WoW: The War Within Dark Ranger Hunter Hero Talents guide

❘ Updated: 2024-02-11T23:01:04

world of warcraft hunter with the Dark Ranger Hero Talents

Blizzard

Hero Talents look like they could change a lot about how World of Warcraft functions when The War Within expansion releases later this year. Blizzard has started to reveal some of the new options and Dark Ranger Hunter looks like an exciting prospect.

The existing talent trees in WoW will likely not change too much heading into the new expansion. Though the developer does always make minor changes to how they function, the basic structure should remain the same.

Instead, Blizzard are putting their faith in the new Hero Talents system. These new talent trees are designed to complement existing class/spec/talent combinations while existing as a mechanically separate entity.

Each class will have access to three Hero Talent trees, with the exception of the Druid and Demon Hunter, which have four and two respectively. Of those, players will be able to choose between two, depending on which spec they are currently running.

Here’s all of the information we have on the Dark Ranger Hunter, which could add a certain edge to the predominantly ranged class.

Dark Ranger Hunter full Hero Talent tree explained

The Dark Ranger Hunter Hero Talent tree follows the same format as the other archetypes already confirmed for The War Within. There is a capstone talent and a keystone talent, with three rows of choice-based talents in between. Here’s a full breakdown of everything we know about the Dark Ranger Hunter Archetype:

Dark Ranger Keystone talent

Black Arrow: Fire a Black Arrow into your target, causing it to take Shadow damage every 2 seconds for 16 seconds. Each time Black Arrow deals damage, you have a chance to reset the cooldown of Aimed Shot or Barbed Shot. 30 second cooldown.

Dark Ranger first-row talents

Ranger’s Finesse: Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire deal 15% increased damage. Barbed Shot and Kill Command deal 15% increased damage.

Dark Hounds: Each time Black Arrow deals damage, you have a chance to manifest an undead hound to charge your target and deal Shadow damage.

Death Shade: When you apply Black Arrow to a target, you gain the Deathblow or Hunter’s Prey effect.

Dark Ranger second-row talents

Choice Node: Dark Empowerment & Grave Reaper

Dark Empowerment: When Black Arrow resets the cooldown of an ability, gain 15 Focus.
Grave Reaper: When a target affected by Black Arrow dies, the cooldown of Black Arrow is reduced by 12 seconds.

Choice Node: Embrace the Shadows & Smoke Screen

Embrace the Shadows: You heal for 15% of all Shadow damage dealt by you or your pets.
Smoke Screen: Exhilaration grants you 3 seconds of Survival of the Fittest. Survival of the Fittest activates Exhilaration at 50% effectiveness.

Dark Chains: Disengage will chain the closest target to the ground, causing them to move 40% slower until they move 8 yards away.

Dark Ranger third-row talents

Intense Darkness: When Trueshot or Call of the Wild is active, Black Arrow deals damage 50% faster.

Shadow Surge: When Multi-Shot hits a target affected by Black Arrow, a burst of Shadow energy erupts dealing moderate Shadow damage to all enemies near the target. This can only occur once every 6 seconds.

Choice Node: Darkness Calls & Shadow Assassin

Darkness Calls: All Shadow damage you and your pets deal is increased by 10%.
Shadow Assassin: Kill Shot has a 15% chance to generate a charge of Aimed Shot or Barbed Shot when used on a target affected by Black Arrow.

Dark Ranger capstone talent

Withering Fire: When Black Arrow resets the cooldown of Aimed Shot or Barbed Shot, a barrage of dark arrows strikes your target for Shadow damage and increases the damage you and your pets deal by 10% for 6 seconds.

That’s our full breakdown of the Dark Ranger Hero Talents tree. The War Within is set to release in the second half of 2024, after Cataclysm Classic hits virtual shelves before August.

Make sure to check out our other Hero Talent guides below: