So many people have asked questions about leveling as Marksmanship that I thought it would be wise to do a post regarding just that: How to Level as a Marksman.

Firstly, it’s not nearly as difficult as you might be thinking. I’ve leveled as Marksman from day 1 on serveral different characters, and I can tell you that the problems you encounter will be just like the problems you’d encounter leveling as Beast Mastery or Survival, with a few slight differences here and there.

We’ll begin by discussing how to spec Marksman for leveling. I like to keep things simple – choose the talents you think will help you the most. Up until level 80, you don’t need to concern yourself with the highest DPS or the most maxed out gear. All you need to do is kill, kill, kill until you ding that final level. With this in mind, speccing MM at low levels should be intuitive. For example:

If your goal is to get to Chimera Shot as soon as it’s possible to do so, then you should go for talents that are strictly in the Marksman tree.

Here’s an example of a path to follow until your 51st talent point:

This Spec goes straight into Chimera, bringing in Mana-enhancing talents that will help you level efficiently, and a few survivability talents, as well. After you reach this point, you can flesh things out however you’d like.

If you don’t mind getting it a few levels later, throw your points around to what works best for your leveling situation.

Here’s an Example of a 51-point spec that will bring more survivability to your leveling experience.

If your plan is to spec so that you never need to respec even into raiding, give up on that idea – by the time you hit 80, chances are something will have changed, and you’ll end up respeccing anyway. From my experience, respeccing regularly is something you can’t avoid, and don’t really want to avoid. I find myself respeccing at least once every two weeks for some reason or another. No worries. So if you want to level by slowly building your final Raiding spec, by all means do so, but don’t expect to be keeping that spec for very long afterward.

With that in mind, here are a few things you need to focus on:

1. Trapping Skills

You will be able to level much more efficiently as Marksmanship if you can control more than one mob at a time, and Freezing Trap will do this. Make sure you consider Piercing Shots – the above 51-point talent trees don’t include Piercing Shots for this very reason. The bleed will cause your trap to break, and unlike Serpent Sting, which you can cancel out with Scorpid Sting, you can’t get rid of the Piercing Shots bleed effect.

2. Pet Control

Just like leveling as Beast Mastery, you want the mobs’ focus to be on your pet and not yourself. The best way to do this as Marksmanship is to pay close attention. Download Omen threat meters and select the option of having it show while you and your pet are alone together so that you can see exactly when you’re about to pull aggro from your pet. Until you get Feign Death, you will have to be extra careful and make sure you tone things down if your threat begins to pass your pet’s. You can do this by either continuing only Auto Shot, or you can lose your target/turn off Auto Shot altogether and stop attacking until your pet has gained more aggro. When you get Misdirect at level 70, you should also use that tool on your pet to keep mobs on him, and it’s especially useful for bringing multiple mobs to him at one time.

3. Kiting Skills

Kiting is an integral part of leveling. What is Kiting? Kiting is a playstyle in which you slow, stun, or trap your mob so that you can move freely without the mob coming within melee range of you. Without being able to kite properly, you’ll find yourself in some sticky situations. I suggest finding a mob that is a few levels lower than yourself that does not stun or DoT you in any way, and practice on it. Continue practicing your kiting until you’re confident that you can kite most mobs without being hit by them. This way, even if you do pull aggro from your pet, or if your pet dies, you will be able to kill the mob without it reaching you. For tips on how to kite, please read my recent page on Keybinds, or try OutDPS Kiting Guide.

Now that we’ve covered the most basic parts of leveling a hunter, we can move on to Pet selection by Race. Generally, Tenacity pets will be your best tanking pets, although in my experience, all pets (when used properly) can be decent leveling tanks. Below is a list of Tenacity pets which Marksman hunters can use for leveling without going too far out of their way. The following are all available at level 10.

Alliance:

Teldrassil (Darkshore only) - Thistle Cub (Bear), Pygmy Tide Crawler (Crab)

Azuremyst Isle – Barbed Crawler (Crab)

Dun Morogh – Ice Claw Bear (Bear), Elder Crag Boar (Boar), Scarred Crag Boar (Boar) 

Elwynn Forest – Young Forest Bear (Bear), Longsnout (Boar), Rockhide Boar (Boar), Stonetusk Boar (Boar), Princess (Boar)

Horde:

Eversong Woods – Lake Snapper (Turtle)

Durotar – 2 Boars, 3 Crabs, 1 Crosilisk, 3 Scorpids

Mulgore – None: Must travel to Durotar or wait for level 11 to tame Corrupted Dreadmaw Crosilisk.

Tirisfal Glades – None: Must wait for level 11 to tame Ferocious Grizzled Bear in Silverpine Forest.

As I stated previously, most pets will do just fine being your personal body guard as long as you learn to work with them. I leveled with Eidan (Cat) from level 26 until level 70, and leveled him with me up until 80 along with a Gorilla (Spanks) and a Hyena (Taleisin). If you want a special pet, I recommend visiting Mania’s amazing Petopia website and finding the perfect pet for you. Maybe one of your lvl80 friends will help you get to where you need to go. =)

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s go over a few more things.

MANA: Mana can be a big issue for leveling Marksman hunters, and remember that when you do get Apsect of the Viper, regenerating mana will add to your threat. Keep that in mind while in groups or leveling with your pet.

GEAR: Not all gear is hunter gear (please don’t roll on cloth gear), and up until level 70, you should be rolling equally against all specs of Hunter, because that extra 3 Intellect really isn’t important enough to fight over, even if it is more beneficial for you. As I said, my advice to you is just to Kill! until 80. Then you can focus on beefing up your stats. Especially with all the recent changes to leveling, you should be able to cruise through levels even without decent gear. At this point, going through great pains to get the best gear for your level will most likely be a mistake, as the gear will be replaced in a day or two anyway. Once you hit 70, you can begin to find better gear for yourself so that starting Heroics will be easier. I recommend finishing long Chain Quests to get nice blue items.

QUESTS: Most quests are now solo-able and you shouldn’t have to worry about finding groups for them. Even if you think something is too high of a level for you, give it a try and you may be surprised at what you find out. It will also improve your skills if you attempt to do quests that are 1-3 levels higher, and I definitely recommend it if you want to prepare for upper-level instances and PvP. There might even be cake in it for you. 

Again, leveling as Marksmanship really isn’t too bad, and is incredibly similar to leveling as one of the other two specs. If you intend to raid as a Marksman, leveling as Marks will give you more experience with your abilities and playstyle, and I think it’s one of the best ways to learn about your spec.

Happy Hunting!