Marksmanship Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Dragonflight 10.2.6
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 — Dragonflight 10.2.6.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Marksmanship Hunter rotation.
Marksmanship Hunter Rotation for Dragonflight
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.
Best Talent Builds for Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight
We highly recommend you go and grab the best Talent Builds for the spec before diving into the Rotation. Check out our dedicated Talents page below:
Simplified Marksmanship Hunter Rotation for Beginners
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.
Marksmanship Hunter Rotations
Each of the sections below explain the rotation for Marksmanship Hunter at different target counts. Click the boxes to switch to the desired damage type.
Marksmanship Hunter Rotation
The buttons below can be used to select between curated Single-Target and AoE/Mythic+ loadouts. You can also use the switches below to add or remove individual talents you may also be using:
Talent Selections, etc. | |||
---|---|---|---|
Barrage | Bulletstorm | Chimaera Shot | |
Death Chakram | Explosive Shot | Hydra's Bite | |
Multi-Shot | Poison Injection | Precise Shots | |
Rapid Fire | Razor Fragments | Salvo | |
Serpentstalker's Trickery | Serpent Sting | Stampede | |
Steady Focus | Steel Trap | Surging Shots | |
Trick Shots | Trueshot | Volley | |
Wailing Arrow | Hunter Marksmanship 10.2 Class Set 2pc | Ashes of the Embersoul | |
Darkmoon Deck Box: Dance | Mirror of Fractured Tomorrows | My'das Talisman | |
Witherbark's Branch | Bandolier of Twisted Blades |
Single-Target Rotation Goals for Marksmanship Hunter
- Casting Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire as much as possible, both on single-target and AoE.
- Managing your Focus — Never capping it but also ensuring you have enough Focus to cast Aimed Shot off cooldown.
- Spending Precise Shots stacks on Arcane Shot/ Multi-Shot, generated by Aimed Shot.
AoE Rotation Goals for Marksmanship Hunter
- All the same goals as the single-target Rotation.
- Maintaining that Trick Shots is up for all of your Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire casts by casting Multi-Shot between them, or with Volley. The T31 2PC Tier Set Bonus will also cause Rapid Fires cast during Trick Shots to give you Volley, which gives an additional 6 seconds of Trick Shots, and so on.
In the Single-Target and AoE sections, you will find a highly detailed priority list breakdown of the Rotation, as well as optimal openers.
Single-Target Opener for Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight
- Ensure Hunter's Mark is active on the target from you or another Hunter in the group!
- Activate your Potion.
- Cast Rapid Fire.
- Cast Explosive Shot
- Use Death Chakram.
- Send any on-use Trinkets here.
- Use Volley at your enemy's feet.
- Activate Trueshot
- Cast Aimed Shot
- Cast Aimed Shot
- Cast Rapid Fire
- Cast Aimed Shot
- Continue with your normal rotation, according to the priority list below.
Single-Target Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter
This priority list describes the optimal single-target Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter.
- Cast Rapid Fire if Trick Shots would expire within the next GCD.
- Cast Kill Shot on cooldown, even during Trueshot.
- Use Volley on cooldown. Hold it up to 20 seconds for Trueshot.
- Use Explosive Shot on cooldown.
- Use Death Chakram on cooldown.
- Cast Rapid Fire on cooldown.
- Use Trueshot, your main cooldown, as many times as possible during the fight. Save it for important add spawns and damage amplification phases.
- Use Aimed Shot on cooldown at all times. You should always spend all of your Precise Shots stacks first, provided that Aimed Shot is not about to reach 2 charges.
- Cast Wailing Arrow on cooldown, outside of Trueshot.
- Cast Steel Trap on cooldown. Remember to throw it at your target's feet. We recommend using the cursor macro from our AddOns and Macros page.
- Use Arcane Shot when you have over 55 Focus.
- Use Steady Shot when you have nothing else to do, as a filler.
AoE Opener for Marksmanship Hunter
- Ensure Hunter's Mark is active on the target from you or another Hunter in the group!
- Pre-cast Steady Shot when there is 1.75 seconds left on the pulltimer.
- Cast Explosive Shot.
- Activate your Potion.
- Use Death Chakram.
- Use Volley at your enemy's feet.
- Activate Trueshot
- Cast Aimed Shot
- Cast Rapid Fire
- Cast Aimed Shot
- Continue with your normal rotation, according to the priority list above. The goal is to not have to cast Multi-Shot often at all, by using Rapid Fire regularly to extend the Volley-provided Trick Shots windows throughout your entire Trueshot window.
AoE Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter
This priority list describes the optimal AoE rotation for Marksmanship Hunter.
- Cast Kill Shot when available to spend Razor Fragments procs.
- Use Explosive Shot on cooldown.
- Use Death Chakram on cooldown.
- Use Volley on cooldown. Macro Salvo into it as well. You can find the Macro on our AddOns and Macros page.
- Use Rapid Fire on cooldown. Make sure that Trick Shots is active before casting it.
- Use Trueshot, your main cooldown, as many times as possible during the fight. Save it for important add spawns and damage amplification phases.
- Use Aimed Shot on cooldown at all times. You should always spend all of your Precise Shots stacks first. The only exception is if Trueshot is active, where keeping it off 2 charges is a higher priority than spending all Precise Shots. Make sure that Trick Shots is active before casting it.
- Cast Multi-Shot to apply Trick Shots if it is down. You should also cast it to spend your Precise Shots stacks when above 55 Focus, and you should also cast it if you have 10 stacks of Bulletstorm.
- Use Steady Shot when you have nothing else to do, as a filler.
Addons for Marksmanship Hunter Rotation
Check out our Addons page below for some recommended Addons to get the most out of your Marksmanship Hunter!
Macros for Marksmanship Hunter Rotation
Check out our Macros page below for some recommended Macros to get the most out of your Marksmanship Hunter!
Mythic+ Tips and Tricks for Marksmanship Hunter
For information about Mythic+ as a Marksmanship Hunter, please refer to our Mythic+ page.
WeakAuras for Marksmanship Hunters in Dragonflight
WeakAuras can have a tremendously positive effect on your performance. Since this is a broad topic, we made a page dedicated to it.
Questions for the Author
Thanks for reading my Rotation Guide for Marksmanship Hunter. If you have any questions about it that you would like to ask me directly, feel free to drop into my Discord Server and drop me (Azortharion) a ping at any time.
Changelog
- 19 Mar. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 17 Jul. 2023: Added on-use trinkets to the rotation.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 29 Jun. 2023: Updated Rapid Fire and Steel Trap's places in the single-target rotation.
- 15 May 2023: Clarified the rotation on some points, especially Kill Shot usage. Implemented Steel Trap in the opener.
- 09 May 2023: Updated the Steady Focus priority during Trueshot.
- 08 May 2023: Updated the opener for the new build, and added a note of when to use on-use trinkets in the opener. Updated the Steady Focus part of the rotation during Trueshot.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 26 Jan. 2023: Added Salvo to the rotation and referenced the macro for it.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Updated the page for relevant changes in Patch 10.0.5.
- 21 Jan. 2023: Small opener fix concerning Explosive Shot.
- 12 Dec. 2022: Rotational fix concerning Bulletstorm in AoE.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated the recommended opener, and Double Tap usage on Rapid Fire.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Theorycrafter and Guidewriter since 2014, and considered one of the best Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with dozen of top parses for all specs throughout the game's history. He is also the Founder/Owner/Head Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the 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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