Threat up with bears
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 2nd 2008 at 3:15PM
As I said on the WoW Insider Show last week, I do have a little green hunter who's 70 and plays in groups with my friends often enough. She's not very powerful, and probably never will be. My warrior and warlock take up most of my end game time, and that's okay. So in hopes that I might convince myself to play a hunter more, I've decided to roll yet another alt on the new server and see where things take me. I really enjoy classes that have pets, so I made another hunter. She's now level 17 after a few hours of play.
One of the first choices I had to make was what kind of pet to get. I used Petopia to browse some of my options, and to make sure that my preconceived notion of a bear was the right answer. It was. With my other hunter, I leveled from 10 to 70 using a cat. Nothing wrong with that, he just wasn't as good at tanking as my bear is turning out to be.
As I play a prot warrior for my main, I find that having a suitable tank for most situations really makes the game easier. This might just be my play style. So my bear and I are trekking along through the content right now, enjoying the old sights again, and meeting some new people.
What makes my bear so great? A few things. First, he's got a lot of HP. Right now around 400. That's a lot for such a low level, and thanks to a few nifty macros I've made (in particular /petattack) he can tank multiple mobs as fast as I can target them and issue commands. A pack of five defias bandits got you down? No worries, my pet can hold their attention long enough. He gets quite a nice HP boost from his natural 8% buff, and another 10% from my Endurance Training talent.
Another thing that helps my bear's survivability is the +5% armor he receives. This effect is less noticeable, but results in 3% to 4% less damage taken by the pet for every hit (because of the almost linear, but not quite linear, results of armor at low levels). When taking more than two mobs at once, this effect can be nicely seen. In fact, I originally had chosen a wolf as a pet; but he didn't do nearly as good as my bear does at multi-mob tanking.
It's nice to keep up the bears threat, and I usually let him have some alone time with the mob I'm about to attack for at least 5 seconds. After that I throw on a Mend Pet and let my DPS take the mob down. Pretty nice.
What tips might you have for a young hunter out exploring the world? While this will be my second hunter I've leveled, I'm sure there are a few tricks I can use along the way to make things easier this time around. In fact things like the pet attack macro have already helped a lot.
Filed under: Hunter, Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JdJdJd Mar 2nd 2008 4:36PM
Not really a big tip..but try adding /cast Hunter's Mark to your /petattack macro.
Saelorn Mar 2nd 2008 4:38PM
Not to be contrary, but I've always taken a critical eye to using a bear pet. I really like bears, as animals, and I always have. I wanted my own hunter to use a bear, but there was something stopping me.
Bears are slow.
Bears are one of the few pets that cannot learn any movement-enhancing abilities. If you want to fight something at range, you have to wait significantly longer for your bear to get over to it before you can start shooting. I know, it sounds like I'm just being lazy, but this is something that matters to me when I'm soloing (which is more often than not, as a hunter).
It may come from my main being an Arms warrior for most of his life, but I went with the pig. Boars can charge. They can get to your target faster than any other pet, and they can take the hits as well as a bear can (slightly better, depending on how you value armor compared to health).
I know, it seems like every hunter levels with either a pig or a cat, but there's a reason for it. I'm not saying you're wrong for choosing a bear, and I commend you for your patience, but I just felt that mobility was an issue that should be addressed.
Qix Mar 2nd 2008 5:30PM
Id have to agree with both the OP and Saelorn. My ghost cat is my primary pet, but i keep my Gorilla up to speed as well for the multitanking. Does not have as big of a HP bonus as a bear (split between dps and hp), but thunderstomp is nice for multi target aggro.
I tried going to the extreme for tanking with a Turtle, but they just cant keep aggro well enough, i have to slow my own dps down too much.
As far as tips go, i use a lot of macro's that change to a different skill if i am pressing shift. Then i make one of my thumb buttons on my mouse work as shift. Works well for things like swapping between the 2 fire traps, or ice traps, etc.
I also have a macro that cycles through: Mining, humanoid, beast, hidden (my hunter is in STV right now). Makes it easier to track multiple things without taking up 10 slots on a hotbar.
Dahk Mar 2nd 2008 5:03PM
If you like your bear and enjoy using your bear, more power to you, but based on stats, I wouldn't reccomend it.
While they do have a lot of survivability, the -9% dps will lower the threat output quite a bit. I've got a hunter in Outlands right now that I've been leveling up and have used a wolf (stats suck, but I like wolves) and a cat. I honestly have never had a problem with pet survivability unless I'm just taking on a ton or orange/red mobs.
Not only will the increased dps from your pet deal pet based damage, but it will also allow you to dps harder and earlier without pulling aggro which will further increase overall dps. Remember that sometimes the best defense is a good offense. If you are killing mobs faster, you are both taking less damage from them and leveling up faster.
On top of this, with a bear you lose out on the dash talent. Having a pet that can run in faster will reduce the time you spend waiting before you begin your bow/gun attacks. Again this will reduce the time you take to kill an enemy.
Aaron Mar 2nd 2008 5:08PM
Boar is indeed the way to go for levelling, their growl after they gain the ap buff (after a charge) is a big threat boost since growl uses pet attack power to determine how much threat growl can produce.
Gogey Mar 2nd 2008 5:14PM
Indeed, boars are amazing. I used one from 40-70 and I really loved it. Though for multi-mob tanking, pick up a gorilla while you can.
Littlemouse Mar 2nd 2008 5:20PM
Only downside to a boar that I've encountered so far is that he has the occassional tendency to charge your freezing trap. Doesn't really happen terribly often for me, but it can have slightly deadly consequences when you're soloing an instance that's about your level:) Luckily, Feign Death works well for when things go downhill from him breaking my trap:)
PeeWee Mar 3rd 2008 9:50AM
Your salvation is two macros:
1) Use this for sending your pet to attack what you're hovering your mouse over (if you hold down Ctrl, the pet will abandon its target and run back to you):
/petfollow [modifier:ctrl]
/stopmacro [modifier:ctrl]
/petautocaston [nocombat] Charge
/petautocastoff [combat] Charge
/petattack [target=mouseover,exists]
2) Use this one to assist your pet:
/petautocastoff Charge
/assist pet
/cast Hunter's Mark
/startattack
Now your pet will not charge your frozen targets, since once it has charged its target and you assist it, you automatically turn autocast on Charge off.
Jack Mar 2nd 2008 5:36PM
When I levelled my hunter, I was very happy with my pet owl. It has pretty high DPS, so it holds threat well against one mob, and it has screech, a spammable AoE-type move (it does less threat, of course, than thunderstomp, but doesn't have the long cooldown.) I never had problems with my pets taking too much damage, so I never saw a need to go for a tanking one.
Brian Mar 2nd 2008 6:00PM
I have a hunter who is currently in a mix of T5 and ZA gear. I have a bear and have had him since about level 20. He's not the fastest and his lack of DPS doesn't hold aggro very well but I like him and my guild like him too. He's one of those pets that gets known so much that it would be hard for my guild to adjust if I didn't have him. Don't get me wrong I have tried other pets but I just prefer my bear. He suits my slow solo style of play. I saw the dwarf and bear from the opening cinematic and wanted to play them. I tend to think of pets as race combos too and if their racial mount is available as a tameable creature then I tend to stick to that.
My bear is so well liked that at our last guild anniversary we took a trip to Molten Core and the guild surprised me by getting my bear to tank Magmadar. Bears may not be fashionable or great at PvP, but they eat anything and when mages are handing out free food they are a decent choice.
Chii Mar 2nd 2008 6:34PM
We sure love Odin, and his dwarf
Dave Mar 2nd 2008 7:34PM
bear's a pretty terrible leveling pet honestly. The boar is where it's at. You're not going to tank an instance with your pet, so why are you worried? The pet just has to do barely enough threat to matter, and even if it doesn't, it's not like there are many situations anymore where you really need your pet to hold aggro %100 without a growl. I don't think multi-mob combat is the way to go if you're not an AOE'ing class of character. You're much better off burning down mobs in quick succession and playing smart rather than just charging headfirst into as many mobs as you can find and letting your bear tank them while you pick them off.
Having done 2 hunters from 1-60 and one to 70, i'm %100 confident that the way to go is a tough pig with the right skills. And I keep a turtle around for whenever I need it to tank something tough, but that's a pretty rare situation.
Ahoni Mar 2nd 2008 7:50PM
I like all the responses here. A hunter's pet is a very personal choice. BRK refers to himself and his cat as "we", and its easy to understand why. The pet plays a large part of how a hunter is played. Personally, I think the boar is the most effective pet for leveling. The agro generated when the boar charges is simply phenomenal. Even at 70, I let the boar charge and I can open with full fire power and rarely pull agro.
Cats are the best DPS pets (I discount Ravagers just because they are hideous) and owls and gorillas excel at holding multiple mobs attention. But it really all boils down to what pet do you like. If you don't like the boar, you won't be happy with it and will replace it. I replaced several pets in Outlands to try all the spiffy new BC pets, and regeretted it ever since. It has taken me quite a while to level my beloved Pequeno (Plagued Swine from EPL) from 60 to 70, and I am still in the process of leveling my cat (Rak'Shiri - Winterspring rare) to 70. Why do I bother? Becuase I loved those two pets, and I miss them. Even though the hunter is not the main anymore, I put in the work because I missed those pets.
Eternalpayn Mar 2nd 2008 9:10PM
Don't roll Cairne ally. Somebody told a bunch of people it was an RP realm. They didn't understand that normal meant not-RP, and they kept spamming general chat, and running around spamming me with things like "Hello fellow warrior, do you care to join me on an extermination of these Defias over yonder?" "Uh... those are grey mobs, dude." "I see no colors, I only see enemies." WTFLOL.
chuckie Mar 2nd 2008 9:37PM
Funny this article appearing as im leveling an hunter alt for fun atm. Im BM spec and ive a cat but its very hard to not pull aggro from the cat i know cats do the best DPS but for leveling im not so sure. im not sure what pet to get for levleing in outlands ill try find a boar i guess.
Manatank Mar 3rd 2008 4:13AM
Cats, Ravagers and Raptors do the best DPS. Ravagers being the coolest of course.
Garumoo Mar 2nd 2008 10:32PM
My pet attack macro has "/petattack mouseover" in it which enables
a very powerful tactic when grinding .. as the current mob's health
dips to near dead, I send the pet to attack the next target .. by
the time I finish off and loot the current target the pet will have
(a) trundled over to the next target, and (b) got a head start on
aggro. If I'm lucky, I will pull aggro for the current target just
before it dies, that way I don't have to walk quite so far to go loot
its sorry butt. Rinse and repeat.
This tactic will (a) make grinding go faster, (b) be more fun
because of the extra juggling, (c) teach you aggro management, and
(d) teach you mana management to boot. It's full of win.
Felwrathe Mar 3rd 2008 1:33AM
Hunters are very very easy and fun to play.
My tips:
For your melee weapon, after level 10 you won't be meleeing much as your pet is now tanking for you. From that point on, your melee weapon should be about stats first and damage second. For every time you hit a mob in melee you're probably hitting them 200 times in ranged, so stats that give ranged attack power are highly important compared to melee damage.
And when I first started leveling my hunter, I completely blew off multi-shot as a skill because as I'm soloing, chances are I'm usually not fighting three mobs at once. However, as an instant cast shot, it adds a nice little boost to your DPS, even if you're not fighting multiple mobs.
If you are fighting multiple mobs, it's an even better boost, but you have to make sure that, should you gain aggro from mobs your pet isn't attacking, you should disengage if there's just one of them, or feign death if there's more, and as a last resort have your pet change targets until it builds up enough threat again.
On the same note of DPS efficiency, don't waste your time with scorpid sting [the poison DoT] if you're not taking a while to kill each mob. It's more efficient than arcane shot or multi-shot, but only if you're spending the full 15 seconds fighting the mob. If you're just farming lower-level stuff, save your mana. Also note that if you put scorpid sting on a mob your pet's not tanking, a feign death/disengage will only help you until the DoT ticks again.
For PvP, make sure you take advantage of concussive shot to slow enemies down, shadowmeld if you're a night elf defending a point, Intimidation if you're beast mastery, Scattershot if you're Marksman, and Flare/Volley to find those pesky Rogues.
In general, try not to forget about your aspects and your traps, and NEVER lose track of your pet.
woeye Mar 3rd 2008 6:44AM
For instance runs I prefer a wolf. It's a solid allround pet and it gives melee classes a nice DMG buff. This buff even works for Aimed Shot.
When it comes to AoE tanking birds hold aggro best due to their "Screech" ability. While bats and owls are DPS bets (stats wise) carrion birds are allrounds pets like wolfs. Birds, however, fly. And many hunters (as well as teammates) do not like the constant fluttering =)
Arya Mar 3rd 2008 9:33AM
The only hunter's macro you will need:
/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark
/autoattack
/sammich