Marksmanship Hunter: Midnight Expansion Preview

Welcome to our Midnight expansion guide for Marksmanship Hunter. Ahead of the launch, this page will contain everything you need to know about the Marksmanship Hunter spec in the forthcoming Midnight expansion, including changes, Hero Talent Trees, and some light predictions on the state of the spec going into the expansion.

This page is a constantly evolving work in progress, with regular changes expected as updates hit Midnight Beta. This is not meant to be a launch guide for Marksmanship Hunter but instead serves as a resource for you to keep up to date with how the spec is evolving on Beta and what you can expect from its playstyle and feel on launch.

When announcing the changes that form the basis of this article, Blizzard offered a Developer's Note, a qualitative look and insight into their vision for Marksmanship Hunter in the next expansion:

Developers’ notes: We are generally pleased with the state of Marksmanship after their Undermine(d) and Ghosts of K’aresh updates, but there were a few bigger things we’d like to address as we move into Midnight. Most notably, the introduction of Streamline as a core mechanic for Marksmanship inflated the amount of cast time reduction Marksmanship Hunters have access to while also contributing an extra aura to track. Aimed Shot is meant to be a long cast that is worth the wait. As its cast time reduces, so too must its damage, and we feel that flies in the face of what Aimed Shot should be about– as such we’ll be removing Streamline and increasing Aimed Shot’s damage. While Explosive Shot found a home as a guaranteed way to gain Lock and Load in Ghosts of K’aresh, we feel that it’s healthier for the spec as a whole to distance itself from Explosive Shot and instead focus on the more fantasy-forward spells like Volley and Kill Shot– spells that more often than not are competing with it in your rotational priorities. Speaking of Kill Shot, we are removing it from the Hunter class tree and letting Marksmanship fully own the execute niche it provides. Trueshot is gaining some cooldown reduction, cast time reduction, and focus cost reduction to compensate for the removal of Streamline.

Pretty straightforward, but here are the cliff notes:

• They felt Aimed Shot's cast time was getting so short that they felt forced to nerf its damage, and weak Aimed Shots is not what they feel Marksmanship should be about.
• Explosive Shot did not have a good home in Marksmanship's spec identity.
• Marksmanship's execute ought to be unique among the Hunter specs, which is partly achieved by its Kill Shot-exclusivity.

These are the universal Hunter changes for the Midnight expansion. Some are baked-in while others come as a result of altered Class Talents. We are not particularly constrained in terms of the potent Class Talents we can pick, so for simplicity's sake, I will simply list Class Tree-contingent changes as if they are baseline.

• Hunter's Mark is now a universal 3% damage increase against a single-target. This essentially guarantees Hunter a raid spot in every raid. It is also a boost to the group in Mythic+, though it is much less potent there.
• Hunters have +2% higher max HP than previous.
• Exhilaration's cooldown is now a 1-minute flat, instead of variable (and often lower).
• Aspect of the Turtle's cooldown is now 2:00, down from 2:30.
• Aspect of the Cheetah's initial "super" speed burst is now twice as long, and gives you 100% dodge chance for its duration. This can be used to cheese and evade several mechanics and is a nice mobility and defensive boost all in one.
• Kill Shot is gone and is a Marksmanship-tree exclusive.
• Successfully kicking with Counter Shot/ Muzzle now grants 30 Focus, up from 10, but soothing/purging with Tranquilizing Shot no longer grants Focus.
• Counter Shot now spell-locks the target for 5 seconds, up from 3.
• Aspect of the Turtle is now a 50% damage reduction, up from 30%.
• Survival of the Fittest's duration is now 14 seconds, up from 8.
• The slows from Wing Clip and Concussive Shot are 25% and 10% stronger, respectively.
• Freezing Trap can now slow the target by 70% for 4 sec after the trap breaks.
• Intimidation is now our sole stun/stop. A choice node either reduces its cooldown to 40 sec, or makes it a 1-second AoE stun. Implosive Trap, High Explosive Trap, and Bursting Shot are all gone.
• Horsehair Tether is now a Class Tree node and not attached to the Pack Leader Hero Talent. It is a choice node with Tar-Coated Bindings, which extends Binding Shot's stun by 1 sec.
• Roar of Sacrifice is now an external defensive that can be used on yourself or any friendly target to reduce their damage taken by 15% for 10 sec, but 50% of their damage taken will be taken by your pet. It will end prematurely if your pet drops below 25% health.
• Explosive Shot is gone along with all of its affecting talents.
• Ghillie Suit is gone.
• Scatter Shot is gone.
• Scrappy is gone.
• Binding Shackles is gone.
• Fortitude of the Bear is now 3% passive damage reduction, instead of being an active defensive cooldown.

Overall, we are gaining defensiveness and mobility, while in the utility department, we are losing some things (like the ability to move mobs) but gaining others (stronger Mark, streamlined AoE stun, stronger kick and more Focus return on kicking). I think the changes are broadly positive!

Next up are the specific changes for Marksmanship Hunter. Once again, I will focus on changes that materially affect gameplay and character-building, while skipping Talents and changes I deem to be completely neutral in these departments, since the goal is to cut through the fluff and give you a real picture of how Marksmanship Hunter feels going forward!

• Streamline is gone and as a result, Aimed Shot's cast time is much longer at a baseline of 3 sec. During Trueshot, this is reduced to 1.8 sec. Its damage has been buffed to compensate, but overall, expect a slower-playing, more sniper-focused and deliberate Marksmanship "feel" in Midnight.
• All of the Explosive Shot-related Talents are gone. We do keep Shrapnel Shot, which now triggers off Volley.
• Volley's cooldown can be reduced to 30 sec via Talents, but this is a choice node with the new Shrapnel Shot. In other words, choose between a much stronger 45-second Volley, or a weaker 30-second one.
• Other removed talents include Razor Fragments, Double Tap, Moving Target, and of course, Improved Streamline.

Note that there are several NYI Talents, and no Apex Talents yet. Overall, Marksmanship is going to feel mostly familiar, with the longer Aimed Shot cast times being the primary change in terms of feel. The removal of Streamline and Moving Target eliminates some of the incentives for always spending all of your Precise Shots between Aimed Shot, and it is possible we may sometimes forego spending these stacks to ensure we never cap on Aimed Shot charges. Kill Shot is now a Marksmanship-exclusive, but the removal of Razor Fragments is a massive nerf to its damage and potential in AoE situations. It remains to be seen what Kill Shot's role in our rotation will end up becoming.

• No more Deathblow procs from Auto-Shots.
• Rapid Fire is now guaranteed to grant Deathblow.
• Aimed Shot's chance of giving you a Deathblow proc is increased to 20%.
• After you activate Trueshot, the Trueshot button itself turns into Wailing Arrow, a powerful instant cast that activates Deathblow and also kicks/silences all targets hit for 1 sec.
• The Dark Hounds previously spawned by the Talent are now reflavored as "Dark Minions" for Marksmanship. They are basically skeletal dudes with bows that spawn beside you and fire at your target.

There are other changes to Dark Ranger's damage profile, but they are of a passive nature. The main thing here in terms of feel and gameplay is that Black Arrow procs are a bit less RNG and more in your control, with a huge RNG element removed in the Auto-Shot change, and a lot more control added with the Rapid Fire change.

• Full redesign, everything is new.
• Spotter's Mark is replaced by Sentinel's Mark and is much stronger.
• Don't Look Back is now a flat 10% absorb shield that you get whenever you get a Sentinel's Mark proc.
• Maximum Focus increased to 125.
• Procs now reduce Aimed Shot's cooldown by 2 sec.
• Increases Trueshot's duration to 19 sec, up from 15 sec.
• The chance of generating Sentinel's Mark procs is 10% higher during Trueshot.
• Like Dark Ranger, after activating Trueshot, the Trueshot button becomes Moonlight Chakram which sends a glowy chakram that deals heavy AoE damage as it bounces between enemies. Choice nodes can cause this Chakram to give us Lock and Load and trigger Sentinel's Mark.

Lots of cool flavor and strong mechanics in here. It is still a fairly passive Hero Talent in terms of gameplay, but instead of just being passive damage in the background, it is passive benefits to existing gameplay like longer cooldowns, a powerful new button to press in cooldowns, and more procs that in turn give more cooldown reduction and so on.