Marksmanship Hunter PvP Guide — The War Within (11.2)

Marksmanship Hunter is a consistently underrated Hunter specialization with enormous burst and crowd control potential.

The Marksmanship damage rotation seems simple at first but leaves a lot of space for skill expression and outplay potential. There is almost no "ramp" in the damage rotation, which combined with the longest range in the game makes Marksmanship Hunters lethal when switching targets, even when they do not commit long cooldowns.

Once you are comfortable setting up your burst so that it does not get interrupted, timing your crowd control windows, and maximizing your consistent damage outside of cooldowns, Marksmanship is an incredibly fun and rewarding specialization.

Marksmanship rewards opportunistic and aggressive play. You win by setups, bursts, and punishing enemies that misuse defensives or position poorly. Marksmanship is not a spec that wins by attrition or dampening, and an aggressive playstyle is how it competes with other specializations that may be more forgiving when it comes to defensive play or crowd control.

Strengths

• High sustained damage when freecasting
• High burst damage and cleave when using Volley/ Salvo
• Good mobility and kiting tools, particularly with Consecutive Concussion
• Mortal strike from Manhunter
• Support for team with Roar of Sacrifice and Master's Call
• Multiple control crowd options in Intimidation, Binding Shot, Freezing Trap, High Explosive Trap, Scatter Shot/ Bursting Shot, and Entrapment

Weaknesses

• Weak to teams with multiple stuns and other instant crowd control to interrupt casts
• Needs help from teammates to land crowd control
• Crowd control has comparatively long cooldowns compared to other ranged specs
• Heavily relies on landing Freezing Trap at the right moment and timing Scatter Shot effectively
• Being able to do damage effectively relies on having knowledge of which targets are able to stop your casts
• Can break crowd control while bursting with Volley/ Salvo/ Explosive Shot

Marksmanship

• Fixed an issue causing Precise Shots to not grant its global cooldown reduction effect if its consumption was spell-queued after Aimed Shot.

Hunter

• New Talent: Harmonize - Pet damage increased by 4%.
• Developers' notes: Explosive Shot hasn't found a great home in Beast Mastery's kit, so we're offering an opportunity to trade it for some pet damage.
• Blackrock Munitions now also increases the pet damage bonus of Harmonize by 2%.
• Moment of Opportunity no longer has an internal cooldown.

Hero Talents: Dark Ranger

• Several talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
• New Talent: Umbral Reach - Black Arrow periodic damage increased by 100% and Bleak Powder now applies Black Arrow's periodic effect to all enemies it damages. If Bleak Powder damages 2 or more enemies, gain Beast Cleave/ Trick Shots if talented.
• Developers' notes: Black Arrow can have a confusing priority in AOE scenarios for both Marksmanship and Beast Mastery. Umbral Reach should give Black Arrow a clearer place in your AOE rotation without completely circumventing the need to use Multi-Shot.
• Soul Drinker has been updated - Now increases Black Arrow's damage by 8% and Bleak Powder's damage by 10%.
• Withering Fire has been updated - Now prioritizes units without Black Arrow's periodic effect.
• Black Arrow's periodic damage is now a rolling periodic.
• Bleak Powder damage reduced by 25%.
• Bleak Powder now deals reduced damage beyond 8 targets.
• Bleak Powder now correctly scales with Mastery: Sniper Training and Mastery: Master of Beasts.
• Phantom Pain damage share now affects up to 8 targets.
• The following talents have been removed: Embrace the Shadows, Shadow Surge
• The Bell Tolls' previous effect is now baseline to Black Arrow and has been updated - Firing a Black Arrow increases all damage dealt by 3% for 12 seconds. Multiple instances of this effect may overlap.
• Black Arrow damage reduced by 23%.
• Phantom Pain damage replication is now 15% (was 24%). Damage is now replicated to up to 8 targets.

Hero Talents: Sentinel

• Lunar Storm now resets the cooldown of Rapid Fire and Wildfire Bomb when it becomes available.
• Developers' notes: This should help to reduce the cognitive load around tracking Lunar Storm while providing some more excitement.

Marksmanship

• Several talents have changed positions in the talent tree.
• New Talent: Unmatched Precision - The damage bonus of Precise Shots is increased by 20/40%.
• New Talent: Light Ammo - Trick Shots now causes Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire to ricochet to 2 additional targets. Aspect of the Hydra's damage bonus is increased by 15%.
• Shrapnel Shot has been redesigned - Explosive Shot has a 100% chance to grant Lock and Load.
• Developers' notes: We've heard feedback that players have really enjoyed the gameplay of the Liberation of Undermine set bonus. We're hoping Precision Detonation and the new Shrapnel Shot will strike a similar chord.
• Improved Spotter's Mark renamed to Avian Specialization and has been updated - Now also teaches your Eagle to Fetch loot from nearby corpses.
• Ohn'ahran Winds has been updated - When your Eagle applies Spotter's Mark, it has a 100% chance to apply a Spotter's Mark to up to 1 additional nearby enemy at 100% effectiveness.
• Developers' notes: Our goal with this change is to increase the talent's consistency and give it a clearer niche.
• Precise Shots has been updated - Now also reduces the global cooldown of affected spells by 50%.
• Developers' notes - Our goal with this change is to help make Precise Shots spending feel more snappy, responsive, and exciting in all situations.
• Kill Zone has been updated - Line of sight ignoring effect now lingers for 3 seconds upon removal.
• Calling the Shots has been updated - Now reduces the cooldown of Trueshot by 30 seconds.
• Developers' notes: Calling the Shots has been historically inconsistent, so we're simplifying it to increase its reliability.
• Moving Target has been updated - Aimed Shot damage bonus reduced to 8%.
• Developers' notes: We're moving some of Moving Target's Aimed Shot damage into Aimed Shot's baseline power.
• All damage dealt reduced by 10%.
• Aimed Shot damage increased by 10%.
• Lock and Load chance to trigger increased to 10% (was 8%) and it now benefits from bad luck protection.
• Precision Detonation damage bonus increased to 40% (was 25%).
• Trick Shots effectiveness reduced to 60% (was 75%).
• Aspect of the Hydra and Ohn'ahran Winds additional target seek range increased to 12 yards (was 8 yards).
• Unerring Vision no longer affects Calling the Shots.
• Liberation of Undermine 4 set has been updated - Explosive Shot effectiveness reduced to 125% (was 300%) and no longer triggers Shrapnel Shot.
• Bullseye is no longer a 2-point node.
• Fixed several targeting issues with Ohn'ahran Winds.
• The following talents have been removed: Killer Mark, Quickdraw

• On the Marksmanship Hunter PvP Talents page, you will find an analysis of the talents available to Marksmanship Hunters, as well as an overview of the PvP talents, with advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter PvP Pets page, you will find an overview of the advantages of each pet type with advice on which ones to take and under which conditions.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter PvP Rotation and Playstyle page, you will learn how to use your spells, depending on the situation (dealing damage, surviving, controlling enemy players, etc.), and what is generally expected of your class and spec in PvP.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter PvP Stat Priority and Gear page, you will find the stat priority to follow in PvP, as well as advice for choosing your gear, which may vary depending on your playstyle and composition.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter PvP Best Races page, you will find lists of the Alliance and Horde races, ranked by how good they are for Marksmanship Hunters in PvP, as well as explanations regarding why and how their racials benefit you.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter PvP Useful Macros page, you will find a collection of useful PvP macros for Marksmanship Hunters.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter Arena Composition page, you will find the list of the most powerful Arena compositions featuring Marksmanship Hunters in both 2v2 and 3v3 modes.
• On the Marksmanship Hunter in Battleground Blitz page, you will find a summary of how to play Marksmanship in Battleground Blitz specifically, including the playstyle, role in specific battlegrounds, talent builds, and macros.