Serpent Sting useless for BM at 80?

[Deleted]

Right now at level 80 (i dont know how it will be at level 81+) serpent sting just feels like a waste of focus for beastmastery hunters and i dont use it at all in my rotation because... it costs just as much focus as arcane shot but deals less damage (i have glyph for arcane shot) so why would you use serpent sting over arcane shot at this point?

Cobra shot might make it usefull when cataclysm hits but im not sure

[Arrowstormen]

because Serpent sting deals damage over time. and im pretty sure it deals more damage.
,

[Deleted]

www.elitistjerks.com

[SoulPoetry]

i assume you're using t10 and have noticed that the 4 piece bonus gives you 20% AP on SS tick? maybe people have done maths on it and found that it isnt worth it, but if you're a mathy person that wants the most out of your character, i'd be confused as to why you are BM.

[Deleted]

Im no elitist but i just checked on a target dummy to compare arcane shot to serpent sting.. and i have come to this: Serpent sting deals less damage (in total) than arcane shot IF arcane shot crits but if it doesnt crit it deals more. So it might be worth is just because of the tier 10 4 piece bonus or if i respec into improved serpent sting

[grimkiller]

As BM, it's not worth even worrying about.
The damage difference will be a wash either way.
Your numbers will be roughly the same.
Now, if you are worried about getting the most out of your toon, respec to MM as it's currently the highest by a marginal difference.
If you really like BM, then play how you see fit.
The difference isn't that great to sweat.

[Ganbai]

Having to squeeze in an SS in a pure DPS rotation is a DPS loss with low gear... at some point, with most items above 251 and the t10 gear, it is viable again.

[Deleted]

yea i just tested with serpent sting in my rotation for awhile on the boss target dummy and because arcane shot is instant damage and serpent sting deals damage over 15 seconds are arcane more worth using atm.

Mainly because on recount my serpent sting damage was even below steady shot and arcane shot was on top

[SoulPoetry]

as BM i didn't find myself really using Arcane shot all that much other than in BW. most of your focus goes on KC anyway and you want to maximize KC use over everything else. i'm fairly sure worth casting with 4t10 and imp. SS.

[Deleted]

Arcane shot is a focus dump, indeed, but it is not a main nuke.
main nuke is steady shot, which you will mainly use for grinding focus for KC and serpent sting.
I only use AS while BW, and 1 time after a kill command or so.

ot:iirc, your pet also gains a little of yourT10 based ap, which increases thedamage of KC again
i try to keep ss up but i don't flame when it does come off for a second or so, it is mainly used to have the buff on constant uptime

i'm fairly sure worth casting with 4t10 and imp. SS.

i tried that out at the beginning, but this talend adds some 2k dmg on every ss, it isn't worth it

[ASO]

My Serpent Sting hits for about 1000 a non-crit tick, so 5000 total. That's with 0 crits. My arcane Shot crits for I'd guess 9000 in a solo environment.

Serpent Sting is definitely more damage; I wish we had Cobra Shot to make it not a pain to keep up, however.

---------- Post added 2010-11-03 at 06:37 PM ----------

Arcane shot is a focus dump, indeed, but it is not a main nuke.
main nuke is steady shot, which you will mainly use for grinding focus for KC and serpent sting.
I only use AS while BW, and 1 time after a kill command or so.

ot:iirc, your pet also gains a little of yourT10 based ap, which increases thedamage of KC again
i try to keep ss up but i don't flame when it does come off for a second or so, it is mainly used to have the buff on constant uptime

That's not really true. If you are over 90 Focus you are playing inefficiently. Arcane Shot is supposed to keep your Focus < 90 and > 40.

[Deleted]

That's not really true. If you are over 90 Focus you are playing inefficiently. Arcane Shot is supposed to keep your Focus < 90 and > 40.

i didn't say that remaining over 90 is good, but it depends on your haste entirely.
In one KC cd i can do 3 ss and 1 as, having +-1 second margin
with the 3 ss and focus regen, i recover slightly more focus than used by kc and my as, this overused focus is then dumped by a second as or ss in case it falls off.

this involves a reserve of 10-15 focus, in case something special is needed (trap launch f.ex.) or i make some mistakes.

[Dch48]

As BM I use both Serpent and Arcane every time I can. Arcane is the hardest hitting shot we have, especially when glyphed as it should be. At 80, it's also my opinion that BM should have 2 points in Improved serpent. After we get Cobra Shot, and if Cobra actually extends Serpent on every hit, Improved Serpent in it's live implementation becomes worthless. If live Cata gives the 10% crit rate buff to Improved, then it might be worth having again. The 4 piece T10 bonus pretty much makes Serpent essential for any spec. I also don't think that Arcane should be saved for BW. I use it at the same rate all the time. BW is just a focus regen buff coupled with a slight damage increase. I fire 2 arcanes to every 3 steadies with Serpent and KC done whenever needed.

[Deleted]

Definitely not useless, with 4pc T10 and Imp. SS the damage equals out and gives you an AP boost making your KC even more useful.

That's the short story for the long story go to elitist jerks :P