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MARKSMANSHIP HUNTER FUNDAMENTALS COURSE
MM HUNTER PLAYSTYLE
Welcome to our Marksmanship Hunter damage course for The War Within, which is custom designed to equip you with all of the essential knowledge needed to excel in PvP.
Now, in this introductory video, we're going to be exploring what to expect from the Marksmanship Hunter playstyle, and discuss what to expect from Marksmanship Hunter and your general playstyle in Arena. Now, to start, if you enjoyed previous iterations of the Marksmanship Hunter, well, you're in luck.
The War Within has maintained a similar playstyle with slight improvements, mainly from changes in the Hunter talent tree. Now, you can easily pick up Binding Shot, Scatter Shot, and High Explosive Trap, which is especially beneficial for Marksmanship, as it provides a somewhat reliable stun.
As now, by placing a Binding Shot and then using Explosive Trap to knock the target out, you can easily stun your target, which is excellent for both securing kills, and landing crowd control. Both Sentinel and Dark Ranger are solid choices, each fitting a slightly different niche.
Dark Ranger leans into stronger burst, while Sentinel focuses on more frequent, consistent burst. Because Dark Ranger is relatively straightforward to play, it's often the more popular pick, though you'll definitely run into plenty of skilled Sentinel Hunters as well.
Which, as we mentioned, means Marksmanship is, for the most part, the exact same as it was in Dragonflight, with the playstyle revolving entirely around the high damage, and the high damage of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire.
Now, the one new addition that does have some effect on our playstyle, though, is the update to Volley, which now, due to the Killzone talent, allows you to deal damage to targets out of line of sight. That sounds awfully familiar to a certain Covenant ability turned talent.
Well, broadly speaking here, we can categorize Marksmanship gameplay playstyle into two main loops, Crowd Control and Burst Dance. The first loop is a combination of both, and the second loop is a combination of both.
If you've played any iteration of Arena as a whole, you're already going to understand that the formula for success isn't just Crowd Control or even just damage, but more so the combination of the both of them.
Your aim should be to lock down healers with your abundance of instant CC, while you simultaneously burst using Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire. But overall, aside from some additional passive damage, Marksmanship still has a massive emphasis on supporting the target, and, of course, the ability to deal damage to targets.
So, if you enjoy straightforward, impactful burst damage, and playing around Crowd Control windows, just with a touch of support sprinkled on top there, then Marksmanship is absolutely the spec for you.
However, we will be elaborating on each of the abilities and the playstyle of Hunter as a whole much more throughout the entirety of this course. So next up, we're going to be delving deeper into the goals of Marksmanship Hunter in the next video.
And, of course, we'll be looking at the ability to deal damage to targets and the ability to deal damage to targets in the next video. So, until then, thanks for watching.
I'll see you next time. Welcome to the goals of Marksmanship Hunter inside of Arena, setting you up with some easy-to-follow goals.
MM HUNTER GOALS
Hello again! It's now time to delve deeper into Marksmanship Hunter, as in this next video we're going to be providing you with some straightforward goals that you should be looking to accomplish inside of your arena games.
So, let's get started! Goal number one, maximize your damage.
In creating this course, we collaborated with one of the best and most esteemed hunters in the world, Bicmex, and throughout our consulting with him, this was the goal that he really stressed the most. And really, in theory, doing damage is very, very simple.
Rapid fire whenever it's available, and then look to maximize as many aimed shots as possible. Here's where it gets challenging.
Aimed shot requires you to be stationary, and many new and inexperienced hunters neglect this ability altogether, especially when under pressure. They tend to over control the aim and shoot as much as they can.
They tend to over-dress the target, and they tend to kite, and incorrectly prioritize their instant damage abilities.
So, to achieve this goal, and to set you on the right tracks, throughout this course we're not only going to be focusing on some advanced tips and tricks to improve your damage, but also teach you how you can adapt your positioning to massively enhance your damage. So, goal number two, be smart with your crowd control.
Binding shot, explosive trap, intimidation stun, freezing trap, scatter shot. I mean, the list goes on.
Crowd control is a significant focus for marksmanship and hunters in general. With so much instant crowd control at your disposal, you're going to have numerous options and decisions to make during your games.
And it's not just about which CC you use, or even really how you use them, but more importantly, when you use them. One powerful quote from Big Max sums it up well.
Nobody in the history of the game has ever just randomly died because you landed a freezing trap. This quote may sound a little bit silly, but honestly, it's really accurate.
Freezing trap does zero damage. Zero.
If you're sacrificing your positioning and subsequently your damage just to land CC, what does it really even accomplish?
So, throughout this course, we're going to focus heavily on this concept here, teaching you not only the best times to push for crowd control and the best ways to land it, but also the optimal methods to chain your crowd control.
For now, though, we're going to focus heavily on the best ways to land CC, and the best ways to land CC. So, let's get started.
So, let's get started. So, let's get started.
To be smart with your crowd control, you need to just always ask yourself three basic questions. Do you have damage and pressure rolling?
Can you safely land your crowd control without sacrificing your positioning? And will that crowd control actually force cooldowns from your opponent?
All right. So, moving on, we have goal number three.
Look out for your teammates. Hunter in general, although not what you would consider a conventional support class, still just so happens to have all of the tools necessary to be one of the best utility specs in the game.
Roar of Sacrifice and Master's Call are two key abilities that you should constantly be utilizing to help and support your team where appropriate. So, in addition to these, Scattershot, Binding Shot, and High Explosive Trap are excellent tools for defensive play.
They can be used to peel for both yourself and your team. So, throughout this course, again, we're going to be delving into exactly what you need to know to be able to use these tools effectively.
So, let's get started. Position for a Purpose I'm going to give it to you straight here.
If you don't like being targeted in Arena, marksmanship isn't for you. Nine times out of ten, you will be the target.
That's just what you're signing up for when you choose marksmanship. And while some players may dislike this, it really indirectly makes you the most important player on your team.
As a ranged class, your position dictates not only the positioning, but also movement of everyone in the Arena. So, if you're a player who's not good at positioning, you can use this tool to make your positioning even easier.
We're going to teach you how to use this fact to not only increase your overall damage and make you much more difficult to kill, but also show you how you can use your positioning to make landing crowd control even easier. Sound good?
Well, make sure you stick around as we're going to be covering all of this and much more in this tailor-made course for you. But first, we're going to build a foundation with the basics, starting with our sustained priority.
MM HUNTER DAMAGE PRIORITY
Welcome back. In this video, we are going to be going over the Dark Ranger damage priority.
Now, while it does share many similarities with the Sentinel playstyle, there are a few key differences to keep in mind. So, just like with Sentinel, keep in mind that this is not a strict rotation.
It's a priority system that guides your decisions throughout the fight. And at the very top of that list is Black Arrow.
This ability replaces Killshot and should be used on cooldown whenever it's available. Not only does it hit hard, but it also applies a dot that has multiple interactions with the Dark Ranger's talent tree.
You're going to be able to cast it when the target is above 80% health, below 20%, or whenever you gain a Deathblow proc, making it a central part of your whole damage rotation. And just like with Sentinel, the next priority is Rapid Fire.
This ability is crucial because of Streamline, and it makes up a significant portion of our sustained damage. Now, since it doesn't require a hard cast, it's easy to weave into your rotation.
And after that comes Arcane Shot, but only when Precise is active and there's no spotter's mark on the target. This grants you all the powerful buffs we covered in the Sentinel priority list.
Next is Aim Shot, which arguably is the most important ability in your entire rotation. Not only does it do pretty strong damage on its own, but it also pairs up beautifully with Black Arrow.
Timing these together creates explosive burst windows that can quickly tip the fight, and you can use it in your favor, especially when executed during buffed phases. And of course, the bottom of the priority list is Steady Shot.
It should only be used when you're completely out of focus.
MM HUNTER BURST SEQUENCE: TRUESHOT
This is the video that you have been waiting for, as in this next section of our Marksmanship Hunter course, we're going to be breaking down the exact sequence you want to be following in order to set up the highest burst damage possible.
Whether you choose Dark Ranger or you choose Sentinel, your burst sequence remains largely the same, and the only real difference is that Dark Ranger allows you to prioritize Black Arrow whenever it's off cooldown. This burst sequence assumes all your cooldowns are ready to go.
You start by applying Hunter's Mark on your kill target for bonus damage if they're above 80% health. Once Hunter's Mark is applied, your next move is Explosive Shot.
The goal here is to use it just before you channel Double Tap Rapid Fire so that Explosive Shot detonates at the exact moment Rapid Fire ends. Then you activate True Shot along with any racials and on-use trinkets to maximize your burst.
You'll open with Rapid Fire, ensuring you're taking advantage of its reduced cooldown. After Rapid Fire is on cooldown, you alternate between Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot.
You'll use the same method to use the same shot until Rapid Fire is ready again. There's a small chance that your first Aimed Shot will reset Rapid Fire's cooldown due to surging shots.
If that happens, you can skip ahead to the next step. When Rapid Fire is off cooldown, you drop Volley and use another Rapid Fire.
At this point, you go back to alternating between Aimed Shot and Arcane Shot until Rapid Fire is ready again. You repeat this until True Shot ends, at which point you transition back to your sustain priority.
MM HUNTER WIN CONDITION
Alright, so far in this course we have outlined our goals in Arena, we've provided you with a straightforward damage priority, we've thoroughly explored each and every ability, and even covered how you should be approaching openers.
Now it's finally the time to bring it all together and demonstrate precisely how you should be using all of this knowledge to win you games. Hunter Strength lies in its ability to win without relying on a single win condition.
The traditional freezing trap go is always an option here, where you land a trap to secure a kill.
Then there's the overwhelming damage route, where you deal so much damage that the enemy team just simply cannot keep up, and trust us here, with Double Tap making its return, you're going to have plenty of chances to go all in and make that unhealable damage a reality. Lastly, we can play for dampening.
With a wide array of tools to stay alive indefinitely, you can focus on denying the enemy team their win condition. Trap remains the quintessential hunter strategy for winning here.
You can set up a trap off nearly anything, a route, a stun, a slow, or even just throwing it. Of course, your best bet is to land a trap off a stun, as it's the most reliable way to secure it.
If you just toss a trap into the void and miss, well, there goes your win condition down the drain. There's nothing too complicated about winning off a trap.
You simply land the trap, then pop your cooldowns, and go to town. It's straightforward.
But it's incredibly effective. Marksmanship Hunter's damage output is nothing short of absurd, making it an easy win condition in many cases.
We can see this in action right here. Instead of going for the trap, the hunter notices that the enemy team has no defensives left, and sets up for a massive burst with True Shot, ultimately securing the win by taking down the mage.
It's crucial to never underestimate just how strong Double Tap is when combined with True Shot. With no cooldowns left on the enemy team, you can absolutely annihilate anyone with this combo.
Hunter's strength in Dampening is one of the key reasons it's still one of the best classes for twos. With abilities like Binding Shot, Tar Trap, Disengage, and more, you make it incredibly difficult for the enemy team to secure a kill on you.
Even better, with Marksmanship's insane burst potential, you can force opponents to retreat behind pillars, which is exactly what we see happening in this clip. It's 41% Dampening, and the enemy is forced to sit at the pillar.
Every time the enemy tries to come off the pillar, we see the Hunter forcing more and more cooldowns. With the combination of dampening and high burst damage from the Hunter, the enemy just simply cannot recover with the Mage eventually dying.