Hunter Talent Builds: The Marksmanship Spec
Own From Afar With The Hunter Marksmanship Spec!
The Marksmanship Hunter build, or “MM build” is one of the most popular, and hated, builds around.
11/53/7 Marksmanship Build
As you might have guessed, its loved by hunters for its huge burst damage and overall high DPS, and loathed by its enemies in PvP.
The first time I got my aimed shot out and was causing big chunks of burst damage in PvP, I was sold.
But PvP isn’t the only arena MM Hunters shine, they’re also great in raids with high DPS, high survivability, and a range of helpful talents like Improved Hunter’s Mark.
Today I’d like to show you a 3.1 ready Marksmanship build that will allow you a lot of flexibility, and lets you easily tailor it to your needs.
The Marksmanship Build Explained:
Row 1 (Improved Concussive Shot, Focused Aim, Lethal shots)
ICS is a good starter talent, an extra 2 seconds of daze is always handy and stays useful – 2/2 here.
Focused Aim is one I just don’t use, you might consider 1 point here, but if you’re managing your hunter well you shouldn’t need this talent often enough for it to matter.
Lethal Shots is an obvious take, 5/5 points here for 5% extra crit chance from ranged weapons — this is great for all uses but especially in PvP when you want to max out your chance to crit for huge burst damage.
Row 2 (Careful Aim, Improved Hunter’s Mark, Mortal Shots)
Is Careful Aim worth it? That’s a question I asked a lot when I began my hunter, and boy did I change my mind as I leveled. Once you hit 60 and upwards, a lot of good hunter gear you find will have +int stats, and even without a great gear load out, the increase in attack power will be hugely noticeable for you. All 3 points here, sooner or later.
Improved Hunter’s Mark is a great skill merely for the mana reduction by 100%, and the extra attack power stacked with the above mentioned Careful Aim is pure gold. 3/3 here too.
Mortal Strike is an easy one, an extra 30% damage from crits and the unlock of Aimed shot for the next row is a no brainer – 5 points.
Row 3 (Go for the Throat, Improved Arcane Shot, Aimed Shot, Rapid Killing)
You could almost max out this entire row, all the abilities here are decent – especially Improved Arcane shot which gives a solid +15% damage from Arcane Shot.
Aimed Shot is the highlight though — burst damage of 408 and reducing healing on that target for 10 seconds is awesome for any situation, but especially PvP!
Row 4 (Improved Stings, Efficiency)
An awesome mana boosting line, Improved Stings also adds a solid 30% extra damage to Serpent and Wyvern Sting. Max out this line.
Row 5 (Concussive Barrage, Readiness, Barrage)
Welcome to the multishot line, I max this one as well to gain a powerful 4 second daze ability from Concussive Barrage, a cooldown timer reset from Readiness, and more solid damage increases for Multishot, Aimed shot and Volley spells.
Row 6 (Combat Experience, Ranged Weapon Specialization)
Just when you thought I was going to have you max out every line in the tree, we only plant two points in this row. Combat experience is another “should I bother?” skill that is deceptively powerful. 4 extra intellect, stacking with gear, and our already high increases in attack power make this a must. Pass on Ranged Weapon Spec, 3% extra damage is ok, but better spent elsewhere. Feel free to argue with me!
Row 7 (Piercing Shots, Trueshot Aura, Improved Barrage)
3/3 for Piercing shots to get 30% bleed damage when you crit for 8 seconds is an easy choice, but even easier is Trueshot Aura, especially for anyone who does any kind of grouping, whether it be level 80 raiding or level 19 PvPing (is there any other level? 
). Put 1/1 point here for a party wide attack power buff of 10% that lasts until cancelled!
Improved Barrage is a nice crit buff for your Multi and Aimed shot abilities and 3 points go here for everyone.
Row 8 (Master Marksman, Rapid Recuperation)
Another big crit buff follows on from our last choice with Master Marksman offering another handy 5% buff, plus a reduction in mana cost for steady shot which can come in handy. 5/5 here.
Rapid Recuperation is great for mana intensive fights and is another max out with 2/2 points being placed here.
Row 9 (Wild Quiver, Silencing Shot, Improved Steady Shot)
1 point only for Wild Quiver – while I’d like more here I need it elsewhere and can’t really find something I personally want to sacrifice for this flexi-build… if you like the chance to shoot another shot with Auto shot then feel free to get creative.
Silencing Shot on the other hand is an easy choice – 1 point here to get an anti-caster ability great for all kinds of situations.
Leave out Improved Steady shot, I just don’t see the benefit per talent point here.
Row 10 (Marked for Death)
Marked for Death, like ISS above just doesn’t add up as a worthwhile pick for me. I leave it completely for this build.
Row 11 (Chimera Shot)
Chimera Shot like most end tree skills is an easy choice. An instant cast, 16% base mana cost spell, CS deals 125% ranged weapon damage while refreshing the current Sting on the target with varying effects also applies based on the kind of sting present.
My favorite is Scorpid which attempts a disarm, but unfortunately this can’t occur more than once per minute.
Rounding off your MM Build:
This build will do you well for general leveling all the way up to 80, though I (and most of the people I speak with) will prefer a Beast Master build for leveling. Once you hit 70 or 80 you’ll likely want to to specialize a bit further depending on what you find yourself doing, but until that time, use this build as a baseline and you’ll do fine!
You’ll notice if you click through to WoW armory on the pic at the top that I’ve also got 5 points in BM for Improved Aspect of the Hawk. This is a great talent for MM Hunters, and can actually probably be taken very early, ala level 20 onwards.
I’ve also put 7 points in survival — 2 in Improved tracking (just to open up row 2), 3 points in Hawk Eye for a handy 6 yards extra range, and 2 points in row 2’s Survival Instincts for even more critical chance on Arcane, Steady and Explosive shot.
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