Do I HAVE to use sidewinders?!

[Seesam 0]

Sidewinders.... Increase dps and makes hunter feel less fun.

I like to spam and use a lot of abilities to feel active and helpful. Fights are more interesting when you really need to do stuff. With sidewinders there is less buttons to press and once in a while downtimes when you cant really do much. I hate that. So I was wondering how much will my damage output drop if I dont use sidewinders? I am concerned that my AoE will drop a lot. I play only PvE and mythic+ dungeons. 

 

Is sidewinders must have talent? Can I perform well in mythic+ without it? I would love to not use it. But I fear that I will come useless without it.  And should I chance other talents as well if I dont use sidewinders?

[Niix 169]

You will do a great deal less DPS without sidewinders. Not only is the Arcane Shot rotation significantly harder, it produces way less DPS. This sim is assuming perfect play, which frankly is very very hard.

 

Single Target:

 

3 Target Sustain:

[Seesam 0]

Just as I feared... :c and I think my 5 or more target AoE burst will drop A LOT too. I guess I will keep my eye on patch notes and hope that they buff other tier7 talents. 

[Kovert 0]

I literally feel the same way. I really hope in the future, the non-sidewinder alternatives will become more viable.

[Iridar 80]

edit: nevermind

Edited October 17, 2016 by Iridar

[Zupsero 1]

i guess you couls play BM :D

[Kufru 7]

I tried to play with trick shot sometimes, overall dps is lower than with sidewinders.

The worst i think is that it's even more dependant of procs, sometimes you can have a good burst, and seconds later have bad luck with procs and your dps is down to the ground.

It can be competitive (and fun) in mm+ if you can pack a lot of mobs every 2m30 / 3min, because the aoe burst under precision cooldown is totally insane. (not limited by sidewinders cd to spam marked shots)

Most of the time (raids & instances with small packs), it won't be as efficient as a sidewinders build, and the downtimes with bad proc streaks are so frustrating...

But i'll give it another try if I get legendary boots one day, with a shorter precision cd i think it could be really viable in mm+ (but not in raid).

[Realmouse 5]

if you want to use something more fun, do it....this IS a game after all and it is meant to be fun.  if maximizing your damage is more fun then you have a build already. i suggest trying things out and seeing for your self..find whats fun, you will probably do better with it anyway.