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Marksmanship Hunter Guide for WoW Forever

Marksmanship Hunter for WoW Forever: pet and Lone Wolf leveling builds, a Sniper Shot raid build at 60, and how Rapid Recuperation solves your mana.

HunterMarksmanshipLevelingPvERaidsDungeonsPvPDPS

By stillsixty staffUpdated

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Variants

Overview

Marksmanship is the Hunter who wins with the bow. Forever rebuilt the tree around your own shots: Careful Aim turns Intellect into Attack Power, Mortal Shots adds 30% to your ranged crits, Barrage now covers Aimed Shot, and the tree ends in Sniper Shot, a 4-second snipe that hits harder than anything else you own. No other spec puts this many talents into your own shots.

Two new talents solve the Hunter's oldest problem, mana. Rapid Killing buffs your next shot by 20% after every kill, and Rapid Recuperation turns that buff and every Serpent Sting into mana regeneration while you fight. Then there's Lone Wolf: dismiss your pet and deal 20% more damage with every attack.

You get three builds. The Level 30 build levels with a pet and lives off Rapid Killing. The Level 30 Lone Wolf build is for dungeons and group leveling, where a tank holds the mobs and your pet is dead weight. The Level 60 raid build goes petless all the way to Sniper Shot.

Strengths

  • Heavy ranged crits: Aimed Shot, Sniper Shot and Arcane Shot all deal 30% more critical strike damage with Mortal Shots.
  • Lone Wolf gives 20% more damage on every attack, and your damage doesn't drop when a pet dies to raid AoE.
  • Real mana sustain. With Rapid Recuperation, spending Rapid Killing on the next mob lets all of your mana regeneration continue while you fight for 15 seconds.
  • Trueshot Aura raises the Ranged Attack Power of your whole party.
  • A one-point PvP swap into Scatter Shot gives you a second crowd control tool next to Freezing Trap.
  • Arcane Shot every 4.5 seconds with Improved Arcane Shot.

Weaknesses

  • Sniper Shot and Aimed Shot are casts. Every fight that makes you move costs you damage.
  • Petless play means nothing holds mobs off you while solo. Lone Wolf belongs in groups.
  • Careful Aim ties your damage to Intellect, so you compete with casters for a slice of your gear.
  • Your defensive kit is Feign Death and your traps. Nothing in the Marksmanship tree adds armor or health.
  • The build leans on Serpent Sting for mana, and a Sting you can't keep on the target costs you regeneration.

What's new in Forever

New in Forever
  • Lethal Attacks gives up to 5% crit to all your attacks, not only ranged ones.
  • Careful Aim (tier 2, 5 ranks): Attack Power equal to up to 100% of your Intellect. Mortal Shots requires it.
  • Improved Stings (tier 2, 3 ranks): 20% more Serpent Sting damage, a 6-second shorter Viper Sting cooldown and 45 seconds more Scorpid Sting.
  • Rapid Killing (tier 3, 2 ranks): 2 minutes off Rapid Fire, and 20% more damage on your next shot within 20 seconds after a kill.
  • Lone Wolf (tier 3): 20% more damage with all attacks while you have no active pet.
  • Trueshot Aura is a tier 4 talent at 30 Ranged Attack Power for your party, and trainers teach new ranks at 32, 40, 50 and 60. In the beta data the five ranks give 30, 40, 50, 75 and 50, so rank 4, trained at 50, gives 75 and is the strongest.
  • Rapid Recuperation (tier 5, 2 ranks, requires Rapid Killing): Serpent Sting hits let 50% of your mana regeneration continue while casting for 15 seconds, and consuming Rapid Killing lets all of it continue.
  • Barrage now raises Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot and Volley damage by 10%.
  • Sniper Shot (tier 7): a 4-second cast on a 15-second cooldown that adds 160 damage to your ranged attack. Trainers teach ranks at 48 and 58, up to 295.
  • Aimed Shot is a trained shot for every Hunter at 20, a 2-second cast that shares its 6-second cooldown with Multi-Shot.
  • Rapid Fire speeds up both ranged and melee attacks by 40% for 15 seconds.
  • Scorpid Sting now lowers the target's chance to hit by 2%.

Talents

The pet leveling build, and the same first 21 points as the Marksmanship path in our Hunter leveling guide. Seven Beast Mastery points buy Deadly Aspects and Focused Fire, then Marksmanship takes over: Lethal Attacks and Careful Aim make every shot hit harder, and Rapid Killing turns each kill into a buffed opener for the next mob.

Split 7/14/0 · 21 points at level 30 · Open in calculator

Beast Mastery

7 points

Marksmanship

14 points

Survival

0 points

Talent order

  1. Levels 10–14: 5/5 Deadly Aspects. In Aspect of the Hawk, each Auto Shot has a 10% chance to raise your ranged attack speed by 30% for 12 seconds. Auto Shot is most of your damage at these levels, and this speeds it up.
  2. Levels 15–16: 2/2 Focused Fire. 2% more damage for you and your pet while it's out.
  3. Levels 17–21: 5/5 Lethal Attacks. 5% crit for you and, because your pet copies your crit, for your pet.
  4. Levels 22–26: 5/5 Careful Aim. Attack Power equal to your Intellect. At these levels, your Intellect is a big share of your Attack Power, and 5/5 unlocks Mortal Shots later.
  5. Levels 27–28: 2/2 Rapid Killing. Every kill buffs your next shot by 20% for 20 seconds, and Rapid Fire comes back 2 minutes sooner.
  6. Levels 29–30: 2/3 Improved Stings. 13% more Serpent Sting damage. The third point comes at 31 on the way to Trueshot Aura and Rapid Recuperation.

Flexible points

  • Short on mana: take 2/5 Efficiency at 29–30 instead of Improved Stings. Your shots and stings cost 6% less.
  • Mobs keep slipping off your pet onto you: take 2/5 Improved Concussive Shot at 29–30 instead of Improved Stings. Concussive Shot gets an 8% chance to stun for 3 seconds.

Races

Best races

Alliance: Human. Sword Specialization gives +2% crit to every attack while a sword or two-handed sword sits in your melee slot. It is always on, it stacks with Lethal Attacks, and Mortal Shots makes every crit hit harder. The Human Spirit adds 5% Spirit and Will to Survive breaks a stun.

Alliance burst: Night Elf. Elune's Light adds 10% crit for 15 seconds every 3 minutes. Cast Sniper Shot, Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot inside it. Shadowmeld resets a bad pull in the open world.

Horde: Orc. Blood Fury adds 10% Attack Power for 15 seconds every 2 minutes. Stack it with Rapid Fire. Axe Specialization gives +1% crit with an axe equipped.

Horde hit: Tauren. Endurance gives 1% hit and 5% health, and War Stomp stuns up to five enemies for 2 seconds when melee reaches you.

All playable races

Rotation

The pull

  1. Send your pet and let it land two hits.
  2. Hunter's Mark the mob, then Serpent Sting.
  3. From 20, Aimed Shot on cooldown. From 27, open with it while Rapid Killing from the last kill is up: it hits for 20% more.
  4. Arcane Shot on cooldown.
  5. Auto Shot between everything. In Aspect of the Hawk, Deadly Aspects procs speed it up by 30%.
  6. Finish with Arcane Shot. From 27, pull the next mob within 20 seconds, while Rapid Killing is still up.

Chaining pulls

From 27, Rapid Killing is a clock. Every kill gives you 20 seconds to land a buffed shot on the next mob. Pull as soon as the last one drops and the bonus lands every time. From 38, Rapid Recuperation turns that same shot into 15 seconds of mana regeneration while you fight: half of it at 38, all of it from 39.

Two mobs

Drop Freezing Trap at your feet before you shoot the second mob, or right after it breaks off your pet. It stays frozen for up to 10 seconds at rank 1. Kill the first, then open on the trapped one with Aimed Shot.

Keeping the pet alive

Mend Pet it at half health, and feed it between pulls with Feed Pet.

Stat priority

Pet leveling

  1. Agility
  2. Intellect
  3. Attack Power
  4. Stamina
  5. Spirit

Agility gives Attack Power and crit. Careful Aim turns every point of Intellect into Attack Power, and Intellect also pays for your shots, so it sits above raw Attack Power. Your pet copies your crit.

Gear

Weapons

Your ranged weapon is most of your damage, and Aimed Shot adds a flat amount to its hit. Take the highest damage per second you can find, and prefer a slow weapon when two are close. Put a sword, axe or any melee weapon with Agility or Stamina in your melee slot.

Quivers and scopes

Armor

Agility, then Intellect, then Stamina.

Professions

Engineering and Mining is the Marksmanship pair. Engineering makes every scope you'll use, from Crude Scope to Sniper Scope, and at the end Biznicks 247x128 Accurascope for 3% hit. Mining feeds it.

Leatherworking and Skinning is the alternative. Leatherworking makes your quivers, ammo pouches and armor on the way up.

For gold, level with Skinning and Herbalism, then switch to Engineering at 60.

Group play and dungeons

Your job in a group is ranged damage and crowd control.

  • Trueshot Aura raises the Ranged Attack Power of every party member within 45 yards. Keep it up all the time: it lasts 30 minutes.
  • Freezing Trap works in combat now. Drop Freezing Trap between the crowd control target and the group, then shoot the target once to pull it in. Any damage breaks the ice, so keep Multi-Shot and Volley away from it.
  • Scatter Shot, if you take the PvP swap, disorients a mob within 15 yards for 4 seconds, and any damage ends it. It's an emergency peel for a healer.
  • Hunter's Mark the kill target for extra Ranged Attack Power from every Hunter and ranged attacker.
  • Feign Death when a mob turns on you. Lone Wolf pushes your threat high.
  • Tranquilizing Shot removes a Frenzy effect from an enemy. You learn it at 60 from Tome of Tranquilizing Shot, not from the trainer.
  • Aspect of the Wild covers your party and raid with Nature resistance.

PvP

Marksmanship adds Sniper Shot to the traps every Hunter carries, and the PvP swap on the Level 60 build adds Scatter Shot.

  • Scatter Shot into Freezing Trap (PvP swap): Scatter the melee chasing you, drop Freezing Trap at your feet and walk away. Don't shoot them while they're disoriented or frozen: any damage breaks both. When the Scatter ends they walk into the trap and freeze. Use that time to reset your distance, then open with Aimed Shot the moment the ice breaks.
  • Viper Sting drains mana from casters.
  • Scorpid Sting lowers a melee class's hit chance for as long as you keep it on them.
  • Sniper Shot is a finisher. A 4-second cast only lands on a target that can't reach you: trapped, rooted or kiting away.
  • Lone Wolf or pet: in duels, a pet with a slow or a disarm is worth more than 20% damage. In battlegrounds with a team peeling for you, take Lone Wolf.

Tips

The Rapid Killing clock

Every kill starts a 20-second window for a buffed shot. Pull the next mob inside it and open with Aimed Shot. With Rapid Recuperation, spending the buff also lets your mana regeneration keep running while you fight.

Minimum range

Your shots need 8 yards. A mob in melee range stops Aimed Shot, Sniper Shot and Auto Shot cold. Concussive Shot early, step back early.

Track the right creature type. Improved Tracking only works against the type you're tracking. Swap it for every boss and every trash pack.

Rapid Fire every 3 minutes. With Rapid Killing, use it on the pull and again the moment it's ready. Line it up with your racial.

Dismiss the pet once, not every pull. Dismiss Pet costs happiness and a 5-second cast. Pick Lone Wolf or your pet for the session and stick with it.

Macros

Aimed Shot that keeps Auto Shot running, so you never turn it off by accident.

Aimed Shot
#showtooltip Aimed Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast Aimed Shot

Stop a cast and Feign Death in one press when a mob turns on you.

Stop and Feign
#showtooltip Feign Death
/stopcasting
/cast Feign Death

For the PvP swap: Scatter Shot your focus target, or your current target if you have no focus.

Focus Scatter
#showtooltip Scatter Shot
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] Scatter Shot

Volley where your cursor points, with no targeting circle to click.

Cursor Volley
#showtooltip Volley
/cast [@cursor] Volley

One button for Lone Wolf: dismiss the pet if it's out, call it back if it isn't.

Lone Wolf toggle
#showtooltip
/cast [nopet] Call Pet; Dismiss Pet

Changelog

  • Guide published with Level 30, Level 30 Lone Wolf and Level 60 Raid builds.

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