Extremely low dps?

[Deleted]

I hit level 85 a couple of months ago, and leveled all the way in Survival. Now, I'm marksman. Everyone tells me that this is the highest dps talent spec and I'm liking it, although I have one problem. I'm geared pretty good in my opinion yet I hit quite low DPS, it really depends on what procs when and what crits when but it's usually around 9k - 12k which is just alot lower than most people in dungeons or raids.

My rotation consists of using Steady Shot twice at the beginning, then Serpent Sting, Cobra Shot and in the first 10% of the boss's HP Aimed shot. I also use Aimed Shot when Master Marksman procs since that makes it instant and free.

I've followed alot of guides, but most notable Noxxic[.]com entry on Marksman hunters, and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what could improve my DPS.

For my armory page, please look up Aegyo on the European server Argent Dawn. (not allowed to post links.) I'm aware of the PvP belt and I mainly wear it because my 346 belt I had before just was alot worse.

(If I'm missing any information, please don't get mad, just ask for it :P.)

[shootyadead]

Ok your rotation would be part of the problem. As MM you want to open with Serpent Sting, then Rapid Fire, Readiness, Chimaera Shot, 2x Steady Shot, Arcane Shot (unless in 90% hp and you'll use Aimed Shot), 2x Steady Shot, then back to Chimaera Shot again. Cobra shot does nothing in MM spec except waste focus. You keep Improved Steady Shot up at all times and you should see everything start to go up. If you find that you are waiting on the Chimaera shot to come off of CD then use an extra arcane shot between the 2x Steady shots and you should be good to go. Hopefully that'll help.

[Namoiram]

Alright first off in Marksman you NEVER EVER cast Cobra shot. Always leave it at Steady shot. Chimera shot will refresh your Serpent Sting DoT. (Also when Chimera Shoot it off cooldown shoot it right away.)

Second off.. NEVER cast Aimed shot. Only shoot it when it's on Proc.

Build your gear around Critical and Mastery.

Hope that helps.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 09:56 AM ----------

Ok your rotation would be part of the problem. As MM you want to open with Serpent Sting, then Rapid Fire, Readiness, Chimaera Shot, 2x Steady Shot, Arcane Shot (unless in 90% hp and you'll use Aimed Shot), 2x Steady Shot, then back to Chimaera Shot again. Cobra shot does nothing in MM spec except waste focus. You keep Improved Steady Shot up at all times and you should see everything start to go up. If you find that you are waiting on the Chimaera shot to come off of CD then use an extra arcane shot between the 2x Steady shots and you should be good to go. Hopefully that'll help.

What he said. :P

[Deleted]

Alright, deleting Cobra Shot from my rotation. (I did use Chimaera Shot, forgot to mention it.)
Lets see how it goes!

-Update-
Alright, that solves alot, I'm hitting around 14.000 dps now, but it's still not as much as, for example, warriors, that can hit 17k while being in the same item level as me. Is this solely a gear problem?

[Herecius]

Don't use Cobra Shot. Never use Cobra Shot. Improved Steady Shot is an 8 second buff, and good single target MM dps assumes you're keeping a 90%+ uptime on it. Moreover, steady shot gives you Piercing Shot ticks on top of that.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 09:58 AM ----------

Second off.. NEVER cast Aimed shot. Only shoot it when it's on Proc.

Hardcasting Aimed Shot is not only acceptable while under Rapid Fire/Bloodlust, it's foolish to not do it when the boss is at 90%+.

EDIT: Improved STEADY SHOT not serpent sting rrrrrofl

[Namoiram]

Don't use Cobra Shot. Never use Cobra Shot. Improved Serpent Sting is an 8 second buff, and good single target MM dps assumes you're keeping a 90%+ uptime on it. Moreover, steady shot gives you Piercing Shot ticks on top of that.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 09:58 AM ----------


Hardcasting Aimed Shot is not only acceptable while under Rapid Fire/Bloodlust, it's foolish to not do it when the boss is at 90%+.

Huh... I always heard to never cast it only when it's on proc...

[Moinaldo]

You are missing some enchants, reforge and some glyphs... Try to cap the hit, even though you are near the cap, that may be the reason of the high fluctuation in your DPS...

Aside from the above, I can just recommend keep always the imp. steady shot buff, chimera on CD, and then you decide whether you dump focus on arcane shot or be an aimed shot caster.

[melodramocracy]

Second off.. NEVER cast Aimed shot. Only shoot it when it's on Proc.

Interesting. I've been seeing higher damage when I cast aimed instead of arcane's. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

[Skybluesky]

Cobra shot does nothing in MM spec except waste focus.

While you are correct that MM shouldn't use Cobra, what you wrote above is incorrect, and this is basic information. Cobra shot doesn't cost focus, it regenerates it. It also increases the duration of your serpent sting. And it does damage.

[Whitcher]

Huh... I always heard to never cast it only when it's on proc...

Hersheys knows what he's talking about.

[Herecius]

While you are correct that MM shouldn't use Cobra, what you wrote above is incorrect, and this is basic information. Cobra shot doesn't cost focus, it regenerates it. It also increases the duration of your serpent sting. And it does damage.

I suppose it is worth mentioning that Cobra Shot, doing nature damage, is quite useful for PvP purposes as MM, but is still virtually worthless in PvE. Unless we come across another physical immune mob like that one add in the Lady Deathwhisper fight.

[Beace]

There's more people than OP in this thread that don't know what they should be doing as MM. Assuming your target is gonna live for a while:

MD tank
RF
AiS
SSx2
<keep casting AiS and SSx2 as focus allows until RF runs out>
Readiness
RF
<keep casting AiS and SSx2 as focus allows until RF runs out>
<soon as your target falls below 90%, you start using serpent sting and CS, not before)

That part takes about 30 seconds, and will give you a huge dmg lead that noone other than arcane mages can compete with. When the second RF runs out, you start with the basic rotation of doing CS on cooldown, with SSx2 and AS inbetween, and using up MM procs. Under bloodlust or other similar effects, you always switch out AS for AiS. It's also perfectly viable to hardcast AiS all the time instead of AS if you have the passive haste to support it, all up to personal preference.

[Marxman]

Second off.. NEVER cast Aimed shot. Only shoot it when it's on Proc.

This is wrong. Aimed Shot spam is easily the highest DPS if you can maintain position and just shoot at a boss for extended periods of time. The Arcane Shot rotation is for VERY low levels of Haste and for movement fights. Even then, I fire at least twice as many Aimed Shots as Arcane Shots during movement fights.

Second, to the OP, your reforges, your glyphs, and your spec are wrong. That could lead to a thousand DPS loss or more right there. Always prioritize Hit and Crit, and after that you really want Haste over Mastery if you're going the AiS route (which you should).

[Horcjr]

Huh... I always heard to never cast it only when it's on proc...

That was before 4.0.6....


Back to the OP,

This is what I do,

First 90% (100% - 90%)

Cooldown Macro > Steady x2 > Aimed Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady x4-5 (until full focus) > Aimed Shot > Aimed Shot (Until Rapid Fire wears)

Readiness > Cooldown Macro > Repeat above rotation ^^

After that,

Apply Serpent Sting only once then, Chimera Shot > Steady x2 > Aimed Shot > Steady x2-3 (Depending on Haste proc) > Chimera repeat.



For my T12 4pc procs, I tend to use it on an Aimed Shot, followed by a Kill Command, OR Chimera shot to maximize the effect of the buggy-ness we have now.
If you others haven't noticed, your T12 4pc proc only disappears when your 'free shots' hit the target.

On a fight with long bullet/arrow travel time, I can cast Aimed Shot > Aimed Shot + Chimera/Kill Command.

[Deleted]

Don't expect MM to be OP for instances, it's really a Boss-fight build and suffers easily if you have to move a lot. Follow the advice of the others and you'll definitely see a DPS-gain. Also, move points from survivaltactics to one with nature. Traps can push your DPS, but it's not where the strengths off MM lie. Improved serpent sting is only a minor DPS-gain, you could change to frenzy instead.

[lolo855]

Second off.. NEVER cast Aimed shot. Only shoot it when it's on Proc.

Hardcasting AS at better gear level's as focus dumb is a dps gain.

---------- Post added 2011-10-02 at 09:03 AM ----------

That was before 4.0.6....


Back to the OP,

This is what I do,

First 90% (100% - 90%)

Cooldown Macro > Steady x2 > Aimed Shot > Aimed Shot > Steady x4-5 (until full focus) > Aimed Shot > Aimed Shot (Until Rapid Fire wears)

Readiness > Cooldown Macro > Repeat above rotation ^^

After that,

Apply Serpent Sting only once then, Chimera Shot > Steady x2 > Aimed Shot > Steady x2-3 (Depending on Haste proc) > Chimera repeat.



For my T12 4pc procs, I tend to use it on an Aimed Shot, followed by a Kill Command, OR Chimera shot to maximize the effect of the buggy-ness we have now.
If you others haven't noticed, your T12 4pc proc only disappears when your 'free shots' hit the target.

On a fight with long bullet/arrow travel time, I can cast Aimed Shot > Aimed Shot + Chimera/Kill Command.

Pretty much what he said but if you can try to start with AS so that it hits when boss is pulled ( it's a free AS with 'no cast time' ) and then follow his rotation will give you a little extra dps ( and i hate to waste focus )

[heinevilla]

I'm doing it this way; Start out with Serpent Sting, then burst all the focus with arcane shot, build it up again with steady shot, when you are about to reach max focus the serpent sting should have about 5-6 seconds left on the target, then use chimera, and burst rest focus on arcane shot - and ofc use aimed shot EVERYTIME it procs - and then time rapid fire and readiness with the fight, bloodlust and so on... btw, as MM you wanna reforged into haste and crit.. not crit an mastery. I can't link my hunter atm, because armory is down, but i think I have 370 ilevel, and i do around 28k dps average.

[krallamulla]

wait wut?

you start off by fight with SrS and then spam arcane?!

[Speedlance]

Alright first off in Marksman you NEVER EVER cast Cobra shot. Always leave it at Steady shot. Chimera shot will refresh your Serpent Sting DoT. (Also when Chimera Shoot it off cooldown shoot it right away.)

Second off.. NEVER cast Aimed shot. Only shoot it when it's on Proc.

Build your gear around Critical and Mastery.

Hope that helps.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 09:56 AM ----------



What he said. :P

well he should use chim before using readines, so he get another chim right of the bat

[Anonimus]

Your spec is wrong, use a 7/31/3.
Gem, enchant and belt buckle your gear, get a Flintlocke's Woodchucker.
Glyph of Explosive Shot? For real Monique? Get a SS and an AS Glyph, and CS or RF for the last one (personally prefer CS).
Starting off a bossfight is SrS -> CS -> RF -> Readiness -> AiS and SS Spam, use CS at the latest moment to refresh SrS until boss goes below 90%.
Under large haste effects, Aimed Shot could become an option but not with your gear.
Get hit capped.
Get proper professions at a proper level.

Do that and tell me what you've found .