Hunters and one on one PvPFollow

What i do in pvp is simple. If it is another hunter like myself i slow it with my slow shot. then i try to get enough shots off untill i can finish him off. in this time i send my pet at him and when he sends his pet at me, i fear it off. Rapid fire also works WONDERS in pvp. really only classes you have to worry about in pvp are Pally *shudder* and Rouges (they have massive DPS). all other classes are not to bad. but for the most part just try to keep distance between you and attacker. use slow shot and up close you can melee(although i dont recomend it) or use that 10 second slow and run off to create distace so you can range.

There are generally a lot more options in PvP than most people think. I beat a NE hunter last night that was 2 levels above me and it really wasn't that hard you just have to try and be one step ahead of your opponent. The first thing you should always do is drop a mark of the hunter on them and be aware of what aspect is active at the start of the fight. Use your concussion shot a lot, everytime it becomes active because with talents it has a chance to stun, this can give you a big leap over them in DPS. Keep your dot arrow up and fear the pet if it's another hunter, if it's a rogue then use wing clip and DON'T keep cheetah up unless they're snared, you'll get dazed and dropped in 5 seconds flat. It's worth it to put a few talent points into giving wing clip a boost if you plan on doing a lot of PvP, I have already maxed out my pet health boost too. Keep moving, if you stop you're pretty much dead. It's also not a bad idea to have something in your off-hand to boost spirit and intelligence (you'll be avoiding melee as much as possible anyways and the extra mana/regen will really help).

A general recap on Hunters in PvP:

-Always use Mark of the hunter, this will keep them from invising.
-Be aware of what aspect you're using and switch as needed.
-use fear on other hunter's pets.
-Use pet taunt on Warlock pets.
-Always keep your pet well fed and happy. This might sound like it came out of nowhere but a 25% damage bonus isn't beans.
-Keep your sting up and active on your target at all times.
-Use Wing Clip to get out of sticky situations.
-Use pet taunt on Warlock pets.

I haven't found a decent use for traps in PvP yet, I play on a blue server (Elune) so every PvP situation I've come into has been rather sudden. Any tips on PvP uses of traps would be appreciated (besides the obvious).

That sounds like some great advice guys. I'll have to rethink how I'm going to use some of my talent points. I can really see the use of wing clip now. Thankfully I have a rogue in my guild, perhaps I can talk him into a few duels to get the hang of things.

This is a great thread with some good info for fledgling hunters, myself included. I have a few more questions of my own regarding pets in PvP.

-I haven't messed with pet abilities at all. Between leatherworking and questing almost constantly, I don't have time to coral my cat and run around looking for beasts with new abilities, only to have them become obsolete and have to find a higher lvl beast to learn the next rank. I don't see the point in this, I'm sorry. Do the pet abilties (besides growl) really make that much of a difference in PvP and otherwise?

-Are the talent points for boosting traps worth it? I use them all the time but I have a hard time swallowing the usefulness of them versus something like extra chances to hit with my bow or extra damage/hps for my pet.

-As a troll I get an innate bonus to throwing weps. I haven't even tried them yet, is it worth it? Do I get an extra attack with them ranged, or does it replace my bow?

-What's the point of first aid skills? I can regen my health just as fast with food, bandaging isn't practical in combat anyways. Or is it?

-What's the deal with guns? I know where and how to train in them but I don't see the point unless bows become obsolete at some point in my progression and guns are the better path to take as far as DPS and stats go. My bow works great, I would only switch if my DPS hit the wall with bows and could only continue through the use of guns.

Don't take any of these questions the wrong way. I'm loving life as a hunter I just have some logic gaps here and there, someone with a bit more experience could probably fill them in nicely for me.

Thanks!

Pet abilites make a helluva difference. Get claw and bite. Claw from some bears, and I think I got bite from tallstriders, not certain though. Cower is also good because it helps yer pet keep aggro with Growl. Big difference.

Boosting talent traps. More damage, etc is always good. I kill things higher level because of traps. I usually duo with a rogue friend of mine. I set a trap, have a macro saying the trap is set, she pulls and runs to the trap. We pull camps of 3 and 4, mobs of up to 7 or 8 levels higher and do fine. Xp is awesome, money drops are awesome. I do this solo as well.

Don't know about trolls. I'm alliance on a pvp server so I hate the Horde =/

First aid. Nummies. Don't have to sit down to use it and can use it on others, even in combat.

Guns: In my experience, more dps and just as good fire rate. Haven't used a bow since I could use a gun.

Anything else?

Currently I am using 2 daggers. Was using 2 1h swords, but found some daggers with better damage and lower delay =/ As for my gun, next level (27) I found a bow with alot better damage and 1.0 lower delay. Haven't seen any higher end guns, as of yet, but since I'm a Night Elf and no bonus with guns like dorfs, if I find a bow/xbow thats better damage, I'm going with that. I don't like 2handers, they are too slow for my tastes.

As far as pvp, Azgalor I love. And since you can't talk to the opposing faction, I don't hear much about gankers, just some idiots at times. Someone might say there are Horde in such and such and some idiot will say something to the affect "You can solo em, you don't need our help". That's not what the pvp servers are about, IMHO. /ignore is a good thing :)

I've done some remarkable things with my hunter, love em. I can solo mobs that are almost 10 levels higher, provided there aren't add's. Very nice xp.

Update on my talents. Most of them in survival, as you know, I pumped a few into my fire traps for more damage. Awesome. Increased parry and that stuff, I see a difference in my melee, coupled with out Aspect of the Monkey (8% increase in dodge) is fantastic. Currently going to look for a pet thats easier to feed than with just straight meat.

I wanted to share a few things I've learned in the past week or so that have helped me tremendously - and also thank my guildmate Kamoko (who I now refer to as Master as per Kung-Fu movies) for helping me nail down what my biggest issues were. I'm sharing this in hopes that some others that were in my position of simple ignorance of how different a PvP and PvE character might find some help.

Lesson #1: Skills/Talents

Generally what instills panic best in a potential victim is not being able to move, or at the very least not being able to move fast enough to get away from you. The skills that should recieve the most attention are ones that fall into this, such as WingClip and Concussive Shot. These two should be high priority in your talents and skills. Scattershot is a must have once it becomes available.

Outside of those skills there seems to be more freedom with what to do. Dodging is good, so are improved critical hits. The one thing to keep in mind, is while your pet is fantastic as a PvE weapon, 9/10 PvP opponents will simply ignore it and head straight for you. Because of that be careful which stats you choose on building up.

Another thing to keep in mind, is a PvP opponent will not stay at range for you unless they're a mage. Always be prepared with some melee skills, and don't heistate to throw some points into that talent section.

Be cautious with trap boosts since unless you are a good ambusher, expect not to have time to get it set up before the battle starts.

Lesson #2: Tactics

Keep moving! Above all else that's the number one rule. The only problem is as hunters we can't shoot on the run except for skills (Concussive, Arcane, Stings). Make a lot of use of your strafe keys (q and e in default layout) and backpedal as little as possible. In some cases it's actually better to run through an opponent and deliver a quick wingclip and then strafe into a good firing position. This slows them down (or if your lucky stops them completely) and forces them to turn around.

I was a bit surprised, but for any of you who did PvP in the mechwarrior games, it's very similar. Lot's of circling.

Another important thing is be on the offensive. If you get jumped your chances for a sucessful battle can drop dramatically. A good way to do this is instead of using your tracking abilities for whatever your hunting, keep it on humanoid all the time. If you see a name approaching that isn't familiar (or is familar and brings back some bad memories) then you can decide to run or fight before they're on top of you. This has saved me a couple times, and also given would be ambushers more than they bargained for. If you don't know either way about the name type "/who personsname" and if the stats come up, they're a friendly, if you get "0 players" or something similar, then be on your guard, or get ready to attack, whichever makes you happy.

Also make use of cover and rough ground. It can be a little hard to track down where regular shots are coming from when you can't see who's doing the firing.

Lesson #3: Equipment (my biggest mistake)

+Stamina is your friend. High additional stamina armor should be a priorty since you can nearly double your hp, giving people more to chew through and you more time to dole out damage. After stamina I suggest looking for +Agility and +Strength. Agility will help dodge a little bit, and critical hits. Strength helps out with attack. +Intelligence can also be good if you rely on a lot of shots and stings during the battle, since it's never any fun being out of Mana.

Lessons #4 and #5: Practice makes perfect, and not everyday is a good one.

Practice is probably the most important part of this. The skills and tactics will need to become almost second nature for you consistently do well in PvP. Try not to back out of fights unless you are completely outgunned. There's no shame in losing if you fight well. And through personal experience most (definately not all) people will usually not camp your corpse. Though they may stick around the area and be happy to hunt you down again if they happen to see you.

Also know that not everyday is going to be a good one, sometimes you will run into a level 45 Tauren/Night Elf who feels he has nothing better to do than stomp your level 30 butt into the ground. You can't win that battle unless the person doesn't know what they're doing, so don't get hung up on it. You might also run into multiple opponents at the same time, and again, don't expect to win unless they're completely inept.

As I said before, this post wasn't for the people who know this stuff, but for those who, like me, thought that generally stratagies would be the same across PvE and PvP. Any comments from our more accomplished PvP champions would be appreciated.

Edited, Fri Dec 17 09:43:20 2004 by Jigensan