What are the best professions for Hunters in WoW Forever? The classic answer is Leatherworking and Skinning - you wear leather and mail, you kill beasts all day, so you might as well skin them and make your own gear. In WoW Forever that answer is still right for levelling, but it's only half the story at level 60.
Hunters in Forever are three very different specs. Beast Mastery fights with a pet that scales with your gear, Marksmanship drops the pet entirely for Lone Wolf, and Survival is now a melee spec. So we went through our Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival BiS lists - at level 40, level 50, in pre-raid gear at 60 and in raid gear - and counted every crafted item: which profession makes it, and whether it's Binds when picked up (you have to craft it yourself) or Binds when equipped (anyone can sell it to you).
The result surprised us. Leatherworking makes the most Hunter gear, but the best crafted Hunter items at 60 come from somewhere else.
Best professions for Hunters in WoW Forever: the short answer
- Best professions for Hunters while levelling: Leatherworking + Skinning. Leatherworking's Stalker's Mail set is Binds when picked up and fills most of our level 50 Hunter lists.
- Best professions for Hunters at level 60: Engineering + Mining. Engineering makes the best pre-raid ranged weapon in all three specs, plus scopes and an epic arrow that only Engineers can use.
- Leatherworking still makes the most: 12 or 13 crafted entries in every pre-raid list at 60 - but almost all of them are Binds when equipped, so you can buy them.
- Two BoP items every Hunter wants: the Legionite Glaive (Blacksmithing) and the Frozen Heart of the Mountain trinket (Enchanting).
- In raids: every crafted item in all three Hunter Raid lists is Binds when equipped.
- Every Hunter: First Aid (it now makes Healing Potions) and Cooking (it builds the campfire).
How we picked the best professions for Hunters
Every Hunter spec on our site has a BiS list with up to four ranked picks per slot - armor, trinkets, melee weapons and ranged weapons - for level 40, level 50, pre-raid gear at 60 and raid gear at 60. The lists are built from the WoW Forever game files (build 1.60.1.70532) and each spec's own stat weights. For this guide we took every crafted item in those lists and noted which profession makes it and how it binds.
Binding matters more than anything else here. A Binds when equipped (BoE) item can be crafted by anyone and sold on the auction house - you only need gold. A Binds when picked up (BoP) item is soulbound to whoever makes it, so a profession that makes BoP gear for your spec gives you something gold can't buy.
Three things stand out. At level 40 the crafted picks are mostly Blacksmithing - chain mail like the Guard's Chain Helm and Veteran's Silvered Chain Shirt, nearly all BoP. From level 50, Leatherworking takes over. And in raid gear there are only 7 or 8 crafted items per spec, none of them BoP.
Leatherworking: the best profession for levelling a Hunter
WoW Forever Leatherworking has 592 recipes in the current game files - more than any other profession - and a big share of them is mail and leather with Agility. For Hunters the highlight is the new Stalker's Mail set: boots, shoulders, bracers, sabatons, gauntlets and belt, made between skill 205 and 270, every piece with Agility, Intellect and Stamina, and every piece Binds when picked up.
At level 50 the Stalker's set is the backbone of the Hunter lists. In our Marksmanship list, Stalker's Mail Shoulders, Stalker's Mail Bracers, Stalker's Mail Belt and Stalker's Mail Sabatons are all the top pick in their slot, and Stalker's Mail Gauntlets and Stalker's Mail Boots are close behind. Beast Mastery uses the same pieces. Of the 15 crafted items in the Marksmanship level 50 list, 11 are BoP.
Stalker's Mail Belt is a good example: +14 Agility, +10 Intellect and +12 Stamina at item level 55, and nobody can sell it to you. Most Stalker's pieces need Thick or Rugged Leather, Cured Hides, Pristine Hide and Elemental Air - which is why Skinning is the natural partner.
Leatherworking also makes the Hunter-only bags. The Quickdraw Quiver and Thick Leather Ammo Pouch (both skill 220, from the trainer) increase your ranged attack speed, and every Hunter needs one. And Leatherworking's camp feature, the Camp Tent, tops up your Rested XP to 5% of a level - the best camp feature for levelling.
When each Hunter profession pays off
The best professions for Hunters change as you level, because the crafted gear in our lists changes with you:
- Levels 30-40: Blacksmithing. Surprisingly, our level 40 Hunter lists are mostly Blacksmithing mail - 7 of the 9 crafted entries for Beast Mastery and 13 of the 14 for Survival, nearly all BoP. The Guard's and Veteran's chain pieces are made at skill 110 to 155, so a Blacksmith can wear them as soon as they can make them.
- Levels 45-55: Leatherworking. The Stalker's Mail set takes over. At level 50, Leatherworking makes 7 of the 13 crafted entries for Beast Mastery and 9 of the 15 for Marksmanship.
- Level 60: Engineering. The Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle, scopes and Swiftfeather Arrows are all skill 300+ recipes.
Nobody levels three crafting professions on one character, so pick the stage that matters most to you. Most Hunters will get the most out of Leatherworking on the way up, because the Stalker's set covers six slots from the low 40s on - the Blacksmithing chain pieces only cover a few levels. And because Skinning feeds Leatherworking, the two level together while you quest. Switching Leatherworking for Engineering at 60 costs you the time to level a new profession, but Mining - which you'll want by then - is quick to pick up, and the gold you made from Skinning pays for the Engineering materials.
Leatherworking at level 60: lots of gear, little you can't buy
At 60, Leatherworking still makes more of our Hunter pre-raid picks than any other profession - 12 for Beast Mastery, 12 for Marksmanship and 13 for Survival. The best of them are excellent:
- Black Dragonscale Helm - +21 Agility, +38 Intellect and +14 Critical Strike Rating; the top pre-raid helm for Beast Mastery and Marksmanship.
- Mourning Handguards - +21 Agility, +18 Stamina and +14 Intellect; the top pre-raid gloves for all three specs.
- Swift Flight Bracers - +41 ranged Attack Power; the top bracers for Beast Mastery.
- Heavy Timbermaw Belt - +42 Attack Power; the top belt for melee Survival.
But all four are Binds when equipped. The only BoP Leatherworking items left in the level 60 lists are the older Stalker's pieces, which by then rank second to fourth. So at 60, a Leatherworker's real advantage is making those BoE pieces cheaper - or selling them.
Engineering: the best profession for Hunters at level 60
WoW Forever Engineering is the profession built for Hunters, and the data backs it up. In all three pre-raid lists, the best ranged weapon is the Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle Mk XVII: 36.8 DPS, +28 ranged Attack Power and +10 Stamina at item level 65. The next-best ranged weapon, the quest reward Bloodseeker, has 32.3 DPS.
The rifle is Binds when equipped, so anyone can buy one. But it won't be cheap: it needs 4 Malleable Essence of Nature, 2 Legionite Bars, 10 Heavy Thorium Bars and an Azerothian Diamond. Malleable Essence of Nature comes from disenchanting items from Hyjal Summit or Barrow Deeps, and each Legionite Bar is an Alchemy transmute with a 47-hour cooldown. Early on, an Engineer who makes their own rifle will be ahead of almost everyone.
Engineering's other Hunter tools:
- Swiftfeather Arrow - epic ammo at item level 65, made 200 at a time from 8 Heavy Thorium Bars, 5 Light Feathers and 1 Elemental Air. It's Binds when picked up, so only an Engineer can shoot it. Its damage bonus isn't readable in the game data we have, so we can't say yet how much it adds.
- Ammo for everyone else: Thorium Shells (skill 305) and Explosive Arrows (skill 210).
- Scopes: from the Crude Scope up to the Sniper Scope and the new SAF-T Ultra Precision Scope, which takes a Legionite Bar and 12 Heavy Thorium Bars.
- Other guns: the Thorium Rifle, Dark Iron Rifle, Flawless Arcanite Rifle and Core Marksman Rifle.
Gfinity comes to the same conclusion - Leatherworking + Skinning for levelling, and Engineering + Mining at endgame, because Engineering lets you "craft your own firearms, scopes," and "ammunition". Engineering's camp feature, the Reagent Bot, puts a reagent vendor right at your camp.
Mining: the partner for Engineering
Engineering at 300 runs on metal. The Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle needs 10 Heavy Thorium Bars, the Swiftfeather Arrow 8 per batch and the SAF-T scope 12. Mining smelts Heavy Thorium Bars at skill 300, Thorium Bars at 250 and Azerothium Bars at 275, so an Engineer-Miner makes their own rifle, scopes and arrows for a fraction of the price.
Mining's camp feature, the Lodestone, gives up to 90 melee Attack Power to everyone at your camp. That's wasted on a Marksmanship Hunter, but it's one of the best camp buffs for a Survival Hunter, who now fights in melee.
The two BoP items every Hunter wants
Two items in the Hunter pre-raid lists can't be bought, and neither comes from Leatherworking or Engineering.
Legionite Glaive (Blacksmithing). +16 Agility, +54 Attack Power and +10 Hit Rating, item level 63. It's the top two-hand weapon in all three pre-raid lists. For Beast Mastery it's the best melee weapon setup overall; Marksmanship and Survival do slightly better with two one-handers, like Heartseeker and Ironwood Blade - which are Blacksmithing too, but Binds when equipped. Kami Labs notes the Glaive's plans come from reputation. The bigger problem is its materials: 15 Legionite Bars, 8 Heavy Thorium Bars, 10 Azerothium Bars, 4 Torbernite and a Death Lotus. At one transmute every 47 hours, that's about a month of cooldowns for one Alchemist.
Frozen Heart of the Mountain (Enchanting). The top trinket in all three Hunter pre-raid lists at 60 - and in the level 50 lists. It's in there mainly for its +9 Hit Rating and resistances; its use effect boosts Frost and Shadow spells, which Hunters don't rely on. It's Binds when picked up, made from Blood of the Mountain, Essence of Undeath and 3 Small Brilliant Shards.
Neither is worth building your professions around. The Glaive is a melee weapon on a ranged class (for two of the three specs), and the trinket's main stat is hit. If you happen to be a Blacksmith or an Enchanter, they're a nice bonus.
Beast Mastery Hunter professions
Our Beast Mastery Hunter BiS list at 60 has 20 crafted entries: 12 Leatherworking, 6 Blacksmithing, 1 Engineering and 1 Enchanting. The top crafted picks are the Black Dragonscale Helm, Swift Flight Bracers, Mourning Handguards, Legionite Glaive, Frozen Heart of the Mountain and the Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle Mk XVII.
In Forever, pets scale with your gear - they get 10% of your Attack Power and use your hit - so every bit of Agility and hit on your crafted gear helps your pet as well as you.
Our pick: Leatherworking + Skinning while you level, for the Stalker's set and quivers. At 60, Engineering + Mining for the rifle, scopes and Swiftfeather Arrows. Beast Mastery is the one spec where the Legionite Glaive is the best melee weapon setup - if you want it, Blacksmithing is the only way.
Marksmanship Hunter professions
Our Marksmanship Hunter BiS list has 21 crafted entries at 60 - 12 Leatherworking, 6 Blacksmithing and one each from Engineering, Enchanting and Tailoring - and 8 of them are BoP. With no pet, Marksmanship lives and dies by its ranged weapon, Aimed Shot and the new Sniper Shot, so the rifle matters more here than for any other spec.
Our pick: Leatherworking + Skinning to 60, then Engineering + Mining. Marksmanship also uses a lot of mana - Arcane Shot is the first thing it drops when mana runs low - so Alchemy is a good choice if you'd rather make your own Elixirs of the Mongoose and mana potions.
Survival Hunter professions
Survival is a melee spec in WoW Forever, and its list shows it. Our Survival Hunter BiS list has 23 crafted entries at 60 - the most of the three - including Attack Power gear like the Heavy Timbermaw Belt, Black Dragonscale Breastplate and Scalegut Treaders, and Blacksmithing melee weapons: Ironwood Blade and Heartseeker are the top pair. Only 4 of the 23 are BoP.
Survival still uses a ranged weapon, and the Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle is its top pick too. Our pick: Leatherworking + Skinning to 60, then Engineering + Mining - Mining's Lodestone is a real melee buff for Survival. If you'd rather make your own weapons, Blacksmithing + Mining is the alternative: the best Survival weapons are Blacksmithing BoE pieces, so you'd save a lot of gold.
See every crafted item in your Hunter BiS listOur Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival BiS lists show where each item comes from - crafted, quest or dungeon - with links to every recipe.Open Hunter BiSRaiding: every crafted Hunter item can be bought
Once you're raiding, the crafted picks thin out - 7 for Beast Mastery and 8 each for Marksmanship and Survival - and every one of them is Binds when equipped: Black Dragonscale Helm, Mourning Handguards, Shifting Cloak, the Tailoring Fel Cape, Chromatic Gauntlets, Blackfury and the Obsidian Mail Tunic for Survival.
So in raids, no profession gives a Hunter gear you can't buy. That's when the consumable professions catch up: Alchemy for flasks, Agility elixirs and mana potions, or Engineering for explosives and the Swiftfeather Arrow - the one epic Hunter item that only an Engineer can use.
Enchanting, Alchemy and Herbalism for Hunters
Enchanting makes the Frozen Heart of the Mountain and Agility enchants - Bracer, Gloves, Cloak, Boots, Necklace and a 2H Weapon Agility enchant are all in the recipe list, most from formulas you have to find. Kami Labs points out the Agility necklace enchant is used by Hunters, Rogues and other Agility classes. Its camp feature, the Enchanted Lute, adds Armor.
Alchemy makes the Hunter consumables - Elixir of the Mongoose at skill 295, Major Mana Potions at 310 - and the Legionite and Arcanite transmutes every 300 crafter needs. Its camp feature, the Mana Well, gives mana every 5 seconds. Herbalism, its partner, brings the Incense Candle for Intellect. Neither makes gear for Hunters, but together they save a lot of gold in a raid week.
First Aid and Cooking: free picks for every Hunter
- First Aid now makes Healing Potions, from the basic one up to Major Healing Potion at skill 290 - so Alchemy is no longer the only way to make them. Its First Aid Kit camp feature gives 3 to 56 Stamina.
- Cooking builds the campfire every camp needs.
- Fishing feeds Cooking, and its Fish Bowl camp feature gives 8% to all stats.
Making gold as a Hunter
Skinning is one of the easiest gold makers in the game for a Hunter: every beast you kill while levelling or questing drops leather you can sell. At 60, the BoE crafted items are where the money is:
- Leatherworking: Black Dragonscale Helm, Mourning Handguards, Swift Flight Bracers and Shifting Cloak - wanted by every Agility class that can wear them.
- Engineering: the Hyper Deluxe Sniper Rifle Mk XVII - every Hunter will want one - and Thorium Shells for the Hunters who aren't Engineers.
- Mining: Heavy Thorium Bars, which every 300 crafter needs.
Best professions for Hunters in WoW Forever: FAQ
- What are the best professions for Hunters in WoW Forever? Leatherworking + Skinning while levelling, then Engineering + Mining at level 60.
- Is Leatherworking good for Hunters? Yes - it makes the most Hunter gear, and the Stalker's Mail set is BoP. At 60, most of its best items are BoE, so you can buy them instead.
- Is Engineering worth it for Hunters? Yes. It makes the best pre-raid ranged weapon for all three specs, scopes, and the Swiftfeather Arrow, which only Engineers can use.
- Should a Survival Hunter take Blacksmithing? It's a good alternative: Survival's best melee weapons are Blacksmithing items, though they're BoE.
- Do gathering professions give passive bonuses in WoW Forever? Blizzard hasn't confirmed any. Lists of Skinning or Mining perks have been traced to an AI-generated post - see our professions guide.
More Hunter guides: best race for Hunters in WoW Forever, the best DPS class in WoW Forever, and every camp feature in WoW Forever.
Sources
- Forever Upgrades Hunter BiS lists (Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival, levels 40, 50 and 60, Pre-Raid and Raid), and recipes, materials and item binding from the WoW: Forever game files, build 1.60.1.70532, on our Professions pages (October 28, 2026)
- Gather Around the Campfire in World of Warcraft: Forever (Blizzard, October 21, 2026)
- WoW Forever Professions: Camp Buffs, Changes and Best Picks (Gamer Guides, updated October 18, 2026)
- The Best Profession Pairings for Every Class in World of Warcraft: Forever (Gfinity Esports, October 6, 2026)
- WoW Forever Professions by Class: My BiS List Picks (Kami Labs, October 25, 2026)