ARC: Heavy Shot vs Straight Shot

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Hi everyone,

I've just made the switch to the Tonberry server as it's the unofficial Oceania server. Latency as well as peak times and a number of other things were causing some grief. I was a main GLD>PLD, second CNJ>WHM, but on Tonberry I decided to go for a change of pace and try the ARC class.

I'll likely transfer the Coeurl character across to Tonberry later, but for now it's been tabled.

Now as I'm leveling I'm still growing accustom to the ARC play style. I'll preface by welcoming any advice on skill rotations for the best damage output?

What's got me stumped, though, is that Heavy Shot's additional effect is a +20% chance that the next Straight Shot will be a crit, and Straight Shot adds 10% crit chance.

Should I be interchanging between them? HS > SS etc? Or should I favor SS and ignore HS?

[ErnestoGiovanni]

Hit straight shot to start, it adds a 20 second buff. That 10% chance applies to everything you throw out while its up,even the Venomous and Windbite damage over time tics. Its my starter ability then i hit heavy shot and use blood letter whenever the ability is up. Hit straight shot again any time the "straighter" buff is applied to it or if the straight shot buff wears off.

Should hit straght shot, bloodletter and venomous arrrow (they are on separate cool downs), windbite and heavy shot reapeatedly until straight shot gets a yellow dot line, or its little buff it gives you wears off. Always hit bloodletter when it up since it doesn't rest on the same cool down as the rest of you abilities.

[Odd]

As Ernesto said it adds a 10% buff to crit chance for 20 seconds.

But don't use heavy shot next.

Straight Shot>Bloodletter>Wind Strike>Venomous Bite>Heavy Shot. Spam Heavy Shot after that, Bloodletter/Misery's End whenever available, and keep dots up on applicable fights (boss fights where there's still time for full duration dots). Keep Straight Shot up as well. Omit whatever abilities you don't have yet, but still follow that order.

A VERY useful macro for Bard is this:
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot <t>

If you just use this macro it will always use whichever one is available first. So at the start of a fight, the first time you hit this it will use Bloodletter. Then apply your dots and continue hitting it. As long as Bloodletter is on cooldown, it will use Heavy Shot, until near the end of the fight, when it will use Misery's End. To sum it up, as long as both Bloodletter And Misery's End are on cooldown/unavailable, Heavy Shot will be used.

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As Ernesto said it adds a 10% buff to crit chance for 20 seconds.

But don't use heavy shot next.

Straight Shot>Bloodletter>Wind Strike>Venomous Bite>Heavy Shot. Spam Heavy Shot after that, Bloodletter/Misery's End whenever available, and keep dots up on applicable fights (boss fights where there's still time for full duration dots). Keep Straight Shot up as well. Omit whatever abilities you don't have yet, but still follow that order.

A VERY useful macro for Bard is this:
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot <t>

If you just use this macro it will always use whichever one is available first. So at the start of a fight, the first time you hit this it will use Bloodletter. Then apply your dots and continue hitting it. As long as Bloodletter is on cooldown, it will use Heavy Shot, until near the end of the fight, when it will use Misery's End. To sum it up, as long as both Bloodletter And Misery's End are on cooldown/unavailable, Heavy Shot will be used.

So you advise against taking the time to DoT on small foes? I just tried out the macro with stuscott's addendum and it was like night and day, especially given I play with a controller. Kiting and using the D-pad at the same time is too damn annoying.

Thanks, ErnestoGiovanni, Odd and Stuscott!

I'm only on the cusp of level twenty with the ARC at the moment. It's taken me a lot longer to level because I've been smashing the crafting / gathering at the same time to try to curb some of the cost of equipment (and my desire for high quality gear between unique sets and aetherial drops). Between my healer and myself we have all out necessities covered without having to fork out gil. It just costs labour time, haha. It'll pay off though, not just for our war classes but for our pockets.

[Odd]

So you advise against taking the time to DoT on small foes?

I personally don't use DoTs on anything that will be dead before 15 seconds is up. But V.Bite is still quite powerful, so I know some Bards who always use it after bloodletter, regardless.

It's actually more beneficial to put Heavy Shot first in that macro - if Heavy Shot is last, it causes a delay each time you press the macro. With Heavy Shot first, you can spam the button and your ME and BL procs will still come up when ready and cause no DPS loss or delay.

Thank you for the reminder! Somebody actually told me this a long time ago but I totally forgot!

[ErnestoGiovanni]

What she said! I am bad at words lol.

[stuscott]

It's actually more beneficial to put Heavy Shot first in that macro - if Heavy Shot is last, it causes a delay each time you press the macro. With Heavy Shot first, you can spam the button and your ME and BL procs will still come up when ready and cause no DPS loss or delay.

[stuscott]

Personally, I always use my DoTs...as you get to higher levels, the bonus BL procs are worth setting them up for. If an enemy will die quickly, I may only put one of them up or in a group of weak trash, I may just Rain of Death instead. There's no "right way" to play - play how it feels comfortable to you.

[ruskie]

I tend to open with heavy shot(just to see if I can get that proc) but then straight shot, BL, DoTs and basically any other CD attack I might have that I don't need for a specific situation - even shadowbind.

[vanityobscene]

I tend to open with heavy shot(just to see if I can get that proc) but then straight shot, BL, DoTs and basically any other CD attack I might have that I don't need for a specific situation - even shadowbind.

This is essentially what I've started doing. HS>SS>VB>Macro(HS,BL,ME*) and then SS when the ticker's at 5 or when highlighted and VB when the ticker's run out. I want to be using shadowbind when the odd healer aggro pops up but I keep forgetting to and instead have taken the aggro on myself and kited. Bad habit as it must be frustrating for the tank. Quick Nock for free for all mobs (like the mini boss in copperbell).

* ME only occurs at the 20% as we all know.