[andrioni]

One use case where it would be beneficial is for tables that have batch-style patterns, where you (at least in my experience) need to provision a good enough baseline before autoscaling kicks in.

In some cases I've seen, autoscaling can manage going from ~500 to 10k WCU without heavy throttling (as the burst capacity can handle the five~ten minutes before autoscaling kicks in), but not with a smaller baseline. On tables with hot shards, the baseline usually has to be higher.