Aspect of the Viper

Aspect of the Viper
Aspect of the Viper None cooldown Instant cast The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. In addition you gain 4% maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one aspect can be active at a time.
Usable by
Class	Hunter
Properties
Type	Utility
School	Nature
Casting time	Instant cast
Cooldown	None
Talents
Improvement talents	Aspect Mastery
Related buff
Aspect of the Viper Your ranged and melee attacks regenerate a percentage of your base mana, but your total damage done is reduced by 50%. In addition, you gain 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec.

• Aspect of the Viper
• Instant cast
• The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. In addition you gain 4% maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one aspect can be active at a time.

Vipers may appear sluggish, but they can lash out with deadly speed and precision.

The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing total damage done by 50%. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one Aspect can be active at one time. If wearing at least two pieces of Gronnstalker's Armor, this Aspect also provides a passive effect of 5% of your Intellect in addition to the active regeneration.

Uses

• Enables the Hunter to very quickly regenerate mana after running out, at the cost of half of their damage (both ranged and melee).
• Stacks with equipment and items consisting of +mana every 5 seconds bonuses.
• Can be used as a "throttling" mechanism in aggro-sensitive situations, such as when training a new, lower-leveled pet.

Limitations

• A hunter can only have one Aspect on at a time.
• Greatly reduces damage output.

Rank Table

	Level	Mana Regen Bonus	Training Cost
Rank 1	20	A percentage of maximum mana equal to 2 * base ranged weapon speed	18 70

Mana Regeneration Formula

Aspect of the Viper causes each ranged attack (including the initial application of Serpent Sting, all three charges of Explosive Shot, all three missiles of Multi-Shot, but not including the ticks of Serpent Sting or the damage of Volley) to generate a percentage of the Hunter's maximum mana.

This regeneration can be increased by 10% by applying the Glyph of Aspect of the Viper to one of the Hunter's Major Glyph slots.

After extensive testing I have found that the percentage of mana returned is always between 3.07 and 3.08 percent when Glyph of Aspect of the Viper is equipped. 3.075 percent is a good number to use for better accuracy in determining how long it will take you to regenerate your mana pool.

To find the amount of mana each shot will return the following formula should be used:

Mana Return = Base Mana * 0.03075

For example; If your base mana is 10,000 then you will be regenerating 307.5 mana per shot, rounded up to 308 for some shots and rounded down to 307 for others.

307.5 = 10,000 * 0.03075

Determining the time it will take you regenerate your mana pool is important in deciding between leather armor with no intellect or mail armor with intellect. The less time you're using Aspect of the Viper the more dps you will be doing.

Notes

• This will greatly reduce the downtime and save quite a bit of money since you dont have to buy water.
• Does not affect any damage done by your vehicles, so can be safely used in Mounted Combat.

Patch changes

• / Patch 3.0.2 (14-Oct-2008): The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing total damage done by 50%. Mana is gained based on ranged weapons speed.
  
• Patch 2.4.2 (2008-05-13): This ability now grants an additional amount of mana each 5 seconds equal to 35% of the hunter's level.
              (24.5 mp5 at lvl70)
  
• Patch 2.3.2 (2008-01-08): Effect increased.
  
• Patch 2.2.0 (25-Sep-2007): This ability has received a slight redesign. The amount of mana regained will increase as the Hunter’s percentage of mana remaining decreases. At about 60% mana, it is equivalent to the previous version of Aspect of the Viper. Below that margin, it is better (up to twice as much mana as the old version); while above that margin, it will be less effective. The mana regained never drops below 10% of intellect every 5 sec. or goes above 50% of intellect every 5 sec.