• 

  World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

  Franchise:

  Warcraft

  Platform:

  PC

  Developer:

  Blizzard, Activision

  Publisher:

  Blizzard, Activision

  Genre:

  MMORPG

  Released:

  2022-11-28

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight delivers a complete revamp of the game's talent system. Gone are the days of picking up a handful of talents every ten to fifteen levels. We're returning to World of Warcraft's roots, bringing back the classic talent tree with a modern twist. On the surface, it may not seem like an exciting marquee system for a new WoW expansion, but rest assured, people are excited about these Dragonflight talent trees.

What's New in Talents for WoW: Dragonflight?

The original World of Warcraft talent trees allowed for spec-only choices. Hunters, for example, could pick up 50+ points in the Survival tree while also dipping into a handful of talents in Marksmanship. With World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, there's been a slight change. Players have two separate talent trees: one for the class and another for the specific spec.

Class talent trees focus on core spells and abilities. Hunters are able to pick up a lot of their unique utility, flexibility, and survivability from this tree. Most of the talent choices will seem fairly obvious, depending on your playstyle. The Hunter class's beauty is that they can tackle anything you want in World of Warcraft. Whether playing PVP, PvE, Raids, Mythic +, or even just soloing content yourself, Hunters can do it all. This class talent tree offers the flexibility needed to let the Hunter class unlock its full potential.

Marksmanship Hunters talent builds will vary greatly between single-target and AOE situations. Unlike Beast Mastery, which offers mostly cookie-cutter default builds, there are a lot of viable options for the Marksmanship spec in both the Hunter class talent tree, and the spec-specific talent tree.

Since Dragonflight is still in the beta phase and Blizzard is still tweaking and tuning talents, as well as boss encounters, we're still figuring out what the absolute best choice is. Having said that, we've put together talent builds that maximize builds that focus on maximizing damage output and creating satisfying gameplay in PVE scenarios.

Marksmanship Hunter Class Talents

Let's start with the default base for all of your talent builds.

Standard Build

No matter the scenario, this will most likely be the base for your talent setup. It leaves five open talents to fill in depending on the scenario, whether it's single-target, AOE/cleave, or specific encounters.

Single-Target Build

This talent build is designed for single-target fights and takes advantage of talents that thrive in single-target environments.

AoE Build

There are some situational pickups here as well that we'll explain in further detail as we go row by row over each Hunter talent.

Hunter Talent Explanations

Row 1

Kill Command is given to us by default, which is good since it's a core ability for the Hunter class. Concussive shot offers utility if you're focused on solo play or PVP, but in PVE, it's trivial. We'll pick up Kill Shot as it's a powerful execute that only gets better with talents.

Row 2:

Trailblazer sounds good on paper, but the Hunters in general have good enough mobility. Speaking of mobility, Posthaste is a great utility talent to help players move out of damage. It also took us one row to buff our Kill Shot talent. Increasing its crit by 25% is a no-brainer.

Row 3:

Wilderness Medicine is a good talent if you're soloing content; you'll have plenty of ways to heal your pet during PVE encounters. Counter Shot is an interrupt that should be mandatory for every talent build. Hunters are picked for groups due to their ability to not just pump damage but also provide a ranged interrupt. Natural Mending is a solid personal cooldown to help keep you in the fight and mitigate incoming damage.

Row 4:

This row offers utility across the board. Tar Trap, Misdirection, and Survival of the Fittest are all wildly important talents. You may not always select them, specifically Tar Trap and Misdirect, but they are still an important part of your toolkit.

Row 5:

Tranquilizing shot has its moments, but for right now, there's no real need for it. As I said earlier, this is something that can be flexed in, and would only require Tar Trap to pick up. Without Tar Trap, Entrapment is useless. It's not a bad pick-up for solo content, though. Since you're going to be picking up Steel Trap later in the tree, buff it with Improved Traps. The Lone Survivor/Nature's Endurance node offers a choice. Lone Survivor gets the edge, as you get to use Survival of the Fittest more often. The same can be said in regards to Born To Be Wild. Survival is one of your most important personal cooldowns, and you want to have it available as often as possible.

Row 6:

The biggest row in the entire tree. Scare Beast is pretty much only applicable if you're soloing, and even then, it's not exciting. To be fair, it had some uses in Shadowlands content, but that's few and far between. If you're picking up Tranq Shot, you'll definitely want Improved Tranq Shot for the focus. Intimidation and High Explosive Trap sound good on paper, but in practice, they're just not worth it in PVE. As a Marksmanship Hunter, you won't even have a pet, so Intimidation is useless. For PVP and sololing? These are absolutely fantastic talents. Binding shot is a premiere CC ability that can group up enemies, allowing those with excellent AOE to go wild and crazy. Rejuvenating Winds helps buff your other personal cooldown, Natural Mending. Camoflauge has limited, but viable, uses in PVE scenarios, but truly shines when soloing or doing PVP.

Let's talk about Sentinel Owl for a second here. The Marksmanship Hunter version is the best out of all three Hunter specs. While building out talent trees, I often wanted to grab the talent, especially if it was free, due to its ability to have your attacks ignore line of sight. That's something that just can't be ignored, especially when the improved version (more later) can either give the party leech or the entire party unhindered vision. I can't stress enough how huge that can be for certain fights.

Row 7:

Binding Shackles is a solid buff to certain crowd control abilities. It's not the best in the world, but it lets you open up the bottom left of the tree without having to spend multiple points on Tranq Shot talents. Hunter's Avoidance helps you take less damage. Pathfinding helps your already great mobility become even better by moving faster. Finally, there's the Sentinel Owl improvement I talked about above.

Row 8:

If you're an MM Hunter, the Beast Master talent is completely useless since you won't have pets. Keen Eyesight and Master Marksman are mainline talents that unlock vital capstone nodes while also offering substantial stat bonuses.

Row 9:

Improved Kill Command does exactly what it says: improves Kill Command. Serrated Shots buff the damage from Serpent Sting, as well as your bleeds. Even if you don't get Serpent Sting, being able to buff your bleeds is extremely beneficial. Arctic Bola allows you to literally throw an Arctic Bola at your target. More often than not, you'll just pick this up as a free talent. In single-target scenarios, Serpent Sting is an excellent part of your rotation.

Row 10:

The capstone talent row. These are supposed to be the best Dragonflight Hunter talents you can pick up.

Killer Instinct and Alpha Predator both buff Kill Command. While Killer Instinct helps you deal more damage to low-health enemies, Alpha Predator giving you two charges and increased damage is generally the preferred option. Steel Trap is a powerful stun that also causes a bleed, which is buffed from the Serrated Shots talent. Stampede is the coolest-sounding talent, but it's just not where it needs to be, so you'll most likely be going with Death Chakram as a superior talent and better for your damage output. Explosive Shot/Barrage are solid talents; Explosive Shot will normally get the call here due to its usefulness in AOE situations. Poison Injection is the preferred option if you're in single-target scenarios.

Marksmanship Hunter Specialization Talents

Let's go over some Dragonflight MM Hunter builds on the Specialization side of the Talent Tree.

Standard Build

This will be one of the default single target options for Marksmanship Hunters in Dragonflight. There's some flexibility in this build to pick up other talents. The ability to pick and choose between different builds highlights the strength of the new Dragonflight talent system.

AoE Build

This is my favorite AOE-focused build for Marksmanship Hunters in Dragonflight. This was the hardest tree to put together due to the vast amount of viable talents available. There are so many different options you can pick and choose from, so let's not waste any more time and talk more in-depth about some of the Dragonflight MM talents.

Kill Shot Build

For fun, here's a talent build that goes all in on Kill Shot.

Marksmanship Talents ExplanationsRow 1:

It's Aimed Shot, a core Marksmanship Hunter ability. That's it; literally. That's the only talent. Get it and cast it often.

Row 2:

We may have gone from one to three talents, but you're still getting this entire row. Crack shot makes your Arcane Shot and Chimera Shot cheaper. Improved Steady Shot makes your Steady Shot give back 10 Focus. Precise Shots buff your Arcane Shots or Multi-Shots. These are all no-brainers; pick them up.

Row 3:

Finally, some choices are to be made.

Rapid Fire remains a core ability that adds mobility to the spec. Lone Wolf is still the marquee talent for Marksmanship Hunters; they don't have any active pets but also do 10% more damage. Chimaera Shot is a situational shot that replaces Arcane Shot.

Row 4:

Streamline buffs both Rapid Fire and, in turn, Aimed Shot. It's a default talent. If you're going all-in on Kill Shot, then Killer Accuracy is a great choice to increase Kill shot's critical strike chance. Hunter's Knowledge and Careful Aim are mainline talents you should always pick up. The former increases the crit of your Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire while the later makes you deal more damage to targets above 70% health.

There was some contention about Careful Aim in Shadowlands where it was sometimes used and sometimes not. Thanks to the expanded MM Dragonflight talent tree, we get to have our cake and eat it too.

Row 5:

Lethal Shots helps reduce the cooldown of your Rapid Fire. It reportedly has a proc chance of 30%, which is definitely not trivial. Deathblow offers great single target efficiency by allowing you to use Kill Shot, regardless of the enemy's health. Target Practice increases your Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot damage. Focused Aim offers a small increase to your Aimed Shot and Rapid Fire damage.

Row 6:

For the most part, the Dragonflight MM talent tree has been pretty baseline. This is where things start to get wild and crazy.

Multi-Shot is a key AOE/Cleave talent. Razor Fragments, on the other hand, is a vital single-target talent that buffs your Kill Shot. Double Tap remains a core MM Hunter talent, so pick it up. If you're going all-in on Kill Shot, Dead Eye is a great talent for you. Bursting Shot is strictly situational and is only utilized in specific niches.

Row 7:

Trick Shots remains a core AOE/Cleave talent. Bombardment is another good talent for those AOE/Cleave scenarios but is more situational. Volley is a great talent to pick up during big AOE moments.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Steady Focus and Serpentstalker's Trickery are key single-target talents. Quick Load requires you to have Bursting Shot.

Row 8:

Heavy Ammo continues the trend of the lower left corner of the Dragonflight MM Hunter talent tree being for AOE/Cleave setups. It is the preferred option over the alternative choice of Light Ammo. Trueshot, Lock and Load, and Bullseye are all core MM talents and you should almost always have them.

Row 9:

Bulletstorm is yet another huge talent for AOE/Cleave builds. Sharpshooter, on the other hand, is a solid option to pick up if you have a free talent point to spend. If you don't, it's not the end of the world. Eagletalon's True Focus helps your Trueshot cooldown become better. Wailing Arrow is a solid pickup for AOE/Cleave builds despite its placement in the tree. There should be no issue picking it up if you're going for that AOE-style build. Legacy of the Windrunners doesn't do enough to warrant consideration.

Row 10:

The capstone talents for Dragonflight Marksmanship Hunters. Salvo is everything you could ever want for AOE/Cleave builds. Unerring Vision will almost always get the nod over Calling the Shots as it buffs your Trueshot and that's more important than reducing its cooldown. While Windrunner's Barrage sounds good on paper, Readiness gets the nod here by completely resetting the Rapid Fire cooldown and giving you two Aimed Shot charges. Windrunner's guidance, like the talent above it, isn't good enough.