Hunter decks

The Hunter is one of the most aggressive classes you can choose to play in Hearthstone, and that's helped in no small part by a hero power which is capable of dishing out two points of damage to the opponent every turn, in exchange for two Mana. As you can imagine, this quickly piles a great deal of pressure onto the other player, forcing them to scramble to try and take control of the game quickly.

While the so-called Face Hunter - which all but ignores the board entirely in favour of going straight for the jugular - isn't quite as competitive as it was in the past, it is still a very powerful deck, particularly for newcomers. The classic Midrange Hunter archetype plays things a little slower depending on the opponent, but is still capable of finishing up a match at a blistering pace.

There have been other decks in the Hunter's history, but it's these two core archetypes that have defined the hero since the release of Hearthstone. In our Hunter deck round-up you'll find the latest version of both of these decks for the Standard and Wild formats, but we've also got a few other decks for you to try out as well, along with an entirely free deck for the complete newcomer to start messing around with.

Expect this collection of Hunter decks to expand over time, and do let us know in the comments if you think there's something we've missed. While we don't want this resource to become too bloated, we do want to make it the one-stop place you need for all things Hunter!

Top Hunter decks (Standard

If the Standard ladder is where you like to do your climbing - and if the Hunter's the class for you - these are the decks that are currently considered to be top-tier. We list them alphabetically here, but if you'd like a look at hard meta rankings for all of our decks, have a look at our deck tier list once you're done here.

Beast Master Hunter

This is the new Beast-heavy deck to hit the Gadgetzan metagame. It may well end up being the de factor Midrange archetype in time, but for now we present it as an alternative Hunter deck that you might enjoy piloting.

Face Hunter

While not quite the scourge of the Heathstone metagame that it once was, Face Hunter is still a force to be reckoned with on the ladder. It's not a complex deck to play by any means, but there is mastery to be had in extracting maximum efficiency from the archetype, and increasing your win-rate as a result.

Midrange Hunter

Midrange Hunter excels at locking down more aggressive decks before mounting an unstoppable force or - alternatively - closing games against slower opponents nice and quickly. A little practice goes a long way with Midrange Hunter, and will help you choose the correct moment to cease controlling the board and instead go for the kill.

Secret Hunter

Secret Hunter really came into its own with the addition of Cloaked Huntress in the Karazhan expansion, and one glance at that card explains pretty much everything you need to know about what makes this deck tick. Greener opponents will struggle to read and manage your cavalcade of Secret spells, but even veterans will have a tough time doing the same while also beating you to the finishing line.

Old meta decks

The following decks are no longer considered powerful on a par with those featured above, but we leave them here for those who fancy developing the concept further.

Hybrid Hunter

This mish-mash of a deck blends the best of Face and Midrange Hunters together, but it's been overtaken in the power-rankings lately by both of those decks and Secret Hunter. Sooner or later this deck is bound to make a comeback, but for now we think it's best left on the bench.

More popular Hearthstone guides:

• The best Standard Hearthstone decks - December 2016
• The best Wild Hearthstone decks - December 2016
• Hearthstone: Deck Tier List - November 2016
• Hearthstone: Druid decks
• Hearthstone: Hunter decks
• Hearthstone: Mage decks
• Hearthstone: Paladin decks
• Hearthstone: Warlock decks

Top Hunter decks (Wild)

If you'd rather test your mettle on the Wild ladder, we reckon these are your best options when playing as a Hunter.

Budget and free Hunter decks

If you're either new to the game or you just have a smaller collection of cards than usual, we've got a completely free deck that will help your earn more Gold and card packs. We'll be adding more budget decks in the near future.