MoP hunter dps rotation (a work in progress)

Well, the latest build has allowed me to start working on a dps rotation, and I've had some limited success.

The big problem right now appears to be Focus Fire. If I add Focus Fire to either of my macros below, at some point it will stop working, and I have to manually click shots. I think this is because Focus Fire used to be an instant cast with a 15 second cooldown, but right now it's an instant without a cooldown (and maybe not on the GCD?) Also, with the change to Rabid, it appears to be easier to leave it on autocast and leave it out of your macros.

The following standard 2-button spam appears to be working now..

Code:

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#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat  Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,

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Code:

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/cast Kill Command

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Now the question is, how to add Focus Fire back, or do they need to fix something on it first?

I'm also looking at how the add the various 30 sec spells, but they also seem to be hanging the castseqence if they are not ready, even if I put them in the second macro.

I like threads like this, its definitely time to start threorycrafting how to play MoP specs! With the 5.0xx patch hitting the PTRs anytime now, i think the announcement of MoP release date, and the actual release date, are eminent!

I appear to have a problem.... (no, not that problem, a problem with the macros)

From my testing with the macros above, after a while, the first macro (the arcane/cobra one) will hang, and will require exiting combat to get it working again.

I've tried with combat/15 and a few other variations, with no luck yet. It will go for a while, and then hang at wierd spots. I'm also still manually casting Focus Fire since it appears to hang macros as well... sigh..

Well, considering Arcane uses a limited resource {focus}, I probably wouldn't have it spammed in a string like that. Especially when it's competing with Kill Command for Focus. I haven't tested any macros on beta, but have you tried using fallthrus?

Macro 1

Code:

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/castsequence Cobra Shot, Cobra Shot
/cast Arcane Shot

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Macro 2

Code:

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/cast Focus Fire
/cast Kill Command

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You might have to swap the various "casts" around to get the best results, but less is usually more effective in situations like this.

I always liked doing the fall through part via a 2step macro ( like your doing with kill comand ). When i have several abilities that have long cool downs and that wont work in macros together, i do the multistep method of having ISboxer spam multi buttons with those various cooldown abilities on them (example focus fire ) SO you might need a 3. 4 or 5 step to get them all in.

Ok, fiddled with it some more, and it appears to be working better, with some slight tweaks.. still think it might be sticking in places, but I haven't looked at logs to see if I'm missing shots over time.

used the following:

Code:

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#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat/12 Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,

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Code:

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/cast Kill Command
/cast Dire Beast

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and did 27k self-buffed on the lvl 85 dummy with a 397 gear level, manually casting Rapid Fire, Readiness, Focus Fire, and BW.

Next to test Khatovar's suggestion...

Ok, tried some variations of Khatovar's suggestion (btw Khatovar, thanks for your suggestions!!! I appreciate the input!), and came up with this as working the best...

Code:

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/castsequence reset=4 Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot
/cast Arcane Shot

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Code:

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/cast Kill Command
/cast Dire Beast

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with the same setup as above, and pulled it 25k on the same dummy. The problem I saw is that not enough Cobra shots are going off, as one of the other casts will take precendence, so I wind up focus starved, while my other version appears to be more focus-neutral. The other problem is that with the shorter castsequence, it appears to be more susceptible to variable haste conditions, and can have dead spots.

Edit: Got it up to 27k with the following tweaks...

Code:

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/castsequence reset=4 Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot

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Code:

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/cast Arcane Shot
/cast Kill Command
/cast Dire Beast

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Focus Fire appears that it will still be a stumbling block for a complete macro, since unlike live, it no longer has a cooldown and might be off the GCD. I'm not running ISboxer, so I can't test it on a third button by itself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lyonheart

I always liked doing the fall through part via a 2step macro ( like your doing with kill comand ). When i have several abilities that have long cool downs and that wont work in macros together, i do the multistep method of having ISboxer spam multi buttons with those various cooldown abilities on them (example focus fire ) SO you might need a 3. 4 or 5 step to get them all in.

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I'm not running ISboxer right now, so I can't test that, but a question.. can you set predetermined cast times (or delays) for something like Focus Fire that is an instant and doesn't appear to be on the GCD?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by halabar

I'm not running ISboxer right now, so I can't test that, but a question.. can you set predetermined cast times (or delays)

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If we're still talking about World of Warcraft, then that would be considered botting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by halabar

something like Focus Fire that is an instant and doesn't appear to be on the GCD?

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ISBoxer can't "get around" the global cooldown. If you're trying to cast multiple spells which invoke the global cooldown only one of them is going to fire off.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MiRai

If we're still talking about World of Warcraft, then that would be considered botting.


ISBoxer can't "get around" the global cooldown. If you're trying to cast multiple spells which invoke the global cooldown only one of them is going to fire off.

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Hmm... (yes, still talking WoW...)

Perhaps that's why they made the change to Focus Fire that they did. Since you want to wait until you have 5 (or at least 4 Frenzy stacks) but it's an instant cast (and doesn't appear to be on the GCD), the only solution then might be a 3rd button like Lyonheart suggests, since it will otherwise hang a macro (it will cast even if you don't have Frenzy stacks, so you just wind up spamming it instead of moving to the next spell).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by halabar

I'm not running ISboxer right now, so I can't test that, but a question.. can you set predetermined cast times (or delays) for something like Focus Fire that is an instant and doesn't appear to be on the GCD?

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Get ISboxer.. its cheap! and its the best MB Software IN THE WORLD!!! 8)

When you have isboxer spamming multiple buttons.. i would be the same thing as if you were mashing several hotkeys with you face..just a lot cleaner and you don't hit keys you don't intend to lol. In effect, it will fire off any ability that is up when others are on cooldown. If several are off cooldown, it will have a random effect.. you can increase the odds of for one you want to fire first by having it in a few hotbuttons.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lyonheart

Get ISboxer.. its cheap! and its the best MB Software IN THE WORLD!!! 8)

When you have isboxer spamming multiple buttons.. i would be the same thing as if you were mashing several hotkeys with you face..just a lot cleaner and you don't hit keys you don't intend to lol. In effect, it will fire off any ability that is up when others are on cooldown. If several are off cooldown, it will have a random effect.. you can increase the odds of for one you want to fire first by having it in a few hotbuttons.

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So.. assume I were a playing a single account, but am using the macros to help deal with some RSI issues, ISBoxer still might be a benefit? :)

nvm... I'm on a Mac anyway...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by halabar

So.. assume I were a playing a single account, but am using the macros to help deal with some RSI issues, ISBoxer still might be a benefit? :)

nvm... I'm on a Mac anyway...

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yes. you can use ISboxer for a single account.. i do all the time! Sorry you are on mac! ( macs are great.. just can't use ISboxer! ( yet? )

I've not played a hunter in a while so this may be totally off, wht procs a frenzy stack? is it similar to the way that arcane mages stack the blast buff? with it needing to be reset by missles after 5? if so, couldn't you put FF after 5 or so of the abilities that stack the frenzy buff? I may be totally wrong here, but thought id put in my 0.02

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jstanthr

I've not played a hunter in a while so this may be totally off, wht procs a frenzy stack? is it similar to the way that arcane mages stack the blast buff? with it needing to be reset by missles after 5? if so, couldn't you put FF after 5 or so of the abilities that stack the frenzy buff? I may be totally wrong here, but thought id put in my 0.02

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It procs off of pet attacks, and the pet builds that stack. The problem is with the cooldown.

On live, FF has a 15 second cooldown (and I believe it's on the GCD), which allows it to work fine in macros. (I currently use it in my castsequence macros to time it correctly).

On beta, it has neither a cooldown nor does it appear to be on the GCD, which results in it hanging any macro. I haven't found a way yet to insert it to allow it to function the same again.

now for a MM rotation that is working pretty well (at lvl 86)

Code:

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/castsequence reset=combat Chimera Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Steady Shot,Steady Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Steady Shot,

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Code:

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/cast Dire Beast

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and Aimed Shot is cast manually when the proc is up, or is ignored.

With IS Boxer, you could use a Do Not Advance option.
Meaning, no matter how fast you spam your keys, the next step won't fire off until x.x seconds have passed.

However, you will still need to push a key when that time comes up.
Nothing will fire off on its own.

A lot of Death Knight teams use Mind Freeze, with a do not advance option.
Mind Freeze (talented) is off of the GCD, so can fire off whenever.
Step 1 (Press 1), sends to DK A.
Step 2 (Press 2), sends to DK B.
Step 3 (Press 3), sends to DK C.
Step 4 (Press 4), sends to DK D.
Because this is off of the GCD, you can imbed it into every other key that you'd press or spam.
By putting in a Do Not Advance for 2.5 seconds (in each of those steps), you have a Mind Freeze going off every 2.5 seconds (approximately) as the ability has a 10 second cooldown.
If you were to spam at one press per second, it would attempt to fire off 10 times over 10 seconds.
But the second step could not fire off on the 2nd press (1 second after the first) or the 3rd press (2 seconds after the first), but would fire off on the 4th press (3 seconds after the first push).
If you're like me, and spam your spam keys at 4-5 presses per second, it attempts to fire off every 0.20 to 0.25 seconds, and actually goes off almost perfectly.

But still, the ability cannot fire off unless you push the key when it does.
The software can ignore presses of keys, and can time when it will ignore an input.
But it will not give any output unless you give it an input at that time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ualaa

But still, the ability cannot fire off unless you push the key when it does.
The software can ignore presses of keys, and can time when it will ignore an input.
But it will not give any output unless you give it an input at that time.

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Yeah, the worst problem is going to be the new FF/Frenzy, since it can't really be macroed now, unless you assign another button to it, and then still requires waiting for a stack.

A side note here, with recent nerfs, it's likely that Fervor is likely more dps that Dire Beast. The challenge is setting the macro so it's still focus neutral overall, which should be doable, but variable haste may give some problems.

I'm still leaning towards MM spec instead of BM for macroing due to the clunky nature of FF/Frenzy, and the increased # of cooldowns for BM. (SV can be macroed as well, but it also has clunky issues). It's a bit ironic and humorous that MM is likely the easiest to macro now. (But, if they added a cooldown to FF, or put it on the GCD, we likely could macro BM fine).

Been doing some more testing since the latest builds, and these macros still seem pretty steady. With the recent arcane shot buff, the Arcane rotation is still ok for MM, and the BM one hasn't changed yet either, still has the problem with Focus Fire.

BM button one

Code:

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#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat/12 Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,

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BM button two

Code:

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/cast Kill Command
/cast Fervor

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MM button one

Code:

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/castsequence reset=combat Chimera Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Steady Shot,Steady Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Steady Shot,

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MM button two

Code:

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/cast Fervor

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Regarding Fervor vs Dire Beast, one you get more damage, the other you get more focus return, but the rates are different, so you may need to adjust the focus generating shots to stay roughly focus neutral over the rotation cycle.

MM I'm hitting the Aimed shot proc manually, don't know a way around that for now. Focus Fire I'm ignoring mostly for BM.

You can add a "Click" to your marco, like:

/Click ActionButton3

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tin

You can add a "Click" to your marco, like:

/Click ActionButton3

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Well, there are two challenges...

For Aimed Shot, I only want to hit it when it procs. Is there any way to detect that? or have the "proc" show up on a different button?

For Focus Fire, you don't have to hit it when it procs, allthough that is better, but since it's off the GCD and is an instant, macros hang on it. Will using the button technique bypass that problem? I'll have to give it a try (and play with the ordering some again).

recording these in prep for going live next week... there have been so many hunter balance tweaks it's hard to tell what's best. I'll do some LFR testing with these (or H raid testing) and get better results once the patch hits.

Must say that on the dummy my feral dps rotation from the other thread is getting close to these. If that holds true in testing on live, if I can get a handle on feral, I might change mains in MoP.

BM 1

Code:

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#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat/12 Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Cobra Shot,Cobra Shot,

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BM 2

Code:

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/cast Kill Command
/cast Fervor

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MM 1

Code:

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/castsequence reset=combat Chimera Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Steady Shot,Steady Shot,Arcane Shot,Arcane Shot,Steady Shot,

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MM 2

Code:

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/cast Fervor

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Note on Blink Strike, it's one of the ones that fails on a fail-thru macro now it appears. Fevor works, but with Blink not working, MoC might be a better talent from that tier, as it can be managed manually or with a separate click since it's a much longer cooldown.