Marksmanship Hunter DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.0.5)

Last updated Yesterday at 14:00 by Azortharion 149 comments
General Information

On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Marksmanship Hunter in both single-target and multiple-target situations. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc. in order to minmax your DPS. All our content is updated for World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.5).

If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Marksmanship Hunter rotation.

1.

Marksmanship Hunter Rotation Guide for The War Within

Welcome to our Rotation page for Marksmanship Hunters. On this page, you will find everything you need to know about actually playing the spec in Raiding and Mythic+ scenarios.

1.1.

Marksmanship Hunter Rotations

Each of the sections below explain the Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter at different target counts. Click the boxes to switch to the desired damage type.

2.

Marksmanship Hunter Rotation

The buttons below can be used to select between curated Single-Target and AoE/Mythic+ loadouts. You can also use the switches below to add or remove individual talents you may also be using:

Sentinel
Single-Target
Dark Ranger
Single-Target
Sentinel
Dungeons/AoE
Dark Ranger
Dungeons/AoE
Talent Selections, etc.
Single-Target Rotation AoE Rotation Marksmanship Explained
2.

Single-Target Rotation Goals for Marksmanship Hunter

  • Casting Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire as much as possible, both on single-target and AoE.
  • Managing your Focus — Never capping it but also ensuring you have enough Focus to cast Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot off cooldown.
  • Spending Precise Shots Icon Precise Shot stacks on Arcane Shot Icon Arcane Shot/ Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot, generated by Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot.
3.

AoE Rotation Goals for Marksmanship Hunter

  • All the same goals as the single-target Rotation.
  • Maintaining that Trick Shots Icon Trick Shots is up for all of your Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire casts by casting Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot between them, or with Volley Icon Volley.

In the Single-Target and AoE sections, you will find a highly detailed priority list breakdown of the Rotation, as well as optimal openers.

4.

Single-Target Opener for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within

Note that I wil not reference Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow by name throughout the opener, as it is identical to Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot for all intents and purposes, simply replacing that button in your rotation. Do not be alarmed when your Aimed Shot button turns purple!

  1. Ensure Hunter's Mark Icon Hunter's Mark is active on the target from you or another Hunter in the group!
  2. Pre-cast Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot roughly 2.5 seconds before combat begins.
  3. Cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire.
  4. Cast Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot to activate Steady Focus Icon Steady Focus.
  5. Cast Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shot.
  6. Activate Trueshot Icon Trueshot along with stat-granting on-use Trinkets, Racials, etc. Save damage-dealing on-use Trinkets for 10 stacks of Unerring Vision Icon Unerring Vision.
  7. Cast Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow
  8. Cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire
  9. Cast Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot
  10. Cast Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot
  11. Cast Arcane Shot Icon Arcane Shot
  12. Cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire
  13. If you can cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire and/or Kill Shot Icon Kill Shots sooner than this, thanks to a Surging Shots Icon Surging Shots/Deathblow Icon Deathblow proc, then do so!
  14. Continue with your normal Rotation according to the priority list below.
  15. A small minmax you can do is taking advantage of the fact that Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot's cast time during Trueshot is slightly shorter than your GCD. Thanks to Surging Shots Icon Surging Shots, Aimed Shot has a ~15% chance to reset the cooldown of Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire. Thus, you want to spam Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire during every Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot to queue up the Rapid Fire in case it gets a reset. If it does not reset, simply go back to Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot. You have a very small window (~0.2s) of dead time between every Aimed Shot where you can attempt to queue a Rapid Fire at no GCD loss.
5.

Single-Target Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter

This priority list describes the optimal single-target Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter.

  1. You should use damage-dealing Trinkets like Mad Queen's Mandate Icon Mad Queen's Mandate and others as often as possible throughout the fight, firstly. Other than this, if you can guarantee not losing a cast, using it with 10 stacks of Unerring Vision Icon Unerring Vision is very powerful. Your final use of the fight should also be as late as possible, to take advantage of the up to +50% damage bonus.
  2. Cast Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot if Razor Fragments Icon Razor Fragments is up.
  3. Cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire on cooldown. Hold it for up to 8 seconds if Lunar Storm Icon Lunar Storm's internal cooldown is about to come up. If you have Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow available, you can ignore this Lunar Storm hold because Readiness Icon Readiness gives you back a Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire.
  4. Cast Wailing Arrow Icon Wailing Arrow on cooldown. Note that thanks to Readiness Icon Readiness, this will immediately reset the cooldown of Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire and Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot, so you will usually follow this up with a Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire.
  5. Use Trueshot Icon Trueshot, your main cooldown, as many times as possible during the fight. Save it for important add spawns and damage amplification phases. You should also stack stat-granting on-use trinkets like Skardyn's Grace Icon Skardyn's Grace with this. Refresh Steady Focus Icon Steady Focus before entering it, if it has less than 8 seconds remaining.
  6. Use Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot on cooldown, but spend your Precise Shots Icon Precise Shot stack first. During Trueshot Icon Trueshot, or if Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot is charge-capped, you can ignore Precise Shots Icon Precise Shot and cast it anyway if available.
  7. Use Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot if Steady Focus Icon Steady Focus is about to expire. You should also refresh it right before entering Trueshot Icon Trueshot. Do not do this during Trueshot Icon Trueshot.
  8. Cast Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot on cooldown.
  9. Use Arcane Shot Icon Arcane Shot to spend your Precise Shots Icon Precise Shot stack. Swap it for Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot on 2 targets and above.
  10. Use Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shot on cooldown outside of Trueshot Icon Trueshot. Do not worry about any existing Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shots on the target, even if you are running Salvo Icon Salvo. They will all explode!
  11. Use Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot when you have nothing else to do, as a filler.
6.

AoE Opener for Marksmanship Hunter

  1. Ensure Hunter's Mark Icon Hunter's Mark is active on the highest HP target from you or another Hunter in the group!
  2. Pre-cast Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot when there is 1.75 seconds left on the pull timer.
  3. Cast Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shot. Do not worry about any existing Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shots on the target, even if you are running Salvo Icon Salvo. They will all explode!
  4. Activate your Potion.
  5. Use Volley Icon Volley at your enemy's feet.
  6. Activate Trueshot Icon Trueshot
  7. Cast Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire
  8. Cast Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot
  9. Cast Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot
  10. Continue with your normal Rotation according to the priority list below.
  11. A small minmax you can do is taking advantage of the fact that Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot's cast time during Trueshot is slightly shorter than your GCD. Thanks to Surging Shots Icon Surging Shots, Aimed Shot has a ~15% chance to reset the cooldown of Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire. Thus, you want to spam Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire during every Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot to queue up the Rapid Fire in case it gets a reset. If it does not reset, simply go back to Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot. You have a very small window (~0.2s) of dead time between every Aimed Shot where you can attempt to queue a Rapid Fire at no GCD loss.
7.

AoE Rotation for Marksmanship Hunter

This priority list describes the optimal AoE rotation for Marksmanship Hunter.

  1. You should use damage-dealing Trinkets like Mad Queen's Mandate Icon Mad Queen's Mandate and others as often as possible throughout the fight, firstly. Other than this, if you can guarantee not losing a cast, you should try to use these Trinkets with 10 stacks of Unerring Vision Icon Unerring Vision, which would be 10 seconds into your Trueshot Icon Trueshot.
  2. Use Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot if Steady Focus Icon Steady Focus is about to expire. You should also refresh it right before entering Trueshot Icon Trueshot. Do not do this during Trueshot Icon Trueshot.
  3. Use Explosive Shot Icon Explosive Shot on cooldown.
  4. Use Volley Icon Volley on cooldown. You can macro Salvo Icon Salvo into it. Check out the AddOns and Macros page if you have not.
  5. Use Kill Shot Icon Kill Shot when Razor Fragments Icon Razor Fragments is up.
  6. Use Rapid Fire Icon Rapid Fire on cooldown. Make sure that Trick Shots Icon Trick Shots is active before casting it. Hold it for up to 5 seconds if Lunar Storm Icon Lunar Storm's internal cooldown is about to come up.
  7. Use Trueshot Icon Trueshot, your main cooldown, as many times as possible during the fight. Save it for important add spawns and damage amplification phases.
  8. Use Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot on cooldown. You should spend all of your Precise Shots Icon Precise Shot stacks first, even if Aimed Shot Icon Aimed Shot would charge-cap from doing so. Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot deals serious damage in AoE builds! Make sure that Trick Shots Icon Trick Shots is active before casting it.
  9. Cast Multi-Shot Icon Multi-Shot to apply Trick Shots Icon Trick Shots if it is down, and to spend Precise Shots Icon Precise Shot stacks.
  10. Use Steady Shot Icon Steady Shot when you have nothing else to do, as a filler.
7.1.

Simplified Marksmanship Hunter Rotation for Beginners

If the rotations below seem overwhelming to you, you might benefit from visiting our Easy Mode page, which outlines a close-to-optimal rotation in simpler terms.

7.2.

Best Talent Builds for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within

We highly recommend you go and grab the best Talent Builds for the spec before diving into the Rotation. Check out our dedicated Talents page below:

7.3.

PvP

The content on this page is purely PvE-related. If you are looking for PvP Rotation Tips, please visit our PvP page below.

7.4.

Addons for Marksmanship Hunter Rotation

Check out our Addons page below for some recommended Addons to get the most out of your Marksmanship Hunter!

7.5.

Macros for Marksmanship Hunter Rotation

Check out our Macros page below for some recommended Macros to get the most out of your Marksmanship Hunter!

7.6.

Mythic+ Tips and Tricks for Marksmanship Hunter

For information about Mythic+ as a Marksmanship Hunter, please refer to our Mythic+ page.

7.7.

WeakAuras for Marksmanship Hunters in The War Within

WeakAuras can have a tremendously positive effect on your performance. Since this is a broad topic, we made a page dedicated to it.

8.

Questions for the Author

Thanks for reading my Rotation Guide for Marksmanship Hunter. If you have any questions about it that you would like to ask me directly, feel free to drop into my Discord Server and drop me (Azortharion) a ping at any time.

9.

Changelog

  • 30 Oct. 2024: Updated for October 29 Hotfixes.
  • 26 Oct. 2024: Significant single-target rotation update.
  • 22 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5.
  • 10 Oct. 2024: Updated Mad Queen's Mandate usage.
  • 02 Oct. 2024: Added more specific Trinket usage information.
  • 24 Sep. 2024: Added Lunar Storm Rapid Fire-holding to AoE Rotation.
  • 17 Sep. 2024: Added opener note about on-use Trinkets.
  • 15 Sep. 2024: Added note about on-use trinkets.
  • 14 Sep. 2024: Simplified the single-target rotation, specifically Aimed Shot usage.
  • 13 Sep. 2024: Added note about Wailing Arrow resetting the cooldown of Rapid Fire, updated opener.
  • 10 Sep. 2024: Clarified that Multi-Shot takes over from Arcane Shot at just 2 targets. Simplified the Steady Focus Rotation.
  • 09 Sep. 2024: Updated the Opener with Wailing Arrow specced.
  • 03 Sep. 2024: Preliminary updates for The War Within Season 1.
  • 22 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
  • 31 Jul. 2024: Simplified Steady Focus optimization. This affects the single-target opener, rotation, and AoE rotation.
  • 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
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