WoW Classic Season of Discovery: Best Melee Hunter build

A Melee Hunter build has never been more viable, thanks to WoW Classic Season of Discovery. There are particular Runes and Talents you need to keep an eye out for, though, and I’m here to help. For years, I said Survival is a needless talent tree in World of Warcraft, but the Classic-era servers have finally proved me wrong. Not only is this build viable, I think it would be a great deal of fun, alongside providing solid damage. I don’t know if it would be the top DPS, but it should be competitive.

I’ll go over the ideal Runes, what Talents you need to pick, and the most important abilities you should keep on your bars. This isn’t to say that Melee Hunter is the only way to play in WoW Classic Season of Discovery, but I think it should be a fun way to tackle the game.

---

How to build a Melee Hunter in WoW Classic Season of Discovery

If you’re going to play a Melee Hunter in WoW Classic Season of Discovery, you’ll want a very specific set of Runes. There’s a little wiggle room, depending on if you’re playing solo or in a group, however. Communication is going to be key in a group to make sure there’s no overlap.

Runes to select

• Enchant Chest: Aspect of the Lion
• Enchant Gloves: Carve
• Enchant Legs: Flanking Strike

Aspect of the Lion essentially grants your group Blessing of Kings: +10% to their stats. However, the caster in WoW Classic Season of Discovery gains an additional +10%. This makes the Melee Hunter a monster, especially with a two-handed weapon. You only need one person in the group with this.

If there are two members of the class in the party, it might not hurt for one of them to go Lone Wolf instead, as it’s one of the best Runes for the class. Carve is an amazing frontal cone attack, and Flanking Strike has you and your pet deal a simultaneous attack.

On top of that, it also ramps up the effectiveness of your Mongoose Bite and Raptor Strike for the next 10s. The catch is that you waste this with Lone Wolf, at least in part.

WoW Classic Season of Discovery Melee Hunters are going to put most of their points in Survival and the last few in Beast Mastery. The early points go into dealing more damage to as many monsters as possible (Monster/Humanoid Slaying), and then you increase your critical strike chance of Raptor Strike and Mongoose Bite via Savage Strikes. Below is your complete list of talents for Phase 1 of the current Classic era.

The proper talent points to grab (Image via wowhead.com)

Talent Points

• Monster Slaying: 3/3
• Humanoid Slaying: 3/3
• Savage Strikes: 2/2
• Improved Wing Clip: 2/5
• Deterrence: 1/1
• Clever Traps: 2/2
• Improved Aspect of the Hawk: 3/5

Sometimes, you’ll be away from melee range, and for that reason, Melee Hunters will want Serpent Sting/Arcane Shot at the ready. Immolation Trap is another great thing to drop at the start of a fight. The debuff and constant damage are nice, especially with the Clever Traps talent points.

Best skills for melee players

• Raptor Strike
• Immolation Trap
• Serpent Sting
• Arcane Shot

If you’re going to min-max this, though, you need to go Horde. Orc is the best Melee Hunter race in WoW Classic Season of Discovery. We’re going to pick a two-handed weapon, so go for Axes and Orc’s Axe Specialization. They also have Blood Fury and Command - it’s the perfect pick.

Dwarves and the other Hunter options are okay - Trolls have Berserking and Beast Slaying, for example. However, the best choice is to head to Orgrimmar and be an Orc.

---

There are so many ways to play World of Warcraft right now on these Classic servers. If you want to see the ideal gear for classes like a Shaman Tank, this article has you covered.