This isn’t actually possible per the game engine, but just having it deal “half a stack’s worth” of damage extra upon activation would do the same.
That said, I suspect this design would be neutered in PvP.
This feels awkward. Why should the Tracer deal less damage to the main target than a second nearby enemy so long as any enemies are nearby?
Just deal per-target and split-damage both and you’d have seemingly bonus damage to the main target, e.g.,
Deals (100% of Attack Power) physical damage per stack to the target and all nearby enemies, with damage reduced after 6 enemies, plus a further (100% of Attack Power) per stack split among all enemies struck. (Damage halved against players.)
In that way you have up to 800% AP (a fully buffed Aimed Shot’s worth) against the main target, but otherwise (400n + 400)% AP against a group (i.e., 467 per target against 6 targets, for about an MT and Trick Shots-buffed Aimed Shot’s worth of damage).
All this feels like an immense overcomplication. Imagine the tooltip length required to describe all that you have so far. It’d be 3 charts long… for what will almost certainly end up as just an alternate version of an active-cast Double Tap (and likely similarly gutted in PvP).
Just make it a magic effect detonates for half-damage if dispelled, or make it impossible to dispel at all and reduce its PvP efficacy accordingly.
It won’t have deep counterplay and it absolutely is overcomplicated.
We can max its stacks in under 5 GCDs’ time off a single Surging Shot or Lock and Load, arena comps having any counterplay available to them is RNG-reliant, and BGs won’t be on the lookout for this at all unless you keep the AoE splash so absurd (which, as we’ve seen from the Trick Shots and AotH nerfs, won’t happen).
It’s ultimately a preparatory GCD used to increase Aimed Shot’s and Rapid Fire’s damage contribution by X%, paid off after Y GCDs. All that you’ve added beyond that is either RNG-dependent or comes down only to the same desire to LoS until debuff reset that Spotter’s Mark already had before being gutted*.
- Granted, said change makes little sense to me in terms of PvP “fairness”, especially with any compensatory base Aimed Shot damage increases, as it’d make far more sense for Spotter’s Mark to simply decay with time while leaving the base damage lower, allowing for counterplay via a defensive, shield, or self-heal before the telegraphed hit lands, but I guess they just wanted to increase the freedom of MM’s focus damage without buffing its maximum output and to crush MM’s AoE damage (or make its burst dependent on Volley + AotH). /shrug
It makes the whole thing far harder to read.