AutoAttack: Should I use more?

[killema]

Level 51 Ranger here with a question.  Been grouping more lately coming across longer battles.  Long enough so that I run through my CA's and am left with only waiting for my AutoAttack or meleeing.  I have played with my CA and when to use them to get the bow down time to a minimum but I still come across a stale period once in a while.   While waiting for my AA the other day I saw it hit for over 600 damage which is for more than a few of my CA's.Now to the question,  if I know I am going to be in a long battle is there a way to maximize the timing to get the AutoAttack on my bow more or does it still fire every 7 seconds no matter where I am with Combat Arts?  Example, When grouping I almost always start out with a normal bow attack then hit my CA's.  If I keep a CA queued at all times does that mean my Auto Attack bow which is still on never fires after the 7 second delay is up?Also could there be cases where I would get more DPS by not using a 350 dmg CA and letting another AA get in for up to 700 damage buffed/grouped?I have tried to parse by hand going back through the battles but I have not had much luck with that.  If anyone with more experience could enlighten me I would appreciate it, or just tell me to keep shooting and stop thinking, lol.Hard thought to convey, I confused myself tons writing this so if there is something that needs more explaining please let me know.Lingling

[Bayler_x]

The autoattack delay timer keeps counting down, even when you're performing combat arts.  If you were using a low-delay weapon, like a delay=1.2 dagger, it would be possible to lose attacks when performing a long CA.  But with our high-delay bows, at worst you'll just delay your next AA shot a little.  In short, there's no reason not to use CAs.I'm not so sure about queueing up combat arts, though.  I believe that if you queue a 2nd CA while still activating the first, your autoattack doesn't get a chance to fire inbetween. 

[Ronin]

What i do is open with a CA, normally hidden, on long fights. Right after the CA, your auto attack will fire, then it begins the 7sec timer. THis is where i count to 3, then pop next CA, allowing timer to run out on auto attack, and just keep doing this. Leg shot line helps fill the gaps later on also, as its reuse timer is very fast, letting you get off alot more shots. If you time it a little like this, you can in turn never be without a CA to fire and always hitting your auto attacks also. SO maximum DPS can be obtained. However the faster a mob dies the less auto attack you get anyhow, so the more CA's you burn the better in this case, to pump out dps. It gets easier at 55 with Stream of Arrows, cause your not just plucking away most the fight with this, and all other attacks can't be used anyhow, so never really notice it in this case.

[Beldin_]

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RoninDF wrote:It gets easier at 55 with Stream of Arrows, cause your not just plucking away most the fight with this, and all other attacks can't be used anyhow, so never really notice it in this case.

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Do i understand that right .. you can use other CAs while Stream is active ? Can you also switch target and stream is still active ? Sorry for the questions .. but i always read just some things about this skill .. but till now don't see the whole picture it seems

[Zholain]

Nah...I think you just understood it backwards.  If Stream is active, then no other CA's can be used.  Also, if Stream's target dies while it is still active, it will not transfer to the next target.

[Jay]

Aye, Stream roots and stifles the caster, so no using other CAs while it's engaged. And you need to manually disengage once your target dies (unless the duration expires in which case it turns off automatically), so there's no re-acquiring a target while it's running. But given the damage, rate of fire, and reuse timer on this CA, I really cannot complain. It's incredible.

[Beldin_]

Ok thx .. can't wait to get it .. but still 2,4 Levels to go *sigh* :smileysad:

[Jayad]

Cast all your range CAs in order.  Don't worry about auto-attack.  There are some range CAs which trigger the proc (all your damage ones), some which don't (such as snare).  The damage range CAs which trigger procs have a shorter casting time than your attack interval, so casting them triggers your procs faster than normal.

At level 55, as people mentioned, you get Stream which rocks.

Make sure you use a poison with a high initial damage.  Poison is 30-40% of your damage at high level.  Upgrade your offensive stance to adpt3 or better.

[GoNom]

I usually open a fight with Stealthy Fire (Master II).  2 reasons, one it does almost 3k damage, 2 it gives the tank about 7 seconds to get his aggro locked down, durring its longer cast time. Once that goes off I spam Open Shot and Triple Fire, follow that up with Long Shank and Dire Blade, back out and volley Culling and Legshot.  Once all those go off, if we are fighting a tougd named, I'll drop him with Stream.  Also don't be afraid to use Storm of Arrows against a single mob, letting it sit idle for a half hour waiting for a multi mob encounter is a waste of a CA that does 2k per target.