Guide to building a /castsequence macro V3

(Created by Uncas level 70 Tauren huter of the server Hellscream. All credit is due to him for this wonderful guide. Date: 05/10/07)

How to decide what rotation to fill your /castsequence.

Lately, I have come to realize that using a /castsequence macro maybe necessary to maximize your DPS in the world of weaving.

But, I could not find a guide to how to build one, since we all know that what order we use the cast sequence is going to be dependent on your current weapon speed. AS such, I am writing this general guide to building a cast sequence.

Facts you will need:

/Castsequence macros are meant to be spammed...thats how they work, each successive push will do the next attack in the macro (if the global cooldowns and skill cooldowns allow it.

Weapon auto shot speed WSS – weapon dependent
Global Cool Down(GCD – 1.5sec)
Multi shot Cool Down (MSCD – 10sec , I do not know of a way to speed this us (sans readiness, ZG trinket)
Arcane Shot Cool Down (ASCD 6-5 sec depending on Imp Arcane shot)
Cool down Next shot gap = .1 sec I use this value cause I want to, If you don’t like it, use what value you want and still follow the same steps.

Items you probably will need A piece of paper A metric ruler (1cm = 1 sec)

A brief discussion:

The goal is to squeeze as many abilities during a selected cool down phase. As such two things are true: Any auto shot gap with instant shot in it, should have that instant shot following a steady shot. Since you most likely wont have a WSS slow enough to fit two steady shots in a single auto shot gap, the most effect way to place two steady shots together will be steady, auto steady You want to never delay your Auto Shot, if possible Abilities used at the end of your macro should not result in a skill being on cool down on successive runs through the macro

As you go through this, you will understand the difficulty of making a highly efficient macro for some bow speeds. Remember, you can consider changing the speed of your arcane shot cooldown, if you are so inclined. It may help you find a good rotation for your bow speed.

Step 1 Decide what time cool down you should base your macro on.

Since MS has the highest damage potential when multiple mobs around and Arcane shot ignores armor, these are the obvious choices for what to base your /castsequence on.

Option a. ASCD - probably the cool down that should be used when CC mobs are present and you don’t want to use multi-shot
Option b. MSCD
Option c. 2 ASCD
Option d. 3 ASCD - beyond three ASCDs (about 18sec) you will start to run out of room in your macro.

Divide each of these values by WSS. This will tell you the number of auto shots will be present for each option. Next, decide what you want to go with. IF your macro for is when CC is about, discount option b. Take your calculated values, and take the one that has the highest value in the “tenths” position, because this shot

EX WSS = 2.61 ASCD = 6,12,18 MSCD = 10

MSCD/WSS = 3.83
ASCD/WSS = 2.3, 4.59, 6.88

• NOTE: If your result here is a value slightly over a whole number, you will have a problem where your cool down will be longer then your nearest auto shot and you will need to account for this later. Usually by adding an additional Auto, Steady to the end of your macro
• So, if you use a 2.44 speed weapon, use the 2acsd/wss = 4.92, not a MSCD/WSS 4.09
• In other words, a little bit of free time where all your cooldowns are over before an auto shot > auto shot rotation being done before the cooldowns.

Decide what you want to use now. The best value here is 6.88 (.88 > .83 > .59 > .3) for 3 ASCD, but, I don’t want to have rougly 18-10sec where multishot is on cooldown, since this macro is for when no CC is around. The second best cooldown then is 3.83.

This is your call, and you may have to revisit this step later but is all dependent on what your building your macro for.

OK, we went with the weave based on the MSCD This will mean 1 arcane shot., because 2 arcane shots is a 12 sec rotation.

Step 2:

Use your paper and Ruler and draw of the amount of auto shots that represent the whole number greater then your value. In our example we would draw out 4 auto shot gaps so there would be a zero with 2.61sec spaced points to 10.44

Step 3: Efficiency check

Take your total weave time and divide by (GCD+next shot gap). This tells u the maximum amount of GCDs you can fit in your macro.

In this case…10.44/1.6 = 6.5 So 6 global cooldowns.

Step 4: Get the number of steady shots

Count up your total number of instant shots you will cast, and subtract it from the total global cooldowns that you will have. In this case, 6-2 = 4. So, we have to place 4 steady shots into our macro. NOTE: IF you have a very fast bow, this will be very difficult to achieve but will be accounted for later.

Step 5. Place your shots

At 0.1 place the first steady shot on your graph. Draw a line to 1.6 to account for the GCD of steady shot. Place your first instant (go with what you based your rotation on) and place a mark for where the GCD ends. Continue placing shots. Place your remaining steady shots where ever you can avoid delaying your auto shots. Place any arcane shots so that they do not interfere with each others cooldown. Remember arcane and multi are most efficient when following a steady shot in an auto shot gap. Also, that the most efficient way to space steady shots is steady,auto,steady (This steady shot should always be basically .1 to .2 sec after the proceeding auto) Also, If a GCD ends within .5 sec of an auto shot, do not place a shot .1sec after that GCD ends, because you will delay your auto shot, just fire your next shot .1 sec after that particular auto.

* at this point, If you can fit more then one steady shot into an auto shot gap, feel lucky. You still have already identified the amount of instant shots you have and can probably quickly place all your skills.

Step 6 Write your cast sequence

Double check it to make sure NO auto shots are delayed and no cooldowns overlap.

If you do all this and you can not fit all your steady shots, you basically have three choices.

A. Just take this steady shot out of your macro.
B. Consider that your steady shot actually fires faster then 1.5sec, so you maybe able to squeeze in an auto shot.
B. Go back to step one, and choose to rebuild your macro based on a different set of cooldowns C. Add an additional auto onto the end of your macro and return to step 2. This choice decides to not maximize ACSD or MSCD, but will now attempt to maximize GCDs.
D. Place an extra Auto, Steady on the end...though this ruins the efficiency of your arcane or multishot's cooldowns

** What you do here is up to you, you may want to do play these options out and test which macro will give you the best DPS.

Start on the zero time point and fill in: This particular example lead me to this order.

You should get Auto, steady, instant, Auto, Steady, Auto, Steady, instant, Auto, Steady.

Note that you end with a steady shot, because your last auto shot is also your first auto shot.

What you end up with is a macro that doesn’t delay your auto, and provides the maximum amount of GCD usage.

** thank you Ema, your post made me rethink the step wise production of a /castsequence macro

Concerns:

This /castsequence, there is a lot of time where you can use arcane shot, but you don’t.


Yep, This is a value call. Is the lost time of arcane shot better or worse then maximize the efficiency of multishot/auto shot? Only you can decide. Build a second macro then based on the 12sec rotation. I hope you have the skills to do that now and test it out. In this particular case, doing so would actually be a 13.05 sec rotation because you have to account for your auto shot.

Build this macro as well, and do some testing on Dr. Boom. Because the answer will be truly Gear/Spec dependent as to what shot is more valuable to you, but obviously, when there are multiple un-CCed targets, maximizing MS will be in your best DPS interest.

What about when CC is present?

Build a macro based on single arcane shot cool down or maybe multiples of ASCD, depending on your WSS. I think u will know how to do this now.

What about specs/gear/situations where steady shot is fired Noticbly faster then the GCD of 1.5 sec.

Well, I hope you know how to account for that…as long as your WSS > then 1.5 + steady shot Actual firing speed, you can make an more efficient macro for steady shots. Can you see now why a 3.6 speed weapon would really rock for DPS? I hope so.

I am built for speed, cause I am BM,fast bow, troll, rapid firing, haste trinket speed freak

Obviously, these weavings will not be as important to you, your DPS is based on pumping out auto and steady ASAP. In that case, I bet you will be best served by /castsequence Auto Shot, Steady Shot and manually doing arcane and multishot. Its really up to you because with all the hastes, your auto shot gaps get to be quite variable. This /castsequence guide is for building macros under fixed auto shot gap conditions. BUT, it never hurts to build some /castsequence macros and test it out.

Note: A fast casting BM hunter probably should not be worried about tiny delays in auto shot.

Conclusion: This is how to build a macro for your current Gear/Spec/Conditions around you. Since all the possibilities are quite varying, I put this guide up to help you understand how to build a proper /castsequence for yourself.

I am not saying that the one I have here is the BEST, but I know it is pretty dern good. If you understand how I came up with it, then you can either improve on it, or build your own to suit your tastes.

EXTRA:

By popluar demand, here are the macros I use, I have an add-on to handle my error messages.

Full out, no CC 2.52 cast speed

/castsequence reset=5/combat Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Multi-Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/use Bladefist's Breadth

Full out, with CC 2.52 cast speed

/castsequence reset=5/combat Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/use Bladefist's Breadth

Mana back , with or without CC (1.57 cast speed with BGD)

/castsequence reset=3/combat/Shift Auto Shot, Arcane Shot(Rank 1), Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot

Full auto (1.57speed when rapid fire is active..macro built on a 15sec duration) With or without CC, I was running out of room to build both with and with out multi shot.. Do what you want.

/castsequence Auto Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot

BM macros I use by request

For a 2.9 speed bow

With CC around
/castsequence Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/cast Kill Command

With out CC around

/castsequence reset=combat/5 Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Multi-Shot,Auto Shot, Arcane Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot
/cast Kill Command