This Pet Doesn’t Use Bite
“Dear BRK … I am leveling up my hunter from scratch and she is currently at level 20. I have the ghost saber cat as my pet named, Opaque (Ironic I know) that came with Claw 3. I already have Growl 3 from a previous pet of mine and I was wondering if it is worthwhile to teach my pet Bite or keep using Claw.
“The problem I see with it is that claw is a huge focus drain and while leveling I like to keep my focus at a point where it is enough for me to move onto the next mob without me waiting for my pet to get focus to be able to growl again. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Scidra and Opaque”
Wouldn’t it be nice if all the huntards out there devoted 1/100 of the time to properly use their character as Scidra is? Very nice, we’re totally impressed.
Our pet is our tank. A tank’s purpose is to get and hold aggro. Gaining aggro is done using three methods:
- Doing damage to the mob
- Receiving damage from the mob
- Special attacks that increase Threat
Our pets use Claw and Bite to do damage and they generate Threat at the same time. Our pets also use Growl to increase their Threat. Growl does a lot more Threat-per-Focus than Bite or Claw, so making sure you have enough Focus to cast Growl at the beginning of every fight is crucial.
As such, we do not recommend using Growl and Bite and Claw while leveling; you’ll run out of Focus and loose your Growls. If you like Bite because of the bigger hit it does and the more Threat it generates at the beginning of a fight, go ahead and use it with Growl.
But the key is to make sure you start each fight with enough Focus so that your pet can use both Bite and Growl without hesitation. If you choose the Bite/Growl route, get in the habit of watching your pet’s Focus and not attacking with him until he has sixty Focus ready.
Now when you run instances where your pet’s ability to tank is not as crucial, you’re going to want Claw and it’s Focus-dumping abilities. Claw rox our sox and we’d never be without it.
Scidra, we recommend you train all three and see how you like them in different combinations. If your pet holds aggro with Claw/Growl feel free to untrain Bite, like we did. If you get better performance for your play style with Bite/Growl, don’t be ashamed to use it. Remember that you can disable the auto-cast of each of these by right-clicking on the appropriate spell on the pet bar. Just because you have them trained doesn’t mean you have to use them all the time.
Now if you’re going the BM-route - the best leveling-tree we have - be sure not to skip Bestial Discipline. The increase from 24 Focus per 4 seconds to 48 Focus per 4 seconds is awesome.
And when your hunter class leader tells you to respec, tell him to take a flying leap with BRK’s compliments.
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10 Responses to “This Pet Doesn’t Use Bite”
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Woahhhhh…
I thought we had the BRK seal of approval on not training Bite and using Claw and Growl exclusively? Maybe in instances where the pet is not tanking and just leaving Bite/Claw on.
Although haven’t you done “math” showing that Bite won’t ever trigger due to focus dumping by claw?
Scidra -
I have found that using a focus dump ability such as claw or gore (if you have a ravager) and growl seems to be the best route. The pets seem to generate enough focus that they can keep going with minimal down time. I don’t seem to have any problem of ripping aggro off my pet. Also a technique i found works for me is ramp your damage up. Don’t start going ability crazy and use every shot you have right at the start. Send the pet, hunters mark, start autoshot wait for that second autoshot to go off, by then your pet should have clawed and growled and is continuing to claw away. you can then go crazy dropping your various damage shots. that worked for me at low level. Then as you level you will acquire more utility abilities. that can help you pet get the aggro even easier.
another tip is learn how to use and read klhthreat or omen threat meters. they will help your pet stay infront of your threat so they can keep tanking and you can keep shooting.
I am going to commit hunter blasphemy here… I could care less if my pet holds aggro or not while leveling or soloing. I only care that he can hold aggro when asked to OT in an instance or raid.
Why don’t I care about it while soloing? Because… soloing is so BOOOOOORING and just doing the point and shoot thing gets old really fast.
I like to go into Nagrand… send the pet in on an Elekk and then into one of the roving packs of Clefthoof, multi shot… aggro everything in sight and then use every huntery ability at my disposal to take 10 mobs down at once.
It may sound chaotic and inefficient… well, chaotic yeah. I’ve learned a lot about survival doing this, but as for farming… Being able to kill 10 mobs on your own all at once is VERY efficient.
Because I like to do insane stuff like this, I am always asked to go trap for groups… heck… I’m even asked to OT in heroics and on trash in SSC.
Playing the safe hunter way… you’ll never learn skills like this.
Now, this is not intended to undermine anything the BRK is preaching. He teaches the fundamentals like a pro and what he teaches every hunter should know backward and forward.
Learning the BRK approved techniques will allow you to take down tough elites that you really shouldn’t be able to take down. And that will make you much more viable as a reliable dps’er in a raid.
However, the traditional hunter/pet/tank relationship can get really really boring when you’ve played as long as I have. We can do a lot more than point and shoot and testing the limits of your abilities can be a lot of fun and very rewarding because people won’t look at you as “just an other hunter”. You become something else entirely.
@Scidra - I have a ghost saber on my stable now and use a boar exclusively for leveling! Makes me a bit sad, and I know that a boar equals less DPS than a cat, but the HUGE (let me say it again: HUGE!) aggro that it gains from charge, which has only a 25 seconds cooldown, is TOO good to let go! I can go ALL out on EVERYTHING, including BW and RF and still won’t out-aggro the pet!
Of course, if you’re happy with your cat, just use him, but I’d go the Claw/Growl route instead: Bite takes 10 seconds to be ready, so it if just fires near the end of the previous mob, you need to wait more than for the next Claw which is “just around the corner”! And a missed Bite means 10 more seconds till the next one, while a missed claw has another one lined up and for the same total focus amount!
@BRK: I’ve done a preliminary analysis on your last two gruul runs and IAotH. Check it out here.
I have a thought, don’t use a cat, use a boar. My boars have gore/bite/growl (no claws). I *never* lose aggro mid-fight, if i do lose aggro it’s at the very end of the fight, when the mob is going down with one-two melee hits. So i just use a boar and not worry too much about focus and so forth. The only thing is to make sure your growl or gore cooldown is done. Further, you don’t have to go all out on the mob from the get-go. I usually send in pet, hit hunters mark, fire arcane/auto macro. Using HM, there’s a sufficient CD such that boar generates enough focus to use his growl. Pretty much solves the problem for me.
@gibbiex
“he only thing is to make sure your growl or gore cooldown is done”
I’m assuming you meant bite as gore doesn’t have cooldown. Besides using gore is the same as using claw as BRK went through in http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com/2007/04/all-hands-on-deck-hunter-questions.html
So really using bite with Boar is just the same as using bite with a cat.
@pelides, i like your aggressive approach, the more comfortable i get with my hunter the more i readily handle larger quantities of concurrent mobage. And going through that has improved my play speed and decision making. PVP also improved my play dramatically which i never did with my pally.
As a 41 outfitted in battleground blues, +agil monkey greens, swiftwind, and utilizing BRK’s compendium of knowledge and opinion, I consistently and readily handle ganksters up to 3 levels higher than me and unexpected pats or overpulls. For PVE, I exclusively use claw/growl with my cat, and i am rarely concerned about pulling aggro or dealing with it when I do. For PVP, i’m sure it’s obvious to everyone else, but always disable growl. Man, the cat rocks with the extra focus.
Worst case, I’m trapping and jump-shooting all over the planet, but they all end up dead. I’ve heard of “wingclip kiting” and i can’t do that yet, need to figure it out.
This blog and it’s contributors are an invaluable resource. I love my BM hunter, and to think he was once a mere banker.
Cheers,
Vomo and Stinky
Dethecus
@platehealer
Wingclip kiting… this scares a lot of hunters beacuse it actually involves getting into melee range and smacking your target. I do it all the time in instances when my trap is either broken or resisted.
Run up to the mob. Smack it with wing clip and keep running. Get to distance. Shoot until wing clip fades… smack a concussive shot… continue shooting. As concussive fades, run up and smack ‘em again with a wing clip and strafe past them shooting as you go. Get to range… lather, rinse, repeat.
I prefer this over long kites because they can get hit with cleaves, aoe effects, etc as you’re keeping them in a very enclosed environment rather than running around all over the place like a weasely little aggro stealing mage who knows he is about to die and wants to take out all the healers at the same time.
A great way to learn this is to duel prot warriors and pick on them in BG’s. If you can get your wing clip in before they hamstring you… they die. Just make sure you drop a freeze or frost trap before they intercept you!
@pelides, thanks for a very coherent explanation, i’ll be practicing the technique you’ve outlined this weekend. I should have mastered it by the time i start battlegrounds again at lvl 47ish, can’t wait. It sounds much more efficient than staying in melee and spamming wingclip and raptor strike until a trap cools down.
My main toon isn’t getting so much love these days…
“My main toon isn’t getting so much love these days…”
/thinks about his own “main” 66 feral druid and how soon his current 62 hunter will be the main instead!