Help with huntersFollow

OK another nOOb question.

I'm lvl 19 and trying to bg. 1v1 vs rogue and I lose - expected - but how the hell do you deal with a hunter?

Pins me with pet and I'm dead. Can't get near him.

Earthbind doesn't seem to stop the pet, Stoneclaw doesn't distract it. He hits me with concussive shot, pops out of range and all I get off is 1, maybe 2 shocks then I'm dead. If I try to fight the pet - same result.

It's really beginning to get on my nerves as horde on my server turns up with at least two hunters in every bg. Had five of the sods in one bg!

I don't have much hair left - help ;D

Once again Draeneipaladin, you amuse me with your comment...
You will get viable 1v1 options against other classes, but it's not just with the elementals. Those things are 20 minute cooldowns, anyone can go 1 on 1 with someone if they have a 20 minute CD with you. Without them, there are different ways to surpass a huntard with the different trees.
1. Resto
Just try to melee the dude, putting down poison cleansing totem and earthbind totem to keep him in your range and to put his poisons at an ease. Use lightning bolt every once in a while, put on water shield to keep up mana, heal yourself, etc. It'll take a while as resto. Don't bother with Earth Shield because he can arcane shot it off.

2. Enhancement
Same totems, but do stormstrike + earth shock / frost shock (depending on if he's well in your range or not) and melee, etc.

3. Elemental
Same totems, maybe wrath of air, lightning bolt spam and keep 'im in your range.

Yea, these tactics are for 70s but for lower levels... Well, for 19 it's really hard to beat someone as a shaman because you don't have windfury, stormstrike, earth shield, reduced casting LB, etc.
As a 19 you barely scratch the tip of the iceberg with your class. If he's your twink, then GL, but if he's your first character / alt then keep leveling him, don't waste your time in the 19 bracket. For later on, as you get more of the abilities listed then you'll be able to stand a chance. 49 is a really good bracket to PvP in.

Hi and thanks for the advice.

He is an alt that I started out of curiosity. I'm growing to like playing him though; so I may stick with him.

I can PvE ok and do reasonally well as part of the flag defence in wsg. I just fall foul of Hunters everytime I try to join the offence - I'm probably just a bit too gung-ho. I try to bypass their front line and get in amongst them to purge their casters; especially the healer(s).

I only have a couple of hundred honour to get for my IotA, so grind these off then go level as you suggest.

Thanks again

I'm sorry, but I just don't agree with the notion that we have no chance. 1v1 in 49 bracket I usually have few problems with them. I'm resto spec and it seems that we are always underestimated. I can usually just outlast him, keeping him in range with earthbind and frost shock. Beat him down until he pops BW, and then just use what little burst damage you have to finish him off. Also, PvP trinkets help a lot.

There is no shortage of bad Hunters out there. And if you're beating Hunters, you're beating bad ones.

Even if you outlast his entire mana pool, the simple fact of the matter is that you will never kill them if they are competent. Once they get out of shock range--beyond 20 yards, which is not hard to do with the tools they have available to them--they are essentially lost to us. The only spells we have that reach further than that are LB and CL, so it's basically you standing there casting LB/CL while they shoot you and their pet beats on you.

Also, if you're still twinking in the 49 bracket... then you don't have a clue. Burst damage kills are still possible at that point. You should wait until you get Outland, preferably 70, before you try to make a valid judgement.

Well I dinged 20 so I guess non of this really matters any more but I was wondering if Stoneclaw does distract pets?

If it doesn't perhaps it should?
If it does maybe it should get a PvP armour value? So the pet has to spend a few seconds destroying it and allows me time to (try) and get to the hunter?

Looking forward to 27+ now to try out Frostshock - Should really help my flag defence.

PS Don't know why, but I seem to have far less trouble with Locks than Hunters. Don't kill them that often, but drop a tremor on the way in and I can usually get them down to a few points of health. But we are talking lvl 19; so its probably because they haven't learned how to play their class :)

I used to have no problem out-lasting hunters--even the few good ones--but I had no hope of killing them (resto). Ever since the arcane shot buff, though, it's much harder. The really frustrating thing is that most of the time they don't even realize how devistating their damaging-dealing purge is: apparently it's part of most normal shot rotations.

I'll agree with most others: as a hybrid, we just don't have anough of our class tools at level 19. If you plan to twink a shaman, it's best to do so at 29 or 39, and most say that we hit our PvP peak in the 50's.

As for locks, I find them easier since we have great caster lock-down abilities. Hunters are all about kiting and range, which shamans have fewer reliable tools against.



If the pet is on aggressive, then yes, it's susceptible to any taunt. However, if the hunter specifically commands the pet to attack a target, taunts won't work. Worth a try to see if the hunter is awake, but nothing to count on.

However, Stoneclaw (and Earth Elemental) does work on snake trap.

Should drop magma totem. The snakes have almost no health and they die with one "burst" from magma totem (and it will damage the pet... and the hunter if he kites past it).

Stoneclaw ONLY works on the pet if you attack the hunter before they give it commands. It will rush to "defend" the hunter. If you stoneclaw at THIS point, it WILL distract the pet. All he has to do is redirect it, but I find if you start damaging the hunter... they tend to get a little distracted and tend not to redirect the pet because they are too busy trying to get away from you.

I have to agree, competent shaman vs competent lock/hunter/rogue... the shaman doesn't stand a chance alone unless maybe enhancement with some lucky windfury procs.

PS: I REALLY feel there should be a penalty for dispelling Earth Shield much like there is for lifebloom and that one warlock buff. Spending 900 mana on a shield that can be dispelled with no penalty sucks in pvp. Doubled Armor for 1 min? A strong health regen? I don't know, but it should be buffed up some for pvp.

I have tried windwall vs hunters... and I honestly don't see their damage decrease lol... Stoneskin and Windwall both suck IMHO. Plus you have the pet hitting you for melee damage so you'd theoretically have to lay down both? Then you wouldn't have so many other more useful totems. Grounding for the mage or warlock that is with them... tremor totem for the warlock that is with them. Wrath of air or Grace of Air... Strength totems, etc.

Then the hunter is going to keep running away from you as you chase them, taking you away from your totems. You'd have to relay them, while they keep backing away from them.

Issue number one: you're in BG's. Very easy to blindside someone here. BG's as a whole are about the most inaccurate measurement of how well your class fares in PvP right behind ganking them in PvE while they're in the middle of fighting a mob.


Issue number two: if the Hunter knows you're there, say... if you're standing across from one another in an arena, it's not that simple. Without the arena set gloves extending your shock range five yards, that initial FS is never going to reach him without help. I.E. other BG members or your arena partner. Even with that bonus range, you're going to be snared right back immediately, so you're not really gaining any ground on him.

Issue number three: this is all just considering Conc Shot and Freezing Trap. If he's got Entrapment (which many, I would say most, PvP Hunters tend to take) and drops a Frost Trap, you are completely wrecked. At that point, you might as well just curl up into the fetal position and wait to die if you're Enhancement.


Issue number four: good Hunters will sit right on top of their Freezing Trap if they absolutely need it to hit you (I.E. they're looking to escape you). Not really much you can do in that situation other than eat it.


...

Hunters, all three specs, are equipped with ways of getting OUT of melee range and back into shooting range. (Traps, Wing Clip, Counterattack, the pets themselves, etc)

The only range that shaman really have is Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, which at max is 36 yards, and there is no way of preventing spell pushback other than Eye of the Storm (and a tier bonus), which is moderately into the Elemental tree and is based on the enemy's crit chance.

As such, it is virtually impossible for any spec'd shaman to take down any spec'd competent hunter in 1v1, just as holy and shadow priests can't stand up against any warlocks in 1v1 (I don't know how discipline fares).