Talents
Marksmanship Hunter talents are fairly straight forward. We typically run the same setup for both raid and mythic+. Below I talk about the different talents we take and the reasoning behind each.
Master Marksman
Tier 1 (Level 15)
Master Marksman causes all ranged attacks (essentially everything but our Auto Attackes) to apply a bleed after critcally striking for 15% of the damage dealt over 6 sec. It gives a nice chunk of passive damage that scales directly off of Critical Strikes. This talent makes Marksmanship love Crit. The bleed works similar to Ignite, meaning additional Critical Strike procs are additive and are not overwritten.
Explosive Shot
Tier 2 (Level 25)
Fires an explosive shot that deals massive damage after 3 sec. Explosive Shot is our go-to for any AoE. With current tuning, it should be used if there are enemies period. Remember, it has a delayed reaction so be sure to plan accordingly when using it.
Camouflage
Tier 3 (Level 30)
You and your pet blend in, gaining stealth for 1 min. Camouflage is very useful to facilitate skips during dungeons. The healing it gives is also nothing to scoff at, and is an easy button to push to top yourself off and to help your healers out while out of combat.
Streamline
Tier 4 (Level 35)
Streamline simply increases Rapid Fire's damage by a flat amount and gives a small quality of life to Aimed Shot by reducing its cast time. Streamline is our goto AoE talent. It also pairs well with Surging Shots which is our go-to AoE legendary if you're Kyrian.
Posthaste
Tier 5 (Level 40)
Disengage removes all snares and increases movement speed by 50% for 4 sec. This will be your default dungeon and raid talent for added movement speed and positioning. The snare removal is also extremely helpful in certain situations.
Double Tap
Tier 6 (Level 45)
Your next Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire will replicate, dealing 100% additional damage. Double Tap can be used in both single target situations and in AoE situations as it works with Trick Shots. Double Tap excels in situations that require on-demand burst damage. It is currently our best talent in this row by a fair margin.
Volley
Tier 7 (Level 50)
Raid arrows from the sky dealing a large amount of physical damage over 6 sec. Volley is our default pick in AoE situations. In addition to dealing damage, Volley enables Trick Shots for 6 sec. This means that we can cast Aimed Shots and Rapid Fires to AoE without having to cast Multi-Shot to enable Trickshots. With Volley, our damage profile shifts to a heavy up-front burst, approximately every minute. It also improves our two target cleave a fair bit.
Situational Talent Usage
Natural Mending
VS.
Camouflage
Your go-to talent in this row will always be Camouflage. Its stealth is very useful in dungeons, allowing you to skip certain packs. It also gives you passive healing, which can be used to heal yourself in between packs, instead of eating food, or to help your healer top you off (think Grievous weeks). That being said, Exhilaration does have merit when dungeons get rough and the stealth from Camouflage isn't needed. Sometimes having one or two extra Exhilarations may make or break certain dungeon encounters.
Careful Aim
VS.
Explosive Shot
Careful Aim is only the better pick in pure single target, sustained situations. If any type of AoE is involved in the fight, you should swap to Explosive Shot. That being said, Careful Aim does have merit in AoE, but it's typically rather hard to fit enough Aimed Shots within the health threshold for it to become worth. In dungeons, mobs lose health too quickly to properly benefit from it. Explosive Shot also synergizes very well with Volley and does a massive amount of damage over the course of the dungeon (and way less to play around).
Steady Focus
VS.
Streamline
In a sustained single target situation, Steady Focus is our best option by a fair margin. If there is frequent target swapping or downtime, Steady Focus will lose some value. Steady Focus and Streamline actually sim fairly closely in sustained AoE situations. That being said, there's no such thing as sustained AoE. When AoE occurs, we typically want to unload our burst as quickly as possible. Having to maintain Steady Focus while adds are spawning can be a huge loss. Likewise, Steady Focus loses value if we continually drop combat (think Mythic+). Thus, Streamline is typically our go-to for most AoE situations since it simply gives us some passive damage to Rapid Fire without having to maintain anything. In 1-2 target situations where maintaining Steady Focus isn't realistic, Chimaera Shot will take over (especially in sustained two target situations).
Stat Priority
Versatility
Versatility is Marksmanship’s best all around stat. Versatility simply increases your damage by a flat amount as well as decreases your damage taken. For Marksmanship, Vers is very close to Mastery in terms of value, but unlike Mastery, Vers gives you a damage reduction component, making it slightly better than Mastery for Mythic+.
Mastery
Mastery for Marksmanship Hunters simply buffs the majority of our abilities passively. It also slightly increases our range on our abilities.
Critical Strike
Marksmanship Hunters prefer raw damage boosts through Mastery and Versatility as opposed to stacking Crit like Beast Mastery Hunters do. Crit is inversely proportional to Haste for Marksmanship Hunters – it is currently our worst stat in single target situations but gains value in AoE.
Haste
Haste is a very good stat for Marksmanship Hunters, more so in raid compared to dungeons. Haste reduces cast time of most of our abilities such as Aimed Shot, Steady Shot and Rapid Fire while speeding up Aimed Shot’s recharge rate. Haste is inversely proportional to Crit for Marksmanship Hunters – it is one of the worst stats for AoE but gains value in single target. While we don’t typically want to gear for Haste passively, Expedient corruption that gives Haste percent works very well for us due to the many Haste procs we have such as In the Rhythm, Overwhelming Power, Trinkets and more. It also increases proc rates from corruptions such as Infinite Stars (the primary reason why Haste is more valuable in raid vs dungeons).
Versatility is Marksmanship’s best all around stat. Versatility simply increases your damage by a flat amount as well as decreases your damage taken. For Marksmanship, Vers is very close to Mastery in terms of value, but unlike Mastery, Vers gives you a damage reduction component, making it slightly better than Mastery for Mythic+.
Mastery
Mastery for Marksmanship Hunters simply buffs the majority of our abilities passively. It also slightly increases our range on our abilities.
Critical Strike
Marksmanship Hunters prefer raw damage boosts through Mastery and Versatility as opposed to stacking Crit like Beast Mastery Hunters do. Crit is inversely proportional to Haste for Marksmanship Hunters – it is currently our worst stat in single target situations but gains value in AoE.
Haste
Haste is a very good stat for Marksmanship Hunters, more so in raid compared to dungeons. Haste reduces cast time of most of our abilities such as Aimed Shot, Steady Shot and Rapid Fire while speeding up Aimed Shot’s recharge rate. Haste is inversely proportional to Crit for Marksmanship Hunters – it is one of the worst stats for AoE but gains value in single target. While we don’t typically want to gear for Haste passively, Expedient corruption that gives Haste percent works very well for us due to the many Haste procs we have such as In the Rhythm, Overwhelming Power, Trinkets and more. It also increases proc rates from corruptions such as Infinite Stars (the primary reason why Haste is more valuable in raid vs dungeons).
Professions
Some professions give you access to gear, while some give you access to some unique utility that’s useful within dungeons. Below is a list of items that are useful in dungeons, followed by my recommended professions for Mythic+.
- Belt Enchants – Personal Space Amplifier & Miniaturized Plasma Shield (Engineering)
- Battle Rez – Unstable Temporal Time Shifter (Engineering)
- Keys – Scroll of Unlocking (Inscription) & Monelite Skeleton Key (Blacksmithing)
- Drums – Drums of the Maelstrom, Fury & Mountain (Leather Working)
- Repair – Auto-Hammer & Jeeves (Blacksmithing/Engineering)
- Speed Potions – Lightfoot & Skystep Potion (Alchemy)
- Invisibility Potions – Demitri’s Draught of Deception, Skaggldrynk & Draenic Invisibility Potion (Alchemy)
Profession Recommendations
Engineering
Engineering is the only profession that's crucial to have if you plan to do Mythic+ seriously. Similar to previous expansions, it gives us some unique tools which make dungeons way easier in general. Below are a few of the unique and useful tools that only Engineers have access to.
- Ultimte Gnomish Army Knife is actually a rather old item that we've been using for years. It has a low chance to resurrect a fallen party member and it doesn't count as a battle rez! You should always try this out first in case you get lucky, it may save your butt!
- Disposable Spectrophasic Reanimator is Shadowlands version of the Engineering battle rez. Similar to previous expansions, it has a very low chance to backfire (sub ~1%). This is almost essential for Hunters since we don't have access to a natural battle rez.
- Dimensional Shifter is a new type of Engineering item added in Shadowlands. Who needs Rogues anymore when we can stealth ourselves?! This is quite a cool item especially for classes that have no form of stealth. Hunters have Camouflage though so we don't really need to have these on hand typically.
- Damage Retaliator allows us to attach an enchant to our belt that, when activated, deals a small amount of damage to enemies attacking you. This isn't a major deal considering we shouldn't be getting attacked (or else blame your tank) BUT, it does help a tad so it's worth equipping since Hunters typically don't need the stealth enchant.
Leather Working
Leather Working isn't a must have, however it's very nice to have and can provide you with some nice pieces of gear if you're lacking. With Leather Working, you can create BiS pants and boots with sockets (assuming you don't have any Titanforges + Sockets). It also gives you access to the Mallet of Thunderous Skins which gives you unlimited Drums. Hunters do have access to Bloodlust via our pets, but in most cases, our utility pets are far too valuable to give up, and often times its a waste to dismiss/resummon our pets every time we need Bloodlust. The alternative to Leather Working would be Jewelcrafting.
Enchants & Consumables
Enchants
Weapon Enchant - Masterful Navigation
Masterful Navigation is generally the go to for Mythic+ for Marskmanship Hunters. It's a straight damage boost for us which is always welcomed.
Ring Enchant - Accord of Versatility
Versatility should almost always be gemmed and enchanted, however you should always sim for the most accurate results.
Masterful Navigation is generally the go to for Mythic+ for Marskmanship Hunters. It's a straight damage boost for us which is always welcomed.
Ring Enchant - Accord of Versatility
Versatility should almost always be gemmed and enchanted, however you should always sim for the most accurate results.
Potions
AoE Potion - Greater Battle Potion of Agility
This is your standard go-to potion, however it excels in AoE. In cases of large AoE (think Shrine), you may use Potion of Empowered Proximity, however note that you have to be in melee range.
Single Target Potion - Potion of Unbridled Fury
This is your best option for pure single target. It lasts a minute so be sure you are able to get full use of it. It also scales with haste so always try to use it during Bloodlust.
This is your standard go-to potion, however it excels in AoE. In cases of large AoE (think Shrine), you may use Potion of Empowered Proximity, however note that you have to be in melee range.
Single Target Potion - Potion of Unbridled Fury
This is your best option for pure single target. It lasts a minute so be sure you are able to get full use of it. It also scales with haste so always try to use it during Bloodlust.
Food
Personal Food - Abyssal-Fried Rissole
More Mastery is good! You can also use Bil'Tong (Vers).
Feast - Sugar Crusted Fish Feast
Sometimes, personal food takes too long to eat. If you need a quick buff or some quick health generation, use these!
More Mastery is good! You can also use Bil'Tong (Vers).
Feast - Sugar Crusted Fish Feast
Sometimes, personal food takes too long to eat. If you need a quick buff or some quick health generation, use these!
Flask
Flask - Greater Flask of the Currents
Pretty standard, we want that Agility. You shouldn't really use any other Flask. On super high keys, a Stamina Flask maybe be used to survive some hits (think final boss in Tol'Dagor)
Pretty standard, we want that Agility. You shouldn't really use any other Flask. On super high keys, a Stamina Flask maybe be used to survive some hits (think final boss in Tol'Dagor)