The problem with lightspeed

[Shadow XII]

So it seems that almost every efficient Shadow DPS rotation even in Korea completely disregards Lightspeed Due to its huge focus consumption which is a shame because its such a cool ability and is supposed to be the element's highlight feature.
i know you can use tab but it has a huge cooldown and C doesnt seem to completely fulfil the focus consumption as i find myself often reloading during it as well.

any idea if there are any changes coming to improve the ability in any way?

[Kenna]

1 hour ago, Shadow XII said:

So it seems that almost every efficient Shadow DPS rotation even in Korea completely disregards Lightspeed Due to its huge focus consumption which is a shame because its such a cool ability and is supposed to be the element's highlight feature.
i know you can use tab but it has a huge cooldown and C doesnt seem to completely fulfil the focus consumption as i find myself often reloading during it as well.

any idea if there are any changes coming to improve the ability in any way?

You don't need to reload with the C, it will never go completely down. It just looks like it will. C basically gives you the perfect amount of focus needed during Lightspeed, to spam RMB + F. 

I don't know of any changes coming along, but currently Lightspeed is fine for what it is, in my opinion.  

[HakuohSama]

Well there is no need to use lightspeed because you have no modifiers boosting it. So overall you will be losing dps using it because darkshot has so much dmg modifier.

[Streetdragon]

so spamming rmb +f + 4 is the way to go or what

[Relanah]

Lightspeed is crippled by 2 main factors:

 

• It's a HUGE focus sink, that also needs you to be high focus to deal full damage. This means it's basically relegated to just usable during Tombstone (Move 1) and Moonshine (Move 1, with HM upgrade).
• It gives no boosts to anything other than RMB. But is completely removed from existence by the use of 4, which you'll be spamming on CD because it's so efficient.

So, logically, the way to make it actually a thing to use would be the following:

 

• Remove the Dark Light sink from 4 and put it somewhere else that isn't naturally wanted to be spammed for max DPS, so you lose less DPS to get into Lightspeed.
• Make LS boost something to give some focus recovery so you can actually use it more often than just alongside Tab/C (Either that or put some effect from LS to help manage their CD's. Heck, more Tombstone uptime from LS would be reason enough to try and dance between LS and regular shooting)

In the end, it seems a shame that they have this resource management mechanic, only to completely ruin it because the only sink for the resource to allow you to actually manage it happens to be a really powerful skill in its own right that wants to be spammed (Especially with the innate CDR from regular RMB). That and it bugs the hell out of me to have that second semi-circle bar always empty because there's no point trying to get into LS because it means holding off on using 4's for too long (I mean, in the current state you could literally just remove the Dark Light mechanic completely and just make Tombstone give you the modified RMB for the duration...)

[Xypherenc]

I think they should look at WoW's Shadow Priest's Insanity mechanic. Basically it is similar to Shadow Slinger as in you have a resource bar you need to fill. For the Priest, once it is filled, you enter Void Form which makes you cast your spell much faster and they also have lowered cooldown. Once in Void Form, you will try your best to keep your Insanity bar from being depleted by using abilities that either fill it up or stop the bar from being drained. Your Insanity drain speed escalate through times so eventually you will be out of Void Form.

 

So, my suggestion for Shadow Slinger would be:

 

1. Undertaker (4) will not drain Dark Light anymore. Instead, in Lightspeed mode, Undertaker will freeze Dark Light from being depleted for 0.5s or 1.0s. Undertaker will consume more Focus in Lightspeed.

 

2. Bulletstorm will now also reduce 4 cooldown per hit and trigger Unload (F). Bulletstorm now drain Dark Light instead of Focus (not as fast as it does to Focus right now).

 

3. F is now able to fill up Dark Light during Lightspeed. F will consume more Focus in Lightspeed.

 

4. Tripleshot (3) will now be used at a much faster speed. Using Bulletstorm on Marked target will reduce Dark Light consumption from Bulletstorm in addition to bonus damage.

 

5. Tombstone (Tab) and Moonshine (C with Badge) will grant you a buff that stop Dark Light from being drained. The duration is additive so you can use them both at the same time.

 

6. Scorched Earth (V) remains the same.

 

Note: During Lightspeed, all skills are performed at much higher speed. Dark Light is passively drained overtime.

 

Now instead of managing when to spill Dark Light (one minute or so), you will try your best to spill it as soon as possible and keep it from being drained during Lightspeed. Fingers being broken ensured.

 

[Dark Falz]

Umm I'm not sure why people think lightspeed gets no boosts.  Lightspeed changes dark shot in to bullet storm and all gunners legendaries boost both dark shot and bullet storm.  Still it's really only great to use lightspeed during tombstone so you can get max dps out of it using no focus.  Even using it during moonshine is a loss cause your focus doesn't stay full.  Best rotation I've found so far is to fill your dark light then pop tombstone and spam bullet storm til it ends then use undertaker on cool down to keep your dark light from filling until you get tombstone back off cool down.  It might be worth using light speed during moonshine once you get the floor 20 badge that makes it so your skills cost no focus for 3 seconds on moonshine use but I haven't been able to test it yet since I don't yet have the badge.