Marksmanship plays a shot priority on top of a running Auto Shot. Auto Shot fires by itself, and every global cooldown goes to the best shot that is ready. Mana is the limit, so on long fights the bottom of the list waits for it.
Before the pull
- 1At -10 s: Cast
Aspect of the Hawk - 2At -3.4 s: Cast Hunter's Mark
- 3At -1.9 s: Cast
Aimed Shot
- Aspect of the Hawk, ten seconds out. It adds 120 ranged attack power and is the aspect Deadly Aspects procs Quick Shots from. Forgetting it costs you 7.6 % of your damage.
Hunter's Mark, a few seconds out. Cast rank 3. In Forever's data it gives 98 ranged attack power to every attacker against the target, where rank 4 gives only 71. The mark lasts two minutes, so on longer fights you mark the boss again.- Aimed Shot, about two seconds out, so the two-second cast lands as the fight begins. The line is worth 3.1 %.
Priority
Read it from the top. Whenever you are free to act, take the first line whose shot is ready and whose condition holds. It is a priority, not a fixed sequence.
- 1Use the other cooldowns as they come up+35 DPS · 3.9 %
- 2Cast Hunter's Mark if Hunter's Mark not active on the target and time remaining > 20 s1.0/min–
- 3Cast
Rapid Fire if time to the next auto shot < 0.1 and Aimed Shot cooldown < 0.51.0/min+6.7 DPS · 0.7 % - 4Cast Aimed Shot if time to the next auto shot > 1 s5.6/min+16 DPS · 1.7 %
- 5Cast
Multi-Shot if time to the next auto shot > 0.5 s3.1/min– - 6Cast
Serpent Sting if Serpent Sting remaining < 1 s and Aimed Shot cooldown ≥ 0.5 and Multi-Shot cooldown ≥ 0.5 and mana % ≥ 30%4.2/min+147 DPS · 16.4 % - 7Cast
Sniper Shot if time to the next auto shot > 1 s and Aimed Shot cooldown ≥ 2 and Multi-Shot cooldown ≥ 13.0/min+50 DPS · 5.5 % - 8Cast
Arcane Shot if time to the next auto shot > 0.4 s and mana % ≥ 30%11/min+189 DPS · 21.1 %
In words, after the line that uses your cooldowns and mana items:
- Hunter's Mark when it is not on the boss and the fight has more than 20 seconds left.
- Rapid Fire right after an Auto Shot, with Aimed Shot about to be ready. The line itself scores only 0.7 %, because without it the cooldown line would cast Rapid Fire anyway. Its 40 % faster Auto Shots are what count.
- Aimed Shot when the next Auto Shot is more than a second away. It shares a six-second cooldown with Multi-Shot, and on one boss Aimed Shot is the better use of it.
- Serpent Sting when the sting on the boss has under a second left. Its ticks can crit in Forever, and with Rapid Recuperation each new sting also restarts your regeneration while casting. Its line adds 16.4 %. It waits while Aimed Shot is about to come up, and it stops below a mana floor.
- Sniper Shot when Aimed Shot is a second or two away. Its four-second cast fits between Aimed Shots, and it is worth 5.5 %.
- Arcane Shot with whatever is left, while you have mana. With Improved Arcane Shot it comes back every four and a half seconds. It is your most valuable shot line, worth 21.1 %.
The list also holds Multi-Shot below Aimed Shot. On one boss it only spends Aimed Shot's shared cooldown on a weaker shot, so skip it. On a three-minute single-boss fight it almost never fires, and on a two-minute single-boss fight the sim scores a little higher without the line (−0.2 %).
Several lines wait for the next Auto Shot to be a second or more away. In our simulator Auto Shot keeps firing while you cast, which Classic did not allow. If Forever pauses it, starting each cast just after an Auto Shot is what keeps it on time.
More than one target
With three bosses in range, move Multi-Shot to the top and keep a Serpent Sting on each boss. On a three-minute fight against three bosses Serpent Sting does 31.0 % of your damage and Multi-Shot 28.0 %, against 14.9 % for Serpent Sting on one boss. Aimed Shot drops out, because Multi-Shot shares its cooldown.
The searched rotations never channel Volley or use traps on these fights.
Cooldowns
- Rapid Fire goes early, on the first Auto Shot that lines up with a ready Aimed Shot or Multi-Shot. The sims use it once a fight. With Rapid Killing its cooldown is three minutes, so on a fight longer than ours it comes back: use it again as soon as it is ready.
- Racials go at the pull: Elune's Light for Night Elves, Blood Fury for Orcs, Berserking for Trolls.
Talisman of Ascendance goes at the pull, and again whenever its one-minute cooldown is up.- Mana items go when their mana fits under your maximum.
On one minute against one boss you never need them: the potion is worth 0.0 %.
| Cooldown | Uses | At |
|---|---|---|
 Elune's Light | 1 | 0:00 |
| Talisman of Ascendance | 1 | 0:00 |
| Rapid Fire | 1 | 0:06 |
 Demonic Rune | 1 | 0:17 |
 Major Mana Potion | 1 | 0:45 |
What your log should show
Set your Warcraft Logs report beside this table. Fewer Auto Shots a minute than this means time lost to moving or standing too close.
| Ability | Casts per minute | Of damage | Crit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto shot | 34.9 | 40.5 % | 29.2 % |
| Arcane Shot | 10.8 | 17.9 % | 29.4 % |
| Serpent Sting | 4.2 | 15.2 % | 29.1 % |
| Aimed Shot | 5.6 | 10.1 % | 28.5 % |
| Sniper Shot | 3.0 | 5.6 % | 30.2 % |
| Multi-Shot | 3.1 | 4.2 % | 28.4 % |
| Cat: Auto attackpet | 48.0 | 3.9 % | 0.2 % |
| Cat: Clawpet | 25.0 | 2.5 % | 0.2 % |
| Cat: Bitepet | 1.0 | 0.2 % | 0.0 % |
| Elune's Light | 1.0 | – | – |
| Rapid Fire | 1.0 | – | – |
| Major Mana Potion | 0.6 | – | – |
| Talisman of Ascendance | 1.0 | – | – |
| Hunter's Mark | 1.0 | – | – |
| Cat: OtherActionMovepet | 1.0 | – | – |
| Demonic Rune | 1.0 | – | – |
| Aspect of the Hawk | 1.0 | – | – |
Numbers to check: about 34.9 Auto Shots a minute, 10.8 Arcane Shots and 5.6 Aimed Shots, and Serpent Sting near 15.2 % of your damage. Your cat's swings, Claw and Bite are listed on their own lines.
Uptimes
| Buff or debuff | Uptime | Times per fight |
|---|---|---|
| Serpent Stingon the boss | 94.4 % | 4.0 |
 Rapid Recuperation | 94.4 % | 4.0 |
 Quick Shots | 45.7 % | 3.4 |
| Ascendance | 33.3 % | 1.0 |
| Ascendance | 33.3 % | 1.0 |
| Elune's Light | 25.0 % | 1.0 |
| Rapid Fire | 24.2 % | 1.0 |
Watch Serpent Sting, up 94.4 % on your target. A gap in it is lost damage and, with Rapid Recuperation, lost mana. Quick Shots, up 45.7 %, is luck. Hunter's Mark should sit near 100.0 %.