In World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight, Marksmanship Hunter is a blast to play. A bit different from the other Hunter Specializations but extremely fun in its own right. Marksmanship Hunter has looked great for a long time, and now with the addition of the new Talent Tree System, it is looking even better.
With the choice to steal Talents and Abilities from other Hunter Specializations, you can truly dial in your Hunting efficiency. The best part about this is that you have the potential to top the DPS charts. This class hasn't changed too much to become unrecognizable from its presence in the last expansion, so it will be easy to pick up and play.
Why Marksmanship Hunter?
Marksmanship Hunter has a lot of lovely qualities. This may be the class for you if:
1. You love Hunter but hate having pets. The best part about Marksmanship Hunter is that you do not have to have any pets if you don't want to have them. In fact, not having pets gives you a bonus in damage output. So, if you aren't a pet-friendly player but love Hunter, Marksmanship is the Specialization for you.
2. You don't like lots of movement in your rotation. Since Marksmanship Hunter is a long-ranged class, you will not have to move much. This will also take some complication out of your finger's ability to hit keys. Along with being ranged, the casting times for Marksmanship Hunters are on the long side. So, you will be playing on the fringes of the battlefield, not moving much, and casting for longer than average to deal the most damage.
3. You love big damage numbers. Marksmanship Hunter has the potential to be one of the top DPS, and you will notice this right away with the huge damage number that pops up when you manage your rotation properly. It is so rewarding to see massive damage numbers. So, if you are competitive and need to be a top DPS, Marksmanship Hunter may be for you.
Best Races For Marksmanship Hunter
When picking Races, the bottom line comes down to picking the race you love most. The game is all about having fun, so if there is a race you love the most, by all means, pick that first and foremost. That being said, some races have Racial Abilities that may help any Marksmanship Hunter.
Race | Racial Name | Racial Effect |
|---|---|---|
Human | Every Man For Himself | Remove all stun effects. Shares a cooldown of 90 seconds with similar effects. |
Orc | Blood Fury | Increase of Melee attack power. |
Void Elf | Spacial Rift | Ability to teleport through a rift in space. |
Troll | Beserking | Melee, ranged, and spell haste increase by 15 percent for ten seconds. |
Gnome | Escape Artist | Escape any immobilization or movement speed reduction effects. |
Goblin | Rocket Jump and Rocket Barrage | This will allow Goblins to use their rocket belt to jump forward and launch belt rockets at an enemy dealing damage. |
Most of the recommended Horde Races here, namely Orc and Troll, grant a bonus that will help increase damage output. While Goblin will allow you some extra movement if you need it since you will be standing still a lot of the time, so extra movement to dodge mechanics is a plus since you may be a bit behind more mobile Classes.
Two of the recommended Alliance Races focus on negating movement-impairing effects, which can be extremely useful. Whereas Void Elf gives you the active racial ability for more movement. They also have passive racial qualities of dealing extra damage and not having your casting slowed when taking damage. These are a plus all around for any Marksmanship Hunter.
Marksmanship General Talent Tree
Wowhead Build Link |
|---|
Hunter General Talent Tree | |
|---|---|
Row One | |
Kill Shot | Deal a massive amount of damage to finish off the enemy. Only usable on enemies with less than 20 percent health. |
Row Two | |
Posthaste | Disengage also frees you from all movement impairing effects and increases movement speed by 50 percent for four seconds. |
Improved Kill Shot | Kill Shot's damage is increased by 25 percent. |
Row Three | |
Counter Shot | Interrupts Spell Casting and Spell Locks that school for three seconds. |
Natural Mending | Every 12 focus used reduces the cooldown of Exhilaration by one second. |
Row Four | |
Tar Trap | Throw a Tar Trap and, if triggered, create an eight-yard pool of tar, slowing the enemy's movement speed by 50 percent. |
Misdirection | Misdirects any threat you cause to a target party member. |
Survival of the Fittest | Reduces all damage you and your pet take by 20 percent for six seconds. |
Row Five | |
Improved Traps | Cooldown of Tar, Steel, High Explosive, and Freezing Traps is reduced by five seconds. |
Natures Endurance | Survival of the Fittest damage reduction increased by 20 percent. |
Born to be Wild | Reduces the cooldown of your aspects by 20 percent. |
Row Six | |
Binding Shot | Fire a magical projectile and tether enemies within five yards to it for 10 seconds, stunning them if they move more than five yards away. They will also deal less damage while tethered. |
Rejuvenating Wind | Exhilaration heals you for an additional 20 percent of maximum health over six seconds. |
Row Seven | |
Hunter's Avoidance | Damage taken by AoE effects is reduced by six percent. |
Pathfinding | Movement Speed increased by six percent. |
Row Eight | |
Keen Eyesight | Critical Strike chance increased by four percent. |
Master Marksman | Your melee and ranged special attack critical strikes cause the target to bleed for an additional 15 percent of the damage dealt over six seconds. |
Row Nine | |
Serrated Shots | Serpent Sting and Bleed damage is increased by 20 percent; this is increased to 40 percent if the target is below 30 percent health. |
Arctic Bola | Aimed Shot has a chance to deal extra damage with the assistance of the Arctic Bola; it will also snare the target by 20 percent for three seconds and can strike up to two targets. |
Serpent Sting | Fire a poisoning shot. Causing damage immediately followed by a DoT. Will also fire at two additional enemies near the target. |
Row Ten | |
Steel Trap | A trap that immobilizes the enemy. Causing them to take bleed damage over 20 seconds, and damage may break the Steel Trap's hold. |
Death Chakram | Throw this at an enemy dealing damage seven times and bouncing to other targets if nearby. Enemies hit with this take 10 percent increased damage from you and your pet. Each time it hits an enemy, it does 15 percent more damage, and you gain three focus. |
Poison Injection | Serpent Sting now applies Latent Poison to the target. This poison can stack up to 10 times, and Aimed Shot will consume all stacks and deal mass damage. |
Build Import String:
- B4PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIHAaBAJIAAAAAQkIRSSigQSSLRaESUEaCJJhECaAAAAAA
As you level in the Dragon Isles from 60 to 70, talents are not extremely important. Instead, perhaps view this time as a great opportunity to explore and discover aspects of your Talent Tree. Who knows, you may even find a build that is even more efficient than this one. That being said, this build focuses mostly on single-target damage but does have some abilities that deal AoE damage. There are some important talents here to be aware of:
- Kill Shot: Deal a massive amount of damage to finish off the enemy. Only usable on enemies with less than 20 percent health. This will help you down enemies one by one faster to take on the next.
- Improved Kill Shot: This will increase the damage to Kill Shot, ensuring the enemy's defeat.
- Death Chakram: This will be handy when you fight one big bad guy or multiple. This is your main damaging AoE ability.
Talents to Consider
- Camouflage: The ability to go stealth. If you don't like unnecessary fights, this may be perfect for you to skip them. If you go with the Night Elf Race, you can use the Racial Ability Shadowmeld and then activate this to exit fights easily.
- Scare Beast: Scares a beast, causing it to run in fear. This may help in multiple target fights, however, only if they are of the beast type.
- Entrapment: When Tar Trap activates, all enemies in the area are rooted for four seconds. This can come in handy in multiple target fights as well.
Marksmanship Hunter Specialization Tree
Wowhead Build Link |
|---|
Marksmanship Specialization Tree Talents | |
|---|---|
Row One |
|
Row Two |
|
Row Three |
|
Row Four |
|
Row Five |
|
Row Six |
|
Row Seven |
|
Row Eight |
|
Row Nine |
|
Row Ten |
|
Build Import String:
- B4PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIHAaBAJIAAAAAQkIRSSigQSSLRaESUEaCJJhECaAAAAAA
The major talents here are Trueshot, Lone Wolf, and Double Tap. These all play off each other extremely well and are necessary for any single target Marksmanship Hunter build. Two of these play off of your big damaging, Aimed Shot ability; together, these three will increase your overall damage output significantly.
- True Shot – Reduces the cooldown of your Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire abilities by 70 percent and causes Aimed Shot to cast 50 percent faster for 15 seconds.
- Lone Wolf – Increases damage by 10 percent when no pet is active.
- Double Tap – Your next Aimed Shot will fire a second time instantly, dealing 100 percent damage without consuming Focus, or your next Rapid Fire will shoot 100 percent additional shots without consuming a charge.
As you level, don't hesitate to explore this tree as well. These will come in handy, but you may find something that works better for you and your play style. Ultimately, it is all about having fun, so do your best to explore and discover these talents and possibly create a whole new great build.
Marksman Hunter Talent Tree For Dungeons And Mythic+
Wowhead Build Link |
|---|
Hunter Dungeons And Mythic+ Talent Tree | |
|---|---|
Row One | |
Kill Shot | Deal a massive amount of damage to finish off the enemy. Only usable on enemies with less than 20 percent health. |
Row Two | |
Posthaste | Disengage also frees you from all movement impairing effects and increases movement speed by 50 percent for four seconds. |
Improved Kill Shot | Kill Shot's damage is increased by 25 percent. |
Row Three | |
Counter Shot | Interrupts Spell Casting and Spell Locks that school for three seconds. |
Natural Mending | Every 12 focus used reduces the cooldown of Exhilaration by one second. |
Row Four | |
Tar Trap | Throw a Tar Trap and, if triggered, create an eight-yard pool of tar, slowing the enemy's movement speed by 50 percent. |
Misdirection | Misdirects any threat you cause to a target party member. |
Survival of the Fittest | Reduces all damage you and your pet take by 20 percent for six seconds. |
Row Five | |
Tranquilizing Shot | Removes one Enrage and one Magic Effect from an enemy target. Successfully dispelling grants 10 Focus. |
Improved Traps | Cooldown of Tar, Steel, High Explosive, and Freezing Traps is reduced by five seconds. |
Natures Endurance | Survival of the Fittest damage reduction increased by 20 percent. |
Born to be Wild | Reduces the cooldown of your aspects by 20 percent. |
Row Six | |
Binding Shot | Fire a magical projectile and tether enemies within five yards to it for 10 seconds, stunning them if they move more than five yards away. They will also deal less damage while tethered. |
Camouflage | Gain Stealth for one minute. You heal for two percent of max health every two seconds when stealthed. |
Row Seven | |
Hunter's Avoidance | Damage taken by AoE effects is reduced by six percent. |
Pathfinding | Movement Speed increased by six percent. |
Row Eight | |
Keen Eyesight | Critical Strike chance increased by four percent. |
Master Marksman | Your melee and ranged special attack critical strikes cause the target to bleed for an additional 15 percent of the damage dealt over six seconds. |
Row Nine | |
Serrated Shots | Serpent Sting and Bleed damage is increased by 20 percent, this is increased to 40 percent if the target is below 30 percent health. |
Arctic Bola | Aimed Shot has a chance to deal extra damage with the assistance of the Arctic Bola, it will also snare the target by 20 percent for three seconds and can strike up to two targets. |
Serpent Sting | Fire a poisoning shot. Causing damage immediately followed by a DoT. Will also fire at two additional enemies near the target. |
Row Ten | |
Explosive Shot | After three seconds, the shot will explode and damage all enemies within eight yards. Deals reduced damage beyond five targets. |
Death Chakram | Throw this at an enemy dealing damage seven times and bouncing to other targets if nearby. Enemies hit with this take 10 percent increased damage from you and your pet. Each time it hits an enemy, it does 15 percent more damage, and you gain three focus. |
Poison Injection | Serpent Sting now applies Latent Poison to the target. This poison can stack up to 10 times, and Aimed Shot will consume all stacks and deal mass damage. |
Marksmanship Specialization Tree Talents | |
|---|---|
Row One |
|
Row Two |
|
Row Three |
|
Row Four |
|
Row Five |
|
Row Six |
|
Row Seven |
|
Row Eight |
|
Row Nine |
|
Row Ten |
|
Build Import String:
- B4PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA4ARoFASCCCAAAAQkERSSi4ACRSLkGRQRKaCJJhESoBAAAAA
You may see that the differences in this tree come down to the abilities that do AoE damage. This is important for any DPS when running Mythic+ dungeons. Slight variations in this tree will allow for great single and multi-target fights. The best of both worlds, which is necessary to time those Mythic+ dungeons.
The most notable Talents for AoE in this build are:
- Multishot: Hits your target and all targets within 10 yards. This is key to making sure you do enough AoE damage. Remember that the damage is reduced if it is more than five targets.
- Trick Shots: When your Multishot hits three or more targets, your next Aimed Shot or Rapid Fire will ricochet and hit up to five additional targets for 55 percent of normal damage.
- Salvo: Multishot and Volley also now apply Explosive Shot up to two targets. This can only occur every 45 seconds, but every 45 seconds, you will see huge damage go out.
The Single-Target damage will occur from the following Talents:
- Hunter's Knowledge: Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire's critical strike chance increased by five percent.
- Streamlined: Rapid Fire's damage increased by 15 percent, and the next Aimed Shot, after Rapid Fire, is cast 30 percent faster.
- Careful Aim: Aimed Shot deals 50 percent increased damage to enemies above 70 percent health.
Marksmanship Talents For Raids
Wowhead Build Link |
|---|
Hunter Raid Talent Tree | |
|---|---|
Row One | |
Kill Shot | Deal a massive amount of damage to finish off the enemy. Only usable on enemies with less than 20 percent health. |
Row Two | |
Posthaste | Disengage also frees you from all movement impairing effects and increases movement speed by 50 percent for four seconds. |
Improved Kill Shot | Kill Shot's damage is increased by 25 percent. |
Row Three | |
Counter Shot | Interrupts Spell Casting and Spell Locks that school for three seconds. |
Natural Mending | Every 12 focus used reduces the cooldown of Exhilaration by one second. |
Row Four | |
Tar Trap | Throw a Tar Trap and, if triggered, creates an eight-yard pool of tar, slowing the movement speed of the enemy by 50 percent. |
Misdirection | Misdirects any threat you cause to a target party member. |
Survival of the Fittest | Reduces all damage you and your pet take by 20 percent for six seconds. |
Row Five | |
Improved Traps | Cooldown of Tar, Steel, High Explosive, and Freezing Traps is reduced by five seconds. |
Natures Endurance | Survival of the Fittest damage reduction increased by 20 percent. |
Born to be Wild | Reduces the cooldown of your aspects by 20 percent. |
Row Six | |
Binding Shot | Fire a magical projectile and tether enemies within five yards to it for 10 seconds, stunning them if they move more than five yards away. They will also deal less damage while tethered. |
Rejuvenating Wind | Exhilaration heals you for an additional 20 percent of maximum health over six seconds. |
Row Seven | |
Hunter's Avoidance | Damage taken by AoE effects is reduced by six percent. |
Pathfinding | Movement Speed increased by six percent. |
Row Eight | |
Keen Eyesight | Critical Strike chance increased by four percent. |
Master Marksman | Your melee and ranged special attack critical strikes cause the target to bleed for an additional 15 percent of the damage dealt over six seconds. |
Row Nine | |
Serrated Shots | Serpent Sting and Bleed damage is increased by 20 percent; this is increased to 40 percent if the target is below 30 percent health. |
Arctic Bola | Aimed Shot has a chance to deal extra damage with the assistance of the Arctic Bola; it will also snare the target by 20 percent for three seconds and can strike up to two targets. |
Serpent Sting | Fire a poisoning shot. Causing damage immediately followed by a DoT. Will also fire at two additional enemies near the target. |
Row Ten | |
Steel Trap | A trap that immobilizes the enemy. Causing them to take bleed damage over 20 seconds, and damage may break the Steel Trap's hold. |
Death Chakram | Throw this at an enemy dealing damage seven times and bouncing to other targets if nearby. Enemies hit with this take ten percent increased damage from you and your pet. Each time it hits an enemy, it does 15 percent more damage, and you gain three focus. |
Poison Injection | Serpent Sting now applies Latent Poison to the target. This poison can stack up toten0 times, and Aimed Shot will consume all stacks and deal mass damage. |
Marksmanship Specialization Tree Talents for Raid | |
|---|---|
Row One |
|
Row Two |
|
Row Three |
|
Row Four |
|
Row Five |
|
Row Six |
|
Row Seven |
|
Row Eight |
|
Row Nine |
|
Row Ten |
|
Build Import String:
- B4PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIHAaBAJIAAAAAQkIRSSigQSSLRaESUEaCJJhECaAAAAAA
You may notice some similarities between this build and the leveling build. Yes, they are similar, but while the Leveling and General Build is a suggestion, this Raid build is elite for those big single-target fights. While Raiding, Single-Target damage output is of utmost importance. The talents here will provide just that for you in your time Raiding. The most notable Talents here are:
- Unerring Vision: When Trueshot is active, you gain a one percent critical strike chance, and a two percent increased critical damage health every second, stacking up to ten times.
- Windrunner's Guidance: Each Wind Arrow fired has a three percent chance to grant you ten seconds of Trueshot.
- Lock and Load: Ranged attacks have a chance to cause your next Aimed Shot to cost no Focus and be instant.
This build mainly revolves around True Shot and talents that help boost this. This will ensure the highest single-target output possible, and it is a blast to play. You will be pleased with the grace and ease that big damage numbers come rolling out of your barrel or bow.
Rotation
The Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter is rather easy but lengthy. That said, it will require you to be accurate with your timing and ability activations. Your Rotation will roughly look like this:
Sequence | Ability Name |
1. | Steady Shot to apply and maintain Steady Focus buff. Refresh when it drops below five seconds or when it drops. If Trueshot is active, don't worry about applying it. |
2. | Killshot when it can be used. |
3. | Steel Trap and Explosive Shot on Cooldown. |
4. | Double Tap |
5. | Rapid Fire or Aimed Shot |
6. | Death Chakram on Cooldown. |
7. | Volley on Cooldown. |
8. | Rapid Fire on Cooldown. |
9 | Trueshot on Cooldown, but only use it when you need big damage for Mobs. |
10. | If Bombardment is talented, use 4 Arcane Shots and Chimaera Shot or Multishot, then Bombardment here. |
11. | Aimed shot on Cooldown always, especially to spend Precise Shots stacks. |
12. | Steady Shot two times to get Stead Focus back up. |
13. | Wailing Arrow on Cooldown if talented. No need to use this during Trueshot |
14. | Steady Shot if you are out of options or need something to fill in cooldown gaps. |
Some Tips
If some of the above-mentioned abilities aren't talented, feel free to skip those steps. You will also want to throw your Traps in the steps there when applicable, as well as any interrupts.
Aside from the steps mentioned above, if you can line up Trueshot and Double Tap fairly close to each other, if not right next to each other in your rotation, this will come in handy. This will increase your damage output significantly, and they play off each other quite well.
If this rotation is a lot to remember or seems confusing, you may want to try some add-ons to help you in your rotation. The addon Hekili is great for this and will show you what to use next in your rotation to get the most damage.
However, with this addon they don't always keep in mind cooldowns in the priority of their suggested rotation. For instance it may not suggest using Trueshot and Double Tap in close timing with one another, but if that sequence works for you, then knowing this will help with any troubles with the addon.
Macros
Macors will make your life so much easier in certain instances. You will be able to program your own sequence of abilities to essentially use fewer buttons to do so. For instance, a very helpful Hunter macro is:
- /cast [@focus] Misdirection
This macros is almost necessary when using Misdirection. For this macro to work properly, you will need to focus the tank of your party or raid by right-clicking on their party frame and selecting "Select Focus." If you do this and then use this macro, Misdirection will automatically be applied to them without needing to mouse over any player, which can get messy.
Another useful macro for Marksmanship Hunters is:
- /cast Double Tap
- /cast Trueshot
This macro will allow you to bind Double Tap and Trueshot to a single button. Now that will be extremely efficient when those two arise in rotation together. However, bind them separately in your action bar to ensure you can use them individually when necessary.
If you need assistance in making macros, feel free to check out our dedicated Guide to Create Macros.
Stat Priority
The good news for Marksmanship Hunter Stat priority is that it is the same across any PVE content. The Marksmanship Hunter stat priority is as follows:
- Mastery
- Critical Strike
- Versatility
- Haste
You will want to keep your Mastery high and your Critical Strike and Versatility close behind. This should be a general rule of thumb for stats here. Don't forget about Haste completely, but it certainly isn't as important as the others.
Diminishing Returns are important to remember. Any Stat above 30 percent will take penalties on their continued effectiveness.
Enchants
The effectiveness of Enchants will differ depending on the crafting tier, but these are the Enchants you will want for your Marksmanship Hunter.
Gear Slot | Enchantment Name |
|---|---|
Chest | Waking Stats |
Necklace | Tiered Medallion Setting |
Cloak | Graceful Avoidance |
Legs | Fierce Armor Kit |
Bracers | Devotion of Avoidance |
Boots | Plainsrunner's Breeze |
Weapon | High Intensity Thermal Scanner or Completely Safe Rockets |
Rings | Devotion of Critical Strike and Devotion of Mastery |
Phials
Phial of Tepid Versatility is the best Singe-Target Phial. This will increase your Versatility for 30 minutes. The best AoE Phial is the Phial of Glacial Fury. The Phial of Glacial Fury will give you a stack of Glacial Fury for 15 seconds after the first hit on the target. This allows any damaging abilities to have a chance to deal extra damage to the enemy. Damage is increased by 15 percent for each stack, with a max of five stacks.
Combat Potions
The Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power is the choice for any Marksmanship Hunter's Combat Potion. Increase your Primary Stat for 30 seconds with this. The cheaper version of this is called the Elemental Potion of Power.
Health Potions
The Refreshing Healing Potion will be the choice for Health Potions. This will heal you for a remarkable amount.
Food Buffs
The best food choice for Marksmanship Hunter is the Fated Fortune Cookie or Thousandblade Tongueslicer. The first will increase your primary stat, and the second will increase your Critical Strike and Mastery. If you can bring the Grand Banquet of the Kalu'ka or Hoard of Draconic Delicacies to the Raid or Mythic+, these will also suffice.
Gear
While you level from 60 to 70 in the Dragon Isles, don't worry too much about gear, it will come easily via Questing and Dungeons. Making sure you quest as much as possible will give you plenty of opportunities to gear up. However, if you fall behind in item level, you may want to spend some gold at the nearest Auction House or Craft some gear from Blacksmithing or Leatherworking Professions.
End Game Level 70 Gear
Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
Neck | Ukhel Ancestry Beads | The Nokhud Offensive |
Head | Amphibian's Bellowing Crown | The Halls of Infusion |
Cloak | Mammoth-Trainer's Drape | Neltharus |
Shoulders | Scaled Commencement Spaulders | Algeth'ar Academy |
Wrist | Shikaar Ranger Bracers | The Nokhud Offensive |
Chest | Fatebound Chainmail | Uldaman |
Legs | Tassets of Densified Oose | Brackenhide Hollow |
Gloves | Galerattle Gauntlets | Ruby Life Pools |
Belt | Swollen Bark Clasp | Brackenhide Hollow |
Boots | Booths of Explosive Growth | Algeth'ar Academy |
Ring | Platinum Star Band | Algeth'ar Academy |
Trinket | Irideus Fragment | The Halls of Infusion |
Trinket | Bottle of Spiraling Winds | The Nokhud Offensive |
Ring | Scalebane Signet | Neltharus |
Main Hand and Off Hand | Titan Forged Blaster | The Halls of Infusion |
Source: Read Full Article