FAQ Marksmanship

[fading abyss]

Greetings. Inspired by the good people who made "FAQ survival" this thread will serve to answer questions that are commonly asked about the Marksmanship spec. This does not serve to replace the Icy veins guide, and only seeks to supplement it.

This FAQ applies to the version: 9.2.5

I see Streamline being used on a lot of top logs. Should I use Streamline over Steady Focus?
In general, no. For raid, Steady Focus is generally the more optimal talent, regardless if the encounter is single target or aoe. Taking Streamline is a dps loss. There are very specific instances where SL is beneficial in raid, but still at the cost of overall dps (ex: M Anduin prog, lost souls need to die at particular times; being able to cast Volley > RF > Ais (hasted) can provide you a substantial burst of damage you otherwise might be lacking. [This is of course less of a concern post nerfs.] )

For m+, Streamline is the go-to. To be clear, this is not because SL is more dps in aoe; it is because SF uptime can diminish between packs, and depending on the level of key you are doing, by the time you've casted your 2 steady preamble, the pack can be close to dead. SF can be a redeemable pick in m+ in higher keys and on Spiteful weeks when SF can be refreshed on the ghosts while moving to the next pack.

Okay, but why are top logs using Streamline in raid?
The real answer is you'd have to ask them. Perhaps it is personal preference, perhaps it is because they genuinely do not know that streamline is a dps loss, or perhaps they do know and they purposely avoided SF because they don't like how it feels. The idea that top performing players always know the most ideal setup of talents/gear/borrowed power is wrong.

Do I use Double Tap on Aimed Shot or on Rapid Fire?
When the target is above 70% HP, DT should exclusively be used on AiS as your free shot will benefit from Careful Aim (this assumes you are using this talent, which you should be for all content once you have the 4p tier set). Below 70%, the differences between DT on AiS vs RF is marginal. AiS if you can, but don't fret if it goes on a RF.

What is the priority of Kill Shot while in aoe?
In ST, it is almost even dps to AiS over Kill Shot (this very much depends on gear, but Kill Shot only wins slightly. Once another target is introduced, the value of AiS goes up due to the passive cleave from the tier set. KS then should be used when you have no AiS charges, or when your 4p tracker WA is red (0).

Is Necro viable for m+? 💩
Depends what you mean by viable. If you are asking, "can I time a +15 while necro?" then yea sure. This does not mean that mean that Necro is better for m+ than kyrian (or nf on nf-appropriate keys). You will absolutely be doing less damage than you could be doing had you been using the recommended covenant. The only time Necro has viability for high keys is when your group requires a necro (for something like ToP), as hunter loses less dps switching from Kyr to Necro than other classes might lose switching from their preferred covenant to Necro.

For each dungeon, what is the recommended covenant?
NF will excel in Plaguefall, ToP, and left route Streets due to low target counts in each pack, allowing antlers to shine. Every other dungeon, Kyrian wins out. Only use Necro in the situation mentioned in the previous question. Do not use Venthyr for any m+ situation.

**Can I push keys as MM, because being in melee makes me angy **
SV does approximately 15-30% more damage in a key than MM can. Depending on your skill and key range, MM may be entirely fine for you. Max potential DPS doesn't necessarily start to become an issue until you're getting above +25's. Eventually, you will hit a wall because of mm's max potential does not match that of sv's.

How do I properly use the 4p tier set and the WA?
Many players struggle with the 4p when they first acquire it both out of muscle memory from playing mm without the tier, and also misunderstanding how to play with Vigil/4p

The tl;dr version of the WA is if green, aimed shot; if red (and won't cap on AiS charges), press any other focus-spending ability (ex: arcane shot, kill shot) first.

A very common problem new players have is that they believe they should delay casting abilities after casting a (green) ais on the chance that vigil will proc and they get an ais back. This is wrong—do not do this. Human reaction time is simply not good enough to play like this. You will experience a large amount of downtime, and as is already common knowledge, pressing a suboptimal spell is better than pressing nothing at all.

Consider this hypothetical: you have 1 ais charge and the next won't be ready for 5s, RF comes up in 1s, you're not in execute range, your wa is green, and you are not using the SF talent. Since you're not using SF, you know that AiS is your highest priority spell. You cast the charge of ais and because your wa is green, you know vigil has a 50% chance to proc and give you a free ais back. Halfway into your AiS, RF comes up. Instead of making the mistake of waiting to see for a vigil proc, you would instead plan to press RF as that is the next highest spell available to you in your priority list. You press RF immediately after your AiS cast finishes. If vigil doesn't proc, cool, you've pressed the most optimal spell you had next which was RF. If vigil does proc, cool, you've pressed the most optimal spell you had and you now have a free ais that you can fire next.

What is the range of trickshots anyway?
Like 10 yards

The tier set really pushes the power of MM into Aimed Shot, and LnL talent only amplifies that. Why do we still use Volley in aoe?
Volley is uncapped aoe damage, it still triggers trickshots (which means it provides trickshots for rf, for ais when wa is red, and it can proc vigil), is a good source of on-demand damage, and (if kyrian) RA amplifies the damage. LnL is a static 8% proc chance regardless of target count and is highly unreliable in providing a proc when you actually need it.

If you believe something needs to be added, corrected, or removed, please let me know. Otherwise, pew pew

@solar quarry @rapid widget wanna glance at eventually and tell me if i need to fix anything