Blizzard have announced that Marksmanship is getting revamped in patch 11.1. The spec will no longer have pets available, instead having only one, a very special eagle. This singular pet won’t be present with the Hunter, instead swooping down and producing various effects. Aimed Shot will be the focus of the spec, with many talents and keywords supporting it.
There are many more details and you can read them all below.
In Undermine(d), Marksmanship Hunter is receiving a substantial update to its spec tree and fantasy, and we thought we’d take the opportunity to outline our goals with this change.
Lone Wolf, No Longer
Likely the most substantial change to Marksmanship is a reimagining of the specialization’s fantasy and how it interacts with pets.
Hunters are in large part defined by their pets and their greater relationship with the natural world of Azeroth and beyond. Marksmanship Hunter stood in somewhat stark defiance of that for much of its existence, as it was often more than willing to abandon pet access in exchange for extra throughput from Lone Wolf. Over World of Warcraft’s history, this talent was iterated, changed, and grew to be a core part of Marksmanship’s identity.
There were many fantasy and gameplay issues with Lone Wolf. Pets had legitimate utility behind them, such as Bloodlust, defensives, and mobility. Having to summon your pet and lose Lone Wolf to access that utility as Marksmanship often had legitimate experiential and throughput consequences. Why should a Hunter be frustrated to pull out their pet? The discord between Marksmanship Hunters and their pets felt like something that needed to be solved– and our goal was to solve that problem in a way that not only reembraced pets as a part of Marksmanship’s identity, but also did it in a unique and fantasy-forward way.
Eyes in the Sky
In Undermine(d), Marksmanship Hunters are losing access to “traditional” pets, like Survival and Beast Mastery have, and are instead permanently joined in battle by an Eagle. Your Eagle will descend from the skies when called upon to help your allies and hinder your enemies.
Your most frequent use for the Eagle will be via Spotter’s Mark, a new baseline talent that Marksmanship Hunters will have access to starting at level 13. When spending Precise Shots, your Eagle has a chance to descend from the skies and mark your target, substantially increasing the damage your next Aimed Shot will deal to that target. This mechanic is more deeply developed, expanded, and altered in the talent tree.
Marksmanship Hunters can expect a full suite of unique Eagle-specific versions of pet utility such as a line of sight-ignoring Intimidation, a unique Bloodlust, new visuals for Master’s Call, and even the ability to change your Eagle’s specialization between Tenacity and Cunning.
Aiming Down Sights
The flow of Marksmanship’s rotation is smooth and iconic. For our updates to the Marksmanship tree, we were focused on trimming away some of the more vague parts of Marksmanship’s kit both fantasy-wise and mechanically and really focusing in on what made Marksmanship special– all while retaining the smooth gameplay that Marksmanship players have come to know and love.
A big pillar of our Marksmanship update was to ensure that Aimed Shot was the star of the show. Aimed Shot is the core of Marksmanship– a long channel, lightning fast projectile, and it hits like a truck. We’ve added some new mechanics, keywords, and talents that all help to build up to huge Aimed Shots, fat crits, and satisfying procs.
New and Old Tricks
While the core of Marksmanship’s rotation will feel familiar, we wanted to add some more flair to the less core parts of Marksmanship’s kit, such as Kill Shot and Explosive Shot.
Within the new tree you’ll find some familiar friends like Double Tap, Volley, and Lock and Load alongside some new talents like Precision Detonation, that makes Aimed Shot trigger Explosive Shot’s explosion earlier and increasing its damage substantially.
Kill Shot (and Black Arrow) can be turned completely on its head with a new talent, Headshot, that allows you to use Kill Shot as a Precise Shots spender just like Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot.
Room to Grow
This next step for Marksmanship is, ideally, the first of many. We are interested in continuing to flesh out Marksmanship’s Eagle as a true pet and partner for you on your journeys with unique interactions, effects, and even appearances in the future, but we don’t have specifics to share yet. We’d love to hear your thoughts!
We’re excited for you all to get your hands on Marksmanship when Undermine(d) drops, and we’ll be eagerly awaiting your feedback!
Marksmanship
- Developers’ notes: Moving into Undermine(d), we are looking to reimagine Marksmanship’s Sharpshooter fantasy and reconcile some large spec friction points such as Lone Wolf. Undermine(d) is seeing Marksmanship lose their pet functionalities and it is instead joined in battle by a unique Eagle pet that will exist outside of the game space but continue to support you in combat in a uniquely Marksmanship way.
- New Ability: Harrier’s Cry – Your Eagle descends from the skies with a screech, giving the signal to attack. Increases Haste by 30% for all party and raid members for 40 seconds. Allies receiving this effect will become Sated and unable to benefit from Harrier’s Cry or similar effects again for 10 minutes. Learned at level 48.
- New Passive: Manhunter – Damaging a player with Aimed Shot applies Grievous Injury, reducing the healing they receive by 25%. Learned at level 11.
- Developers’ notes: Marksmanship lost access to Mortal Wounds by losing pet access, so we’re returning Aimed Shot’s ability to apply Mortal Wounds.
- New Passive: Eyes in the Sky – Gain the aid of a Spotting Eagle. Damaging an enemy with an ability empowered by Precise Shots has a 30% chance to cause your Spotting Eagle to mark your target. Enemies marked by your Spotting Eagle take 10% increased damage from your Aimed Shot. Replaces Call Pet and all associated Pet abilities. Learned at level 13.
- New Talent: Aspect of the Hydra – Aimed Shot, Rapid Fire, and Arcane Shot now hit a second nearby target for 40% of their damage. Choice node with Trick Shots.
- New Talent: Improved Spotter’s Mark – Spotter’s Mark’s damage bonus is increased by 20%.
- New Talent: Moving Target – Consuming Precise Shots increases the damage of your next Aimed Shot by 20% and grants Streamline.
- New Talent: Obsidian-Tipped Ammunition – The damage of Auto Shot is increased by 25% and its critical strike chance is increased by 15%. Choice node with On Target.
- New Talent: Shrapnel Shot – Damaging an enemy with Explosive Shot increases the damage they receive from your next Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot by 30%.
- New Talent: Magnetic Gunpowder – Consuming Precise Shots reduces the cooldown of Explosive Shot by 2 seconds. Consuming Lock and Load reduces the cooldown of Explosive Shot by 8 seconds.
- New Talent: Precise Detonation – Casting Explosive Shot grants Streamline. When Aimed Shot damages a target affected by your Explosive Shot, Explosive Shot instantly explodes, dealing 25% increased damage.
- New Talent: On Target – Consuming Spotter’s Mark grants 4% increased Haste for 10 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. Multiple instances of this effect can overlap. Choice node with Obsidian-Tipped Ammunition.
- New Talent: Quickdraw – Lock and Load now increases the damage of Aimed Shot by 15%.
- New Talent: Target Acquisition – Consuming Spotter’s Mark reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 2 seconds.
- New Talent: Eagle’s Accuracy – Spotter’s Mark’s Aimed Shot damage bonus is increased by 5/10%.
- New Talent: Headshot – Kill Shot can now benefit from Precise Shots at 25% effectiveness. Kill Shot now consumes Precise Shots.
- New Talent: Feathered Frenzy – Trueshot sends your Spotting Eagle into a frenzy, instantly applying Spotter’s Mark to your target. During Trueshot, your chance to apply Spotter’s Mark is increased by 50%.
- New Talent: Tensile Bowstring – While Trueshot is active, consuming Precise Shots extends Trueshot’s duration by 1 second, up to 5 seconds. Additionally, Trueshot now increases the effectiveness of Streamline by 50%.
- New Talent: Incendiary Ammunition – Bulletstorm now increases your critical strike damage by 2% and Bulletstorm now stacks up to 5 more times.
- New Talent: Bullet Hell – Damage from Multi-Shot and Volley reduces the cooldown of Rapid Fire by 0.25 seconds. Damage from Aimed Shot reduces the cooldown of Volley by 0.25 seconds.
- New Talent: Improved Streamline – Streamline’s cast time reduction effect is increased to 30%. Choice node with Focused Aim.
- New Talent: Windrunner Quiver – Precise Shots can now stack up to 2 times, but its damage bonus is reduced to 90%. Casting Aimed Shot has a 50% chance to grant an additional stack of Precise Shots.
- Developers’ notes: Precise Shots’ stacking behavior has been updated. The damage bonus of Precise Shots now stacks and all stacks are consumed when Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot are cast.
- New Talent: Eagle’s Accuracy – Spotter’s Mark’s damage bonus is increased by 5/10%.
- New Talent: Cunning – Your Spotting Eagle gains the Cunning specialization, granting you Master’s Call and Pathfinding. Choice node with Tenacious.
- New Talent: Tenacious – Your Spotting Eagle gains the Tenacity specialization, granting you Air Superiority and Endurance Training. Choice node with Cunning.
- New Talent: Ohn’ahran Winds – When you Eagle applies Spotter’s Mark, it has a 25% chance to apply a Spotter’s Mark to up to 3 additional nearby enemies.
- New Talent: Double Tap – Casting Trueshot grants Double Tap, causing your next Aimed Shot to fire again at 100% power, or your next Rapid Fire to fire 100% additional shots during its channel. This talent’s effectiveness is reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
- New Talent: Killer Mark – Spotter’s Mark now additionally increases the critical strike chance of Aimed Shot by 15%.
- New Talent: Deadeye – Kill Shot now has 2 charges and has its cooldown reduced by 2 seconds. Choice node with Headshot.
- Developers’ notes: Headshot has substantial rotational implications, and Deadeye should provide a simpler option for players who want to improve Kill Shot’s throughput without substantially increasing cognitive load.
- Streamline has been updated – Rapid Fire’s damage is increased by 15%. Casting Rapid Fire grants Streamline. Streamline: Your next Aimed Shot has a 20% reduced cast time. Stacks up to 2 times.
- Precise Shot renamed to Precise Shots and has been updated – Aimed Shot causes your next Arcane Shot or Multi-Shot to deal 100% more damage and cost 70% less Focus. Your Auto Shot damage is increased by 100% and increases the time between auto shots by 2 seconds.
- Focused Aim has been updated – Precise Shots reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot by 0.75 seconds. Choice node with Improved Streamline.
- Trueshot has been redesigned – Increases your critical strike chance by 10% and critical strike damage by 15 seconds. Reduces the cooldown of Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire by 60%.
- Razor Fragments has been updated – Now only triggers when Deathblow is gained (was when Trick Shots was consumed or Deathblow was gained).
- Calling the Shots has been updated – Consuming Spotter’s Mark reduces the cooldown of Trueshot by 2 seconds. Choice node with Unerring Vision.
- Unerring Vision has been updated – Trueshot now increases your critical strike chance by an additional 10% and increases your critical strike damage by an additional 20%. Choice node with Calling the Shots.
- Bulletstorm has been updated – Damage from Rapid Fire increases the damage of Aimed Shot by 2% for 15 seconds, stacking up to 15 times. New stacks do not refresh duration and are removed upon casting Rapid Fire. This talent’s effectiveness is reduced by 50% in PvP combat.
- In the Rhythm has been updated – Channeling Rapid Fire decreases the time between Auto Shots by 1 second for 12 seconds.
- Fan the Hammer renamed to Ammo Conservation and has been updated – Now also reduces Aimed Shot’s cooldown by 1 second.
- Multi-Shot now learned at level 10 (was a talent).
- Aimed Shot damage increased by 20%.
- Aimed Shot cast time increased to 3 seconds (was 2.5 seconds).
- Rapid Fire now grants 2 Focus per shot (was 1).
- Volley damage increased by 100%.
- Steady Shot damage increased by 30%.
- Steady Shot now grants 20 Focus.
- Small Game Hunter now increases Explosive Shot’s damage by 15% (was 25%).
- Pin Cushion’s functionality is now baseline to Steady Shot (was a talent).
- Salvo is now passive and only triggers from Volley. Now a choice node with Kill Zone.
- Surging Shots will now properly highlight Rapid Fire when its cooldown is reset.
- Fixed an issue that caused many Kill Shot damage bonus talents to apply twice to Black Arrow.
- Many tooltips, talents, and aura descriptions have been updated for clarity.
- Bullseye is now a 2-point talent.
- The following talents have been removed:
- Barrage
- Careful Aim
- Chimera Shot
- Crack Shot
- Heavy Ammo
- Hydra’s Bite
- Improved Steady Shot
- Legacy of the Windrunners
- Light Ammo
- Lone Wolf
- Multi-Shot (now learned at level 10)
- Pin Cushion (effect added to Steady Shot)
- Rapid Fire Barrage
- Readiness
- Serpentstalker’s Trickery
- Steady Focus
- Tactical Reload
- Unerring Vision
- Wailing Arrow