Marksmanship Hunter PvP Talents and Builds — The War Within (Season 1)

Last updated Today at 09:50 by Slo 22 comments

Choosing the right PvP and PvE talents is a prerequisite to proper performance in PvP. This guide goes through the various talent choices available to you as a Marksmanship Hunter and gives you the best combinations you can take.

This page is part of our Marksmanship Hunter PvP Guide.

1.

Best The War Within Talent Builds for Marksmanship Hunters

Note that these builds are generic recommendations for arena and battlegrounds. There are multiple viable Marksmanship builds and tweaks that are very powerful in certain matchups. A description of each talent point is below.

2.

The War Within PvP Talent Builds for Marksmanship Hunters in Arena

Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow Single Target Arena Build Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow Wallhack Arena Build Salvo Icon Salvo Burst/Cleave Arena Build
3.

Wailing Arrow Single Target Arena Build for Marksmanship Hunters

This build still has the single target damage talents in the Marksmanship talent tree but trades Salvo Icon Salvo and Razor Fragments Icon Razor Fragments to pick up Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow and Readiness Icon Readiness.

Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow is a powerful, armor-piercing modification to your Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot that you generate charges of through casting Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot or using Trueshot Icon Trueshot.

The mechanic that you need to be aware of and play around with the Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow build is the reset on Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire when firing a Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow (through Readiness Icon Readiness). You ideally want to time it so that you are able to use Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow directly following your Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire so you can immediately Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire again.

Whenever you have Trueshot Icon Trueshot available you should be using Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire followed by Trueshot Icon Trueshot followed by Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow followed by another Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire to get the most out of this build.

This build uses the Dark Ranger Hero Talent tree for the additional single target damage from Black Arrow Icon Black Arrow and Overshadow Icon Overshadow. The proc from Black Arrow Icon Black Arrow also makes it easier to cast more Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shots through the extra charges and cast time reduction, and the additional shadow damage from Darkness Calls Icon Darkness Calls further enhances your Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow.

The Smoke Screen Icon Smoke Screen effect also significantly empowers your Survival of the Fittest Icon Survival of the Fittest and Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration.

This build takes Kodo Tranquilizer Icon Kodo Tranquilizer and you should press Tranquilizing Shot Icon Tranquilizing Shot on cooldown, especially when it will purge a magic effect off more than one player.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

4.

Wailing Arrow Wallhack Arena Build for Marksmanship Hunters

This build is very similar to the single target Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow build but trades the overall damage increase from Focused Aim Icon Focused Aim for the versatile new wallhack talent, Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone, which gives the build a very different playstyle and win condition.

Against teams that you know will look to line of sight your casts (particularly using teleports such as Warlocks with Demonic Circle: Teleport Icon Demonic Circle: Teleport), Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone can be an excellent way to finish kills. You will ideally use your Volley Icon Volley this way only when Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire and/or Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow is available, as these are your highest burst damage abilities, and players who have seen this strategy before will move our of your Volley Icon Volley as soon as they can.

Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone can be used as part of your damage rotation against enemies who are standing still far away from pillars (for example a melee cleave that are stacked on one of your partners), without taking advantage of the "ignore line of sight" effect, simply to add 8% damage to targets within the Volley Icon Volley. This is usually not the best use of Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone because you are adding a global cooldown to your burst rotation and Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow does not interact with the Trick Shots Icon Trick Shots effect at all (it will not cleave).

To do the maximum single target burst using Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone you should line it up so that you are able to cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire into Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow into Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire all within the six second Volley Icon Volley duration. When doing this, even if the target is within your line of sight it is usually worth moving near a pillar and deliberately moving slightly out of line of sight during your casts, so make it more difficult for the enemy team to disrupt your burst (for example with Storm Bolt Icon Storm Bolt or Grapple Weapon Icon Grapple Weapon).

Outside of your Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone windows the mechanic that you need to be aware of and play around when using a Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow build is the reset on Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire when firing a Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow (through Readiness Icon Readiness). You ideally want to time it so that you are able to use Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow directly following your Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire so you can immediately Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire again.

Whenever you have Trueshot Icon Trueshot available you should also be using Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire followed by Trueshot Icon Trueshot followed by Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow followed by another Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire to get the most out of this build.

This build uses the Dark Ranger Hero Talent tree for the additional single target damage from Black Arrow Icon Black Arrow and Overshadow Icon Overshadow. The proc from Black Arrow Icon Black Arrow also makes it easier to cast more Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shots through the extra charges and cast time reduction, and the additional shadow damage from Darkness Calls Icon Darkness Calls further enhances your Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow.

The Smoke Screen Icon Smoke Screen effect also significantly empowers your Survival of the Fittest Icon Survival of the Fittest and Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration.

This build takes Kodo Tranquilizer Icon Kodo Tranquilizer and you should press Tranquilizing Shot Icon Tranquilizing Shot on cooldown, especially when it will purge a magic effect off more than one player.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

5.

Salvo Burst/Cleave Arena Build for Marksmanship Hunters

This build has all of the main single-target damage talents from the Marksman tree, but trades the Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow talents to get the on-demand burst/cleave from Salvo Icon Salvo and Volley Icon Volley. This build is ideal whenever you are likely to face multiple targets, as you will be able to get multiple Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shots through Salvo.

The build does its huge area of effect burst damage when using Volley Icon Volley, and you should make sure that you have Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire available before committing your Volley Icon Volley and Salvo Icon Salvo combination so the Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shots hit at the same time as your Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire channel.

This build will always grant Lunar Storm Icon Lunar Storm from the Sentinel Hero Talent tree during your opening rotation when you first use Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire, and then regularly throughout the fight. This deals a high amount of damage to all targets stood in the area. This is also enhanced by your Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone when used during Volley Icon Volley.

This build keeps Improved Steady Shot Icon Improved Steady Shot so you retain that focus source and avoid downtime in your rotation.

Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import the best build directly into your game!

Below is an explanation of the talents available to Marksmanship Hunters and when you would use them.

5.1.

Marksmanship Hunter Class Tree Rationale and Explanations

5.1.1.

Row 1

  • Natural Mending Icon Natural Mending provides cooldown reduction to Exhilaration and access to Rejuvenating Wind is worth taking in all situations
  • Posthaste Icon Posthaste is essential to your mobility and a mandatory pick.
  • Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot is a strong DPS button and a mandatory pick.
5.1.2.

Row 2

  • Rejuvenating Wind Icon Rejuvenating Wind increases our maximum health and increases healing from Exhilaration. This is a mandatory defensive talent to survive stuns and should never be replaced.
  • Hunter's Avoidance Icon Hunter's Avoidance is a passive but decent defensive, particularly as a lot of cleave/area of effect damage has been added in The War Within.
  • Improved Kill Shot Icon Improved Kill Shot is a passive, powerful increase to our Kill Shot's damage and a mandatory pick.
5.1.3.

Row 3

  • Wilderness Medicine Icon Wilderness Medicine is very rarely worth taking (if at all). Most debuffs you would want to regularly dispel from your pet also deal backlash damage when dispelled (Unstable Affliction, Control of Lava, Vampiric Touch).
  • Tar Trap Icon Tar Trap is essential to your ability to kite and combined with Entrapment is a mandatory pick.
  • Tranquilizing Shot Icon Tranquilizing Shot is useful for many scenarios to dispel important magic buffs and some enrage mechanics. When you are not running Improved Steady Shot, Tranquilizing Shot is usually a better filler ability than Steady Shot.
  • Concussive Shot Icon Concussive Shot is central to Marksmanship in all PvP scenarios and a mandatory pick.
5.1.4.

Row 4

  • Survival of the Fittest Icon Survival of the Fittest is a strong defensive and a mandatory pick, especially with the synergy with Padded Armor and Lone Survivor
  • Entrapment Icon Entrapment is essential to your ability to kite and is a mandatory pick.
  • Counter Shot Icon Counter Shot is required in all PvP scenarios and a mandatory pick (outside of exceptional cases in 2v2 where the other team will not have any casts to kick).
  • Kodo Tranquilizer Icon Kodo Tranquilizer is an exceptionally powerful talent into any healer with heal-over-time effects where players will stack, and is still good against most healers where players will stack.
  • Devilsaur Tranquilizer Icon Devilsaur Tranquilizer is effectively useless in PvP, where it only really does anything into Fury Warriors and is still not great.
  • Misdirection Icon Misdirection has no use in PvP unless combined with Interlope, which can be a very powerful combination in certain matchups.
5.1.5.

Row 5

  • Scout's Instincts Icon Scout's Instincts is a nice mobility boost, meaning that as long as you have Concussive Shot on a target, they can't catch you during Aspect of the Cheetah.
  • Padded Armor Icon Padded Armor is very powerful in all scenarios.
  • Lone Survivor Icon Lone Survivor Is a big bonus to your Survival of the Fittest that you should always pick.
  • Specialized Arsenal Icon Specialized Arsenal Is a huge throughput increase that you should always take.
  • Disruptive Rounds Icon Disruptive Rounds is an incentive to Tranquilizing Shot when we can, and can be valuable when playing without Improved Steady Shot into Restoration Druids.
  • No Hard Feelings Icon No Hard Feelings is rarely worth taking (if ever), especially as it requires you to take Misdirection.
  • Scare Beast Icon Scare Beast is situationally useful, mostly into Feral Druids. Even if the Druid shapeshifts to cancel your cast, doing this will force them out of Bear Form Icon Bear Form and greatly increase their damage taken. If the Druid doesn't shapeshift your cast; you can use it to interrupt a go.
5.1.6.

Row 6

  • Intimidation Icon Intimidation is central to your ability to crowd control and should be taken in all PvP situations.
  • Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shot does a large amount of AOE damage. This should be used before Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire for maximum burst. This ability can break crowd control, so you will need to be careful with the timing or use it between crowd control setups to maintain pressure.
  • Binding Shot Icon Binding Shot is a powerful area of effect stun that is great for kiting as well as setting up traps.
5.1.7.

Row 7

  • Scatter Shot Icon Scatter Shot is a versatile spell that is essential to your ability to kite, cross-crowd control, set up aimed shots, and peel enemies. I do not recommend playing without this.
  • Bursting Shot Icon Bursting Shot is a knockback that is unique because it does not share diminishing returns with any other knockback. This means that when playing Quick Load, you can knock back the same player twice in a row. Use this in matchups where your team has a lot of damage over time effects that would make Scatter Shot lose value.
  • Territorial Instincts Icon Territorial Instincts allows you to use Intimidation while playing Lone Wolf. I do not recommend playing Lone Wolf in arena unless your team already has a Mortal Strike effect and you are facing DoT specs where Roar of Sacrifice isn't very effective, and they would otherwise funnel damage by hitting your pet.
  • Trigger Finger Icon Trigger Finger is an important talent because despite the tooltip implying that it only effects auto attacks, it actually reduces the cast time of Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot. On a geared character you can expect a 0.1-0.2 second cast time reduction on your Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shots. This is further increased if you are playing without a pet and is one of the main benefits of playing Lone Wolf Icon Lone Wolf. It is unclear whether this is an intended mechanic.
  • Blackrock Munitions Icon Blackrock Munitions is a small increase to the damage of Explosive Shot, but still usually worth taking.
  • Keen Eyesight Icon Keen Eyesight is a decent buff to crit chance that you should always take.
  • Tar-Coated Bindings Icon Tar-Coated Bindings is a decent buff to Binding Shot that is basically always worth taking.
  • Scrappy Icon Scrappy is a slight cooldown reduction on both of your stuns and is basically always worth taking.
5.1.8.

Row 8

  • Quick Load Icon Quick Load is a nice cooldown reduction on Scatter Shot and Bursting Shot. It can be nice to be able to Scatter a DPS on the opener and still have it on the healer. It's particularly powerful with Bursting Shot because Bursting Shot does not have a diminishing return with itself and can be combined with the PvP talent Rangers Finesse to get more value from each Bursting Shot.
  • Pathfinding Icon Pathfinding is a solid boost to movement speed that you should basically always play.
  • Binding Shackles Icon Binding Shackles is a better talent than it initially looks. If you are using Scatter Shot on a target every 30 seconds, the uptime on this talent will be high and will help you to survive when being trained. You can also apply it to several players at once because Binding Shot and High Explosive Trap are both area of effect abilities.
  • Camouflage Icon Camouflage is recommended in every game to ensure you get the best opener possible. It can also be used defensively if you get an opportunity to drop combat.
  • Kindling Flare Icon Kindling Flare is useless in all content.
5.1.9.

Row 9

  • Trailblazer Icon Trailblazer can be good in very rare situations where you expect to kite or be kited around pillars for the majority of a game.
  • Roar of Sacrifice Icon Roar of Sacrifice is essential to you and your team's survival. This is a mandatory talent unless you are playing without a pet (which I do not recommend).
  • Serrated Tips Icon Serrated Tips is a slight buff to your Critical Strike rating, which becomes more effective based on how much Critical Strike rating you have. There is synergy with Penetrating Shots, but if you have a very low crit chance, the effect is minor.
  • Moment of Opportunity Icon Moment of Opportunity is a slight mobility buff but with a long cooldown, so is not an exceptional talent.
  • Born To Be Wild Icon Born To Be Wild is a solid cooldown reduction for Aspect of the Turtle and Cheetah, making it strong for both survivability and mobility in games that you expect to last longer than 2 minutes. If your games are shorter than 2 minutes, this talent has no value.
  • Ghillie Suit Icon Ghillie Suit is useless in all content.
  • Improved Traps Icon Improved Traps is essential to your crowd control and is almost always worth taking.
5.1.10.

Row 10

  • Emergency Salve Icon Emergency Salve is very good (into Assassination Rogues), decent into Shadow Priests to remove Devouring Plague, and makes Subtlety and Outlaw Rogues easier to kite.
  • High Explosive Trap Icon High Explosive Trap is a very powerful and versatile knockback that is great for kiting generally and incredible on Z-axis maps where you can knock players off a ledge. This will usually be the better option on this choice node.
  • Implosive Trap Icon Implosive Trap is an alternative to High Explosive Trap that serves the opposite function. High Explosive Trap is generally used to knock players away, whereas Implosive Trap is used to disrupt players and keep them in the same position. This is useful to use, especially into casters when they would otherwise be moving out of your line of sight.
  • Unnatural Causes Icon Unnatural Causes is a slight damage buff that is still usually worth playing.
5.1.11.

Row 1

  • Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot is required.
5.1.12.

Row 2

  • Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire is another required core ability of the spec.
  • Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot
  • Precise Shots Icon Precise Shots is a required DPS talent.
5.1.13.

Row 3

  • Surging Shots Icon Surging Shots is a large increase to your burst damage and gives you cooldown resets on Rapid Fire. This is a mandatory talent.
  • Streamline Icon Streamline is a solid, passive DPS increase, which also helps you get Aimed Shot casts off and leads us to other important talents.
  • Improved Steady Shot Icon Improved Steady Shot is an optional talent because you still gain focus from Rapid Fire and Tranquilizing Shot and so many of your abilities do not cost focus.
  • Crack Shot Icon Crack Shot is a required talent to make Arcane Shot worth pressing.
5.1.14.

Row 4

  • Penetrating Shots Icon Penetrating Shots is a new talent that increases the damage of your critical strikes, based on your critical strike chance. It is a mandatory because of its location on the tree.
  • Trick Shots Icon Trick Shots is core to the three target cleave of Marksman, but in PvP is only really worth taking in battlegrounds as it requires Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot to hit three targets.
  • Master Marksman Icon Master Marksman is a DPS increase and a mandatory pick.
5.1.15.

Row 5

  • Fan the Hammer Icon Fan the Hammer is a large increase to your Rapid Fire damage and burst and is a mandatory pick.
  • Careful Aim Icon Careful Aim is essential to your damage and is the reason switching targets is so effective as Marksman.
  • Heavy Ammo Icon Heavy Ammo adds a noticeable amount of cleave to your Trick Shots, but taking this talent costs a lot of single-target damage.
  • Light Ammo Icon Light Ammo is essentially useless in all PvP.
  • Bulletstorm Icon Bulletstorm is not worth taking in PvP.
  • Lock and Load Icon Lock and Load is a mandatory talent saving you focus, giving you more Aimed Shots, and giving you more buffed Arcane Shots
  • Steady Focus Icon Steady Focus is difficult to justify in any PvP situation unless you are running Consecutive Concussion in 2v2 and expect to kite the entire game without pushing for traps and setups. If you play this, you may want to use this WeakAura.
5.1.16.

Row 6

  • Deathblow Icon Deathblow turns Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot into a regular button in your DPS rotation instead of only being active in "execute" range and is a mandatory talent.
  • Barrage Icon Barrage is not worth taking in PvP.
  • Night Hunter Icon Night Hunter is a mandatory throughput increase.
  • Tactical Reload Icon Tactical Reload is a mandatory throughput increase.
  • Serpentstalker's Trickery Icon Serpentstalker's Trickery is a mandatory throughput increase.
  • Chimaera Shot Icon Chimaera Shot adds some two target cleave to your rotation and is worth taking when you aren't playing a setup comp with breakable crowd control.
5.1.17.

Row 7

  • Killer Accuracy Icon Killer Accuracy is a solid increase to your kill potential and increases your damage when it matters most.
  • Rapid Fire Barrage Icon Rapid Fire Barrage is useless in PvP.
  • In the Rhythm Icon In the Rhythm is a solid DPS buff.
  • Lone Wolf Icon Lone Wolf has been nerfed in The War Within and does not compete with the benefits of playing with a pet.
  • Bullseye Icon Bullseye is nice to have and generally worth taking.
  • Hydra's Bite Icon Hydra's Bite adds some passive cleave to your rotation and is useful when cleaving is your strategy.
  • Volley Icon Volley is a strong button combined with Salvo for bursting one or multiple targets and is further enhanced by Kill Zone, which increases your damage into Volley and allows you to ignore line of sight.
5.1.18.

Row 8

  • Legacy of the Windrunners Icon Legacy of the Windrunners is a slight passive damage increase.
  • Trueshot Icon Trueshot is a mandatory talent and is your big burst cooldown.
  • Focused Aim Icon Focused Aim is a mandatory throughput increase.
5.1.19.

Row 9

  • Razor Fragments Icon Razor Fragments enhances your Death Blow procs considerably and makes your next Kill Shot lethal when bursting with Volley.
  • Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow occasionally buffs your Aimed Shot, making it do shadow damage that ignores armor and leaves an additional damage over time effect.
  • Eagletalon's True Focus Icon Eagletalon's True Focus greatly enhances your Trueshot windows and is a mandatory talent.
  • Calling the Shots Icon Calling the Shots greatly reduces the cooldown of your Trueshot and is a mandatory talent.
  • Small Game Hunter Icon Small Game Hunter enhances your Explosive Shot and is a strong talent.
  • Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone is a mandatory talent for bursting as well as the ignoring the line of sight element.
5.1.20.

Row 10

  • Readiness Icon Readiness increases the frequency of your Wailing Arrow but does not compete with the other capstone talents in arena gameplay.
  • Unerring Vision Icon Unerring Vision further enhances your Trueshot and is a mandatory talent.
  • Salvo Icon Salvo greatly enhances your Volley and is a must-pick if you have taken Kill Zone.
6.

PvP Talents for Marksmanship Hunters

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. Each of them has its uses, but some are better for certain strategies and matchups than others.

6.1.

Mandatory PvP Talents for Marksmanship Hunters

6.1.1.

Survival Tactics

Survival Tactics Icon Survival Tactics is the best overall PvP Talent. It turns Feign Death Icon Feign Death into your best defensive ability by negating damage for two seconds. This talent is very powerful into burst specializations when timed correctly.

When facing matchups where you are guaranteed not to be attacked, there are occasionally better options, but it is safer just always to play this talent.

6.2.

Powerful PvP Talents for Marksmanship Hunters

6.2.1.

Chimaeral Sting

Chimaeral Sting Icon Chimaeral Sting is a versatile ability that can be used in many ways, for example:

  • To silence an enemy healer while bursting their partner (note that it does damage on application, and the silence only applies after 3 seconds, so you cannot chimaeral sting during or immediately after a trap)
  • To silence a healer before swapping to them (particularly good against priests as they cannot use Pain Suppression Icon Pain Suppression when silenced, when they would have been able to if you swapped with Intimidation Icon Intimidation)
  • To peel a DPS on their go (for example, use Chimaeral Sting on a Mage when they cast Dragon's Breath Icon Dragon's Breath; they will still be able to Polymorph Icon Polymorph your healer, but will be silenced immediately afterward and not be able to capitalize on the Polymorph, or to cancel a Shaman's Lightning Lasso Icon Lightning Lasso when you know it is coming)
  • To cancel a Restoration Druid's Tranquility Icon Tranquility by casting Chimaeral Sting before they use it
  • To deny a healer's trinket by casting Chimaeral Sting when they are stunned (when they trinket the stun, they are instantly silenced)
  • To apply a powerful slow to a melee DPS when you have no other options
6.2.2.

Trueshot Mastery

Trueshot Mastery Icon Trueshot Mastery reduces your Trueshot Icon Trueshot to less than two minutes — this is critical because a DPS player's PvP trinket has a two-minute cooldown. This means that if you can force an enemy kill target to trinket with the first Trueshot, they will not be able to trinket when you use the second. Note that the cooldown of Power Infusion Icon Power Infusion is two minutes, so if you are playing with a priest that is able to give you Power Infusion, Trueshot Mastery Icon Trueshot Mastery loses a lot of value. Having a shorter cooldown on Trueshot also gives you momentum because most DPS throughput cooldowns are active every two minutes, meaning that if you use cooldowns early you get yours back first.

6.2.3.

Consecutive Concussion

Consecutive Concussion Icon Consecutive Concussion is situationally very useful against melee, as it keeps them at bay for longer and interrupts their damage via the stun in a slow game where you are able to cast Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot a lot. This talent can also be very good into Fistweaver (melee healer) Monks. If you maintain a Concussive Shot on them while your team is kiting, the Fistweaver will be unable to heal.

6.2.4.

Diamond Ice

Diamond Ice Icon Diamond Ice makes your Freezing Trap Icon Freezing Trap undispellable but reduces the duration and makes the target immune to all spells while active. This is useful:

  • Against Shadow Priests, Demon Hunters, and Affliction/Destruction Warlocks that are otherwise able to dispel your Freezing Trap Icon Freezing Trap
  • To crowd control DPS players without the healer being able to dispel the trap
  • To keep a target at low health (you can trap a target at low health, then pre-cast a Sniper Shot Icon Sniper Shot or Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot, your target will not be able to stop your cast, and their healer will not be able to recover the target's health), this is a strategy that is particularly effective in 2v2 arena
6.2.5.

Interlope

Interlope Icon Interlope is powerful into casters and hunters. You can Interlope Icon Interlope your healer when they are stunned, to eat an enemy Hunter's Freezing Trap Icon Freezing Trap or use it on yourself/your team to absorb spell casts. The pet positioning requirement of this spell can make it awkward to use, but when used properly, it is a very powerful defensive talent. (Remember that you need to talent into Misdirection Icon Misdirection to use this!)

6.3.

Niche or Not Used PvP Talents for Marksmanship Hunters

6.3.1.

Ranger's Finesse

Ranger's Finesse Icon Ranger's Finesse theoretically can reduce the cooldown of Aspect of the Turtle Icon Aspect of the Turtle significantly, but is awkward to use, and there are usually better talents available. The duration bonus to Volley is noticeable, and so is the knockback increase to bursting Shot. If your talent build allows, you can consider also playing Quick Load Icon Quick Load for more frequent access to Bursting Shot. If you play with this talent, ideally, you want to use Aspect of the Turtle Icon Aspect of the Turtle early in the game to save your healer's cooldowns to get the maximum benefit.

If your team is able to lock several players in one place for a long time (for example, playing with an Unholy Death Knight with Blinding Sleet Icon Blinding Sleet and Restoration Druid for Ursol's Vortex Icon Ursol's Vortex) Rangers Finesse combined with Volley and Kill Zone Icon Kill Zone can lead to enormous AoE burst.

6.3.2.

Hunting Pack

Hunting Pack Icon Hunting Pack is a mobility talent that vastly reduces the cooldown of Aspect of the Cheetah Icon Aspect of the Cheetah and applies its buff to your teammates but requires your teammates to be within 15 yards. There are better talents available to you in almost all cases.

6.3.3.

Wild Kingdom

Wild Kingdom Icon Wild Kingdom will help you keep your pet alive. With proper positioning of your pet and using Mend Pet Icon Mend Pet and Exhilaration Icon Exhilaration properly, your pet should not die often. Remember that if your team already has a Mortal Strike Icon Mortal Strike effect, you can use a Mechanical family pet, which will be significantly more tanky than a regular pet anyway.

6.3.4.

Sniper Shot

Sniper Shot Icon Sniper Shot is a very long-range cast with a long cast time and a reasonably short cooldown. It does decent damage but is unable to crit. The most useful part of Sniper Shot is the extension to the range of your abilities for six seconds after casting. This will allow you to hit targets very far away or land a Scatter Shot into Freezing Trap from a good distance. This talent is very rarely taken in the arena, and you can do more damage with a regular rotation, so unless you are taking it for the increased range effects, it is not worth taking.

7.

Changelog

  • 08 Oct. 2024: Updated talents.
  • 16 Sep. 2024: Added Wallhack Build.
  • 14 Sep. 2024: Updated talent trees and explained Trigger Finger interaction with Aimed Shot.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
  • 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within Launch.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
  • 15 May 2024: Moved Sniper Shot down a tier.
  • 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
  • 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
  • 16 Apr. 2024: Reorganised recommended talents.
  • 20 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for patch 10.2.6
  • 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for patch 10.2.5
  • 19 Nov. 2023: Updated recommended builds and their notes.
  • 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.2.
  • 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for patch 10.1.7 with minor tweaks.
  • 10 Jul. 2023: Expanded on Talents and PvP Talents.
  • 01 Jul. 2023: Guide re-written.
  • 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
  • 30 Jan. 2023: Updated the recommended Talent Build.
  • 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Season 1.
  • 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
  • 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
  • 22 Feb. 2022: Updated the PvP Talent recommendations and the pet families you should use. Added Ferocity alternatives.
  • 10 Nov. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
  • 06 Jul. 2021: Updated PvP Talents.
  • 18 Mar. 2021: Updated Tier 7 Regular Talent.
  • 06 Nov. 2020: Updated Talent Table.
    • Updated Tiers 4 and 7 Regular Talents.
  • 26 Oct. 2020: Updated Talent Table.
  • 15 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch (9.0.1)
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