Vulnerable - How many Aimed Shots?

[Pharoanx 0]

Hello fellow pewpewers, I have seen in guides that we should only cast 2 Aimed Shots per Vulnerable cycle. However, I have enough haste to cast 3 Aimed Shots. Is there a benefit with casting just 2, or should I pool enough focus to cast 3?

Here is a link to my armory: https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/character/dawnbringer/pharoanx

Thank you for any info you can send my way.

[Luthixx 138]

If you can reliably cast 3 every time with the last one landing at <1 sec on Vulnerable, go for it!

[Khallid 110]

Casting 3 on every Vulnerable is unsustainable in the long run. You basically run out of focus for the next Vulnerable. It's very likely that after shooting 3 Aimed Shots in one Vulnerable, you will only be able to shoot 1 in the next, or you will have to delay before using Marked Shot. Overall dps is fairly similar. It's a bit better to shoot only 2 so they only hit at the end of Vulnerable where Patient Sniper is stronger. If you shoot 3 that means you're sending the first Aimed shot at the very beginning of Patient Sniper.

So it's only good to cast 3 if you know you're going to have to move to avoid a boss mechanic or something like that right after, so you can shoot a few Arcane Shots in a row afterwards.

Edited June 28, 2017 by Khallid

[Pharoanx 0]

Luthixx, thank you for your enthusiasm!

Khalid, thank you for your feedback - It's just weird having enough time/focus regen to cast 3 0.o

Edited June 28, 2017 by Pharoanx

[Luthixx 138]

8 hours ago, Khallid said:

Casting 3 on every Vulnerable is unsustainable in the long run. You basically run out of focus for the next Vulnerable. It's very likely that after shooting 3 Aimed Shots in one Vulnerable, you will only be able to shoot 1 in the next, or you will have to delay before using Marked Shot. Overall dps is fairly similar. It's a bit better to shoot only 2 so they only hit at the end of Vulnerable where Patient Sniper is stronger. If you shoot 3 that means you're sending the first Aimed shot at the very beginning of Patient Sniper.

So it's only good to cast 3 if you know you're going to have to move to avoid a boss mechanic or something like that right after, so you can shoot a few Arcane Shots in a row afterwards.

Yeah, as a BM hunter I tend to forget that focus gen isn't as fluid as it is for us - it's probably still better to go the whole AiS - AS - AiS (landing at <1 sec on vulnerable) etc.

 

[Khallid 110]

20 hours ago, Pharoanx said:

Khalid, thank you for your feedback - It's just weird having enough time/focus regen to cast 3 0.o

It's not weird to be able to cast 3 during Vulnerable. You only need about 10% Haste to do that, so it's fairly logical to assume everyone has that much. However the guides don't recommend to do so because you run out of focus, so you have to spam Arcane Shot back to back, and possibly waste a lot of Marking Target procs. The rotation is supposed to cast Marked shot (to get vulnerable up), then one arcane shot first, then two aimed shots. This pushes the aimed shots towards the end of Patient Sniper and doesn't spend all the focus at once. If you have enough Haste (I don't know the value but it's high) you can get two Arcane shots when you open vulnerable with Windburst, then two aimed shots. Using Windburst to open Vulnerable lets you hit the next shot one GCD ahead than when you use Marked Shot.

Edit: Also, you can and should cast more aimed shots during Trueshot, but we were not discussing that part of the rotation :P

Edited June 29, 2017 by Khallid

[Zoultry 1]

Thanks for your explanation on this, I was intuitively firing as many aimed shots as I could in one vulnerable and would be focused starved after. 

What I need clarification on is when i've gotten both aimed shots off, low focus, and marked shot proc is up. If I don't use it at this point  it would expire. Do I use it and end up with zero focus and vuln up, or do ignore it and start arcane shotting up to 70 focus hoping for a new marked shot proc ? 

If I do end up in a situation where I have no focus and fresh vulnerable because I used that marked shot at the end because I have to move, do i arcane until enough focus to aim shot, then arcane and get another aim shot, before vuln expires, or double arcane then double aim shot.

I guess my dilemma is should I be trying to get extra marked shots for more marked shot dmg, or should I only be using marked shot to refresh vuln. I'm always tempted to throw out the marked shot when it procs es when im low focus and feel like I won't be able to get anything else out for a while till I get 70+ focus again. (ugh or was I supposed to start my own thread lol -_- )

Edited June 29, 2017 by Zoultry

[Pharoanx 0]

Cool, I understand now. And yes, Trueshot is another topic ;)

[Khallid 110]

7 hours ago, Zoultry said:

Thanks for your explanation on this, I was intuitively firing as many aimed shots as I could in one vulnerable and would be focused starved after. 

What I need clarification on is when i've gotten both aimed shots off, low focus, and marked shot proc is up. If I don't use it at this point  it would expire. Do I use it and end up with zero focus and vuln up, or do ignore it and start arcane shotting up to 70 focus hoping for a new marked shot proc ? 

If I do end up in a situation where I have no focus and fresh vulnerable because I used that marked shot at the end because I have to move, do i arcane until enough focus to aim shot, then arcane and get another aim shot, before vuln expires, or double arcane then double aim shot.

I guess my dilemma is should I be trying to get extra marked shots for more marked shot dmg, or should I only be using marked shot to refresh vuln. I'm always tempted to throw out the marked shot when it procs es when im low focus and feel like I won't be able to get anything else out for a while till I get 70+ focus again. (ugh or was I supposed to start my own thread lol -_- )

The short version is: only use Marked Shots to proc Vulnerable, or if you have to move for mechanics and can't stand to use Aimed Shot.