Marksmanship Hunter DPS Guide - Midnight (12.0.1)

Welcome to The War Within Marksmanship Hunter Guide! In this guide, we’ll dive into the class mechanics and overall changes. We aim to provide all the essential and relevant information to answer any questions you might have.

Marksmanship Hunter Overview

Marksmanship Hunter is a relatively mobile ranged DPS spec that is focused on slow-casting, but hard-hitting cooldown-limited abilities like Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire. Marksmanship Hunters are damage-focused snipers with excellent burst damage, mobility, and flexibility.

Marksmanship Hunter Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Bursty damage profile.
• High mobility, although not as high as Beast Mastery.
• Does not rely on Pet AI.

Weaknesses

• Hard-capped AoE.
• Weak utility and survivability without a pet.

Marksmanship Hunter Basic Gameplay

Marksmanship Hunter is a spec about cooldown management, uptime, and flow.

You want to cast your hard-hitter abilities like Aimed Shot, Rapid Fire, and Kill Shot as often as possible. In-between these abilities, which all have independent cooldowns, you are managing your Focus by using Arcane Shot as a spender and Steady Shot as a filler and builder. When you cast Aimed Shot, your next 2 Arcane Shot/Multi-Shots do significantly increased damage, so you generally want to make sure to weave two Arcanes or Multis in-between your Aimed Shots.

During Trueshot, your exciting main cooldown, everything dramatically speeds up and you will be spamming a ton of Aimed Shots and Rapid Fires while only weaving in Arcane Shot sparingly when you have no Aimed or Rapid Fire available.

On AoE, you want to activate the Trick Shots buff for all of your Aimed and Rapid Fire casts. This is done by simply weaving at least one Multi-Shot in-between every single cast of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire, even during Trueshot.

The best Marksmanship Hunters are excellent at doing these things on the fly and during hectic movement (which prevents Aimed Shot casting) and mechanics. They always know what to cast next and they have a great awareness of their Focus levels and the status of their cooldowns at all times.

Marksmanship Hunter Changes in Patch 11.2

Base Marksmanship Hunter Changes

• The talent tree has been extensively reshuffled, with several talents moved, removed, or added. Notably, Light Ammo returns, increasing our target cap from 6 to 8.
• Precise Shots now reduces the global cooldown of affected shots by 50%, significantly accelerating the rotation.
• Lock and Load procs are now much more frequent.
• Shrapnel Shot now triggers Explosive Shot to grantLock and Load, and the potency of Precision Detonation has been greatly increased, retaining the feel of the old 4PC bonus from Season 2.

Dark Ranger Changes

• The new node Umbral Reach causes Black Arrow to automatically spread its DoT and increase its damage. If 3 or more targets are active, Black Arrow also triggers Trick Shots, reducing the need for Multi-Shot on AoE.
• Trick Shots no longer needs to be active beforehand for Black Arrow cleaving.

Sentinel Changes

• Lunar Storm now resets the cooldown of Rapid Fire when it becomes available, eliminating the need to hold it.

Reshii Wraps Addition

Patch 11.2 introduces the Reshii Wraps Artifact Cloak from the K'aresh campaign, featuring a high-damage proc and customizable secondary stats. Updated Season 3 BiS lists are available on the Gear page.

Tier Set Bonuses

Tier set bonuses now vary by Hero Talent, with 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses differing between Dark Ranger and Sentinel. These bonuses influence build choices and rotations.

Overall, Patch 11.2 brings a full update to the Marksmanship Hunter guide to accommodate these changes and the new season.

Marksmanship Hunter Leveling Guide for The War Within

Marksmanship Hunter Leveling Playstyle

Marksmanship Hunter delivers high burst damage and solid AoE, making it particularly strong in dungeons. It can also be an effective questing spec, focusing on eliminating enemies before they reach you, typically with a powerful Aimed Shot followed by Rapid Fire and Kill Shot.

Best Leveling Pet for Marksmanship Hunter

For leveling, use a Ferocity pet, preferably a Scalehide, and activate Misdirection along with Scale Shield before pulling multiple enemies. Tag as many mobs as possible using Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot, allowing them to be drawn to your pet. Take advantage of the damage reduction from Scale Shield while using Marksmanship's powerful burst to take down enemies before they overwhelm your pet.

Marksmanship Hunter DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents

© Wowhead

Copy the Marksmanship Hunter talents, paste them into the game.

Single-Target - Dark Ranger

Mythic+/AoE/Delves - Sentinel

Raid AoE - Dark Ranger

PvP Talents (War Mode)

1. Ranger's Finesse provides more frequent uses of Exhilaration, helping you survive tough encounters and reducing downtime.
2. Sniper Shot increases your attack range, allowing you to engage enemies from a safer distance, which can speed up leveling.
3. Hunting Pack grants a useful movement speed boost, making it valuable for leveling and open-world exploration.

Other options come down to personal preference.

Best Hero Talents for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within

Raiding Hero Talents for Marksmanship Hunter

Dark Ranger

Dark Ranger offers the strongest single-target DPS and defensive toolkit among the two Hero Talents, making it the optimal choice for nearly all raid encounters. While it falls short in AoE compared to Sentinel, the difference isn't significant enough to justify choosing it over single-target performance in this raid.

Sentinel

Sentinel excels as the top Hero Talent for AoE DPS but falls behind in single-target damage, making it a less common choice for Raiding.

Mythic+ Hero Talents for Marksmanship Hunter

Dark Ranger

Dark Ranger delivers much stronger single-target DPS compared to Sentinel, but at the expense of AoE damage. In certain dungeons, like Workshop and Theater of Pain, this trade-off can be worthwhile.

Sentinel

Sentinel is typically the best Hero Talent for Mythic+ content, offering exceptional AoE damage alongside a solid defensive profile.

Marksmanship Hunter DPS Stat Priority

Marksmanship heavily favors Crit, making it the top stat in nearly all situations. After that, Sentinel prioritizes Mastery, while Dark Ranger leans toward Haste. Versatility remains the weakest stat for DPS. The ranking of the other three stats may vary based on your character's specifics, but Crit consistently holds the top spot.

Single-Target — Dark Ranger

Our Single-Target and AoE stat priorities align, as our AoE toolkit primarily enhances our single-target abilities to hit multiple enemies.

1. Weapon DPS
2. Critical Strike
3. Mastery
4. Versatility
5. Haste

Mythic+/AoE — Sentinel

Our Single-Target and AoE stat priorities are identical, as our AoE toolkit essentially amplifies our single-target abilities to strike multiple enemies.

1. Weapon DPS
2. Critical Strike
3. Mastery
4. Versatility
5. Haste

Diminishing Returns on Stats

At certain points, some stats will begin to provide diminishing returns. After reaching these thresholds, their benefits will decrease progressively. This doesn't mean that a stat becomes useless beyond these points, but if you surpass them, it's important to review your sims and determine if you should consider other stats.

• 21000 Crit, or 44%
• 19800 Haste, or 30%
• 23400 Versatility, or 30%
• 21000 Mastery Rating

Marksmanship Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities

Single-Target Rotation for Dark Ranger Marksmanship Hunter

1. When using 90-second Trinkets that provide stats, hold Trueshot for up to 10 seconds to maximize their effect.
2. For 2-minute stat Trinkets, use them during every second Trueshot.
3. Try to use damage-dealing Trinkets during Trueshot as they will scale with crit chance and damage.
4. Activate Trueshot, your main cooldown. Ensure you have at least one Streamline stack ready before activation for a buffed Aimed Shot.
5. Use Black Arrow when you have a Precise Shots stack to spend it efficiently.
6. Use Arcane Shot to spend your Precise Shots stacks.
7. Use Rapid Fire whenever possible.
8. Cast Explosive Shot if you have no Precise Shots stacks left, and you have a Lock and Load proc. Triggering Precision Detonation with a Lock and Load-buffed Aimed Shot (which also triggers a superpowered Explosive Shot due to your 4-piece set bonus) will buff the superpowered Explosive Shot itself.
9. Use Aimed Shot whenever it is available, and make sure to spend any Precise Shots stacks first.
10. Use Steady Shot as a filler/Focus generator and to generate Aimed Shot.

Single-Target Opener for Dark Ranger Marksmanship Hunter

1. Ensure Hunter's Mark is active on the target from you or another Hunter in the group!
2. Pre-cast Aimed Shot roughly 3 seconds before combat begins.
3. Cast Black Arrow.
4. Note that anytime Arcane Shot is mentioned in the opener, if you have a Black Arrow proc available instead, replace the Arcane Shott with it.
5. Cast Rapid Fire.
6. From this point onwards, use any Black Arrow (via Deathblow) procs that you get, as you get them, throughout the entire opener.
7. Spend any remaining Precise Shots stacks on Arcane Shot.
8. Activate Trueshot along with stat-granting on-use Trinkets, Racials, etc.
9. Cast Aimed Shot.
10. At this point, your opener branches out a lot depending on procs and Talents. Follow the standard rotation, and remember to use Black Arrow procs as you get them. If you get a Lock and Load proc, use an Explosive Shot into Aimed Shot.

AoE Rotation for Sentinel Marksmanship Hunter

1. When using 90-second Trinkets that give stats, hold Trueshot up to 10 seconds for them.
2. When using 2-minute stat Trinkets, use them for every 2nd Trueshot.
3. Try to use damage-dealing Trinkets during Trueshot as they will scale with the crit chance/damage.
4. Use Volley whenever available. I recommend using an @cursor placement macro for it, which you can find on the AddOns and Macros page. This does hefty damage, so ensure that you aim it right in the middle of the clump of targets, and do not cast it on a pack that is just about to move away.
5. Activate Trueshot, your main cooldown. You should try to have at least one Streamline stack and a Trick Shots prepared before activating it, so that you can open it with a buffed Aimed Shot.
6. Use Multi-Shot to apply Trick Shots if it is down, and in order to spend your Precise Shots stacks.
7. Use Rapid Fire whenever possible. It triggers Lunar Storm, and it is worth holding it for up to ~7 seconds (outside Trueshot) if Lunar Storm is about to become available within that timespan, in order to trigger the Storm as soon as it becomes available. Remember to activate Trick Shots with Multi-Shot before casting this in any case.
8. Cast Explosive Shot right before you plan to Aimed Shot with a Lock and Load proc. Triggering Precision Detonation with a Lock and Load-buffed Aimed Shot (which in turn triggers a superpowered Explo due to MM 4PC Set Bonus) will buff the superpowered Explo itself. This interaction works most reliably when closer than 20 yards.
9. Use Aimed Shot whenever it is available. Most of the time, you will want to spend your Precise Shots stacks first, but if you have a Spotter's Mark proc, you should cast the Aimed Shot immediately, regardless of Precise Shots.
10. Use Explosive Shot as a low priority-filler. Try to cast them either right before an Aimed Shot, or right after an Aimed Shot, provided that the Aimed Shot took at least a full-length GCD to cast.
11. If you are about to Focus cap, use Multi-Shot.
12. Use Steady Shot as a filler/Focus/Aimed Shot generator.

AoE Opener for Sentinel Marksmanship Hunter

1. Ensure Hunter's Mark is active on the highest-health target from you or another Hunter in the group!
2. Pre-cast Steady Shot roughly 2 seconds before combat begins.
3. Drop Volley on the center of the cluster of mobs. This activates Trick Shots for 6 seconds.
4. Cast Rapid Fire. This will benefit from Volley's Trick Shots.
5. Activate Trueshot.
6. Cast Aimed Shot. This will benefit from Volley's Trick Shots.
7. Cast Multi-Shot.
8. Continue your rotation, according to the priority list below. If you get a Lock and Load proc, use an Explosive Shot into Aimed Shot.

Single-Target Rotation Goals for Marksmanship Hunter

• Casting Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire as often as possible, both for single-target and AoE situations.
• Managing your Focus — Never cap it, but also ensure you have enough Focus to cast Aimed Shot off cooldown.
• Spending Precise Shots stacks on Arcane Shot/Multi-Shot, generated by Aimed Shot.
• Making sure that every Aimed Shot is affected by at least one stack of Streamline, which is generated by casting Rapid Fire and spending Precise Shots on abilities like Arcane Shot, and occasionally Kill Shot.

AoE Rotation Goals for Marksmanship Hunter

• All the same goals as the single-target rotation.
• Maintain Trick Shots for all your Aimed Shot, Rapid Fire, and Black Arrow (Dark Ranger) casts by using Multi-Shot between them, or with Volley.
• In the Single-Target and AoE sections, you will find a detailed priority list breakdown of the rotation, as well as optimal openers.

Marksmanship Hunter DPS Gems and Consumables

We highly recommend using Raidbots to sim your character's ideal gems and enchants, as they may differ from our general recommendations.

Sentinel

You should use Culminating Blasphemite in one socket. Then, ensure you have one gem of each type in other sockets to maximize the Crit effect, ideally Deadly Emerald/Deadly Onyx/Deadly Sapphire/Masterful Ruby. Fill in remaining sockets with Masterful Ruby.

Dark Ranger

You should use Culminating Blasphemite in one socket. Then, ensure you have one gem of each type in other sockets to maximize the Crit effect, ideally Deadly Emerald/Deadly Onyx/Deadly Sapphire/Quick Ruby. Fill in remaining sockets with Quick Ruby.

You can also choose to take a 0.4% DPS hit to use the Elusive Blasphemite with the gems above for an 8-10% movement speed boost. Given that we are somewhat mobility-limited, this can actually result in more DPS overall, and is worth considering if you're participating in high-level, dangerous content.

Best Flask for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within

You should be drinking the Flask of Alchemical Chaos at all times.

Best Potion for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within

Your stat potion should be Tempered Potion. Use these when you will do the most damage with your abilities, likely during your cooldowns and/or Bloodlust/Heroism. You can also obtain Fleeting Tempered Potion from Cauldrons that can be spawned by Alchemists.

You should keep a stock of Invigorating Healing Potion to use when at low health, and if you have a Warlock in the group, grab their Healthstone and use them as well. Do not macro these together, as they are best used separately! You can also obtain Fleeting Invigorating Healing Potion from Cauldrons that can be spawned by Alchemists.

Best Food for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within

Since our secondary stats are stronger per-point than our primary stat, you should be eating secondary stat food at all times, either Beledar's Bounty, Outsider's Provisions, Jester's Board, Empress' Farewell personal food, or the The Sushi Special Feast. They are all identical.

In addition, if you can afford it, you should use Crystallized Augment Rune to increase your primary stat. Augment Runes are expensive and disappear on death, so use them wisely!

Best Enchants for Marksmanship Hunter

Slot	Enchantment
Necklace	Magnificent Jeweler's Setting (adds up to 2 sockets to a Ring or Neck)
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths Enchant Weapon - Authority of Radiant Power
Chest	Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
Bracers	Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Leech Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance
Legs	Stormbound Armor Kit
Boots	Enchant Boots - Scout's March
Rings	Enchant Ring - Radiant Critical Strike
Cloak	Enchant Cloak - Chant of Leeching Fangs

Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths is a single-target proc that will always do the same damage regardless of your character's strength or your strength as a player. This makes it ideal for beginners, and for lower-geared characters. Since it only procs on a single-target, it quickly falls behind when you are doing Mythic+ or AoE, so this enchant is exclusively used for Raiding.

Enchant Weapon - Authority of Radiant Power is a great all-rounder, and will scale with your character's general power, and your skill. It is a very safe bet to run this for all content, but note that Depths can be a tiny bit better in some pure single-target scenarios, particularly if you are poorly geared or maybe not playing at a tip-top level.

Marksmanship Hunter DPS Gear and Best in Slot

This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

BiS Gear for Marksmanship Hunter

Slot	Item	Source
Helm	Midnight Herald's Cowl (TIER SET)	Forgeweaver Araz/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Neck	Ornately Engraved Amplifier	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder (710), or in Great Vault
Shoulder	Midnight Herald's Shadowguards (TIER SET)	The Soul Hunters/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Cloak	Reshii Wraps	Season 3 Questline
Chest	Midnight Herald's Hauberk (TIER SET)	Fractillus/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Bracers	Glyph-Etched Vambraces with Dawnthread Lining	Crafted by Leatherworking
Gloves	Glyph-Etched Gauntlets with Dawnthread Lining	Crafted by Leatherworking
Belt	Durable Information Securing Container with Static Charge	Patch 11.1.7 Questline
Legs	Midnight Herald's Petticoat (TIER SET)	Loom’ithar/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault
Boots	Interloper's Chain Boots	The Soul Hunters in Manaforge Omega
Ring #1	Logic Gate: Alpha	Plexus Sentinel in Manaforge Omega
Ring #2	Devout Zealot's Ring	The Dawnbreaker (710), or in Great Vault
Trinket #1	Unyielding Netherprism	Fractillus in Manaforge Omega
Trinket #2	Astral Antenna	Loom’ithar in Manaforge Omega
Weapon	Yasahm the Riftbreaker	Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder (710), or in Great Vault

Best Trinkets for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within Season 3

This Trinket Tier List is based on an average of Single-Target Raid and Mythic+ AoE Performance, weighted 65/35 (Mythic+ has single-target too!).

Note that the Trinkets are compared at their highest possible Item Level, which is only 710 for Delve Trinkets. Not only that, but 723 Mythic+ Trinkets are only obtainable via the Great Vault. At equal iLvls, the picture may be very different and that is why you should sim yourself.

A "Tier" as defined by this list is around 0.5%-1% DPS.

S-Tier

• Astral Antenna
• Unyielding Netherprism

A-Tier

• Signet of the Priory
• Cursed Stone Idol

B-Tier

• Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker
• So'leah's Secret Technique (Crit)

C-Tier

• Lily of the Eternal Weave
• Sigil of the Cosmic Hunt
• Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
• Araz's Ritual Forge
• Ara-Kara Sacbrood
• Algari Alchemist Stone

D-Tier

• Incorporeal Essence-Gorger
• Harvester's Edict
• Screams of a Forgotten Sky

The War Within Season 3 Tier Set for Marksmanship Hunter

The Tier Set is comprised of 5 items, all carrying the Midnight Herald's moniker.

In Season 3, there are two Set Bonuses per spec, one for each Hero Talent.

Dark Ranger

Hunter Dark Ranger 11.2 Class Set 2pc: Black Arrow damage increased by 10%, Bleak Powder damage increased by 20%, and the cooldown of Trueshot is reduced by 30 seconds.

Hunter Dark Ranger 11.2 Class Set 4pc: Withering Fire damage increased by 50%, and whenever you consume Deathblow, you have a 50% chance to cause all Withering Fire Black Arrow barrages in your next Trueshot to fire 1 additional Black Arrow.

Sentinel

Hunter Sentinel 11.2 Class Set 2pc: Rapid Fire damage increased by 25%. When Lunar Storm fades, gain Boon of Elune, causing your next 2 Aimed Shots to deal Arcane damage and have their damage increased by 20%.

Hunter Sentinel 11.2 Class Set 4pc: Sentinel's damage is increased by 25%. Boon of Elune is now active for the duration of Lunar Storm at 100% effectiveness.

The Tier Set Bonus is absolutely mandatory for competitive play, and you should prioritize obtaining it. You can use the Matrix Catalyst to convert regular items (from Mythic+, for example) into Tier Items.

Addons for Marksmanship Hunter

Generic Addons for Hunters

• ElvUI
• Weak Auras
• Boss Mods
  • Deadly Boss Mods
  • BigWigs
• Details!
• GTFO

Specific Addons for Marksmanship Hunters

• Currently, no additional addons are needed to play a Marksmanship Hunter to its full potential.

WeakAuras for Marksmanship Hunter

WeakAuras is an essential tool for Marksmanship Hunter and DPS players, offering unparalleled customization to enhance your gameplay. Rather than focusing on specific examples, we recommend exploring Wago.io, where you’ll find an extensive library of WeakAuras to suit your needs.

If you are unfamiliar with WeakAuras, it is an incredibly powerful and widely-used AddOn that allows you to create custom displays for nearly everything in the game. This includes tracking buffs, debuffs, cooldowns, Focus, resources, and much more.

To import a WeakAura, visit Wago.io and select one that fits your preferences. Click the "Copy WeakAura Import String" button to copy it to your clipboard. Next, log into the game and type /wa in the chat box to open the WeakAuras interface. Navigate to the "Import" section, press Ctrl+V to paste the copied string, and click "Import". You’re ready to go!

Mastering WeakAuras and customizing it to your playstyle is highly recommended for any serious raider. With countless options available on Wago.io, you can tailor your interface to optimize your performance and focus on what truly matters in combat.

Marksmanship Hunter Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Best Pet for Marksmanship Hunter?

As a Marksmanship Hunter, the Lone Wolf talent encourages you to play without a pet for maximum damage.

If you need to use a pet, know that all pets deal the same amount of damage. However, their utility varies significantly, so choose one based on the situation. For detailed information, refer to a dedicated guide on pets.

Is there a Haste cap for Marksmanship Hunters?

No, Marksmanship Hunters do not have any specific Haste breakpoints. While Haste starts to provide diminishing returns at 30% from rating, it can still remain your best stat beyond this point depending on your gear and build.

Which Race is Best for Marksmanship Hunter?

The difference between the best and worst races is minimal, around 1-2% at most. If you'd like to maximize your performance, use a tool like Raidbots to simulate your character. In general, Dwarf and Tauren are strong choices.