Hunter Leveling Guide & Best Leveling Spec 1-60 - WoW Classic

By Impakt Updated: 2024/12/29

Top Things You Shouldn't Miss While Leveling a HunterHunter

Complete your Hunter quest to learn how to summon pets asap once you reach level 10! Pets are a vital part of being a Hunter.

Whenever you leave town, make sure you're fully loaded with Arrows or Bullets (depending on if you use a Bow or Gun), as well as food appropriate for your pet. A fed pet is a happy pet, and a happy pet deals more damage!

Save up gold so you can purchase your mount at level 40, and at 60, too.

When approaching levels 50 and up, begin checking out your Pre-Raid BiS gear and where it drops. You can begin farming certain dungeons early on, while still gaining XP, to obtain some of that Pre-Raid BiS gear before 60.

First 10 Levels as a HunterConcussive ShotHunter Leveling TalentsBeast Mastery Hunter LevelingMarksmanship Hunter LevelingSurvival Hunter Leveling in Classic WoWBest Hunter Pets For Leveling in Classic WoWBird of PreyCarrion BirdBird of PreyCarrion Bird

Owls: Owls are immediately accessible to Night Elves, as they are abundant everywhere in the starting zones. For dwarves you can make the long journey to Teldrassil to tame one and I would actually recommend you do this and get it out of the way.

Carrion Birds: Carrion Birds are the easier to obtain Horde alternative. Located mainly in Mulgore early on this should be a high priority pet for Horde players.

Cats: The more accessible pet, cats have a higher attack speed and deal more damage than other species of pets. On Alliance especially, you have much more access to Cats while leveling and will catch a cat as one of your first pets for both Alliance and Horde. The primary ability that Cats use is Claw, it's worth mentioning that there is some debate in the community on whether or not you should also use Bite on your pet as it is an efficient opener from your pet. Either way, Cats are one of the best types of pets you can tame.

Bloody Screech: 8, 24, 48, 56.

Claw: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56.

Bite: 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56.

: 12, 24, 36, 48, 60.

Spells to Buy while Leveling as a Hunter in Classic WoWHunter Leveling Rotation in Classic WoWHunter Dungeon Leveling in Classic WoWClassic WoW Hunters in Dungeon Cleave GroupsHunter

You will be dependant on your pet and Auto Shot for most of your damage, as spamming too many spells will drain your mana very quickly. Pay attention to what abilities deal most damage as you learn new ranks.

Be mindful of your aggro in dungeons, for both you and your pet. Use Feign Death liberally to drop threat. However, you will want to notice what mobs can disarm the Melee attackers in your group and use your pet to taunt those off them.

Remember to be fully stocked up with both arrows/bullets and Mana drinks. Drink as much as possible in between pulls. If you're struggling with bag slots for arrows for a prolonged time, consider asking your group buddies to carry some for you!

Multi-Shot is your best attack in dungeons. When you are limited on mana, always prioritize it.

Explosive Trap is quite powerful for large AoE pulls. Use Feign Death to drop one, even in combat.

Don't be shy about taking detours to tame any pets that you might want. Remember, you will need to tame new pets for new pet ability ranks as you and your pet level up.

Hunter Trainer Locations in Classic WoWHunter Weapon Skills in Classic WoWDefault Weapon Skills for Hunters in Classic WoW

Race

Default Weapon Skills

Dwarf

Guns, One-Handed Axes

Night Elf

Bows, Daggers

Orc

Bows, One-Handed Axes

Tauren

Guns, One-Handed Axes

Troll

Bows, One-Handed Axes

Weapon Trainers for Hunter Weapon Skills in Classic WoW

Weapon Master Location

Weapons Skills Taught

Ilyenia Moonfire (57.6, 46.6), Warrior's Terrace, Darnassus

Bows, Daggers, Staves, Thrown

Bixi Wobblebonk (62.0, 89.6), Military Ward, Ironforge

Crossbows, Daggers, Thrown

Buliwyf Stonehand (61.6, 89,4), Military Ward, Ironforge

Guns, One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes

Woo Ping (57.0, 57.6), Trade District, Stormwind

Crossbows, Daggers, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Staves, Two-Handed Swords

Hanashi (81.6, 19.4), Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar

Bows, One-Handed Axes, Staves, Thrown, Two-Handed Axes

Sayoc (81.6, 19.4), Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar

Bows, Daggers, One-Handed Axes, Staves, Thrown, Two-Handed Axes

Ansekhwa (41.2, 61.4), Thunder Bluff

Guns, Staves

Archibald (57.8, 31.6), War Quarter, Undercity

Crossbows, Daggers, One-Handed Swords, Polearms, Two-Handed Swords

Best Weapons and Gear For Leveling a Hunter in Classic WoWranged weapons

Level

Item

Location

Hornwood Recurve Bow

Sold by various Bow Merchants in starting areas/capital cities.

Ashwood Bow

Alliance Only - From The Waters of Teldrassil

Hickory Shortbow

From Securing the Lines

Laminated Recurve Bow

Sold by various vendors.

Skorn's Rifle

Horde Only - From The Demon Scarred Cloak

Orcish Battle Bow

Horde Only - From Centaur Bracers

Daryl's Hunting Rifle

Alliance Only - From A Hunter's Boast

Venomstrike

From Lord Serpentis in dungeon Wailing Caverns

Bow of Plunder

Horde Only - From Dangerous!

Raptor's End

Alliance Only - From Ormer's Revenge

Cliffrunner's Aim

Horde Only - From The Sacred Flame

Nail Spitter

From An Unholy Alliance

Flash Rifle

From Pearl Diving

Master Hunter's Bow

From Big Game Hunter

Master Hunter's Rifle

From Big Game Hunter

Sylvan Shortbow

Alliance Only - sold by Landria

Gryphonwing Long Bow

Very rare drop from various NPCs, can be bought off AH

Verdant Keeper's Aim

from Corruption of Earth and Seed/Corruption of Earth and Seed

Highland Bow

Horde Only - from Return to Primal Torntusk

Farmer Dalson's Shotgun

From Locked Away

Projectiles for Hunter Ranged Weapons in Classic WoWSharp ArrowJagged Arrowhere

Item

Source

From vendors

From vendors

From Vyrin's Revenge

From Vyrin's Revenge

Bandolier of the Night Watch

From The Night Watch

Quiver of the Night Watch

From The Night Watch

Light Leather Quiver

From Leatherworking

Small Leather Ammo Pouch

From Leatherworking

Stat Weights while Leveling in Classic WoWAgility = Spirit > Stamina = Intellect > Strength

Agility: This is going to be your primary damage increasing stat, you get both ranged and melee attack power from Agility.

Spirit: Spirit is extremely good while leveling in Classic, allowing you to regen health out of combat and reduces the amount of time you spend eating. It's especially useful on Trolls because of their racial Regeneration.

Stamina: Increases total health points.

Intellect: Increases your total mana pool.

Strength: Increases your melee attack power.

Best Hunter Leveling Professions in Classic WoWHunterSkinningLeatherworkingLeatherworkingHunterPre-raid BiS

Devilsaur Leggings

Devilsaur Gauntlets

LeatherworkingLeatherworkingSkinningSkinningLeatherworkingSkinningHerbalismMiningHunter Class Quests in Classic WoWHunter

At level 10, your Hunter trainer will direct you through a series of short quests requiring you to tame different beasts. This will teach you how to Tame Beasts, as well as useful pet skills Feed Pet and Revive Pet.

After this, you will go without Class Quests until all the way to level 50, where you will go through a lengthy quest leading you to the Sunken Temple, allowing you to select powerful rewards: Devilsaur Tooth, Devilsaur Eye or Hunting Spear. For more information, check the Hunter section on our Sunken Temple Class Quest Guide.

Ancient Petrified LeafMajordomo ExecutusMolten CoreRhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient KeepersLok'delar, Stave of the Ancient Keepers

You can check out Sh3rro's guide for the entire questline here: Ancient Petrified Leaf Guide For Hunters In WoW Classic!

Changes to Questing in Classic WoW

Quests and Objectives are not displayed on the map. To put it simply: you will have to do some exploring. You will get lost at some point during a quest, and you might have to read the actual quest or go to an external website to find out what you are supposed to be doing. While there may someday be a leveling addon for Classic, part of the game "experience" is feeling immersed in the world and creating an adventure of your very own.

You may struggle to kill enemies. As a Hunter you won't have much trouble killing enemies but, it's worth noting that the game is a lot slower than you may be used to if you are coming from BFA or any of the previous expansions. Because of this, you'll want to pair yourself against enemies of reasonable difficulty; I wouldn't challenge an enemy much higher level than myself.

Zones don't guarantee a certain amount of levels: Once again, coming from BFA or one of the later expansions, you might be used to finishing a zone (Vol'Dun for instance) and expecting to be two levels higher. In Classic, the difficulty of zones vary.

Best Hunter Questing Zones in Classic WoW

Darkshore (11-19): Once you complete the starting area for your particular race, you begin to have options of where to go, where to quest, and for Alliance, in particular, one of the best early game zones is Darkshore.

Loch Modan (10-18): Second to Darkshore would be the Gnome/Dwarf 10-18 zone of Loch Modan. The zone isn't as rich as Darkshore, but, it has some relatively easy quests. This is a good place to come back to and complete the quests once you out-level the content.

Westfall (9-18): While these initial questing zones come down to preference, I would not suggest Westfall as a zone in regards to difficulty. However, if you have a group of friends you are leveling with, and you want to go into Deadmines for a quest run and get some higher item level rewards, this zone is worth considering.

Redridge Mountains (15-25): This is the level range where you will have to bounce between zones of equal difficulty if you want to fill your quest bar from questing alone. Forming an efficient route of the next few zones will be important to increase your leveling speed.

Duskwood (20-30): This is probably one of my favorite zones; it's full of quests, full of flavor, and has a lot of solid upgrades. Don't miss out on this zone if you play Alliance.

Wetlands (20-30): This is probably the last "Alliance only" zone, from here on out you will enter into zones that are contested by both Horde and Alliance.

Northern Barrens (10-33): This is the big one, as it is the meeting point for three of the four races of the Horde, this zone has no shortage of quests and will easily propel you toward level 20. As great as this zone is, be ready to compete for mob tags, as there will be a lot of players funneled into this one zone.

Silverpine Forest (10-20): This is the Undead version of The Barrens; it has some decent quests to complete, but, I usually don't end up coming here at all.

Stonetalon Mountains (15-25): Although this zone offers Alliance quests, it is almost entirely a Horde zone. This zone is fantastic as it is right next to the Barrens, and the level range of the two zones overlap.

Hillsbrad Foothills (20-31): Home to the infamous Southshore vs. Tarren Mill world PvP spot, this zone has a lot of good quests for both Alliance and Horde and is usually worked into most people's leveling routes.

Ashenvale (19-30): Another flavorful zone as this is the home to what will become Warsong Gulch, plenty of quests for both Alliance and Horde.

Thousand Needles (24-35): Home to the infamous Shimmer Flats, this is a great zone for both factions to get almost an entire level. It also has a questing hub for Horde.

Northern Stranglethorn (30-50): probably one of the most infamous zones in the whole of World of Warcraft, you will be coming to this zone off and on from level 30 and up towards level 50.

Desolace (30-39): Home of the dungeon Maraudon, this is one of my favorite zones in the game, and I spend many levels here. There are both Horde and Alliance quest hubs here.

Arathi Highlands (30-40): This zone is home to the 2nd battleground Arathi Basin, there are two hubs here (one for each faction), and there are plenty of good kill quests here.

Badlands (36-45): This is a quick and dirty zone, while it only has a hub for Horde; it is a quick level, and if you have enough players around your level you can do an Uldaman quest run.

Tanaris (40-50): Home to the dungeon Zul'Farrak, I recommend questing here as well as doing a full quest run of ZF.

Feralas (41-60): This is one of the less popular zones for people to quest at, it's worth coming here in your early 40s as there are plenty of quests for both factions.

Searing Gorge (43-56): This zone is particularly exciting because you get your first taste of the end-game, On one side of Blackrock Mountain is a lower level zone with various quests coming from the Thorium Brotherhood.

Burning Steppes (50-59): The other side of Blackrock Mountain, this is a higher level zone and has hubs for both Horde and Alliance, you will probably come to this zone a couple of times as the level range is quite large. Some dungeon quests come from this zone.

Felwood (47-54): This zone is a must-complete for me as the quests are quite good and you will need to come here to get your Cenarion Beacon, which is needed to farm various consumables like Whipper Root Tuber.

Un'Goro Crater (48-55): This is another hot zone as it has a plethora of quests and will get you nearly two levels from completing the crater.

Western Plaguelands (46-57): This zone is excellent for quick leveling, as you can complete the "cauldron" questline for massive amounts of experience. It's worth noting that you need a breadcrumb quest from your faction's major city.

Eastern Plaguelands (54-59): Home to the legendary Naxxramas, this zone gives you another taste of the end-game immediately upon questing. You will spend a lot of time here even at max level.

Winterspring (55-60): This is an amazing zone, it has a ton of quests that give a ton of experience, and you can get Cache of Mau'ari, allowing you to farm Jujus, a very good consumable for raids.

Closing Thoughts on Leveling a Hunter in Classic WoW

Quality of Life changes have been implemented over the years: If you are coming from Battle for Azeroth, there are going to be a lot of not-so-friendly changes that make questing harder, or at least take more time. Quests and objectives won't be marked on your map, so you will have to do a lot more exploring. There won't be a steady stream of quests from 1-60, so you will have to combine questing and grinding enemies for experience to level. There's no AoE looting, and quest items take space in your bags. Cooldown abilities are available much less frequently, and there's significantly less personal healing, which adds much more downtime in between pulls as you sit and eat or use First Aid/Alchemy to heal. Playing efficiently is the best thing you can do to speed up your leveling.

Play Beast Mastery: There's only one spec for a Hunter to choose and that's Beast Mastery: BM talents will allow your pet to carry you while leveling. Especially if it is your first time playing hunter, you will have a much easier time leveling if you allow yourself to rely on your pet.

You'll want to level solo as a Hunter: Hunters already have a companion, they don't need any more party members besides their pet. Unlike other classes, Hunters won't struggle to kill enemies equal to them in level; in fact, they might be able to handle slightly higher level mobs as well as elite mobs.

Buy abilities only when needed: A lot of people don't think it is possible to afford a mount by level 40, in reality, it's much easier as long as you only buy the necessary spell upgrades to save money. It's also worth noting that following this guide for buying spells will save you a lot of travel time as flights back to major cities or your questing hub can take a lot of time away from leveling.

Weapon upgrades are significant for Hunters: The biggest upgrade you will get is a better ranged weapon, similar to your melee counterparts, the DPS on your ranged weapon will determine how fast you can kill mobs, and even a white weapon from a weapon vendor can be a potential upgrade while leveling 1-60.

Comments

Comment by SentencePWN

You'll stay a lot of time in Aspect of the Cheetah, so you no need the Hawk buff until lvl ~45-50, also you want your pet stronger and stronger. Why? Because you'll kill mobs fast enoguh to avoid aspect swapping. You'll run for another mob while your pet finishing the actual one, or you'll jump to it with a raptor strike then pull another one instantly, then your pet will taunt it.

Also no need Bestial Swiftness, cause why? Why you need your pet fast, instead of strong? One more point to Unleashed Fury is better for leveling. (After you can put those talents, but talent selecting while leveling is need more consideration.

Hunter struggling to kill enemies? Really? If you pull 3-4 mobs, you'll die. In 1v1 situation, hunter is a beast, a butcher, a meat-grinder, in my opinion.

Comment by Cannonlake

Why all guides take 5/5 in Frenzy ? 4/5 or 3/5 is not sufficient ? On Wotlk 3/5 is 90% full proc.

I prefere this: https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/hunter/BTD93HlAA9NMwAA

Comment by Automag

Playing BM in Vanilla Wow is all about one thing. KEEPING your pet alive! Your pet is your tank! Properly specced (and played) your pet can tank two mobs at once, or can tank elite mobs other classes can't think of touching.

Sorry, but the talent spec you have up is decent, but not optimal for playing BM to its fullest potential.

Comment by Koshut

For talents personally I prefer this or this one which is again BM but with the added benefit of spirit bond. Spirit bond is great because it reduces downtime between your pulls.
Also do not buy mongoose bite because its bad and its bad because its a proc based attack and mobs hardly hit you and pvp wise you are suppose to run away and shoot where your actual damage is.
Pets in most cases pick a cat, if you want a cat for you raiding go to blasted lands and tame the rare Broken Tooth its the best cat because it has the fastest attack speed out of all the pets.

Comment by Sedlina

no imp mend pet for leveling? As a bm you definitely don't want to keep massive debuffs on your pet for 30+ mins. Neither do you want to kill your pet to spend all that mana to resurrect it to get rid of debuffs

frenzy doesn't need more than 3/5 to keep it at a 80% uptime even with a normal 2 sec attack speed pet

if you pick one of the 1.3 or 1.4 attack speed pets 3/5 has a 100% uptime

Comment by lovelywaz

The worst part of being Hunter will be stable slots and ammo. I don't mind pet happiness but those 2 are the biggest QoL changes that we gonna miss.

Comment by wraithslayer

Found a list of pet skills (and where to find them) on Vanilla WoW Hunter, so there are at least still resources available for that sort of thing.

Comment by hw121693

Why people prefer Improved Revive Pet instead of Improved Aspect of the Monkey ?
Improved Revive Pet is only needed when your pet is dead but your pet won't always die if you control well

Comment by malrion

Hey, thank you for taking the time making this guide.

The rotation section is missing a lot of detailed info that should be there, and is wrong on quite some points

Make sure to install a swing timer for both melee and ranged attacks

DO: Use mana efficient attacks

Before the pull, place immolation trap
Send pet to a mob and hunters mark, place serpent sting on mob
Serpent sting a 2nd mob and pull it through the trap and facetank
Auto shot the mob that your pet attacks, when the shot goes of switch to melee attack on the 2nd mob, after the melee attack, switch to ranged, these two do not reset each other so you can actually auto shot and attack at the same time
Keep switching between auto and melee untill both mobs are dead, don't use more abilities to let the mana regen during combat after the pull

DON'T: use mana inefficient attacks like Arcane shot and Multi shot often, they will eat your mana

Doing this rotation you will not run oom as fast and grind faster then the other method by abusing the swing timer mechanic, you just need to first aid more often.

Comment by Scuttlefrog

Do some abilities like wingclip have an inherent extra chance to miss? How long does pet have to stop attacking to leave combat in pvp and how far away can you have it "stay"? Does pet entering combat break night elf out of shadowmeld? Thanks.

Comment by bleezy

https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/hunter/5300300150501251-150510305

Thoughts?

Comment by vicioushunter

The leveling talents look pretty bad. No 3% beast and 2% human damage is a huge missed opportunity. 20% mongoose and raptor strike is way better than anything else offered at that level as well. I would start with 1/0/7 at the very least and continue your leveling grind to 60 with talents in MM, SV or BM from that spot.

Comment by ChaosDecides

If you criticize a build and don't bother linking to one you think is better, you are better off not posting at all.

Comment by Hestswag

Hello,

I think it's kinda sad that you didn't mention how good owls are for leveling. Screech is a great ability that will both help in PVP and PVE. It's basically like a permanent demoralizing shout on mobs which both lowers AP on enemies and grants threat, albeit in low quantities, on all mobs that are hit. The biggest problem with Owls are that the only early and good owls for lvling are found in nelf starting territory, the 'Strigid Screechers's. If you use it until level 16-17 you can go and tame a greater fleshripper in Westfall, the big ugly birds to the east of the town in Westfall, and get Screech.

You can read up on it more by googling 'wow vanilla screech' and go to petotopia!

Happy hunting qts

Comment by Skult

What is the best pet to leveling? Encrusted Surf Crawler is said to be the best up to level 30. Truth?

Comment by Gungrand

The major flaw i see with this guide is that it promotes BM for leveling but has zero mentions of the end game consequence of leveling 1-60 BM... hit ctrl + f "kiting" and you'll see zero results. If you hit level 60 and you don't know how to kite, you're not going to make it very far in pvp or many end game situations... you'll also be one of the people that has to pay another, capable, hunter to log in for you to complete your hunter's quest at 60. Can't just sit back and let your pet complete those tasks for you.
While this is a good guide if youre entire goal is just to hit lvl 60. you'll be trash at playing your class if you dont learn to play other specs and learn how to operate without reliance on your pet.

Comment by SoLoR1

Hm... I got my pet to 20+ bought growl and bunch of other pet spells... however i cant find them anywhere, specially i want growl! But according to pet screen not even those passive +resistance spells are active....

Comment by Corvak

Regarding Hunter pet trainable skills and ranks, the internet archive has stored a pre-wrath version of Petopia: https://web.archive.org/web/20070406174712/http://petopia.brashendeavors.net:80/

There may be earlier iterations as well, this one is from 2.0, the release of Burning Crusade. I'd expect most of the information to still be relevant to Classic with the exception of the TBC only pet types.

Comment by TheSabi

pet attack speed doesn't affect DPS...

petopia has a better rundown..

https://www.wow-petopia.com/classic/attackspeed.php

One thing it doesn't affect is its damage per second (DPS), as faster pets (in a specific family) may attack more frequently but they do proportionally less damage per hit (than slower pets in the same family). Likewise, pets from families with higher DPS will do more damage than pets from families with lower DPS, even if they have the same attack speed.

Where it may come most in handy is player-vs-player combat, where rapid, frequent hits may outpace your opponent, especially if it allows you to interrupt a caster.

has ALWAYS been like this in Classic.

I guess this is better than the other hunterguide who has mis information that is debunked on the same site that hosts the guide...wowhead.

Comment by ScorpidBlkDrgn

I began my WoW experience in Open Beta, playing a Night Elf Hunter. I continued on and off until three years ago when I left for financial reasons. By that time, I had a family of characters that spanned all classes and professions. I renewed my subscription and have returned to Classic after watching my favorite streamer and getting "homesick" for the tranquility of the Night Elf regions.

Since Blizzard's release of Classic WoW, it would be logical to believe that there will be a new crop of players who may need a short overview of certain topics.

I found your section on Hunter Leveling Talents lacking a short introduction of what they are, how they are obtained, and how to use them. Specifically:

1. They improve Hunter skills as the Hunter "levels".
2. There are a total of 51 points, beginning when the character reaches level 10.
3. One point is gained for use at every level thereafter, up to level 60, the character cap for Classic WoW.
4. To use points, press the default "N" hotkey to open the window Talents window.
5. Talents are pictured along with the maximum points used/allowed.
6. Once selected, talents can only be reset by a trainer.

I wrote that from memory, so some details will need to be confirmed and corrected in the final product.

Thank you for the wonderful guide.

Comment by JohnPombrio

Make sure to look at the Classic WoW Hunter Pet Guide at https://classic.wowhead.com/guides/classic-wow-hunter-pets

Here is what I wrote there:

Each pet needs to level their basic traits on a regular basis by either training at a pet trainer OR BY temporarily training a pet with that particular level of trait.
Petopia has a list of of the available traits, what kind of pet they can be taught to, each trainable pet in the world for that particular trait and level, what upgrade trait(s) the new pet is capable of teaching, where they are located, and the level that they can be trained at:
https://www.wow-petopia.com/classic/abilities.php

Not that MOST of the traits require training points! Guard these training point zealously and do not learn all the new traits you have (I skip the resistances spells myself). You can redo these training points but at a cost. The nice thing is that you GET PAID BACK the training points that you have spent for the previous traits so It may SAY 17 points but will only cost you 4. A new trait will cost what it says it will cost.Try clicking on your new trait to see if you can actually afford the new trait.

Note that it is complicated to learn these new skills for your pet! First, your hunter has to be at or above the level of the pet you wish to train for that new or upgraded trait(s). Next you must stable the pet you want to train and take your previous temporary trained pet (or just train a new temporary pet while out to get new pet). Make sure to train your temporary pet so it has things like growl in case you have to fight to get to your desired new pet.

Go to where Petopia says the pet you wish to get the new traits from, find one at your level, abandon your temporary pet and train your desired pet.
You DO NOT immediately "learn" that new trait say Dash level 1. You only can get this trait when you have USED this new pet for a while and the magic words "You have learned new skill Dash" appear in YELLOW in the general dialogue bar!

Now swap out the pets at the stable master. In your slingshot training window, the new trait should now appear. IF the trait is one that your pet can use AND you have the necessary points AND your pet level is high enough, you can now learn that upgraded or new trait. Note that the cost may be MUCH LOWER due to the refund of your previously learned traits for that upgraded trait so try to learn it and see if you have enough points. Now you pet can learn and use this new trait as long as the pet is AT THAT LEVEL. You pet may be at level 29 but the trait may only be learned at level 30. Check your pet level and how long to the new level in the character pane under the Pet tab.

Remember that your pet can learn many traits. They are listed in the Pet tab in your spell (P) screen. Some are passive so they are automatically being used. As for ACTIVE traits, only 4 can be active at any time due to limitations of the pet action bar so you may need to choose. You use active traits by dragging them into a slot on your pet action bar and the ORDER of them on the bar matters. Note that some traits you will learn cannot be used with your particular pet. Only traits that are ACTIVE (with a swirl around them) AND are on your pet action bar are being used. Arrange the order of the traits from right to left to maximize their potential. On my pet cat, I have dash first, then growl, then bite, and finally claw. You can turn them "on or off' by right clicking on them so that the swirl stops (like turning off Growl when partying with a tank but make sure you turn it back on when soloing again). Once again Petopia has this full explanation but not quite as clear as I have written. Thanks to the Petopia folks for their terrific guide.

Comment by vaindil

Petopia has a section for classic now.

Comment by Zombby

Pet Training Points (TP)

I could not find a summary of these so: your pet gets a maximum of 300 TPs at level 60 (gaining TPs as it levels)

Use Petopia to see the cost of skills learned from pets and passive abilities learned from the pet trainer but note:
- the highest rank of all core skills learned from the pet, e.g. claw, bite, charge, dive, etc... costs 25 TPs. Note this for your budget
- the highest rank of the passives, Natural Armour and Greater Stamina costs much more: Rank 10 (available at level 60) cost 150 TPs and 185 TPs respectively
- the highest rank of each of the five passive resistance abilities (fire, frost, arcane, nature, shadow), rank 5 (available at level 60) cost 105 TPs.

Clearly you need to make decisions early (or spend money to reset your pet's TPs if you make an understandable decision to spend 25 TPs on rank 1 of all the spell resistances as soon as they are available) as you cannot even train up 1 core skill and both natural armour and greater stamina to their highest levels .

Useful resources:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070226134300/http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/html/articles/resources/petcalc.html

a training point calculator that needs to be re-calibrated from level 70 (350 TPs) to level 60 (300 TPs)

https://www.wow-petopia.com/classic/abilities.php

Petopia's list of spells, when they can be learned (and how) at each rank, which pet families can use them and how many TPs each
rank costs

Comment by Felweed

I noticed the layout has changed for the weapon skills section and where to find said trainers. I appreciate the new look. However, it's quite misleading in comparison to the old information that was provided. All of those trainers are showing all weapon skills available. For instance, hunters cannot train for 2H Maces in Classic. Maybe at the top of the weapons section, could you include which weapons hunters can utilize? Thanks for the great guide! Been a huge reference as I level my hunter!

Comment by Jordus

Hunters are not able to learn 1-Hand Mace or 2-Hand mace are they? They are both listed under Weapon Trainers for Classic Hunter Weapon Skills.

Edit: I forgot to add. Thanks for the guide. I appreciate it.

Comment by Shalaoman

"Currently, there are no present-day resources that can tell what enemies in the world have exactly what abilities...."

FALSE:
This Youtube video by MetaGoblin says just this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlb-POUbv8Y&feature=youtu.be&t=508&ab_channel=MetaGoblin Classic WoW: Best Hunter Pet For Leveling? - Detailed Guide BY MetaGoblin

Comment by Crysteria

Whoever wrote this needs to rethink their phrasing.
"As a Survival Hunter, you will still be able to level efficiently no matter what spec you play."

Comment by Oogzy

You should add some QOL macros to this as well, and I would also suggest adding macros for your abilities, such as Arcane Shot, that have /petattack added to them. Here's some of the ones I use:

One button to heal, revive and call pet with no modifiers needed:
#showtooltip
/use Mend Pet
/stopmacro
/use Revive Pet
/castsequence reset=2 Call Pet, Revive Pet

Feed pet macro (0 is your backpack, 4 is the 4th item slot, your personal preference may to be showtooltip 0 4 instead):
#showtooltip Feed Pet
/cast Feed Pet
/use 0 4

For items slots related to bags, 0-4 are your bags, going from left to right is backpack, bag 1, bag 2, bag 3, bag 4. Bag slots are left to right, top to bottom. So if you personally like to keep your food at, lets say, 3rd bag 10th slot, you would do "/use 3 10" instead. I find this very helpful so you don't have to always modify the macro when your food has changed for any reason, and instead can just move the food to the slot.

Scatter Shot macro that makes it so your pet won't break it:
#showtooltip Scatter Shot
/petpassive
/cast Scatter Shot

Ice Trap exit combat macro that makes sure your pet won't break it:
#showtooltip Freezing Trap
/stopattack
/cast Freezing Trap
/cast Feign Death
/petstay
/petpassive

Extremely simple macro to swap between Aspect of the Hawk and Aspect of the Cheetah when running around:
/castsequence !Aspect of the Hawk, !Aspect of the Cheetah

An auto shot macro that will not cancel your auto attack on second cast (18 is your ranged weapon slot):
#showtooltip 18
/targetenemy
/cast !Auto Shot

Hunters Mark and send pet in (good for leveling, wouldn't suggest in dungeons):
#showtooltip Hunter's Mark
/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark

All in one melee button, has every wing clip to be more likely to use it in case you don't have enough mana:
#showtooltip Raptor Strike
/stopcasting
/cast Raptor Strike
/cast Mongoose Bite
/startattack
/cast Wing Clip
/cast Wing Clip(Rank 2)
/cast Wing Clip(Rank 1)

Wingclip only macro, useful for kiting and pvp:
#showtooltip Wing Clip
/stopcasting
/cast Wing Clip
/cast Wing Clip(Rank 2)
/cast Wing Clip(Rank 1)

Comment by TheCrazyScot

Isn't Fine Longbow#sold-by a better weapon for level 14?

Hunter Leveling Guide & Best Leveling Spec 1-60 - WoW Classic

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