Marksmanship Hunter Hero Talent Showdown in The War Within - Dark Ranger vs. Sentinel

The War Within Posted 23 days ago by TheAzortharion

Not sure what Hero Talents to play for your spec in The War Within? Check out all the released articles in the 'Hero Talent Showdown' series:
Hero Talent Showdowns in The War Within
Blood DK
Frost DK
Unholy DK
Havoc DH
Vengeance DH
Balance Druid

Feral Druid
Guardian Druid
Restoration Druid
Augmentation Evoker
Devastation Evoker
Preservation Evoker
Beast Mastery Hunter
Marksmanship Hunter
Survival Hunter
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Brewmaster Monk
Mistweaver Monk
Windwalker Monk
Holy Paladin
Protection Paladin
Retribution Paladin
Discipline Priest
Holy Priest
Shadow Priest
Assassination Rogue
Outlaw Rogue
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Restoration Shaman
Affliction Warlock
Demonology Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Protection Warrior

For more information on Hero Talents coming in the War Within, check out our Hero Talents Overview.

The War Within Hero Talents Overview

Marksmanship Hunter in the War WithinHero Talent Showdown: Sentinel vs. Dark Ranger SentinelCrescent SteelOverwatchLunar StormBlack ArrowAimed ShotShadow LashShadow HoundsWithering FireBlack Arrow Sentinel

Strengths

Weaknesses

SentinelRapid FireLunar Storm

Strengths

Weaknesses

Black ArrowAimed ShotBlack ArrowGrave ReaperWhat's Changed? Sentinel Dark RangerAnd the Winner Is...

Class Fantasy & Visuals: Dark Ranger (Winner)

Fun & Rewarding Gameplay: Sentinel (Winner)

Black Arrow embodies a class-fantasy for Marksmanship Hunters (and especially Marksmanship) that many have long sought after, which of course is to be more like everyone's favourite Banshee Queen, Sylvanas Windrunner. The visually striking Black Arrow and the Shadow Hounds it generate achieve this pretty well, in my opinion.

Sentinel, meanwhile, just doesn't have that much engagement to make it strong for class fantasy, and while it visually looks rather pretty, it mostly looks pretty in the way you'd expect a Mage or Druid to make pretty-looking ground effects.

I put Sentinel as the winner on "Fun & Rewarding" because it's just so much more powerful than Dark Ranger, which counts for something. Both Trees are pretty close to passive, so with there being little actual "fun" or "engaging gameplay" to speak of, at the end of the day, being more powerful is more fun, all else being equal.

Difficulty: Dark Ranger & Sentinel (Tie)

While Dark Ranger is the only Tree with an active in the form of Black Arrow, this really just boils down to pressing it on cooldown.

Sentinel is entirely passive, but there is a small minmax to do with its capstone, Lunar Storm. We will occasionally want to intentionally hold the cooldown of our Rapid Fire, if it means that doing so will get us an instant refresh of Lunar Storm's internal cooldown. In other words, we want to cast Rapid Fire as close to every 15 seconds as possible (with as many in-between as possible too, of course), to maximize Lunar Storm uptime.

So, one Hero Talent gives us a button to press, while the other one makes optimal use of an existing button slightly more complicated. I consider this a tie in the difficulty department, but your mileage may vary.

Defensiveness & Utility: Dark Ranger & Sentinel (Tie)

The two Hero Talent Trees offer strong defenses, but in very different ways. Dark Ranger provides extremely frequent, short-duration activation of our Survival of the Fittest defensive, thanks to Smoke Screen. For High Mythic+, this is incredibly valuable. In Raid, it does not come up quite so often, but it's not bad either.

Sentinel provides a nearly constantly-replenishing, 10% Absorb Shield thanks to Don't Look Back. This is excellent when sustaining more constant, ticking damage, which is more often the case in raid encounters. On average, you get 1% Absorb Shield every 2 seconds in BiS gear on a single target, and far more on AoE.

Both are great, but in very different ways, so it's a tie.

Leveling: Sentinel (Winner)

Leveling as Marksmanship is mostly about leveraging its strong AoE, and Sentinel just does that better. Dark Ranger is, by its nature, very single-target oriented. Great for big story bosses while leveling, but those are few and far in-between.

Mythic+: Sentinel (Winner)

Sentinel does so much more damage than Dark Ranger that it's not even funny, particularly on AoE. The only reason to ever run Dark Ranger is if you absolutely need the extra defensives from Smoke Screen to survive.

Raid: Sentinel (Winner)

Sentinel does so much more damage than Dark Ranger in every single scenario that this is a simple choice. Not only that, but Dark Ranger's primary strength, its Smoke Screen, is far less relevant in Raid (which is more about ticking damage than one-shots) than in Mythic+. There seems to be a mismatch between the Hero Talents' offensive strengths/weaknesses, versus the defensive ones, with Sentinel having the better defensive for Raiding while its offensive theme is largely AoE-based, and Dark Ranger having the opposite.

Best Overall: Sentinel (Winner)

Sentinel does by far the most damage, and its defensive node will be better in many scenarios, while only slightly worse in others. It mostly wins on damage, though.

Dark Ranger enjoyers have reason to be disappointed. Dark Ranger probably has the strongest thematic tie-in with Marksmanship of the two Dark Ranger specs (the other being Beast Mastery), but unlike the Beast Mastery version, it simply falls short by way of tuning.

Hero Talent Feedback Sentinelif Dark RangerBlack ArrowBase Marksmanship Hunter Gameplay & TalentsTrueshotShould You Play Marksmanship Hunter in the War Within?

I'm Azortharion, hailing from the cold north of Denmark. I have been theorycrafting, writing guides, and streaming for Hunters since 2014, as well as playing the game on a high level, with hundreds of rank 1 parses and dozens of World #1 Mythic+ runs on all 3 Hunter specs over the game's history. I also founded and run Trueshot Lodge, the official Discord for the Hunter Community, where I always solicit and address feedback, suggestions, and comments for this guide. Most importantly, I wrote the Wowhead Marksmanship Hunter Guide that you are reading now! You can also find me on my Personal Hunter Discord Server, where I offer more direct coaching and advice to thousands of Hunters. You may also find me on Twitter and YouTube.

Hero Talent Guides for the War Within Launch

Blood DKFrost DKUnholy DK

Havoc DHVengeance DH

Balance DruidFeral DruidGuardian DruidRestoration Druid

Aug EvokerDevastation EvokerPreservation Evoker

BM HunterMM HunterSurvival Hunter

Arcane MageFire MageFrost Mage

Brewmaster MonkMistweaver MonkWindwalker Monk

Holy PaladinProtection PaladinRetribution Paladin

Discipline PriestHoly PriestShadow Priest

Assassination RogueOutlaw RogueSubtlety Rogue

Elemental ShamanEnhance ShamanRestoration Shaman

Affliction WarlockDemo WarlockDestro Warlock

Arms WarriorFury WarriorProtection Warrior

Comment by BillientWrong class again...Comment by ImpatianceVery marksman.Comment by BeraninOh wow MM is also looking like shaman just like destro!Comment by KnoxxiusIm a dwarf, with a gun, what the F is this ^&*!e?Comment by dabone1337As always on wowhead, MM related guides fall a bit short. I mean look at the SV and BM articles - there are much much more detailed, much more explainations much more reasoning.... Would be nice to also see this depth on MM content.Comment by JaichimDark ranger strength: "poor damage in all situations." I am not sure if this is bad proofreading or an indictment of the class...Comment by hazmaxedIf Sentinel is that much better at damage than Dark Ranger, one can only hope that any future tuning will be to bring Dark Ranger up to Sentinel's level.

Surely Blizzard will do that.

Right?

Ah, that's just wishful thinking.Comment by selkie47I will not take dark ranger--- despite it being the cooler spec and more thematic--- purely because that owl looks like its pooping lunar sparkles on the target. I saw it. I need it. I'm gonna have it.

Do not change a THING about sentinel's visual effects because I love it waaaay more than the spec itself. I am surv but for those times I gotta go MM, I will be one happy amused troll.Comment by Skullhawk13I am annoyed considering my two marksman hunters are a Blackrock Mag'har orc, and a Mechagnome sniper, neither of which thematically fit with a Forsaken or Kaldorei spec that are both heavily magic focused in their way. This is yet another reason why I wish hero talents had mostly just been cosmetic glyphs rather than a whole system you can't avoid at all.Comment by DreamSisteryeah ok no the MM writing has been terrible across the board in multiple versions of the game (retail & cata classic at least) and multiple patches. I can't imagine writing these is easy but the disparity is just getting more obvious. Don't think we can rely very effectively on wowhead MM guides until they get a different writer for them unfortunately.Comment by MagicalTeddyAzortharion needs to retire and we need someone else writing please.Comment by HulkamusSent MM is the definition of what Hero Talents should be. I would describe it as perfect. I've played multiple specs, classes, and hero talents and there aren't many that are as clean, smooth, and frankly, perfect.Comment by hotmanpopthat article was a joke tbh, but i couldn't care less, I wasn't planing on playing PvE on my MM, DarkRanger is just cooler and what I'll be playing in PvPComment by MessenjaahMost of these tree comparisons are so lazy and useless.
This one has to be the worst one.
It's such a shame, as the idea itself is pretty good.Comment by MaizouDo you choose the hero talent with no downsides or weaknesses or the one that has bad enough damage the guide writer mentioned it twice, and makes you less mobile? DECISIONS DECISIONS

I love having "choice"!

Also, the people saying Azor needs to stop - I do not like Azor. However, if you'd pay attention to the hunter beta thread, people have complained Dark Ranger is DOA for months. Even after the like 200% boost it got a few weeks ago.Comment by DreamSisterDo you choose the hero talent with no downsides or weaknesses or the one that has bad enough damage the guide writer mentioned it twice, and makes you less mobile? DECISIONS DECISIONS

I love having "choice"!

Also, the people saying Azor needs to stop - I do not like Azor. However, if you'd pay attention to the hunter beta thread, people have complained Dark Ranger is DOA for months. Even after the like 200% boost it got a few weeks ago.Comment by rasganoite"The visually striking Black Arrow" ?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... this dude is drunk!

I waited a long time for this article but it was written in a lazy and stupid way.Comment by rasganoite"The visually striking Black Arrow" ?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ... this dude is drunk!

I waited a long time for this article but it was written in a lazy and stupid way.Comment by Triveliusdon't get all the hate I liked the article. I come to read an article on what hero talents I should take because I don't want to think for myself so why are you people suddenly demanding to know things? BIS talents aren't exactly hard to choose if you spend more than 5 minutes reading the text for all of them. I appreciated the clear and concise direction of the article that Sentinel good and DR bad.Comment by AmmertossBring Legion MM back