Tanking with hunters

Vittorio · #1 05-01-2009, 11:35 AM

Yesterday I had a group doing H HoS. It was myself tanking, 3 hunters, and a priest. The run went well until the Bran event. I'm having trouble keeping aggro when the hunters pull so much. Any suggestions on tanking the Bran event/holding aggro with the waves of mobs? Thanks.

Mecer · #2 05-01-2009, 12:14 PM

Source: Vittorio
Yesterday I had a group doing H HoS. It was myself tanking, 3 hunters, and a priest. The run went well until the Bran event. I'm having trouble keeping aggro when the hunters pull so much. Any suggestions on tanking the Bran event/holding aggro with the waves of mobs? Thanks.

With 3 hunters there really is no excuse for them to pull agro, Misdirection is almost a forgoten ability, but it can make add fights like that a joke. if they macro you to the button and just spamn it you should get initial agro on anything coming into the room.

Its been awhile since Ive played mine, but Im hoping they've fixed the bugg that if two hunters MD the same target they get agro and not the tank.

**Volador** · #3 05-01-2009, 12:23 PM

Mecer, 3 hunters means only one MD can be up at a time. That first one will be good on threat, but by the time the third gets a MD off, he could have pulled threat. Also, they should be feigning before/right when they pull threat.

Mecer · #4 05-01-2009, 01:17 PM

So they can do MD rotations, its probally the most effective way to get sequential packs of mobs in the event anyways.

Assuming 1 MD, the agro generated should be equivalent to the agro of the other hunters (assuming equal DPS), add the actual threat from the tank he should be able to manage the group fine.

Volador states the most important point though, if they are close to pulling agro they should be feigning. The hardest part of threat generation is that first few seconds when the DPS can start critting before you've gotten into your rotation.

Feanorr · #5 05-01-2009, 07:38 PM

I would suggest you to take morbidity first, it will help you with AOE threat (especially with the new 10sec cd on HB); you should take off Runic power mastery (useless, you should never be at 100% RP anyway), Endless winter (pvp talent), Butchery (fil up talent for dps) and lichborne (pvp talent with 3.1); eventually icy reach, death chill and Merciless combat also (all 3 are very situational).
With all this talent points you could take morbidity, Blade barrier (a must have), Bladed armor (one of if not the best threat talent as a DK tank) and epidemic or virulence 2/3.

My frost spec was this (before I got back to blood):
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

You could change the FS glyph for DnD one for even more AOE threat.

**Satorri** · #6 05-02-2009, 06:24 AM

That fight is the roughest test of any tank's aoe threat abilities in heroic. Depending on your spec and your group's gear level it can be very challenging.

Morbidity can help a lot as I've used DnD on the stairs to get the attention of everything that enters the room. If you are Unholy, and spec'd well you can pretty much just set up shop on the stairs (provided you have a healer or smart dps with a dispel ability) and just keep all your aoe tools ticking.

If you have hunters, as Mecer said, that fight should get easier, not harder. It requires communication though, unequivocally. If you can use voice comms all the better, so the hunters can set a sequence and declare who can MD and who will do it next. MD with Multi-shot, and strategic use of Feign Death means you should get the attention of every add and the dps should never be in danger. Without communication, you're in for a chaotic ride.

Vittorio · #7 05-07-2009, 02:16 PM

Yeah we ran H HoL again this time with two hunters and a geared healer and it wasn't so hard for me to hold aggro even though once a few adds got by in the last two waves of mobs, we all died and the healer luckily finished one add. Once we all died we heard Bran talking and knew that we had finished it just in the nick of time before a total wipe. Thanks for the advice guys.

Ozzma · #8 05-29-2009, 03:53 PM

Hello everyone,
First time poster long time wow player

My main is a SV hunter I am sure everyone has heard of the term
"You Pull it, You tank it"
That holds true..
If the Hunters are not minding their aggro, and still pulling off the tank instead of using misdirect; then by all means use constructive measures to inform them of their mistake... (school them)
unfortunatly when I pull aggro its because of my traps, I need to Proc my Explosive shot so Misdirect and kiting the bugger back is my friend to get aggro back onto the tank.
Not only do I feel like I am the protector of healers/squishies I also help the tanks get aggro back by Misdirecting and or Kiting back into the MT or off tank Threat range.
My suggestion is ask the hunters to misdirect mobs to you if they pull aggro.
Comunication is a vital key in any raid/instance..one problem I have had is a Tank just pulling mobs because they are ready and not doing a ready check first.
It will work out just ask.

MouseDK · #9 05-30-2009, 02:00 AM

Hunters have the best aggro drop in the game, they also have misdirect, both of which are on amazingly short cooldowns. Between that and maybe, I dont know, patience on their part there are plenty of ways for them to not pull aggro.

I had a friend who used to roll hunter while I tanked on my pally and he would pull aggro on purpose then proceed to kite or trap the mob(s) for fun. Its a pity those hunters don't have more fun with reckless dps like they could.

**Satorri** · #10 05-30-2009, 05:57 AM

Once upon a time when it was actually used more, my friend had an amazing system on his hunter for supporting the tank while trapping.

Turns out, Distracting Shot (no damage but big bonus threat) doesn't break a Frost Trap. He had a macro so that he could Distracting Shot on CD on his trapped target so that when it came up for tanking the tank would taunt it and have a HUGE aggro lead already for the dps to just switch and burn it hard. It worked very well.

No class can handle aggro with the versatility of a hunter. They have a shot which is pure threat. They have a move on a relatively short CD that allows them 3 shots in which all their threat goes to a target of their choosing. And every 30 sec they can drop threat COMPLETELY. If they're a Nelf, they can even slip in a Shadowmeld if Feign Death is on CD and the target starts to run at them. Any hunter who actually pulls aggro is greedy and too focused on the damage charts for their own good.