Quetzalcoatl.Excalin said:
»I think it is applying the TH and then rolling to see if Bounty Shot took effect.
Yes, this.
If you have TH+4 or more in gear/traits (or Amini hands plus more TH gear), Bounty Shot can proc to level that up to TH5 even if it is the very first action on a mob, with no Ionis/blessings/etc. added.
I was quite sure of this, but just verified again in Palborough Mines, no buffs/signet at all, completely solo with no trusts, initial action on the mob was Bounty Shot without even engaging. Tested the following setups:
(1) TH+6 in gear, no empy gloves (I used TH+2 Herculean hands/feet, TH+1 Herculean helm, Chaac Belt)
(2) TH+4 in gear, no empy gloves (TH+2 herc feet, TH+1 Herc Helm, Chaac Belt)
(3) Amini+1 gloves plus TH+4 more in gear (Herc helm TH+1, feet TH+2, Chaac Belt TH+1)
(4) Amini+1 gloves plus only TH+1 more in gear (Chaac Belt)
(5) Amini+1 gloves only (meaning TH+4 from the ability's base TH+2 plus the additional Bounty Shot+2 on gloves)
For ALL of (1), (2), (3) and (4): Sometimes the intial Bounty Shot action gives no message, meaning the TH+4 cap from gear/traits for non THF-mains was applied. Sometimes the initial shot gave a Treasure Hunter 5 message, meaning the TH4 from gear was applied first then there was an additional TH+1 from successful Bounty Shot level up proc.
For (5): I saw TH4 message every time, never a TH5 in ~25+ attempts. Pretty sure that without any additional TH, using Amini+1 gloves alone has a cap of TH4 (on initial Bounty Shot) and are not TH4 PLUS a chance at level up proc. As shown in sets (3) and (4), using ANY amount of additional TH gear gives a chance for Bounty Shot proc to TH5 on initial hit.
Also relevant, when using Amini+1 gloves only, first Bounty Shot will
always give a TH4 message on use (similarly, using the JA with no associated gear always gives a TH2 message assuming no other TH is already on the mob). This leads me to believe that TH must be counted first, since I can demonstrate regularly getting no message on first action Bounty Shot when using TH+4 or more in gear. TH = doesn't give a message. JA (or THF) giving TH "increase" proc = gives a message.
One last point: I suspect Bounty Shot does NOT work like THF TH in considering higher than "gear cap" TH gear for purposes of improving likelihood of a TH+ proc (just like THF main pre-gifts could have more than TH+8 in equipped gear, and while it doesn't affect initial application of TH it does make TH level ups above TH8 more likely). However, as an instant JA, there's really no downside in putting your max TH gear in a Bounty Shot macro juuuust in case higher values do make procs above TH4 more likely.