Marksmanship Hunter DPS Gear and Best in Slot — The War Within (11.0.5)
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Marksmanship Hunter in World of Warcraft The War Within (11.0.5).
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Marksmanship Hunter gear and best in slot.
Best in Slot Gear Guide for Marksmanship Hunter
Welcome to our Gear and BiS Page for Marksmanship Hunter for The War Within Season 1. Check this page to learn everything you need to know about gearing a Marksmanship Hunter, including the BiS Gear from all sources, Raiding, and Mythic+, information on the best Trinkets, Tier Sets, and much more.
For discussion and information on Stats specifically, check out our Stats page below.
BiS Gear for Marksmanship Hunter
Overall BiS List for Marksmanship Hunter
This list contains the best gear in every slot for Season 1 of The War Within, from all sources.
In general, BiS Items for Marksmanship are simply ones that have lots of Crit on them.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Splintershot Silkbow (639) | Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace |
Helm | Rattling Deadeye Hood (639) | The Necrotic Wake (626), or Great Vault. |
Neck | Locket of Broken Memories (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Shoulder | Lightless Scavenger's Taxidermy (639) | Rasha'nan/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Consecrated Cloak — Dawnthread Lining (636) | Crafted by Tailoring |
Chest | Lightless Scavenger's Tunic (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Glyph-Etched Vambraces — Dawnthread Lining (636) | Crafted by Leatherworking |
Gloves | Lightless Scavenger's Mitts (639) | Sikran/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Belt | Accelerated Ascension Coil (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Legs | Lightless Scavenger's Stalkings (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Boots | Rasha'nan's Grotesque Talons (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #2 | Seal of the City Watch (639) | Siege of Boralus (626), or in Great Vault |
Trinket #1 (Single-Target) | Void Reaper's Contract (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace |
Trinket #2 (Single-Target) | Mad Queen's Mandate (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Trinket #1 (Mythic+/General Use) | Skardyn's Grace (639) | Grim Batol (626), or in Great Vault |
Trinket #2 (Mythic+/General Use) | Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Nerub-ar Palace Raid Gear BiS List for Marksmanship Hunter
This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within Season 1 from the Nerub-ar Palace Raid.
Note that this BiS List is for items from the Raid. I am separating the BiS lists by gear sources. This is what you send to your Raid Leader/Loot Council when they ask you what your BiS gear is from the Raid.
Note that there is no such thing as a singular, all-encompassing "BiS". The best items vary per character and situation, and there are many items that are essentially equivalent in terms of DPS, namely when we are just shuffling secondary stats around. I will list one "BiS" item per slot, sometimes two if I feel there is a significant difference for Raiding and Mythic+, but ultimately, BiS lists are not very practically useful and you should be simming your character to find out what gear to equip next. Nonetheless, there is a huge demand for this list and thus, despite me not thinking you should really care much about it, it is here for your perusal.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Splintershot Silkbow (639) | Sikran in Nerub-ar Palace |
Helm | Lightless Scavenger's Skull (639) | Silken Court/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Neck | Locket of Broken Memories (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Shoulder | Lightless Scavenger's Taxidermy (639) | Rasha'nan/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Wings of Shattered Sorrow (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Chest | Lightless Scavenger's Tunic (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Ky'veza's Covert Clasps (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace |
Gloves | Lightless Scavenger's Mitts (639) | Sikran/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Belt | Accelerated Ascension Coil (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Legs | Liquified Defector's Leggings (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Boots | Rasha'nan's Grotesque Talons (639) | Rasha'nan in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Ring #2 | Writhing Ringworm (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
Trinket #1 (Single-Target) | Void Reaper's Contract (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza in Nerub-ar Palace |
Trinket #1 (All-Rounder) | Mad Queen's Mandate (639) | Queen Ansurek in Nerub-ar Palace |
Trinket #2 (All-Rounder) | Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax in Nerub-ar Palace |
The War Within Season 1 Mythic+ Gear BiS List for Marksmanship Hunter
This list contains the Best in Slot Gear for Marksmanship Hunter from The War Within Season 1 Mythic+.
Note that this BiS List is for items from Mythic+. I am separating the BiS lists by gear sources. This is the list you can chase when you want to improve your gear by farming Mythic+ dungeons.
Note that there is no such thing as a singular, all-encompassing "BiS". The best items vary per character and situation, and there are many items that are essentially equivalent in terms of DPS, namely when we are just shuffling secondary stats around. I will list one "BiS" item per slot, sometimes two if I feel there is a significant difference for Raiding and Mythic+, but ultimately, BiS lists are not very practically useful and you should be simming your character to find out what gear to equip next. Nonetheless, there is a huge demand for this list and thus, despite me not thinking you should really care much about it, it is here for your perusal.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Augmented Refractor Cannon (639) | The Stonevault (626), or Great Vault |
Helm | Rattling Deadeye Hood (639) | The Necrotic Wake (626), or Great Vault |
Neck | Trailspinner Pendant (639) | Mists of Tirna Scithe (626), or Great Vault |
Shoulder | Lightless Scavenger's Taxidermy (639) | Rasha'nan/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Cloak | Troggstitched Drape (639) | Grim Batol (626), or Great Vault |
Chest | Lightless Scavenger's Tunic (639) | Broodtwister Ovi'nax/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Bracers | Penumbral Rimeguards (639) | City of Threads (626), or Great Vault |
Gloves | Lightless Scavenger's Mitts (639) | Sikran/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Belt | Anchor Chain Girdle (639) | Siege of Boralus (626), or Great Vault |
Legs | Lightless Scavenger's Stalkings (639) | Nexus Princess Ky'veza/Matrix Catalyst/Great Vault |
Boots (Raiding) | Red Scale Boots (639) | Grim Batol (626), or Great Vault |
Ring #1 | Devout Zealot's Ring (639) | The Dawnbreaker (626), or Great Vault |
Ring #2 | Seal of the City Watch (639) | Siege of Boralus (626), or Great Vault |
Trinket #1 | Skardyn's Grace (639) | Grim Batol (626), or Great Vault |
Trinket #2 (Long, Sustained Encounters) | Dead-Eye Spyglass (639) | Siege of Boralus (626), or Great Vault |
Trinket #2 (Mythic+, etc) | Ara-Kara Sacbrood (639) | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes (626), or Great Vault |
Best Trinkets for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within Season 1
Raiding Trinket Tier List for Marksmanship Hunter
This Trinket Tier List is single-target biased, as this tends to be the most important aspect of Raiding. When Trinkets are equal on single-target, I will "break the tie" by looking into which Trinket performs better in AoE/mixed scenarios.
Note that the Trinkets are compared at their highest possible Item Level, which is only 626 for Delve Trinkets. Not only that, but 639 Mythic+ Trinkets are only obtainable via the Great Vault — Not a very reliable source. At equal iLvls, the picture may be very different and that is why you should sim yourself.
Finally, note that the Trinkets in each tier are listed in no particular order. Each tier covers only a 0.5% DPS span.
A "Tier" as defined by this list is around 0.5% DPS, meaning that S-Tier Trinkets are around 0.5% better than A-Tier Trinkets, and so on.
S-Tier
- Mad Queen's Mandate — Best for pure single-target. Can be stacked with Unerring Vision for extra damage, and the passive Crit is very good for us. Also very potent for single-target and priority-target damage in Mythic+.
- Skardyn's Grace — Straightforwardly macroed into Trueshot.
A-Tier
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg — Very good for AoE scenarios.
B-Tier
- Treacherous Transmitter
- Dead-Eye Spyglass — Because this Trinket marks targets, it is problematic on "stop-start" situations or where mobs die regularly, but for sustained single-target encounters, it is just fine.
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Sikran's Endless Arsenal
C-Tier
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- Quickwick Candlestick
- Concoction: Kiss of Death — This Trinket is unique in that its effect can be stacked with other on-use Trinkets, because it does not trigger the 20s cooldown on other on-use Trinkets until it is cancelled.
D-Tier
- Ara-Kara Sacbrood
- Bottled Flayedwing Toxin
E-Tier
- Mistcaller Ocarina — Not great for yourself, but when its effect is multiplied onto all of your hopefully powerful allies, it is a playable Trinket.
- Spelunker's Waning Candle
- Harvester's Edict
- Imperfect Ascendancy Serum
- Twin Fang Instruments
- Abyssal Trap
- Everburning Lantern
- Shadow-Binding Ritual Knife
- Scroll of Momentum
Mythic+ Trinket Tier List for Marksmanship Hunter
This Trinket Tier List is based on a mixture of single-target and AoE sims, using our preferred Mythic+ build.
Note that the Trinkets are compared at their highest possible Item Level, which is only 626 for Delve Trinkets. Not only that, but 639 Mythic+ Trinkets are only obtainable via the Great Vault — Not a very reliable source. At equal iLvls, the picture may be very different and that is why you should sim yourself.
A "Tier" as defined by this list is around 0.5% DPS, meaning that S-Tier Trinkets are around 0.5% better than A-Tier Trinkets, and so on.
S-Tier
- Skardyn's Grace — Excellent all-rounder.
- Ovi'nax's Mercurial Egg
A-Tier
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- Ara-Kara Sacbrood
- Shadow-Binding Ritual Knife
- Sikran's Endless Arsenal
B-Tier
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Concoction: Kiss of Death — This Trinket is unique in that its effect can be stacked with other on-use Trinkets, because it does not trigger the 20s cooldown on other on-use Trinkets until it is cancelled.
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- Harvester's Edict
C-Tier
- Scroll of Momentum
- Twin Fang Instruments
- Bottled Flayedwing Toxin
- Quickwick Candlestick — A Delve Trinket that is a decent alternative to Skardyn's Grace.
- Spelunker's Waning Candle
D-Tier
- Treacherous Transmitter
- Mistcaller Ocarina
- Imperfect Ascendancy Serum
- Abyssal Trap
- Everburning Lantern
"Simming" Yourself as a Marksmanship Hunter
Throughout this page, we regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots, as it is an indispensable aspect of optimizing your character.
While we do offer generic sim charts for Trinkets, this should not be a replacement for simming yourself, at least not if you want to minmax sub-1%!
If you are new to simming and Raidbots, check out our detailed guide below.
Best Crafted Items for Marksmanship Hunter
Our BiS Crafts are pretty straightforward. We want 2x Dawnthread Lining on some sensible slots. While Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension and its Writhing Armor Banding can perform similarly for some characters, it takes 80 seconds to stack up Ascension to full power while in combat, and it will regularly drop off between packs in Mythic+.
For players coming right into the Season from its beginning, the choice is very different as we are not just concerned about the best Crafted Slots and Embellishments, but also potentially short-term Item Level gains. While the 2x Dawnthread Lining setup is optimal in the longer run, in the short-to-medium-term, crafting a Weapon with a Darkmoon Sigil is preferable because of the immediate, short-term value of a weapon upgrade, and because we start the Season with 2 Spark of Omens.
Please note that double- Dawnthread Lining has a tendency to not work outside of combat in some scenarios. If you have two of them equipped, but are only getting Crit from one of them, try to intentionally drop below 80% HP and then heal yourself back up. this WeakAura can help alert you when it is not working so you can fix it.
You should ideally sim the optimal stats to craft for your particular character, but the vast majority of the time, you cannot go wrong with Crit/Mastery for all situations.
Best Embellishments and Crafting Order for Marksmanship Hunter
- P.0.W. x2 (Early Season, costs 2 Sparks) — This item is not our long-term BiS, but if you are coming fresh into the Season with Mythic0 606 iLvl gear or below, then the sheer Item Level value of a Weapon is going to exceed the value of the best Embellishments. For reference, the value of upgrading a Weapon by 30 iLvl is around 8% before even considering an Embellishment, while the value of upgrading some other slots (as below) with Embellishment by 30 iLvl is only around 4-5%. That said, if you wait until your first Great Vault and it has a Weapon, then you may wish to craft something else instead. As for Embellishments, I recommend Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension for Raiding and Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity for Mythic+.
- (BiS, 1 Spark) — Consecrated Cloak with Dawnthread Lining — Cloaks, alongside Bracers, have the lowest Item Level Budget of all Armor items. This makes them ideal BiS candidates when considering Crafts, because Crafted items are capped at 636, while other items cap at 639. The idea is to lose the least possible DPS by picking the lowest-budget slots to drop 3 iLvl on.
- (BiS, 1 Spark) — Glyph-Etched Vambraces with Dawnthread Lining — Similarly to the Cloak, we get Bracers here as it is the best long-term play.
- Next, chase Item Level where needed, preferring Weapon > Helm/Chest/Legs (though these are likely occupied by tier) > Boots/Belt > Rings/Necks > Cloaks.
- At this point, you are mostly done crafting. You can spend future Sparks on off-spec items, alternatively statted crafts for different situations, and so on.
Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension vs Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity
These are two weapon-only Embellishments with different secondary stat effects. On sustained encounters, ones that keep you in combat for several minutes, Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension is about 0.5% better. However, because Ascension takes a whole 80 seconds to reach full power, if you are primarily doing non-Raiding content, Darkmoon Sigil: Vivacity is better as it does not have this problem.
Best Gear Crest Upgrades for Marksmanship Hunter
You will be able to upgrade your items via Crests such as Gilded Harbinger Crest. Once you have upgraded a slot to a certain item level, upgrading other items of that slot to that item level is free.
When you upgrade with Crests, you should think of it as upgrading slots and not items.
Additionally, since Crests are a limited resource, you will want to obtain the highest item-level possible before upgrading a given slot, as this means you will spend fewer Crests on that slot in total. If you are at all capable of doing a +9 Dungeon, for example, it would be a VERY bad idea to upgrade an item from a +8 Dungeon, as those are wasted Crests you may not get back for a very long time.
We see a ton of players, even at a high level, mess up their upgrade priorities, and upgrading prematurely. Getting this right will put you far ahead of most players.
Below is the slot priority you should upgrade your items in. If you ever want to deviate from this, you should have a very good reason.
- Weapons
- Trinkets
- Helm/Chest/Legs
- Shoulders/Gloves/Belt/Boots
- Rings and Necks
- Cloaks and Bracers
Note that exceptions are possible, such as special items that have more Item Level scaling than their slot would imply.
Season 1 Tier Set for Marksmanship Hunter
The Tier Set is comprised of 5 items, all carrying the Lightless Scavenger moniker. Unique DPS bonuses are unlocked when wearing 2, and 4 pieces from the set:
- Hunter Marksmanship Season 1 2pc — Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot damage increased by 20%. This pairs fairly well with the new Precise Shot, Eagletalon's True Focus, and in the case of Multi-Shot, Small Game Hunter.
- Hunter Marksmanship Season 1 4pc — Consuming Precise Shot increases the damage of your next Aimed Shot by 20%.
The Tier Set Bonus is absolutely mandatory for competitive play, and you should prioritize obtaining it. You can use the Matrix Catalyst to convert regular items (from Mythic+, for example) into Tier Items.
You only need 4 pieces out of 5 to get both set bonuses. We recommend you get all items except for the Helm, due to its high Haste. Check out the BiS List for more information.
Changelog
- 30 Oct. 2024: Updated for October 29 Hotfixes.
- 22 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 10 Oct. 2024: Updated the Trinket Tier List slightly.
- 17 Sep. 2024: Updated the BiS List Trinket selections.
- 15 Sep. 2024: Updated the MM Trinket Tier Lists based on new methodology, and in the case of the Raiding Tier List, a new preferred single-target build discussed on other pages of the guide.
- 13 Sep. 2024: Added note about double-Dawnthread Lining not working and how to fix it.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Preliminary updates for The War Within Season 1.
- 27 Aug. 2024: Added a note about Crafted gear to the Pre-Season BiS List.
- 22 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within Pre-Patch.
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This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Guidewriter, Theorycrafter, and top player since 2014, who is widely considered one of the best PvE Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with hundreds of top parses across all Hunter specs. He is the Head Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the official Hunter Class Discord. You can find him on his stream on Twitch and his channel on YouTube. He also has his own, personal Discord server where you can freely ask him any Hunter questions you may have!
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