Marksmanship Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Shadowlands 9.2
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Marksmanship Hunter in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.2.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Marksmanship Hunter rotation.
Marksmanship Hunter Rotation
Welcome to our Rotation page for Marksmanship Hunters. On this page you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding and Mythic+ scenarios.
Easy Mode
If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.
PvP
The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.
Important Abilities, Procs and The General Rotation of Marksmanship Hunter
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 or
Multi-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,
except during
Trueshot.
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 55% 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.
The single target rotation for a Marksmanship Hunter is based on the following priority system.
Note that some checkboxes are ticked by default as they are currently meta choices that will be relevant for most people. If they are not appropriate for you, simply untick them and change them to something that is appropriate for your character.
Racials | Talents | Covenant Abilities/Soulbinds | Legendaries/Other Gear |
---|---|---|---|
Mag'har Orc |
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Troll |
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Orc |
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Lightforged Draenei |
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Vulpera |
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Dark Iron Dwarf |
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4PC Tier Set Bonus + Vigil Legendary | |
![]() | 2PC Tier Set Bonus | ||
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Marksmanship Hunter Single-Target Rotation
- Use your potion alongside
Trueshot. Remember that you will only have one Potion per 5 minutes.
- Cast
Kill Shot on cooldown.
- Cast
Double Tap on cooldown. It does not matter what ability you spend it on. You should ideally spend it on
Rapid Fire outside of
Careful Aim. You should save it for
Wild Spirits, but you can use a Double Tap inbetween Wild Spirits uses and still synchronize their cooldowns. You should always spend Double Tap on
Aimed Shot during
Wild Spirits.
- Cast
Wild Spirits on cooldown alongside
Trueshot.
- When
Trick Shots is down, if your 4PC Counter is below 5 and you have
Precise Shots to spend, cast an
Arcane Shot to bring the counter to at least 20, ensuring your next
Aimed Shot will proc Trick Shots.
- Cast
Trueshot on cooldown, but be sure to spend all your
Precise Shots stacks first.
- Cast
Aimed Shot on cooldown. Make sure to spend all
Precise Shots first. With the 4PC Tier Set Bonus, you should ignore
Precise Shots and focus on maximizing
Aimed Shot casts.
- Cast
Arcane Shot to spend
Precise Shots stacks, and whenever you are above 55 Focus.
- Cast
Steady Shot when you have 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.
Trueshot Rotation
Your Trueshot rotation is the same as the normal one, except for the
following
changes.
Keeping Aimed Shot from hitting 2 charges is a higher priority than
spending
Precise Shots. However, you should still try to spend Precise
Shots procs. Just do not let Aimed Shot hit 2 charges in doing so.
A lot of players struggle with Trueshot windows because they are
casting
Arcane Shot too much. The goal is to maximize
Aimed Shot
and
Rapid Fire casts, and to only use
Arcane Shot when this will
have no impact on your ability to cast Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire on cooldown.
This means that you will usually only ever cast Arcane Shot if you
are about to reach 90 Focus after an
Aimed Shot. If not, then leave the
"gaps" between Aimeds/Rapids to
Steady Shot instead. Be careful not to
cast too many Arcane Shots.
Multi-Target Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter
On 2 targets, do the single-target rotation. When using Volley on
two targets, you should make it a very high priority to cast
Aimed Shot
and
Rapid Fire inside the window. You do not need any particular Haste
amount for this, but it does mean that you should not cast any
Arcane Shot within this window.
On 3 targets and above, your general rotation is the same, with the exceptions listed below.
- You must always have
Trick Shots active when casting either
Aimed Shot or
Rapid Fire. This buff is activated by casting
Multi-Shot on 3 or more targets.
Arcane Shot disappears from the rotation in AoE situations, and is replaced by
Multi-Shot.
- When
Volley, a very powerful Level 50 AoE Talent, is being used and is active, you no longer need to use
Multi-Shot to maintain
Trick Shots. However, you still use Multi-Shot as a substitute for
Arcane Shot on 3 targets and above, as you will still need to spend
Precise Shots procs. During Volley itself, cast
Aimed Shot and
Rapid Fire in any order if possible. On 3 targets and above however, it does not really matter if you fit 2 spells into Volley, as you are using Multi-Shot for Trick Shots anyway. If
Trueshot is up alongside your Volley, then you can do Aimed Shot, Rapid Fire, Aimed Shot. The order of casts is not important.
Explosive Shot should be used when going into combat as the very first global in most cases. The goal is to just get it out of the way so that you can focus on your upcoming burst rotation, rather than having to weave it into
Trueshot.
Finally, when using the Serpentstalker's Trickery Legendary Item on
more than one target, you should be alternating the targets that you cast
Aimed Shot on to apply the
Serpent Sting DoT to
multiple targets. You should only really bother doing this with up to 2 targets,
as it is impossible to keep up more than two outside of your cooldowns or
Bloodlust/
Heroism.
Best Opener Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter
Note that some checkboxes are ticked by default as they are currently meta choices that will be relevant for most people. If they are not appropriate for you, simply untick them and change them to something that is appropriate for your character.
- Cast
Double Tap around 8 seconds before combat begins.
-
Start casting
Aimed Shot around 3 seconds before combat starts.
- Cast
Wild Spirits.
- Cast
Trueshot.
- Cast
Aimed Shot.
- Cast
Rapid Fire.
- Cast
Aimed Shot.
- Proceed with your normal rotation.
Mythic+ Opener and Tips
For information about Mythic+ as a Marksmanship Hunter and the opener you need to use in this game mode, please refer to our Mythic+ page.
WeakAuras for Marksmanship Hunters
WeakAuras can have a tremendously positive effect on your performance. Since this is a broad topic, we made a page dedicated to it.
How To Use On-Use Trinkets as a Marksmanship Hunter
There are a variety of On-Use Trinkets for Marksmanship Hunter that are worth using. Here are the rules for using them optimally in the rotation.
- 1-minute trinkets like
Sinful Gladiator's Badge of Ferocity should be used on cooldown, ideally synced up with effects like
Resonating Arrow if you are Kyrian.
- 1.5-minute trinkets like
Darkmoon Deck: Voracity and
Overcharged Anima Battery should be macro'd into
Trueshot and used together with it at all times. The 30-second delay is worth the extra damage.
- 3-minute on-use trinkets like
Inscrutable Quantum Device should also be macro'd into
Trueshot and used together with every second Trueshot.
- 5-minute on-use trinkets like
The First Sigil should also be macro'd into
Trueshot and used together with every third Trueshot.
- Note that the rules above only apply to Trinkets that enhance your stats.
For trinkets that just deal damage, such as
Dreadfire Vessel, simply use it on cooldown. Kyrians should try and use damage-dealing trinkets inside
Resonating Arrow at all times.
- If you are using double On-Use Trinkets, use the longest cooldown
Trinket (for example the
Inscrutable Quantum Device) with your first
Trueshot. After that, use your shorter cooldown Trinket (for example the
Overcharged Anima Battery) on cooldown. Then use your shorter cooldown Trinket with your second Trueshot, followed by using it on cooldown, and followed by using your Inscrutable Quantum Device with your third Trueshot. In short, use the 3-minute on-use with every other Trueshot, and fill in the gaps as well as the other Trueshots with your other Trinket.
Potion Usage
In almost all cases, the ideal time to use your combat potion is along with
Bloodlust/
Heroism. In most, but not all, situations, this is
when the fight starts.
On fights that last longer than 5 minutes, you will be able to use two potions, provided that you use one of them at the beginning of the fight.
Changelog
- 25 Mar. 2022: Added more rotational clarifications for the 4PC Tier Set Bonus.
- 18 Mar. 2022: Added rotational note for 4PC Bonus.
- 21 Feb. 2022: Updated the rotation to take the 4PC into account.
- 05 Feb. 2022: Small update to the AoE opener as Kyrian with Explosive Shot and Legendary Bow.
- 01 Nov. 2021: Reviewed and approved for Patch 9.1.5.
- 18 Aug. 2021: Updated Flayed Shot's place in the opener.
- 06 Jul. 2021: Fixed a few issues and bugs with the checkbox system and added a note that the opener section is now affected by the checkboxes too.
- 30 Jun. 2021: Multiple changes.
- Added default checked tickboxes for meta setups and talents.
- Made the checkboxes also affect the Opener Sequence.
- Removed the AoE Opener Sequence as it has been obsoleted by the checkboxes.
- Clarified and expanded on Double Tap usage significantly.
- Changed the priority of casting Trueshot on cooldown.
- 28 Jun. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.
- 31 Mar. 2021: Clarified that it does not really matter if you fit 2 casts into Volley on 3 targets and above.
- 09 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 07 Feb. 2021: Removed Arcane Shot from the opener as it has been found to no longer be a DPS increase.
- 30 Jan. 2021: Several changes.
- Removed the Focus cap condition for casting Rapid Fire on cooldown.
- Clarified the rules for casting Arcane Shot during Trueshot.
- 17 Jan. 2021: Added guide to usage of On-Use and Double On-Use Trinkets.
- 24 Dec. 2020: Rotational clarifications.
- Clarified the role of putting up Steady Focus when it is down and how it should be prioritized.
- Clarified that casting Aimed Shot on cooldown is not a major priority, but that it should be kept off two charges at all times.
- 16 Dec. 2020: Clarified that Steady Focus should be refreshed during Trueshot as well.
- 11 Dec. 2020: Added note about Serpentstalker's Trickery multidotting in the Multi-Target Section. Also updated the Chimaera Shot section.
- 04 Dec. 2020: Several clarifications to the rotation and opener.
- Updated Double Tap usage for AoE.
- Expanded on how to use Volley in 2-target and AoE situations.
- Added a paragraph under the Trueshot Rotation to explain the goals of it further.
- Added some AoE Talents like Volley and Explosive Shot to the single-target opener.
- 02 Dec. 2020: Updated the Explosive Shot Talent rotation explanation.
- 01 Dec. 2020: Rotational Updates.
- Added Explosive Shot to the main rotation and the multi-target rotation differences.
- Added Kyrian-specific Double Tap optimization to the Single-Target Rotation.
- 28 Nov. 2020: Updated the Multi-Target Opener and added a paragraph to explain it.
- 28 Nov. 2020: Updated the Single-Target Opener.
- 27 Nov. 2020: Added Double Tap AoE behaviour to the Multi-Target Rotation.
- 26 Nov. 2020: Updated obsolete text referencing some BFA Bosses.
- 23 Nov. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands.
- 30 Oct. 2020: Added information about rotation changes during Volley in the Multi-Target Rotation section.
- 24 Oct. 2020: Added a paragraph to talk about Potion usage, and removed it from the opener.
- 19 Oct. 2020: Fixed Careful Aim's description (above 70% health rather than sub 20% and above 80%.)
- 16 Oct. 2020: Updated the AoE Opener Sequence.
- 12 Oct. 2020: Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
More Hunter Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Azortharion, a theorycrafter of all things Hunter-related for many years. He is an accomplished player with dozen of top parses for all specs throughout the game's history. He is also the Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the Hunter Class Discord, and you can watch his stream on Twitch. He even has his own personal Discord channel where you can get notifications about when the guides get updated and have direct communications with him.
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