Hi, my name is Caperfin and welcome to my guide! Every possible topic that comes to mind will be analysed to answer lingering questions
you might have. In the unfortunate scenario a topic is not addressed or poorly please bring it to my attention. I expect the same amount of
scrutiny from readers as I have put into writing this guide, so don't hold back.

Introduction
Race
Pets
Profession
Buffs
Debuffs
Gear + Enchants
Talents
Spells
Rotations
F.A.Q


Before continuing, its important to remember you are not only perusing a certain path but also playing a class that demands a
great deal of effort for other players to recognise. A melee hunter in a raid has the ability to not only provide a large amount of
personal damage but also the capability of aiding other teammates. However, you must choose which path to take and invest
all effort into it to be effective.



Races play a big part as we are grasping for any amount of extra efficiency possible. Hunters are available to 5 races: Night Elf and Dwarf
for the Alliance. Tauren , Orc , and Troll for the Horde. This section will explore the most popular & efficient races for our goals. Let's begin
by taking a look at the most efficient faction as both of them provide different benefits. In our rigorous testing, the Horde faction is the clear
as the tools provided by them heavily trumps what the Alliance has to offer. An example, of one of these tools is https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=10614 which, is a massive contribution to our overall melee damage. Next, lets see the most beneficial race within the Horde. As previously mentioned, we are gifted with three possible races: Orc, Troll and Tauren. But sadly our bovine friend doesn't yield any racial benefits. Therefore, our eyes are mostly set on Orc and Troll. There is no clear winner as both races excel under different scenarios. Let's breakdown both to showcase the differences.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20558 ... ialization / https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=26290 ... ialization: Increases chance to hit with bow and thrown while increasing damage.
https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20557/beast-slaying: Whether it be physical or magical, all damage against creatures categorised as Beasts is bolstered by 5%.
https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20555/regeneration: Health regeneration rate increased by 10%. 10% of total Health regeneration may continue during combat.
https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20554/berserking: Increases your spell casting and attack speed by 10% to 25%. At full health the speed increase is 10% with...

What does this mean?: Ultimately, if a boss can be vanquished in ~2min or less, Troll is the correct decision. It should be noted, Berserking
also improves range attack speed. Contrary to popular belief, melee hunters do use the occasional ranged ability. In conclusion, going Troll
might not be the route for everyone as its very situational and inconsistent.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20574 ... ialization: Increase chance to hit with one handed and two handed axes and increases damage done with them.
https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20572/blood-fury: Increases base melee attack power by 25% for 15 sec & reduces healing effects on you by 50% for 25 sec...
https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20573/hardiness: Chance to resist Stun effects increased by an additional 25%. (Sadly, will rarely if ever see any usage in PvE)
https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=20575/command: Both physical and magical damage dealt by Hunter and Warlock pets is improved by 5%.

What does this mean?: Similar to the previous race, however, Orcs are the better damage option overall. Regardless, of the boss type your
are facing. Ultimately, Orc should deal the most damage. I suggest Orc because the talent setup we will be choosing later compliments our
racial skill Command and the bonus to skill with axes and two-handed axes is nothing to scoff at either as many notable weapons are axes.
Other Races

If you are dead set on affiliating with the Alliance, I suggests Night Elf as they have the highest agility. This isn't to say you should be forced to play a certain race, rather you should be aware of the differences and make the according decision that aligns with your preferences.

Hunters have the advantage of taming and acquiring a pet at level 10. Our little companion help us not only level at a ludicrously fast speed
but also provides some decent damage in raids once we are level 60. Since this is not a leveling guide, we'll be skipping pets that help with
leveling and go straight to pets used for raiding. It should be noted, if you don't cater to the survival of your pet it will be a detriment to your
overall dps. Therefore, it'snot only necessary to move out of the "giant fire" on the ground but also manage the position of your pet. Players
who master this notion, should heavily consider investing into buffs for their pet. This section will showcase pets most suited for our needs.
Let's begin!


Second on the list are cats because of their higher than average attack speed. The fastest attacking speed cat and therefore best cat for us is https://classic.wowhead.com/npc=2850/broken-tooth.


Thirdly, is the wolf animal family. Wolfs are the ideal support pet as they posses https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=24597/furious-howl which increases the damage output of the party, especially warriors who play the DPS role. It's also common to have this pet, if a boss fight will surely lead to your pet's death.


While leveling, select Herbalism & Alchemy. Herbalism provides reagents for Alchemy and a source of gold for our eventual endgame professions. The goal is to gather a large supply of gold and a bank full of potions the raid might need, for ex: http://classic.wowhead.com/item=13452. A valid case can be made for having a lvl 5 character in a major city to disenchant unwanted items through mail and store items at a bank for later use.
 
Afterwards abandon Herbalism and go for the late game profession, Engineering. In order to scoop up a few useful tools, such as: https://classic.wowhead.com/item=10725, https://classic.wowhead.com/item=10646 among many other gadgets.
Finally, for secondary professions, I urge grabbing all of them as they all provide valuable assets. In terms of fishing, you can farm those elusive Stonescale Eels that are highly contested after for Flask of the Titans. First aid grants bandages for healing that don't require any mana to use. Lastly, cooking has Dragonbreath Chili a sheer delight as it not only scales with spell damage but also alongside the trinket: https://classic.wowhead.com/item=16022/ ... dragonling fire increasing debuff: https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=16536. This debuff scales with Goblin Sapper charge as well. All these items nicely combine into a decent boost in threat. Contrary to popular belief, https://classic.wowhead.com/item=12217/ ... eath-chili does stack with another food buff.

Some buffs are unobtainable due to certain patch restrictions or unable to stack with others. Let's highlight a few important facts about buffs. There is a max of 32 buffs: Talents, Set bonuses & Equip effects don't count. But Gear enchants count with exceptions: (Crusader enchant and enchants from the profession enchanting don't count.) Resistance enchants however need to be reconfirmed as they make it seem now like those should count. The following buffs are classified into sub-groups to better highlight their usefulness and showcase different options.

Mind Control Buffs

I wouldn't be thorough if I didn't mention the wonderful world of Mind Control buffing. It is possible for an alliance priest to use their basic shadow spell: http://classic.wowhead.com/spell=10912 or someone with the engineering to create and use the head slot item http://classic.wowhead.com/item=10726 against players of the opposing faction. For that duration the mind controlled Horde character is now considered an Alliance player. This allows the character to receive buffs from paladins. In the many guild raids I’ve taken part, we'd have 2-3 players log onto to their lvl 60 pallies and level 60 priests and stationed themselves near the raid entrance or zone for mind control buffing. Before undertaking this endeavor, be sure that the server allows for the Mind Control possibility and find out its exact limits. The fun doesn't stop there. It is also possible for a priest of any faction to Mind Control certain mobs which can be controlled to dish out beneficial buffs to all raid members. In order, to fully utilize the duration of these buffs, its advised to have warlock be ready for immediate summoning.


Special Event Buffs

On an ending note for buffs, we can also get buffs from special events/holidays. An example, is The Midsummer Fire Festival a seasonal event that celebrates the hottest season of the year. It starts on the (earthly) northern summer solstice, and lasts about two weeks (mid-late June to early July, usually). The next ones are Love is in the Air, Lunar Festival, Wickerman Festival and Scourge Invasion that all feature some useful buffs for tanking. It is possible for the Love is in the Air Capital Gift Collection buffs to be stacked with each other, ask around to find out its exact limits. The following buffs are separated by their event.



There can be a total of 16 debuffs applicable on a boss. All debuffs on the list below benefit us and are assumed to be at their maximum rank/talent improvement. The following debuffs are classified into sub-groups to better highlight their usefulness and showcase different options.


The interesting part about gearing a melee hunter is its similarity with the traditional range hunter. It's possible to play as a ranged hunter and transition to melee later fairly easy. You won't need to convince players about your desire for unconventional gear and go into a diatribe about your plan to go melee hunter later. A hunter's melee weapon will often dictate their role in a raid. In the earlier portions/phases of the game, two-handed weapons are more sought after since there's less of a need to get gear with "Hit" on it. Down below is a weapon table to illustrate notable weapons for each content phase.


The beauty about gearing a melee hunter is that a Support Hunter and a Personal Damage Hunter wear very similar gear.
Down below is a url to a spreadsheet with a plethora of options for proper gearing:

Enchants similar to gear need to be tailored for our purposes.
What is FD?

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=5384 or refereed to as "FD" is similar to the rogue spell: https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=1857. FD grants us the capability to leave combat but because bosses ever so often, pulsate an aura that automatically puts nearby targets in combat, we must be fast with our fingers. The amount of time it takes for the combat aura to effect the hunter depends on the boss. A few of the many actions, we can do while out of combat are: eat food to regenerate our resources, cast hunter trap spells, reset our threat on the target and equip different gear. Its recommended, installing the addon: Item Rack to automatically equip items the very second combat is dropped.

For the sake of generality and simplicity these talents setups assume you're taking part in a serious guild who are confidently clearing raids. During guild progression it is suggested to fulfil the support role until your guild is comfortable with you going the personal damage increasing role.



Be prepared to fill most of your action bars with spells and different ranks of ced spells. World of Warcraft as a default only offers a few action bars, so consider installing an addon to increase the numbers of bars available to you.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=14325: Typically, should be casted by another hunter with the talent https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=19425. But in the unlikelihood no one has the talent version, throw a normal version up to be courteous. Remember, it only lasts 2min, so keep an eye on it and make sure to reapply it.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=25296: A straightforward spell, that share the same similarities as the previous spell.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=14268: Typically, I suggest the rank 1 version of this spell, unless you posses a plethora of mana regenerative item, than you can go for its maximum rank Wing Clip. A skilled hunter should aim to end a fight with nearly no mana left.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=25294 or commonly known as "MS", sees some usefulness when travelling from one point to another. This spell is the most common "shot" within our repertoire and can cause devastating damage when paired with the debuff Expose Weakness. Typically, a permanent ranged hunter has the responsibility of applying this debuff.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=14317: Weirdly, it scales with spell damage and fire damage increasing effects such as Flame Buffet from an AD. However, we can only cast this trap spell out of combat, we can rectify this problem with the help of FD.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=14266 A standard damage increasing spell that is commonly used.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=3045 : Because this spell shares a cooldown with JuJu Flurry. I only recommend to use this ranged ability in the rare case JuJu Flurry is not available and you are forced to move enabling you to use your ranged weapon for a brief moment.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=5384 Mostly, known around the community as FD. There are clever tricks you can pull, such as: granting us the ability to consume food, change gear, place traps, etc... Please refer to the section: What is FD? to learn more about it.

https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=19801 Although our main goal is to deal as much damage as possible, we can't afford the boss to enrage, so we take it upon ourselves to use it when asked.

Pre-Pull: Before the raid starts, make sure you and your pets get the most buffs out there in the world. I suggest you dismiss your pet after acquiring each new buff to avoid using up the time on the buffs.

Pulling: Summon your pet and ask the raid for the remaining last few buffs on it. Equip https://classic.wowhead.com/itemset=463, cast MS. Immediately, reequip your normal melee weapon and run to the boss alongside other melee classes.

Combat: Activate JuJu Flurry and Oil of Immolation and wait 1-2 seconds until https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=11597 and similar debuffs are applied. You will be constantly using Oil of immolation but be cautious it resets your swing timer, so install a swing timer addon to optimize it. Once the majority of damage increasing debuffs are on the boss activate 2 damage increasing trinkets and hit the boss with WG in conjunction with RS. Once the effect from both trinkets are expired, cast FD and equip 2 passive dps trinkets, if mana permits it, you can place an Immolation Trap. Throughout the entire boss fight, simply repeat the normal rotation of RS and WG.

Situational: If you need to run to another target, sneak in an Arcane Shot as you run, either on the boss or the target ahead of you. (If the distance is long enough, you can equip Primal Blessing + a faster ranged weapon such as: https://classic.wowhead.com/item=2824, activate Rapid fire and sneak in a MS. Afterwards, requip your normal gear.) If your pet (who is fully buffed) will foreseeable die to a raid mechanic, cast https://classic.wowhead.com/spell=1002 immediately after a weapon swing to get your pet out of danger.

F.A.Q.

Can you TLDR melee hunters? tell me the essentials, don't worry I know the game terms.
I'll try. Be in melee, use powerful spell damage & physical damage consumables, ex: Flask of Surpreme Power. Equip a life-stealing weapon, enchant with Shadow Oil. Spam Wing Cip and Raptor Strike. If you're looking to support instead, equip a weapon that helps others like Nightfall. DONE.

Why play a Melee Hunter when being a ranged hunter is available?
I addressed this in Introduction. Also, a Personal Damage Hunter (if played properly) has proven to reproduce similar damage as a ranged hunter and out damage them in certain scenarios.

How did you find out about Melee Hunters?
I've been working on these type of non-conventional ways of playing the game for years. It was pure curiosity fulled by trying to put a refreshing spin on an old game.

Wow!
This guide is amazing, not a Mainchar for me, but maybe a twink :p?
Thank you much for that!

Caperfin wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Neretzek, The Blood Drinker is the soonest weapon a hunter can acquire to start melee'ing a boss for the purpose of doing personal damage

When the first weapon that makes your build somewhat viable is from AQ40 trash and the other recommend weapon is Ashbringer, I kind of lose interest. I've always wondered if melee Hunter could work, but this portion of the guide is quite disheartening. Melee Hunter could be great fun, but I don't know if it is truly viable. I always wanted a legolas style dual wield melee Hunter to work in Vanilla, but I think that will remain a fantasy.

hit the boss with WG in conjunction with RS.

Excuse me if I missed an obvious point anywhere, however, what is WG?

Selexin wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Caperfin wrote: ↑

5 years ago

Neretzek, The Blood Drinker is the soonest weapon a hunter can acquire to start melee'ing a boss for the purpose of doing personal damage

When the first weapon that makes your build somewhat viable is from AQ40 trash and the other recommend weapon is Ashbringer, I kind of lose interest. I've always wondered if melee Hunter could work, but this portion of the guide is quite disheartening. Melee Hunter could be great fun, but I don't know if it is truly viable. I always wanted a legolas style dual wield melee Hunter to work in Vanilla, but I think that will remain a fantasy.

Yeah, the primary argument for a melee hunter would be having the highest potential for nightfall uptime. I have seen some theorycrafting while using ravager and sapper charges for AoE pulls that seems to yield some high numbers as well (on private), but this will be another fringe spec that requires a lot more gear than is realistic for most players.

As soon as you drop the nightfall to increase your own personal DPS you decrease the throughput of the entire team, meaning someone else will need to pickup a nightfall. It is typically just better to let the guy who has always wielded the nightfall to continue doing so.

Nightfall is one of those ace in the hole items that can validate A LOT of fringe specs. If the boomkin could equip this item, it would be used to validate playing a boomkin. If the shadowpriest could wield this item, they would use it to add a value argument to their spec. Unfortunately for many would-be meme specs, there can be only one nightfall wielding player in the raid.