With the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft in 2008, along with new content and the addition of an additional class, the profession Inscription was also added to the game. The Inscription profession allows its practitioners to enhance the spells and abilities of players’ characters via items called glyphs. There are two types of glyphs – Minor and Major. The difference between the two is how powerful they are. Minor glyphs tend to add very minor or aesthetic changes while Major glyphs provide more substantial improvements.
All classes have the ability to use three Minor glyphs and three Major ones. Level 15 unlocks 1 Minor glyph and 1 Major glyph. Level 30 unlocks a second Major glyph. Level 50 unlocks a second Minor glyph. Level 70 unlocks the third and final Minor glyph and level 80 unlocks the final Major glyph.
Glyphs are accessed via the Talents tab, under Glyphs. Like gems and enchants, they can be overwritten but cannot be stacked for double or triple benefit.
Minor Glyphs
There are six Minor glyphs available to hunters. It is recommended to use:
Glyph of Mend Pet: Your Mend Pet spell increases your pet’s happiness slightly. Available at Level 15, it helps eliminate the additional expense of feeding a pet so it regains happiness.
Glyph of Feign Death: Reduces the cooldown of your Feign Death spell by 5 sec. While the second Minor glyph slot is not unlocked until 50 and the Feign Death ability is actually available at 30, it comes down to a choice if the player wants to replace a previously installed glyph for this once Feign Death is learned.
The final Minor glyph is usually one of the following:
Glyph of Revive Pet: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Revive Pet by 100%.
Glyph of Scare Beast: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Scare Beast by 75%.
Major Glyphs
There are 27 Major glyphs available to hunters. The choices here are usually determined via talent specialization – as a Survival hunter has no use for the Glyph of Bestial Wrath, for example. Keep in mind that the recommendations made here are primarily for players who raid or plan on raiding in World of Warcraft. Because there are so many glyphs available, it can sometimes be daunting narrowing the choices down but the most important thing to keep in mind is what works for you. While many of these choices have been tested by the hunter community, personal mileage may vary.
Beast Mastery
The one “must have” glyph for the Beast Mastery tree is the following:
Glyph of Steady Shot: Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting.
Choices for the 3rd can come down to gear or how other shots are incorporated into the player’s rotation:
Glyph of Kill Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec.
Glyph of Serpent Sting: Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 sec.
Glyph of the Hawk: Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%.
Marksmanship
The one “must have” glyph for the Marksmanship tree is the following:
Glyph of Serpent Sting: Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 sec.
Choices for the 2nd and 3rd can come down to gear, how other shots are incorporated into the player’s rotation and talent point distribution:
Glyph of Chimera Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 sec.
Glyph of Kill Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec.
Glyph of Hunter’s Mark: Increases the attack power bonus of your Hunter’s Mark by 20%.
Glyph of Steady Shot: Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting.
Glyph of the Hawk: Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%.
Glyph of Trueshot Aura: While your Trueshot Aura is active, you have 10% increased critical strike chance on your Aimed Shot.
Survival
The two “must have” glyphs for the Marksmanship tree are the following:
Glyph of Explosive Shot: Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 4%.
Glyph of Serpent Sting: Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 sec.
Choices for the 3rd can come down to gear, how other shots are incorporated into the player’s rotation and talent point distribution:
Glyph of Kill Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec.
Glyph of Steady Shot: Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting.
Glyph of the Hawk: Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%.
Complete Glyph List
As previously mentioned, the glyphs above are guidelines – suggestions geared primarily towards raiding. Personal playstyle also plays a large part into glyph choice and some glyphs may prove more useful at lower levels than higher ones, for soloing or for player versus player combat.
Minor Glyphs
Glyph of Feign Death: Reduces the cooldown of your Feign Death spell by 5 sec.
Glyph of Mend Pet: Your Mend Pet spell increases your pet’s happiness slightly.
Glyph of Possessed Strength: Increases the damage your pet inflicts while using Eyes of the Beast by 50%.
Glyph of Revive Pet: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Revive Pet by 100%.
Glyph of Scare Beast: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Scare Beast by 75%.
Glyph of the Pack: Increases the range of your Aspect of the Pack ability by 15 yards.
Major Glyphs
Glyph of Aimed Shot: Reduces the cooldown of your Aimed Shot ability by 2 sec.
Glyph of Arcane Shot: Your Arcane Shot refunds 20% of its mana cost if the target has one of your Stings active on it.
Glyph of Aspect of the Viper: Increases the amount of mana gained from attacks while Aspect of the Viper is active by 10%.
Glyph of Bestial Wrath: Decreases the cooldown of Bestial Wrath by 20 sec.
Glyph of Chimera Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Chimera Shot by 1 sec.
Glyph of Deterrence: Decreases the cooldown of Deterrence by 10 sec.
Glyph of Disengage: Decreases the cooldown of Disengage by 5 sec.
Glyph of Explosive Shot: Increases the critical strike chance of Explosive Shot by 4%.
Glyph of Explosive Trap: The periodic damage from your Explosive Trap can now be critical strikes.
Glyph of Freezing Trap: When your Freezing Trap breaks, the victim’s movement speed is reduced by 30% for 4 sec.
Glyph of Frost Trap: Increases the radius of the effect from your Frost Trap by 2 yards.
Glyph of Hunter’s Mark: Increases the attack power bonus of your Hunter’s Mark by 20%.
Glyph of Immolation Trap: Decreases the duration of the effect from your Immolation Trap by 6 sec., but damage while active is increased by 100%.
Glyph of Kill Shot: Reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot by 6 sec.
Glyph of Mending: Increases the healing done by your Mend Pet ability by 40%.
Glyph of Multi-Shot: Decreases the cooldown of Multi-Shot by 1 sec.
Glyph of Rapid Fire: Increases the haste from Rapid Fire by an additional 8%.
Glyph of Raptor Strike: Reduces damage taken by 20% for 3 sec after using Raptor Strike.
Glyph of Scatter Shot: Increases the range of Scatter Shot by 3 yards.
Glyph of Serpent Sting: Increases the duration of your Serpent Sting by 6 sec.
Glyph of Snake Trap: Snakes generated by your Snake Trap take 90% reduced damge from area of effect spells.
Glyph of Steady Shot: Increases the damage dealt by Steady Shot by 10% when your target is afflicted with Serpent Sting.
Glyph of the Beast: Increases the attack power bonus of Aspect of the Beast for you and your pet by an additional 2%.
Glyph of the Hawk: Increases the haste bonus of the Improved Aspect of the Hawk effect by an additional 6%.
Glyph of Trueshot Aura: While your Trueshot Aura is active, you have 10% increased critical strike chance on your Aimed Shot.
Glyph of Volley: Decreases the mana cost of Volley by 20%.
Glyph of Wyvern Sting: Decreases the cooldown of your Wyvern Sting by 6 sec.