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  1. #1

    What is the point of Lone Wolf?

    I don't really get this ability: it only increases Hunter's dmg by 10%, if you not have a pet. 10%???? I am sure a pet can do more than just 10% of Marksmen's total dmg + it gives some nice utilities. So my question is why would i ever use Lone Wolf, if i loose both: the dmg part and some nice buffs/utility pet abilities? What is this "buff" good for? For low lvl dungeons maybe, where everything dies so quick ...?

  2. #2
    A pet makes little sense for a Marksman, and those hunters have always had a pet mostly just as flavor, not as an integrated part of the class.
    The buff means you do roughly the same amount of damage on single target when the boss never moves faster than the pet. However, once you get 2 target cleave, or spread AoE. Or even just target swapping, Lone wolf becomes a fairly easy to understand binary DPS or Utility choice.

    tl;dr; Lone wolf is to give MM a choice between DPS and utility

  3. #3
    From the hunter guide on Icy-Veins.

    "Lone Wolf Icon Lone Wolf is a Marksmanship Hunter passive ability. It gives you 10% damage buff whenever you do not have a pet active.

    Generally speaking, the best DPS option is to not have a pet active. You can simulate having a pet versus using Lone Wolf for yourself by performing an Advanced Raidbots sim and using the following bit of extra code underneath your profile:

    # Your import goes above this line
    copy="pet"
    actions.precombat+="/summon_pet
    On multiple targets, having no pet becomes even more valuable, since your pet does not do any AoE damage."

  4. #4
    Also there are people who do not enjoy having a pet....Lone Wolf is great for that. So if you are more casual player you are not penalized for not having a pet. Works for me at least.

  5. #5
    The Patient Rockford's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Animron View Post
    I am sure a pet can do more than just 10% of Marksmen's total dmg
    It "can" be close in single target (up to an ilvl breakpoint), but AoE pulls away significantly with Lone Wolf as that 10% is on all attacks, on all targets, while MM Pet is only on the one target.

    Lone wolf will be used in dungeons when you're not using the utility as it is a DPS increase over using a pet.

  6. #6
    I am pretty sure Lone Wolf was 20% dmg increased in Legion ... Frost Mages still keep their 25% dmg buff while petless (Lonely Winter).

  7. #7
    Lone wolf was not a 20% dmg buff in Legion. If I remember correctly, it was 10% as well.

    Once you hit more or less 400 ilvl, you should not use a pet when you need to dps.

    Obv, you can summon it for BL on boss if your group does not have another class with BL.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Specialka View Post
    Lone wolf was not a 20% dmg buff in Legion. If I remember correctly, it was 10% as well.

    Once you hit more or less 400 ilvl, you should not use a pet when you need to dps.

    Obv, you can summon it for BL on boss if your group does not have another class with BL.
    Pet with special traits are BM Hunter only.
    But you are right in Legion was 10% also the LW trait.
    Also MM most of the damage comes from the player and not the pet so a 10% dps increase on that is way better then the pet, is that simple.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by HeiAggra View Post
    Pet with special traits are BM Hunter only.
    All ferocity pets can lust now...
    "We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both."
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  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Animron View Post
    I am pretty sure Lone Wolf was 20% dmg increased in Legion ... Frost Mages still keep their 25% dmg buff while petless (Lonely Winter).
    Lone wolf used to be 30 in WoD but no in legion is was 10 as well due to how hard aimed shot was hitting. Sims show pets doing between 3-5% of your DPS, Lone wolf increases all DPS by 10% which is a massive boost.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Gestopft View Post
    All ferocity pets can lust now...
    Oh true, i always forget that since i benched my hunter in Legion hehehe

  12. #12
    Just wished they would make it viable so we can alter our play styles

  13. #13
    The Lightbringer Battlebeard's Avatar
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    I always hated playing with a pet and never wanted that for the hunter. Good damage or not, as long as I don't have to drag some annoying pet along, I'll always love lone wolf!

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Battlebeard View Post
    I always hated playing with a pet and never wanted that for the hunter. Good damage or not, as long as I don't have to drag some annoying pet along, I'll always love lone wolf!
    Personally I like pets but I can't stand the pet AI, I think I would use it a lot more if I had a flying pet that would stay at my side kinda like a turret.
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  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Animron View Post
    What is this "buff" good for? For low lvl dungeons maybe, where everything dies so quick ...?
    It was implemented foremost for the players who did not like to play with pets nor wanted to play a caster.

    Pet AI was allways really bad and lots of area bugs still exist in dungeons/raids where your pet is basicly useless and its not allways possible to fix the Pet AI. Lone Wolf is at least an option if you are doing content full with pet bugs, since you can just bypass the whole pet issues with a talent without drawbacks.
    -

  16. #16
    What about soloing content? Are you able to solo tough/elite monsters just fine without a pet? Also how's Lone Wolf performing in random BGs?

  17. #17
    For pvp, you should always have a pet because of utility it gives.
    For pve, once you hit a certain ilvl, you do not need a pet.
    For outdoor content, you should have a pet for tanking big elite, and warmode pvp anyway.

  18. #18
    Titan Orby's Avatar
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    It does seem now like they have made every hunter spec unique in it's own right. Marksman being a lone arhcer type of person, BM being a beast centered spec and Survival being a melee hunter.

    I am not particularly fond of it personally, but I have played hunter so for long (since vanilla) that not having a pet kind of feels weird :P
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  19. #19
    Herald of the Titans Will's Avatar
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    Lots of mis-information ITT. Especially the guy 2 posts above saying "For pve, once you hit a certain ilvl, you do not need a pet." No.

    - Pet / no pet sim close to each other on single target (I think within 1% of each other
    - The above is for single target. Lone Wolf is MUCH better for cleave and AoE because the 10% increase applies to all your attacks, multi shotted RF, AS,
    - Whereas the pet's damage is single target (bite, etc) and does nothing for AoE as MM.
    - A pet can bring useful utility in M+. Primal rage (hero/lust), dispel (VERY useful on Raging weeks), extra HP (tenacity) or leech (ferocity).

    As you can see both pet and lone wolf have their pros and cons. If it's not a raging week and / or you don't need to do any soothing, you're probably better off lone wolf in M+ because you'll do a lot more AoE. If you have no hero user, then you may want to use a ferocity pet because primal rage is better than drums. You can summon it for bosses and dismiss it for trash if you like, and get the best of both worlds, the utility and the superior AoE. If you choose to do this, try to dismiss it immediately so you don't lose any combat uptime as the group progresses.

    In raids the difference is a lot smaller, but I still generally advocate lone wolf (unless you specifically need the pet, say for master's call or the extra HP) because if the boss fight features switching to targets across the room, your pet will lose DPS uptime because it has to run across the room to reach the new target, whereas you as a hunter can start shooting the new target the instant you switch to it.
    Last edited by Will; 2019-08-06 at 07:03 PM.

  20. #20
    Mechagnome Desh's Avatar
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    It's to make people that don't want to use a pet on a pet class feel special. Marksmanship has never fit the class identity of hunters anyway. Ideally, Blizzard would make a new class that revolves solely around archery/sniping/sabotage and move Marksmanship to that class and then make Hunter's more pet focused.

    It's the same shit with Grimoire of Sacrifice too. Out-of-place talents specifically for people that shouldn't even be playing those classes to begin with.

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