World of Warcraft: Increase Hunter DPS by 15% with Lock and Load exploit

Currently there seems to be a bug with Lock and Load talent which allows you to use/trigger Lock and Load more often than just every 30 seconds.

Lock and Load - Rank 3

You have a 100% chance when you trap a target and a 10% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Serpent Sting to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo.  30 second cooldown.

Usually Lock and Load has an internal cooldown of 30 seconds, so statistically an Serpent Sting would trigger this proc every 10 ticks or 30 seconds. However, the traps will trigger it to 100%.

The 30 second timer usually prevents a hunter to use the trap method to trigger the proc (i.e. walk to the boss, drop a drop and run back), because usually the Serpent Sting will have triggered the proc already, preventing you from getting the next one.

What’s the exploit part now?

The exploit part just comes in now. Frost Trap isn’t effected by the internal 30 seconds cooldown on Lock and Load. So you can have a double proc (after getting one from Serpent Sting). With good timing and a bit luck, this would allow you to have 2x Lock and Load every 30 seconds (or 6x free Explosive Shots, with 1.5 seconds Global Cooldown + reapplying Serpent Sting and Aimed Shot, it’s 12 seconds max dps and 18 seconds normal dps)

This trick will reduce the need for low efficient Steady Shot.

The optimal rotation after a Serpent Sting proc would be:

1. 00.00: cast Aimed Shot
2. 01.50: cast Explosive Shot
3. 03.00: cast Explosive Shot
4. 04.50: reapply Serpent Sting
5. 06.00: cast Explosive Shot and run to towards the boss
6. 07.50: lay down Frost Trap
7. 09.00: use Deterrence to get quickly on distance
8. 10.50: use Aimed Shot
9. 12.00: cast Explosive Shot
10. 13.50: cast Explosive Shot
11. 15.00: reapply Serpent Sting
12. 16.50: cast Explosive Shot
13. 18.00: cast Steady Shot
14. 19.50: cast Steady Shot
15. 20:50: cast Aimed Shot
16. 22.00: cast Explosive Shot
17. 23.50: cast Steady Shot
18. 25.00: cast Steady Shot
19. 26.50: cast Explosive Shot
20. 28.00: cast Steady Shot
21. 29.50: cast Steady Shot
22. 31.00: reapply Serpent Sting

 

And continue Steady Shot/Explosive Shot until you get an Lock and Load proc and repeat the above rotation. Done properly (and good timings required), this can increase your dps by approximate 15%