Huntsman

The Huntsman
The huntsman in the character selection screen.
Level	1
Strength	8—14
Dexterity	14—18
Constitution	9—15
Intelligence	6—9
Wisdom	8—12
Charisma	11—14
Armour	3
Hit Points	?
Experience	Bow; Wooden Arrows; Feathered Cap; Suit of Leather Armour; Low Boots.

"The Huntsman starts with simple leather armour, a short bow, 20 good arrows, boots, and a feathered cap." - In-game description.

The huntsman is a ranged character class, capable of shooting creatures at a distance, while having is pet finish off those who come too close.

His female counterpart is the huntress.

Stats

Alignments and Belief

Belief System: Inner Power.

• Chaotic Good. "The huntsman believes a spark of light is embedded inside him and that it may, with experience, be called upon for help;"
• Lawful Evil. "The huntsman believes a splinter of ice is embedded inside him and that it may, with experience, be called upon for help;"
• Neutral. "The huntsman believes a crystal shard is embedded inside him and that it may, with experience, be called upon for help."

Talents

• Beast Mastery;
• Courage;
• Dweomery;
• First Aid;
• Gastronomy;
• Mycology;
• Nightmare Mode;
• Weapon Knowledge;
• Weapon Precision.

Starting Equipment

• Uncursed bow (wielded in left hand);
• Twenty +1 wooden arrows (in quiver);
• Uncursed +0 feathered cap (being worn);
• Uncursed +0 suit of leather armour (being worn);
• Uncursed +0 pair of low boots (being worn).

Starting Skill

• Bow 1 Point.

Starting Pet

• Boxer Puppy.

Strategy

The huntsman class is for players who really want a challenge out of Wazhack, and not recommended for beginners. We're going to discuss how to (and how not to) play the huntsman.

The huntsman has a higher than average DEX score to ensure their arrows connect most of the time, as a missed arrow can mean the difference between life and death. The damage you deal as a Huntsman is mainly going to come from your bow. This makes things difficult due to the very slow rate of fire. For this reason you must become proficient at running away and shooting if you're fast enough, and walking through the dungeon slowly to not be surprised. The normal wooden arrows don't have much in the way of penetration, so you really can only hit one foe at a time, but the iron arrows and above can strike through multiple foes at once, which becomes essential in lower floors.

Let's discuss stats. Strength should only be considered if you intend on picking up a lot of junk, otherwise it's useless for huntsman. DEX should be very high to ensure hits with your arrows. CON should be high as well for HP, hunger, and carry capacity.  INT should be set to 9 if you wish to obtain the spells Knock or Wizards lock, which will save your butt. Selecting the Lawful evil alignment or the Chaotic evil  will increase the chances of finding Knock or Wizards lock early on. CHA should be considered if you shop a lot or are considering Summoning creatures, which is made easier due to the Beast mastery Talent.

Which talents you take depends on how the first floor or three went for you: You may wish to pick up First aid for the faster health regen, or Weapon Precision for extra damage at long range. Weapon knowledge, Beast mastery, Nightmare mode, and Mycology should wait until a much later level, unless you really know what you're doing...

Some tips: Even if the creature is walking/running towards you, aim where they are, not where they're going to be. If the creature is within melee range, the arrows will miss more often than not, and they can attack you 4+ times in the time it takes you to fire 1 arrow, just attack them regularly. You are not Usain Bolt, many creatures can out run you. This is why you should keep a spell or item ready to freeze your foes before they can get too close. (Wizards lock is a great spell for this). Aiming for the grey dot on a creature doesn't grant bonus DMG or anything like that.

ARROWS CAN BE RECOVERED! Sometimes you can just walk over the arrows and sometimes you have to pick them up manually. Don't forget to select which arrows you wish to use from the equipment menu.

If you have a bad first few floors, just restart, it's not worth it to go through all that pain just to get swarmed by 10 kobolds and 6 rats. Good luck...you'll need it.

Strategy - Flying Archer

From an alternative viewpoint, the hunter classes can be the easiest in the game by far. Once you find a levitation ring or boots of levitation, you are going to have a much easier time of it. These items are not that rare and should be your top priority to identify. You do not want a cursed item as you'll need to unequip this to recover loot.

Once you have your levitation ability you can simply float above most enemies. The only things of concern are flying enemies, giants (anything tall) or spear wielders. Ogre Lord doors are great for experience at no risk - although you'll need a decent supply of arrows.

Get straight to the mines as you'll have no issues taking out the gnomes - it's worth using the unoccupied walkers as target practice for a melee weapon, however in reality it's very unlikely that you'll need any weapon other than a bow throughout the game. Once you've cleared the mines you should have about 30 wands to help you with the pesky clouds.