Marksmanship Hunter Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Ranged damage from shots: Aimed Shot, more crit and more range.

A ranged fighter in leather, and later mail, who fights at a distance with a bow, gun or crossbow, tames beasts as pets and controls enemies with traps and stings. More about the hunter

Class: Hunter
Roles: Damage
Used for: Raids and dungeons, Player versus player
Top talent: Chimera Shot
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Marksmanship in Wrath centres on Chimera Shot, which refreshes your Serpent Sting and adds damage based on it, plus Aimed Shot, Silencing Shot and Readiness. Trueshot Aura gives the raid attack power, and Piercing Shots adds bleeds to your crits.

Keep Serpent Sting up through Chimera Shot, use Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot when ready, Kill Shot below 20% and Steady Shot to fill. Rapid Fire, then Readiness and a second Rapid Fire, makes a big burst.

Marksmanship scales very well with armour penetration, which makes it a top hunter spec late in the expansion, and it brings Silencing Shot to arenas.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Serpent Sting on the target, refreshed by Chimera Shot.
2Chimera Shot whenever it is ready.
3Kill Shot below 20% health.
4Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot when ready.
5Steady Shot to fill.
6Rapid Fire, then Readiness and Rapid Fire again, with trinkets and Heroism.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Strong raid damage that scales with armour penetration.
Trueshot Aura for the raid.
Silencing Shot and Readiness for arenas.

Weaknesses

A busy priority.
Needs lots of armour penetration to peak.
Mana runs short.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Hitto 263 rating
2
Armour penetrationlate in the expansion
3
Agility
4
Attack power
5
Critical strike
6
Haste

What to look for

A ranged weapon with high damage per second.
Hit first, then armour penetration as your gear allows, otherwise Agility.
Armour penetration gems once you are past roughly half of its cap.

Items worth chasing

Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalasA raid crossbow.
Deathbringer's WillA trinket that procs Strength, Agility or haste.
Mjolnir RunestoneA trinket that procs armour penetration.
Grim TollA trinket with hit and an armour penetration proc.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Beast Mastery
Marksmanship
Survival

Marksmanship Raider
DamagePvE
75410
7/54/10
Raid damage with 54 points in Marksmanship, down to Chimera Shot, and 7 in Beast Mastery and 10 in Survival.
- Trueshot Aura 1/1
- Wild Quiver 3/3
- Silencing Shot 1/1
- Marked for Death 5/5
- Chimera Shot 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Serpent Sting (major), Glyph of Steady Shot (major), Glyph of Explosive Trap (major), Glyph of Feign Death (minor), Glyph of Revive Pet (minor), Glyph of Mend Pet (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Marksmanship Gladiator
DamagePvP
5417
0/54/17
Arena and battleground damage with 54 points in Marksmanship, down to Chimera Shot, and 17 in Survival.
- Trueshot Aura 1/1
- Wild Quiver 3/3
- Silencing Shot 1/1
- Marked for Death 5/5
- Chimera Shot 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Chimera Shot · top talent, up to 1
You deal 125% weapon damage, refreshing the current Sting on your target and triggering an effect: Serpent Sting - Instantly deals 40% of the damage done by your Serpent Sting. Viper Sting - Instantly restores mana to you equal to 60% of the total amount drained by your Viper Sting. Scorpid Sting - Attempts to Disarm the target for 10 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per 1 minute.
Combat Experience · tier 6, up to 2
Increases your total Agility and Intellect by 4%.
Ranged Weapon Specialization · tier 6, up to 3
Increases the damage you deal with ranged weapons by 5%.
Piercing Shots · tier 7, up to 3
Your critical Aimed, Steady and Chimera Shots cause the target to bleed for 30% of the damage dealt over 8 sec.
Trueshot Aura · tier 7, up to 1
Increases the attack power of party and raid members within 100 yards by 10%. Lasts until cancelled.
Improved Barrage · tier 7, up to 3
Increases the critical strike chance of your Multi-Shot and Aimed Shot abilities by 12% and reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while channeling Volley by 100%.
Master Marksman · tier 8, up to 5
Increases your critical strike chance by 5%, and reduces the Mana cost of your Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, and Chimera Shot by 25%.
Wild Quiver · tier 9, up to 3
You have a 12% chance to shoot an additional shot when doing damage with your auto shot, dealing 80% weapon nature damage. Wild Quiver consumes no ammo.
Silencing Shot · tier 9, up to 1
A shot that deals 50% weapon damage and Silences the target for 3 sec. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec.
Marked for Death · tier 10, up to 5
Increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 5% on marked targets, and increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Kill Shot and Chimera Shot by 10%.

Marksmanship abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.