More testing on training dummy

Ok so, I'll be doing even more testing on training dummies to be able to determine whether weaving Aimed Shot in whenever it's up (_after_ firing Explosive Shot) is good thing to do or just fill the gaps with Steady weaving. Current spec haven't changed, still running with 2/17/52 with 2/3 in Imp. Stings. Let's see how the tests work out:

Rotation 1, Test #1:
Duration: 210sec (mana drained, vipered back to full and drained mana again)
Me: 2133.1 DPS
Wahlu: 348.0
TOTAL: 2476.4

Comments: This rotation was done with 3 shot priority; Explosive Shot, Serpent Sting and Steady Shot to fill the remaining gaps. In practice this means the following rotation:

Explosive Shot, Serpent Sting, Steady, Steady, Explosive Shot (re-apply Serpent Sting whenever needed)

I like the numbers I see; the overall DPS is nice, I got to use 114 Explosive Shots during that 210sec period from which 58 critted (smallest 1.2k, highest 3.7k and average ~2.9k) and 56 didn't. That's a bit over 50% crit ladies and gentlemen! You just gotta love Explosive Shot and Survival hunter's crit rating! :-) All in all, Explosive Shot did 53% from the total damage I did, auto shots 22.5% and Steadies 18% of total damage. Had 70 Steady Shots from which 23 (33%) critted (smallest 1k, highest 2.2k and average of 1.9k - yes indeed, Steady nerf can be feeled!) and 47 didn't. Serpent Sting did almost 7% of the total damage, so at least I remembered to keep it up constantlty! =) Was also nice to see that my pet was only dodged or parried, it didn't miss one single hit. Gotta love it when you no longer need to spec for Focused Aim!

I'll do a "control parse" just to make sure I just didn't have the best (or worst) possible procs during that short 210sec period. Here goes:

Rotation 1, Test #2:
Duration: 219.57sec
Me: 2119.9 DPS
Wahlu: 343.6 DPS
TOTAL: 2456.7 DPS

Comments: The 2 tests are almost identical, pet is doing almost the same DPS he did on first test and the over all DPS on this second test is 20DPS lower than on the first. This may be due to rarer LnL procs I had on the second try. Anyways, this is pretty encouraging to see the unbuffed DPS at 2.5k. Good basis.

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Ok, now for the second test... in this one I'll be introducing Aimed Shot in priority higher than Steady Shot, so Aimed will always go off _after_ Explosive has been fired and Aimed is off cooldown. I won't fire it as soon as its CD is up because that would screw up the rotation, so it's basically going to be a rotation like this:

Explosive, Aimed, Serpent, Steady, Explosive, Steady, Steady, Steady, Explosive, Aimed, Steady, Steady, Explosive, Steady, Steady, Steady

And of course refresh Serpent Sting whenever required, as well as your Hunter's Mark!

Rotation 2, Test #1:
Duration: 197.32sec
Me: 2260.6 DPS
Wahlu: 362.0 DPS
TOTAL: 2621.6 DPS

Comments: Dunno if this is just a lucky glitch but my personal DPS just went up 100DPS! That's not bad! And as you can see, the 2x mana-drain encounter took 13 seconds less than the one with no Aimed Shot in its rotation. Pet was also doing a bit more than 10DPS more than on the first tests, which is encouraging as well. I'll do another parse and see if the numbers stay the same. If they do, I really might consider keeping Aimed Shot as part of my rotation. Yes, it's more expensive mana-wise but still, if it yields good results there's no reason not to use it. It's instant too, so you can use it on fights which require mobility, like Heigan, Gluth, Thaddius and so on.

Rotation 2, Test #2:
Duration: 198.18sec
Me: 2144.2 DPS
Wahlu: 341.0 DPS
TOTAL: 2484.0 DPS

Comments: Yeah, as you can see, the numbers fluctuate little, resulting this test to be a bit over 100DPS less than the previous. I'll do a third test just to be sure...

Rotation 2, Test #3:
Duration: 195sec
Me: 2164.2 DPS
Wahlu: 344.2 DPS
TOTAL: 2505.9 DPS

Comments: The final thought on this one: the cons with Aimed Shot is the higher mana cost and thus means either more viper uptime or at least reduced intervals BETWEEN viper periods. Anyway, the DPS of the two rotations (Explosive, Serpent and Steady against Explosive, Aimed, Serpent, Steady) seems to be pretty equal, even though it looks like that the rotation with Aimed Shot will be darting a bit higher on the DPS meters. The difference is only 20-50 DPS, but it's still a difference.

To conclude things up... first of all, all this testing was done without trap-dancing AT ALL, vice versa - I was standing at 40 feet away from the dummy as I have 3/3 in Sniper Training and Hawk Eye. I'm going to do some numbers on trap-dancing rotations anytime soon now. What comes to the results of these tests... I'll probably use the Explo/Steady-rotation on regular basis and introduce Aimed Shot if mana-consumption allows that and the particular fight has a lot of movement in it (Sartharion, Heigan, Grobbulus etc). In fights where you need mobility, another instant to your arsenal is not a bad thing to do, especially as it only costs you one talent point!

All in all, to break (unbuffed, of course) 2.5k DPS as Survival is pretty easy if you know your rotation and further more, get it timed and fire off correctly; not clipping a GCD and refreshing the Serpent Sting whenever needed (in a way that the spent GCD doesn't mess the rotation etc), but NOT TOO EARLY and NOT LATE, are the tools to employ. You should easily see ~4k DPS on 25-man Patchwerk, and probably even lot more. I did 4k DPS on Patchwerk last time we did it on 25, but I know I could be doing more... how much more, well, that remains to be seen until next run!

I'll be logging off now, going to try respeccing tomorrow a bit... maybe take one point off of Sniper Training and put it to 3/3 Imp. Stings or get 1min CD reduction on Rapid Fire or even shove that point to 2/2 GftT because my pet seems to have some dry periods every now and then even tho my crit chance is ~35% unbuffed.