Hunter PvE Armor: Past, Present and Future

Long time players of the game recall fondly (or not so fondly depending on how your drop luck was) the days of farming Stratholme and Scholomance for their original dungeon sets while gazing wistfully at those rare Hunters hanging out in Ironforge wearing their Dragonstalker or Cryptstalker sets and thinking to themselves, “That could be me!” Today, I’d like to take a trip down memory lane and look at the armor sets of the past, as well as the armor sets of today.

The Originals

We’ll begin our little journey with the armor sets from days gone by, the original dungeon and raid tier sets that broke so many hunters’ hearts.

The Beaststalker Set

Also known as D1 (Tier 0.25), this was the first armor set that the Hunters of days past sought avidly. Obtaining pieces of this first set announced to the world that you were nearing the original level cap and were starting to get serious about progressing through end-game content, starting with 5mans such as Stratholme and Scholomance.

This set consisted of eight pieces, like all the original armor sets, three of which were Bind on Equip and easily purchased from the Auction House before Level 60, to get you started. Most players would purchase the bindings, belt and gloves as soon as they were able to equip them and then move on to farming the Bind on Pick-Up items as soon as they dinged 60.

The bracers, belt and gloves were easily obtainable from several different mobs located in Blackrock Spire and Stratholme. The other pieces only dropped off specific bosses. The boots could be found on Nerub’enkan in Stratholme, the helm dropped off Darkmaster Gandling in Scholomance, the breastplate was from General Drakkisath in Blackrock Spire (and was largely considered a “rite of passage” for many hunters), the pants could be acquired from Baron Rivendare in Stratholme, and the shoulders from Overlord Wyrmthalak in Blackrock Spire.

This set provided what was once considered relatively nice bonuses for the content at the time and the level of these items. The two-piece bonus provided an additional 200 armor, the four-piece bonus increased attack power by 40, the six-piece bonus gave ranged attacks a 4% chance to restore 200 mana and finally the eight-piece bonus increased all resistances by 8.

The Beastmaster Set

D2 (Tier 0.5), the upgraded version of the Beaststalker set, was a set that, unfortunately, few ever bothered with. The transition from Beaststalker to Beastmaster was a costly one (literally) and few players felt that the benefits outweighed the price tag.

In order to obtain the Beastmaster set, you first needed to obtain all of the pieces of the Beaststalker set. You could start the transition early, before you had all the pieces, of course, but you would eventually need all eight pieces of the original set to make the full transition.

To begin swapping out Beaststalker pieces for Beastmaster pieces, players would begin with the quest “An Earnest Proposition” which was obtained from either Deliana in Ironforge or Mokvar in Orgrimmar. To complete the quest and earn their Beastmaster’s Bindings, players needed to turn in their Beaststalker Bindings, 15 Winterspring Blood Samples and 20 gold. Each subsequent set piece was similarly acquired through rather lengthy quest chains sending players all over Azeroth to face a number of increasingly difficult and costly challenges. The Beastmaster’s Belt and Gloves were obtained through the “Just Compensation” quest chain, the Boots, Pants and Mantle were acquired through the “Anthion’s Parting Words” chain, and the Cap and Tunic could be obtained through the “Saving the Best for Last” quest.

The Beastmaster set’s bonuses were the same bonuses players obtained from the original Beaststalker set, only the order was reversed. (The two-piece bonus granted +8 to all resistances, the four-piece bonus gave a 4% chance for attacks to restore 200 mana, and so forth.)

The Giantstalker Set

The first Hunter “raid” set of WoW, Tier 1 quickly became a status symbol for Hunters around Azeroth. Obtaining your first piece of the Giantstalker set proclaimed for all the world to see that you’d made it beyond the kiddie pool of 5man instances and 10man raids and into the ocean of 40man raiding. This eight piece set was the first armor set to be comprised entirely of epic pieces. However, the Giantstalker set was merely a stepping-stone to bigger and better things. After all, there were still pieces of this set that could be obtained without ever having to set foot in a raid: the Giantstalker’s Belt and the Giantstalker’s Bracers. Of course, these items commanded hefty prices on the Auction House, so few could truly afford to purchase them outright.

The other pieces of this set were all Bind on Pick-Up, so the only way to obtain the rest of the set was to find yourself a raiding guild and bust into Molten Core. The boots could be obtained from Gehennas, the breastplate from Golemagg, the shoulders from Sulfuron, the gloves from Shazzrah, the helm from Garr, and the leggings from Magmadar. Tier 1 was the only raid set of the time that didn’t require you to defeat the final boss of a raid in order to obtain all the pieces. Also worth mentioning is the fact that, because 40mans were the order of the day, few players were able to complete an entire raiding tier set before moving on to the next tier of content (due to item competition), so obtaining the entire set was a feat to be proud of.

The Giantstalker set had only three bonuses (as opposed to the four bonuses of the previous dungeon sets): the three-piece bonus increased the range of your Mend Pet spell by 50% and the effect by 10% while reducing the cost by 30%, the five-piece bonus increased pet Stamina by 30 and spell resistances by 40, and the eight-piece bonus increased the damage of Multi-Shot (a popular rotation shot for Marksmanship—the prime raiding spec of the day) and Volley by 15%. As you can see, the jump from dungeon sets into raiding sets significantly increased the benefit gained from set bonuses.

The Dragonstalker Set

By far my favorite set (both for looks and set bonuses at the time), Tier 2 was the first set comprised entirely of Bind on Pick-Up, epic items that could only be obtained through 40man raiding. As it’s moniker would suggest, this set denoted a progression beyond Molten Core and into the second “tier” of raiding difficulty. Because of it’s flashy design and bright colors, this set was easily one of the most recognizable armor sets in the game.

The Dragonstalker’s Belt could be obtained from Vaelastrasz, the bracers dropped from Razorgore, the gauntlets could be obtained from Ebonroc, Firemaw or Flamegor, the boots were dropped by Lashlayer, the shoulders came from Chromaggus, the legguards came from Ragnaros (easily one of the most recognizable NPCs in the game), and the breastplate was obtained from Nefarian himself — all in Blackwing Lair. The final piece of the set, the helm, was dropped by none other than Onyxia. (Some of you may know her only as Lady Katrana Prestor.)

Following the precedent set by the Giantstalker set, the Dragonstalker set only had three bonuses: the three-piece bonus increased the ranged attack power bonus of Aspect of the Hawk by 20%, the five-piece bonus increased pet Stamina by 40 and resistances by 60, and the eight-piece bonus introduced the first Expose Weakness buff which provided a chance any time you dealt ranged damage to increase the ranged attack power of all attackers against that target by 450 for 7 seconds.

The Cryptstalker Set

The original Naxxramas raid set, the Cryptstalker set — Tier 3, was extremely rare to see on players in game. In the relatively short time between the game’s original release and the release of The Burning Crusade expansion, few guilds had the skill, resources, drive and ambition to make it beyond Blackwing Lair and Onyxia to progress into the halls of the dread citadel Naxxramas. It’s common knowledge that few players ever saw the inside of the original Naxxramas (which is why it was reintroduced as an introductory raid instance in Wrath of the Lich King) and so to find a player with even one piece of the original Cryptstalker set was extremely rare, let alone the entire set. Having even one piece of this exalted armor set was a badge of honor that players wore proudly.

This is the only tier of armor that is no longer available in the game, because the original raid instance these items were obtained from no longer exists. (I hope any players that had the original set pieces kept them!) Also, this is the only armor set to include a ninth piece in the set: the Ring of the Cryptstalker. Yet another unique characteristic of this set was that it was the first to introduce the concept of turning in tokens to obtain pieces of the set, and other crafting materials were also needed in order to obtain the armor.

The boots token was obtained from Razuvious, Gothik or Gluth, the belt token was obtained from Noth, Heigan or Gluth, the gloves token was obtained from Maexxna, the bracers token could be obtained from Anub’Rekhan, Faerlina or Gluth, the shoulders token came from Patchwerk, Grobbulus or Gluth, the pants token came from Loatheb, the breastplate came from the Four Horsemen, the helm came from Thaddius, and the ring came from none other than Kel’Thuzad. The tokens used to acquire these set pieces were the Desecrated tokens (which could also be used by Paladins, Shamans and Druids) and crafting materials needed included Wartorn Chain Scraps, Arcanite Bars, Nexus Crystals, and Cured Rugged Hide in varying amounts depending on the piece.

Unlike the previous two raid sets, the Tier 3 armor set boasted four bonuses: the two-piece bonus increased the duration of Rapid Fire by 4 seconds, the four-piece bonus increased the attack power of both the hunter and their pet by 50 while the pet was active, the six-piece bonus allowed critical hits to trigger an Adrenaline Rush buff which restored 50 mana, and the final eight-piece bonus (which few ever obtained) reduced the mana cost of Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot by 20.

The Burning Crusade

The first expansion introduced not only new content, but a new raiding model that consisted of a transition from the 10man style (also used in the original game) to 25man content instead of the mass zerging of 40man raids. This took a lot of recruitment stress off guilds hoping to push into raid content from more traditional dungeon content, while breaking apart long-term guilds geared more towards the 40man models of days gone by. Along with these new raids came new tiers of armor for us to obtain.

The Beast Lord Set

The D3 set provided an introduction to life at Level 70 and, true to dungeon set form, served as a stepping stone into raiding in The Burning Crusade. This set was the first to consist of no more than five pieces, and set the tone for future sets from this expansion. Furthermore, this set was not considered “class specific” (meaning any class that could wear mail was able to equip items of this set) and, alternatively, Hunters also had the Desolation set available to them should they choose to utilize pieces from that set instead.

The Beast Lord set consisted of five pieces, each of which were Bind on Pick-Up, making this set the first dungeon set whose pieces could not be obtained, at least in part, from the Auction House. Both the shoulders and leggings could be obtained from Kalithresh in The Steamvault, the gloves dropped from Bladefist in The Shattered Halls, the breastplate dropped from Warp Splinter in The Botanica, and the helm dropped from Pathaleon in The Mechanar.

The Beast Lord set had only two set bonuses: the two-piece bonus reduced the cooldown of traps by 4 seconds (making at least two pieces of this set a must-have for various circumstances) and the four-piece bonus increased armor penetration by 85 for 15 seconds each time Kill Command was used.

The Demon Stalker Set

Tier 4, the Demon Stalker set, served as the introduction to raid content in The Burning Crusade. Like the Beast Lord set, and unlike previous raid armor sets, the Demon Stalker set consisted of only five pieces. Following the example set by the Cryptstalker set, the Demon Stalker set (and subsequent raid armor sets) were all obtained through the turn-in of tokens. However, unlike the Cryptstalker set, the raid armor sets of TBC did not require additional crafting materials to obtain. This new token system would set the standard for obtaining tier pieces from raid dungeons in the game from then to present day.

Demon Stalker set pieces were obtained by turning in tokens of the Fallen Hero from Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair and Magtheridon’s Lair. These tokens were also shared with Mages and Warlocks. The gloves could be obtained from The Curator, and the helm could be obtained from Prince — both in Karazhan. The shoulders dropped from Maulgar, and the leggings dropped from Gruul — both in Gruul’s Lair. The final piece of the set, the breastplate, could be obtained from Magtheridon in Magtheridon’s Lair. Tier 4 was the first raid set to be obtained from more than two raid instances.

Tier 4, much like the dungeon 3 set, only had two set bonuses: the two-piece bonus reduced the chance that Feign Death would be resisted by 5% and the four-piece bonus reduced the mana cost of Multi-Shot by 10%, making this the first raid set to have decidedly lack-luster set bonuses that few sought.

The Rift Stalker Set

Tier 5 marked the progression into “serious” raiding in The Burning Crusade. This set indicated that you (and your guild) had made it beyond the introductory raid bosses of Tier 4 and into the more difficult encounters of Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep. Once again, the Rift Stalker set consisted on only five pieces (a trend to be continued throughout that expansion and into the next) and was obtained by turning in tokens of the Vanquished Hero, which were shared by Hunters, Mages and Warlocks much like Tier 4’s tokens of the Fallen Hero.

The shoulders could be obtained from Void Reaver in The Eye. The leggings dropped from Karathress and the gloves dropped from Leotheras, both in Serpentshrine Cavern. The helm could be obtained from the final boss in Serpentshrine Cavern, Lady Vashj and the breastplate dropped from the final boss in The Eye, Kael’thas Sunstrider. Before they were nerfed, Vashj and Kael’thas were long considered two of the most difficult fights to master in the entire game, and were considered by many the two most enjoyable encounters to participate in due to their complexity and involvement.

Tier 5 had, as you might guess, only two set bonuses: the two-piece bonus healed your pet for 15% of the damage dealt by the hunter and the four-piece bonus increased Steady Shot’s critical strike chance by 5%, making these extremely worthwhile set bonuses, particularly for Beast Mastery hunters (which was the “spec du joir” of TBC).

The Gronnstalker Set

Tier 6, The Gronnstalker set, was the only set in TBC to return to the original eight-piece format of “vanilla” WoW; however, the original Gronnstalker set, like Tiers 4 and 5, only consisted of five pieces. Three additional pieces were added to this set when the Sunwell Plateau raid instance was introduced to the game in patch 2.4. The final version of this set is the second set in the game whose pieces are obtained from more than two separate raid instances. Once again, this set follows the token structure for obtaining pieces, using the tokens of the Forgotten Protector for turn-ins to acquire set pieces. These tokens were shared with Warriors and Shamans, making them the first tokens of TBC that Hunters didn’t share with Mages and Warlocks (and setting the scene for future token patterns in the following expansion).

With the switch to the 25man raid model, and raid boss nerfs that occurred later in TBC, many more players were able to acquire this final tier of armor for this expansion, making the Gronnstalker set much less rare than it’s predecessor the Cryptstalker set. However, the set was still relatively uncommon and players who acquired all eight pieces of the set were to be envied.

The gloves dropped from Azgalor and the helm dropped off Archimonde in Hyjal Summit. The shoulders dropped off Mother Shahraz, the leggings dropped off the Illidari Council, and the breastplate dropped off Illidan in Black Temple. These were the five original pieces of Tier 6. The additional three pieces all came from Sunwell Plateau. The bracers could be obtained from the Eredar Twins, the boots dropped from Felmyst or the Eredar Twins, and the belt dropped from Brutallus or the Eredar Twins.

Wrath of the Lich King

Wrath is the first expansion not to include dungeon sets for classes. That’s not to say there isn’t “introductory” gear available from Level 80 5man instances that players should acquire before jumping directly into raiding, but there are no sets available to farm or collect to aid players in preparing for entering the world of raiding in Wrath.

Heroes’ Cryptstalker Set

Commonly called Tier 7 or 7.1, this set introduces a new spin on the raid models of TBC. 10 and 25man raids are still the order of the day, as it was proven in TBC that players are better able to prepare for that volume of content (as opposed to the 40mans of old), but Wrath introduced a twist to the formula that worked so well in the previous expansion: Normal and Heroic modes for raids.

This set can only be obtained in 10man, or “Normal” modes of the raid content currently available in the game. Once again, we make use of the token system, using tokens of the Lost Protector which are, like Tier 6, shared with Warriors and Shamans to acquire items from this set. This set, like the introductory raid sets from TBC, features only five pieces with only two set bonuses.

The gloves can be obtained from Sartharion in The Obsidian Sanctum. The shoulders drop from Loatheb or Gluth, the breastplate drops from Gluth, the leggings drop from Thaddius or Gluth, and the helm drops off Kel’Thuzad — all in Naxxramas. Alternatively, and this is a first in the game, you can also acquire any of these items by purchasing the various tokens off a vendor using Emblems of Heroism (which drop off all 10man raid bosses and heroic 5man bosses). This mechanism was introduced in order to prevent poor loot luck from keeping players from getting these items. Also, another new alternative unique to Wrath is the ability to acquire these items from Archavon the Stone Watcher, a PvP raid boss found in Wintergrasp, the new PvP zone in Northrend.

Valorous Cryptstalker Set

Referred to alternately as Tier 7.5 or 7.25, the Valorous Cryptstalker set is obtained only through Heroic raid instances found in Northrend. Like it’s 10man counterpart, the Valorous set is a five piece set obtained by trading in tokens for set pieces and uses the tokens of the Lost Protector, which are shared with Warriors and Shamans. Also like the Heroes’ set, you can also trade Emblems of Valor (the Heroic equivalent of Emblems of Heroism) for the tokens required to purchase pieces of this set to help alleviate poor drop rates. Likewise, pieces of this set can also be obtained from defeating the PvP boss Archavon the Stone Watcher in Wintergrasp.

Also like the 10man equivalent of this set, the gloves drop off Sartharion in The Obsidian Sanctum while the shoulders drop off Loatheb or Gluth, the breastplate drops off Gluth, the leggings drop from Thaddius or Gluth, and the helm comes from Kel’Thuzad in Naxxramas. The helm is the only piece of either of these two sets that can only be obtained by defeating the boss from which the token drops — the final boss in Naxxramas.

Both the Valorous and Heroes’ Cryptstalker sets share the same two set bonuses: the two-piece bonus increases your pet’s damage by 5% and the four-piece bonus increases your ranged attack speed by 20% while Aspect of the Viper is active.

And that covers all the Hunter armor sets, both raid and dungeon, currently available in the game (or formerly available in the case of the original Cryptstalker set). But what about new sets coming soon?

Patch 3.1 introduces Ulduar, a new raid instance following the Eye of Eternity, and a whole new Tier of progression. Currently, not much is known about the items available from Ulduar, but we do know that the sets will follow the system set forth by previous Northrend raid instances: there will be two sets, one from 10man Ulduar and one from 25man Ulduar. Presumably, these new sets will be referred to as Tier 8 or 8.1 and Tier 8.5 or 8.25 following the pattern from Tier 7.

It would appear that the new tokens are referred to as the tokens of the Wayward Protector, and will continue to be shared with Warriors and Shamans. MMO-Champion has kindly supplied images of what the new Tier 8 sets will look like:

(For larger versions, check out the post on MMO-Champion.)

Hunter armor sets (as well as sets for other classes) have a long history in the World of Warcraft spanning from Azeroth to the far reaches of distant Outland and back to frozen land of Northrend. Many players had a love-hate relationship with many of these sets, farming for hours on end only to be disappointed yet again by poor drop rates. Thankfully, Blizzard has lifted the curse of the random number generator in Wrath giving us an opportunity to acquire those much-coveted set pieces through other means. Lack luster set bonuses have often spelled doom for some of these sets, while others made each piece a must-have in every Hunter’s repertoire. Which set was the “prettiest”? Which set was the hardest for you to get? Which set did you just never want to have? Which set broke your heart and which set lifted you up on the wings of victory? Don’t forget to vote in the poll in the sidebar to share your favorite!