I’ve been messing with the talent Steady Focus and TL;DR it feels clunky and weird. Having to cast two steady shots in a row to receive a 7% haste buff feels so bad. There are many times when you simply don’t want to cast it twice in a row and losing the buff is not a good thing. 7% haste is no joke. I like the idea, maybe a rework slightly will suffice
This is leaps and bounds better than having to chain cast Steady Shot for any bonus whatsoever.
It’s one pair of Steady Shots per 15 seconds. Adjust your rotation so you can benefit from the Focus gained at that point without overcapping Aimed Shot charges.
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Steady Focus, in that mechanism of cast-two-Steady-Shots-gain-buff, has been a thing for hunters since MoP. It was only during the Legion+BfA period that it became the Steady Shot spam travesty. The prior and now current mechanism of being rewarded for planning your ability usage around twin-casting it is a very good design for a talent. It mildly increases complexity, gives us something additional to keep track of, and is entirely optional. If you don’t like it, Streamline has a lot going for it (especially if you’re steeped in Surging Shots and Focused Fire traits), and Chimaera Shot may once we get the new Precise Shots conduits in our hands. Streamline also pairs nicely with Lethal Shots, which itself also synergizes nicely with Surging and Focused.
But ya, as Adreaver points out, it’s really not that difficult to plan out a spot to double-cast Steady without capping focus or charges. When it gets under half of the duration left, start prioritizing Arcane Shot more and letting your focus get lower, and then when you have a time between AiS charges, pop the pair. Two Steady Shots generate a total of 37.5 focus, so it only takes 3 Arcane Shots (net -12.5 focus each, including passive regen) to make the room.
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I’m not fond of it either. Unpopular opinion, I know, but I actually prefer the BfA version of MM where you can build around essentially never having to use Steady Shot except in a pinch. As has already been said, though, it’s only one buff to manage every 15 seconds.
Once gearing/stats/builds are a bit more settled closer to actual SL launch, I would start simming to see how much DPS you’re potentially leaving on the table and decide whether to just live with the awkwardness.
Icy Veins has Steady Focus as only 1-2% over Streamline on 1 or 3+ targets, assuming perfect maintenance (never drop the buff, never cap Focus, never cap Aimed Shot, always use Precise Shots).
I am personally using Streamline, both on beta and live, in all scenarios, because the increased cast speed on Aimed Shot is super nice, and the damage is close enough that I’ll take the easier to manage option.
I was using Chimaera Shot everywhere before, but the recent nerf made it terrible for anything other than exactly two targets, which is not terribly common.
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I’m wondering if this is based on level 60 sims, or on level 50 sims including Azerite gear. I’m also honestly surprised Streamline isn’t stronger during the prepatch precisely because of the Azerite traits affecting it.
AFAIK this is based on 50 sims.,
I have some concerns about their guides right now, there are some clear errors and references to removed talents, not sure if this is an editorial oversight or if the people writing the guides done goofed.
At any rate, Streamline is good damage and much easier to use. If you don’t want to manage Steady Focus, don’t, you aren’t missing out on much.
To be fair, Icy-Veins guides have been going downhill for years now, ever since WoWhead made a big push to get top-tier guides for everything going on.
We all got to have focus, and steady shot builds focus, but the haste buff…
So, I get the 7% haste buff, and… My Aimed Shot drops from 2.1 second cast to 2.0… and the recharge drops from 10.0 secs to 9.6… And my focus generation increases from 5.9 FPS to 6.3…
It’s a modest buff. No, it’s a Modest buff, lol, and it may be, I think, more important on high health targets. That 7%, when paired with Keegan’s Bijou, or Shockbiters fang is Not modest at all. something to try, maybe. Myself, on target dummies, have hit in excess of 44% haste often. And thats w/o azerite traits. Anyways, something needs to be cast in between Aimed shots.
Remember that this is at BFA 8.3 gear levels. 7% extra haste when you have 37% already is only a 21% increase over your baseline.
Looking at Shadowlands 60 blues, that will be 7% Haste when you have like 10-15% base tops, and you are looking at a 50-75% increase in how much Haste you have. And not subject to DR, because it is a flat percentage buff, not a rating.
That 44% Haste, I mis-spoke. The Azerite trait that gives the Haste buff after finishing the BB gun channel, it’s not part of it, but I do have two instances of Elemental Whirl, they are, and to get that 44%, they both have to proc for haste as I get that 7% and use the trink. Then all that plus whats on my armor adds up to that 44%, I think for 12secs. Just a trick, really.
I went with the Careful aim Talent not to make me quick, but to make me quick enough. Between Armor, baseline and Buff I should be able to keep my Aimed Shot recharge at 10 sec or so, with about a 2 sec cast. I’ll stack crit instead of the haste I wont have to stack.
The haste trick? I can do the same, but with Crit. Between what I carry and one on-use trink, i can hit 49% for12 sec, 33% allthetime, and 100+% at the top end of Trueshot. Or not. My choice to make. A Modest haste buff, that just might free me up to chase my Critical Strikes. I like it!
Erm, reminder that haste effects stack multiplicatively, not additively.
Don’t theorycraft at 3am kids, it never ends well.
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