Post by drazzl on Dec 11, 2014 16:30:25 GMT
The traditional method of thinking is that one must be a Beast Mastery Hunter for their superior pet tanking ability. This method has been obsolete for 4 years now and it pains me when people still think it's accurate information. So I'm writing this to clear things up a bit and explain how it is done currently.
All pets are created equal for the most part. They all do the same damage and have the same defensive bonuses. There are 2 things to take into account here:
1 - You can turn any pet into a tanking pet by changing what its spec is, accessed through the Talents menu. Tenacity specced pets have more health, armor and get a bonus to any healing received. Ferocity pets get an extra 10% haste, damage and crit chance. These can be changed in seconds for free.
2 - Your tank pet's defensive abilities aren't very strong compared to them needing to be in the proper spec. You're better off picking a pet that provides you with a buff. The only advantage here is that exotic pets used by Beast Masters provide 2 buffs.
Pet selections isn't crucial to your pet's survival or tankiness, what matters is that it is in the proper spec. Being a Beast Master Hunter will make your pet any better at tanking or surviving.
How to solo an elite:
1 - Put your pet in tenacity spec and turn its taunt on.
2 - Create a macro for Misdirection. This 3 line macro will allow you to cast misdirect with 1 click and no messy target switching as its all baked in. It will target your pet, cast misdirect and retarget the mob you're attacking (ensure you have your main target selected first). This all happens off the global cd, so you won't have any hiccup in your rotation or dps as you do.
/target <insert pet's name>
/cast misdirection
/targetlasttarget
3 - Ensure you have the following talent: Spirit Bond
4 - Ensure you have the following glyphs: Animal Bond, Misdirection, Mending (Do not confuse with Mend Pet)
Glyph of Misdirection will remove the cd on the ability allowing you to use it on every pull without delay and mid-pull as the aggro dump will reset over time and you'll need to stack more aggro on your pet to ensure the mob doesn't come after you if the fight goes on for awhile. Having the macro will make this seamless mid-pull.
Glyph of Mending will double the healing provided for by your Mend Pet ability. Some mobs really do hit hard enough you'll need the healing and even maintain near 100% uptime on it, others you won't need it at all. Note: Mend Pet turns into Revive if your pet ever dies, so it's one less button on your action bar to worry about.
Glyph of Animal Bond synergies with the Spirit Bond talent providing more passive healing to your pet and synergies with your Mend Pet ability as well.
This combination of glyphs and talents turns Mend Pet's 25% heal over 10 secs into 55% healing over 10 secs. Then add in an additional 2.2% of its health healed every 2 seconds passively, or think of that as 11% health regen over 10 secs. Put those 2 together and it's 66% health healed over 10 seconds. Therefore, a creature has to be able to take out large chunks of your pet's health with every hit to be able to kill it, and very few can.
All pets are created equal for the most part. They all do the same damage and have the same defensive bonuses. There are 2 things to take into account here:
1 - You can turn any pet into a tanking pet by changing what its spec is, accessed through the Talents menu. Tenacity specced pets have more health, armor and get a bonus to any healing received. Ferocity pets get an extra 10% haste, damage and crit chance. These can be changed in seconds for free.
2 - Your tank pet's defensive abilities aren't very strong compared to them needing to be in the proper spec. You're better off picking a pet that provides you with a buff. The only advantage here is that exotic pets used by Beast Masters provide 2 buffs.
Pet selections isn't crucial to your pet's survival or tankiness, what matters is that it is in the proper spec. Being a Beast Master Hunter will make your pet any better at tanking or surviving.
How to solo an elite:
1 - Put your pet in tenacity spec and turn its taunt on.
2 - Create a macro for Misdirection. This 3 line macro will allow you to cast misdirect with 1 click and no messy target switching as its all baked in. It will target your pet, cast misdirect and retarget the mob you're attacking (ensure you have your main target selected first). This all happens off the global cd, so you won't have any hiccup in your rotation or dps as you do.
/target <insert pet's name>
/cast misdirection
/targetlasttarget
3 - Ensure you have the following talent: Spirit Bond
4 - Ensure you have the following glyphs: Animal Bond, Misdirection, Mending (Do not confuse with Mend Pet)
Glyph of Misdirection will remove the cd on the ability allowing you to use it on every pull without delay and mid-pull as the aggro dump will reset over time and you'll need to stack more aggro on your pet to ensure the mob doesn't come after you if the fight goes on for awhile. Having the macro will make this seamless mid-pull.
Glyph of Mending will double the healing provided for by your Mend Pet ability. Some mobs really do hit hard enough you'll need the healing and even maintain near 100% uptime on it, others you won't need it at all. Note: Mend Pet turns into Revive if your pet ever dies, so it's one less button on your action bar to worry about.
Glyph of Animal Bond synergies with the Spirit Bond talent providing more passive healing to your pet and synergies with your Mend Pet ability as well.
This combination of glyphs and talents turns Mend Pet's 25% heal over 10 secs into 55% healing over 10 secs. Then add in an additional 2.2% of its health healed every 2 seconds passively, or think of that as 11% health regen over 10 secs. Put those 2 together and it's 66% health healed over 10 seconds. Therefore, a creature has to be able to take out large chunks of your pet's health with every hit to be able to kill it, and very few can.