• Intermission

Unfortunately, some of the hunter rotation naming conventions do not follow basic maths. A 3:2 rotation does not equal a 1.5:1 rotation. I justed want to clear it up for anyone reading that might be a little confused still.

3:2 is the typical name given for a rotation looking like this:

• Steady, Steady, Auto, Steady, Auto, repeat.

3 steady shots and 2 autoshots per rotation. This is often achieved using a macro along the lines of /cast autoshot /cast steadyshot while being BM specced. Extra haste procs with that macro can take you down to a 1:1 rotation (Lust, Rapid Fire, Haste Pots, etc).

This macro can also be used for Survival, and as you discussed, Marks. It will produce a 2:1 ratio of steadys:autos, and scale down to 3:2 and even 1:1 just like BM does under haste. The only difference is, Survival and Marks need some passive haste through gear (or 4 Leatherworkers in the party) to help keep the 2:1 on track. No haste means a bigger chance to chain steadies, depending on latency and spell pushback through damage. The reason for haste on gear is to reduce your steadyshot cast time, not so much your autoshot. Because GCD is not quickened with haste but steadyshot is, more haste will increase the amount of time between a steadyshot finishing and the global cooldown finishing (and therefore a new steadyshot starting). Given enough haste, an autoshot can fire inside this new-found downtime. The final result is a constant string of steadyshots with autoshots fitting through whenever they can. Once you reach this stage, the advantage of more haste is so the frequency of autoshot 'spitouts' through the steadyshots is increased (eg 2:1, 3:2, and 1:1 = one autoshot spitting out after every 2, every 1.5, and every 1 steadyshot).*

1:1.5(or 1:1.x) is a name given to a shot rotation that has 1.5(or 1.x) specials for every autoshot over an indefinite amount of time. It looks like this:

• Auto, Steady, SPECIAL, Auto, Steady (no special), Auto, Steady, SPECIAL, Auto, Steady (no special), repeat.

SPECIAL = Multi or Arcane. Note that the specials are SEPARATED so less clipping occurs! Doing "auto, steady, special, auto, steady, special" then a period of no specials is NOT ideal, as you want the time after the non-special steady to 'gain back' some GCD so you clip your future shot by a smaller amount. When adding Hunters Mark, Drums of Battle, Scorpid Sting, etc, you want to put it after one of the non-special steadys. It will clip the next steady/special by a little but it's the best place to put it rather than less clipping but delaying your next multi/arcane in the cycle.



*There is a lot more at play here in reality, especially in higher latency situations. Server-side spell queuing (brought in a few patches ago) will increase our steadyshot per minute rate. This is because it tries to cast steadyshot at the first available opportunity after the last one ended, and wont wait for our client to tell it to cast it (so long as we sent the message to the server to cast steadyshot while the last one was ending). This can increase steadychaining though, as a side effect of faster steadies can also temporarily cause you to shoot a second steady while the first steady has it's GCD still ticking! And then your client plays catchup on the next steady, delaying it so you dont actually gain more steadys over time. Also, it is posssible that the old "0.5 sec autoshot cast time" might be effected by haste also, which is another reason why autoshots can squeeze out through steadyshots easier with more haste. Not only does the window of oppurtinity open wider (steadyshot end to steadyshot start), but the time needed for autoshot gets narrower also (hasted 'autoshot cast'). That's just my speculation, anyway.