Season of Discovery Hunter Melee DPS Guide

Hunters are normally master marksmen and, with the help of a fierce animal companion, can deal damage from range without ever letting their target get close. With special tracking abilities, traps, and a wide range of utility spells, Hunters are a great choice for anyone looking for a strong solo class with lots of ranged damage and versatility.

In the Season of Discovery, Hunters have the option to take Runes that increase the viability of a melee-only play style. Thanks to some of the most build-defining runes for any class, Melee Hunters are actually exceptionally strong. Melee Hunters continue to offer some of the strongest scaling options as well, meaning the build will continue to do exceptional damage at level 60.

Strengths

• Incredible single target damage potential
• Strong soloing capabilities
• Solid damage scaling with no gear and at low levels
• The most resource efficient class in the game
• Great group utility for CC and kiting

Weaknesses

• Poor AoE and cleave damage
• Lacks the strong cooldowns of other melee
• Worse overall scaling than other melee

Hunter has received no major changes for Season of Discovery, but instead have access to incredibly powerful new abilities and buffs in the form of Runes. These Runes are what enable the melee play style, specifically with some powerful new melee abilities and a huge buff to your current options.

Through the addition of entirely new abilities and Runes, the rotation, gearing options, and talent decisions for Melee Hunter has changed drastically with the coming of Season of Discovery. Use the guides located in the Table of Content at the top of this page to find all the information you'll need to master this new game mode!

One of the most important choices that you can make as a Hunter is your pet. Luckily, for optimal damage, that choice is relatively simple. While the best pet has changed frequently over the last couple of weeks due to constant tuning, the best pet for Hunters in Season of Discovery is currently a Cat. To be fully prepared, you should also consider getting a Wind Serpent in case pet spell power scaling is ever buffed again.

Make sure to check out our Rune Engravings guide to best understand what each rune does for your Hunter. Likewise, if you're unsure where to locate these runes, we've listed the location for every Season of Discovery Rune in the guide below to help you find the best available runes for your class!