Has anyone heard of any updates on what’s to come with Marksman? Aside from reworking hunter as a whole, Marksman is struggling.
This was seen in season 2 and nothing was really done. Out of the gate when 10.2 came out it could be seen in questing, and now with season 3 starting up it’s even more evident. Just ask anyone who mains it or if viable look at the early logs.
I’m not one to complain, but I’ve had my marksman as my main for years. I know the rotation, the nuances inside and out. The lack of DPS isn’t a user issue, it’s a spec issue.
I respect the amount of work developers have to put in and commend them on their efforts. But I feel like their answer has been fix the tier and call it a day. We need more than tier we need some help in making marksman a viable class in M+ and raid (damage buff, AoE cap fix, survivability, talent adjustment). Again, a larger rework is needed but at a minimum some adjustments would be greatly appreciated.
You are right - it is 100% a spec issue. Playing close to optimally, the damage of Marksmanship is about 70% as good as BM in my experience. Not to mention the ease of use of a ranged dps with 100% uptime, if you ever need to lust, it’s very convenient with no lone wolf optimization, and you can just run that pet for a 10% leech increase which is quite good. Even though I was hesitant, I swapped to BM and I don’t regret it.
Some reminders for BM in M+ in particular is that if you are fighting 2+ mobs, try to keep 100% uptime on the multi shot buff (you also get this buff for 20 seconds when you use COTW). I was under the impression that you only needed to use multi-shot before kill command, because of how MM works with trick shots, but the pets do so much damage that keeping it up is essential. It is also easier to play this patch, there is a talent that makes Barbed Shot 10 seconds instead of 8. Some current frustrations I am having apply to MM as well, turtle doesn’t block everything I think it should, and trapping incorp is inconvenient when other mobs are on top of it (and use the trap instead). Also, be sure to use the right talent build, if you use the one for 4p when you don’t have this tier’s 4p, you will be out a lot of damage. If you feel the desire to improve even more, use barbed shot on different targets and make sure to prefer targets who will live for a while, and try to get your pets in the middle of packs by fighting central targets otherwise.
Maybe BM was runaway superior because it hasn’t had its required nerf yet?
Oh, never mind. INCOMING!