PvP (MM) - Steady focus V thrill of the hunt

[CellarDoor]

Please read before voting.

Looking to get some opinions from avid arena hunters on this. I tested my dps on the dummy, (obviously not the best way to test raw dps) in pvp gear and steady focus was ~5-10% higher damage. I have also tried both talents out in actual pvp settings. Right now with how fast players die, both in skirmishes and bgs, neither talent gets much use. You need to spend focus to get the thrill proc, and you need to be very low on focus to justify 2x steadies in a row for steady focus. Since people usually die before my focus bar is empty due to how the game is played right now, its been difficult for me to determine what talent is better. As it stands for the pre-patch, im leaning towards ToTH mainly because it is easier to play.

Thrill seems to be the talent to take for easier, more sustained damage. Steady focus is harder to get off, and more susceptible to LoS, but it provides slightly better burst potential and would allow you to purge MUCH more often in optimal conditions. Steady Focus is definitely the talent to take if you will need to purge a lot. Purging is going to be vastly more important this expansion especially when fighting Rdruids and disc priests, but there is also a lot less random garbage buffs to purge off now. I dont know how many purgable buffs will be added at 100, and that will be a big factor in determining which talent is better. As it stands, I can purge more than enough now with ToTH. Also keep in mind that ToTH can actually be procd by tranq shot since it costs focus.


Now there is the issue of LoS. Steady focus would be my talent to choose if LoS didn't exist. It's higher PvE damage and you have a lot of focus at your disposal to either do damage or purge with, It also may make barrage more viable since it is such an expensive ability, but it is no longer garbage like it was in MoP. Now, mm hunters are susceptible to line of sight regardless of which talent you choose, but steady focus definitely makes it worse. You can always be lined on an aimed shot, but with steady focus so many times I get randomly charged, stunned, coiled, 1/4dr poly or fear etc on the second steady shot. And when the cc is over chimera shot is up and you basically MUST use it on cooldown. This means you have to cast two steadies all over again, usually having too much focus to make this optimal because a lot of focus was regenerated from the first steady shot and passively while sitting cc. The duration of Steady Focus was also reduced from 20 seconds in MoP to 10 seconds now, meaning that its not feasible at all to have it up 100% of the time.

The pace of the game is also going to greatly affect these talents. Damage is so high right now that you can kill someone who uses no defensives in a 10 second window with normal sustained damage from your partner without either of these talents. The extra damage from them would simply be overkill. If the pace slows down a little, and you need burst to kill in this 10 second window, then steady focus will provide higher damage and more reliable damage, because you are in control of when you get the buff. If the pace slows down even more, you often cannot kill in a 10 second window, and longer cc chains will be needed. In a 15-20 second window, (Hoj/stormbolt, trap, half wyvern, fear --> silence, or cyclone would be a pretty standard chain) ToTH will provide higher damage, especially assuming that the enemy dps that is not being killed will be trying his hardest to peel, and I have already went over why I think steady focus is more vulnerable to cc and LoS.

Thrill of the hunt

Pros

• Easier
  Sustained PvP Damage

Cons

• Less purging
  Less burst
  You can be ccd and lined until the procs fall off.

Steady Focus

• Higher raw PvE damage
  More purging
  More short window burst

Cons

• Harder Rotation to manage
  VERY susceptible to LoS and cc
  Lower sustained pvp damage

[Trictagon]

I'm not sure of your exact testing conditions; but, for raw damage thrill of the hunt is less than 1% behind steady focus, but it obviously has more of a random element to it. I would say, without a doubt, thrill of the hunt is the optimal talent for pvp. To be clear, steady focus only works on passive regen, both for your pet and yourself. And if you didn't see it, the new default thrill of the hunt proc notification places three blue arrows on your screen, each one representing a thrill of the hunt charge. Using a charge consumes one arrow. I also must disagree with thrill providing "less burst" in PvP, because (after some setup) once thrill of the hunt is active, you can proceed to spam many aimed shots back to back, all of them being Crits if rapid fire is active.

I'm not sure which talent in this tier you've been using, but barrage pairs well with thrill of the hunt, it does similar damage to glaive toss including the high focus cost; however, since it costs 60 focus, it has a 60% chance to proc thrill of the hunt. One barrage cast does more damage than one aimed shot if your target is below 80% health, since careful aim will not guarantee an aimed shot crit.

In regard to steady focus vs thrill for spamming tranquilizing shot, think of it this way: less focus spent per aimed shot means more focus available for tranq shot.

The only benefit steady focus has over thrill is less than 1% increased damage hitting a single target that doesn't LoS and lives for an incredibly long time. This simply does not happen in PvP.

[Bertimus]

I'm not sure which talent in this tier you've been using, but barrage pairs well with thrill of the hunt, it does similar damage to glaive toss including the high focus cost

Sorry if this is a noob question, but do you mean each barrage is doing comparable damage to each glaive toss, despite the fact that barrage costs 60 focus and glaive costs 15? Or do you mean that over time, they end up doing a similar amount of damage?

[Trictagon]

Sorry if this is a noob question, but do you mean each barrage is doing comparable damage to each glaive toss, despite the fact that barrage costs 60 focus and glaive costs 15? Or do you mean that over time, they end up doing a similar amount of damage?

Your overall damage is the same with barrage and glaive toss, all factors included such as the extra abilities the focus could be used on when using glaive toss. One barrage does significantly more damage than one glaive toss, but at a higher cost and cooldown. Barrage does 960% weapon damage to your primary target, and 480% to non-primary targets. Glaive toss deals a total of 288.8% AP damage to the primary target.

[Rysdan316]

I ain't vote it, use TotH for now and to the end of gears then use steady focus. Because End Gears have more haste for reduce steady/cobra shot casting and also even use focus regen.

[Bertimus]

Your overall damage is the same with barrage and glaive toss, all factors included such as the extra abilities the focus could be used on when using glaive toss. One barrage does significantly more damage than one glaive toss, but at a higher cost and cooldown. Barrage does 960% weapon damage to your primary target, and 480% to non-primary targets. Glaive toss deals a total of 288.8% AP damage to the primary target.

Thank you for clearing this up for me!

[Sesethi]

tbh i prefer Steady Focus, each of these two talents have their drawnbacks of course such as RNG and losing an aimed shot cast due to TotH falling off during mid cast when with somewhat low/mid focus for TotH and Focus clipping with Steady Focus

[Deleted]

tbh i prefer Steady Focus, each of these two talents have their drawnbacks of course such as RNG and losing an aimed shot cast due to TotH falling off during mid cast when with somewhat low/mid focus for TotH and Focus clipping with Steady Focus

You really have to screw up or have no players in range for a long time to make it fall off.

[Sesethi]

I'm talking about pve and on general though, don't care about PvP that much, don't think MM might be that attractive with the mastery system and the cast timers with teams that can pillar hug or LoS you, even though the dmg is really good.