Marksmanship Hunter Level 58 Boost Guide
This guide was designed to help new and returning Marksmanship Hunters with getting up to speed on how their class plays at Level 58 with the TBC talents and spells.
It is also an excellent first-read for players using the new TBCC Dark Portal Boost!
Overview
In The Burning Crusade Classic Blizzard has added a feature where you can boost a character instantly to level 58. While this feature greatly expedites the leveling process it can be overwhelming to know what abilities you will be using and what stats to aim for.
The talent build listed above is optimized for solo leveling, and is meant to be used for questing from 58-70. For more complete leveling guides, check out the pages below.
Important Abilities
Offensive Abilities
- Auto Shot is your basic ranged attack and will be the majority of your damage. It is slightly different than other basic attacks however, and you should read more about it here.
- Multi-Shot is your other core damage ability specifically for cleave and AoE. On multiple stacked targets you can add this into your rotation on cooldown.
- Aimed Shot is your hardest-hitting ability, but has a 3-second cast time. This is a great pre-pull ability or for when you need especially high burst damage.
- Hunter's Mark applies a debuff on the target that lasts forever, increasing the ranged attack power of anyone who attacks the target. This can only be active on one target at a time, and should always be up. Cast this before you engage a new enemy, since it will not start combat with them.
- Arcane Shot is an instant shot that deals Arcane damage. This is useful for quickly attacking enemies while moving if you have nothing else to use. This does share a cooldown with Aimed Shot, however, so it is worth keeping that in mind if you were planning to use Aimed Shot soon after.
- Serpent Sting is a damage-over-time effect that deals Nature damage. Assuming you do not need to use another sting, this is another solid ability to use while moving for when you cannot cast Steady Shot.
- Steady Shot the single most important DPS ability that you will learn as a Hunter. While you cannot learn it until Level 62, once you do it takes over your rotation. Steady Shot is a spammable, 1-second-cast shot that scales very well with your Attack Power.
- Kill Command commands your pet to instantly attack for some extra damage that is greater than a normal hit. This can only be used after you critically strike your target, but this ability is also off the GCD, so you can just macro it into your other rotational abilities.
Aspects
Hunters will always have one of their Aspect abilities active. These are essentially different buffs where you can choose which one you want to have active. As a default, you should always be in either Aspect of the Hawk for the extra ranged attack power or Aspect of the Viper if you are low on Mana.
Melee Abilities
Hunters have a minimum range on their ranged attacks, meaning if an enemy is within 5 yards, they must resort to using melee attacks. These are your different melee attacks that you can utilize:
- Raptor Strike is your most-powerful melee ability. It works like a Warrior's Heroic Strike, dealing bonus damage on your next melee swing. Use this on cooldown while fighting a target in melee.
- Mongoose Bite is your second-strongest melee ability, and only usable after you dodge an attack. Use this when available while fighting a target in melee.
- Wing Clip is a melee attack that deals a small amount of damage and slows the enemy's movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds. You should always keep this debuff up on an enemy if they are within melee range, as it is your best way to get away from them.
Cooldowns
These are the few cooldowns that Hunters have. Cooldowns are powerful abilities that do something special, but have a longer cooldown period before you can use them again. These can be incredibly important abilities, but due to their long cooldown periods, require careful consideration and planning for where you should make the best use of them.
- Rapid Fire is a Hunter's most important cooldown. It increases your ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds, which also affects your Aimed Shot cast time. This is a huge damage increase and should be used when you need the extra damage the most.
Utility
Hunters have several important utility spells in their arsenal that enable them to do things that other classes cannot.
- Misdirection requires that you target a friendly player or your pet to use. Once cast, it places a 30-second buff on you, and will last for your next 3 shots. For those 3 shots, all threat you generate is given to your initial friendly target instead. The best ability to use this with is Distracting Shot, as it generates the most threat out of any shot.
- Concussive Shot could be considered a core rotational ability due to how much you will use it. It is an instant shot that slows the enemy target by 50% for 4 seconds. This is very useful when kiting in PvE and PvP.
- Distracting Shot is an instant shot that generates threat against your target. If you need to get an enemy's attention, this is how you do it.
- Feign Death causes you to play dead, which drops your combat along with all threat against any target that was attacking you. This is also very useful in PvP, as it causes enemy players to lose you as their target when you use this ability.
- Trueshot Aura is the final talent on the Marksmanship tree. It is a 30-minute buff that increases your and your party's Attack Power. This is a powerful buff and is one of the main reasons that Hunters are brought to raids.
Stats
- Hit chance until 9%;
- Armor Penetration;
- Agility;
- Attack Power;
- Critical Strike.
Changelog
- 19 May 2021: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Impakt, an Officer in BDGG, the #2 North American guild on retail. In addition to live WoW, he has also been a TBC theorycrafter and enthusiast for many years. You can watch him stream on Twitch, or follow him on Twitter.
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