WotLK Classic Marksmanship Hunter Spell Summary

Hunters deal incredible damage as a ranged DPS, but are even better known for their wide-ranging utility that allows them to do odd-jobs better than almost anyone else in a raid. Spells like Misdirection, Freezing Arrow, and tracking spells such as Track Humanoids are staples of the Hunter toolkit.

All of the Hunter specializations also bring their own raid buff of some kind. Marksmanship brings Trueshot Aura, which increases the AP of everyone by 10%. This aura can only be brought by Marksmanship Hunters, Enhancement Shamans, or Blood Death Knights.

Hunters will always have one of their Aspect abilities active. These are essentially different buffs where you can choose which one you want to have active. As a default, you should always be in either Aspect of the Dragonhawk for the extra ranged attack power or Aspect of the Viper if you are low on Mana. All of the different Aspects are listed below.

• Aspect of the Dragonhawk is the best endgame Aspect once you learn it at Level 74. It combines Aspects of the Hawk and Monkey to be a superior version of both.
• Aspect of the Hawk increases your ranged Attack Power and is a great default choice up until you learn Aspect of the Dragonhawk.
• Aspect of the Monkey is the first Aspect you will learn and it increases your Dodge Chance. Use this Aspect if you have a melee attacking you and you do not think that you will be able to get away from them.
• Aspect of the Cheetah increases your movement speed by 30% (more with Pathfinding). This is a great Aspect to use whenever you are running anywhere, especially before you get your mount.
• Aspect of the Pack is the same as Aspect of the Cheetah, except it affects your whole party, not just you.
• Aspect of the Beast makes other players and Hunters unable to track you. This is useful if you are waiting to ambush someone in the world, or are out scouting trying to find enemy players, and you are worried that they might be using Track Humanoids. It also increases your melee AP by 10%, along with your pet's AP.
• Aspect of the Wild increases your and your group's Nature Resistance. This is useful whenever you and your group are going to be taking Nature damage.
• Aspect of the Viper passively regenerates your Mana while active. This is your second most-used aspect behind Aspect of the Hawk in raids and should be used any time you need more Mana.

These are your core damaging abilities that you will use frequently, either while leveling or at max level.

• Auto Shot is your basic ranged attack and will be the majority of your damage. With Wrath of the Lich King, Auto Shot now finally behaves just like other auto attacks, so you no longer need to worry about clipping autos with your spells.
• Kill Shot is only usable while the target is below 20% health, but deals a massive burst of damage. This is your single hardest hitting ability and should be used whenever possible.
• Chimera Shot is the final talent in the MM tree. It changes effect based on what sting is active on your target. With Serpent Sting active, it deals a large hit of damage. It also refreshes the duration of your current sting.
• Silencing Shot is an instant-cast shot off the GCD. While it does not deal much damage, it does silence/interrupt for 3 seconds when used. This is essentially free damage however, and can be macroed into other abilities.
• Aimed Shot is one of your hardest-hitting abilities, and as of Wrath is now instant. This is a staple in your rotation if you talent it. This also reduces your target's healing received by 50% for 10 seconds, making it excellent in PvP as well.
• Multi-Shot is your another core damage ability specifically for cleave and AoE. On multiple stacked targets, you can add this into your rotation on cooldown.
• Hunter's Mark applies a debuff on the target that lasts forever, increasing the ranged attack power of anyone who attacks the target. This can only be active on one target at a time, and should always be up. Cast this before you engage a new enemy, since it will not start combat with them.
• Arcane Shot is an instant shot that deals Arcane damage. This is useful for quickly attacking enemies while moving if you have nothing else to use. Arcane Shot specifically has a high base damage, but because it is Arcane damage it is generally only worth using at lower gear levels with low Armor Penetration.
• Serpent Sting is a damage-over-time effect that deals Nature damage. All Hunter specs will always maintain this in their rotations.
• Steady Shot is your basic filler spell as a Hunter. This has been nerfed significantly since TBC, and is no longer the only ability you use. Use this when you have nothing else to cast.
• Kill Command increases the damage done by your pet's next 3 special attacks, with decreasing effectiveness each time. Use this on cooldown since it is off the GCD.
• Volley is a large, channeled, AoE ability that rains down arrows on all enemies within 8 yards of where you cast it. This is your primary AoE ability.

Hunters have a minimum range on their ranged attacks, meaning if an enemy is within 5 yards, they must resort to using melee attacks. These are the different melee attacks that you can utilize.

• Raptor Strike is your most powerful melee ability. It works like a Warrior's Heroic Strike, dealing bonus damage on your next melee swing. Use this on cooldown while fighting a target in melee.
• Mongoose Bite is your second-strongest melee ability, and instantly does melee damage.
• Wing Clip is a melee attack that deals a small amount of damage and slows the enemy's movement speed by 50% for 10 seconds. You should always keep this debuff up on an enemy if they are within melee range, as it is your best way to get away from them.

Traps are one of the Hunter's most iconic class features, allowing them to place traps on the ground that will do something when an enemy walks over them. You can only have one trap of each type (Fire, Frost, and Nature) out at a time. In Wrath however, Freezing Arrow was added, which is a ranged version of Freezing Trap and is significantly more useful in both PvE and PvP.

• Immolation Trap is a Fire trap that puts a Fire damage-over-time effect on the enemy that triggers it.
• Explosive Trap is a Fire trap that deals a burst of Fire damage to all enemies within 10 yards when triggered, and additionally puts a Fire damage-over-time effect on all of the enemies hit. This is a powerful AoE ability when dealing with lots of targets.
• Freezing Trap is a Frost trap that freezes the enemy who triggers it for 10 seconds. This prevents all action while frozen, but any damage will break the freeze.
• Freezing Arrow is a ranged version of Freezing Trap, where they both share a cooldown.
• Frost Trap drops a patch of ice on the ground when triggered that slows all enemies inside by 60%. This can be very useful for kiting large groups of enemies.
• Snake Trap is a Nature trap that will spawn several angry, venomous snakes when triggered which will die after 15 seconds. While alive they will attack whoever triggered them.

Hunters are able to use their tracking abilities, such as Track Humanoids or Track Beasts, to track specific types of enemies. You can only have one tracking ability active at any time and, while active, you will be able to see all enemies of the type you are tracking on your minimap.

• Track Humanoids tracks nearby Humanoids on your mini-map, which includes both friendly and enemy players.
• Track Beasts tracks nearby Beasts on your minimap.
• Track Undead tracks nearby Undead on your minimap. This does not include Undead players.
• Track Hidden tracks nearby hidden targets on your minimap. This includes players who are stealthed.
• Track Elementals tracks nearby Elementals on your minimap.
• Track Demons tracks nearby Demons on your minimap.
• Track Giants tracks nearby Giants on your minimap.
• Track Dragonkin tracks nearby Dragonkin on your minimap.

Hunters have several abilities that are classified as "stings." They all apply a debuff of some sort to your enemy target, and only one sting can be active at any given time.

• Serpent Sting is a damage-over-time effect that deals Nature damage.
• Scorpid Sting is a debuff that reduces the target's chance to hit by 3%.
• Viper Sting is a debuff that drains the target's Mana over 8 seconds. This is incredibly powerful against casters or any class that uses Mana.

While pets have their own abilities, you also have several abilities related to healing, feeding, and interacting with your pet in general. All of your abilities related to your pet are listed below.

• Tame Beast allows you to tame a Beast, making it your pet. For more information about pets, go to the Pet page of this guide.
• Call Pet will call your pet to your side if your pet is alive and currently dismissed.
• Call Stabled Pet allows you to call a non-active pet from your stable instead of your current pet.
• Revive Pet revives your pet if it is dead.
• Feed Pet should be used on food in your inventory to feed your pet, increasing its happiness. Different pets will eat different types of food. Use Beast Lore to learn what your pet's diet is.
• Dismiss Pet dismisses your pet from your side until you use Call Pet to bring it back. This is very useful whenever you want to make sure your pet does not accidentally pull extra enemies, such as when you jump down from a ledge.
• Mend Pet heals your pet over 15 seconds when used, and is no longer a channeled ability.
• Eyes of the Beast allows you to control your pet and run around while viewing its perspective.
• Beast Lore tells you information about the type of pet you have, including its category, diet, and lore.

These are the few cooldowns that Hunters have. Cooldowns are powerful abilities that do something special, but have a longer cooldown period before you can use them again. These can be incredibly important abilities, but due to their long cooldown periods, require careful consideration and planning for where you should make the best use of them.

• Readiness resets all of your cooldowns on every spell when used. This can be used either offensively for back-to-back burst setups, or defensively.
• Rapid Fire is a Hunters's most important cooldown. It increases your ranged attack speed by 40% for 15 seconds.
• Call of the Wild is a cooldown that Ferocity pets can talent into. It gives both you and your pet 10% more AP for 20 seconds.

Hunters have several important utility spells in their arsenal that enable them to do things that other classes cannot.

• Misdirection requires that you target a friendly player or your pet to use. It places a 30 second buff on you, and will last for 4 seconds once you attack something. For those 4 seconds, all threat you generate is given to your initial friendly target instead.
• Deterrence has been redesigned and given to all Hunter specs in Wrath. It now essentially makes you untargetable and unable to be hit with direct spells or attacks for 5 seconds. Do not think that this is an immunity; it tends to have weird interactions with some abilities.
• Concussive Shot could be considered a core rotational ability due to how much you will use it. It is an instant shot that slows the enemy target by 50% for 4 seconds. This is very useful when kiting in PvE and PvP.
• Distracting Shot is an instant shot that generates threat against your target. If you need to get an enemy's attention, this is how you do it.
• Scare Beast is like a Warlock's Fear, but only usable against beasts. This is also usable against Druids in their beast forms.
• Eagle Eye allows you to see very far away. This is very useful for scouting out in the world.
• Disengage was changed in Wrath, and is now an amazing mobility spell. This works like the retail version, propelling you backwards a short distance through the air when used.
• Feign Death causes you to play dead, which drops your combat along with all threat against any target that was attacking you. This is also very useful in PvP, as it causes enemy players to lose you as their target when you use this ability.
• Flare throws a flare at a location, revealing hidden targets in that area and makes them unable to hide again while the flare is active. This is very useful for fighting against Rogues and Druids when you do not want them to stealth.
• Tranquilizing Shot is an instant shot that removes an enrage effect and a magic effect from the enemy.
• Master's Call is a spell that you command your pet to case. It will cause your pet to remove all roots and snares from itself and your target, also granting both targets root/snare immunity for 4 seconds.
• Trueshot Aura increases your raid's AP by 10%.