Marksmanship Hunter guide for WoW Forever

The Marksmanship Hunter in WoW Forever is the sharpshooter. You can play with a pet or send it away: Lone Wolf gives you 20% more damage without one, and Sniper Shot is a new long-range shot at the bottom of the tree. You keep every Hunter tool for pulls, crowd control and Feign Death, but the focus is your own ranged damage. This guide covers the level 60 build, the rotation, mana, stats and races.

Role	Ranged damage, with or without a pet
Build at level 60	5/46/0: Deadly Aspects from Beast Mastery and the whole Marksmanship tree
Key talents	Deadly Aspects, Lethal Attacks, Careful Aim, Rapid Killing, Mortal Shots, Rapid Recuperation, Barrage, Lone Wolf, Sniper Shot
Strength	Very high damage, easy rotation, flexible with or without a pet
Weakness	No pet to protect you, depends on standing still
Leveling	Hunter leveling guide, Hunter level build

Strengths and weaknesses

Very high damage. Marksmanship is one of the strongest damage specs in WoW Forever, and without a pet it is especially strong in group content and raids.

Easy to learn. The rotation is short. Positioning, cooldowns and keeping your shots going make the difference.

Flexible. Keep a pet for solo play, send it away for the most damage in groups.

No pet. With Lone Wolf, nothing holds a monster off you. A bad pull in the open world is harder to recover from.

Standing still. You deal the most damage when you can stand and shoot. Fights with a lot of movement cost you damage.

The dead zone. Between melee range and 8 yards you can use neither melee nor ranged attacks.

The level 60 build: 5/46/0

The beta stopped at level 30, but the talent trees for level 60 are in the game files. We checked this build point for point in our talent calculator: 5 points in Beast Mastery and 46 in Marksmanship, 51 in total.

Talent	Points
Deadly Aspects (Beast Mastery)	5/5
Hawk Eye	3/3
Lethal Attacks	5/5
Improved Stings	3/3
Efficiency	5/5
Careful Aim	5/5
Rapid Killing	2/2
Improved Arcane Shot	5/5
Lone Wolf	1/1
Trueshot Aura	1/1
Mortal Shots	5/5
Rapid Recuperation	2/2
Barrage	3/3
Ranged Weapon Specialization	5/5
Sniper Shot	1/1

Two points can move:

• Lone Wolf to 1 point in Improved Tracking (Survival) if you want to keep your pet, for example while questing.
• Hawk Eye to 3 points in Improved Tracking if you do not need the extra range and want more damage.

What the key talents do

Talent	What it does in Forever
Deadly Aspects	With Aspect of the Hawk, Auto Shot has a 10% chance to raise your ranged attack speed by 30% for 12 seconds
Lethal Attacks	5% more critical strike chance with all attacks
Improved Stings	Serpent Sting deals 20% more damage, Viper Sting comes back 6 seconds sooner, Scorpid Sting lasts 45 seconds longer
Efficiency	Shots, stings and melee abilities cost 15% less mana
Careful Aim	Attack power equal to 100% of your Intellect
Rapid Killing	Rapid Fire comes back 2 minutes sooner, and a kill or a death under your Serpent Sting gives your next shot more damage
Improved Arcane Shot	Arcane Shot comes back 1.5 seconds sooner
Lone Wolf	20% more damage with all attacks while you have no active pet
Trueshot Aura	30 ranged attack power for your party or raid
Mortal Shots	Critical strikes with ranged abilities deal 30% more extra damage
Rapid Recuperation	Serpent Sting lets 50% of your mana regeneration continue while you cast for 15 seconds, 100% after Rapid Killing
Barrage	Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot and Volley deal 10% more damage
Ranged Weapon Specialization	5% more damage with ranged weapons
Sniper Shot	A long-range shot, 4 second cast, 15 second cooldown, up to 45 yards; your next 3 shots get 10 yards more range

Rotation

Single target

1. Put an Immolation Trap where the tank will stand, if you can.
2. Cast Sniper Shot as the pull starts, and again whenever it is ready.
3. Cast Serpent Sting and renew it when it runs out.
4. Cast Aimed Shot whenever it is ready.
5. Cast Arcane Shot whenever it is ready.
6. Cast Rapid Fire on cooldown.

Several targets

1. Put an Explosive Trap where the tank will stand, if you can.
2. Cast Multi-Shot whenever it is ready.
3. Put Serpent Sting on every target that lives long enough.
4. Cast Sniper Shot and Arcane Shot whenever they are ready.
5. Drop Explosive Trap under the group on cooldown.
6. Cast Rapid Fire on cooldown.

Cooldowns and utility

• Rapid Fire is your damage cooldown: 40% more attack speed.
• Trueshot Aura gives ranged attack power to your raid, also to other Hunters.
• Frost Trap, Freezing Trap, Wing Clip and Concussive Shot slow, root or remove monsters from the fight. Explosive Trap and Immolation Trap deal damage and share a 30 second cooldown.
• Feign Death drops you out of combat. Without a pet it is your main way out of trouble.
• Scorpid Sting now lowers the target’s chance to hit by 2% for 20 seconds. It does not stack with Insect Swarm.
• Tranquilizing Shot removes Enrage and Frenzy effects.
• Tracking shows monsters and players nearby. With Improved Tracking you also deal more damage to the tracked type.
• Aspects: stay in Aspect of the Hawk in a fight and walk. Cheetah and Pack are faster, but you get dazed when hit.

Mana

Marksmanship uses a lot of mana: Sniper Shot and Aimed Shot are expensive and both are in your rotation. Rapid Recuperation keeps half of your mana regeneration going while you cast, as long as Serpent Sting is on the target, and Efficiency makes every shot cheaper. In long fights, keep an eye on your mana bar.

With or without a pet

Lone Wolf asks you to play without a pet. In raids and dungeons that is the most damage. In the open world, a pet that holds monsters off you is often worth more: swap Lone Wolf for a point in Improved Tracking and keep your pet. Use Stay and Move To to keep it out of area damage.

Stats and gear

Stat priorities for level 60 follow after the launch. Until then:

• Agility: 2 ranged attack power per point and critical strike chance, about 1% per 53 Agility at level 60.
• Hit: against a level 63 boss you need 9% with 300 weapon skill, or 6% with 305.
• Critical strike chance, which works with Mortal Shots.
• Attack power, which Agility usually beats point for point.
• Haste, so your abilities come back sooner.
• Intellect, for mana and through Careful Aim also for attack power.
• Spirit, for mana regeneration together with Rapid Recuperation.

Armor. Leather and mail both work. Leatherworking has good patterns while you level.

Quiver or ammo pouch. Both raise your ranged attack speed. Keep yours up to date.

Weapons. Your ranged weapon is by far your most important item. Your melee weapon is mostly there for its stats.

Races and professions

Faction	Race	Why
Alliance	Skyborne	A haste bonus, rare on gear, the strongest choice
Alliance	Human	2% more critical strike chance
Alliance	Dwarf	2% more critical strike damage
Alliance	Night Elf	A critical strike cooldown
Horde	Skyborne	A haste bonus and a movement speed cooldown
Horde	Orc	An attack power cooldown and 1% more critical strike chance
Horde	Troll	More damage against Beasts and an attack speed cooldown
Horde	Tauren	An area stun, more critical strike damage, and Plainsrunning

The differences are small, so play the race you like. For a pet build, see the Beast Mastery Hunter guide.

Leatherworking makes good leather gear, Engineering brings gadgets and scopes, Alchemy with Herbalism keeps you in potions, and Enchanting keeps your gear enchanted.