(Pathfinder) Vital Strike + Rapid Shot?

[Poblobo]

Can I use the two together? Asking for myself. I'm trying to maintain usefulness in combat is all.

A pre-emptive thanks for the input!

[Deophaun]

No. Vital Strike can only be used as part of an attack action, which is a specific kind of standard action. Spring Attack is a special kind of full-round action that includes the ability to make one melee attack, not one attack action. Charging uses similar language and can also not be used in combination with Vital Strike.
Since Rapid Shot must be used on a full-attack, and Vital Strike can only be used on the standard action attack action, the two cannot be used together.

[Manyasone]

Why they made spring attack suck completely, no one knows. At the first writing years ago, spring attack could be used together with vital strike. Apparently this 'uber-combo' was to powerful...

[Poblobo]

Since Rapid Shot must be used on a full-attack, and Vital Strike can only be used on the standard action attack action, the two cannot be used together.

Cheers muchly mate, I couldn't find anywhere that specifically addressed the two going together, only someone quoting what you just quoted in regards to a different combination.

Still, having both feats could prove useful.

[stack]

Having both feats could prove useful? I suppose that may be true in the technical sense but I can't imagine it ever being worth the opportunity cost. Vital strike is okay if you have combat feats to spare and no easy way to get pounce. Spring attack is mostly going to give you a so gle attack and then place you back in charge/pounce range. Better than eating a full attack if your enemy can't pounce, bit of an investment if you don't have a plan to build around it. If you do plan do build around it, I doubt you are also leveraging vital strike.

TLDR: If you have enough feats for both you can probably find better feats to take.

[Extra Anchovies]

Yeah, it's annoying how there's not really good standard-action combat options for most Paizo noncasters. There's often talk of stacking one or more of Cleave, Vital Strike, and Spring Attack, but I think it would be better to boost each of them to be independently viable while keeping them mutually-exclusive, to encourage more tactical diversity. Here's a few ideas.

Vital Strike
Combine Vital Strike, Improved Vital Strike, and Greater Vital Strike into one feat requiring BAB +6, with IVS and GVS benefits unlocking at BAB +11 and BAB +16 respectively.
Remove Devastating Strike (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/devastating-strike-combat)'s printed effects, and instead allow characters with the feat to add the damage bonus from Strength (or another ability score if one is being used in place of Strength), and the damage bonus from Power Attack, Deadly Aim, or Piranha Strike, to each [weapon damage dice] rolled as part of a Vital Strike during your turn. Damage bonuses from other sources only apply once to the attack, as normal.
Change Furious Focus to require one of Deadly Aim, Piranha Strike, or Power Attack, with Furious Focus applying only to the first attack made after choosing to use any one of those three feats.
Maybe add some more supporting feats, e.g. Vital Strike (without Devastating Strike's benefit) on AoOs, save-or-sicken (DC 10 + 1/2 level + ability modifier used for damage) on successful Vital Strike hit, ability to reroll a missed Vital Strike with penalties to hit and/or lower damage-dice multiplier, etc.

Vital Strike is for those who want one big attack, and is quite useful for brute-forcing through hardness or DR/—. It benefits greatly from Furious Focus by piling all your Power Attack/etc damage into one attack, and other one-attack effects (such as True Strike) can also be magnified in power.

Spring Attack
Add a second/third/fourth attack (at -5/-10/-15 to hit) at BAB 8/12/16, which can be arranged among possible targets however the attacker chooses.
Remove the Dodge prerequisite from Mobility and most/all subsequent feats (including Spring Attack)

Cleave
At BAB 8, a successful cleave-attack lets you attack the first target a second time at -5, and if that attack hits, you get a second cleave-attack (at the same -5). A successful second cleave-attack lets you attack the first target a third time at -10, and if that attack hits, you get a third cleave-attack (at the same -10). At BAB 16, a successful third cleave-attack lets you attack the first target a fourth time at -15, and if that attack-hits, you get a fourth cleave-attack (at the same -15). If you kill the first target, choose a new creature within reach to be the 'first target' until the end of your turn.

In other words, you bounce back and forth between attacking the primary target and cleave-attacking one or more secondary targets until you miss an attack or until you've made four cleave-attacks. Here's the Cleave process in an interactive sequence (now in Cleave-O-Vision™!).

1. Attack a target (target-1) at full attack bonus.____________________________Hit: go to 2. Miss: go to 10.
2. Attack a new target (target-2) at full attack bonus.________________________Hit: go to 3. Miss: go to 11.
3. Attack target-1 at -5.________________________________________________ Hit: go to 4. Miss: go to 11.
4. Attack target-2 or a new target (target-3) at -5.__________________________Hit: go to 5. Miss: go to 11.
5. Attack target-1 at -10._______________________________________________ Hit: go to 6. Miss: go to 11.
6. Attack target-2 or target-3 or a new target (target-4) at -10.________________Hit: go to 7. Miss: go to 11.
7. Attack target-1 at -15._______________________________________________ Hit: go to 8. Miss: go to 11.
8. Attack target-2 or target-3 or target-4 or a new target (target-5) at -15._______Hit: go to 9. Miss: go to 11.
9. Congratulations! You hit with every attack. End sequence.
10. Aw, shucks. You missed your first attack. End sequence.
11. Aw, shucks. You missed a crucial attack. End sequence.

Cleave is a sort of high-risk high-reward option, with the possibility of up to seven total attacks in one standard action, but missing one of them breaks the chain. Doesn't allow any more single-target damage than a four-hit full attack, and in exchange for up to three extra attacks against up to three other enemies, you take the risk of missing out on some of your attacks. I'm not sure how forgiving the above system is numbers-wise, but it might be good to add some way of resuming a chain, perhaps by hitting the first target with a Cleaving Finish attack.