Lowbie Hunter, Pet Tanking/Aggro

[Davemetalhead]

Hey all

Background: I haven't played a hunter since early TBC days. Just started a NElf one, currently level 20 BM specced. Pretty crappy gear, only that gotten from quest rewards and drops, no instances done yet, no PvP, no heirloom gear.

That preamble is just to basically let you know that I'm obviously not doing massive DPS! I've tamed a couple of cats but I've found with both of them that they lose aggro very easily. Growl and claw are on, cower off.

Is this likely because they are Ferocity pets? Would a Tenacity pet (crab? bear? scorpid?) hold aggro better by design?

[Soisoisoi]

To be honest, for leveling, you're better off getting a Spider (or similar) and just webbing them in place. Making use of Web, Scatter Shot, Traps, Disengage etc. will also teach you how to kite better as well, which helps later on.

That, or just get a Tenacity pet, they are the 'Tank' pet. Once you get Misdirect (including Glyph) you will have no problems, but that is level 70 I believe.

[Hanto]

When I leveled my hunter (as MM, since BM no longer has pet threat talents and MM is remarkably smoother due to near 1-shot Aimed Shot kills) I found that my cats lost aggro a lot, and it continued until I could use Misdirect and the glyph for it. A bear did help, but only for an extra shot or two. I ended up suffering more with the bear, however, since the cat buff is a decent stat loss.

Edit: Like Tree said, spiders help a lot as well. Never had one personally, but I can see them being worth it if the web CD was low enough.
Also: You can leave cower on. It no longer reduces threat, just movement speed and damage taken (it's like a 40sec CD shield wall).

[Soisoisoi]

Though to be fair, with the damage that all classes can put out at the lower levels compared to mob HP, your pet probably won't even get to the target before it dies. As Marksman for example, with Rapid Killing you will just one shot everything with Aimed Shot.

[Sonasol]

Use a kill comand and he doesnt losse agro and if u are BM u should be using it anyway

[Deleted]

Use a kill comand and he doesnt losse agro and if u are BM u should be using it anyway

Essentially this. If you're MM you'll pull aggro every time you even look at the Aimed Shot icon/key, using a Tenacity pet with growl on auto helps but not much. same with SV to an extent, ES hits pretty hard. and SS frontloads damage if you're specced for it.

if you level as BM get a Turtle, & hit KC on cooldown, together with growl you should be fine. pet choice is much of a muchness early, but as you level tenacity will outdo the others for tanking elites & soloing group quests. crit immunity ftw.

[Malgru]

Let your pet attack first. Don't attack before your pet does. Give it a second or two to get aggro. Then you should be fine.

[yetgdhfgh]

Intimidation is your friend

Just use intimidation everytime its up and use Kill command that should make sure your pets holds aggro well

[Soisoisoi]

Intimidation is your friend

Just use intimidation everytime its up and use Kill command that should make sure your pets holds aggro well

The downside to that is you're leveling as BM and not MM, where you could just one-shot the mob and not need a pet to Tank in the first place. ;p

[Deleted]

Hey all

Background: I haven't played a hunter since early TBC days. Just started a NElf one, currently level 20 BM specced. Pretty crappy gear, only that gotten from quest rewards and drops, no instances done yet, no PvP, no heirloom gear.

That preamble is just to basically let you know that I'm obviously not doing massive DPS! I've tamed a couple of cats but I've found with both of them that they lose aggro very easily. Growl and claw are on, cower off.

Is this likely because they are Ferocity pets? Would a Tenacity pet (crab? bear? scorpid?) hold aggro better by design?

If you're intent on levelling as BM then Hit rating also helps, gives your pet expertise and hit rating as well, makes it miss less hits and more aggro. Probably more valuable than Crit or Haste at that level. But hard to find Hit Rating gear maybe at those levels.

However just wanted to chime in that levelling as MM is more efficient ... I think. You get Rapid Killing and Concussive Barrage and Careful Aim talents and you won't have to worry about mobs reaching you. And with Rapid Killing you will have almost no downtime except for running from mob to mob. Haven't levelled a hunter since TBC, but I'm pretty sure your pet doesn't even have to attack if you have few pieces of Heirloom gear.

[Davemetalhead]

Thanks folks.

Most mobs die before they actually reach me, but I'm only level 22 and a little concerned how it'll be once the mobs start to increase in both health and dps.

Might try MM for a while - last time I played a hunter specced to MM was during the last couple of months of vanilla at level 60.

[Olianda]

Kill Command helps a LOT.