Hunter Guide for Midnight - Patch 12.0.1

Hunter Guide for Midnight Quick Summary:

• Find out what’s new about the Hunter class after the Midnight’s class rework
• Learn about the differences of all 3 Hunter specs, their talents, and playstyles
• See the stat priority cheat sheet so you never have to memorize those things
• Get the best build for every Hunter spec that works in all types of endgame content
• See the full list of the best consumables for your Hunter going into Midnight.

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Hunter Changes in Midnight

I’ve been a huge fan of the Hunter class ever since I watched that original WoW cinematic. Having a pet meant that I wouldn’t be alone playing the game solo, without friends. So, I’ve always had a deep appreciation for this class, and I’m always suspicious when one of my favorite classes gets a big rework.

The Hunter changes going into Midnight, thankfully, play into the class’s fantasy rather than going against it. It’s still a ranged DPS class built around interacting with pets and useful utility skills. In section I want to give you a rundown of the biggest changes to the class and all of its specs, so that you only need to take a look at it once to know what’s changed:

• Hunter’s Mark redesigned.
• Roar of Sacrifice has been redesigned and functions more like an external defensive.
• Several defensive pet tools have been redesigned, including Fortitude of the Bear and Shell Cover.
• Kill Shot is removed from Beast Mastery and Survival, but becomes Marksmanship exclusive.
• Explosive Shot removed across specs.
• Several trap and utility shots were removed across specs, including Bursting Shot, Scatter Shot, High Explosive Trap, and Implosive Trap.

Beast Mastery

• Bestial Wrath merged with Bloodshed and Thundering Hooves.
• Barbed Shot reworked into a rolling DoT.
• Barbed Shot no longer reduces Bestial Wrath cooldown.
• Bestial Wrath is a flat cooldown, modified by talents.
• Pack Tactics has been redesigned, making focus management more active.
• Multi Shot replaced by Wild Thrash.
• War Orders is no longer RNG-based.
• Dark Ranger loop reworked around generating Black Arrow from core abilities.
• Stampede becomes a regular talent instead of a tier set effect.

Marksmanship

• Take Aim was added as the Apex talent.
• Take Aim theme: Aimed Shot is a guaranteed crit, scaling with crit chance.
• Aimed Shot's cast time is significantly longer on average.
• Bullet Hell and Shrapnel Shot become a choice node, with Shrapnel Shot triggering off Volley.
• Headshot reworked so it no longer ties Kill Shot and Black Arrow to Precise Shots.
• Dark Ranger Black Arrow usage is simpler, used on procs without managing Precise Shots.

Survival

• Raptor Swipe has been added as the Apex talent.
• Boomstick, Takedown, and Flamefang Pitch added.
• Dual Wielding becomes an option.
• Hatchet Toss was added, mainly as a ranged pull tool.
• Kill Command no longer has a cooldown.
• AoE loop changes: fewer Wildfire Bomb casts, more emphasis on Wildfire Bomb plus Boomstick.
• Mongoose Bite changes into Mongoose Fury.
• Mongoose Fury changes from a 5-stack cap to indefinite stacking.
• Sentinel Hero tree fully reworked.
• Pack Leader Hero tree gets smaller changes.
• Tip of the Spear becomes more central for Sentinel, consumed to generate multiple bonuses.

And this isn’t even the full list of changes. Overall, there’s less RNG and, honestly, a lot of oversimplification. BM and MM have lost some things that required skill and decision-making. BM already was a simple spec for beginners, and now it's even simpler still. At the same time, it looks like Survival has become a little more interesting to play with the addition of Raptor Swipe, Boomstick, and some of the others.

Hunter Midnight Overview

For those of you who never played this class before or if you’re new to WoW, let me talk a little bit about how to play Hunter in Midnight.

First of all, Hunters have 2 ranged DPS specs and 1 melee DPS spec, but all of the specs still rely on pets to do the tanking and perform other actions. Actually, Hunters have a unique action bar, specifically for direct pet commands.

Pets also have 3 specs, each of which gives the hunter different bonuses:

1. Ferocity - Predator’s Thirst, Primal Rage
2. Cunning - Pathfinding, Master’s Call
3. Tenacity - Endurance Training, Fortitude of the Bear

One of them is very clearly designed to deal more damage, the other gives you extra movement and a break from movement-impeding effects, and the other makes you more tanky. That being said, Hunter’s specs are unique in their own right. You got:

• Beast Master(BM) - a spec where most of your damage is done by your pet, who will also tank the damage, letting you shoot the targets from afar. Meanwhile, your abilities let you summon additional pets in the form of attacks. This spec has both single-target and AoE damage rotations.
• Marksmanship(MM) - a spec where you deal most of the damage and not your pet. It’s a very gun-focused spec with the most range. But this spec also loses some of that AoE damage and mobility.
• Survival - a melee spec where you and your pet both attack the target in close combat. This spec is tankier. It has some of those unique skills like the Boomstick shotgun, Molotov cocktails, and such. The only problem is that the ranged specs are preferred in the endgame content, and you have to constantly prove your worth when running Survival.

I know these are just very broad strokes when it comes to describing what the class is like, but hopefully, as you keep reading this guide, you’ll learn more about it.

Hunter Pros & Cons

Each spec has its own pros and cons, but when you’re picking a class to main in Midnight, you’re looking at each one in general, so here’s my list of pros and cons for playing as Hunter.

Pros

• One of the easiest classes to play with lots of mobility and utility abilities. It’s one of those classes that are simple but also good in terms of what they do.
• Across all specs, Hunters bring great utility to the group - things like Primal Rage, Hunter’s Mark, and others - these are the things that all raid parties want to have.
• One of the best classes to play solo, hunters are very good at staying alive. They got their Aspect of the Turtle, pet tanking, Survival Spirit Bond, and all the other things that will make your solo leveling very comfortable.

Cons

• Disbalanced specs where BM is way too simple, MM has a lot of long cooldowns, and you can’t move when casting, while Survival has a lot of resource management, therefore, a higher skill ceiling.
• Poor pet AI - sometimes the pet AI can screw up at times when you need to place the pet somewhere specific or have them generate some resource, but they just run around doing nothing.
• No spec is perfect - MM doesn’t really do a lot of AoE damage, Survival is usually the least popular spec in group content, because everyone just prefers ranged Hunter specs, and BM struggles when mobs are too far away from each other because the pet’s cleave has limited range.

I would say that if the class fantasy is something that you like, then you should definitely go for it. Hunter is definitely not the worst DPS class to play, and the developers have made a lot of changes that ultimately make it better, even if the veterans are complaining about making things easier.

How to Play Hunter in Midnight

As you know, each Hunter spec plays a little bit differently, and that’s exactly the kind of variety you want. Because when you get tired of having pets deal all the damage, you can switch to a melee spec and get in on the action, so here’s a breakdown of how to play Hunter in all 3 specs.

Beast Mastery Playstyle

In this spec, it’s all about your pets. You have the main one that you can give commands to, and you can summon additional ones through specific talents like Animal Companion and Howl of the Pack Leader from the Pack Leader hero talent tree.

With this spec, you have two main damage abilities - Barbed Shot and Kill Command. The rest of the skills and spells just buff you and your pet. For example, Wild Thrash makes your pet’s attacks cleave, making them AoE, while Bestial Wrath is the main damage cooldown because it buffs both you and the pet. Also, you can run around as you cast your shots, which is going to be helpful when you’re trying to dodge the raid boss’s mechanics.

Marksmanship Playstyle

This spec turns you into a sniper. You still have your pet who will be helping you fight your enemies, but you’ll be doing most of the work. As MM, your main attack abilities are Aimed Shot with the long cooldown and limited charges, and the Arcane Shot that has no cast time. Arcane Shot also reduces the cooldown of the Aimed Shot. The third ability you have for dealing damage is Multi-Shot, which fires several projectiles in quick succession. Combine these three with the AoE Volley, and you get your basic rotation as a Marksmanship Hunter. 

You’re basically a turret with the maximum range of 45 yards, which is the longest range of all ranged DPS specs in the game. The Trueshot buff makes the Aimed and Multi-shots hit harder, and the concussive shot slows down the targets. You do lose a bit of mobility because of the long cast time of the Aimed shot, but that’s a trade-off for dealing more single-target damage.

Survival Hunter

For this spec, you’re going to need to switch from a ranged weapon to any melee one. That’s so you can use the Raptor Strike, your new main damaging ability. I’ve already mentioned the Boomstick and Wildfire Bomb before, so let me come back to those when we get to the rotations. Aspect of the Eagle is a very cool ability that increases the range at which you can use your Raptor Strike to 40 yards, essentially making it a ranged ability. And while it only lasts 15 seconds, if you use it wisely, you won’t have to suffer from those raid mechanics that are targeted at melee classes.

The Kill Command from the BM spec is now the thing you use to build up Focus, a resource which you will then spend to throw those Wildfire Bombs, Hatchet Toss, and others. You also have a charge ability, just like a Warrior called Takedown, where both you and your pet charge at the target. You also have an ability that pulls the target to you. All in all, this is a pretty cool and unusual hunter spec. And don’t forget that it’s a bit tankier compared to the other two.

Hunter Stat Priority

Hunter’s main stat is Agility. The game says that it increases the “magnitude” of your abilities and attacks, but we all know that it just means damage. As for the stat priority, it’s a bit interesting.

Beast Mastery prioritizes Mastery because so much of your output comes from pets, and Mastery is the most direct way to scale that core damage package. Haste comes next because it smooths the rotation and increases how often you generate and spend Focus, which matters a lot in a spec built around constant ability flow. Critical Strike is still strong, especially as your damage profile is very consistent and benefits from more frequent crits, but it typically falls behind the pet scaling and pacing gains. Versatility is last because it’s the most general stat, useful but usually less efficient for raw damage than the others.

Marksmanship leads with Critical Strike because the spec is built around hard-hitting shots and burst windows where crit value is amplified by how your damage is concentrated into fewer, heavier casts. Mastery follows because it scales key parts of your damage profile and stays consistently valuable across builds. Haste tends to be next since it helps the feel of the spec and improves throughput, but it doesn’t usually outpace Crit and Mastery in overall impact. Versatility remains the “always fine” stat that rarely beats the more specialized damage multipliers.

Survival wants Mastery first because it directly supports the spec’s durability and overall damage profile through the pet bond theme, and it scales well with the way your kit layers sustained pressure over time. Critical Strike is next because Survival has a lot of frequent hits and impactful ability moments that benefit from crit scaling. Haste then improves how smoothly you cycle through your resource generation and your rotation, reducing dead time when played correctly. Versatility is last as a steady, safe stat that helps both damage and survivability, but usually doesn’t outperform the more synergistic secondaries for throughput.

One important note: these are baseline priorities, not a hard rule for every character. Talent choices, trinkets, and specific content can flip close stats, so sims are still the final check when two secondaries are close.

Best Hunter Builds for Midnight

In this section, I’m going to give you the best build for each Hunter spec that can handle pretty much everything. The goal is simple: a single setup you can take into raids, Mythic+, and delves without constantly swapping hero talents or rebuilding your tree. You’ll still be able to fine-tune later for specific fights, but these base builds are the best templates to start with.

BM Pack Leader Build

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I really like the Pack Leader build because it gives you that instant and consistent damage, no matter where you use it. If you look over the talents and what’s unlocked, you can notice that I’ve gone for a bit more utility, like the Wilderness Medicine and Trailblazer, which will come in handy in open world and Delves, but will be less useful in Raids and M+. You can replace those with more useful utilities like the Kodo Tranquilizer and Guardian’s Hide. These changes will be very minute, as the rest of the build remains the same.

MM Sentinel Build

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Sentinel seems to be a superior choice compared to the Dark Ranger when it comes to the hero talent tree passives. So, the choice is obvious. This build works for M+, delves, and raids where you’ll be mostly focusing on dealing single-target damage. If you want to add some AoE, switch to Trick Shots on the Marksmanship tree to the right.

Survival Pack Leader Build

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Pack Leader is also the best choice for Survival Hunters, because it gives you both single-target and AoE damage, making it viable in all types of endgame content. The additional cleave is always needed, besides the self-sustain and tankiness on this build are beyond compare, thanks to talents like Touch of Grass.

Hunter Best in Slot Gear in Midnight

This section is “Work in Progress”. I need a bit more time to come up with the list of BiS gear for each spec that isn’t just another copy of the Pre-Patch BiS. Stay Tuned!

Best Hunter Professions

Even if you’re not planning to level up any professions, you should still look into them, especially at the start of Midnight. With professions, players are going to be making hundreds of thousands of gold, so that’s definitely not something you should miss out on.

That being said, there aren’t any professions that Hunters “must have”. The most useful options include:

• Leatherworking - This lets you craft your own armor pieces, and some crafted items can be very close to best-in-slot.
• Alchemy - This helps you supply your own consumables, saving gold and keeping you raid-ready.
• Enchanting - This lets you enchant your own gear without relying on the Auction House.

The start of the expansion is when the prices for crafted items will be so high that you will be able to set yourself up for the rest of the expansion.

Best Consumables for Hunter

All 3 specs are pretty picky about the kind of consumables they need. Here I’ve gathered the list of items that all 3 specs will benefit from:

• Combat potion: Light’s Potential - This is your default DPS potion for serious pulls and boss burn windows.
• Health potion: Silvermoon Health Potion - This is the go-to emergency heal option.
• Weapon buff: Thalassian Phoenix Oil - This is the standard temporary weapon buff that provides consistent damage value across all content.
• Augment rune: Void-Touched Augment Rune - This is a simple passive stat increase that boosts overall performance in raids, Mythic+, and delves.

But do make sure to explore other options. Especially if you’re a BM hunter, try these: Flask of Alchemical Chaos, Tempered Potion, Invigorating Healing Potion, and others.

Read our other Midnight guides:

• Gold Farming Guide
• Best Addons
• Haranir Allied Race Guide
• WoW Roadmap

F.A.Q.