Hunter One-on-One PVP Technique

Hunters have a difficult time in one-on-one PVP due to their poor defensive capabilities and low HP totals, and because of the minimum distance error that they get when they try to shoot someone at point blank range; if your enemy closes on you, you won’t be able to do much except whip out your melee weapon and use the underwhelming skills available to you for that. Unfortunately, no other class has a minimum range restriction, so any mage worth his salt will try to get in close and use instant-cast spells to whittle away at your life. Your pet is usually irrelevant in these battles, as human opponents are immune to Growl, obviously, and will shrug off the low damage that a pet deals and focus exclusively on you.

That said, you do have a few tools at your disposal to help you out, especially against stealthing enemies. Hunter’s Mark is worth using on hostile PCs when you spot them, but you have to consider that, although Mark does no damage, most players will consider it to be a hostile act and will attack you, even if they had planned to just pass you by. This is because Hunter’s Mark is really annoying; having a big red arrow bouncing over your head for ten minutes isn’t something that anyone really enjoys. Against most enemies, then, you’ll probably want to hold off on the Mark unless the enemy is making a beeline for you or is otherwise indicating that they plan to attack. Even if you get creamed, the knowledge that your enemy will have a big arrow over their head for the next ten minutes can dull the pain a bit. (Paladins and Priests can remove the Mark easily, so the annoyance factor for them is somewhat reduced.)

In PVP, Mark is really intended to be used against stealthing enemies, like Rogues and Druids. If you spot a hostile member of these classes, it’s usually better to Mark first and ask questions later. As noted, though, this has the side effect of really cheesing off your target, so if you don’t think you’ll be able to take them down, you might want to start proceeding in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. While your enemy is Marked, though, you’ll be able to spot them on your minimap, so you should at least be able to tell whether or not they’re following you.

Two other notable skills for PVP are Wing Clip and Rapid Fire. Wing Clip is really your only chance to escape from melee combat; when it hits an opponent, they’ll be slowed to 50% of their normal movement speed for ten seconds, which will let you run away a bit and get off another Scorpion Sting and Arcane Shot. With it, you can kite melee characters somewhat and get in more damage via your Sting arrows; when facing off against mana-using characters, you might want use Viper Sting instead of Scorpion Sting to drain away their mana and prevent them from casting spells. In cases of extreme duress, you can use Wing Clip on your enemy as the preface to an out-and-out retreat. Most classes won’t have a response to it, except for Warriors, who will usually exchange the favor with a Hamstring; and if this occurs, you’re going to die unless the Warrior is a much lower level than you.

Next up is Rapid Fire. If you can get the drop on an enemy, such as by attacking them while they’re preoccupied with a monster, Rapid Fire can put the fight out of reach for them right quick, as it lets you fire 40% more quickly for fifteen seconds, or, put in other terms, will let you do 40% more damage for 15 seconds. The big trick here is keeping them at firing range for most of that fifteen minutes; there isn’t much you can do here except to open fire from maximum range, immediately use Concussion Shot, and send in your pet in the hopes that they’ll be distracted by it.

Group PVP

In group PVP, your task is simple: deal damage. In all honesty, there isn’t all that much else you can do in group PVP, so focus on your strengths! Besides wailing away with your Stings, though, you should also try to keep any Rogues in the opposing forces tagged with Hunter’s Mark, and Flare them if they happen to near your party or start to creep around to your rear.

You shouldn’t need to be told to stay behind your tanks, so we won’t insult you by repeating that advice. If possible, though, you might want to rush up to the front and tag someone on the opposite line with one of your Stings; hitting Mages with a Viper Sting can be really handy way to knock them out of a long battle, or force them to withdraw while their mana regens. Other than that, though, try to drive people crazy with your Hunter’s Mark, or focus on helping out your Warriors by using Scorpion Sting on their targets.

Equipment

Hunters gain extra damage from both strength and agility, but agility should be what you focus on, as its side benefits are much more useful to you than those of strength. Namely, the ability to get more critical hits will increase your damage output even more, while the increased dodging will help you out when you get into sticky melee situations. The rest of the stats will be less critical, although stamina can definitely help you out, especially in PVP.

Since you’re going to be rarely engaging in melee combat, you can emphasize stat increases on your weapons instead of pure damage. Since you can dual-wield weapons, you can get plenty of stat increases from these slots, but you don’t want to spend all of your cash here; focus on your armor and ranged weapons.