Serpent Sting

Serpent Sting stings the target, causing nature damage over 15 seconds. Only one Sting per hunter can be active on any one target.

Table
Serpent Sting is available at level 10 for.

Improvements

 * Improved Serpent Sting (Marksmanship Talent): Your Serpent Sting also does instant damage equal to 15/30% of its total periodic effect.
 * Noxious Stings (Survival Talent): Increases the damage done by the hunter by 5/10% on targets affected by their Serpent Sting.
 * Glyph of Serpent Sting: Increases the periodic critical strike chance of your Serpent Sting by 6%.
 * The Tier 8 2 piece set bonus increases the damage dealt by 10%.
 * The Tier 9 2 piece set bonus allows the damage done by Serpent Sting to critically hit for 100% additional damage (+50% prior to patch 3.2.2).

Tips and tactics

 * Serpent Sting is a fairly weak damage over time spell, in comparison to those of other classes. To get the most of out it, it should be used in fights that will last longer than 15 seconds. On short fights and trash mobs, the hunter may find it is not an efficient use of focus. For Marksmanship hunters, it is worth using even in fairly short fights as it increases Chimera Shot's damage.


 * When fighting multiple enemies, it may be useful to apply Serpent Sting to all targets. If there is a large number of enemies, however, it is better to use Multi-Shot. Marksmanship hunters who have Glyph of Serpent Sting can use Chimera Shot to keep Serpent Sting up indefinitely on two targets, although this will require timing as the margins for error are very small.


 * Its greatest utility in PvP is against rogues and druids, to prevent them from entering stealth. (Druids can cleanse it, but will have to shift to caster form to do so.)


 * Be careful using this spell in situations where your group may use crowd control (CC), as the damage will break the effects. Since this is the only sting all hunters would have (except for Survival hunters) there is no way you can removed it.