#0 - Aug. 6, 2007, 12:36 a.m.
The 360
This technique allows you to spin around as you keep your distance from the enemy, and shoot at him at the same time.
1. First of all, as soon as you create your new hunter, even at level 1, practice jumping with the spacebar and revolving in mid air, so you do a complete 360 degree turn. Do this while you are moving forward. You hold down 'W' to move forward, and hold down the right mouse button to revolve your hunter. It's hard to begin with but keep on trying to turn 360 degrees as you move forward.
2. Now that you've gotten used to this spin, target some low level mobs and let them come at you. Turn away, run, and do some 360 turns as you escape. This is just to get you used to the feel of the manouvre in combat, and to help you avoid panicking when you may be doing it in a proper hard fight.
3. When your hunter progresses in level, he will gain some skills that can be used while you are running. Autoshot can only be done when you are stationary, but serpent sting, arcane shot and concussive shot can be used while you are moving, so theoretically you can use those to shoot the enemy as you keep your range.
4. Assign hotkeys to those three skills. Do so by pressing 'esc', and choosing 'key bindings'. Assign these skills to keys 2,3 and 4. The reason for this is that they are close to your movement keys (W,A,S and D).
5. Try hitting another low level mob. Start with a single shot to get his attention, then turn and run. As you are running, do your 360 degree turn as you jump. As you turn, try using your ring finger or index finger to hit one of the hotkeys (2,3 or 4). For example, if you are running away from an enemy, you can turn and run, holding down the W key with your middle finger, then use the other fingers to press the 3 key, which may be the one you used to assign concussive shot to. As you jump in mid-air and spin around, and are still moving forward, you will manage to hit him with concussive shot without having to stop, turn, then shoot. So this technique allows you keep moving forward without letting the enemy gain any ground on you.
6. Keep on practicing this technique by moving forward, jumping, turning and shooting at the enemy with the hotkeys. It's very tricky to begin with, but certainly worth it. Enemy players will think you have some illegal bot working for you, or just feel disgruntled that you are such a tricky enemy. Eventually, this manouvre will become second nature.
Wingclip
This skill, when obtained via training, can be used to run away from enemies which have gained ground on you. Wingclip is gained at level 12, and slows the enemy to 50% of speed for 10 seconds.
1. Assign wingclip to your middle mouse button. You must get used to using this every time an enemy engages you in melee. It won't always guarantee you escape melee, but it sure does help.
2. If the enemy isn't quite close enough to hit you in melee, but you aren't far enough away to be able to shoot at him, don't try running away - it won't work! Just run towards him and wingclip him, then run. This is how to keep range with wingclip.
3. Just to repeat. Always winglip the enemy in melee. Just do it, and get used to hitting that middle mouse button.
4. Tauren hunters - warstomp should also be used. Make sure this life-saving talent is in the action bar. You'll need it!
Common sense awarness
So many players take for granted the simple things in WoW, but the hunter cannot aford to be so complacent. Follow these rules to gain a proper awarness of you environment.
1. This is very simple, but so underused. By holding down the left mouse button, you can see 360 degrees around your hunter, even when moving. Get used to doing this as you travel, or when in combat. You never know what's going to creep up behind you.
2. Do not, and I repeat - do not listen to MP3 players when playing WoW. When playing Wow, listen to WoW. You must be aware of enemy rogues and druids who are stealthed. They often make a conspicuous sound when stealthed. If you can't hear that, and act on it, they'll kill you. Wingclip the stealthed enemy, and keep your hunters mark on him. As soon as you see an enemy rogue, mark him, then he can't go invisible.
3. Look at the minimap! Hunters can track beasts and humanoids, so all visible enemies can be seen on the minimap. Don't let them hide behind a tree when you can see them on the minimap.
The anti-rogue trap
At some point, some stealthed rogue is going to catch you unawares, and backstab you. You can't avoid this at all times, but you can take precautions. If you think you can hear a stealthed rogue, or saw one in proximity, do the following.
1. Place a trap on the ground (you gain traps as you gain level - immolation trap at level 16). Any trap will work, but the freezing trap is the most beneficial.
2. As soon as you place your trap, or actually press the button on the action bar, don't let the avatar do the trap placement animation. You don't want to let the rogue see you place the trap. Immediately tap the W key, or another movement key to break the animation.
3. Once the trap is set, stand just in front of it.
4. The rogue will inevitably come behind you, stealthed, and backstab you. The trap will be sprung, and he will become visible because of the trap. He would have become visible as he stabbed you, but if you placed a freezing trap, he will become a visible and motionless rogue. When he becomes visible, either get your range (if he's frozen), or wingclip him and keep make your range.
5. If you see the trap disappear too quickly, this means that the rogue has disarmed your trap , in which case you must quickly turn and wingclip him. Tauren may use warstomp in this situation.
6. This technique also applies to stealthed druids.
Now, practice, practice and practice.
