Marksmanship: Making Sure You Always Hit The Mark

I've had a lot of silly things to sort out lately life-wise. However, I've found some time finally to do my next Hunter post and it's gonna be on....Marksmanship! If you've been following my blog, this will come as no suprise to you of course. Anyway, let's get to the usual routine.

Races

Alliance

Draenei-I just don't see these as the Marks type. Personally, I don't think Draenei would care too much about their accuracy and how good they are with their shots.

Dwarf-I could see a Dwarf Hunter trying to be the best shot EVAR with a gun. I imagine them to probaly do it to help to be really good at tracking and hunting animals and to enjoy the hunt (like Hemet Nesingwary) since Dwarves are one of two races who I imagine fitting that stereotype.

Human-And that leads me on to the second race who could fit the stereotype above. Humans would be Marksmanship to me because they'd want to brag about how they shot something from really far away and with only one shot. That's just how I see a Marks Human Huntard.

Nelf-I see a Marks Nelf Hunter favouring the bow over the gun and a Marks Nelfy Hunter would want to be the best shot because they would either have a sense of pride about their accuracy and ability, they would want to kill the animaly quickly/with as little harm as possible or a bit of both.

Worgen-Now, I know that Worgen are Humans that can turn into wolves...but I just think they'd care less about being the best shot or hunting animals now. After all, they are beasts themselves now and I just don't see them as enjoying the hunt gun wise. They might enjoy hunting animals with their bare paws but that's a different story.

Horde

Belf-Belfs are pretty similar to Nelfs really in my eyes. I imagine a Marks Belf Hunter is part of the Farstriders or acts similar to the Farstriders at least.

Goblin-A Goblin Marks hunter would not really care about how great their shots are. They'd probably care more about building their own gun and testing it (more of an Engineer thing there). However, they could fit the role of a Hunter trying to hunt animals for money but I think they'd do that via traps which would make them more suited for Survival.

Orc-Orcs are one of those races who can fit all 3 Hunter specs in my eyes. I imagine a Marks Orc Hunter to be one who hunts for honour and pride. Getting a one-shot kill would bring an Orc Hunter great honour after all.

Tauren-I see a Tauren hunter as being Marks only because they'd want to be an expert shot to make sure the animal they are hunting dies quickly and without pain. A bit like the pointy eared Nelfies really.

Troll-I see Troll Marks Hunters as being pretty flexible. Either, they want to be great with their aim because they want to be the best shot and have some pride in it or because they enjoy getting that one-shot kill and the thrill of hunting. I have an amusing idea that some Trolls are Marks Hunters because they are so laid-back, they'd rather kill them in one hit so they don't have to waste more ammo/spend any longer hunting.

Undead-I see Marks Undead Hunters as being the ones who work on their ability to aim a ranged weapon so that they can control their aim. Then, they can be as sadistic as they like with their arrows/bullets. Watch out, Alliance. The Undead MM Hunters will be shooting you in the crotch. You have been warned.

Abilities

Serpent Sting-The first sting a Hunter gets to enjoy. This is my default sting that I use on mobs and if you get glyph of Steady Shot, you'll always use this sting to get a damage increase for Steady Shot.

Arcane Shot-You'll mainly use this if you're a BM spec Huntard. Otherwise, there are better shots to use and this won't find a place in your shot rotations. Aww, poor Arcane Shot.

Hunter's Mark-This is a nice spell for catching those who like to turn invisible (I'm looking at you, Rogues). Also, you may feel it's good for a dps increase if you get the glyph for it. Personally, I think it helps at first but as your gear gets better and better, the glyph becomes less useful when compared to others.

Concussive Shot-It's a nice shot to daze a mob/player to reduce their movement speed. However, Steady Shot does more damage to Dazed targets so you can possibly do a nice ConcussiveSteadyCombo. Just a little tidbit of info there since I didn't know this till level 70. I'm such a noob...*cry*

Distracting Shot-It's not a shot that gets used very often but it has a place on my toolbar because it has situational usage. If there's a mob going for your healer or a clothie, use this to save their ass and they will praise you and offer to make you pancakes. Pancakes guranteed!

Multi-Shot-Even though this ability is just a simple multiple shot, I really like using this. However, you have to remember to watch crowd control before you use this move.

Scorpid Sting-This sting is one I rarely use whilst levelling. However, I imagine it could be handy for making things easier for a tank in an instance/raid. Bear it in mind that this doesn't stack with Faerie Fire though so if you have a Druid, you are probably better off using another sting.

Rapid Fire-Good old Rapid Fire. Speeds up your ranged attack speed as if your Hunter had been downing energy drinks or had decided to take some speed. Please note that Ninja says no to drugs and you should too. It also stacks with the Improved Aspect Of The Hawk talent too.

Flare-Well, this is a handy move for dealing with invisible and hidden mobs. While I like this move a fair bit, I find it personally a little bit awkward to have to aim and use when I know a Rogue's somewhere near me since by the time, I've aimed at the ground area I want to send the flare, I'm usually stunned and I know that I'm about to be Rogueraped. I'd prefer it if Flare just autocast at the area in front of me to avoid this issue.

Viper Sting-This is a very handy sting for using on someone or something with a mana bar. It drains their mana AND gives it to the Hunter who cast it. Useful for both instances and PvP when you need mana back since it's quite deadly to sit and have a quiet drink to yourself. Dont believe me? Try it and watch the other side thank you for being such a willing target.

Volley-Well, Volley used to be an uberamazing and overpowered AoE to use. Blizz saw that Hunters would mainly just use this over other moves however and did a reasonable nerf to bring it in line with other AoE moves from other classes. However, an undocumented change in 3.2 raised Volley's power up a bit more since it was a bit too weak after it's nerfing. It reminds me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears..."This Volley is too OP, this Volley is too weak...this Volley is just right!"

Steady Shot-Once you get this shot, it will become your main source of damage whilst levelling and if you're BM, it will continue to take this honour. Arcane Shot is still used and is better against well-armoured targets (due to magic damage) but generally, you'll find you go with Steady 9 times out of 10 because it's nicer on your mana. The only downside to SS is that you have a cast time with this move but that's understandable since the shot involves being "steady" and all that stoof.

Tranquilizing Shot-I love this move. It's a "chill pill" shot basically that removes an enrage effect and a magic effect which is very very handy. Don't be that Hunter who forgets to use this.

Kill Shot-This is similar to a Warrior's Execute move only it's at range. Comes in handy for both PvE (since a lot of raid bosses will stay under 20% for a little while) and PvP (Oh look, that Mage is trying to flee with low health). Make sure to yell BOOM HEADSHOT! every time you use it to finish something off.

Aimed Shot-And we're on to the talent spells. This move is a move that is mainly useful as an opening shot really and unlike how it used to be, you'll find that it now doesn't get much useage after the opening shot with regards to PvE (unless the mob can heal itself or be healed by another near to it and you need to refresh the healing debuff). However, this is a very very handy spell for PvP and I imagine it can irritate healers quite quickly.

Readiness-This ability used to be in the Survival tree but it decided to pack it's stuff up and move house and now it's in the Marks tree. It's handy for resetting nearly all the Hunter's abilities. The only one it doesn't reset is Bestial Wrath because that would have been too OP with it's lengthy duration that it used to have. However, BW got a recent nerf and only lasts 10 seconds but it does operate like a PvP trinket so it may still be a bit too OP for PvP which is a shame because having the ability to have Bestial Wrath on twice in PvE would be a handy dps increase for BM Hunters. Maybe Blizz could have it where this only refreshes the BW cooldown in PvE.

Trueshot Aura-Nice little handy permanent aura to increase the attack power of you and your party/raid members. Be aware that this does not stack with an Enhance Shammy's Unleashed Rage and a DK's Abomination's Might. I'd like to see Trueshot Aura get a bonus given to it for the Hunter to have incentive to spec into Trueshot (like how Enhance get expertise or DK's get Strength). I'd say 2-3% hit rating because it would fit in with the "Trueshot" idea. If not that, replace hit rating with Agility then.

Silencing Shot-Thanks to an added interrupt effect, Silencing became useful again to Hunters and is something that should be used against casters in both PvE and PvP. It's also handy for pulling casters as a Hunter since they will be forced to run towards you due to being silenced.

Chimera Shot-This move is awesome for several reasons. Firstly, it makes Scorpid Sting viable for the disarm effect (in PvE and PvP) which is groovy. Secondly, it makes Viper Sting more handy for mana regeneration. Finally, use the Glyph of Serpent Sting (which a raiding Hunter should really use) and it makes the Serpent Sting even more deadly. All in all, Chimera Shot is hot stuff and it makes for an excellent final talent for the Marks tree.

Bloody Shot-This is a new move I invented just now that I'd like to see. It would be a shot that all Hunters (regardless of spec) could use to make the target bleed for a period of time. This would help for offering synergy with other classes that benefit from bleed effects AND would make the Stampede ability useful for those Hunters who have a Rhino.

So there we go. You'll notice I didn't come up with a specific Marks related "new" ability. The reason why I didn't was because I felt they already had enough abilities in their talent tree really. 5 talent spells is quite a lot really and I don't think MM Hunters are specifically in dire need of an extra skill. Next post will be about Survival of course and then that's all three specs covered. Let's hope real life doesn't cause me to be as late with that post as I was with this one!