Over the past few weeks I've been spending more of my time in battlegrounds and arena on my Rogue, as well as leveling yet another alt - a dirty Warlock. It's only in the last couple of weeks that I've been able to find time for some regular PvP action. One thing I've noticed is that there are a lot of Hunters out there that are not making the most of the talents and abilities the class has to offer.
With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of the things I've seen, as well as some tricks to make you a little more lethal in the current PvP environment. Hunters may be a little broken at the moment - PvP wise at least - but there are still a lot of tricks that Hunters can use to make the most of what they've got. Here are a few tips, tricks and pieces of advice for all the new hunters out there.
1. Always be moving
I'd suggest that this is the most important tip of all. If your a Hunter in PvP you should always be on the move. More often than not, a stationary Hunter can quickly turn into a dead Hunter. As a ranged class you will do your best work from a distance. No matter at what level, a Hunter at range can be a deadly prospect. On the other hand, a Hunter whacking their opponent over the head with their stat stick, is not such a scary proposition. Played well, you will never see a Hunter within melee range of his/her opponent. Ideally you'll always want to be moving to maintain as much distance between yourself and your target as possible. You may need to use some tricks to maintain this distance. You can use traps, concussive shot, and your pets snares (a spider or crab comes in very handy for this reason).
If you are unlucky enough to find yourself in melee range, don't forget your defensive cooldowns such as disengage, distracting shot and deterrence. Defensive cooldowns are there for you to use, no point saving them for when it's far too late!
2. Use your tools
Playing a Rogue I'm constantly surprised at the number of Hunters that fail to use Flare when defending a node. If you're a Hunter, defending a node alone and you're not using flare, then you are just begging to get ganked.
3. Hard cast with care
This is really only applicable to Marksmanship hunters and relates a little to tip number one. It probably wont take you long to realise that Aimed Shot can hit like a truck (although the size of the truck seems to be in a state of flux). This can make it very attractive. On the down side, hard casting Aimed Shot can be painfully slow, taking around 2.5 seconds, or more, to be on its way (without any haste buffs). I've lost count of the number of times I've caught up with a Hunter while they plant their feet and wind up an Aimed Shot. For most classes 2.5 seconds is plenty of time to close the distance and either 'interrupt' the cast (a Rogue using Blind for example) or to get within melee range causing the cast to fail and trigger the 'target is too close' message that signals your impending doom. In the larger Battlegrounds you can often get away with hard casting Aimed Shot, but in smaller battles or arena, where you may be focused on a little more, hard casting becomes harder and riskier. Don't forget that hard casting Aimed Shot also stops your auto shots, meaning that if your Aimed Shot plans are foiled you've lost even more DPS than just the cost of the Aimed Shot on its own.
4. Dealing with Pillar Humpers
If you've done any sort of arena, there's a good chance you'll have come up against a 'pillar humper'. The 'pillar humper' is the guy, or team that huddle up behind a pillar or anything else that will cause you line of sight issues, in an effort to get you to close the gap between you (the hunter) and them. Lucky for us we have our pets, and Kill Command works around corners. Send your pet in, fire off a Kill Command or two and that may be enough to scare some of the less experienced players out from their hiding place. A well placed explosive trap and/or snake trap sent over via the trap launcher can also come in handy.
As lame as it may seem, sometimes the best way to deal with a pillar humper is to start humping a pillar of your own. As a Hunter, the worst thing you can probably do is charge towards them, that way you are giving your opponent what they want and you've given away your one big advantage, your ability to deal damage at range.
5. Camouflage does not always equal invisible
I'm guessing 99% of people know this one already, but just in case you're in the 1%, Camouflage does not equal a Rogue's stealth.
Camouflage: You blend into your surroundings, causing you and your pet to be untargetable by ranged attacks. Also reduces the range at which enemy creatures can detect you, and provides stealth while stationary.
You can lay traps while camouflaged, but any damage done by you or your pet will cancel the effect. Cannot be cast while in combat. Lasts for 1 min.
If you're running around in Camouflage, there's a very good chance that the opposition has already spotted you. You are only truly 'stealthed' when you remain stationary. As of 4.1 one any stealth class (read Rogues and Feral Druids) can use their openers on camouflaged Hunters. Whether or not this is an intended change - I didn't see it in the patch notes - or a bug, I'm not sure, but currently in 4.1 a Hunter is vulnerable to a Rogue/Druids stealthed opener.
What does this mean? A Hunter in Camouflage wanders out into the field of battle. The sneaky Rogue spots him from the other side of the field. The Hunter stops moving and 'stealths'. The Rogue can no longer see the Hunter, so he/she knows the Hunter is stationary and is standing in the position that the Hunter disappeared from. The Rogue can now sneak up behind the Hunter and unload. Now the Hunter could have flared the location he/she was standing, but that would have given away their position to anyone that was even paying the slightest attention. Either way, you've lost any advantage you may have had.
To be blunt, Camouflage is now really only useful against the flagrantly inattentive opposition, for 'sneaking' past some mobs in instances and for when you want to look like a character from the Predator movies.
That said, even though Camouflage may not necessarily grant you the same benefits as stealth, you can use it to get the first shot away on a ranged opponent. While you are untargetable by ranged attacks, you can channel an Aimed Shot, trigger Rapid Fire, and perhaps get off another Aimed Shot before your opponent has a chance to react and close the gap.
