The Hunter Macro thread

[yarr]

I wanted to make a thread for discussion of various multiboxer hunter macros. I just started my team (level 9, 4 hunter + 1 priest) which will hopefully be BGing and such in the future, so i figure i'd share my initial experiences.

I figured hunter CC, aspects, and controlling a healer would get pretty complicated quick, so i wanted to simplify the hunters' dps as much as possible... ideally narrowing all their dps actions down to 1 spammable button. (including pet). I think i've found that macro here (except a level 70 version) :

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/petattack
/cast [nocombat] Hunter's Mark
/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command

Now obviously I won't be using steady shot or kill command until 60+ so that leaves me with auto shot. If I want to add arcane shot and/or multi-shot to this macro, i have some concerns with how to best setup the macro so as not to block myself if i run out of mana or the cooldown isn't up for one reason or another.

/castsequence reset=6 Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Auto Shot, Auto shot

would probably work for just arcane, as long as my weapon speed was 2.0 or higher.

/castsequence reset=10 arcane shot, auto shot, multi shot, auto shot, auto shot, arcane shot, auto shot, auto shot, auto shot

Might work for arcane + multishot. However using this many instants, i am concerned with if my hunters run out of mana. The way a castsequence works, is if a spell fails to cast for some reason (mana, cooldown, out of range, or whatnot) the macro will continue to try to cast that spell until it finally succeeds to cast. So if my hunters go out of mana, if i continue to spam this button, they will stop auto-shooting unless i use a separate macro.

It would be nice if there was a way to modify the macro to allow auto-shots to continue even if arcane's/multi's fail to cast.

I've also got another idea to throw into the "main-dps-macro", alternating concussive shots.

Concussive shot slows for 4 seconds, with a 12 sec cooldown. With 4 hunters, it should be really easy to keep a mob permanently slowed (although i dont expect many mobs to last longer than 4 seconds, alternating casts on concussives would be nice when rapidly pulling mobs, you can get a concussive on each mob you pull)

something like
toon1:
/castsequence reset=10 concussive shot, auto shot, arcane shot, auto shot, multi-shot, auto shot, auto shot, arcane shot, auto shot, auto shot
toon2:
/castsequence reset=10 arcane shot, auto shot, multi-shot, auto shot, concussive shot, auto shot, arcane shot, auto shot, auto shot, auto shot
toon3:
/castsequence reset=10 arcane shot, auto shot, multi-shot, auto shot, auto shot, arcane shot, auto shot, auto shot, concussive shot, auto shot

[Niveous]

Hi Yarr,

I just started playing yesterday and purchased Keyclone. I have 4 level 9 hunters and my dad is playing a priest as the 5th wheel to the party so to speak. I'd like to thank you for these macros because right now all I have is /assist and /follow macros and its kinda buggy...

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong yet but, sometimes I will only get like 2 attacking and the other 2 stand there, and when I hit assist again those 2 will stop attacking and the other 2 will start, etc. The follow seems to work pretty good I guess, but as soon as I get my pets maybe this will help. Do you have any other suggestions for me? I have no UI addons and just those 2 simple macros.. anything to make my life easier or utilize my skills a little better would be cool.. All I'm using is auto shot right now which is ok so far

Thank you so much Yarr.

-Niveous, Niveoa, Tidal, Tida [Cairne - PvE - New Realm]

[Ebola]

Ok I just finished leveling my 5 hunters to 70 "Ding" Yay fourth group to 70....

Here are my main macros that I have found to be working for me very well. Feel free to improve on them

These macros are all on my main. The ones on my alts have slight additions like /f focus and /a focus in them as well



This macro casts arcane, then serpent sting, then arcane, while trying to cast kill command on every keypress. It also uses /startattack to enable autoshot, and if the target gets in range, melee attacks

/castrandom [target=pet, noexists] Null; [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/castsequence reset=target/combat Arcane Shot, Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, Arcane Shot
/startattack

This macro casts concussion then aimed shot. With 5 improved concussive shots hitting the target, more often than not, the target is stunned for 3 seconds, allowing the time for the five aimed shots to fire. I have noticed that when casting aimed shot and steady shot that the camera angle changes slightly with every shot, so I added the setview into the macro to reset the camera with every keypress. I only added the setview on my alts as it is easy enough to controll the view on my main screen with my mouse.

/castrandom [target=pet, noexists] Null;[target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command

/castsequence reset=target/combat Concussive Shot, Aimed Shot

/startattack

/script SetView(5); SetView(5)



This macro is the macro I use to spam steady shot, auto shot and kill command. The setview lines are in it for the same reasons as above.

/castrandom [target=pet, noexists] Null;[target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/castsequence reset=2/target !Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame;Clear()
/script SetView(5); SetView(5)



For multi-shot I just have a standard /a /f /cast macro as I didnt want it chained with anything else, mostly so I didnt break any cc by accident.



For intimidation I use commas to stagger the effect so as to hopefully keep my target stunned for upto 15 seconds.

Main

/petattack
/castsequence Intimidation

Alt 1

/petattack
/castsequence ,Intimidation

Alt2

/petattack
/castsequence ,,Intimidation

Alt3

/petattack
/castsequence ,,,Intimidation

Alt4

/petattack
/castsequence ,,,,Intimidation



For one button res and mend pet I use

/cast [target=pet, dead] Revive Pet; [nopet] Call Pet; Mend Pet



For feeding I put the food in bag 0 slot 4 and use

/cast Feed Pet
/use 0 4



If there are any Ive missed, I will add to them later. Hope this helps

[Zug]

The reason for 2 of your hunters attacking is probably lag or other 2 are slightly out of range when you attack.

Your macro uses just auto shot, rather than !Auto Shot. /cast !Auto Shot

That ! mark prevents you from toggling it off.

[yarr]

The reason for 2 of your hunters attacking is probably lag or other 2 are slightly out of range when you attack.

Your macro uses just auto shot, rather than !Auto Shot. /cast !Auto Shot

That ! mark prevents you from toggling it off.

thanks, zug! Very good info to know. That !auto shot will be VERY useful. Also thanks for sharing your macros Ebola, very useful macros there. Aso for your arcane/serpent macro, are you not worried about your instant casts clipping auto-shots? I have visited verious hunter forums (WoW main forums, elitist jerks forums) and the consensus seems to be that it's bad news for your instant casts to clip off auto shots. What is your opinoion on that matter, if you have one =P

thanks again to u guys for responding, i knew this thread woudl be a good idea =D

niveous: YOur problem may be that one or more of your hunters are toggling auto shot off, when the other hunter toggles it on. I know I had this exact problem before I got arcane shot, and made a castsequence macro.

You may try what zug or ebola said...

for ebola's method, use

/cast arcane shot
/startattack

not 100% sure if this will stop attack if you hit it twice, though. I will need to experiment with this.

Zug says that whenever using /cast auto shot or /castsequence auto shot, you should use !auto shot instead. THe exclamation point prevents you from toggling it off when you hit it twice. I think it's a realy nice feature!

[Niveous]

Thank you all very much, my macros are growing more impressive as time goes on. Level 15 now

[Ebola]

Using !autoshot or /startattack will do the same thing exept..... /startattack will also have you melee when targets are within range

/startattack will not toggle off if it is spammed

The whole clipping autoshots really has not been an issue for me as I dont do 10 mans or larger yet.... so dps comparisons with other classes is not an issue. In pvp with 5 hunters focus firing you, clipping an auto shot hasn't seemed to make a difference as the burst damage is insane from a hunter, and from five is just awsome. If I do start running 25 mans with my guild I will probably just spam the steady shot macro with arcane and multi inserted here and there.

[Zug]

I have 5 hunters level 21 right now. I made sure to turn off autoattack when enemy is in range in interface options and not use startattack. I find it annoying, since my pets are tanking, and if the hunters melee, i would have to hit my /follow macro before i could move as a group again.

Castsequences are ok, for solo..but if you are killing non-elite mobs...I find it a waste of mana. I have one button for arcane shot, another for pet attack, another to mark target, another to start auto shot. It's just a play style. When I get steady shot, I will then make a sequence for my shot cycle. For non-hunter classes (like warlocks) that like to cast 2-3 dots, sequences are great if you just want to spam one button. Just my opinion.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Pro tip:

/startattack will automatically target the nearest enemy in front of you if one is not targeted. I prevent this by adding

/stopmacro [noharm]

to the beginning of all my hunter attack routines. It isn't bad for melee range but with ranged shots, you can pull stuff down a ledge or off a bridge and end up with half an instance on you by mistake.

Conversely, if you PVP all the time, maybe you WANT them to autotarget whatever's nearest.

[edit] And grats on 70 again, Ebola!

[Niveous]

Level 22 now :thumbsup: Although I swear my guys always shoot the wrong things in instances.. SIGH! :thumbdown: