maxxers:

• Leatherworking provides an improved bracer enchant for 130 Agility. This lets you replace an enchant that would otherwise be haste or crit with pure agility.
• Jewelcrafting can provide three self-only gems that are better than other gems
• Blacksmithing can provide two extra self-only gem slots to hold those nice +67 agility gems that you can make with...
• Engineering has a number of engie toys that are also useful.
• Alchemy allows you to receive greater benefit from your own potions than the other guys' potions.
• Enchanting provides two 40 Gility enchants to your own rings for a potential 80 Ag gain.
• Inscription: A self-only shoulder enchant for an 80 Agi gain over anything found from the rep vendors.
• Tailoring: swordguard embroidery cloak enchant procs for 400 AP for 15 sec
• Herbalism: The lifeblood heal, mentioned above, has a 2 minute cooldown and gives you 240 haste rating for 20 sec.
• Skinning provides 80 crit rating at max skill
• Mining: 120 stamina at max skill

Hunter Abilities, Pets, and Leveling

Hunter abilities are distributed about 2/3’s into our own powers and such with the remaining 1/3 being the slew of pet specific talents such as mend pet, revive, etc.  This number of pet abilities increases should you specialize into Beast Mastery.

Properly using a Hunter, of course, depends on the efficient usage of our pet, whether that be for tanking, as beast mastery, additional DPS as marksman, due to declining threat gain without talent tree buffs, or simply a distraction, as Survival in PvP.

Of course it’ll be slightly annoying constantly taming and training new pets for the period of time required to learn new skills to train your own, but it’s worth it in the end for the increased DPS and tanking abilities. Hunters can train more exotic pets, such as the T Rex's wandering around Ungoro Crater.

Nowadays pets gain levels more quickly than ever before and their Happiness is much easier to maintain.

With Cataclysm the Hunter now uses Focus instead of Mana, which makes sense since they were never spell casters. Focus is regenerated through several talents and works very much like a Rogue or Druid's Energy.

New (Level 81+) Hunter Abilities

Cobra Shot at level 81: A new shot that deals Nature damage instead of Physical damage. This ability shares a cooldown with Steady Shot. This will give hunters an alternative to Steady Shot on heavily-armored targets, and we will have talent incentives in the Beast Mastery tree to make this a signature shot. Does damage, refreshes Serpent Sting, and generates 9 focus.

Trap Launcher at level 83: When used, the next trap can be shot to a location within 40 yards. This provides the current Freezing Arrow treatment to all traps and, as a result, we will be removing the current ability Freezing Arrow. 1-minute cooldown. No global cooldown.

Camouflage at level 85: The hunter enters an obscured state that prevents him or her from taking ranged damage. The character would still be subject to melee or area-of-effect attacks, and dealing or taking damage will break the Camouflage effect. The hunter can move and set traps when under Camouflage, and will receive a damage bonus when attacking while under Camouflage (which will then break the effect).

Your Pets

Pets come into the game with three overall "builds/specs:"

• Ferocity is for DPS pets. Cats and dogs and raptors and wolves, and so on. They can tank a couple of mobs just fine, but their main job is damage. Generally, in raids, your pet will be Ferocity. Past level 60 or so they don't hold aggro as well as they do at earlier levels.
  
  
• Tenacity is the build that your tanking pets (bears, rhinos, turtles, etc.) will have. These pets will keep the attentions of several mobs, and survive, while you burn them down. Some Hunters even tank dungeons with these pets and then make the boss into a pet, such as with King Dred. Generally, the Tenacity pets don't bring enough in damage or buffs to make them interesting for raids, but that depends on your exact group and duffs/debuffs that will be available.
  
  
• Cunning pets have certain special abilities that are useful in particular situations, such as the Monkey's Bad Manners ability for PvP. Some cunning pets may have specials that are particularly useful in certain raids or encounters.

Under each of these classes there are a number of pet families. Each family will have certain special abilities and will cover a number of similar citters, such as "bears."

Which one is "best?" That depends on you and how you like to play. As you level you will gain the ability to train additional pets, which you can swap as necessary. Additional pets can be kept in the stables. Pretend they're Pokemon and catch 'em all.

Petopia has lots of info on Hunter pets.

Happiness

Your pet's happiness directly determines the damage that it does. Keep it well fed will keep that Hapiness meter maxed. Certain talents and abilities will increase Hapiness to varying degrees. Unhappy pets just aren't as effective as happy ones. Happiness is easier to maintain since 4.0.

Food

Different pets require different foods. Some want veggies, some want meat, and you get to provide the food. (Sorry, but other players don't count as "meat.") You'll have to either kill stuff, go fishing, or buy the food from the various vendors (such as fruit or meat sellers.) See the links above for pet lists and which foods they require.

Pet notes:

• Pets inherit 100% of the Hunter's hit, haste, and crit, and scale considerably from AP. All 3 pet types inherit the same AP scaling, so differences in DPS come from the pet's basic abilities and their talents.
• Pets inherit nothing from your Strength
• Pet consumables are no longer available.
• If you're Draenei your pet will inherit your hit racial.

Leveling as a hunter,

when done right, can be compared to the pleasure of slowly sipping down a nice glass of (insert cold beverage of choice here) on a hot summer day, pleasurable and luxuriously easy – Just the way I like it to be when I level.

Of course not all players take it the right way, many over emphasize equipment, others forget to train pet skills, but all of this takes away more time in the long run than you might gain from skipping it temporarily.

Thankfully, all three styles of Hunter builds are viable for leveling, catering to those who prefer to snipe from a long range, sick enraged cats on people, and the smaller, yet equally capable crowd, that likes the tactical challenge of survival from 1-85.

This section is only an overview of hunter leveling, check out our Hunter Leveling Guide for more information, talent builds, and stuff. If you need a step-by-step guide to go from 1 to 85 (or from any level to 85) then check out our recommended leveling guide, below.

Marksmanship

The marksmanship tree is comprised of all our ranged special attacks, basically being the namesake tree for hunters, due to the spec's emphasis on ranged combat. In this spec the pet is an accessory, not as much of a partner or tank as it is with Beastmastery.

With enough points into this tree you gain the benefit of a fierce arsenal of shot types, everything from aimed shot, for a massive opening damage critical, to steady shot for consistent DPS and arcane shot.

Almost all of the damage efficiency of marksmanship comes from maintaining a picture perfect shot rotation.  This applies to both PvP and PvE, with PvP of course being slightly more hectic and thus more difficult to gain the maximum benefit of the marksmanship tree, except when ambushing players.

When you pick Marksmanship as your spec you get the following abilities:

• Aimed Shot, A powerful shot.
• Artisan Quiver - Ranged auto-attack damage increased by 15%.
• Mastery: Wild Quiver - Grants a 14.4% chance for your ranged attacks to also instantly fire an additional ranged shot. Each point of Mastery increases the chance by an additional 1.8%.

Marksmanship Hunter Leveling

Marksmanship leveling follows the much loved style of nuking the opposition form orbit (or at least a fairly large distance,) as it’s really the only way to be sure of victory.  To make things even better, you’ll likely kill your target before it even reaches you, making it fairly easy to continually pull mobs without a single second of downtime.

Aimed shot, Concussion shot, Viper Sting, etc.  The combination of this overwhelming firepower is too much for any monster, within around 3-4 levels of your own, to resist succumbing to the damage output a Hunter is capable of. Your effectiveness only increases with your level.

I found it extremely easy to take an undergeared and  perpetually broke hunter from 1-85 without ever taking a trip into town, aside from every 10 or so levels to train skills, even skipping the auction house entirely in favor of quested gear.

So, if that’s not enough to convince you, Marksman is both entertaining and easy. Try it if the image of a lone-gunman suits your playstyle. Of course, that kind of ranged damage will make you a valuable team member, as well.

See our Marksman Hunter guide for more info on this build.

Beast Mastery

Beastmastery fulfills yet another crucial role in the hunter class, the improvement of our pets. These talents will take the pet from being just an assitant to something far greater.

Abilities such as Bestial Wrath and Intimidation help youir pet to become a capable Tank. Most non-beast mastery Hunters will find that the pet declines in aggro holding capabilities, becoming mostly a pure-DPS, almost DoT, pet at 60+.

However, not only does this tree maintain the pet's effectiveness at tanking, but also brings massive amounts of improvement in DPS, regeneration, and a variety of other abilities - via multiple talents that apply increases to both the Hunter and the Pet, notably The Beast Within.

Your special abilities as a Beastmastery Hunter are:

1. Inimidation - Stuns your opponent and greatly increases threat. A very nice tanking ability.
2. Animal Handler - Attack power is increased by 15%
3. Mastery: Master of Beasts (trainable at 80) increases the damage of your pet. Each 1% of additional Mastery rating increases it further.

Beast Mastery Hunter Leveling

Despite all praises I may have for Marksman as a method of leveling, Beast Mastery somehow manages to surpass even this, setting a new bar for soloing capabilities only matched by Demonologist Warlocks with a Felguard in tow.

The majority of Beast Mastery's overwhelming leveling speed comes from the fact that many Beast Mastery talents not only improve the pet, but the Hunter himself (to a lesser extent.)  More pet damage equals more Hunter damage, not equaling the level of marksmanship necessarily, but still more than enough to make you an even greater killing machine than ever before.

Finally the pet’s tanking ability becomes almost unstoppable with beastial wrath and intimidation, allowing you to run from fight to fight, even with elites, without ever taking a scratch and wasting barely ten seconds healing the pet from any damage taken. Having the pet as your tank eliminates the potential for mistakes and helps to make the pair of you into a very efficient killing machine.

See our Beast Mastery and Hunter Leveling Guides for more on this build.

Click here to level fast

Survival

Often times you’ll find that survival tree acts as something of a side-dish tree of abilities in PvE, only becoming a fully viable and required tree once you begin to hit the battlegrounds and discover just how hard it can be to survive in the face of overwhelming opposition bent on seeing you die.

Wingclip is a favorite from this tree, a reliable snare that comes in handy nigh every fight should you be required to kite at all, which is more likely in the case of Marksmanship Hunters as opposed to Beast Mastery.

Of course this tree also holds one key element of the entire class, traps.  Improvements to traps result in a massive increase of our survivability, making it much more likely that you’ll prevent a multiple mob pull from getting out of hand. Ssome of the latter talents making you almost tank-like due to HP increases and dodge.

All in all a fun tree to experiment with, although more-so in PvP than PvE.

Survival Hunter Leveling

Survival, unlike marksmanship or beast mastery, seems more apt for providing a fun distraction from the usual grind of leveling while still maintaining speeds generally unreachable by any aside from Rogues or Fury Warriors.

The concept of spending more time on the tactical approach to combat via traps, as opposed to a run n’ gun style of play, appeals to both myself and many others, despite its relative slowness compared to the other styles of hunter leveling.

I’d recommend the Survival Tree for players picking up a Hunter to level for perhaps the second or third time. It provides a reasonable change in combat and overall playstyle and is a refreshing experience without becoming truly tedious at any time.

See our page on the Survival Hunter for more.

Hunter PvP

Stay out of melee - While Hunters can dish out enough melee damage to function for leveling it doesn't work so well for PvP. Any other melee class will lock you up and shut you down. Use your abilites to get out of melee ASAP and get back to your strength, ranged devastation.

Hunters can be very effective at PvP, but like any other class they have to play to their stengths and minimize their weaknesses. Hone the skills that keep the opposition controlled and away from you. Learn the skills that apply the highest burst damage for those times when you can just blast away.

While your pet will be completely unable to tank another player it can be a very valuable DPS addition. It can also initiate an attack, allowing you to get several shots in before the other player finds and targets you. Some pets, such as those with large wing spans, can obscure the vision of the other player. Other pets have special abilities which can also be useful. Monkeys (rude manners) and Spiders (webs) come to mind.

Traps laid down in bottleneck areas, such as the tunnels in Warsong Gulch, or the entries to either base in Atarac Valley, or right next to (or on top of) a flag can be very valuable. Crowd Control abilities can be every bit as useful as raw damage.

Arena - There are plenty of Hunters in the top ranked 5s bracket, a few in the 3s, and a very few in the 2s. This probably means that Hunters are best in a group PvP situation. Get a team and communicate with each other. This doesn't mean that there's no chance in 2s or any other form of PvP, just that the job might be a bit tougher. Hunter/Druid (Balance or Resto) seems to be a good 2x2 combo.

Hunter PvP Gear

• Bloodied Dragonscale gear - this is youir entry level PvP set, made with Leatherworking or bought off the AH.
• Bloodthirsty Gladiator gear and weapons, bought with Honor.
• Vicious Gladiator stuff, bought with Conquest points.

You can find various Hunter PvP builds and more info on these pages:

• Beast Mastery spec
• Marksmanship spec
• Survival spec
• PvP Builds

Gear, Stats, and Numbers

Focus is the new "resource" that Hunters (and their pets) use for all of their attacks. It works very much like a Rogue's Energy and it makes resource management more of an issue than before. Every attack, that isn't an "auto-attack," will require X amount of focus. Various talents will either restore Focus or increase its regenration speed, for both you and your pet.

This also means that Intelligence no longer has any value for Hunters. Agility is it and Stam only has value for situations where you will be getting hit (such as PvP.)

Due to the change in Hunter machanics (mana becoming focus) the exact value of some stats is somewhat up in the air, but more or less in order of priority:

1. Agility - Your #1 stat. Adds to your ranged DPS, your crit chance, and your dodge. Agi is, by far, your most important stats for DPS.
   1. How much? 1 Agi = 2 Attack power. About 325 Agil = 1% crit (at level 85.)
   2. Survival Hunters get 10% more "bang for the buck" (their Into the Wilderness ability) for every point of Ag than other hunters, and this includes socket bonuses, gems, and set bonuses.
2. Hit rating - You won't need much for leveling or PvP, but it is more important for raiding. Try to hit at least 5-6% for PvP and 8% for raiding. The 8% hit cap is not hard to reach.
3. Attack Power - Directly increases your damage, but only appears with certain enchants.
4. Crit rating - Just as important as Attack Power
5. Haste - The affects both the speed of your shots, cooldown timers, and focus regenration.
6. Mastery - this new ability is trainable at level 80. Its value will vary with your build and gear.
7. Expertise - Ranged attacks can't be dodged or parried, so this is of little use.
8. Intelligence - with 4.0 & Cataclysm Hunters have no need for brains. Hunter attacks are now based off of "Focus."
9. Strength - You don't need strength as it doesn't help with your ranged attacks and very little with your melee attacks. Pets inherit nothing from your Str.
10. Spirit - Useless
    
    
11. Stamina - Keeps you alive . You need more for PvP than either Raiding or Leveling.
12. Resilience - Very important for PvP, completely useless outside of PvP. If you're PvPing then get as much as you can without gimping your other stats.

So, in general, you want to look for...

• Agility >> Hit to 8% > AP/Crit/Haste/Mastery > Expertise
• This means you should consider reforging Expertise into better stats, such as Hit and Crit
• Stamina and Resilience as needed.

Which gear?

• At level 40 you get to wear mail armor and you will notice that among your abilities is a bonus if you have mail armor in all appropriate slots (recevied at level 50. )
• You can use any ranged weapon and most melee weapons.
• You should pick melee weapons for their DPS and stats (Agility, etc.) not for their damage range. A faster weapon, in some cases, might proc special abilities more often, but generally the higher the DPS value the better the weapon.

Gems and enchants

Less expensive enchants are also included. If you can't afford it then check out the massive gold post.

• Head:
  • Arcanum of the Ramkahen 60 Ag, 35 Haste, (Ramkahen Revered)
  • Arcanum of Torment 50 AP, 20 Crit, (Knights of the Ebon Blade, Revered)
• Shoulders:
  • Swiftsteel Inscription 130 Agi, 25 Mastery, (Scribes only)
  • Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal 50 Agi, 25 Mastery, (Therazane Revered)
• Cloak:
  • Enchant Cloak - Major Agility 22 Agility
  • Enchant Cloak - Greater Critical Strike 65 Crit
• Chest:
  • Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats 20 to all stats
  • PvP - Enchant Chest - Mighty Resilience 40 Resilience
  • PvP - Enchant Chest - Greater Stamina 75 Stam
• Bracers:
  • Draconic Embossment - Agility 130 Ag compared to the next best, which is 65 crit or 50 AP. (Leatherworkers only)
  • Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault 50 AP
  • Enchant Bracer - Greater Critical Strike 65 Crit
• Gloves:
  • Scroll of Enchant Gloves - Major Agility 20 Agility
  • Enchant Gloves - Haste 50 Haste rating
• Legs:
  • Dragonscale Leg Armor 190 AP and 55 Crit rating
  • Scorched Leg Armor 110 AP and 45 Crit
  • PvP - Charscale Leg Armor 145 Stam, 55 Ag
  • PvP - Twilight Leg Armor 85 Stam, 45 Ag
• Boots:
  • Enchant Boots - Major Agility 35 Agil.
  • Enchant Boots - Assassin's Step 25 Agi and slight movement speed increase. Note that this increase does not stack with other enchants or gems that increase speed
• Belt
  • Ebonsteel Belt Buckle add a +40 ag gem, or +67 with Jewelcrafting
• Rings
  • Enchant Ring - Agility 40 Ag, self-only Enchanter's enchant.
  • PvP - Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina 60 Stam, self-only Enchanter's enchant.
• Melee Weapons
  • Enchant Weapon - Berserking Sometimes gain 400 AP at the cost of a small amount of armor.
  • Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Agility 26 Ag
  • Enchant Weapon - Mongoose Sometimes increase Ag by 120 and attack speed (slightly)
• Ranged Weapon
  • Gnomish X-Ray Scope Sometimes increase ranged AP by 800 for 12 seconds.
  • Heartseeker Scope 40 Crit rating
  • Khorium Scope +12 damage

Gems

By not putting a red gem into a blue/yellow slot you will lose 20 Agility. Therefore the socket bonus for putting the correct color gem has to be at least 20 Ag to be worthwhile. Yes, Agility, at least at the high end, is that much better.

• Red
  • Delicate Chimera's Eye - 67 Agility, self-only Jewelcrafting, you can have up to three of these.
  • Delicate Inferno Ruby - 40 Agility - this will be your main gem for all slots.
  • Delicate Cardinal Ruby - 20 Agility - if gold is a bit tight.
• Yellow
  • Adept Ember Topaz - 20 Agility & 20 Mastery Rating
  • Deft Ember Topaz - 20 Agility/20 Haste Rating
• Blue
  • Glinting Demonseye - 20 Agility/20 Hit Rating
• Meta
  • If the gems requirements are changed then the first two of these will be the best choices.
  • Chaotic Shadowspirit Diamond - +54 Crit and 3% Increased Crit Damage. Currently requires more blue than red gems. This requirement may be broken and so may be fixed, or not, at some point in time.
  • Relentless Earthsiege Diamond - +21 Agility and 3% Increased Crit Damage, Requires more Blue gems than Red gems and at least 1 Yellow gem. This requirement may also be fixed, or not, at some point in time.
  • Destructive Shadowspirit Diamond - +54 Crit and 1% Spell Reflect, Requires at least 2 Red gems

Notes

• Practice your rotations on a practice dummy, using a DPS meter like Recount. Make sure youi maintain your routine for at least a few minutes on the dummy. This averages out the high and low spikes in your damage and gives you a better number.
• If you're PvPing then you should mix in any abilities that might help in PvP even though they don't increase damage, such as Concussive shot.
• If you're clicking your buttons, rather than using hotkeys, you're at a disadvantage.

For Cataclysm:

Normal questing/dungeon gear will get you into the random dungeons at level 85. Heroics require an overall average item level of 329.

Gear can be obtained through reputation, dungeon drops, trading in Valor points obtained in the dungeons, crafted, or bought through the Auction House.

• Leatherworking can craft some gear up to iLevel 359, which is entry level raid gear.
  • The Bloodied PvP set is iLevel 339
  • Corded Viper Belt - Leatherworking 525
  • Dragonkiller Tunic - Leatherworking 525
• Deadly Bio-Optic Killshades - Engineering 525
• iLevel 346 armor items bought with Justice Points
• iLevel 359 armor items bought with Valor points

Raiding Gear

Level 80 Gear List - left here for those who might want to do that content and/or who have not yet upgraded to Cataclysm.

Helm:

Horns of the Spurned Val'kyr
Eyes of Bewilderment
Plunderer's Helmet
King Dred's Helm
Conqueror's Scourgestalker Headpiece
Coif of the Brooding Dragon

Neck:

Barbed Ymirheim Choker
Broach of the Wailing Night
Ancient Pendant of Arathor

Back:

Accursed Crawling Cape
Cloak of the Gushing Wound
Hammerhead Sharkskin Cloak

Shoulders:

Massive Spaulders of the Jormungar
Spaulders of the Abomination
Valorous Cryptstalker Spaulders
Epaulets of the Devourer
Windrunner's Spaulders of Conquest
Pauldrons of Concealed Loathing
Spurned Val'kyr Shoulderguards

Chest:

Hauberk of the Arcane Wraith
Aviary Guardsman's Hauberk
Conqueror's Scourgestalker tunic
Windrunner's Tunic of Conquest
Chestguard of the Ravenous Fiend
Frostsworn Bone Chestpiece

Wrist:

Wristguards of Ceaseless Regret
Gondria's Spectral Bracer
Essence of Suffering
Armguard of the Tower Archer
Necromantic Wristguards
Raging Construct Bands
Interwoven Scale Bracers

Hands:

Gauntlets of the Plundering Geist
Hoarfrost Gauntlets
Gloves of Unerring Aim
Windrunner's Handguards of Conquest
Grips of the Beast God
Handgrips of the Savage Emissary
Gloves of the Dark Exile

Belt:

Vereesa's Silver Chain Belt
Belt of Tasseled Lanterns
Cord of Swirling Winds
Belt of Merciless Cruelty
Sovereign's Belt
Scabrous Zombie Leather Belt
Belt of Rotted Fingernails
Belt of the Ardent Marksman

Legs:

Valorous Cryptstalker Legguards
Leggings of the Tireless Sentry
Azure Ringmail Leggings
Hollowed Mandible Legplates
Leggings of the Stone Halls
Frostsworn Bone Leggings
Windrunner's Legguards of Conquest

Boots:

Dragon Slayer's Sabatons
Scale Boots of the Outlander
Muddied Boots of Brill
Spiked Toestompers
Pack-Ice Striders
Twin-Headed Boots

Rings:

Mobius Band
Band of Stained Souls
Ring of Invincibility
Stained-Glass Shard Ring
Signet of Edward the Odd
Ring of Carnelian and Bone
Dexterous Brightstone Ring

Trinkets:

Sphere of Red Dragon's Blood
Banner of Victory
Needle-Encrusted Scorpion
Mirror of Truth
Incisor Fragment
Meteortie Whetstone
Mark of Supremacy

Weapons:

The Key
Greed
Nighttime
Crypt Lord's Deft Blade
Dagger of Betrayal
The Fleshshaper
Black Knight's Rondel
Heartshiver
Hate-Forged Cleaver
Krick's Beetle Stabber
Blood Weeper
Seven-Fingered Claws
Quel'Delar, Cunning of the Shadows
Grasscutter

Two-Handed:

Marrowstrike
Tower of the Mouldering Corpse
Enraged Feral Staff
Lightning Giant Staff
Staff of Trickery
Orca-Hunter's Harpoon
Quel-Delar, Ferocity of the Scorned

Ranged:

Rimebane Rifle
Titanium Compound Bow
Amanitar Skullbow
Drake-Mounted Crossbow
Crypt Fiend Slayer
True-aim Long Rifle
Felglacier Bolter