Steady Shot

Steady Shot
Steady Shot Level 3 hunter ability 40 yd range 2 sec cast Requires Ranged Weapon A steady shot that causes 60% weapon damage plus X. Generates 14 Focus. Useable while moving.
Properties
Class	Hunter
School	Physical
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	3
Improvements	[Careful Aim], [Master Marksman], [Steady Focus]

[[Category:Removed hunter abilities]][[Category:Removed hunter abilities]]

Steady Shot is a hunter ability learned at level 3 that causes damage and generates focus.

Steady Shot is learned by all hunters, but for Survival and Beast Mastery hunters it is replaced by [Cobra Shot] at level 81.

Notes

Steady Shot works like an inverted [Arcane Shot]:

• Steady Shot is a 2 sec cast without cooldown.
• Both use a different timer than [Auto Shot] (like the former [Aimed Shot] did).

Arcane and Steady Shot both deal roughly the same damage (except that the magic damage from Arcane Shot is slightly more powerful against well-armored targets), so Steady Shot becomes the main damage generator in groups and raids (like the former [Aimed Shot]).

Also note that:

• Unlike [Aimed Shot], Steady Shot can be used while running
• It is a casting ability, suffering from delays by enemy attacks.

Improvements

• [Careful Aim]
• [Master Marksman],
• [Steady Focus]

Tips and tactics

To understand how steady shot is affected by haste ratings it's important to understand how haste is calculated. A haste bonus is multiplied by frequency to achieve post-haste speed. World of Warcraft expresses all speeds as period rather than frequency, so the period must be divided by 1+bonus.

As for example in the above case:

Steady Shot Cast Time = 2 / 1.15 (hunter base ranged haste) / 1.2 (Serpent's Swiftness) = 1.4493 1.4493 + 0.5 + 0.2 = 2.149 2.149 x 1.15 x 1.2 = 2.966

Steady Shot is affected by Haste bonuses including that granted by [Auto Shot] and [Serpent's Swiftness]. It is also affected by ranged attack speed bonuses including [Rapid Fire] and [Bloodlust].

Hunters are the only class whose GCD is unaffected by haste. For this reason, hunters who are specializing in the [Exotic Beasts] tree and who have [Serpent's Swiftness] will find additional haste from gear to be almost worthless. Even if Steady Shot completes in 1.4493 seconds, it still cannot be fired again until 1.5 seconds have passed.

Trivia

• In Hearthstone, Steady Shot is the hunter Hero Power, dealing 2 damage directly to the enemy hero.

Patches and hotfixes

• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Removed.
  
• Hotfix (2014-10-17): Damage increased by 15%.
  
• Hotfix (2013-06-10): Steady Shot now deals 10% more damage.
  
• Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Steady Shot now deals 20% more damage.
  
• Patch 5.1.0 (2012-11-27): Steady Shot, Cobra Shot, and Barrage can now always be cast on the move.
  
• Patch 4.1.0 (2011-04-26): Steady Shot should no longer start casting Auto Shot on a new target when the "Stop Auto Attack" option is enabled.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Available at level 3 for 60. It generates 9 Focus.
  
• Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20):
  • Now gains 10% of attack power as damage instead of 20%.
  • [Arcane Shot]: Mana cost lowered to match the cost of Steady Shot.
    
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14):
  • Now uses ammo. In result, its bonus damage has been slightly reduced. Players can notice a damage increase based upon what ammo they use.
  • Now has a 2.0 cast time, up from 1.5.
  • No longer clips [Auto Shot] making weapon speed less relevant.
  • Steady Shot is available beginning at level 50 instead of 62.
    
• Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Tooltip clarified to indicate base weapon damage is used in the damage calculation.
  
• Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): The tooltip stating the percentage of Attack Power gained by Steady Shot was inaccurate and has been corrected. The damage remains unchanged.
  
• Patch 2.0.6 (2007-01-23): The base damage for [Arcane Shot] has been reduced by about 9% and the bonus damage from ranged attack power reduced from 20% to 15%.

  This patch made Arcane Shot and Steady Shot do roughly the same amount of damage.
  

• Patch 1.5.0 (2005-06-07): Special ability shots no longer add the ranged weapon speed or take into account ranged weapon haste when determining the actual cooldown. The tooltip and cooldown timers should now properly reflect the actual cooldown.
  

External links

• Wowhead
• WoWDB