POM + Hotstreak + Alter Time

[Milamber]

Sometimes when I use POM + Pyroblast! + Alter Time, I can't cast 4 Instant Pyros, but only 3. Anyone else experiencing this?

[Deleted]

Its not PoM + Hotstreak you need, bum PoM + Pyroblast! (the buff, not the spell).

PoM + Pyroblast! = 2 pyro before AT, 2 pyro After.


With PoM + Hotstreak, if your pyro doesnt crit, you don't have a second pyro.

[Milamber]

I guess I messed up the buff names. I meant "Pyroblast!" not Hotstreak, sorry. I edited the post, but I can't edit the thread title.

[Shangalar]

Hotstreak = Pyroblast! Rather, one is the buff you get after two consecutive crits which allows you to cast the other.

So yeah. But the order needs to be:

Hot Streak, PoM, Alter Time, Pyro, Pyro, reactivate Alter Time, Pyro, Pyro, Combustion.

This is all written in the Fire guide so I don't understand why another thread about this pops up every 5 days.

[TyralisUH]

It might be a problem in your macro. If you have a macro like this :

#showtooltip Alter Time
/cast Berserking
/cast Alter Time
/cast Presence of Mind

They're all off GCD but the order will be kept. So you will cast AT before PoM, therefore not having a 2nd PoM when AT fades.

However, there is still a problem with that kind of macro, even if It's done right. I don't know if I'm the only one having this problem as a Troll but when I include Berserking to this macro, it sometimes ignores either PoM or Berserking. So the following macro doesn't work well either :

#showtooltip Alter Time
/cast Berserking
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Alter Time

In my opinion, you should just have PoM off the macro and cast it by yourself before using the macro. You should keep Berserking + AT macro if you're a Troll.
If you are not a Troll, I suggest you only use a PoM + AT macro. There shouldn't be any problems with it.

Always make sure AT is a the end of the line if you're making that kind of macro.

[Malfecto]

I am about to swap from using this AT/PoM macro. To be honest, you can get unlucky, drop one crit, then cast the next pyro and have it not crit, actually reducing the damage of the ignite. I've been watching carefully on myBigignite, and it regularly shows this. I have taken to simply combusting off my first big pyro crit after I get a good ignite rolling. I guess, yes technically the extra pyros, even the ones generated midstream from HU + crits, are a lot of extra damage, but I'm finding that so far, the macro can sometimes leave me in a bad spot where I have to cancel early to get out of dangerous areas. I know that's mostly getting used to the fights, but sometimes its unavoidable, and waiting for a safe time to, say, not get AT back out of sharing the Frostbite debuff, can mean not using it.

[Milamber]

So yeah. But the order needs to be:
Hot Streak, PoM, Alter Time, Pyro, Pyro, reactivate Alter Time, Pyro, Pyro, Combustion.

That's exactly what I'm doing, yet sometimes my 4th Pyro is not instacast.

[Shangalar]

You don't use all 6 seconds of Alter Time. You need only one macro, the pyro button and the combustion button. If you are worried that latency might screw you then you jump in place while executing the macro.

Macro:
/cast Presence of Mind
/cast Alter Time
/cast Pyroblast

Timeline:
1. Notice you got Hot Streak
2. Hit Macro
3. Hit Pyroblast
4. Hit Macro
5. Hit Pyroblast
6. Hit Combustion

It's sometimes better to use Combustion before the fourth Pyroblast if you had good crits before. Sometimes you will even get more Pyroblasts if two in a row crit as well, then you use them before cancelling alter time.

Go to a dummy and train for half an hour, it will be worth it.

---------- Post added 2013-03-08 at 03:00 PM ----------

That's exactly what I'm doing, yet sometimes my 4th Pyro is not instacast.

Again, PoM needs to be cast before AT and sometimes latency causes it to malfunction. Jump while using the spells.

[Deleted]

That's exactly what I'm doing, yet sometimes my 4th Pyro is not instacast.

Same happens to me, I'll try to simulate it with a Dummy when I'm at home.

[Milamber]

Ah thanks.
I do however often use all 6 seconds of Alter Time (when I used a Pot or BL is active).

[Deleted]

Nope, doesn't work unconditionally.
Hotstreak+HU+PoM --> Alter Time --> 2 Pyros --> casting FB --> AT expires --> Hotstreak+HU+PoM back --> FB finishes ---> PoM away

The problem is the FB. If you reactivate AT by yourself, it works. If you're casting FB while it expires, the FB will eat the PoM.

[Deleted]

That's exactly what I'm doing, yet sometimes my 4th Pyro is not instacast.

I have same issue. Only way to 100% avoid this problem is waiting a second before using 2nd pyroblast!.

[Deleted]

Ah thanks.
I do however often use all 6 seconds of Alter Time (when I used a Pot or BL is active).

You shouldnt, as fire you have to end the AT before the 6 seconds to maximize the possibility of combustion damage.

[Dezx]

Ah thanks.
I do however often use all 6 seconds of Alter Time (when I used a Pot or BL is active).

Why would you do that, the point of using AT in fire is so that you get the 4 pyros to hit back to back to increase ignite.

[SuperSirius]

Why would you do that, the point of using AT in fire is so that you get the 4 pyros to hit back to back to increase ignite.

Don't forget that PoM is used last, so if you get a good chain of crits from hot streak, and then you use the PoM one which doesn't include the 25% increased damage to pyro, the ignite drops.

[Deleted]

Don't forget that PoM is used last, so if you get a good chain of crits from hot streak, and then you use the PoM one which doesn't include the 25% increased damage to pyro, the ignite drops.

Yeah but that has nothing to do with using the full 6 seconds or not.

You have to decide when you use the macro, to take the risk or not to continue before hitting combustion. Either you hit combustion whenever you have 2 crits in a row, or you take the risks to continue to maybe get a bigger ignite, but if it doesnt crit, it'll result in a lower ignite.

[Malfecto]

Why would you do that, the point of using AT in fire is so that you get the 4 pyros to hit back to back to increase ignite.

But it doesn't always though, it depends on how you crit in the series. I have had the first two pyro's crit before AT, hit AT, pyro pyro with no crit and ended up with a lower ignite tick than I had just before AT.

OP, get a tracker like MyBigIgnite or CombustionHelper. Don't worry with the macro and just practice getting a pyro! proc and a heating up proc at the same time. Then track your ignite when you get back to back pyro crits. MyBigIgnite can do this for you easily in its stats tab, just reset it between series so you can get accurate information. Take that number and estimate a reasonable threshold for ignite. I have mine set for 30k for fights with no damage increase gimmicks.

NOW, use your macro and watch how your pyro series change your ignite tick as you use each pyro. I don't know why you would be "missing" a pyro in your series at the end unless you are just not counting properly. I haven't run into this. But if you do as I directed above, you will start to notice that pushing out the whole series is definitely a gamble. Sometimes it is better to track your ignite, and when you get a pair of pyro crits or go above your threshold, use combustion instead of just spamming out the whole series. Sure, if the series goes off with multiple crits it will be better, but even critting 2 times in the series and then not critting with PoM pyro towards the end of the series will reduce your ignite from earlier in the series.

[Deleted]

I'm getting the same thing. The pyroblast after I break AT seems to be hard cast most times. :s

[Milamber]

Thanks to all of you for your help!

[Keiyra]

I'm getting the same thing. The pyroblast after I break AT seems to be hard cast most times. :s

Yeah i think its a latency thing if you use a macro like:
/cast pom
/cast at
/cast pyroblast

When you hit it to cancel the AT, it can start to cast the pyroblast as a hardcast before your client has registered the Hot Streak and PoM buffs coming back (from canceling AT) At least thats my guess, since it happens to me sometimes as well.

If you remove the /cast pyroblast from the end of the macro you wont get those hardcast ones, but you'll have it hit it manually (u kinda get used to it if you have the hot keys right next to each other u just hit them in rapid succession.

Or as someone mentioned above (i think),you can jump when you hit the macro to cancel AT (jumping should prevent you from hard casting) and press it twice rapidly to fire off the instant pyro.

Either of those should stop the hard casts.