After the melee, it's the turn of distance classes to be in the spotlight. In this series of articles as in the previous one, the objective is not to establish a mathematical study to compare the amount of damage that each damage class can send at a distance, or to observe each of them for affirm which one is superior to the others. It will mainly be a question of presenting them one by one, of detailing their respective styles of play, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their essential spells to take control of the character.
The first class of this series is special. She is indeed the only ranged class to inflict physical damage. It is often very popular with players because of the wide choice of pets that can accompany it. It's a pure damage class. I'm talking, you guessed it, of hunter.
In World of Warcraft, the hunter is a tracker, a tracker. Able to follow the fiercest of creatures, stay on the prowl for hours and set traps. He is also a scout, an animal tamer who knows their way of life perfectly and is able to draw inspiration from it, and an outstanding sniper. It is a primarily damage class, which has 3 specializations based on different forms of damage.
The Beast Mastery specialist hunter will inflict a large percentage of his damage via his familiar which will see his skills improved, Survival will inflict damage with arrows and stings whose damage is spread over time. As for the Precision hunter, most of his damage is direct damage inflicted directly by the force of his bullets, bolts or arrows. Whatever his specialization, the hunter retains the same way of practicing himself, the same strengths and weaknesses, these are the characteristics that we are going to discuss.
Its strong points
Its controls : of all the classes in the game, the hunter is currently with the mage, the character most able to prevent an opponent from playing with a view to multi-player combat. So of course, most of these controls will break at the slightest damage, which implies that he must attack a target other than the one he controls. But many are the healers who, caught in a succession of silence, icicle, dizziness ... will helplessly witness the death of their teammates. The first and most famous of the class is the Freezing Trap. Sent using the Trap Launcher, it is advisable to first inflict a scattering arrow on the target, to ensure that the victim does not flee and that the trap is properly secured. The hunter can also choose a familiar with his own control such as the Crane and his Lullaby, or the Monkey and his Discourteous, and his level 30 talents give him a new way to annihilate his opponent's actions: the shot of bond, bullying, and wyvern sting are on offer. As long as he meets a druid, we can add Scare a beast and the picture is almost complete. In addition, the Survival specialization will increase the duration of the Freezing Trap by 30%, Precision will offer more control thanks to its arrow-gag, and the Beasts specialization will allow it to get out of control and inflict more damage with to bestial wrath. Suffice to say that, if played intelligently, the hunter is a formidable enemy, especially in arenas.
His constant pressure : the hunter has the particularity of having the advantage of the ranged class, which can attack from any position, and the advantage of the melee class, i.e. he does not throw no spells, so cannot be interrupted and still deals just as much damage, despite assaults against him. This makes him a very complicated class to procrastinate, if not by stunning, disarming, or hiding. In addition to this peculiarity, the hunter has some spells which makes it a very complete class. Healing reduction with Widow's Venom, Magic Dispelling with Tranquilizer Shot, can increase this pressure and be decisive after, for example, the dispelling of a Paladin's Protective Hand. Feign death, with a fairly short cooldown, allows him to avoid control spells that would be cast against him and he is very feared by classes that camouflage themselves because of his flare and the mark of the hunter, which makes their retirement and commitment difficult.
Its weak point
Sa survival : despite a good range of spells that will allow him to stay at a distance in the face of a melee like the call of the master or the disengagement, especially if coupled with the eye of the needle, the hunter is a very fragile class. He only has his two deterrents with a 3-minute cooldown without the Tiger and Chimera talent. There is also, however, the roar of sacrifice given to him by cunning pets, which will prevent damage from being critical, but which does not provide a reduction per se. In instantiated pvP, it will therefore very often be the target of assaults and will have to apply to carry out strategic retreats. In solo, he has a very good regeneration that gives him spiritual commitment, which will allow him to temporize sufficiently to get out of difficult situations.
In instanced PVP as well as outdoors, solo, as in a group, the hunter is formidable thanks to his many assets. However, it should be taken into account that a good grip of the character involves looking into the management of the familiar, its placement, its techniques as well. Once mastered, it is very pleasant and fun. She is currently one of my favorite classes, thanks in particular to the powerful shot and the carefully glyphed explosive trap, which in a mountainous setting, not stingy with chasms, crevices and cliffs such as Pandaria, wreak havoc and make me howl with laughter.
