[7.3] Azortharion's Hunter Guides

[Smog]

Does barrage stack Bull's Eye faster? I was doing the last boss on Eye of Azshara and by the time I stacked up to full, the boss was dead.

Barrage stacks Bullseye per tick, yes. Just another reason you should be spec'd Barrage as MM.

[Chickensoup23]

Question for you guys (and you Azorth!). So of course, aimed and marked both benefit from vulnerable and we want to squeeze as many aimed shots before and after marked shot is casted (because sidewinders --> vuln & marked --> vuln).

How many aimed shots do you guys get off in a typical window? I found that SW followed by two Aimed + Marked is VERY tight but doable, and if I cast something else in between (like BA) I can only squeeze in one so I feel like I "waste" 1/1.5s of vulnerable uptime as I have to refresh early since I can't squeeze in a second one just quite.

Basically, is there a haste treshold that eventually helps or should I just keep trying to keep it tight? After marked is cast, it's generally easy to fit in 2 aimed as there's no need to worry about whether or not you can fit a marked (such as after SW), so that's easier. But it's the SW --> vulnerable --> Aimed (x1-2) --> Marked window I'm worried about.

Also, this one is completely separate, but when does one use Windburst properly? When everything else is down such as no more SW w/ procs, no other things to cast (BA) and we use it as a focus dump instead of aimed, or do we just cast in on CD regardless of vulnerable?

[Deleted]

What I usually do is SW > Vulnerable > AiS > MS > AiS > etc, simply to keep Marked for Death up while also making sure I extend the Vulnerable debuff enough to a point where I don't hit dry points in my rotation where I can't do anything except wait for sideys or more focus.

[Azortharion]

Marked for Death and Vulnerable is the same debuff. There is no Marked for Death debuff.

[Deleted]

Marked for Death and Vulnerable is the same debuff. There is no Marked for Death debuff.

I won't argue against that as I've never actually seen the debuff appear in the game (under the Marked for Death name) - but unless the tooltip is lying and/or inconclusive I would still be right by assuming that the increased Aimed Shot crit is only triggered by Marked Shots, no?

Quick edit: Checked ingame; tooltip says 6% increased AiS crit no matter what the source of the Vulnerable debuff is. So in other words one might as well go 2x AiS > MS instead of AiS > MS > AiS. Silly wording by Blizzard, I'm assuming it is done like this because by default as an mm hunter I believe you can only apply Vulnerable with MS anyways..

[Chickensoup23]

Marked for Death and Vulnerable is the same debuff. There is no Marked for Death debuff.

So how many aimed shots do you cast before refreshing vulnerable with marked?

[Hayro1]

Azor, what's the DR on mastery? is there a set number or?

[Deleted]

I'm still very unclear about use of sidewinders charges. The updated guide recommends using Windburst pretty much on CD, behind Barrage and Marked shot in the priority. But if i've got 3-4 seconds of vulnerable left when WB comes off CD, and sidewinders is about to / just hits 2 charges, what do I do? DO I SW to get the CD rolling again or do I WB and aimed shot until no focus THEN use SW?

Basically, how important is not letting SW stay at 2 charges?

Second question: Say I have 3 seconds of vulnerable left, about 45 focus and Barrage has ~2 seconds left on the CD. Do I pool focus and wait for barrage or just blow it on an AS as soon as possible and then delay the next barrage?

[Slicer299]

I'm still very unclear about use of sidewinders charges. The updated guide recommends using Windburst pretty much on CD, behind Barrage and Marked shot in the priority. But if i've got 3-4 seconds of vulnerable left when WB comes off CD, and sidewinders is about to / just hits 2 charges, what do I do? DO I SW to get the CD rolling again or do I WB and aimed shot until no focus THEN use SW?

Basically, how important is not letting SW stay at 2 charges?

Second question: Say I have 3 seconds of vulnerable left, about 45 focus and Barrage has ~2 seconds left on the CD. Do I pool focus and wait for barrage or just blow it on an AS as soon as possible and then delay the next barrage?

My understanding is that any cast of a non-proc Sidewinders, meaning it's not proc'd to 100% trigger Marked Shot, should be last behind everything except Aimed Shot since it's strictly a Focus dumb. And even then it can fall behind Aimed Shot in priority if you are going to cap on Focus. Although if you are doing things correctly you shouldn't be capping on Focus.

So, Marked>Barrage>Wind>Sidewinders (to prevent 2nd charge if not Focus capped)>Aimed Shot. If Sidewinders procs, it jumps to the top of the list because it's going to let you cast Marked Shot.

[Deleted]

I'm still very unclear about use of sidewinders charges. The updated guide recommends using Windburst pretty much on CD, behind Barrage and Marked shot in the priority. But if i've got 3-4 seconds of vulnerable left when WB comes off CD, and sidewinders is about to / just hits 2 charges, what do I do? DO I SW to get the CD rolling again or do I WB and aimed shot until no focus THEN use SW?

Basically, how important is not letting SW stay at 2 charges?

Second question: Say I have 3 seconds of vulnerable left, about 45 focus and Barrage has ~2 seconds left on the CD. Do I pool focus and wait for barrage or just blow it on an AS as soon as possible and then delay the next barrage?

This is just me speaking, but why do you Focus so hard on Windburst?
I think it's far more beneficial to use it whenever you have left-over Focus and can follow it up with an AiS without delaying a Mark Proc or Barrage.
For example, lets pretend you are (for whatever reason, movement or stun for example) @:

50 Focus, no Vuln on the target, no Mark and Barrage on CD for the next 4 seconds.
Is there any reason to go SW here even if you have 2 stacks waiting? I think not - just go Windburst - AiS - SW - Barrage -(MS) - AiS - SW etc. etc.

I think the worst you can do is to use SW to only apply Vuln, even if you cap on charges, if Windburst is available, use that first and hope for a Mark in the meantime. If it isn't, use SW if it reaches 2 charges instead. If you have to wait on Focus however and you are @ 2 charges, use SW of course.

I think Windburst isn't "important" enough to be as focused about it as you are on Barrage for example. I use it more like a "catch up" (because of the additional Vuln-window) mechanic when I had to move a lot etc.. It feels like it's such a waste to use it on cooldown for the sake of using it on cooldown.

[Aldare]

This is just me speaking, but why do you Focus so hard on Windburst?
I think it's far more beneficial to use it whenever you have left-over Focus and can follow it up with an AiS without delaying a Mark Proc or Barrage.
For example, lets pretend you are (for whatever reason, movement or stun for example) @:

50 Focus, no Vuln on the target, no Mark and Barrage on CD for the next 4 seconds.
Is there any reason to go SW here even if you have 2 stacks waiting? I think not - just go Windburst - AiS - SW - Barrage -(MS) - AiS - SW etc. etc.

I think the worst you can do is to use SW to only apply Vuln, even if you cap on charges, if Windburst is available, use that first and hope for a Mark in the meantime. If it isn't, use SW if it reaches 2 charges instead. If you have to wait on Focus however and you are @ 2 charges, use SW of course.

I think Windburst isn't "important" enough to be as focused about it as you are on Barrage for example. I use it more like a "catch up" (because of the additional Vuln-window) mechanic when I had to move a lot etc.. It feels like it's such a waste to use it on cooldown for the sake of using it on cooldown.

This is how I've been using Windburst as well. Not sure if it's the correct way, but the rotation feels a lot smoother.

[Deleted]

Barrage on CD, no procs, low focus: SW
Barrage on CD, no procs, high focus: Windburst

MM artifact ability is a vulnerable bot, nothing more.

[Deleted]

Marked for Death and Vulnerable is the same debuff. There is no Marked for Death debuff.

Even if it's the same debuff, Marked to Death is only applied by MS, right?

[Azortharion]

No. Just read the fixed tooltip:

[Deleted]

Silly question perhaps but.

As a BM, the guide mentions to use AMoC vs 1-3 enemies.
When reading my AMoC tooltip it says : 1.054.383 million dmg - 1 min cd. When i read my Barrage tooltip it says : 553.112 dmg - 20sec cd.

I can use 3x Barrage = 1.659.336 million dmg per minut, instead of AMoC's 1.054.383 million.

What am i missing here?

[Azortharion]

Cast time and focus cost? >_>

[Deleted]

Cast time and focus cost? >_>

See? I knew you could help :-)

[lmaoboat]

If I'm reading the guide right, Infallible Tracking Charm seems pretty comparable to ilevel 850 trinkets even when still at 815? Also, is The Devilsaurs Bite any good?

[Dracodraco]

See? I knew you could help :-)

There's also AMoC resets if you can get it on the right mob that dies 10-14 seconds into the duration. A single reset will then make you do far more damage in a minute than barrage on 1-3 targets :P.

If I'm reading the guide right, Infallible Tracking Charm seems pretty comparable to ilevel 850 trinkets even when still at 815? Also, is The Devilsaurs Bite any good?

Devilsaur's bite is in the guide as well FYI. It's mid table.

Am actually curious myself if the charm is assuming enemy target is a demon (and thus taking advantage of the damage proc or not). I'd assume yes. Also, look at the list - the tracking charm is bottom tier for the ranged hunters. Almost every trinket below the charm is a (m) trinket, meaning melee only, so ment for survival. The only one that isn't is figurehead of the naglfar - conversively, the only trinket I've received at level 840 or higher so far. Yay rng.

[Azortharion]

The Fishbrul Special food is pretty good on a single target (for BM, but testing others too)



Also on 3 targets:


Mastery food wins on 4+.

Same thing for Marksmanship except Mastery starts pulling ahead on like 3 targets again.