But Bear Iron Fist and Steel Torrent had yet to take their final shape. Their training had previously emphasized particular talent trees, and instructors from various classes sent by the Quel'Thalas Military Department had trained them using Nightstalker's methods as a reference. The results had been fairly good.
Yet after Yu Lin Bloodhawk arrived in The Hinterlands, he lost access to all those resources. Only Rangers, Rogues, and Mages were reasonably reliable options for instructors in The Hinterlands: people like Shidewa and Xingluoge, Thirteen and the others, and the Clerics of the War God Temple. As for practitioners of other classes who could serve as instructors... there were none!
Ever since Yu Lin Bloodhawk discovered those Orc Blademasters of the Burning Blade Clan, he had decided to combine the Blademaster class with these two types of Rangers.
Blademasters did not rely on heavy, cumbersome armor, which was tremendously important for Rangers. This both met Elf Rangers' need for agility and greatly improved High Elf Rangers' melee capabilities.
Steel Torrent's Rangers had previously fought as Archer Cavalry alongside their Battle Pets, achieving good results in the battles in The Hinterlands. They should continue developing in that direction, focusing primarily on Mounted Archery. However, because they charged into enemy formations alongside their Battle Pets, they would inevitably find themselves surrounded at times, making some close-combat training necessary.
If melee and ranged training were divided proportionally, a thirty-seventy split would work: thirty percent devoted to melee abilities and seventy percent to ranged attacks. Medium-Magic Rangers would therefore be the best foundation, improving their ranged killing power.
Bear Iron Fist, on the other hand, needed to focus on breaking through tough opposition because of their Battle Pets, specifically taking on targets that were individually powerful and heavily defended but not particularly fast.
Mounted archery