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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsHunter pet tanks Heroic Sapphiron
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 12th 2009 at 7:00PM
Remember Durante of Hydraxis, who briefly became a hero among Hunter for tanking Gruul with his pet? Well, he's at it again with Bubbles the Gorilla still at his side. This time around his stalwart monkey took on Sapphiron, deep in the bowels of Naxxramas.
In order to get the job done this time around, Durante mentions in his thread on the official forums that he had to do some pretty significant Stamina stacking, and his DPS was quite nearly nonexistant with the spec and equipment that allowed this to happen. He did just over 900 DPS over the course of the encounter. The raid didn't seem to need to stack any extra healers for this, but the five that were there had to be on top of their game. One attempt was cut short when Bubbles ate a pretty hefty crit, and pets can't be crit immune. Threat was a little dicey at first, Durante says, DPS really needed to hold back for awhile. They managed it though, and that's really all that counts.
I wouldn't say that this is a sign of Hunter pets taking over as Tanks or anything like that, but it was probably incredibly fun for Durante and his guild. I have no idea where his guild (which is recruiting Healers, apparently) sits on the meter between "Casual" and "Hardcore" but even the most hardcore guilds need to have a little fun sometimes and I think this qualifies.
In order to get the job done this time around, Durante mentions in his thread on the official forums that he had to do some pretty significant Stamina stacking, and his DPS was quite nearly nonexistant with the spec and equipment that allowed this to happen. He did just over 900 DPS over the course of the encounter. The raid didn't seem to need to stack any extra healers for this, but the five that were there had to be on top of their game. One attempt was cut short when Bubbles ate a pretty hefty crit, and pets can't be crit immune. Threat was a little dicey at first, Durante says, DPS really needed to hold back for awhile. They managed it though, and that's really all that counts.
I wouldn't say that this is a sign of Hunter pets taking over as Tanks or anything like that, but it was probably incredibly fun for Durante and his guild. I have no idea where his guild (which is recruiting Healers, apparently) sits on the meter between "Casual" and "Hardcore" but even the most hardcore guilds need to have a little fun sometimes and I think this qualifies.
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Larzz Mar 13th 2009 12:13AM
And some of you still doubt that this game isn't easier...
Gimme a break.
ps. Im not saying denying the challenge in this... Im sure it was very tough keeping HOTS up on an ape.
Snickers Mar 13th 2009 3:48AM
Stupid huntard forgot to turn of pet growl AGAIN!!! :P
Lyrael Mar 13th 2009 6:04AM
@Snickers:
Please post a warning before making comments like that. I now need to drain my keyboard of coffee :)
@Durante:
Well done & kudos for doing this mate. I know you'll likely get tons of flames saying 'don't broadcast it in case we get nerfed' but I love to see people making their own achievements just like this. It's what makes the game fun and individual. Respect also to the other 24 members of your raid who were willing to give this a shot. I know my nerves would've been wrecked thinking about the upcoming wipes/repairs/screaming LOL
/salute
Dreyja Mar 13th 2009 5:30AM
Well given the backing of an entire raid-oriented guild and some skill, that is STILL really freaking awsome. ;)
I am saying this as a DWRF HNTER to the CORE a;nd a female a that but I have to love that a guild was willing to make this work and... yeah they had to make this work.... Pet tanking may work in easy five-mans but this took skill and my respect to them all!!!
Zamboni Mar 13th 2009 12:40PM
Warlock tanks a boss with a VW, and Blizzard whacks the pet's bonus health by 80%.
Hunter tanks a boss with an ape, and Blizzard adds Thunderstomp to all of the Tenacity pets and gives apes a second bonus talent.
Can we tell what class a dev's ex-girlfriend plays and what class his current girlfriend plays?
Paws Mar 13th 2009 6:24PM
This does not prove that pets/hunters can tank. This was an experiement that basically showed that it was much more difficult for the WHOLE group when a hunter attempts to tank with his/her pet.
By no means should a hunter go around sporting that they can tank dungeons/raids. This is false advertisment and has a lot of strings attached.
Hunter Paws
Dweezill Mar 21st 2009 12:06AM
This is something in have been wanting to do for quite some time now, but never had the backing of my guild. First, i have to say congrats on being in a guild cool enough to let you do this. I recently dumped my guild because they constantly laughed at me for even thinking about doing this. S, thank you so much for pulling this off. your accomplishment, proves my old guild wrong. And I get to throw it back in their face every time I see one of them online. Second, congrats on actually pulling it off. were there lots of string attached... sure! Is this likely to become the norm? not by any means. This just shows the skill of a hunter, the skill of a guild, and the cohesiveness of a group who trusts each other enough to do something like. Nothing but respect here. One last thing, can you please link something showing what gear you used, and what enchants/gems you had on your gear? I would love to see how far iff i was on this concept.
Once again, congrats on the achievement, and thank you for helping meprove my old guild wrong.