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Since the earliest days ofWorld of Warcraft, Marksmanship Hunters have been a solid pick for endgame PvE DPS. The spec’s popularity has fluctuated over the years, just like every other spec, butheading intoDragonflightcontentit seems to be well positioned for fans of the ranged DPS role.
It’s definitely possible to climb pretty high on the single and multi-target DPS charts inWoW Dragonflightas a Marksmanship Hunter, but it will require some careful planning, strategy, and skill. In addition to getting selecting optimal Marksmanship Hunter talents and mastering the ability rotation, players also need to understand the stat prioritization and caps.
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Exact stat priorities for each spec, including Marksmanship Hunters, do shift around a bit based on different scenarios a player can find themselves in. Some stats may be more important for raids or dungeons that emphasize the importance of multi-target strategies, while others might help out more for single target activities. That said, there is a general priority order that Hunters can follow which should complementthe best Marksmanship talentsand set them up for success.
Marksmanship Hunter Stats Explained
Weapon DPS
It’s all about the weapon when it comes to maximizing Marksmanship DPS. The top tier stat for Marksmanship Hunters is Weapon DPS, which increases damage done with weapons and abilities that rely onweapon damage. As most hunters are aware, that’s pretty much their whole rotation (outside of any pet abilities).
Agility
Stacking Agility has been the name of the game for Hunters for a long time and that’s still the case for Marksmanship Hunters intheDragonflightera. This is the primary stat for the spec and increases attack power and damage done with abilities.
Mastery
For Marksmanship Hunters, Mastery is going to increase damage on all your abilities and increase maximum shot range. This is a crucial stat and should be highly prioritized toward the top of the list.
Critical Strike
Critical Strike, as one might expect, increases the chance to critically hit with all spells and abilities. Crits are a great way to maximize damage, which makes this a very valuable stat for Marksmanship Hunters. It is worth noting that as strategies move away from single target DPS, Critical Strike’s benefits do start to fade a bit.
Versatility
This stat boosts all damage and healing done and decreases all incoming damage. The damage boost is obviously beneficial, but this falls behind Critical Strike the majority of the time.
Haste
The Haste stat increases auto attack speed and Focus regeneration for Marksmanship Hunters. This stat also helps reduce the global cooldown, which is pretty important to maximizing DPS.
Ideal Stat Caps
As always, the primary four stats do have points of diminishing returns. This is something that only endgame, top-tier players usually need to worry about. If players do find themselves in that situation, they should follow these guidelines for determining when to stop stacking a particular stat and prioritize differently.
That should be everything that Marksmanship Hunters need to know as they figure out their stat priorities and begin dominating theWoW Dragonflightendgame content. Be sure to check back for moreWoW Dragonflightnews, updates, and strategy guides in the near future. Until then, For the Horde!
