Hunter- priming shots for extra focus~

[Janube]

Gaining extra focus by priming abilities

This is a guide for something I'm sure some hunters know, and most hunters DO, however, I'm also relatively certain most hunters don't realize that they're doing it.

Why this works

When you're in the middle of casting a spell and you try to cast another spell within about .5 seconds from the end of the original cast, it primes the second ability to use automatically as the first ability finishes. This effectively allows a hunter to shoot Steady Shot or Cobra Shot at the exact same time as a second ability that doesn't have a cast time.

Cobra and Steady Shot both deliver their 9 focus as the shot actually hits an enemy, unlike shots with focus costs, which spend the focus AS the shot is made.

What this means is that by priming an ability like serpent sting at the beginning of a fight by casting Cobra Shot first, your 100 focus will go down to 75 before recovering 9 despite having shot Cobra Shot first.

Video documenting how this looks

Method

When you want to employ this tactic, simply cast Cobra Shot or Steady Shot, and when the cast bar is almost full, as pictured below, start to cast any other shot.

What exactly does this do for me?

This allows you to start a fight using Cobra Shot with any focus-cost shot, starting the fight with a boost of damage and 9 focus MORE than you would otherwise.



I was struggling with whether this was an exploit or not, but I don't think there was anything against any intended Blizzard mechanic. Just a clever use of what we're given.

Hope you enjoy!

[Hellson]

I'm sure several hunters will find this quite helpful.
Well laid out and explained. +Rep from me.

[Janube]

=D Thanks a bunch!

[azza]

also if you use the castbar addon called quartz it will tell you when to press the second ability.


when the orange bar reaches the red bar is when you queue the next shot up.
it also helps for those who are lagging to speed up thier rotations.

PS. i know the picture is from a mage using quartz but it works the same way.

[Taso]

awesome guide. i got it working today. it can be used at any time where your using cobra shot with full or nearly full focus.

[Janube]

Excellent, I'm glad someone else is getting use out of this.

I'd love to hear other critiques of the guide, both in content and style.

[daboof]

This isn't even the best way to optimize your rotation. Given latency and potential client-side issues, your best bet is to always be spamming the ability you want to cast next.

[CuT]

This isn't even the best way to optimize your rotation. Given latency and potential client-side issues, your best bet is to always be spamming the ability you want to cast next.

lazy leecher... he even explained the MAIN point of why this is useful. I'm going to start off my rotation like this from now on. I realized this before, as it is somewhat common sense, but never realized that it could be helpful at the beginning of a fight especially.

+5 , really easy to understand too.

[Janube]

This isn't even the best way to optimize your rotation. Given latency and potential client-side issues, your best bet is to always be spamming the ability you want to cast next.

Indeed, the intent of this guide is for opening shots to save focus. I particularly find it helpful for any dailies that require me to kill multiple things in a row.
But hey, if this guide isn't useful to you, don't use it. ;P