Petless ranged hunter built on Aimed Shot, Precise Shots and Trueshot.
Damage
Gear: Method.ggBuilds: Archon consensus, M+ This Week (+7–+19)Updated 10/29/2026 by Guild guides
Playing
Marksmanship has no pet. Its loop is simple: Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire on cooldown, each followed by a Precise Shots spender, with Explosive Shot and Volley on cooldown and Trueshot as the 2-minute window. In AoE, Multi-Shot replaces Arcane Shot and keeps Trick Shots up so Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire cleave. Sentinel is the hero tree for all content.
Difficulty
The core loop is simple (Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire, each followed by a Precise Shots spender), but Aimed Shot is a 2.5-second cast, so planning movement and keeping Trick Shots up in AoE matter a lot.
Resource
Focus
Hero talents in keys
Sentinel
Standing this patch
ARaid
Brings to the group
InterruptCounter Shot (24s)
StunBinding Shot
Dispelnone
PurgeTranquilizing Shot
Battle resnone
Lustnone
MobilityDisengage
Pick any button below to follow it through the guide: where it sits in the opener, which rung of the priority fires it, and every mistake it is part of.
115sAimed Shot
216sRapid Fire
3Arcane Shot
4Multi-Shot
510sKill Shot
630sExplosive Shot
745sVolley
82mTrueshot
9Moonlight Chakram
0Steady Shot
-Precise Shots
s124sCounter Shot
s22mExhilaration
s31m 30sSurvival of the Fittest
s43mAspect of the Turtle
s545sBinding Shot
s645sBursting Shot
s710sTranquilizing Shot
s820sDisengage
Rotation
What do I press?
Press order
1Multi-Shot0.0s
2Explosive Shot1.5s
3Explosive Shot3.0s
4Volley4.5s
5Aimed Shot6.0s
6Multi-Shot8.5s
7Rapid Fire10.0s
8Multi-Shot12.0s
9Aimed Shot13.5s
10Multi-Shot16.0s
11Steady Shot17.5s
12Aimed Shot19.2s
13Multi-Shot21.7s
Multi-Shot0.0s
Fires because precise Shots is active or Trick Shots has dropped. Trick Shots makes your next Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire hit everything nearby.
0s5s10s15s20s25s
Volley
One press per global at base haste (1.5s), longer for casts. Real pulls drift with haste and procs; the order is what matters.
Cooldowns and when to use them
2 minutes. More crit chance and damage and faster Aimed Shot recharge for 15 seconds.
What the simulations press
Executed every time the actor is available.
Retargetfight style.dungeonroute
Auto Shot
active enemies>2 and trick shots and hero tree.dark ranger
active enemies>2 and trick shots and hero tree.sentinel
hero tree.dark ranger
hero tree.sentinel
From SimulationCraft's hunter_marksmanship.simc, changed Nov 2, 2026. This is what the simulations behind most guides press; conditions are shown as SimC writes them.
What top players actually cast
Below are the opening rotations from a small sample of recent top Marksmanship Hunter rankings for Altar of Fangs. You can use this to compare to your own opener and find potential points of improvement. Note that the opener for some specs may vary based on when certain buffs proc.
Aimed ShotBuilder2.5s cast · 15s cd ×2 · -35 FocusYour main hit and Precise Shots generator; keep it on cooldown and never let both charges sit.
Arcane ShotSpenderInstant · -40 Focus (much less with Precise Shots)Single-target Precise Shots spender after each Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire.
Multi-ShotSpenderInstant · -30 FocusReplaces Arcane Shot at 2+ targets; spends Precise Shots and turns on Trick Shots so Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire cleave.
Kill ShotSpenderInstant · 10s cd · -10 FocusExecute that also benefits from Precise Shots; use it ahead of Arcane Shot when it is available.
Moonlight ChakramProcInstantSentinel: throw it with about 5 seconds of Trueshot left, and again whenever nothing better is ready.
Steady ShotFiller1.7s castFocus filler when everything else is on cooldown.
Precise ShotsProcFrom Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire: your next Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot deals 50% more and costs much less Focus.
Cooldowns
Rapid FireCooldown2s cast · 16s cd2-second channel on a short cooldown that also grants Precise Shots; follow it with a spender.
Explosive ShotCooldownInstant · 30s cd · -20 FocusDelayed explosion on cooldown; Unstable Trigger lets you fire it twice in a row.
VolleyCooldownInstant · 45s cd · 6s longRain of arrows over 6 seconds; cast it on cooldown in single target and AoE.
TrueshotCooldownInstant · 2m cd · 15s long10% crit chance, 20% crit damage and much faster Aimed Shot recharge for 15 seconds; use it on cooldown with potion and trinkets.
Survival
ExhilarationDefensiveInstant · 2m cdSelf-heal for 30% of your health.
Survival of the FittestDefensiveInstant · 1m 30s cd · 6s long30% damage reduction for 6 seconds.
Aspect of the TurtleDefensiveInstant · 3m cd · 8s longImmune to most attacks for 8 seconds, but you cannot attack.
Utility
Counter ShotInterruptInstant · 24s cd40-yard interrupt on a 24-second cooldown.
Binding ShotUtilityInstant · 45s cdTethers a group and stuns any enemy that moves away.
Bursting ShotUtilityInstant · 45s cdFrontal knockback and slow.
Tranquilizing ShotUtilityInstant · 10s cdRemoves an enrage and a magic buff from the target.
DisengageMovementInstant · 20s cdLeap backwards to dodge or reposition.
Builds / Talents
Raid and Mythic+ talents
SentinelRaid and Mythic+Marksmanship plays Sentinel in all content; nearly every top-rated MM player in keys runs it, and it adds Moonlight Chakram at the end of each Trueshot.
Dark RangerSituationalAdds Black Arrow as a Precise Shots spender and Wailing Arrow, but sims behind Sentinel everywhere right now.
48 of the top 50 Mythic+ players run Sentinel (3790–4134 rating). Murlok.io
Mythic+
18,900 logs · 2026-11-05T12:00:00Z
Consensus loadoutRecommended
Popularity 98.7% heatmap match · 98.7% heatmap match
Recommended loadout is the closest match to Archon’s aggregate popularity across top parses — not a single one-off key.
Sample size: 18900 top parses. Only talents in the recommended loadout are drawn.
Class
Specialization
Hero
Only talents in this loadout are drawn (Sentinel). Hover a node for its Wowhead tooltip.
Across 18,900 logs. A talent has to show up in at least 40% of them before it is part of the build.
Gear
What do I wear and enchant?
Stats for Mythic+
1Agility
›
2Crit
›
3Mastery
›
4Haste
›
5Vers
Left to right — highest priority first. Sim your character when secondaries are close.
Based on data in the last 2 weeks, the stat priority for Marksmanship Hunter looks to be Agility > Crit > Mastery > Haste > Vers. However, there may be bias based on what gear is available to players.
What the top Mythic+ players actually have
Critical Strike44% +1383
Mastery22% +1242
Haste13% +405
Versatility4% +229
Average secondary stats of the top 50 Mythic+ players (3790–4134 rating), from Murlok.io, updated 8 hours ago.
4×piece set: Marksmanship Hunter15×slots
Best in slot from Method.gg. Every slot is on the figure. Point at a piece to light it.
Wear 4 tier pieces. The 4-piece bonus is what this spec is tuned around.
4-piece: Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire damage increased by 5%. Each time Explosive Shot causes a burst of damage, the cooldown of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire is reduced by 0.5 sec.
Best-to-good single-target order from Liquid Armory (Oct 12, 2026). Filled marks = higher on the list. Your own gear can change the order — sim before you buy.
Forest Hunter's Armor Kit
Eyes of the Eagle
Rite of the Hash'ey
Flawless Masterful Garnet
Indecipherable Eversong Diamond
