making 5x hunters work (gather tips here)

[Svpernova09]

If you're using TAUNT to ping-pong (with pet growl) - after #3 the boss will be on DR, and taunt will be useless.

So, this doesn't work. Try it and you'll basically set the boss free to kill whoever he pleases, completely ignoring taunts.

Actually, this changed in 3.3. It's up to 5 before before immune, and then reduced effect.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Diminishing_r...#Patch_changes

Patch 3.3.0 (2009-12-08): Taunt Diminishing Returns: We've revised the system for diminishing returns on Taunt so that creatures do not become immune to Taunt until after 5 Taunts have landed. The duration of the Taunt effect will be reduced by 35% instead of 50% for each taunt landed. In addition, most creatures in the world will not be affected by Taunt diminishing returns at all. Creatures will only have Taunt diminishing returns if they have been specifically flagged for that behavior based on the design of a given encounter.

[Stealthy]

Growl isn't a taunt per se, it just adds a fixed amount of threat per usage (which can be boosted through talents) and isn't affected by DR's.

Even the pet talent Taunt isn't like the warrior Taunt, but more like a mocking blow without the added damage and threat generation.

Hunter pets don't have a true taunt in the sense of an ability that places them numerically at the top of the threat table AFAIK.

Cheers,
S.

[Fursphere]

That's why pets with growl turned on rip mobs right off the tank. Rrrrriiiigggghttt.....

[Svpernova09]

Growl isn't a taunt per se, it just adds a fixed amount of threat per usage (which can be boosted through talents) and isn't affected by DR's.

Even the pet talent Taunt isn't like the warrior Taunt, but more like a mocking blow without the added damage and threat generation.

Hunter pets don't have a true taunt in the sense of an ability that places them numerically at the top of the threat table AFAIK.

Cheers,
S.

That's why pets with growl turned on rip mobs right off the tank. Rrrrriiiigggghttt.....

http://www.wowwiki.com/Growl_%28pet%29

Growl is a pet ability trainable by all pets. A special form of Taunt, raising pet on the Aggro list by generating a high amount of pure threat. Unlike Taunt, it does not force the target to attack the pet for any duration.

I dunno, I've *never* seen a pet growl *not* pull right off even a tank. But apparently it's not *supposed* to.

[Boylston]

Tanks' taunt really does 2 things: It places you on the top of the threat list, and it forces the target to attack you for a few seconds.

I suspect Growl for the pets only does the first part of that-- top of the threat list, but with no forcing the target to attack.

That would explain the behavior we've all seen.

[Fursphere]

I played a hunter solo for about 2.5 years straight - the pet "growl" during that time was always considered "broken" by the hunter community because of how strong it was.

AFAIK - this is how "taunt" works.

Tank has 100 threat points.
Mage passes tank with 101 threat (101 being the highest number on the table)
Tank Taunts which does "101 + 1" = Tank now has aggro. (this is why DPS should back off for a second as tank reaquires target.

Now pet taunt (AFAIK) works the same way. So tank now has 102, pet taunts now has 103. True tanks can easily out threat pet aggro - but if the pet growls - its "tank aggro" +1 all over again.

Perhaps this has changed over the years - I really don't know. Maybe growl isn't on the DR table as taunt is? (which would seem silly - you'd see end game guilds ping ponging bosses around with pets)

[Boylston]

I suspect that it may not be on the DR table since it probably doesn't do the "forces the target to attack you" behavior.

[Stealthy]

Sadly, Growl doesn't even put your pet on top of the threat table, it only gives you a fixed amount of threat - the highest rank (9) adding 1234 threat, plus scaling factor based on attack power. There's a good article discussing it here:
http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/guid...rowlthreat.php

Along with this, having 2 ranks in the pet talent Guard Dog gives you an extra 20% threat per cast, and having 3 ranks in the talent Longevity reduces the cooldown of Growl to 3.5 secs from 5 secs.

Intimidation also generates high threat and stuns the target for 3 secs, and the pet talent Thunderstomp will do moderate AoE threat.

The rest of your threat is going to come from pet DPS, which is why its recommended to use Aspect of the Beast for pet tanking.

I would guess, that if a BM hunter was well geared enough (very high AP), it wouldn't be that difficult to pull agro from a lesser geared tank, especially if they don't MD the tank initially (bad hunter!)...but since growl causes no damage, only threat, there's no need to have it on unless you're soloing or pet tanking.

Cheers,
S