Marksmanship Hunter PvP Guide (The War Within 11.0.1)

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
• Mortal strike from pets
• Support for team with Roar of Sacrifice, Master's Call, or Interlope
• Multiple control crowd options in Intimidation, Binding Shot, Freezing Trap, High Explosive Trap, Scatter Shot/ Bursting Shot, Entrapment, and Consecutive Concussion

Weaknesses

• Weak to teams with multiple stuns and other instant crowd control
• 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

No hotfixes have been announced yet that affect Marksmanship Hunters.

• 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.