Marksmanship Hunter PvP Useful Macros — The War Within (11.0.5)

In Arena, there will constantly be situations where the player you want to use an ability on is not your current target. You can change targets by clicking on nameplates, but this will make it difficult to quickly and precisely change targets without delaying the next ability. You can also press tab to target nearest enemy, but particularly when there are summoned enemies/ pets or other players around this can be unreliable. You can set your tab key to only target enemy players in the keybindings menu, but then you can't use tab to target high priority summoned pets like Psyfiend.

This is why using macros to direct (particularly crowd control and utility) spells gives you an advantage over players who don't.

To give yourself the maximum control over what your spells can do, whilst maintaining a practical keybind setup, you will want a combination of the three.

To have the most control and flexibility over where your spells will be targeted, you can target your spell directly at a player on the enemy arena team by putting [@arena1], [@arena2], or [@arena3] in your macro. The problem with this is that in 3v3, it will actually require three separate macros per ability, and the number of keybinds will quickly build up.

As a minimum, if your keybind setup allows it, it is recommended to have macros to cast Scatter Shot and Intimidation targeted directly with this macro clause. This is because you will usually use Scatter Shot on offtargets (who you are not attacking and will not have as your focus), and you will often want to use Intimidation on Restoration Druids immediately when they exit stealth, and occasionally to peel an offtarget in an emergency.

It is also always recommended to have keybinds to target all three enemy arena players (which you can do in the keybinding options instead of using macros), to give you greater flexibility over switching targets, particularly when there are a number of summoned enemies/pets.

You may prefer to use [@focus] macros to save keybind space for some spells. This works because most of the time if there is a spell you do not want to cast on your target, the intended target is a healer that you can leave as your focus target.

You can also intuitively combine the keybind for casting on your target with the keybind for casting on your focus target by setting a modifier (ctrl, alt, shift) that will cast on your focus target when pressed.

This is recommended for abilities like Tranquilizing Shot and Concussive Shot, which you will often use when pushing for traps to reliably cast on healers without having to think about the position of your mouse.

You can also use [@mouseover] on abilities, which allows you to use them on any target by placing your mouse over their unit frame, nameplate or character when pressing the macro.

To cut down on keybinds and make this even more convenient, you can edit this to be [@mouseover, exists] and use the macro instead of the regular spell. The macro will then function as if it was just the spell if you use it normally, and if you use it whilst your mouse is over an enemy character, nameplate or frame it will cast on that target instead.

This allows you to use the same keybind to cast a spell at any enemy without having to change targets.

The [@mouseover, exists] clause is useful for utility spells such as Tranquilizing Shot, Concussive Shot and Scare Beast, which you will sometimes want to use against enemies that are not your target or focus target.

It is also useful to have the [@mouseover, exists] clause in your offensive spells like Arcane Shot and Kill Shot to quickly kill low health Psyfiends, totems and pets.

Being able to do this is useful in all cases and takes up no keybind space, which is why you will see that many of the macros below include this clause. It is also worth having for abilities where you already have focus or arena macros, to give you additional flexibility over targeting generally.

You can set this to be the default behaviour of your game in the Combat section of the in-game options, although you then wouldn't be able to combine it with other useful macro clauses.

Because you do not need to use an additional keybind for a [@mouseover, exists] macro, it is recommended to create a macro with this clause for any spell that you sometimes want to use on enemies that are not your target.

Particularly in Battleground Blitz, you should have this on all utility and crowd control abilities because it is awkward to choose and keep track of focus targets during Battleground teamfights.

You will also see that some macros include /stopcasting. This is so that you can still cast the spell while casting Steady Shot or standing still, casting Aimed Shot.

For example, if you did not have this line on your Macro for Exhilaration and were already casting a Steady Shot, you would not be able to cast Exhilaration without pressing escape to cancel the cast or a separate stopcasting macro.

I strongly recommend you include /stopcasting in the macros for your defensive cooldowns.

This macro clause is very useful because of how the talent system works. You can use the phrase [Known: ] with a spell ID (you can find these on Wowhead) so that a macro will cast a different spell or show a different tooltip based on your selected talents. It's a nice way to avoid having to redo your action bars when changing talents.

You can use the spell ID or type the spell name. There is a limit of 255 characters to a macro, so if it is a longer macro, you will want to use the spell IDs rather than typing the name of the spell.

You will see that some of the macros below for targeted reticle spells (eg Volley, Freezing Trap, Tar Trap and Flare) are cast [@cursor]. This casts the spell immediately at the location of your mouse. This cuts down on the delay when casting a spell because you only press the button once (instead of pressing the button, aiming, then left-clicking to confirm).

As hunter is one of the very few classes that require precise aiming (and timing) with launching traps, you will find that using @cursor will make it much easier to land those important crowd control abilities on time.

Aspect of the Turtle is a great defensive, but you aren't able to attack during it. Most of the time, you will want to cancel Aspect of the Turtle before it ends so you can start using your next attack or crowd control. You will see that some of the macros below will also cancel Aspect of the Turtle when pressed.

This is a little bit more obscure, but in World of Warcraft, there is a built-in latency adjustment known as the "spell queue window." This will allow you to queue up a spell before your character can cast it (e.g., during the global cooldown).

Without going into too much detail (you can google spell queue window if you want to find out more), without the line /cancelqueuedspell in your Macro, it is possible that you will already have a spell queued up that would be used instead of the spell you decided to cast at the last moment.

Including /cqs or /cancelqueuedspell in your Macro will clear any queued spell and ensure that the spell in your Macro will be cast instantly.

• #showtooltip aimed shot
• /cancelaura aspect of the turtle
• /use [@mouseover,exists][] aimed Shot; aimed shot

This Aimed Shot macro does a couple of things:

1. Removes Aspect of the Turtle (so you don't have to bind cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle separately).
2. Casts Aimed Shot at your mouseover if they exist (this allows you to swap targets without it being obvious to the other team or to kill totems and Psyfiends quickly).
3. Casts Aimed Shot at your target if you are not mousing over an enemy nameplate or frame.

• #showtooltip arcane shot
• /cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle
• /stopmacro [channeling:Rapid Fire]
• /cast [@mouseover,exists][@target]Arcane Shot; arcane shot

This Arcane Shot macro does a couple of things:

1. Cancels Aspect of the Turtle
2. Does not cast Arcane Shot if you are channeling Rapid Fire ( Rapid Fire does much more damage than Arcane Shot, so it is never worth ending the cast early for an arcane shot)
3. Casts Arcane Shot at your mouseover if they exist (this allows you to swap targets without it being obvious to the other team or to quickly kill totems and Psyfiends).
4. Casts Arcane Shot at your target if you are not currently mousing over an enemy nameplate or frame.

• /cast [@focus] aimed shot

This simple Macro will cast Aimed Shot at your focus target. If you're using the Macro above for Aimed Shot; you don't technically need this, but it is more convenient to use this Macro when you want the spell to be cast at your focus target so you do not need to mouseover them.

• #showtooltip Trueshot
• /use Forged Aspirant's Badge of Ferocity
• /use Forged Gladiator's Badge of Ferocity
• /cast Blood Fury(Racial)
• /cast Trueshot

This is a simple macro that uses off-global cooldown temporary damage buffs (trinkets and racial ability if orc) when you begin bursting with Trueshot.

Even if Trueshot is not available, you can press this Macro whenever you are bursting to use any of your off-global cooldown stat buffs that are available.

• #showtooltip kill shot
• /cancelqueuedspell
• /stopcasting
• /cancelaura aspect of the turtle
• /Cast [@mouseover, exists, harm] kill shot; kill shot

This Macro will stop any queued spells or spells that you are casting, and immediately cast Black Arrow/ Kill Shot.

As with the macros above, it will cast at your mouseover if they exist and otherwise will cast on your target.

• #showtooltip steady shot
• #showtooltip steady shot
• /stopmacro [channeling:Rapid Fire]
• /cast [@mouseover,harm][@target]steady Shot;steady shot

This Macro will cast Steady Shot at your mouseover if they exist and otherwise will cast Steady Shot on your target.

You might want to Steady Shot something you are not targeting with the PvP talent Consecutive Concussion. Using this Macro, you will be able to cast Steady Shots on a player, even if you are not targeting them, to extend Concussive Shot and stun them if you Steady Shot three times.

This Macro will not do anything if you are already channeling Rapid Fire (so that you cannot accidentally clip the end of a Rapid Fire cast).

• #showtooltip Volley
• /cast Salvo
• /use Forged Gladiator's Badge of Ferocity
• /cast [@cursor] volley

This macro will instantly cast Salvo and Volley where your cursor is. Use this when you are bursting.

If your stat buff trinket is available, it will also use that. Volley is an important damage cooldown, and you will get more value from the stat buff if it is active during Volley.

• /run SetCVar("SoftTargetInteract", 0)
• /run SetCVar("SoftTargetEnemyRange", 0)
• /run SetCVar("SoftTargetFriendRange", 0)
• /cast !camouflage

This macro will cast Camouflage (and will not cancel Camouflage if you accidentally press the Macro twice!)

The Macro will also change some "CVar" values. Without going into detail, this solves a bug introduced in Dragonflight that would make your Macro'd spells cast at your target instead of the target that your Macro specifies.

By having the corrections on a macro with Camouflage, you know they will be fixed at the start of every game.

• #showtooltip aspect of the turtle
• /stopcasting
• /stopcasting
• /cast !aspect of the turtle

This Macro will stop casting any spell and cast Aspect of the Turtle.

This macro will not cancel Aspect of the Turtle if you press it multiple times.

• #showtooltip exhilaration
• /stopcasting
• /cast Exhilaration

This Macro will stop casting any spells and cast Exhilaration.

• #showtooltip
• /stopcasting
• /cancelaura feign death
• /cast !feign death
• /stopattack
• /run local t="Pet" if 1~=GetRaidTargetIndex(t) then SetRaidTarget(t, 1) end

This macro will cast Feign Death and stop your character from attacking.

The Macro will also mark a star raid icon on your pet. It is useful to have a raid marker on your pet to make it easier to track the pet's position. Having the Macro on a spell that you use often means the raid mark will be applied even if you only summon the pet midway through a game.

Note that this Macro will only mark your pet while inside arena if you are the party leader, but you can press it outside of the arena if you aren't the party leader, and unless you swap pets, the mark will stay.

• /stopcasting
• /cast [@player] Roar of Sacrifice

This Macro will stop any spell casts, and use Roar of Sacrifice on yourself.

• /cancelqueuedspell
• /cast [mod:alt,@player][@cursor] Freezing trap

This macro will cast Freezing Trap on your cursor if pressed without any modifier.

If you press alt while pressing the Macro, the trap will be dropped immediately (and activate immediately with no travel time) at your feet.

I highly recommend that you have a Freezing Trap [@player] macro like this. It is significantly easier and more reliable to land traps by standing on a healer and using the [@player] Freezing Trap.

• #showtooltip [known:scatter shot]scatter shot;[known:bursting shot]bursting shot
• /cancelqueuedspell
• /stopcasting
• /cancelaura aspect of the turtle
• /Cast [@mouseover, exists, harm] scatter shot; scatter shot
• /cast [known:bursting shot]bursting shot

This macro will cast Scatter Shot at your mouseover if they exist which is useful in BGs or world PvP to CC off-targets or to crowd-control a pet (e.g., to stop a Warlock's Succubus Seduction cast without targeting it).

The Macro will cast Scatter Shot at your target if you aren't mousing over an enemy.

If you have Bursting Shot talented instead of Scatter Shot, it will cast Bursting Shot.

• #showtooltip [known:Implosive Trap] Implosive Trap; [known:High Explosive Trap] High Explosive Trap
• /cancelqueuedspell
• /stopcasting
• /cast [known:Implosive Trap] Implosive Trap
• /cast [known:High Explosive Trap] High Explosive Trap

This macro toggles between High Explosive Trap and Implosive Trap, depending on which one you have talented.

Note that sometimes (e.g., when knocking an enemy into a Freezing Trap using a High Explosive Trap) you need to be very precise with the High Explosive Trap placement, which is why I do not recommend using @cursor for this trap.

• #showtooltip Chimaeral Sting(PvP Talent)
• /cast [mod:alt,@focus,harm,nodead] [@mouseover,harm,nodead] [] Chimaeral Sting(PvP Talent)

This Macro will cast Chimaeral Sting on your mouseover if selected, your target if you don't have a mouseover, or your focus target if you press alt at the same time as the Macro.

I recommend also having a macro like this for utility spells such as Concussive Shot and Tranquilizing Shot.

• #showtooltip Counter Shot
• /stopcasting
• /cast [@arena1] Counter Shot

This Macro will Counter Shot the first member of the enemy arena team (highest unit frame on your UI).

You want three of these macros, one for each of the three members of the enemy team, [@arena1], [@arena2], and [@arena3], respectively.

You will also want those three macros with Counter Shot replaced by Intimidation, and another of these three macros for Scatter Shot (it's nice to have with Concussive Shot too if you have the keybind space).

• #showtooltip command pet
• /cast [@target, help] [@player] command pet

This will cast your pet's active ability ( Master's Call or Fortitude of the Bear).

If you have a friendly target and a cunning pet, it will cast Master's Call on your target (useful in BGs/world content), and if your target is not friendly, it will cast on yourself.

• #showtooltip command pet
• /cleartarget
• /target party1
• /cast [known:Master's Call,@party1,exists] Master's Call
• /targetlasttarget

This will cast Master's Call on your party member. You need this Macro for both party1 and party2 to remove important roots and snares (for example, Mass Entanglement and Solar Beam from a Balance Druid).

This will show the tooltip of the active ability from your pet's family ( Master's Call or Fortitude of the Bear).

This Macro will not use your command pet ability unless you are using a Cunning pet with Master's Call. This means that if you accidentally press the Macro trying to use Master's Call on your teammate while having a Tenacity or Ferocity pet, you will not waste your pet ability.

This macro is not formatted as /cast [@party1] to avoid a rare bug where your pet can automatically use Master's Call on the wrong target.

• #showtooltip Freezing Trap
• /petattack [@target]
• /cast dash
• /petattack [@target]
• /startattack [@target]
• /petautocaston savage rend

This Macro will command your pet to attack your target and use their sprint ability if available.

You can change the #showtooltip to whatever spell you want to track the cooldown of (this is a way to show the cooldown of a spell on your action bar when the Macro doesn't have a specific ability to show the icon or cooldown of).

• #showtooltip Freezing Trap
• /petfollow

This Macro will command your pet to follow you.

You can change the #showtooltip to whatever spell you want to track the cooldown of.

• #showtooltip Freezing Trap
• /petmoveto
• /stay

This Macro will command your pet to move to a specific location.

You can change the #showtooltip to whatever spell you want to track the cooldown of.

• #showtooltip Camouflage
• /stopcasting
• /petpassive
• /petfollow
• /stopattack
• /use [pet]Play Dead;[pet]Wake Up
• /cast !Feign Death
• /cast !Camouflage

This Macro will make it easier to cast Camouflage during combat. If you do not have a pet out, and Feign Death is on cooldown, it will work every time (although damage over time effects will break Camouflage!)

If you have a pet out, it will put them on passive and cast Play Dead (the pet equivalent of Feign Death) so your pet will not keep you in combat. If you have put your pet on passive and it has not been attacked for two seconds before pressing this Macro, you will go into Camouflage when you press it.

If you use this Macro and you're still in combat (but you aren't getting hit), you can run around a pillar and keep pressing it to enter Camouflage.

• #showtooltip
• /cast [@arenapet1] aimed shot
• /cast [@arenapet2] aimed shot
• /cast [@arenapet3] aimed shot

This macro will cast Aimed Shot at a pet on the enemy team.

Use this when you know a hunter will Feign Death or line of sight your Aimed Shot cast so that you still force the Feign Death, but your damage isn't wasted because the Aimed Shot still hits their pet.

• #showtooltip dismiss pet
• /cast dismiss pet
• /cast [@arenapet1, exists] growl; [@arenapet2, exists] growl; [@arenapet3, exists] growl

This Macro will command your pet to taunt enemy pets. You can put it on your action bars where Dismiss Pet is, which means you can use your existing Dismiss Pet keybind to taunt enemy pets.