Marksmanship Hunter DPS Gear and Best in Slot — Dragonflight 10.1

Welcome to our Gearing Page for Marksmanship Hunter. This section will cover everything you need to know about equipping your character correctly.

For more detailed information on Stat Priority, please visit our Stats page.

For more detailed information on Gems and Enchants, please visit our Gems and Enchants page.

We also have a page dedicated to simulations for different aspects of your character. These can be found on our Simulations page.

Patch 10.0.7 introduced the Onyx Annulet, a special Ring with unique sockets that can only be filled by Primordial Gemstones, unique gems with special effects, but no secondary stats. The ring itself has no secondary stats either.

This Ring is roughly equivalent to a 441 iLvl Socketed Ring with BiS Stats, so it is probably worth obtaining as it will last for quite a while into Season 2, though it is not endgame BiS.

We highly recommend adding the contents of this Pastebin to your Raidbots Top Gear to sim all of the possible combinations for your character.

For more information on the best Primordial Gemstones to put in your Onyx Annulet, check out our Enchants and Gems page below.

For more information regarding the Onyx Annulet, the Primordial Gemstones, and how to obtain them, check out our dedicated guide for it below.

Below are the new Tier Set Bonuses for Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight Season 2, obtained by collecting 2 or 4 pieces of the Ashen Predator's Scaleform set. You can obtain these pieces from the Aberrus Raid, and the Great Vault.

• Hunter Marksmanship 10.1 Class Set 2pc cause Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot to deal 10% increased damage and have a 8% chance to grant the Deathblow effect.
• Hunter Marksmanship 10.1 Class Set 4pc — Kill Shot deals 15% increased damage and reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire by 1.5 sec.

In Dragonflight Season 2, we are able to combine the old 2PC Tier Set Bonus from Stormwing Harrier's Cuirass with our new 2PC Tier Set Bonus. Combining the old Mythic Tier with the new Heroic Tier in this way is actually a significant DPS gain over simply using the new Heroic Tier, and will remain competitive until you can get a full set of ~441 iLvl Ashen Predator's gear. You should sim yourself to be sure of its value, however.

It is impossible for a guide to provide a truly accurate BiS Tier List. This is because the values of stats, procs, and so on, will depend a lot on your other gear, your character's race, and more. Everything affects everything else. Furthermore, stats are generally close together in value, enough so that Item Level becomes the most important aspect of whether you equip a new piece of gear.

For these reasons, we do not provide a "BiS List" on this guide, and would suggest that you stay clear of them. Instead, when deciding if an item is an upgrade, you should sim yourself using Raidbots. On this page, we will focus on more general and universal guidance, but it is wise to sim yourself for practically all gearing decisions.

If you are not familiar with Raidbots, you can use our Raidbots Guide to get started.

The Valor Upgrade system is gone in Season 2, and is replaced by a new system that allows for item upgrades to be obtained from a wider variety of content.

Dragonflight Season 2 introduces two new currencies: Flightstones and Shadowflame Crests, both obtainable from practically forms of content in the game. They can be used to upgrade gear up to Item Level 441, which is entry- level Mythic Raid Item Level. They can also upgrade Crafted Gear up to iLvl 447, which is late-Mythic Item Level.

For more information on the new Gear Upgrades system, check out our dedicated page for it below.

As with Valor, the cost to upgrade scales differs per slot, but now also increases quickly as item levels go up.

Since Flightstones are theoretically infinitely farmable, we are going to focus on the raw power of upgrading certain item slots here, rather than the DPS value per Flightstone spent.

The absolute best way to find out what to upgrade on your character is to use the Raidbots Droptimizer. The list below is merely a rough guideline.

1. Weapons are by far the strongest slot to upgrade, but also the most expensive;
2. Trinkets are the second-strongest slot, generally speaking, and provided that you upgrade good Trinkets such as ones from our tier list below!;
3. Helm/Chest/Legs are all equivalent value to upgrade. Focus on upgrading the ones with good secondary stats!;
4. Shoulder/Gloves/Belt/Boots;
5. Rings/Necklaces;
6. Cloaks/Wrists.

Many people have a tendency to overthink the distribution of their secondary stats. An important thing to remember is that a higher quantity of stats is nearly always better than a better quality of stats. Because of this, wearing higher item level gear with worse stats tends to be better than lower item level gear with great stats. Keep this in mind when considering gear. For more stats information, please refer to our dedicated page.

As mentioned above, it is highly advised that you sim yourself for all gear slots. Trinkets are different than most gear, as they are far more unique, with way more than just secondary stat distribution setting them apart from each other. For this reason, we feel confident enough to list some of the best overall Trinkets.

• Ominous Chromatic Essence — Dropped by The Forgotten Experiments in Aberrus. Requires two allies to be S-Tier. Otherwise A.
• Dragonfire Bomb Dispenser — Dropped by Zskarn in Aberrus. Best single-target.

• Matrix Restabilizer — Dropped from Ragnaros in Firelands. Only available during Cataclysm Timewalking.
• Beacon to the Beyond — Dropped by Scalecommander Sarkareth in Aberrus. More AoE-focused alternative to Dragonfire Bomb Dispenser.
• Harlan's Loaded Dice — Dropped from Freehold Mythic or above.
• Igneous Flowstone — Dropped by Magmorax in Aberrus
• Neltharion's Call to Dominance — Dropped by Echo of Neltharion in Aberrus.
• Naraxas' Spiked Tongue — Dropped from Neltharion's Lair Mythic or above. Sims higher than it performs, but is still a solid Trinket for pure single-target encounters at range. If you are reliably above 20 yards for the entire encounter, this is S-Tier.

• Erupting Spear Fragment — Dropped from Neltharus Mythic or above.
• Idol of Pure Decay — Dropped from Brackenhide Hollow Mythic or above.
• The Hungerer — Dropped from Majordomo Staghelm in Firelands. Only available during Cataclysm Timewalking.

• Screaming Black Dragonscale — Dropped by Kazzara in Aberrus
• Globe of Jagged Ice — Dropped from Halls of Infusion Mythic or above.
• Irideus Fragment — Dropped from Halls of Infusion Mythic or above.
• Frenzying Signoll Flare — Dropped from Neltharus Mythic or above.

Cataclysm Timewalking is back as of May 23rd, 2023, and introduces new Trinkets and other items from dungeons like the Stonecore, Lost City of the Tol'vir, Throne of the Tides, End Time, Blackrock Caverns, and the Firelands Raid. The Firelands Trinkets can be upgraded to Item Level 437. They will only be available this week until Cataclysm Timewalking hopefully comes around again later.

The Cataclysm Timewalking Trinkets offer a few competitive options, though none of them will upset the general meta Trinkets of this Season. They also do not compete with the best Mythic+ Trinkets, but they can get rather close, though they will always be at a 4 Item Level disadvantage as they cap out at 437.

Overall, they are completely decent, but nothing fantastic. You should not feel bad if you do not farm for them.

The Firelands Trinkets can be upgraded to Item Level 437, while the Dungeon Trinkets are capped at lower Item Levels. We have ranked the Firelands Trinkets above in our Tier List, while the Trinkets listed below cannot compete with the Trinkets above due to their low item level.

Still, here is the ranking for the Cataclysm Dungeon Timewalking Trinkets:

1. Grace of the Herald — Dropped from Corla, Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns. Only available during Cataclysm Timewalking.
2. Arrow of Time — Dropped from Murozond in End Time. Only available during Cataclysm Timewalking.
3. Key to the Endless Chamber — Dropped from Corborus in The Stonecore. Only available during Cataclysm Timewalking.
4. Tia's Grace — Dropped from Siamat in Lost City of the Tol'vir. Only available during Cataclysm Timewalking.

We provide this list for posterity reasons mainly. We do not recommend that you use this list to guide your gearing or farming decisions, because every item in the list relies on you having every other item in the list to actually be BiS.

Seriously, I strongly recommend you do not take this list very seriously, and you should not try to chase any gear on it.

• Head
  • Ashen Predator's Faceguard — Aberrus/Great Vault
• Neck
  • Bromach's Disentombed Locket — Uldaman/Great Vault
• Shoulders
  • Ashen Predator's Trophy — Echo of Neltharion/Great Vault
• Back
  • Voice of the Silent Star — Scalecommander Sarkareth/Great Vault
• Chest
  • Ashen Predator's Sling Vest — Zskarn/Great Vault
• Wrists
  • Flame-Touched Cuffs — Crafted by Leatherworking. Haste/Crit.
• Hands
  • Ashen Predator's Skinners — The Forgotten Experiments/Great Vault
• Waist
  • Flame-Touched Chain — Crafted by Leatherworking. Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch Embellishment, Haste/Crit.
• Legs
  • Flame-Touched Legguards — Crafted by Leatherworking. Haste/Crit.
• Feet
  • Acidic Hailstone Treads — Crafted by Leatherworking (10% Slow)
  • Crechebound Soldier's Boots — Scalecommander Sarkareth/Great Vault
• Rings
  • Onyx Impostor's Birthright — Echo of Neltharion/Great Vault
  • Signet of Titanic Insight — Crafted by Jewelcrafting
  • Pretty much any other 447 iLvl Ring without Versatility can work, but the Signet above has a guaranteed Socket.
• Trinkets
  • Beacon to the Beyond — Scalecommander Sarkareth/Great Vault
  • Ominous Chromatic Essence — The Forgotten Experiments/Great Vault
• Weapons
  • Ol' Smoky — Crafted by Engineering
  • Bow of the Dragon Hunters — Crafted by Leatherworking
  • Any non-Versatility, 447 iLvl Ranged Weapon can also fit here, but Crafted items let you choose the stats on them.

This guide assumes that you understand the basics of Crafting, Reagents, and materials. I will explain how to best strategize your crafting for your character. Check out our Dragonflight Professions page below to learn about crafting in general and how it works.

The best way to decide how to spend your Sparks is to use Raidbots Droptimizer. Plug in your character then set the Item Level appropriately. The highest item level for Crafted Items is 447, but you may not have the Crests required to get there immediately.

If you do not have Raidbots Premium, you can manually import the relevant items (listed in Droptimizer) into Gear Compare. Remember to set correct item levels, gems, and enchants where applicable to ensure an accurate sim result.

Then, run the sim as you usually would and note the results. Note that weapons cost 2 Spark of Shadowflame and that you should halve the DPS increase for them to calculate your DPS per Spark correctly.

Aside from your sim result, you should think critically about the longevity of your crafted items. Will you replace this slot from the Raid or Mythic+ soon? If yes, you should probably craft something else. All items can be upgraded later on to higher item levels, but if you need character power in the short-term and you are happy to farm Mythic+ to get a lot of 431 iLvl gear, which you can upgrade to 441 with Flightstones and Crests; then you may consider the Unique Embellished Crafts discussed below.

Finally, consider your tier pieces. Early on, you will likely want the first 4 tier pieces that you can get, regardless of their slots. Thus, having a crafted item in a tier slot can risk wasting the Craft if you need to use that slot for a tier item.

There are two types of Embellished Items; Items that have special effects built-in, such as Elemental Lariat, and other Rare items with Optional Reagents added, such as Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch or Fang Adornments.

You can wear two Embellished items at a time, and you can combine pre-Embellished items with regular items that have been Embellished with an Optional Reagent.

Below, we rank the best Crafted Items, taking the above into account.

1. The absolute "best DPS" combo is Acidic Hailstone Treads combined with another Crafted item featuring the Toxified Armor Patch. However, this combination will permanently slow you by 20%, which is undesirable for competitive content.
2. By replacing the Toxified Armor Patch with a Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch, you lose approximately 0.5% to 1% DPS, but you will only be permanently slowed by 10% which is more manageable, but still not favored even by top players.
3. The best option with no slow whatsoever is combining two Crafted items with Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch. The effects will double. The effect will do a bit of damage to you, but not generally enough to matter. This combination is another 0.5% - 1% behind the 10% slow combo above. We recommend this for most players.
4. The Horizon Strider's Swiftness Set Bonus is optimal for pure AoE, but even Mythic+ does not have pure AoE, and the Raid is very single-target heavy, so we do not generally recommend the 2pc as your first Craft. If you go for it, you would typically want to craft the Gloves and the Belt, but any combination of 2 items in the set will perform close to equally and should be simmed.

It is worth noting that the Toxified Armor Patch/ Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patches do not care about which item they are attached to. Because of this, you will have to make an additional decision about which slot to put this Patch on.

You should avoid the Cloak Slot (because it is taken by Voice of the Silent Star) and Rings (as they cannot have Armor Patches on them). You should also be wary of crafting Tier Slot Items, unless you know that you can use the set bonus that you need to regardless.

Overall, Bracers, Boots, and Belts are reasonably safe options, but you should sim your own character and take your own situation into account.

Once you have finished your preferred Embellishments, you should focus on crafting to increase your Item Level. Overall, it is wise to craft your lowest item level slots first. Assuming equal Item Levels, however, go for Rings first as they offer customizability of your secondary stats and a free socket, then go for your Weapon, then Helm/Chest/Legs, then Boots/Belt/Gloves/Shoulders, and then Cloak/Wrists. This priority is based on the item level (Agility amount) on each slot, and will maximize your Agility gains when you Craft.