Inquisitive Question: Shoot first or later?

[flotterjohnny]

Howdy,
I hope the question is right here.

Im playing Inq Builds most of the time (mostly 12/6/2 Ro/Ra/Art or 18/2 Alch/Art, sometimes other combos).

For leveling I take shoot first for some early AOE damage.

My question:
Does it makes sense to change to Shoot later (later)? What is better:
Shoot later with 60% dmg and +2 Critical Threat Range and Multiplier. Cooldown: 15 seconds
OR
Shoot first with Deals +40% Damage and on successful damage, this causes your opponent to take "Shot Wound". (Cooldown: 6 seconds) Note: Shot Wound deals 1d6 damage per Character Level every 2 seconds for 12 seconds. This damage scales with 200% Ranged Power.

Or does a change makes sense at a later level maybe, when "shot wound" is not relevant anymore?
Well, with these cooldowns, its 2x shoot first in 1x shoot later...

Thx for sharing experience!
FJ

 

[Terpilar]

Shoot first, because you can't shoot later when they're already dead !

 

[Pyrerose]

Howdy,
I hope the question is right here.

Im playing Inq Builds most of the time (mostly 12/6/2 Ro/Ra/Art or 18/2 Alch/Art, sometimes other combos).

For leveling I take shoot first for some early AOE damage.

My question:
Does it makes sense to change to Shoot later (later)? What is better:
Shoot later with 60% dmg and +2 Critical Threat Range and Multiplier. Cooldown: 15 seconds
OR
Shoot first with Deals +40% Damage and on successful damage, this causes your opponent to take "Shot Wound". (Cooldown: 6 seconds) Note: Shot Wound deals 1d6 damage per Character Level every 2 seconds for 12 seconds. This damage scales with 200% Ranged Power.

Or does a change makes sense at a later level maybe, when "shot wound" is not relevant anymore?
Well, with these cooldowns, its 2x shoot first in 1x shoot later...

Thx for sharing experience!
FJ

I'm actually on an inquisitive wild mage life right now and I was wondering the same thing. I started out with Shoot Later, and tested it for a couple heroic levels on R1(that's all i play levelling), 6-9 I think. I have noticed from my experience leveling mostly solo since then that Shoot First is a drastic improvement for a couple specific reasons, though it will be worth testing in epics. My guess is that Shoot Later will be a lot more useful when I have a lot more active abilities; but that leads into why I think Shoot First is demonstrably better at least leveling in heroics.
That cooldown matters, right. Later is 15 seconds to First's 6. That is over double the CD. The overall damage that Later has to do to keep up in dps(and utility, because you have less access when you want it) has to be double what First does to stay relevant. It doesn't do that, at least from my testing. When I swapped to First at level 9 I noticed an immediate and drastic improvement in my dps. Not to mention, levelling, this is your AoE as an inquisitive, and that has had a major impact too. Getting double the amount of uses of my AoE ability makes a world of difference in the many swarm-centric quests we have.

My character just hit level 16 tonight. I plan to test out Shoot Later when I hit 20 and start running epics. Just thought I'd pop in and give my own input from my testing this life.
edit: I double checked the wiki after posting this, because what I suspected is that the non-dps interactions will matter in epics, and I do believe I'm correct there. After re-reading what "Ask Questions First" does and knowing how Inquisitive auto-procs diplomacy, I definitely see this being a reason alone to go with Shoot Later. Preparation with the Diplomatic Impunity toggle active looks like a very easy way to get significant defensive bonuses.

 

[saekee]

Shoot first, absolutely.

Shorter cooldown and potent DoT.

 

[flotterjohnny]

Tyvm mates, you are confirming my thoughts - SF for heroics, and later on (mid epics?) SL. I prefer Pin (over other epic strikes) which gives me another AOE in epics.

 

[rabidfox]

Shoot later used to be all about pairing it up with old version of hunts end for big crits; it's place in the game is more awkward now.

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

shoot later (I believe) is more single target but much worse aoe. I'd take shoot first cuz you want aoe, not single target

 

[Stoner81]

Shoot First always! The end. AoE's are king now so you want as many as possible.

Stoner81.

 

[flotterjohnny]

True

 

[Frantik]

For my 2 cents, i'm testing an Arti AoE repeater build and added Shoot First... its better damage-wise than the AoE abilities in Battle Engineer, and having a 3rd AoE abiliyy in heroics makes life simpler.