The Warcraft Hunter

There is only one new spell learned at Level 8, and that is Concussive Shot. This shot is marginally useful, and should only be used situationally. It does no damage, but instead dazes the target, and slows their movement by 50% for 4 seconds.

The first situation in which this is useful is when you are targeting a particularly difficult mob and you want it to take as long as possible to get within melee range. By hitting the target with Concussive right after a Serpent Sting (always put your DoTs up first!), you will increase the amount of time it will take by 2 seconds. This may be enough extra time to allow you to drop the mob before it can do you any serious damage.

Note that this does NOT work against mobs that charge, so don’t waste your Concussive at the beginning of fights against such mobs. There is a 12 second cooldown, and you aren’t likely to last 12 seconds of melee.

Which brings us to the second situation where Concussive is useful, and that is in getting distance between you and the mob once it does get within melee range. In this case, if melee has already started, wait for the mob to start an attack that is not instant, then strafe away and pop a Concussive, followed by your other shots.

Lastly, Concussive comes in handy when fighting mobs that run away; one shot might not be enough to take them down, but if they go out of range you will be forced to follow them to finish them off. This is not efficient or safe, so best to hit them with Concussive shortly before they run. This is more effective when fighting with a pet, since mobs are generally running towards you when you are petless, so this situation might not come up very often before you get your pet.

Since there is only one spell for me to talk about at this level, it leaves me room to speak of another kiting strategy that is well known but little mastered, and that is the Jump Shot. No, Jump Shot is not a spell, it is a strategy, but it is important enough that I Capitalized it.

There are places where strafing and shooting are not possible, as in straight tunnels, or in any place where you cannot turn. The reason we strafe is to maintain maximum speed (you cannot run backwards, just walk) and to be at an angle that allows us to still shoot. You don’t have to be facing the mob, just less than 90 degrees away (right angle). So if you need to run away in the same direction, how to do you shoot the mob that is following you?

By doing a Jump Shot, which works like this: Use the mouse buttons to run (keep both pressed down), hit the space bar to jump, and while in the air turn toward the mob by at least 90 degrees, use an instant shot, then turn back to the direction you are running. Yes, it is tricky, but it can be done. Just use the mouse instead of the keyboard to run, so you don’t stop moving.

If you have never done this before, you may want to practice the jump-turn combo just to get comfortable with that, and then add the shot once you have the movement mastered. You will be surprised just how easy it is to kite mobs and slowly damage them while taking no damage yourself. Remember that you must use Instant shots like Serpent Sting and Arcane Shot when you are running, as well as Concussive if the mob starts catching up to you.

It should be noted that there are situations where the Jump Shot is easier or harder, and that is on slopes like hills or stairs. If you are running downhill your jumps will be longer and you will have more time to execute your Jump Shot. On uphill inclines your jump is nearly non-existent, so strafing might be a better strategy then.

Practice your Jump Shot even when you don’t need to use it, and it will really come in handy when you do — such as in a Boss fight where you are the only one left alive, and the boss is down to 1% health. Don’t laugh — I’ve seen it happen!

Erik Basics, Leveling Basics, Hunter, Leveling, Warcraft