Marksmanship Hunter Best Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits — Dragonflight 10.2.5
Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits are the most important character customization options in Shadowlands. They have a substantial impact on your toolkit and performance as Marksmanship Hunter. This page's purpose is to help you pick the right options according to the content you intend to do in Shadowlands.
Dragonflight Disclaimer
Please be aware that as of the Dragonflight Pre-Patch and Dragonflight expansion, all Covenant abilities, Soulbinds, and Conduits will only function while within the Shadowlands. This page will temporarily remain as a reference.
Introduction: Prerequisites
This page assumes that you are already familiar with Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits. If that is not the case, we have a number of pages that can help you get up to speed:
- Covenants Guide, which explains what Covenants are, what perks they bring, and how you can join one;
- Hunter Covenant Abilities, which lists all the abilities that Hunters gain by joining each Covenant;
- How To Change Covenant?, which tells you how you can switch Covenant (rejoining a former Covenant will require you to perform a number of tasks to regain their trusts);
- General Soulbind Guide, which explains what Soulbinds are and how you can pledge yourself to them to open up their Soulbind tree;
- Hunter Conduits, which lists all of the Conduits available to Hunters.
Best Covenant for Marksmanship Hunter
- Night Fae with Dreamweaver is the best Raiding Covenant build for Marksmanship Hunters with its extremely powerful burst damage via the Fragments of the Elder Antlers Legendary Power. The Dreamweaver Soulbind grants Podtender, which is a "cheat death"-style ability every 10 minutes. It is very important to stand in the Field of Blossoms circle for the full duration of Wild Spirits when using this Soulbind, to enhance your burst.
- Kyrian with Forgelite Prime Mikanikos is the best Mythic+ Covenant build for Marksmanship Hunters. It has supreme AoE on 5+ targets which is useful for large pulls in Mythic+.
- Venthyr with Theotar the Mad Duke is the best Venthyr setup for Marksmanship Hunters. It is generally weaker than Kyrian and Night Fae in all situations, especially AoE and burst, but it has a high-speed, reactive playstyle that many enjoy. Standing in the Parasol provided by Soothing Shade is important.
- Necrolord with Marileth is the best Necrolord setup for Marksmanship Hunters. It is weak for all situations and should never be played in an optimal setup, but many enjoy the burst damage provided by the Bag of Munitions Legendary Power for Mythic+ especially.
Best Soulbind for Marksmanship Hunter
- Night Fae always runs Dreamweaver with the 3 Potency Conduits Spirit Attunement, Sharpshooter's Focus, and Powerful Precision. For AoE, we swap out Powerful Precision for Deadly Chain. We recommend the right path at the bottom of the Tree, allowing you 2 Endurance and 1 Finesse Conduits.
- Kyrian always runs Forgelite Prime Mikanikos with the Soulbind Conduits Enfeebled Mark, Sharpshooter's Focus, and Powerful Precision. For AoE, we swap out Powerful Precision for Deadly Chain. Mikanikos uses Hammer of Genesis, and so it runs only Enfeebled Mark and Deadly Chain for its two Potency Conduit slots. It is mandatory to pick the left side at the bottom of the tree to pick up the DPS Soulbind Ability Soulglow Spectrometer.
- Venthyr always runs Theotar the Mad Duke with the 3 Potency Conduits Empowered Release, Sharpshooter's Focus, and Powerful Precision. For AoE, we swap out Powerful Precision for Deadly Chain. We recommend going for any path that allows 2 Endurance Conduits, but the path you choose to get there is up to your personal preference and situation.
- Necrolord always runs Plague Deviser Marileth with the 3 Potency Conduits Necrotic Barrage, Sharpshooter's Focus, and Powerful Precision. For AoE, we swap out Necrotic Barrage for Deadly Chain. We recommend picking up 2 Endurance Conduits, and then going for the right path at the bottom of the tree to pick up Undulating Maneuvers.
Best Conduits for Marksmanship Hunter
Best Potency Conduits for Marksmanship Hunter
We have mentioned the Potency Conduits in our Soulbind recommendations above. In short, Sharpshooter's Focus is always ideal, while you go Powerful Precision for single-target, and Deadly Chain for AoE. The Covenant-specific Conduit (for example Spirit Attunement) is always picked.
Best Endurance Conduits for Marksmanship Hunter
- Marksman's Advantage
- Resilience of the Hunter
- Condensed Anima Sphere
- Rejuvenating Wind
- Harmony of the Tortollan
Best Finesse Conduits for Marksmanship Hunter
- Reversal of Fortune (provided you can interrupt)
- Cheetah's Vigor
- Ambuscade/ Tactical Retreat
Changelog
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Guidewriter, Theorycrafter, and top player since 2014, who is widely considered one of the best PvE Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with hundreds of top parses across all Hunter specs. He is the Head Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the official Hunter Class Discord. You can find him on his stream on Twitch and his channel on YouTube. He also has his own, personal Discord server where you can freely ask him any Hunter questions you may have!
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