DPS Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Marksmanship Hunter abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0.1).

Single Target

Ensure Hunters Mark is active on the target.

• Black ArrowView detailsUse whenever available, especially after Rapid Fire.
• Wailing ArrowView detailsUse as a filler and spend Black Arrow procs before casting.
• TrueshotView detailsActivate before Aimed Shot and after Rapid Fire for max efficiency.
• Arcane ShotView detailsConsume Precise Shots stacks after Aimed Shot or Rapid Fire.
• Rapid FireView detailsUse on cooldown, prioritize if Bulletstorm buff is missing.
• Aimed ShotView detailsUse with 2 charges or Lock And Load proc. Spend Precise Shots first.
• VolleyView detailsUse on cooldown for damage and Double Tap activation.
• Steady ShotView detailsUse as a filler for Focus generation.

Maintain Black Arrow uptime and use Wailing Arrow as a filler. Activate Trueshot before Aimed Shot and after Rapid Fire. Consume Precise Shots with Arcane Shot and prioritize Rapid Fire and Aimed Shot. Use Volley on cooldown and fill downtime with Steady Shot.

AoE

Ensure Hunters Mark is active on the target.

• Black ArrowView detailsUse whenever available, especially after Rapid Fire.
• Wailing ArrowView detailsUse as a filler and spend Black Arrow procs before casting.
• TrueshotView detailsActivate before Aimed Shot and after Rapid Fire for max efficiency.
• Multi ShotView detailsConsume Precise Shots stacks after Aimed Shot or Rapid Fire.
• Rapid FireView detailsUse on cooldown, ensure Trick Shots is active.
• Aimed ShotView detailsUse with 2 charges or Lock And Load proc. Ensure Trick Shots is active.
• VolleyView detailsUse on cooldown for damage and Double Tap activation.
• Steady ShotView detailsUse as a filler for Focus generation.

Maintain Black Arrow uptime and use Wailing Arrow as a filler. Activate Trueshot before Aimed Shot and after Rapid Fire. Consume Precise Shots with Multi Shot and prioritize Rapid Fire and Aimed Shot with Trick Shots active. Use Volley on cooldown and fill downtime with Steady Shot.

Cooldowns

• TrueshotView detailsUse before Aimed Shot and after Rapid Fire for max impact.
• VolleyView detailsAvoid using immediately before or after Trueshot.
• Wailing ArrowView detailsUse during Trueshot window as a filler.

Use Trueshot before Aimed Shot and after Rapid Fire. Avoid overlapping Volley with Trueshot. Use Wailing Arrow as a filler during cooldown windows.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.