Why You Should & Shouldn't Play Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight Season 2 - Patch 10.1

Live Posted 2023/05/06 at 2:39 PM by TheAzortharion

Need help choosing a new Class in Season 2? Check out all the released articles in the 'Why You Should Play a Spec' series below:
Why You Should Play a Spec in Dragonflight Season 2 Series

Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid
Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk

Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue

Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

Why You Should Play Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight Season 2 (and Why You Shouldn't)

Why You Should

Why You Shouldn't

Why You Should Play Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight Season 2

Aspect of the Turtle - This 8-second immunity is beneficial for soaking assigned mechanics or surviving big hits that would otherwise kill other low-health party members. This ability alone has earned a lot of Hunter raid spots in top guilds over the years.

Misdirection - This lets you redirect the threats you generate to other party members, usually your tanks. This helps them develop aggro quickly and is a big convenience bonus. It can also be used to get them threats on targets they cannot currently reach, such as adding spawns that are far away. Combine this with the extended range of Marksmanship Hunter, which is far more potent than the Rogue equivalent.

Tranquilizing Shot - This lets you remove beneficial Magic and Enrage effects from enemy bosses and targets. This is occasionally very useful in raids, but it is by far the most useful in Mythic+ during the Raging Affix. You usually send this ability on cooldown to save the tank and group vast amounts of damage.

Binding Shot - This can be a lifesaver for kiting tanks and is also helpful for keeping mobs in place of AoE effects like your own Volley and those from other party members.

Tar Trap - A slightly less powerful Binding Shot, as it is only a slow rather than a stun, but if you are trying to stop enemies that you are not trying to kill actively, then you can pair it with the Entrapment Talent to obtain a Binding Shot-like effect on a shorter cooldown.

High Explosive Trap can be pre-placed to keep mobs away from the group or your tanks. Ensuring things get knocked in the right direction can be difficult.

Sentinel Owl - This Talent has very niche but effective uses when trying to Line of Sight certain mechanics, but you also want to do damage. With a choice of improving talents between Sentinel's Perception or Sentinel's Protection, you can extend these benefits to your party members (not your whole raid group, however, only your party within the raid) for group-wide benefits.

As of writing this on April 25th, Marksmanship looks to be the strongest of the two Ranged Hunter Specs in all areas of import, with a better damage profile. It is also close to the awesome power of Survival Hunter in most situations.

Marksmanship's rotation is similar on single-target and AoE, making it easier to excel in both areas.

Marksmanship's rotation is fun, particularly in this Patch. It can get fast, hectic, and gratifying with some good RNG. Every button feels like it matters, and the interactions, while simple, all make sense.

Marksmanship has one of the strongest cooldowns in the game in Trueshot and very high uptime on it (contingent on RNG).

Marksmanship's potential for on-demand burst is some of the highest in the game, especially for concise burst windows of 5-7 seconds, through Volley, Salvo, and its cooldown Trueshot.

Marksmanship is very mobile, although less mobile than in the past; you can still perform most of your rotation on the move and change around your priorities mid-fight to account for upcoming movement.

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Ashen Predator's Scaleform

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I'm Azortharion, hailing from the cold north of Denmark. I have been theorycrafting, writing guides, and streaming for Hunters since 2014, as well as playing the game on a high level, with hundreds of rank 1 parses and dozens of World #1 Mythic+ runs on all 3 Hunter specs over the game's history. I also founded and run Trueshot Lodge, the official Discord for the Hunter Community, where I always solicit and address feedback, suggestions, and comments for this guide. Most importantly, I wrote the Wowhead Marksmanship Hunter Guide that you are reading now! You can also find me on my Personal Hunter Discord Server, where I offer more direct coaching and advice to thousands of Hunters. You may also find me on Twitter and YouTube.