The Mage Tower is finally here, and with it comes 36 challenging boss encounters tuned specifically for each specialization in World of Warcraft.
In this guide, we will talk about tips and tricks needed to complete the Marksmanship Hunter Mage Tower Challenge, including talents, gear, and everything you need to know about the encounter.
Many guides out there are talking about specific gear sets featuring old tier sets with extra sockets, and old legendary items with extra stats, but none of this is required to complete the challenge.
It is recommended to fully enchant what gear you do have and use consumables to make sure you are performing to the best you can and every small bonus definitely counts, especially for this guide.
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How To Complete The Marksmanship Hunter Mage Tower "Thwarting The Twins"
Talents
Many other guides talk about running Barrage to deal with the small mobs, but Explosive Shot is a better option for this guide specifically, more explained in the next section.
General Tips & Strategy
There are of course many different ways to approach each challenge, however, this guide has a specific style, which was to get as much damage out as soon as possible and end the fight before Karam gets too fast.
The whole point of this strategy is to take advantage of the Marksmanship burst windows, which are enhanced by the hunter toolkit.
Before bursting ensure Rune of Summoning is soaked and Hand from Beyond has been slain, and then either Freezing Trap or Binding Shot Karem and do as much damage to Raest while you can.
You will need a macro that casts Concussive Shot on Karem without having to target him, just make sure he is set as your focus target. This will need to be up
/cast [target=focus] Concussive Shot
You will also want to bind your Move To pet ability to deal with Runes of Summoning later in the fight.
To be safe, you will want to play with a pet out 100% of the time, one for lust, and two for soaking in phase 2/3. I recommend going with a wolf for the lust and 10% leech.
When it comes to the small adds, cleave them down when you can by running Karem through them and cleaving with Trick Shots, Volley, and Explosive Shot.
Aspect of the Turtle should only be used to live a hit from Karem, or if a cast is about to go through from the Hand from Beyond.
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Phase 1
Each phase adds extra mechanics to deal with, resulting in the difficulty ramping up as the fight continues.
You will want to pull with a Binding Shot on the ground Double Tap Aimed Shot, Explosive Shot, and Volley and continue kiting Karem around until he phases at 33%.
Aim to have this done 1 minute into the fight as Double Tap comes back up ready to burst Raest.
When Raest is active, this is the first opportunity to use lust, and I recommend doing so here with all cooldowns as there is little going on. You have 30 seconds to do as much DPS as you can and should aim to have Raest below 80% health (lower the better).
Phase 2
Phase 2 begins with Raest going invulnerable again and Karem activating, and you will need to get him down to 33% again.
Repeat the steps above, but now you will need to deal with a new mob type the Hand From Beyond, which requires players to interrupt a 10-second cast and kill the hand, although it is pretty weak and a few attacks will finish it off.
Letting the cast go through is an instant wipe to be sure to have good vision on them at all times.
Once Raest is active, ensure you are in a safe position and a Hand won't spawn and have Trueshot ready to use.
Put as much damage into Raest as you can and you want to aim to have him under 60% this time, the lower means less damage in the last phase and shorter the fight will continue.
Here is where the Rune of Summoning also begins, be sure to have your pet ready to move and stand in the middle of the circle as anything standing in it will prevent the Thing from Beyond from spawning, and if it does spawn it is a wipe.
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Phase 3
Phase 3 will now begin with Karem active, as well as Raest. Here you will want to only focus damage into Raest while having as close to 100% uptime on Concussive shot on Karem as you can.
Kite around the center of the room, dealing with the small adds, slowing Karem, soaking Runes of Summoning, and killing Hands from Beyond.
Put as much damage into Raest as you can as this will make the fight that much easier. This is the most important factor.
Remember to use Freezing Trap and Binding Shot to maximize burst phases during this period especially when using Trueshot as this is the most important time to deal damage.
A lot of the fight is Progressing the phases, and especially phase 3. It all comes down to how much damage can you fit into each burst window and the more experience you get on the fight to better you will get.
The fight should last 8-9 minutes any longer and Karem will start to get too fast, resulting in one mistake causing the end.
Final Thoughts
The Marksmanship Hunter Mage Tower "Thwarting the Twins" is a very well-designed fight, that makes players use everything in their kits to deal with a number of different mechanics and enemies.
The tuning is perfect for the fight while being a difficult DPS check, you really feel like you are progressing the phases especially once everything is happening all at once towards the end.
Good luck to the hunters out there hoping to complete this Mage Tower Challenge, if you have any questions don't hesitate to message me on Twitter, or if you are after any advice.
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