PVE Marksmanship Hunter DPS Guide

Welcome to the Marksmanship Hunter DPS guide for World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King 3.3.5a. In this guide, you will learn about playing a Marksmanship Hunter in a raid. The guide includes Talents, Glyphs, Gems, Enchantments, BiS Gear, Add-ons, Gameplay & Skill rotation tips.

Talent Tree

The first build is better for new players. This build provides an additional chance to hit via 3/3 Focused Aim. It also uses Arcane Shot, which is not physical damage and therefore should be removed out of the build and rotation as you progress. At least one Hunter should have 3/3 Improved Hunter`s Mark. You can re-allocate these points from Improved Barrage.

As mentioned above, Arcane Shot is not used in the rotation as you progress. Points from Focused Aim can be re-allocated to Improved Hunter`s Mark depending on the Hit Rating.

Glyphs

Major Glyphs

• Glyph of Serpent Sting
• Glyph of Steady Shot
• Glyph of Kill Shot

Minor Glyphs

• Glyph of Feign Death
• Glyph of Mend Pet
• Glyph of Revive Pet

Gems

Gems are situational and depend on the build and equipment. They are used to reach the required stat caps.

• Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
• Red: Fractured Cardinal Ruby, Delicate Cardinal Ruby
• Yellow: Smooth King’s Amber, Deadly Ametrine or Rigid King’s Amber
• Blue: Nightmare Tear x1

Use 1 Blue and Yellow gems to activate the Meta Gem. Ideally, put them in the items with the best socket bonus you can find. If you’re lacking hit rating, feel free to add more Rigid King’s Amber gem. Other slots should be filled with Red gems, Armor Penetration is a priority. Add Agility only after an Armor Penetration soft cap is reached.

Enchants

• Head – Arcanum of Torment
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of the Axe
• Cloak – Major Agility
• Chest – Powerful Stats
• Bracers – Greater Assault
• Gloves – Major Agility
• Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle
• Legs – Icescale Leg Armor
• Boots – Tuskarr’s Vitality
• Melee weapons – Massacre for two-handed or Superior Potency for one-handed
• Ranged – Heartseeker Scope

Rotation

Kill Shot → Serpent Sting → Chimera Shot → Aimed Shot → *Arcane Shot → Steady Shot

• Kill Shot – This is your top priority spell. Usable when the target is 20% or lower. Use it always when available, interrupt the rotation if needed.
• Serpent Sting – Has to be all the time on the target. Buffs the Chimera shot.
• Chimera Shot – Your second-best damage ability. Use Serpent Sting before Chimera shot for even more damage.
• Aimed Shot – Better than Arcane shot, but only if you have Armor Penetration and talents in it. If you use Aimed Shot, then don’t use Arcane Shot
• *Arcane Shot – Used only with talents to improve it and with a small amount of Armor Penetration. It is not used for the second build.
• Steady Shot – Used when everything else is on cooldown
• Silencing Shot – Self-explaining. Used for interruption

Stat Priority

Hit -> Agility & Armor Penetration -> Crit -> Attack Power -> Haste

Hit cap for raids is 8% (263 rating). New hunters should aim for at least 5% (164 rating) to always hit level 80 mobs. 3% can be obtained from Focused Aim, another 1% from Draenei passive Heroic Presence.

In the beginning, Agility is the main stat for MM Hunters, but soon enough it will be surpassed by Armor Penetration. Per calculations, the point where ArP matches Agi is when you have 700 passive ArP (from gear). This is because ArP scales with other stats, hence why new players shouldn’t blindly rush ArP in the beginning. The cap for ArP is 1400.

Once Armor Penetration outweighs Agility, it’s time to focus on physical damage. This means removing Arcane Shot from your rotation and re-allocating talents. Your physical damaging spells require you to stay still, so proper positioning means even more at this point. Minimize your movement to fully utilize the benefits of Armor Penetration.

Pets

Now, let’s talk about Pets.

First of all, we have to decide which pet do we need. In terms of PVE and Raiding our top 3 pets are:

• Wolfs – Furious Howl is what makes this pet #1
• Wasps – Sting can be a powerful debuff, but it doesn’t stack with similar effects on the target.
• Raptors & Cats – Less DPS than Wolfs and Wasps, but still viable.

The talent tree for our pet is Ferocity. Unlike Beast Mastery Hunters we can’t tame Exotic Creatures and don’t have those extra 4 talent points.

Don’t forget to use Kill Command and other pet skills when you can!

BiS Gear

Armor

• Head – Sanctified Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Headpiece
• Shoulder – Sanctified Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Spaulders
• Cloak – Vereesa’s Dexterity or Sylvanas’ Cunning (depending on the faction)
• Chest – Sanctified Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Tunic
• Bracers – Scourge Hunter’s Vambraces
• Gloves – Sanctified Ahn’Kahar Blood Hunter’s Handguards
• Waist – Nerub’ar Stalker’s Cord
• Legs – Leggings of Northern Lights
• Boots – Returning Footfalls
• Neck – Sindragosa’s Cruel Claw
• Rings – Ashen Band of Endless Vengeance and Frostbrood Sapphire Ring
• Trinkets – Sharpened Twilight Scale and Deathbringer’s Will

Weapons

• Ranged – Fal’inrush, Defender of Quel’thalas
• Melee – Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General