MARKSMANSHIP HUNTER ADVANCED TIPS

USING TRUESHOT

In the next segment of our course, we're going to be meticulously dissecting each of your key offensive cooldowns, giving you a comprehensive breakdown on how they work and the rules behind using them. Starting off with True Shot, which was just recently reworked, so it may not work quite how you remember it did.

You might remember True Shot speeding up your aimed shot cast, but unfortunately, that is a thing of the past. We also lost True Shot Mastery in the rework, so it no longer refills our focus bar, and it's back to its typical two-minute cooldown.

But Blizzard did add some ways to reduce the cooldown of True Shot, and we can always have it at a minute and a half with calling the shots. Now, True Shot boosts your critical strike chance and your damage.

It still reduces the cooldown of rapid fire and aimed shot, but those benefits are relatively minor in comparison. Double Tap is back, but now it's tied to True Shot.

When you True Shot, you gain Double Tap. Causing either your next aimed shot to hit twice for reduced damage or your next rapid fire to fire additional shots.

In almost every situation, you're going to be using Double Tap with rapid fire, as it's your biggest source of burst damage. To get the most out of True Shot, you're going to want to understand how it interacts with a few key talents, because trust me here, they work together in some pretty awesome ways.

First up is Feathered Frenzy. This talent instantly applies Spotter's Mark to your target.

You can also use it to fire additional shots, but it's not always the best when you use True Shot, and while True Shot is active, you have a 100% chance to apply Spotter's Mark. And it gets even better.

Tensile Bowstring takes this synergy to the next level by extending the duration of True Shot every time you consume precise shots, which, by the way, is exactly how we activate Spotter's Mark. So put it all together, and you have got a loop that keeps True Shot rolling for maximum uptime.

Now, before you start popping True Shot off your mount, let's talk about a couple of key goals to make sure you're setting yourself up for success here. First, you want to land a trap or have some kind of crowd control on the healer.

If you pop True Shot while the healer is free casting, chances are you won't be applying much pressure. Second, positioning is everything here.

You need to make sure the enemy team is out in the open. If the enemy team is hugging a pillar when you activate True Shot, they can just line your damage.

We can see this in action right here. The Hunter kicks things off by stunning the healer, then following up with a trap.

Once the healer is trapped, they pop True Shot. Now, while crowd controlling the healer first is ideal, there is one key exception here.

If the healer trinkets your trap or gets out of CC, don't hesitate to use True Shot. You don't want to sit on your major cooldown waiting for the perfect setup.

USING VOLLEY

Welcome back to another installment in our Marksmanship Hunter damage course. In this video we're going to be continuing to break down our offensive cooldowns with Volley, providing you with a comprehensive breakdown on how it works and the rules behind using it.

Volley is a 45 second cooldown that dishes out some pretty solid damage to all enemies caught in its radius. But with its rework, this ability has some unique benefits.

First and foremost, Volley is the only way outside of Trueshot to activate Double Tap. That alone makes it a valuable tool in your arsenal.

On top of that, Volley grants you the Trick Shots buff even if you're specced into Aspect of the Hydra. This means you can take full advantage of it by using Double Tap with Rapid Fire.

Now there's a few different ways to make the most out of Volley though, depending on your goals and your talent choices. The first is when you take the Killzone talent, which transforms Volley into the old, resonating arrow effect.

So in other words, it lets you completely ignore line of sight and hit enemies even while they're hiding behind a pillar. If you're specced into Killzone, this should be your go-to way of using Volley.

We can see it in action right here. The Mage tries to line of sight the Hunter by throwing up an Ice Wall, but the Hunter counters by dropping Volley right on top of it.

Because of Killzone's effect, the Hunter keeps dealing damage despite being blocked off. That being said, if your opponents are out in the open, you can use the Killzone talent to counter the Hunter's attack.

If you're out in the open or you're looking to maximize your burst damage, Volley can still be a powerful ability thanks to Double Tap. In fact, you can take things a step further by comboing Volley with Trueshot to pull off two Double Taps in a single go.

Since there's technically no cooldown on Double Tap, this lets you unleash an absolutely devastating burst. With this in mind, it's going to be crucial that you never use Trueshot and Volley back to back.

Since Double Tap doesn't stack, activating both abilities at the same time will cause you to lose a stack, which can seriously hurt your overall burst potential.

So if you want to maximize damage and use Trueshot and Volley together with Double Tap, make sure to space them out by weaving in either a Rapid Fire or Aim Shot in between. This way you get the full value of both Double Tap procs.

TRANQ SHOT

90% of players do not realize how broken Tranquilizing Shot can really be, and we get it. Removing one buff?

Who cares about that? Why would you press an ability that deals zero damage?

Well, there are actually plenty of good reasons. For one, due to the talent Kodo Tranquilizer, Tranq Shot isn't just removing one buff from your target, but also an additional buff from up to two nearby enemies.

And the range on this is so much bigger than you might think, being somewhere in the radius of 20 yards. Second of all, since Tranq Shot is instant, it serves as a great ability to use rotationally when on the move, alongside your precise shots, rapid fire, and even steady shot.

In most situations, it really doesn't matter what you remove. It could be a shield, maybe a hot, or even a simple stat buff.

But keep in mind, you're potentially doing this on up to three different targets. So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're probably going to have to use a lot of different options.

But if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options. So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options.

So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options. So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options.

So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options. So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options.

So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options. So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're going to have to use a lot of different options.

So, if you're using a single or two of these, you're This can be highly beneficial as removing effects like shields or hots can in some cases even result in more effective damage that you would have otherwise got with something like an Arcane Shot or Steady Shot.

Additionally, it also helps to keep the target clean, making it easier to target important buffs when needed. Now you might be asking, should I only Trank Shot when I have to move and have nothing better to press?

The answer to that is no. There are several high priority buffs that you should always attempt to dispel.

These include major shields like Mage Barriers, Rapture Shields from Disc Priest, and even buffs like Alter Time or Power Infusion. Even maintenance buffs for healers like Lifebloom and Earth Shield can be worth a dispel, but here you need to use some judgment.

If you have a higher priority damage global to press, then you might consider using that instead, but once again, if you're repositioning, always look to use your Trank Shot. We really want to stress just how vital of a part this plays in your rotation, despite the fact that it technically deals 0%.

Just pay attention to any high rated marksmanship hunter any time they move, this is always going to be woven in. As the act of removing important buffs with one simple button can be worth over a million damage in some cases, so get out there and weave Trank Shot straight into your gameplay.

STEADY SHOT

Prior to the most recent patch, you'd be hard-pressed to ever find a Marksmanship Hunter cast Steady Shot. I mean, how often have you ever run out of focus?

Well, in the most recent patch, this has since changed as the talent Steady Focus received a highly beneficial rework. Previously, this required you to cast Steady Shot twice in a row in order to gain 4% haste.

Now though, as you can see, after just a single Steady Shot cast, you gain a whopping 8% haste for 15 seconds. So how do we play around this here?

It's actually pretty straightforward. Always prioritize Aim Shot, Rapid Fire, or Kill Shot over maintaining this buff from Steady Shot whenever they're available.

However, if you need to reposition or you need to kite, using Steady Shot to maintain the buff is now well worth the cast time. So, don't overly stress about trying to play around the buff or fixate on maintaining it.

Instead, simply just remember to play around the buff and maintain it. Remember that you have a valuable additional filler ability to use while you're on the move.

WHERE IS MY PET?

As a marksmanship hunter, you might have noticed that your pet is, um, well it's gone. Kind of, you know?

If you've been searching high and low for your call pet button with absolutely no luck, well, don't worry, you're not going crazy here. Instead of a traditional pet, you now have this spotting eagle that just kinda hangs out here, doing nothing for, well, most of the game.

So what's the deal here? How do you actually use your pet?

And more importantly, where's your Mortal Strike effect now? Let's break it down for you.

First things first, your Mortal Strike effect is now built right into Aim Shot instead of it being tied to your pet. If you've played Hunter in the past, this is going to feel pretty familiar.

But here's the exciting part. With Aspect of the Hydra allowing Aim Shot to hit two targets, you now have an AOE Mortal Strike, which is something Hunters never really had access to before.

And it's a huge buff to your pressure. You still have Roar of Sacrifice, but there are a couple of things to watch out for.

You still have Roar of Sacrifice, but there are a couple of things to watch out for. You can't apply Spotter's Mark while Roar of Sacrifice is active, meaning there's a pretty big DPS loss if you use it at the wrong time.

Now because of this, you really need to consider whether you actually need to push it before committing Roar of Sacrifice. Intimidation just got a serious buff.

It still stuns like normal, but now it no longer requires Line of Sight when used against players. This means you can land a stun on a healer or any target hiding out of line, which can be huge when trying to secure a kill.

So you might be wondering, what does the eagle actually do now that all of your pet abilities are tied to, uh, well, you? Well, every time you consume precise shots, your eagle has a chance to apply Spotter's Mark.

Any target with Spotter's Mark takes 20% increased damage from your next aimed shot. And that's pretty much it.

It's kinda lame, right? But the whole idea was to shift marksmanship away from pet management, so, well, here we are.

ASPECT OF THE TURTLE

In this course, we are going to be diving deep into defensive play and cooldown management. Surviving is just as important as dealing damage.

Rotating defensives properly means more uptime, more pressure, and more chances to secure the win. So Aspect of the Turtle, which is often just called Turtle, is one of the most misunderstood hunter cooldowns because people mistake it for a true immunity.

While it does prevent incoming attacks, any projectiles already in the air will still hit, and bleeds or damage over time effects will continue ticking. Area of effect abilities like Blade Flurry can also go through it, making it far less reliable than actual immunities like Ice Block or Divine Shield.

It's a powerful defensive tool, but knowing its limits can mean the difference between surviving and just getting deleted. With a hefty amount of time, you can easily get to the bottom of the game.

So if you're three-minute cooldown, Aspect of the Turtle is not something you can just throw out whenever. It needs to be used strategically.

There are two key situations where you're going to want to pop it. First, when you're at low health and you know your healer won't be able to save you in time.

This is more of a last resort play since you're already low, damage over time effects can still finish you off. Second, when you use it preemptively to avoid dying in a go, especially if you or your healer don't have a trinket.

So let's break these down. The first situation is when Aspect of the Turtle becomes your absolute last resort cooldown when you have no other way to survive and your other defensive cooldowns just won't cut it.

Take this clip as an example here. The hunter is taking heavy damage and their healer is struggling to keep up.

The moment their healer gets caught in a full trap, the hunter pops Turtle. Even though they're sitting at about 20% health, they're not too worried about dying to the dots.

Now you really want to be careful when using Turtle low because you can still die through it if there are any casts in the air. We can see this here where the hunter uses Turtle immediately out of a stun, but because Chaos Bolt was already in the air, they die anyway.

You cannot forget this is not an immunity. Turtle isn't a full immunity.

It stops new attacks from hitting you, but anything already in the air is still going to hit you. Just because you have Turtle, it doesn't mean you always have to use it.

In fact, it's not uncommon to go multiple games without pressing it once. Turtle is your last line of defense, the cooldown you hit only when everything else is gone.

If you have other ways to survive, it's often better to hold on to Turtle rather than just use it too soon.

EXHILARATION & SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

In this video, we're going to be continuing to break down our defensive cooldowns with two important cooldowns in this video, Exhilaration and Survival of the Fittest, providing you with a comprehensive breakdown on how the abilities work and the rules behind using them.

So let's dive into two cooldowns that are often used in similar situations, Exhilaration and Survival of the Fittest. If you're rocking the Dark Ranger hero tree with the Smokescreen talent, these two cooldowns can even proc each other.

Survival of the Fittest reduces the damage you take by 30% for 6 seconds. Meanwhile, Exhilaration instantly heals you for 30% of your health and with the Rejuvenating Wind talent, also applies a small hot to keep you topped off.

Together, they are an awesome combo for staying alive when things get tough. So let's dive into how and when to use Exhilaration, starting with the basics.

Exhilaration is your self-defeating skill that allows you to use it to your advantage. Self-heal, instantly restoring 30% of your health plus 100% of your pet's health while also applying a small hot.

Pretty straightforward, right? The trick is using it at the right moment, and that's what separates good hunters from great ones.

And as a general rule, you want to pop Exhilaration when you're around 40-50% health and you notice your healer is either struggling to keep up with the damage or is about to be crowd controlled. If you wait until you're almost dead, well, chances are, you're going to be dead.

Exhilaration is a fantastic ability to use when kiting. It gives you a little extra breathing room, buying time for your healer to get out of crowd control, all while making it harder for the enemy team to land a kill on you.

It's also great as a burst damage response. If you're taking heavy damage, popping Exhilaration can save you from dying.

This means your healer doesn't have to waste more crucial cooldowns like Spirit Link or Void Shift. Survival of the Fittest works best when you're still at high health.

Let's face it, a 30% damage reduction isn't what it used to be, so using it when you're at 10%, 20%, or even 30% health isn't going to cut it. You're still likely to die.

When you see the enemy team popping their big cooldowns, do not wait until you're on the brink of death. Pop your wall early to negate their burst, and with two charges, you can rotate Survival of the Fittest for nearly every go, ensuring you're always prepared for the damage.

Survival of the Fittest can also be used preemptively as well. If you know that you're about to be stunned, you can go for a pre-wall, using the cooldown right before you get stunned.

This can save your trinket and might even save your healer's trinket, giving your team more options to react. If your healer is really struggling, you can pair both cooldowns together for a powerful survival combo.

Ideally, you're going to want to use Survival of the Fittest first, especially if you're about to take a lot of damage. After that, if your healer is still having trouble, you can also follow up with Exhilaration to give yourself that instant heal and extra time to recover.

But if you're already low on health, you can use Exhilaration first, and then immediately follow up with the wall.

ROAR OF SACRIFICE

Today we're going to be taking a closer look at Roar of Sacrifice. We're going to walk you through how Roar of Sacrifice works, when to use it, and the strategies to ensure that you're going to be getting the most out of this ability when you do.

Roar of Sacrifice has gone through some significant changes and now it's part of the standard hunter tree rather than being a PvP only talent. Alright, so what does Roar of Sacrifice actually do though?

It's an ability cast by your pet that lasts for 12 seconds, has a relatively short 1 minute cooldown, and makes the target immune to critical strikes. For marksmanship hunters running without a pet, this is going to disable your spotting eagle which means you won't be able to apply spotter's mark.

You're going to want to avoid using this cooldown during true shot as it'll seriously hurt your burst damage. Roar of Sacrifice can be traded out on pretty much any cooldown to help reduce damage, which makes it especially useful for mitigating those random, spiky hits.

If you're up against a class with critical strike based cooldowns like a fury warrior with recklessness or maybe a fire mage with combustion, it's really going to be a good idea to hold onto Roar of Sacrifice for those cooldowns.

Since it has such a short cooldown, you can usually time it between these cooldowns but do try to pair it up with major offensive cooldowns first to really maximize its value. Roar of Sacrifice is most effective when it's used at the start of a burst phase rather than at the start of a burst phase.

By using it early, you can help reduce the incoming damage right from the beginning which is going to be key for surviving those big bursts. Waiting until you're at 10% health or your teammates are near death isn't going to do much since crit immunity at that point is not going to save you.

While you can still use it in a pinch if you have no other options, it won't provide nearly as much value as it would have if you used it proactively at the start of the enemy's big cooldowns. Timing it right is crucial.

Timing it right is crucial. Timing it right is crucial.

FEIGN DEATH

The last defensive cooldown we're going to explore in detail for this course is Feign Death, along with the various interactions that it has. Feign Death is one of those deceptively powerful abilities that every hunter should be making the most of.

With a 90% damage reduction for 2 seconds, it's essentially a mini-immunity, letting you survive huge bursts of damage when timed correctly. For that 2 whole seconds, you are almost untouchable, and the best part?

This ability is only on a 30 second cooldown, meaning you get to use it pretty dang often. Feign Death is incredibly versatile, and there are a ton of creative ways to use it.

So let's go over a few key scenarios here. First, you can use it to stop enemy casts.

Let's say you're about to take a massive hit from a Chaos Bolt, and your healer's stuck in CC. Instead of just waiting to get blasted, you can Feign Death.

Not only does it provide you with that huge damage reduction, but it also stops the cast entirely. It's not just for spellcasters either, though.

You can use it against melee and pets to force them to de-target you, even if it's just for a second. That brief moment of de-targeting can absolutely be enough to buy you time to survive.

For short CCs on your healer, like Storm Bolt or Paralysis, Feign Death can actually serve as a substitute for Survival of the Fittest. Since these crowd control effects don't last long...

Feign Death is often enough to survive the go and avoid the damage. But here's the trick.

You can chain another defensive off of it. After using Feign Death, you can immediately follow up with something like Roar of Sacrifice or Exhilaration, ensuring you stay alive and keep your team in the game.