This is our level 10–60 guide to Marksmanship Hunter, the pure damage spec. The other Hunter guides: Hunter starter guide, Beast Mastery guide, Survival guide, Pet families guide. The beta closed on October 23. Character creation opens October 27 and the game launches November 4, 2026 (3:00 p.m. PST) with a permanent level 60 cap. The beta stopped at level 30, so everything from level 31 to 60 below comes from the datamined talent trees and trainer lists and from published leveling plans. Nobody has played it yet, and we mark it that way.
Data note: the last beta build was 1.60.1.70532 (Oct 22), which has the same talents, spells and items as the Oct 16 build 70450, plus hotfixes through Oct 23 (foreverchanges.pro). Blizzard can still change numbers before launch.
Is Marksmanship a good leveler?
On paper, no. WoW Forever DB's Marksmanship page tells you to level as Beast Mastery (https://wowfdb.com/classes/hunter/marksmanship/leveling/), and Icy Veins and stillsixty call BM the stronger leveler. Players don't all agree: on talentsforever, 29.3% of the 106,556 Hunter leveling builds planned between Sept 18 and Oct 16 led with Marksmanship (43.9% led with Survival, 26.7% with Beast Mastery).
What Marksmanship gets you:
- Your own shots do more. Lethal Attacks, Careful Aim (Attack Power equal to your Intellect) and Mortal Shots all raise your damage directly.
- A fix for mana. Rapid Killing and Rapid Recuperation (see the table) turn Serpent Sting kills into cheaper shots and mana regeneration while casting.
- Trueshot Aura for the whole group, raid-wide since Oct 15.
- Sniper Shot, the 31-point talent, which adds range to your next shots.
Talent order, levels 10–60 (Icy Veins)
This is Icy Veins' Marksmanship leveling build, checked against the current talent data. It ends at 32 Marksmanship and 19 Beast Mastery: it goes to Sniper Shot at 40 first, then spends the rest on BM for Deadly Aspects and Summon Hawk (57).
| Level | Talent (tree) | Rank | What it does (talent text) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10–14 | Lethal Attacks (Marksmanship) | 5/5 | Increases your critical strike chance with all attacks by 5%. |
| 15–19 | Careful Aim (Marksmanship) | 5/5 | Increases your Attack Power by 100% of your Intellect. |
| 20–21 | Rapid Killing (Marksmanship) | 2/2 | Reduces the cooldown on your Rapid Fire ability by 2 minutes. In addition, when you kill a non-trivial enemy or it dies while afflicted by your Serpent Sting, you gain… |
| 22–24 | Hawk Eye (Marksmanship) | 3/3 | Increases the range of your ranged weapons by 6 yards. |
| 25 | Trueshot Aura (Marksmanship) | 1/1 | Increases the Ranged Attack Power of party or raid members within 45 yds by 30. |
| 26–29 | Mortal Shots (Marksmanship) | 4/5 | Increases the critical strike damage bonus on all ranged abilities by 24%. |
| 30–31 | Rapid Recuperation (Marksmanship) | 2/2 | Afflicting a target with Serpent Sting allows 50% of your Mana Regeneration to continue while casting for 15 seconds, increased to 100% when Rapid Killing is consumed. |
| 32 | Mortal Shots (Marksmanship) | 5/5 | Increases the critical strike damage bonus on all ranged abilities by 30%. |
| 33–34 | Barrage (Marksmanship) | 2/3 | Increases the damage done by your Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot, and Volley abilities by 7%. |
| 35–39 | Ranged Weapon Specialization (Marksmanship) | 5/5 | Increases the damage you deal with ranged weapons by 5%. |
| 40 | Sniper Shot (Marksmanship) | 1/1 | A long-range shot that deals ranged damage plus 160 and increases the range of your next 3 Shots by 10 yards for 10 seconds. |
| 41–45 | Deadly Aspects (Beast Mastery) | 5/5 | While Aspect of the Hawk is active, Auto Shot has a 10% chance of increasing ranged attack speed by 30% for 12 seconds. While Aspect of the Beast is active, all melee… |
| 46–47 | Focused Fire (Beast Mastery) | 2/2 | Increases all damage you and your pet deal by 2% while your pet is active. |
| 48 | Barrage (Marksmanship) | 3/3 | Increases the damage done by your Multi-Shot, Aimed Shot, and Volley abilities by 10%. |
| 49–50 | Improved Revive Pet (Beast Mastery) | 2/2 | Revive Pet's casting time is reduced by 6 sec, mana cost is reduced by 40%, and increases the health your pet returns with by an additional 30%. |
| 51 | Pathfinding (Beast Mastery) | 1/2 | Increases the speed bonus of your Aspect of the Cheetah and Aspect of the Pack by 3%. |
| 52–56 | Unleashed Fury (Beast Mastery) | 5/5 | Increases the damage done by your pets and hawks by 15%. |
| 57 | Summon Hawk (Beast Mastery) | 1/1 | Command a hawk to dive-bomb your targeted enemy, dealing 32 Physical damage and continuing its assault for 18 seconds. Only 2 hawks can be active at once. Summon Hawk… |
| 58 | Bestial Swiftness (Beast Mastery) | 1/1 | Increases the movement speed of your pets by 30%. |
| 59–60 | Ferocity (Beast Mastery) | 2/5 | Increases the critical strike chance of your pets and hawks by 4%. |
Icy Veins says Rapid Killing and Rapid Recuperation solve mana (Rapid Recuperation lets half your Mana regeneration continue while casting for 15 seconds after Serpent Sting, and all of it when Rapid Killing is consumed). The aim is 31 points in Marksmanship for Sniper Shot, then Beast Mastery for Summon Hawk.
Where the guides differ
- WoW Forever DB's Marksmanship order starts in Beast Mastery: Deadly Aspects 5/5 (10–14), Focused Fire 2/2 (15–16), then Lethal Attacks 2/5 (17–18) and Pathfinding 2/2 (19–20). It goes on with Lethal Attacks 5/5 (21–23), Careful Aim 5/5 (24–28), Improved Stings 3/3 (29–31), Rapid Killing 2/2 (32–33), Trueshot Aura (34), Mortal Shots 4/5 (35–38) and Rapid Recuperation 2/2 (39–40). Then Barrage 3/3 (41–43), Ranged Weapon Specialization 5/5 (44–48), Sniper Shot at 49, Improved Tracking 5/5 (50–54), Mortal Shots 5/5 (55) and Efficiency 5/5 (56–60). (page)
- Sniper Shot at 40 or 49. Icy Veins skips ahead to it. WoW Forever DB takes it 9 levels later and spends the time on Improved Stings and Barrage. stillsixty's Marksmanship build reaches Sniper Shot at 47.
- Deadly Aspects first or later. WoW Forever DB takes it at 10, which gives Auto Shot a chance of +30% ranged attack speed with Aspect of the Hawk. Icy Veins waits until 41–45.
- Mortal Shots. WoW Forever DB takes it earlier (35–38); Icy Veins takes 4/5 at 26–29.
- Out of date: wowf.io and Wowhead's level 30 guide say Auto Shot has no cast time. Since Oct 15 you stand still for 0.5 sec.
Rotation (Icy Veins)
Single target: Hunter's Mark, send your pet, Serpent Sting, then Sniper Shot (when the Rapid Killing buff is up) or Aimed Shot, then Summon Hawk, Aimed Shot and Auto Shot in between. Multi-Shot is for packs, but it shares its cooldown with Aimed Shot. Multi-Shot next to a frozen mob will break your Freezing Trap, so use it only on packs you aren't trapping.
What each level gives you
- 32: Flare, Enchanted Flare (new in Forever), Trueshot Aura rank 2, Track Demons. 34: Explosive Trap, Disengage rank 2. 36: Viper Sting, Summon Hawk rank 2 (if you have the talent), Immolation Trap rank 3. 38: Aspect of the Hawk rank 4, Wing Clip rank 2.
- 40: Volley, Aspect of the Pack, Freezing Trap rank 2, Trueshot Aura rank 3, Hunter's Mark rank 3, Lacerate rank 2, Track Giants. Level 40 also brings mail armour, your first mount and dual spec.
- 42: Counterattack rank 3. 44: Explosive Trap rank 2, Mongoose Bite rank 3. 46: Aspect of the Wild, Viper Sting rank 2. 48: Sniper Shot rank 2 (needs the Marksmanship talent), Summon Hawk rank 3, Aspect of the Hawk rank 5.
- 50: Volley rank 2, Trueshot Aura rank 4, Track Dragonkin. The Hunter quests in Azshara (Ogtinc) are listed at 50 but weren't reachable in the beta. 52–58: higher ranks of Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, Mend Pet, Counterattack, Immolation Trap and Explosive Trap, and Hunter's Mark rank 4 at 58 (143 ranged attack power since the Oct 21 hotfix, up from 71, per foreverchanges.pro).
- 60: Tranquilizing Shot (wowforever.one lists it at the trainer, but stillsixty says it comes from a tome), plus the top ranks of Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting (rank 9), Trueshot Aura, Freezing Trap and Aspect of the Hawk (rank 7).
Trainer levels are from wowforever.one's Hunter spell list and WoW Forever DB's Hunter pages. Past level 30 they're data, not play.
Rapid Fire (26) is yours on a shorter cooldown: Rapid Killing takes 2 minutes off it. Until level 20 you have no Aimed Shot, and Summon Hawk and Sniper Shot are talents, so Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting and Auto Shot carry the early levels.
The pull loop
- Mark the target and send the pet in, so it holds the mob while you shoot.
- Serpent Sting, then Aimed Shot or Sniper Shot, Arcane Shot and Auto Shot as mana allows.
- If the mob dies while Serpent Sting is on it, you gain Rapid Killing: your next Shot does 20% more damage within 20 seconds, so open the next pull with Aimed Shot or Sniper Shot.
Your pet is still the tank, so check the pet families guide for what each family does.
Gear and stats
Weapon damage and Agility are the stats Icy Veins points Hunters to for leveling. Careful Aim makes Intellect worth more than it sounds, since you gain Attack Power equal to your Intellect. Since Oct 15 your pet takes whichever of your melee or ranged crit is higher, so Lethal Attacks helps it too (see the BM guide).
Zones, 31–60
This is Classic routing laid over Forever's zone levels, from WoW Forever DB. The new Forever zones (Riverglades, Hyjal and others) weren't playable past level 30 in the beta, so their level ranges are announced, not tested.
- 31–40: Arathi Highlands, Stranglethorn Vale, Desolace and Alterac (30–40), then Dustwallow Marsh, Badlands and Swamp of Sorrows. Riverglades, a new contested zone, is announced for about 35–45.
- 41–50: Tanaris, Feralas, the Hinterlands, Searing Gorge, Swamp of Sorrows and Azshara.
- 51–60: Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Burning Steppes, the Western and Eastern Plaguelands, Winterspring and Silithus.
Dungeons, 31–60
| Dungeon | Level range (Blizzard) | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Hall of Thanes | 13–18 | Beneath Ironforge (Alliance start) |
| Ruins of Lordaeron | 15–20 | Above the Undercity, Tirisfal Glades |
| Excavation Site | 24–29 | Above Whelgar's Excavation, Wetlands |
| City of Dalaran | 28–33 | Alterac Mountains |
| The Drowned City | 35–40 | Off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale |
| Krol'dok Stronghold | 40–45 | Riverglades |
| Alcaz Prison | 48–53 | Alcaz Island, Dustwallow Marsh |
| Blackmaw Hold | 55–60 | Azshara |
| Shaper's Terrace | 58–60 | Northern Un'Goro Crater |
Those nine are the new dungeons. The older Classic dungeons are in Forever too, and Icy Veins' dungeon overview (updated Oct 24) gives their ranges: Razorfen Downs 37–46, Scarlet Monastery Armory 36–44 and Cathedral 38–46, Uldaman 41–51, Zul'Farrak 44–54, Maraudon 46–55, Sunken Temple 50–60, Blackrock Depths 52–60, Dire Maul 54–60 (East) and 56–60 (North, West), Lower Blackrock Spire 55–60, Scholomance 58–60, Stratholme 58–60 and Upper Blackrock Spire 59–60. Other sites list slightly different ranges for the same dungeons (for example the Hall of Thanes as 13–18 versus 13–20), so treat any range as a guide. Only dungeons up to level 30 were open in the beta. Do each dungeon once with its quests in the log, since dungeon quests now carry most of the XP and spamming runs is no longer the fastest way up (Icy Veins).
In groups, turn off your pet's Growl, mark the kill target and Freezing Trap what the tank asks you to. Hunters have no interrupt.
Level 60 and what comes next
Launch has nine five-player dungeons and no raids. Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40) open on December 9, and all raids are planned to reset weekly. Onyxia's Lair needs the Drakefire Amulet to enter (Blizzard's raid overview). So the first five weeks are for reaching 60, gearing from dungeons and professions, and picking your Legacy perks. At 60 your 51 talent points are all spent and builds start to differ from leveling builds, so check a PvE guide once you get there.
Legacy is Forever's new account-style perk system: challenges such as reaching level 25, 45 and 60 on a class, completing every dungeon, exploring zones or clearing raids earn Legacy Points, which you spend in the Adventure, Professions and Resourcefulness trees. Perks like Well Rested (rested XP builds 4–20% faster and caps 4–20% higher) and Talented (talent steps come up to five levels sooner, per WoW Forever DB) are worth picking early (Icy Veins Legacy guide).
Common mistakes
- Ignoring mana. ForeverDB calls mana the brake on Hunter leveling: shots, stings and Mend Pet all cost it, and Auto Shot is the only free one.
- Sending the pet into packs. Icy Veins warns against commanding it to attack too many enemies at once.
- Forgetting that Auto Shot needs you to stand still for 0.5 sec (since Oct 15).
Still unclear
- Everything from level 31 to 60 is untested. The beta stopped at 30, so Rapid Killing's real mana effect and Sniper Shot's feel at 40 are only talent text.
- The two published orders disagree on when you get Sniper Shot (40 vs 49).
- Whether Marksmanship is worth it over BM for solo leveling isn't settled. Every guide that rates the specs names BM first.
- Dungeon ranges differ a little between Blizzard, Icy Veins and fan sites.
Sources
- talentsforever (planned builds, Sept 18 to Oct 16)
- stillsixty: Hunter leveling guide (Sept 29)
- Icy Veins: WoW Forever Hunter guides and the dungeon overview (checked Oct 24)
- WoW Forever DB: Hunter leveling pages (talent orders by band, zones, class quests; checked Oct 24)
- wowforever.one: Hunter spells (trainer spells and ranks by level)
- foreverchanges.pro: patch notes (Oct 23): the Oct 22 build 70532 has the same talents, spells and items as the Oct 16 build; Hunter's Mark rank 4 was raised to 143 ranged attack power on Oct 21
- Blizzard: the new dungeons and raid overview
Fan community guide by Systematic. World of Warcraft © Blizzard Entertainment; we're not affiliated with Blizzard.
Images: header and milestone card by Systematic, using the Systematic wallpaper and brand colours. Ability icons on the card © Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead (Classic icons used as stand-ins; Forever's may differ).
Edited 1× by SystematicGuides
