# 'Pre-buff, then apply' is the core DoT-build execution loop this mechanic enables

Because Vulnerable/Berserking/other snapshot-able bonuses lock into a DoT at application, the highest-value play pattern for DoT builds is deliberately triggering your burst window an instant before reapplying your DoT, not simultaneously with it or after.

Diablo IV patch 3.2.1. Category: snapshotting. Evidence: Likely.

## Detail
This is a direct, logical consequence of the confirmed snapshotting rule rather than a separately documented named 'technique,' but it is exactly the execution pattern that separates a mediocre DoT rotation (reapplying on cooldown regardless of buff state) from an optimized one (holding a DoT refresh until a burst window is active, or briefly clipping a Vulnerable proc just before reapplying).

## Why it works
A DoT applied without the buff active ticks at the un-buffed rate for its whole duration; the same DoT applied one game-tick after the buff triggers ticks at the buffed rate for its whole duration - the entire value difference is captured or lost at the single moment of (re)application.

## How to use it
In DoT-heavy Rogue Poison/Barbarian Bleed/Necromancer Poison-Shadow builds, sequence skills so your Vulnerable-application or Berserking-refresh skill resolves immediately before your DoT-refresh skill, not after.