The use of hot wire in laser cladding can raise the energy efficiency and the deposition rate of the process drastically. This study shows that when using hot wire, the process faces stronger restrictions to one of the process parameters, the wire nozzle height. A change of three millimeters in wire nozzle height can double the dilution. This is because of the impact of stick out length on the wire heating. But not only the heating has an effect when changing the height, it also changes the wire positioning, a parameter which is sensible for the process stability.