Marksmanship Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.2.5

To play Marksmanship, there are a few basic mechanics you must understand to fully unlock the potential of the spec.

Precise Shots is a buff that is activated whenever you cast Aimed Shot. It causes your next 1-2 Arcane Shots after casting Aimed Shot to do 75% more damage. You do not want to waste this buff by casting Aimed Shot when you have it active. You always want to spend the charges first.

Trick Shots is the primary AoE mechanic. When you cast Multi-Shot on 3 targets or above, your next Aimed Shot or Rapid Fire will cleave up to 5 additional targets for 50% of its original damage. You simply want this buff to be active when casting Aimed Shot or Rapid Fire while dealing with 3 or more targets.

1. Activate Double Tap when your next cast will be Rapid Fire rather than Aimed Shot. If Rapid Fire's cooldown is less than that of Aimed Shot, you can cast Double Tap already.
2. Activate Trueshot when the following conditions are met:
   • You have over 60 Focus.
   • Precise Shots is not up.
   • Rapid Fire is on cooldown.
3. Cast Rapid Fire on cooldown when Trueshot is down. When Trueshot is up, cast it when you are below 70 Focus.
4. During Trueshot: Cast Arcane Shot to spend Master Marksman procs (generally right after Aimed Shot at all times).
5. Cast Aimed Shot under the following conditions:
   • When Trueshot is up, you should essentially always cast Aimed Shot when you can. The conditions below assume that Trueshot is down.
   • When Precise Shots is down (when Arcane Shot is not glowing);
   • When it is about to cap on 2 charges.
6. Without Trueshot: Cast Arcane Shot to spend Precise Shots charges, but keep your Focus above ~40. If Trueshot is coming up shortly, use Arcane Shot to get to around 70 Focus.
7. Cast Steady Shot as a filler when there is nothing else to do.

The goal of the rotation is to never cap Focus, never reach 2 charges of Aimed Shot, maximizing Focus generated by Rapid Fire by casting it on cooldown (but never Focus capping still), and spending every Precise Shots proc.

Double Tap should be used with Rapid Fire by default. When the target is above 80%, or below 20% health, you should use it on Aimed Shot instead due to Careful Aim buffing Aimed Shot by 50% during those conditions.

When using it with Rapid Fire, keep in mind that the Focus generation will be doubled. You should ensure that you have low Focus before using it.

During Trueshot itself, your goal is to maximize your Aimed Shots, spending every Master Marksman proc and filling in with Rapid Fire when neither of those are available. Thus, the Trueshot priority looks something like this:

1. Double Tap should not be delayed for Trueshot, but if it comes up during it, you should still use it with Rapid Fire.>
2. Cast Arcane Shot when Master Marksman is up (right after Aimed Shot).
3. Cast Rapid Fire when you have less than 70 Focus.
4. Cast Aimed Shot on cooldown.
5. Cast Steady Shot.

On 2 targets, do the single-target rotation.

On 3 targets, your general rotation is the same, but there are a few changes to keep in mind. These changed are summarized in the priority system below.

1. Ensure that Trick Shots is activated before casting Rapid Fire and Aimed Shot. There is no rush to cast it, but it has to be up for those abilities.
2. Cast Rapid Fire on cooldown when it will not cause Aimed Shot to cap at 2 charges.
3. Cast Multi-Shot when Precise Shots is up.
4. Cast Aimed Shot on cooldown. Do not let it cap on 2 charges.
5. Cast Piercing Shot if you have chosen this talent.
6. Cast A Murder of Crows if you have chosen this talent.
7. Cast Explosive Shot if you have chosen this talent.
8. Cast Multi-Shot to keep yourself from Focus capping. Using it to stay at a low amount of Focus is fine.
9. Cast Steady Shot as a filler.

This section describes the recommended way to start the fight as a Marksmanship Hunter. It assumes you are using the recommended single-target talents for the spec.

1. Precast Double Tap with around 10 seconds remaining on the pull-timer.
2. Make sure to apply Hunter's Mark before the pull, if you are using this talent.
3. Just before the encounter starts, use your combat potion.
4. Start casting Aimed Shot roughly 2 seconds before the fight begins.
5. Cast Rapid Fire.
6. Cast Guardian of Azeroth if you are using this Essence.
7. Cast Arcane Shot (to spend your Master Marksman proc).
8. Cast Trueshot.
9. Cast Aimed Shot.
10. Cast Arcane Shot (to spend your Master Marksman proc).
11. Cast Aimed Shot.
12. Cast Arcane Shot (to spend your Master Marksman proc).
13. Cast Aimed Shot.
14. Cast Rapid Fire.
15. Cast Arcane Shot (to spend your Master Marksman proc).
16. Follow the Trueshot Rotation above until Trueshot ends, and then proceed with the normal Single-Target Rotation.

This section describes how to best open on fights that have AoE from the beginning, such as Champions of the Light, King Rastakhan, and Jaina.

1. Precast Double Tap with around 10 seconds remaining on the pull-timer.
2. Make sure to apply Hunter's Mark before the pull, if you are using this talent.
3. Just before the encounter starts, use your combat potion.
4. Cast Trueshot around 1.5 seconds before the encounter starts.
5. Cast Multi-Shot.
6. Cast Aimed Shot.
7. Cast Multi-Shot.
8. Cast Rapid Fire.
9. Cast Multi-Shot.
10. Cast Aimed Shot.
11. Cast Multi-Shot.
12. Cast Rapid Fire.
13. Follow the Trueshot Rotation above until Trueshot ends, and then proceed with the normal rotation.

Some trinkets have to be used in a particular way. We cover the most interesting ones here.

• Ashvane's Razor Coral should be activated on the pull, and it should be activated again when you cast your second Guardian of Azeroth alongside Trueshot. You want all 3 of these effects to line up with each other. Afterwards, reapply the Coral debuff and use it again with your next Guardian + Trueshot combo, ideally when the boss is below 20% health.
• Azshara's Font of Power should be precast around the 6-second mark, so that you have time to precast Aimed Shot as well. During the fight, make sure that you use it shortly before Trueshot to line them up. Try your best to not cap on Aimed Shot charges when doing your channel.
• The Cyclotronic Blast Red Punchcard effect which is used by the Pocket-Sized Computation Device should be used after your opener Trueshot is over, and it should be used outside of Trueshot for the rest of the encounter as well.

When combining Azshara's Font of Power and Ashvane's Razor Coral, you should use the Font ~19 seconds before Trueshot, then use Trueshot with 15 seconds left of the Latent Arcana buff. Immediately follow this up by triggering the stacks of the Coral trinket to gain all 3 buffs at once.

Master Marksman does not change your rotation in any fundamental way. You should be aware of when it is up so that you know when your Arcane and Multi-Shot will not cost any Focus, as this helps manage your Focus correctly.

Serpent Sting is a DoT that should be kept up at all times. You can refresh it with 3 seconds remaining and not waste any of its duration.

A Murder of Crows should be cast on cooldown. You can get even more damage out of it by casting it on targets that are about 10 seconds from dying. When they die, this will reset the cooldown of the ability and allow you to use it again for a large damage boost.

Careful Aim does not change anything fundamental in your rotation, although you do want to try and use Trueshot when it is active.

Volley does not change anything in your rotation.

Explosive Shot should be used on as many targets as possible. If you are only fighting one target, it should be used on cooldown and delayed as little as possible. It has a lower priority than Rapid Fire and Aimed Shot. It is worth it to delay it significantly if you can hit multiple targets.

Steady Focus encourages casting Steady Shot in multiples that are grouped up together. Instead of going Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, you would always move the Arcane Shot either in front of or behind the two Steady Shots to ensure you benefit from the buff as much as possible.

Streamline essentially increases your Rapid Fire Focus regeneration by 2. It does not change your rotation in any meaningful way.

Hunter's Mark should be applied to the primary target you are fighting. It is on the Global Cooldown, meaning that if you are swapping targets, you must be doing a significant amount of damage to it before it is worth spending your Hunter's Mark on it. It is generally worth re-marking anything that you are going to attack for more than 15-20 seconds. This can also depend on how important the target is to kill.

Lethal Shots procs from Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot every so often. It does not have a significant effect on your rotation, although it helps to be aware of your Rapid Fire cooldown so that you can react to a proc more quickly.

Barrage should not be used on a single target if you have chosen the talent, unless you are in a situation where you need to burn a lot of Focus quickly for any reason. It should be used on cooldown if you are fighting 2 targets or above.

Double Tap should be used right before Rapid Fire in a standard rotation, and right before Aimed Shot when Careful Aim is active (when the boss is under 20%, or above 80% health).

During Careful Aim, you should always use Double Tap on Aimed Shot, regardless of your Azerite Traits.

Calling the Shots does not have a fundamental effect on your rotation.

Lock and Load procs should be used as soon as possible, but you should always attempt to spend any Precise Shots procs that you have already before using the procced Aimed Shot.

Piercing Shot should be used on cooldown. It is worth delaying it if you can hit multiple targets with it however. If you can hit 2 targets, it is worth delaying up to 7 seconds to make that happen. If you can hit 3, it is worth delaying even more.