Steady Shot Rotation

A different friend is about to hit level 62. It's time to understand the impact of Steady Shot.

The difference between a hunter's at level 61 & level 62 can potentially be staggering. This is because of Steady Shot. If a hunter can effectively learn to cast Steady Shot "inside" his or her Auto Shot timer, he or she can quickly add 20-30% more dps vs a level 61 hunter. Steady Shot is so effective and so mana efficient, that the question becomes, "Why use any other shot?" The answer, "Only if you have to."

A hunter with a really solid connection on a fast computer & fast reflexes can "theoretically" cast Steady Shot & some other shot inside the Auto Shot timer. I've done it to be sure. But more often than not, the result has been clipping, wasted mana & lower (not greater) dps. This is especially difficult for Beastmasters with Serpent's Swiftness. Beastmasters in Raids (and under the influence of haste-like effects) have been known to have Auto Shot speeds of 1 second or less. Take me for example:

My current shot speed is 1.96 seconds. If Aspect of the Hawk proc's, I'm running at 1.7 sec. If I hit Rapid Fire alone, I'm at 1.4 sec. When both are going, I'm at 1 second. And don't get me started about Shaman Heroism. And yes, my goal is to time the cast of Steady Shot so that it and Auto Shot both go off. Sometimes, all I can do is hold on and enjoy the ride.

Now, to compound matters, I'm not just watching my shot timer to maximize my shot rotation. I'm busy. In addition, I'm also using ALL my pet abilities, trapping, managing mana, watching my threat so I can Feign Death & attempting to make snarky comments about the mages, warlocks, tanks...well everyone.

That last part is essential.

So, how the hell do I do all this? Addon & Macros. LOTS and lots of Addons & Macros.

First, a basic screen shot.

Non-Raid Screen Shot

This is my basic (non-raid) window. Notice, I like things "clean." I won't go into all my addons here. In a nutshell, I believe that every hunter use a good bar mod like Bartender3, a visually accurate cast timer like Quartz, an accurate threat meter like Omen & a keybound macro for your shot rotation.*

The goal is simple: Access the most important stuff as quickly as I can & keep my most important visual cues easy to see with minimum clutter, ie, no screen candy.

That said, the most essential components are the shot timer & the macro. I could solo and even run instances without everything else. So, let's focus there.

A Hunter Shot Timer on Quartz

The big "Steady Shot" line is the time left on my Steady Shot. The smaller gray line is my Auto Shot timer. Because this Steady Shot is ahead of the Auto Shot, I am in sync and not in danger of clipping my shot.

You can do this by clicking a Steady Shot Icon on your screen, but that will keep you from being able to click the 5 to 10 other buttons you may need. In fact, most Raid hunters I talk to don't even have a Steady or Auto Shot icon on their bar. Instead, I have my macro bound to my "4" key.

Can you find the missing Steady Shot?

OK, enough goofing around, where's the macro?

My Shot Rotation Macro

/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/cast [target=pettarget] Kill Command
/castsequence reset=1 Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()

Note: My class rep in QSS likes to write his cast sequence as/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot

The basic components of the macro are 2 scripts to clear errors, Kill Command & the rotation. My class rep, Poortyr and I played with Kill Command for a while before we got it right. We were wasting time & clipping shots too much trying to manually click the icon or even use a separate hotkey.

OK now that you know the macro and understand timing, you have to learn to use the macro. This can be done in two ways, careful timing or spamming.

Screw careful timing, just spam the button. That's right, I said spam it. When I'm shooting, I click the number 4 constantly. I use my mouse to click 99% of my other commands. Sometimes, I "pause" to introduce other abilities, but mostly I just thread the needle between the Steady Shot & the Auto Shot. Furthermore, the pet's commands run on an independent timer, so I can command my pet while I'm busy.

Raiding, especially boss fights, are frantic. I can't use wireless keyboards because they lag on me. When I tell people I use a macro for my shot, they say stuff like "I wish I played such an easy class." But if they only knew what was really happening they might change their minds about that.

I hope that this post hasn't scared you about shot rotation. Seriously, there's a reason why the hunters in my guild compete for top dps on raids. Try the timer and the macro. You'll be amazed at the difference. Also, don't forget to check back later for more combat tips.

*While all of the Addon links come from Curse.com (great mod site), I actually prefer to use WoW Ace Updater for as many mods as possible. It makes things easy to update. More on this in some other post.