Hunter Macros I Use

There is always a shortage of information on Hunter Macros out there so I thought I would post the ones I like to use. The macro is listed first, followed by a description of what it is used for. Hopefully you can just cut and paste the macros into your macro screen.

Just a note, I'm not much of a button masher. My macros tend to just improve my functionality in some small way.

All of these macros have been borrowed from other macro sites, some were meant for other classes and I modified them, others were written just for us.

Hunter Specific
Pull Shots
/cast Arcane Shot(Rank 1)
/stopcasting
This first pull shot is the one I use most, its your standard everyday pull. I just want to get a mob into my trap with minimal threat and not have my auto-shot break my crowd control.

/cast Distracting Shot
/stopcasting
This next pull shot I keep handy for a couple of situations.
The first situation is when your Arcane Shot(rank 1) pull shot wasn't enough to overcome your tank's initial threat and your Mob just ignores you. This can happen a lot with Paladin tanks since they front load their threat with spells. If I see that my first pull doesn't work I slap the mob with this. If that still doesn't work I just open up on it since it probably won't be coming anyhoo.

Protection spec'd tanks sometimes get off on this so don't sweat it. Just burn down your mob and then toss the tank a Misdirection to help them save mana on threat generation.

Another good use for it comes when a healer ends up near your freeze trap. Their heals just might bump you off the top of your Mob's threat list, which means when your trap breaks the bad guy will start pounding on your main healer at the worst possible time. I like to pop my baddie with a Distracting Shot just to keep it mad at me and maintain control of where its going to go.

The magic of a Distracting Shot is that it will not break your trap. It will trigger your auto shot, so be sure you have the stop casting command in there.


Pet Related Macros
/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark
This is another basic hunter macro that I like. Your Hunter's Mark spell will help you, your pet, and your party burn down mobs faster, especially if you throw some points into the Improved Hunter's Mark talent. I have this hot keyed to one of my trackball buttons That way my mark will be on whatever my pet and I are attacking. It all happens with one button push. How sexy is that?

/cast [target=pet,dead] Revive Pet; [nopet] Call Pet; Mend Pet
I call this one Pet Care. Basically what it does is look at the state of your pet and casts an appropriate pet spell. If your pet is dead it casts Revive Pet, if you are in combat it tosses Fido a Mend Pet, and if your pet has run out of range or disappears it will call him back to your side.

Note: if your pet has died and you have since moved out of range you will need to use your regular Revive Pet spell.

Tip: If you find yourself in a tight spot you can send your pet in to attack, feign death to drop aggro, and run like a demon until your pet is out of range and disappears. When you summon him back with Call Pet he will appear at full health. It's good in the BG's for people that run from you too.

/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
This one might actually be obsolete at this point. The idea is to make sure your spell gets used on your pet's target. It used to be that if you had a different target than your pet the spell wouldn't have any effect. I kind of remember reading a patch note on this, but it slips my mind....

/cast [target=pet] Misdirection
This is a simple one that casts Misdirection on my pet. Useful in instances when you need your pet to do an impromptu off tank or there is a squishy in trouble. You can send Fido to the rescue and have him hit with some aggro to help get the mob off the healer.

/castsequence reset=5 Serpent Sting, Mend Pet
This is a grinding macro, I also use it in PvP. This stings my target on the first button push, and then gives the pet a heal over time spell to get him through the fight. Some folks like to use a Scorpid Sting instead, but since I'm already healing my pet I would rather spend my mana on reducing the time it takes to bring the mob down. Faster killing means faster grinding.

Other Hunter Macros
/castsequence Aspect of the Hawk, Aspect of the Viper
In between fights I like to switch to Viper to help recharge the Mana pool.

/cast [group] Aspect of the Pack; Aspect of the Cheetah
This one looks to see if you are in a Party or not, then casts the appropriate speed buff. Don't forget if you have it up your party members will get stunned just like you when hit by an attack. Very useful running people from South Shore to Scarlet Monastery in the mid 30's.

This can be used to assist flag runners if you know what you are doing with it.

It is also fun to key this, equip a fishing pole and /yell LEEEEERRRROOOOY JEEEENKINNNSSSS while waiting for PUG party members to show up.

Raid Specific
Focus Macros
BRK wrote a great introduction to using the focus commands in scripts. You can read about it here. Its about halfway down the page. The rest of the post should look a little familiar....

/focus target
This one sets your current target as your focus. See the above link for what it is used for.

/assist focus
You will pick up your focus's target so you don't have to tab your way through all the bad guys.

/cast [target=focus, exists] Misdirection, [target=pet, exists] Misdirection
I use this to cast Misdirection on my tank in instances. It is handy to use while grinding, or if your tank goes down and Fido needs to off tank until a combat rez can happen. If you have no focus selected MD will be cast on your pet.

/castsequence reset=5 Scorpid Sting, Mend Pet
This little gem can make the difference between a raid group picking you or that other DPS guy. Casting scorpid sting on the Boss Mob will reduce the damage your tank takes by 5% and helps to keep the tank from getting hit by crushing blows. I recommend starting every instance fight with this spell, and keeping it up through the entire fight.

The second thing this does is toss your pet a Mend Pet. Since this spell is a heal-over-time spell it will help keep Fido alive through the whole fight. As a BM hunter my raid buffs depend on my pet being alive and in combat.

First push of the button sends the tanks some love, the second lets your pet know you care. What Fun!!

General Macro's
/bg Thanks for the heals, you rock!!
Pretty self explanatory here, if I see someone toss me a heal in a battleground I say thanks in the bg chat channel. And I swear if I see you toss my pet a heal in a battleground I will become your personal Valet/Bodyguard. It makes me tear up I swear....

/hello
/wave
This is just a standard how-ya-doin' macro. Try using it on city guards and NPCs, sometimes they respond. My Drenai Pally Hazzmat waves at all the hottie guards in Stormwind. He is quite popular actually....