New to WoW so obviously new to BM Hunters. I get that Hunters have less keys to push than other specs, but as a new player the amount of things I have to push and keep an eye on are rather intimidating for someone that has never played.
Any advice or can you post some macros that might help in some way? I know it’s 1button 1 action, which is fine… just hoping I can get some advice from some of you vets to make all the different buttons seem less daunting.
As a Dark Iron Dwarf Venthyr Hunter, I have Flayed Shot Macroed with Aspect of the Wild, Fireblood (racial), and my trinkets. I’ve considered macroing in pots as well, but I keep those on sperate buttons so I can use them more proactively during burst windows; and so I don’t waste them while world questing.
I also have Door of Shadows marcoed to cast at my cursor. This way, I can just point off in the distance and hit the button.
I’ve head of macroing Flare and Tar Trap to alternate casting at your cursor to streamline Soulforge Embers, but I use the Venthry legendary and don’t need it.
This is cool… is it a script? Like just one macro to do all of that? can you post it?
I’m at work right now. I can post my macros later this evening.
Well, first off, welcome to the Hunter class!
What exact buttons you choose to bind your abilities and macros to is mostly up to yourself and what you feel works best.
But as for specific macros, here are the ones I make the most use of in general:
Basic macros for core offensive abilities that also include the function to cancel Aspect of the Turtle if active at the time + the three different Basic Attacks that come with different pets:
#showtooltip Barbed Shot
/cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle
/cast Barbed Shot
/cast Claw
/cast Smack
#showtooltip Cobra Shot
/cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle
/cast Cobra Shot
/cast Claw
/cast Smack
#showtooltip Kill Command
/cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle
/petattack
/cast Kill Command
/cast Claw
/cast Smack
#showtooltip Kill Shot
/cast Kill Shot
/cast Bite
/cast Claw
/cast Smack
Just Bestial Wrath but with the function to also cancel Aspect of the Turtle on key press:
(You can often add in certain on-use trinkets or similar to an ability such as this, as long as they aren’t on the global cooldown as that’s occupied by Bestial Wrath itself)
#showtooltip Bestial Wrath
/cancelaura Aspect of the Turtle
/cast Bestial Wrath
Macro for the major CD, Aspect of the Wild. Since it’s not on the global cooldown, I chose to combine it with the Covenant ability for the Night Fae-covenant, called Wild Spirits. Both have a 2min CD so, works well together. Here you can also choose to include certain on-use trinkets and similar, as long as the macro only contains one function in total that is on the global cooldown.
#showtooltip Aspect of the Wild
/cast Aspect of the Wild
/cast [@cursor]Wild Spirits
Simple macro I use separately from other attacks if I for some reason want more control over my pet, such as which target I want it on in any given moment + manual activation of Dash.
#showtooltip Attack
/petattack
/cast Dash
Macro that combines Exhilaration with the use of a Healthstone if you have one in your inventory(can be created by Warlocks):
#showtooltip Exhilaration
/cast Exhilaration
/use Healthstone
Macro that combines Feign Death with the ability that makes your pet also…feign death:
#showtooltip Feign Death
/cast Feign Death
/cast Play Dead
Macro I use for the ability you get when you have a Tenacity-pet active, one that is combined with the use of a Healing Potion, if you have one in your inventory at the time(needs to have the exact name of the potion you’re carrying):
#showtooltip Survival of the Fittest
/cast Survival of the Fittest
/use Spiritual Healing Potion
Simple macro that allows me to automatically cast Flare to where my cursor is placed on the screen, so I don’t have to click that extra time to manually place it:
#showtooltip Flare
/cast [@cursor]Flare
Same as above, but for Freezing Trap:
#showtooltip Freezing Trap
/cast [@cursor]Freezing Trap
And for Tar Trap:
#showtooltip Tar Trap
/cast [@cursor]Tar Trap
Macro that allows me to have more control over the healing ability provided by Spirit Beasts if you have one active. It also includes the racial ability available if you’re playing as a Vulpera, not needed if you’re playing as another race.
Prio 1: cast on any friendly unit or unitframe you have your cursor over. Works on the pets as well.
Prio 2: cast on me as the player
#showtooltip Spirit Mend
/cast [target=mouseover,help,exists,nodead][@player]Spirit Mend
/cast [@player]Bag of Tricks
Macro for making it easier to use Misdirection on an intended target. No need to click a second time.
Prio 1: cast Misdirection on any friendly unit/unitframe in your group that you have your cursor over.
Prio 2: cast Misdirection on your Focus target.
Prio 3: cast Misdirection on your pet.
#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@focus,help][@pet,exists]Misdirection
There are ofc other macros that can be useful as well. I’m sure other players use different ones depending on what they do.
/cast Play Dead
I didn’t know that was a thing! Good stuff! I’m going to make a FD macro with that. Does that work with both pets? I assume it does.
#showtooltip Freezing Trap
/cast [@cursor]Freezing Trap
I forgot about this one! I have double macros for all my traps. One for at the cursor and one for at my location. This way I can Frost Trap a mob that’s on me without having to worry about where the cursor is at. Or drop a Tar Trap at my location and then Disengage (which isn’t on the GCD).
#showtooltip Freezing Trap
/cast [@player]Freezing Trap
I forgot about Misdirect on my pet. I have that and using the Kyrian instrument in a macro with Barbed Shot; since neither are on the GCD, and BS is my normal opener. I like your option of mousing over the tank in group play to cast it on them instead. I’ll have to incorporate that as well.
P.S. Now that I think about it, adding a Disengage cast to dropping a Frost Trap or Tar Trap at my feet might be interesting. I’ll have to play around with that to see if it screws me up.
Good lord… I just had a massive anxiety attack lol… I feel like 10X more overwhelmed now.
I appreciate all those… had NO clue what I was asking for, clearly.
For your encounters, do you mouse click the icons more or do you push buttons on keyboard more?
Ha ha! It’s not as bad as it sounds. Macros are there to make your life easier, after all.
I’ve been addicted to my Razor Tartarus for like a decade now. I’ve recently got the Tartarus v2 for the extra row; and the shiny lights. I have my action bars set up in four rows to line up with the keypad’s four rows of buttons.
Nowadays, when you press/use a macro like that, it causes you the player and both your pets + any other companions/guardians you have with you to also Feign Death.
The @player function might be more useful in certain scenarios(PvP?). I know that I never need anything other than the @cursor so…
Note that my MD macro also includes the function to automatically cast it on your Focus target, if you have one.
I usually just put the intended tank as my Focus target and I only need to press the button/macro and it automatically casts it on that tank. No cursor movement necessary.
Also, on another note. An easy way to avoid accidental misscasts(on the wrong target) when you’re using a macro with ‘@cursor’ in it, is to simply push down your left mouse button before pressing the macro. If you do that, it deactivates the cursor functions related to those actions and you don’t have to worry about casting MD on the wrong target, as an example.
I suspected that this would be your reaction as a new(er) player. Especially if you have no experience of using things like macros in other games or programs.
Like Hafthor said, it’s not that bad. It might sound like a lot but these things DO make it easier to play. But like with many things in this game, it takes time to get comfortable using them.
Don’t expect making comprehensive changes to your keybindings or the inclusion of macros(complex or otherwise), don’t expect it all to flow perfectly from the get-go.
Even more experienced players can require one or several weeks(or more) to get used to a new setup.
Ever since I started playing back in the original game I’ve always focused mostly on using keybinds. I’ve never been big on “clicking” abilities. For a while I used to click certain CDs or niche utility that I rarely had a need for. But nowadays, pretty much everything related to combat and more, is bound to a specific key(or key+modifier).
I didn’t know about the left mouse button and @cursor interaction either. Good to know as well!
As for traps and @player, I use these occasionally in Torghast when I accidentally pull agro on packs of unexpected adds, and Misdirection is down. I don’t PvP and this isn’t an issue in raids or M+; so long as the tank is even remotely competent. In the open world, it’s not an issue as things die too fast for it to become one.
I didn’t notice you have focus target logic in your MD macro. Even better!
This is a good thread. I’m learning a few good tidbits as well.
Handy to macro your traps with a modifier.
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@player][@cursor]freezing trap
Just frees up a button.
Right mouse-button works as well^^
And, pressing both simultaneously. For me that mostly depends on character movement and “steering”.
Agreed.
If you’re feeling brave, you have this nugget in the UI & Macros sub-forum:
That link looks like a comprehensive macro guide. I’ll have to read through it later. Thanks for linking!
On the topic of learning new tidbits, is there a specific reason why you have your pet abilities explicitly macroed; as opposed to having the pet auto-cast them?
Sadly, the basic abilities when on auto-cast for some reason have a delay in automatic usage.
Basically, they can come off CD and the pet won’t use them when they do but rather…about 0.5-1 sec after.
In short, doing it this way makes it so I get more casts of Basic Attacks in a set amount of time. I do have the abilities on auto-cast as well. This just allows them to be cast more frequently.
First off, welcome to the Hunter class!
Looks like a bunch of others have already posted some really good info. I just wanted to add one of my personal favorites I use is a macro for misdirect to make it automatically target my pet if I don’t have someone else set as my focus target / targeted.
#showtooltip misdirection
/cast [@focus,help][help][@pet,exists] Misdirection
OP - I can’t lie. I was overwhelmed years ago when I started learning all the things that can affect your game play and some days it still feels like a lot. And I don’t use as much as some of these guys do.
Start simple. The online guides help a lot if you are still learning your rotations and skills. Small changes make a big difference.
I started using just one macro to see how it affected my play style and then slowly added more. I would go places with slightly lower level mobs and try different things so I had a cushion and practiced strafing and using my pet and gathering mobs….how to get things off me and back on my pet….keeping my pet alive. Stuff like that.
Gradually I worked up to soloing elites and determining how to use everything it the tool kit. Honestly I felt a number of spells were useless when I started because I didn’t understand how to use them.
I didn’t use Misdirect for my first 2 years, just sent my pet in first. Lol.
It’s ok to be overwhelmed. Take your time. Start simple and work into more advanced things. Enjoy yourself.
Basically, they can come off CD and the pet won’t use them when they do but rather…about 0.5-1 sec after.
In short, doing it this way makes it so I get more casts of Basic Attacks in a set amount of time. I do have the abilities on auto-cast as well. This just allows them to be cast more frequently.
I never even thought to consider this. That sounds like bad programming on Blizzard’s part. (Not that our favorite game developer would ever release bugged code…) I’ll add this to some of my macros and see if there’s a difference. Thanks again!
I heavily recommend the pet attack macros. They help a lot, add a bit more to your dps, and just make your pets more consistent.
All Macro commands
http://wow.gamepedia.com/Macro_API
The /cast command
https://wow.gamepedia.com/MACRO_cast
Show/showtooltip
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/MACRO_metashowtooltip
Conditionals/options
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Macro_conditionals
Unit ID in macros
https://wow.gamepedia.com/UnitId
Global Cooldown explanation
https://wow.gamepedia.com/Cooldown#Global_cooldown
Also read the stickies in the “ui and macro forum”. Lots of good info on what macros can’t do