The Hunter is a ranged fighter, with the Dwarves able to use guns and bows while others can only use bows. He (or she) starts out using leather armor, but he'll be able to don mail when he reaches level 40, after training. His biggest draw, however, is the ability to charm and keep a beast. He can't control any humanoids or "named" monsters, but pretty much every creature in the "beast" category is fair game (and you can check which category they're in just by clicking on them). The beast taming spell takes about fifteen seconds, during which time you're vulnerable to attack. As soon as you initiate the spell, this will make the beast attack you, so you better make sure you're otherwise safe.

Once he's under your control, you can use him like the Warlock's minion--tell them to attack your target, return to you, or stay, and set them to Defensive, Aggressive, or Passive. Unfortunately, there's a bug right now that causes a monster to chase you indefinitely if you get within its "aggro" range. You can set the pet to attack it, which will distract it--but if you have more than one monster chasing you down, then you could be in trouble.

But Hunter pets (as opposed to the non-combat pets available to anyone), have a little higher maintenance cost than a Warlock minion, for now at least. The pet has a Happiness rating, which goes down over time and when in combat. In order to keep them happy, you have to keep them fed. Thankfully, you don't have to go through the trouble of cooking food; you can just throw them a slab of raw meat, or a crab claw. The higher the value of the food, the more their happiness increases, although a pet won't eat just any kind of food. The crabs don't like meat and the felines aren't into eggs or fruit so much.

Still, capturing a pet doesn't require any special tools (at least that we know of), unlike the Warlock, who must lug around a good deal of Soul Shards, which he also uses for other things. You can also dismiss your pet, making them disappear completely, and call them back at any time. If your pet dies, you can even revive them instead of going to the trouble of getting a new one. You can't control a beast of a higher level than you, which wouldn't be so bad if their didn't appear to be a bug with their amount of damage output. The average pet doesn't dish out much more pain than the Warlock's voidwalker, a creature designed to soak up damage but not do much of his own.

Despite these glitches, the class is still fun to play. The bow does a good deal of damage, and you'll get some helpful skills relatively early on. You'll be able to track a creature with Hunter's Mark, which puts the beastie on your minimap and makes them visible no matter what kind of stealth spells they cast. It lasts for ten minutes and also boosts Ranged Attack Power by 20 for all players attacking that target. You'll also have Aspect of the Monkey, which boosts your dodge by 8%, and Aspect of the Hawk by the time you reach level 10. Hawk gives you a ranged attack boost that stacks with Hunter's Mark. Like the Paladin's auras, though, you can only have one active at a time. These Aspects will get periodic upgrades as you level, and eventually you'll get Aspect of the Pack, which grants everyone in the party a 20% movement bonus.