Apparently I've paid my dues, because Frostheim over on the Warcraft Hunters Union blog has honoured me by asking if I would do a guest post on his site... so if you'd like to know about how to get the most out of PuGs, go check it out:
Pain-Free PuGging for Hunters
Surprisingly, he let me post the whole thing - I always ramble on way too long! :)
5 comments:
I would also like to add a suggestion which I use on my hunter when I am in PUG's and that is to use distracting shot at the right times.
Distracting shot really helps in boss fights (e.g. second boss in Grim Batol) where the tank may receive some burst damage and also if the healer is struggling. I suggest using distracting shot from maximum range. Three things can happen from here: 1) you can die, at this point proceed to cry in real life. 2) The tank will at some stage realise he doesn't have aggro, wonder why and use his taunt. Cheer! or 3) The tank doesn't realise he's lost aggo, Feign Death and let the mob run back to him! Again, cheer!
If coordinated correctly you can taunt a mob in a ping pong style taunt rotation through the use of abilities such as disengage, feign death, distracting shot and the tank's taunt abilities. I personally call this method "Tennis balling" as it reminds me of a game of tennis. During this method utilise things like bandages and traps, where possible. A nifty trick to get you our of trouble! Especially easy if your tank is a druid or paladin (as they are hybrid classes).
- Lovemontes/Aman'thul
Indeed, Distracting Shot can definitely be a help.
I wouldn't recommend pulling a boss off a tank if it's *just* to reduce incoming burst damage, though... at least, not unless you've cleared it with the tank/healer in your PuG first. My tips were to make PuGging as smooth as possible, and that won't happen if your tank and healer are annoyed at you for pulling aggro, even if you meant well :)
In response to your reply I have to agree and disagree to an extent. I can understand how it can annoy people in your group that you pulled aggro but for the sake of everyone's sanity overall, increasing your chances of killing a boss and those few precious seconds that can turn a boss kill into a wipe Distracting Shot is the way to go. Some of your suggestions like kiting and CC'ing mobs that aren't marked for those cases can annoy people too :) I don't disagree with their effectiveness, however.
In some cases during Heroic PuG runs a tank of (what blizzard calls) competent heroic gear combined with again a healer of comptetent heroic gear (i.e. 329 or greater) are going to have a hard time healing. Distracting shot is your groups saving grace in times of need (just like CC'ing and kiting are) and should not be disregarded as a form of CC; for those few seconds where the tank does not have aggro on the mob in question is effectively CC as the mob is doing no DPS at all.
There are too many cases where I have saved the group time through correct use of distracting shot (combining with kiting etc.).
Perhaps we should discuss sometime :)
Oh, I don't disagree with the use of Distracting Shot.
I could probably have endorsed the use of Distracting Shot on trash, but I would just be careful using it on a boss, because the tank and healer may not understand what you're trying to do - you don't want them to panic or waste a cooldown in that situation (a healer might waste a bubble/heal on you, for example, or the tank will waste a taunt cooldown).
It's fine if they do immediately understand that you did it on purpose, but your average PuG group member won't... and since my tips were for PuGging, I wouldn't recommend it to people who are actually making use of my tips in PuGs.
Awesome post.
A DK and myself did the same thing you mentioned except slightly different. He was a DPS DK. I kept aggro, bounced around like a jackrabbit on crack keeping the dragon chasing me and using all the tricks in my bag while the DK beat on him.
Took a while and it got close a few times when the dragon caught up to me but we got him down.
One of my favorite things to do in a dungeon, even if I've never been asked to, is trap the skeletons that come up in that hallway in HoO.
Every time I do it the tank always says, wow, I've never seen anyone do that before, that is awesome. I always reply, thanks, I try to be a good hunter. Sometimes I even get a, best I've seen in a random. All from one simple trap.
All hunters should always trap the skeleton. It should be habit to trap something like that. It is far enough from everything else so it will not be broken, it always comes in the same place so it is an easy trap and it helps the group. What reason is there to not trap it?
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