Marksmanship Hunter PvP Useful Macros (The War Within Pre-Patch)
Macros are crucial to be successful in PvP. They allow players to use abilities on enemies without having to target them. This helps increase overall damage/healing and general awareness in the arena. Here are a few macros that all Marksmanship Hunters can benefit from.
This page is part of our Marksmanship Hunter PvP Guide.
Notes:
Mouseover, exists
You will see that many of the macros below will cast at a mouseover if they
exist. This will enable you to quickly cast on targets that are not your target
without having to focus them or keybind three separate @arena1 to @arena3
macros. This is useful for utility spells such as Tranquilizing Shot,
Concussive Shot,
Scare Beast, but it is also useful for your DPS
rotation. You want to be unpredictable and quick when you change targets, and
having the option of casting at someone by mousing over their frame will help
with this.
Having the [@mouseover,exists] clause in your spells like Arcane Shot
,
Aimed Shot and
Kill Shot will also be extremely useful for
killing
Psyfiends, totems
and pets.
Stopcasting
You will also see that some macros include /stopcasting. This is so that
you can still cast the spell while casting Steady Shot or standing still, casting
Aimed Shot.
For example, if you did not have this line on your Macro for Exhilaration and
were already casting a
Steady Shot, you would not be able to cast
Exhilaration
without pressing escape to cancel the cast or a separate stopcasting macro.
I strongly recommend you include /stopcasting in the macros for your defensive cooldowns.
Known
This macro clause is very useful because of how the talent system works. You can use the phrase [Known: ] with a spell ID (you can find these on Wowhead) so that a macro will cast a different spell or show a different tooltip based on your selected talents. It's a nice way to avoid having to redo your action bars when changing talents.
You can use the spell ID or type the spell name. There is a limit of 255 characters to a macro, so if it is a longer macro, you will want to use the spell IDs rather than typing the name of the spell.
Cursor
You will see that some of the macros below for targetted reticle spells (eg
Volley,
Freezing Trap,
Tar Trap,
High Explosive Trap/
Implosive Trap) are cast [@cursor]. This casts the spell immediately at the
location of your mouse. This cuts down on the delay when casting a spell because
you only press the button once (instead of pressing the button, aiming, then
left-clicking to confirm).
As hunter is one of the very few classes that require precise aiming (and timing) with launching traps, you will find that using @cursor will make it much easier to land those important crowd control abilities on time.
Cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle
Aspect of the Turtle is a great defensive, but you aren't able to attack during
it. Most of the time, you will want to cancel
Aspect of the Turtle before it
ends so you can start using your next attack or crowd control. You will see that
some of the macros below will also cancel
Aspect of the Turtle when pressed.
Cancel Spell Queue
This is a little bit more obscure, but in World of Warcraft, there is a built-in latency adjustment known as the "spell queue window". This will allow you to queue up a spell before your character can cast it (e.g., during the global cooldown).
Without going into too much detail (you can google spell queue window if you want to find out more), without the line /cancelqueuedspell in your Macro, it is possible that you will already have a spell queued up that would be used instead of the spell you decided to cast at the last moment.
Including /cqs or /cancelqueuedspell in your Macro will clear any queued spell and ensure that the spell in your Macro will be cast instantly.
Damage Rotation
Aimed shot
- #showtooltip aimed shot
- /cancelaura aspect of the turtle
- /use [@mouseover,exists][] aimed Shot; aimed shot
This Aimed Shot macro does a couple of things:
- Removes
Aspect of the Turtle (so you don't have to bind cancelaura
Aspect of the Turtle separately).
- Casts
Aimed Shot at your mouseover if they exist (this allows you to swap targets without it being obvious to the other team or to kill totems and
Psyfiends quickly).
- Casts
Aimed Shot at your target if you are not mousing over an enemy nameplate or frame.
Arcane shot
- #showtooltip arcane shot
- /cast [@mouseover,exists,nochanneling][@target,nochanneling]Arcane Shot; arcane shot
This Arcane Shot macro does a couple of things:
- Casts
Arcane Shot at your mouseover if they exist (this allows you to swap targets without it being obvious to the other team or to quickly kill totems and
Psyfiends).
- Casts
Arcane Shot at your target if you are not currently mousing over an enemy nameplate or frame.
- Does not cancel your
Rapid Fire channel (this means you can never accidentally clip the end of your
Rapid Fire by pressing
Arcane Shot too early!)
Aimed Shot focus
- /cast [@focus] aimed shot
This simple Macro will cast Aimed Shot at your focus target. If
you're using the Macro above for
Aimed Shot, you don't technically need
this, but it is more convenient to use this Macro when you want the spell to
be cast at your focus target so you do not need to mouseover them.
Trueshot
- #showtooltip Trueshot
- /use Draconic Aspirant's Badge of Ferocity
- /use Draconic Gladiator's Badge of Ferocity
- /cast Blood Fury(Racial)
- /cast Trueshot
This is a simple macro that uses off-global cooldown temporary damage buffs (trinkets and racial ability if orc) when you begin bursting with Trueshot.
Even if Trueshot is not available, you can press this Macro whenever you are bursting to use any of your off-global cooldown stat buffs that are available.
Kill shot
- #showtooltip kill shot
- /cancelqueuedspell
- /stopcasting
- /cancelaura aspect of the turtle
- /Cast [@mouseover, exists, harm] kill shot; kill shot
This Macro will stop any queued spells or spells that you are casting and
immediately cast Kill Shot.
As with the macros above, it will cast at your mouseover if they exist and otherwise will cast on your target.
Steady shot
- #showtooltip steady shot
- /Cast [@mouseover, exists, harm] steady shot; steady shot
- /cast [@mouseover,nochanneling:rapid fire][nochanneling:rapid fire]steady Shot
This Macro will cast Steady Shot at your mouseover if they exist and otherwise
will cast
Steady Shot on your target.
You might want to Steady Shot something you are not
targetting with the PvP talent
Consecutive Concussion. Using this Macro, you will
be able to cast
Steady Shots on a player, even if you are not targetting them,
to extend
Concussive Shot and stun them if you
Steady Shot three times.
This Macro will not do anything if you are already channeling Rapid Fire (so
that you cannot accidentally clip the end of a
Rapid Fire cast).
Volley with Salvo
- #showtooltip Volley
- /cast Salvo
- /use Draconic Gladiator's Badge of Ferocity
- /cast [@cursor] volley
This macro will instantly cast Salvo and
Volley where your cursor is. Use this
when you are bursting.
If your stat buff trinket is available, it will also use that. Volley is an important damage cooldown and you will get more value from the stat buff if it is active during Volley.
Defensives
Camouflage
- /run SetCVar("SoftTargetInteract", 0)
- /run SetCVar("SoftTargetEnemyRange", 0)
- /run SetCVar("SoftTargetFriendRange", 0)
- /cast !camouflage
This macro will cast Camouflage (and will not cancel
Camouflage if you
accidentally press the macro twice!)
The Macro will also change some "CVar" values. Without going into detail, this solves a bug introduced in Dragonflight that would make your Macro'd spells cast at your target instead of the target that your Macro specifies.
By having the corrections on a macro with Camouflage you know they will be fixed
at the start of every game.
Aspect of the Turtle
- #showtooltip aspect of the turtle
- /stopcasting
- /stopcasting
- /cast !aspect of the turtle
This Macro will stop casting any spell and cast Aspect of the Turtle.
This macro will not cancel Aspect of the Turtle if you press it multiple
times.
Exhilaration
- #showtooltip exhilaration
- /stopcasting
- /cast Exhilaration
This Macro will stop casting any spells and cast Exhilaration.
Feign Death (and mark pet as star)
- #showtooltip
- /stopcasting
- /cancelaura feign death
- /cast !feign death
- /stopattack
- /run local t="Pet" if 1~=GetRaidTargetIndex(t) then SetRaidTarget(t, 1) end
This macro will cast Feign Death and stop your character from attacking.
The Macro will also mark a star raid icon on your pet. It is useful to have a raid marker on your pet to make it easier to track the pet's position. Having the Macro on a spell that you use often means the raid mark will be applied even if you only summon the pet midway through a game.
Note that this Macro will only mark your pet while inside arena if you are the party leader, but you can press it outside of the arena if you aren't the party leader, and unless you swap pets, the mark will stay.
Roar of Sacrifice self
- /stopcasting
- /cast [@player] Roar of Sacrifice
This Macro will stop any spell casts, and use Roar of Sacrifice on
yourself.
Crowd control
Freezing Trap
- /cancelqueuedspell
- /cast [mod:alt,@player][@cursor] Freezing trap
This macro will cast Freezing Trap on your cursor if pressed without any
modifier.
If you press alt while pressing the Macro, the trap will be dropped immediately (and activate immediately with no travel time) at your feet.
I highly recommend that you have a Freezing Trap [@player] macro like this. It
is significantly easier and more reliable to land traps by standing on a healer
and using the [@player]
Freezing Trap.
Scatter Shot (or Bursting Shot if talented)
- #showtooltip [known:scatter shot]scatter shot;[known:bursting shot]bursting shot
- /cancelqueuedspell
- /stopcasting
- /cancelaura aspect of the turtle
- /Cast [@mouseover, exists, harm] scatter shot; scatter shot
- /cast [known:bursting shot]bursting shot
This macro will cast Scatter Shot at your mouseover if they exist
which is useful in BGs or world PvP to CC off-targets or to crowd control a pet (e.g. to
stop a Warlock's Succubus
Seduction cast without targetting it).
The Macro will cast Scatter Shot at your target if you aren't mousing over an
enemy.
If you have Bursting Shot talented instead of
Scatter Shot, it will cast
Bursting Shot.
High Explosive Trap (or Implosive Trap if talented)
- #showtooltip [known:Implosive Trap] Implosive Trap; [known:High Explosive Trap] High Explosive Trap
- /cancelqueuedspell
- /stopcasting
- /cast [known:Implosive Trap] Implosive Trap
- /cast [known:High Explosive Trap] High Explosive Trap
This macro toggles between High Explosive Trap and
Implosive Trap, depending on which one you have talented.
Note that sometimes (e.g. when knocking an enemy into a Freezing Trap using a High Explosive Trap) you need to be very precise with the High Explosive Trap placement, which is why I do not recommend using @cursor for this trap.
Chimaeral Sting (alt to cast on focus)
- #showtooltip Chimaeral Sting(PvP Talent)
- /cast [mod:alt,@focus,harm,nodead] [@mouseover,harm,nodead] [] Chimaeral Sting(PvP Talent)
This Macro will cast Chimaeral Sting on your mouseover if selected, your target
if you don't have a mouseover, or your focus target if you press alt at the same
time as the Macro.
I recommend also having a macro like this for utility spells such as
Concussive Shot and
Tranquilizing Shot.
Counter shot arena 1-3
- #showtooltip Counter Shot
- /stopcasting
- /cast [@arena1] Counter Shot
This Macro will Counter Shot the first member of the enemy arena team
(highest unit frame on your UI).
You want three of these macros, one for each of the three members of the enemy team, [@arena1], [@arena2], and [@arena3], respectively.
You will also want those three macros with Counter Shot replaced by
Intimidation,
and another of these three macros for
Scatter Shot (it's nice to have with
Concussive Shot too if you have the keybind space).
Pet utility
Command Pet (Master's Call, Fortitude of the Bear, Primal Rage)
- #showtooltip command pet
- /cast [@target, help] [@player] command pet
This will cast your pet's active ability.
If you have a friendly target and a cunning pet, it will cast Master's Call on
your target (useful in BGs/world content)
Command Pet (to Master's Call partner)
- #showtooltip command pet
- /cast [@party1] command pet
This will cast Master's Call on your party member. You need this Macro for both
party1 and party2 to remove important roots and snares (for example,
Mass Entanglement and
Solar Beam from a Balance Druid).
Pet attack
- #showtooltip Freezing Trap
- /petattack [@target]
- /cast dash
- /petattack [@target]
- /startattack [@target]
- /petautocaston savage rend
This Macro will command your pet to attack your target and use their sprint ability if available.
You can change the #showtooltip to whatever spell you want to track the cooldown of (this is a way to show the cooldown of a spell on your action bar when the Macro doesn't have a specific ability to show the icon or cooldown of).
Pet Follow
- #showtooltip Freezing Trap
- /petfollow
This Macro will command your pet to follow you.
You can change the #showtooltip to whatever spell you want to track the cooldown of.
Pet Move to
- #showtooltip Freezing Trap
- /petmoveto
- /stay
This Macro will command your pet to move to a specific location.
You can change the #showtooltip to whatever spell you want to track the cooldown of.
Fancy macros
Camouflage during combat macro
- #showtooltip Camouflage
- /stopcasting
- /petpassive
- /petfollow
- /stopattack
- /use [pet]Play Dead;[pet]Wake Up
- /cast !Feign Death
- /cast !Camouflage
This Macro will make it easier to cast Camouflage during combat. If you do not
have a pet out, and
Feign Death is on cooldown, it will work every time (although
damage over time effects will break
Camouflage!)
If you have a pet out, it will put them on passive and cast Play Dead
(the pet equivalent of
Feign Death) so your pet will not keep you in
combat. If you have put your pet on passive and it has not been attacked for two
seconds before pressing this Macro, you will go into
Camouflage when
you press it.
If you use this Macro and you're still in combat (but you aren't getting hit),
you can run around a pillar and keep pressing it to enter Camouflage.
Aimed shot enemy pet macro
- #showtooltip
- /cast [@arenapet1] aimed shot
- /cast [@arenapet2] aimed shot
- /cast [@arenapet3] aimed shot
This macro will cast Aimed Shot at a pet on the enemy team.
Use this when you know a hunter will Feign Death or line of sight your aimed
shot cast so that you still force the
Feign Death, but your damage isn't wasted
because the
Aimed Shot still hits their pet.
Taunt enemy pet macro
- #showtooltip dismiss pet
- /cast dismiss pet
- /cast [@arenapet1, exists] growl; [@arenapet2, exists] growl; [@arenapet3, exists] growl
This Macro will command your pet to taunt enemy pets. You can put it on your
action bars where Dismiss Pet is, which means you can use your existing
Dismiss Pet keybind to taunt enemy pets.
Changelog
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 4.
- 20 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for patch 10.2.5.
- 19 Nov. 2023: Added some explanations.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for patch 10.1.7 with minor tweaks.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5
- 27 Jun. 2023: Guide re-written.
- 09 May 2023: Updated for Dragonflight Patch 10.1.
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 28 Feb. 2022: Page reviewed and approved for Patch 9.2.
- 10 Nov. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.5.
- 06 Jul. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.
- 15 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch (9.0.1)
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This guide is written and maintained by Slo, a Multi-Gladiator and Multi-Rank 1 Solo Shuffle Hunter. You can find Slo on YouTube, Twitch, and Reddit
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