WoW Forever Hunter changes: baseline Aimed Shot, traps in combat, a unique ability for every pet family, and the new Hawk, Lone Wolf and melee Survival talents

The baseline list is short, but two lines in it change how every Hunter plays from early levels. First, 'Aimed Shot is now granted as a baseline ability to all Hunters at level 20.' In original World of Warcraft it was a Marksmanship talent; the Deep Dive's list of removed Marksmanship talents confirms that 'Improved Hunter's Mark and Aim Shot are now baseline abilities.' A Beast Mastery or Survival Hunter therefore has the class's signature cast-time shot without spending points on it.

Second, traps work during combat. 'Traps are now useable in combat, but their cooldown has increased to 30 seconds.' Blizzard pairs that with a split: 'Frost-based and Fire-based traps now have separate cooldowns.' So a Hunter can lay a Frost trap and a Fire trap in the same fight, and can do it after the fight has started rather than only before the pull.

The shot cooldowns are reshuffled around Aimed Shot. Arcane Shot no longer shares a cooldown with Aimed Shot, while Multi-Shot now does. In practice that means Aimed Shot and Multi-Shot compete with each other, and Arcane Shot sits on its own timer (Summon Hawk, covered below, shares Arcane Shot's cooldown instead). The remaining baseline lines are smaller adjustments: Disengage's threat reduction is doubled, Aspect of the Beast now also grants melee Attack Power, and Scorpid Sting now 'reduces the target's chance to hit by 2% instead of reducing the target's Strength and Agility.'

The pet changes are the largest block in the Hunter half of the article. Two rules change how pets are powered: 'Pets now get increased stats based on their Hunter's gear,' and 'Pets can no longer receive player buffs that increase their stats.' A pet's strength now follows the Hunter's own equipment rather than whatever buffs a group happens to cast on it. Blizzard does not publish the scaling ratio.

Two rules widen what every pet can learn: 'Every pet family can now learn either Bite or Claw, sometimes both,' and 'Every pet family can now learn either Dive or Dash.' Blizzard does not list which families get Bite, which get Claw and which get both, or which get Dive versus Dash, so this page does not assign them.

Then the headline: 'Each pet family now has one ability completely unique to that family.' Foxes are added as a new family, with Trickster's Dance, and the Owl family is now called Bird of Prey. The table below lists all eighteen families exactly as Blizzard does. The third column is this site's own grouping, added to make the list easier to scan; it is a reading aid, not a Blizzard category.

Reading down the table, the family choice now carries real utility. Crocolisk's Dismember cuts the target's healing received by 50%. Tallstrider reduces armour, Wolf raises the party's melee Attack Power, Carrion Bird lowers nearby enemies' melee Attack Power, and Bat slows spellcasting. Boar, Spider, Crab and Hyena bring roots or slows, while Bear, Gorilla and Windserpent add area or ranged damage. Blizzard gives one duration in the list (12 seconds for Trickster's Dance and for Shell Shield) and one range (20 yards for Lightning Breath); everything else is described without numbers.

Beast Mastery keeps its pet focus and gains a second companion type. The new 16-point milestone talent is Summon Hawk, which 'Deals instant damage and summons a Hawk to attack the Hunter's current target for 18 sec.' A Hunter can have up to 2 Hawks active at one time, and the ability's cooldown is shared with Arcane Shot. Two older talents are re-pointed to support it: Unleashed Fury's pet damage benefit is 'decreased slightly, but now also benefits new Hawk summons', and Ferocity's critical strike bonuses to pets are decreased but now also benefit Hawk summons.

Focused Fire is new and simple: it 'increases all damage you and your pet deal while your pet is active.' Endurance Training absorbs the old Thick Hide talent, so it now grants the pet both Health and Armor. Intimidation now requires Bestial Swiftness first and also grants the pet '100% increased critical strike chance on its next attack.' Improved Mend Pet now also reduces Mend Pet's Mana cost, and Bestial Discipline now also grants the Hunter Mana regeneration from Spirit while casting.

Two Beast Mastery changes point outside the tree. Deadly Aspects, formerly Improved Aspect of the Hawk, now also has a chance for melee attacks to grant increased attack speed while Aspect of the Beast is active; Blizzard says this 'supports more melee-oriented builds we will see in Survival.' Aspect of the Monkey now grants twice as much Dodge, and the pet gains half of that benefit. Pathfinding moves from row 3 to row 2. Removed: Improved Eyes of the Beast (now baseline) and Thick Hide (merged into Endurance Training).

Marksmanship is the tree with the most structural movement, and its three milestone talents describe a build that can work without a pet at all. The new 11-point milestone is Lone Wolf, which 'Grants the Hunter 20% increased damage with all attacks while the Hunter has no active pet.' Trueshot Aura moves from row 7 up to row 4 and becomes the 21-point milestone, with new lower-level ranks added but 'otherwise unchanged'. The 31-point slot goes to the new Sniper Shot, which requires Trueshot Aura.

Sniper Shot is the one Marksmanship ability Blizzard gives several numbers for: a 4 second cast time, a 15 second cooldown, damage that is 'even more' than Aimed Shot, a base range of 45 yards, and an effect that 'increases the range of your next 3 Shots by 10 yards.' It is the clearest expression of the article's line that Hunters have 'the longest range of any class'.

Below the milestones, the tree is reorganised around crits, Intellect and Mana. Hawk Eye moves from row 3 to row 1. Lethal Attacks (formerly Lethal Shots) moves from row 2 to row 1 and now raises critical strike chance on all attacks. Careful Aim is new and 'Increases melee and ranged Attack power by 20/40/60/80/100% of the Hunter's Intellect'; Mortal Shots now requires it. Rapid Killing is new: it reduces Rapid Fire's cooldown and, when an enemy dies to you or while afflicted by your Serpent Sting, makes your next Shot hit harder. Rapid Recuperation, which requires Rapid Killing, grants Mana regeneration from Spirit while casting after a Serpent Sting hit, 'and even more during Rapid Killing.'

The remaining notes: Improved Stings (formerly Improved Serpent Sting) moves from row 4 to row 2, gives a larger Serpent Sting increase, shortens Viper Sting's cooldown and lengthens Scorpid Sting. Efficiency moves down from row 1 to row 2 but now discounts Stings and melee abilities as well as Shots. Improved Arcane Shot now reduces Arcane Shot's cooldown by up to an extra 0.5 seconds. Barrage's damage bonus is reduced but now also applies to Aimed Shot alongside Multi-Shot and Volley. Removed: Improved Hunter's Mark and the Aimed Shot talent, both now baseline.

Survival is where Blizzard builds the 'dance back and forth between ranged and melee combat' that the article's closing paragraph describes. Savage Strikes is redesigned to increase all melee damage by 2/4% 'instead of Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite by 10/20%'. Predator's Edge is new, raising the melee critical strike damage bonus and off-hand damage while dual-wielding. Expose Prey is new: melee and ranged attacks on the target of your Hunter's Mark can activate Mongoose Bite 'as if you had Dodged an attack.'

The milestones follow the same theme. Counterattack moves from row 5 to row 4 and becomes the 16-point milestone. Strider Kick is the new 21-point milestone: 'An instant weapon damage attack that also increases your movement speed by 30% for 3 sec.' Lacerating Strikes is the new 31-point milestone, under which 'Mongoose Bite now also causes the target to Bleed over 21 seconds for damage based on the strength of the Mongoose Bite hit.'

Traps get attention too, which matters more now that they work in combat. Entrapment is slightly redesigned so it 'always triggers when the Hunter's trap triggers', with extra points extending the duration instead of the chance. Survival Tactics (formerly Trap Mastery) now also improves Feign Death's chance to hit. Survivalist's Discipline is new and reduces the cooldown of Traps and Deterrence. Resourcefulness is new: it reduces the Mana cost of Traps and melee abilities and gives critical strikes a chance to allow Mana regeneration from Spirit while casting.

Other notes: Improved Tracking replaces Monster Slaying and Humanoid Slaying with increased damage against whatever creature type you are tracking. Survivalist moves from row 3 to row 2. Improved Wing Clip reaches its maximum 20% chance with 3 points. Surefooted moves from row 4 to row 3; its hit chance now applies to all attacks, and it shortens movement-impairing effects. Lightning Reflexes' Agility bonus is reduced 'to make room for new talent powers.' Removed: Wyvern Sting, Killer Instinct and Improved Feign Death (folded into Resourcefulness), plus Monster Slaying and Humanoid Slaying (folded into Improved Tracking).

All three trees share the structure Blizzard set out for every class: talents unlock at level 10 and keep 'the same number of rows and one-point milestone talents at 11, 21, and 31 points, now joined by a new 16-point milestone.' For Hunters, Blizzard names every milestone it changed or added, and lining them up shows each tree's direction more clearly than the long lists do.

In Beast Mastery the 16-point slot is Summon Hawk; the article does not name the tree's 11, 21 or 31-point talents, so this page does not either. Marksmanship gets Lone Wolf at 11, Trueshot Aura at 21 and Sniper Shot at 31; the article does not name its 16-point talent. Survival gets Counterattack at 16, Strider Kick at 21 and Lacerating Strikes at 31. Respecs, including Legacy talents, happen at a class trainer in a major city, and Dual Specialization becomes available at level 40, so a Hunter can keep a pet build and a Lone Wolf build side by side. Blizzard does not publish point costs or full talent positions beyond the rows quoted on this page.

Blizzard closes the Hunter section with a list of limits that survive the update. Hunters 'only have one combat role, damage, but can utilize their pet as a tank in solo and small group play.' Their range is the longest of any class, 'But Hunters' ranged abilities become unavailable in the "dead zone" within 8 yards of their enemy.' Traps can now be used in combat 'but still can only place traps at their own location.' And Hunters 'have an amazing toolkit of problem-solving Aspects and attacks but cannot Stun or Interrupt.'

Those four limits are worth keeping in mind when you read the Survival tree. The melee talents give a Hunter something useful to do inside 8 yards, but they do not remove the dead zone for ranged attacks, and none of the new talents adds a stun or an interrupt. Blizzard's own framing is that the trees let you 'double down on aspects of their class like ranged combat and their pets, choose not to have a pet at all, or to add new skills' for mixed range play. For how other classes keep their own gaps, compare the Paladin changes page, which quotes Blizzard's equivalent paragraph for that class.

Two new kinds of Hunter come from outside the class article. The Deep Dive panel recap lists six new class-and-race combinations, and Human Hunter is one of them, alongside Gnome Priest, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin. Blizzard has not published Human Hunter-specific details such as a dedicated quest line; what it has published is that racial abilities across the game have been reworked, which you can read about on the racials page.

The Skyborne, the new race from Zephras, can also be Hunters on both factions. Blizzard's What's Next recap says Horde-aligned Skyborne gain access to the Shaman class and Alliance-aligned Skyborne the Mage, and that 'Both factions can also play Warriors, Hunters, Rogues, and Druids.' The Skyborne page covers the race itself, and the race and class combinations page lists every pairing.

Beyond that, nothing about pets for new races has been published: Blizzard has not said which starting pet a Human or Skyborne Hunter receives. The list of tameable creatures by family, pet talent trees and pet ability ranks are also not in the article. As the beta continues, Blizzard says it will share 'more Development Team insights'; this page will be updated when it does, and the changelog on the roadmap page records each revision. For the other classes' passes, start from the class changes overview.