Marksmanship Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — Shadowlands 9.0.5

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.

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.

The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.

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 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. If you have just cast a Steady Shot and Steady Focus has less than 5 seconds remaining, then cast another Steady Shot to activate the buff. This applies to Trueshot windows as well. In addition, if Steady Focus is not up entirely, applying it with a double Steady Shot is your top priority.
2. Use Kill Shot on targets that are below 20% health.
3. Use Explosive Shot on cooldown, if you are using this talent.
4. Activate Double Tap when your next cast will be Aimed Shot, rather than Rapid Fire. As Kyrian, use it right before entering Resonating Arrow, so that your Aimed Shot during the Arrow benefits from Double Tap.
5. Activate your Wild Spirits/ Resonating Arrow Covenant Ability.
6. Activate Volley if you are using this talent.
7. Activate Trueshot, making sure that you have at least one charge of Aimed Shot available.
8. Use Aimed Shot, making sure that you have no remaining charges of Precise Shots. During Trueshot, you should favour casting Aimed Shot before it hits 2 charges, over spending Precise Shots charges. Casting Aimed Shot directly on cooldown is not essential, but you never want to hit two charges.
9. Use Rapid Fire on cooldown.
10. Use Arcane Shot mostly to spend Precise Shots stacks, but also to keep your Focus low enough that Rapid Fire will never Focus cap you.
11. Use Steady Shot as a filler, and to keep up Steady Focus (refer to the top of this priority for an explanation on Steady Focus).

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.

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.

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.
• Double Tap should be used before entering combat whenever possible. During combat itself, it is best to use it on Aimed Shot if you can, but the most important thing is to not delay it. If Double Tap is up and Rapid Fire is coming off cooldown in 3 seconds, while Aimed Shot is unavailable, then spend the Double Tap on Rapid Fire.
• Explosive Shot should be used when going into a pack 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.

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. If you are using Double Tap, activate it shortly before the fight begins.
2. Start casting Aimed Shot roughly 2 seconds before the fight begins.
3. Use 2x Steady Shot if you are using Steady Focus, and/or cast Explosive Shot if you are using that Talent.
4. Activate your Wild Spirits/ Resonating Arrow Covenant Ability.
5. Cast Volley if you are using that Talent.
6. Activate Trueshot as well as any potions, racial abilities or on-use trinkets.
7. Use Aimed Shot
8. Use Rapid Fire
9. Proceed with your normal Trueshot rotation.

This section describes how to best open on fights and packs that have AoE from the very start, like most Mythic+ situations.

1. If you are using Double Tap, activate it shortly before the fight begins.
2. Use Explosive Shot as soon as the fight is engaged.
3. Activate your Wild Spirits/ Resonating Arrow Covenant Ability.
4. Activate Volley.
5. Activate Trueshot immediately.
6. Cast Aimed Shot
7. Cast Rapid Fire
8. Cast Aimed Shot
9. After Volley ends, proceed with your Trueshot rotation, substituting Arcane Shot for Multi-Shot to keep up Trick Shots.

The point of the Burst Rotation is to maximize your short-term burst via Volley letting you skip the need for Multi-Shot. Rapid Fire is used before the second Aimed Shot to benefit from the Streamline cast time reduction on Aimed Shot, letting you comfortably get all three abilities into your Volley rotation.

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.

• 1.5-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.
• 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.
• 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.

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.

Master Marksman does not change your rotation in any fundamental way.

Serpent Sting is a DoT that should be kept up at all times. You can refresh it with 5 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.

Barrage should be used on cooldown when there is nothing else going on in your rotation, such as Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire. On a single target, it is a very low priority. You should try to delay it for multi-target situations whenever possible.

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. You can see its exact place in the rotation in our Single-Target Rotation above.

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 does not inherently change your rotation, although it is worth tracking the buff so that you know when your next Aimed Shot will cast 30% faster.

Chimaera Shot essentially replaces the Arcane Shot button in your rotation. On 2 targets only, it is worth spending Precise Shots during Trueshot rather than maximizing Aimed Shot charges, only when using this talent.

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.

Dead Eye means that you should never cast Kill Shot twice in a row, even when giving the option, as this would cause you to overwrite the 3-second buff to your Aimed Shot's recharge time. You should always spread out your Kill Shots by at least 3 seconds, and it is usually a good idea to fit an Aimed Shot in between them.

Double Tap should be used alongside Aimed Shot in single-target situations. In AoE this remains the case, but in a practical situation you should simply go for whatever is most convenient between Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire in most cases.

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.

Volley should be used on cooldown. It is worth delaying it if you can hit multiple targets with it however. It is so powerful for multi-target that it is worth even dropping usages of the ability, just to ensure that you can use it at key AoE moments.