Reflecting on the Marksmanship Hunter in Dragonflight & War Within Wishlist - Editorial

With the sun setting on Dragonflight and The War Within on the horizon, our Marksmanship Hunter Writer, Azortharion, offers a retrospective highlighting Marksmanship's journey in Dragonflight and shares their hopes for the spec's next evolution with a War Within Wishlist. Throughout the course of Dragonflight, Marksmanship has faced its fair share of challenges in both raiding and mythic+ environments. In this blog post, we'll delve into the strengths and weaknesses of Marksmanship as a spec and discuss potential improvements that could be made in The War Within.

Marksmanship in Dragonflight

Marksmanship has had a mixed performance throughout Dragonflight. While it had its moments of effectiveness in raiding during Seasons 1 and 2, it struggled to compete in Season 3. Likewise, in mythic+ dungeons, Marksmanship proved to be underwhelming across all three seasons. In order to gain a better understanding of the spec's current state, let's examine its gameplay, strengths, and weaknesses.

• Gameplay

Marksmanship's gameplay is often described as simple yet enjoyable. The spec's burst damage, particularly with abilities like Aimed Shot, received positive feedback from players. However, the overall gameplay experience is criticized for being slow-paced and simplistic, with long cast-times for certain abilities. While some players find the burst moments to be rewarding, others feel that the spec lacks complexity. Despite these varying opinions, it is important to assess Marksmanship's mechanics and output to determine areas for improvement.

• DPS Strengths and Weaknesses

Marksmanship excels in AoE burst damage, particularly on 3-8 targets. Within a 20-second window, the spec's damage output surpasses most others in these scenarios. However, the problem arises when facing 2 targets or more than 8 targets. Marksmanship is limited by its target cap, only able to hit up to 8 targets with its AoE abilities. To achieve this cap, players must invest in specific talents. This limitation becomes a significant obstacle in high-level mythic+ dungeons where pulls often include larger numbers of enemies. Consequently, Marksmanship's primary strength becomes a weakness.

In Season 2, Marksmanship had high single-target damage due to a talent that has since been nerfed. This reliance on RNG for strong single-target damage received criticism from players. The spec's single-target damage has yet to recover, making it the weakest in the game as of now. Additionally, Marksmanship suffers from poor survivability and a lack of group utility, further hindering its viability.

• Utility and Defensive Woes

Marksmanship lacks the utility provided by pets, making it the least useful spec for Hunters, a class that already struggles with group utility. Hunters, including Marksmanship, also suffer from squishiness, requiring more external healing than other classes. This dependence on healing impacts the overall group dynamic, as healers need to divert their attention from dealing damage to sustaining the Hunter's health. To make matters worse, Marksmanship lacks access to certain abilities that can enhance survivability or crowd control, putting it at a disadvantage in challenging encounters.

In terms of defensive cooldowns, Marksmanship relies on abilities like Exhilaration, which have long cooldowns. These defensive tools can mitigate one-shot attacks, but they do not provide sustained survivability. Other Hunter specs have access to pets that offer more self-sustain and additional utility, further highlighting the shortcomings of Marksmanship.

The War Within Wishlist for Marksmanship Hunter

In order to address the challenges faced by Marksmanship Hunters, the following improvements or additions are suggested:

• DPS and Utility for Viability

• Buff Hunter's Mark to improve the spec's viability in mythic+ dungeons
• Remove or raise the AoE cap to avoid situations where Marksmanship is rendered ineffective
• Enhance Marksmanship's single-target DPS without compromising its AoE capabilities
• Reduce the talent cost for accessing AoE abilities
• Allow Marksmanship to choose pet utility through Lone Wolf talent

• Gameplay and Quality of Life Wishes

• Improve the impact of Steady Shot or phase it out to create a more engaging rotation
• Address the RNG stack generation of Precise Shots or explore reworking the talent to provide more interesting gameplay options
• Remove the Careful Aim talent and redistribute its power to make Marksmanship more effective across different health thresholds
• Introduce or make adjustments to abilities like Kill Shot, Bullseye, and Deadeye to deepen Marksmanship's niche and gameplay

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