In this section of the guide, we will go over each stat that a Marksmanship Hunter requires and explain how they function along with any possible stat caps that you will have to consider. Marksmanship Hunters have a similar stat priority to other Agility-based DPS specs.
Stat Priority
- Agility
- Hit Rating
- Critical Strike Chance
- Haste Rating
- Mastery
Agility is a primary stat, acting as the most important stat for Marksmanship Hunters! It increases your Attack Power while also increasing your Critical Strike Chance.
Hit Rating is the most important secondary stat after your primary stat, Agility, as you will require it to land hits on your target. You will need an 8% Hit Chance to ensure that your shots never miss as a Marksmanship Hunter!
Critical Strike Chance is the most valuable stat after you reach the Hit Rating cap! It increases the chance to deal critical strikes with your Normal Attacks and Abilities. Critical Strike Chance is more valuable than Haste Rating and Mastery for Marksmanship Hunters since it synergizes perfectly with multiple effects from their kits such as Go for the Throat, Sic ‘Em!, Bombardment, and Piercing Shots.
Haste Rating is important for Marksmanship Hunters from multiple points of view. Even if the stat ranks the lower in terms of importance, it reduces the overall cast time of Steady Shot while also increasing the speed of attacks and your Focus regeneration. Since most of your damage comes from Auto-Shot, Steady Shot, and Wild Quiver, a decently high amount of Haste Rating will considerably improve your performance.
Lastly, Mastery is a new stat introduced in Cataclysm that enhances a specific effect for each different Specialization/Class in the game. In the case of Marksmanship Hunter, Mastery enhances the Wild Quiver effect, granting your ranged attacks a chance to generate one additional attack. Each point of Mastery increases all Magical Damage dealt by 1%.
Reforging
Reforging is introduced in Cataclysm as an additional way to adjust your equipment’s secondary stats. Through reforging, we can acquire a plethora of different stats in exchange for a portion of our current gear’s secondary stats. However, we may not replace any of the main stats on a piece of equipment such as Agility or Stamina.
The main stats that Marksmanship Hunter will reforge any non-beneficial stats into are Hit Rating until the 8% Soft Cap, followed by Haste Rating until the Soft Cap, and Critical Strike Chance once both the Hit Rating and Haste Rating Soft Caps have been met.
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