EVERY QUESTION ANSWERED HEREFollow

This is being written to give some people some insight as to what I do and how I do it. I am by no means the world's best puller. But I am usually the guild puller, and partly because I have an understanding of a few concepts in pulling that are important, most of which have very little to do with the actual act of hitting something and running away.

Most of what I will write here is common sense…or at least the basic concepts are, although I might go into more depth. But it is my hope that by writing this guide, people who could some day be pulling will have some things to keep in mind, and people who don't pull understand the demands of the role. This is not really being written in response to anything other than the awareness that I generally do *always* pull when I'm around, and don't want to necessarily assume that should be the case.

So should you ever find yourself in a potential pulling position, please try to keep the following things in mind.


Hunters are the best pullers, most of the time. They have certain tools for dealing with the pull. However, that does not always mean a hunter should pull. In a 5-man group, it's often at least as effective for the warrior to run up and grab the mobs for initial aggro and some extra rage, rather than needing to grab it. Some guilds even extend this to their raiding. There are some pulls where a specific other class should make contact. And, indeed, there are some places where it really doesn't matter who pulls, as long as they know what to do. But we'll assume a hunter is pulling, and mention some class pulls when they apply.


The most important thing to remember when pulling for a raid is that your job is to pull. You are not expected to do anything else. You are welcome to DPS a little when there is clearly time for it, but your job is to pull. And a good puller will minimize downtime by not making the raid wait between pulls.

So by the time the raid finishes their last target, you should normally already be bringing the next mob(s) in. I generally try to be ready to make the pull ahead of time so I can tag my target and start bringing them when the last mob in the last group is at 20%. This varies from place to place, but that's the standard I go by in Molten Core, at least. This implies I know exactly what I'm pulling and I'm ready to pull – and if a brief window opens a little early for a key pull, I may fudge it.

Pacing is a tricky issue to learn. The 20% rule won't work everywhere. Some fights are tougher than others – I would not be setting up the next pull of lab technicians in BWL while the raid is fighting. Wipes will happen; people stopping to buff as well. Pause as you feel is necessary, but no longer. If it seems like you're sitting around waiting for one person, don't. Only boss fights will normally require the entire group. And yet at other times, you will risk having the group twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to bring a mob in. Opening the raid window and clicking around on priest mana is usually a good indicator of what shape the raid is in (until you start seeing names in red.)

But, as stated, a good puller will minimize downtime. Do whatever you need to in order to be ready by the time the raid is. In unfamiliar territory, don't be afraid to skip out on combat and go scouting. You need to have a loose game plan for where you're headed. Of course, tracking can sometimes help a lot here. Track Elementals works wonders in Molten Core, and later instances also have times where tracking pays dividends.


One other key concept is communication. You don't need to explain *exactly* what you're doing 100% of the time, but the guild should at least not be caught completely unaware when you're making a pull. A simple macro that says "Inc %t" will do. Further, the raid should be waiting for you or the raid leader to announce move calls. There are some zones (Zul'Gurub) where the group tends to mostly be mobile, but in the 40-man zones, creeping is usually a bad thing compared to setting up shop and jumping forward occasionally. The puller knows what's ahead; the peanut gallery doesn't. As such, tell your group what's coming – either in terms of pulls ("There's 2 more pulls before we fight Sulfuron") or in terms of movement commands. ("Follow me up ahead, and stay all the way to the right. Imps are next.") If nobody else, at least make sure you communicate with the raid leader on occasion. They need that info more than anyone else, and a puller a raid leader can come to trust is invaluable.


Humility is important. Don't assume you will be making every single pull, as sometimes a warrior charge or a divine shield pull is better. Be the first to admit your mistakes and learn from them; people will be less likely to ride you, and believe it or not, they will often be understanding if you give them a hint as to what went wrong. By the same token, accept failure. If something is going wrong on a pull, feign death or die alone if you can. But if the raid proper should be having trouble, don't get frustrated. You may need to adapt, but losing your cool is not a good idea.

Be alert and prepared, but make sure you have somebody to hand off to if something happens. If you *need* to AFK – and you should only leave the keyboard if it's an emergency – or if you die and someone else should step up while you get rezzed, there should be one person ready to go at all times. For this reason, and in case you aren't always around, it is a good idea to sometimes rotate pullers so a few people know what to expect.

Practice does make perfect. While the ideas behind pulling are always more or less the same, the application can sometimes be different in an area. Knowing when you need to pet pull, or grab the mobs in a certain order, or watch for patrols, or how close you can get before aggroing are just a few of the things that come with experience. As such, don't wait to train a back-up in a trial by fire because the main person isn't around. The second guy doesn't need to take as long as the first to learn, provided the first guy is giving him advice.

And come prepared – with whatever supplies you need. This is true of everyone, but there may be extra things you need, such as more pet food (or a specific pet,) or certain potions or gear.

Know your class. This might be a no-brainer, but there are times when you will want to drop a Freeze Trap, or send your pet, or use Aspect of the Cheetah to pull (or specifically not use Cheetah,) or track for a specific creature type, or any number of other tools you have at your disposal. There aren't many talents that are mandatory for a hunter puller other than maybe Hawk Eye, but there are a lot that definitely help, like Deterrence. While this may or may not change in the expansion, a survivalist is usually best equipped to pull, all other things being equal. It isn't a huge edge, however.


Notice that up to this point, not a single thing has been said about specific pulls. More than anything, pulling is about instincts and awareness. If you can pull in one zone, you can probably pull in any zone with just a little bit of knowledge. You might have to scrape your knees a few times, but anyone willing and able to keep your eyes and ears open can certainly perform the job adequately.




And now, a very short excerpt on some specific pulls.

Molten Core: Track Elementals. Please. Having all the mobs on your radar besides the very-visible giants and the occasional Core Hounds is immensely useful. While you should keep an eye out for if the raid seems to be getting frazzled, by all means chain-pull hard unless they start whining. And if they're whining cause they're not used to it, push them a little. Don't be a hero in the imp cavern – pet pulls or getting a paladin or ice block mage is probably a better idea. Be careful with what you pull and where, moving down to Gehennas, and give clear move orders as you pull around Gehennas before the fight. Same goes with Garr's room. After Garr, you will be performing a lot of pulls using Eyes of the Beast to have your pet make initial contact; as soon as he does, and you go into combat, cancel Eyes of the Beast. Your pet will despawn and the mobs will come for you instead. (Remember, you can't feign off zone-wide boss aggro, so watch out around Baron Geddon!) Lava packs are sheer murder for a young raid force. Stand well behind the group after your pet pulls, and take the time during the fight to revive your pet if he dies. The only boss fights that actually require hunter pulling are Gehennas and Golemagg for the guards, and then one hunter should be helping control Majordomo the whole time.

Blackwing Lair: No pulling before first two bosses. Once Vael is dead, group should be down below while you target the groups with an Explosive Trap already down. A druid can grab the Wyrmkin while you bring everyone else down below (via trap aggro.) In the suppression room, stay up one side of the room for the mostpart, but work with your rogues to not get them AE'd if you can help it. Watch out for the three orc patrols as you make your way toward Broodlord, and be very specific about move commands, as the short respawn timer requires some good mana management consideration. The lab packs are the main event, though. After Broodlord, put an explosive trap in the gate and pull a pack and run well past everyone else. Ideally someone will be responsible for separating the lab technicians from the other mobs. Once the mobs are more or less split, feign to lose any remaining warlock aggro. There are three of these pulls leading to Firemaw. Afterwards, there will be four more. Place traps in their paths and run into the lab room to make use of Line of Sight to keep the casters following you. Feign as soon as the warlocks appear around the edge of the wall. Multiple hunters should help split the three-drakkonid pulls.

Ahn'Qiraj: Watch the annihilator pathing and tag them when they're closest. Let the warriors charge the anubisaths and make the initial contact on everything else down to the path toward Sartura. Pet pull the bug groups between the Sartura-triplets fork and Sartura herself to where the fork is. Should be three static pulls and one patrol. After Fankriss, wear all your NR gear and keep Aspect of the Wild up. Stand behind the group and pet pull – you will need to be in a constant cycle of pull-rez-mend-feed-drink, or trade off between two hunters. The raid moves up after the first two scorpion pulls, and there are 5 or 6 groups in the area afterwards, depending on how the pulling goes. Be VERY careful not to get multiple groups on those pulls, and initially wait by the entrance for them to come to Fluffy so you don't add to that risk. The anubisaths after Huhuran also require pet pulls, ideally multiple pets go to evaluate the skills the mob has. But all told, there are 5 mobs – 1 in the front, 1 down each of the 3 tunnels, and then the last at the end where the paths merge. The trash on the way to C'Thun is annoying to say the least, but pull as far as you possibly can from the Emps' room, and then move to the small circular room partway down and do the same. Staying alive on those pulls is sometimes a challenge, and be aware that they are VERY long and require a pet with dash.

Naxx: Just going to explain the early Deathknight wing, which by the time you get here, shouldn't take much at all. Just systematically pull things one by one – anything that doesn't look like a group doesn't need to be. Be careful of the Deathknights (not Captains) when you have corpses on the ground, as they sometimes rez those into hard-hitting skeletons. Having the raid very slowly move forward is perhaps a good policy. At the end of the upper level, pet pull down the steps and clear out all the mobs along the left. Leave the three-cavalier patrol alone for now, but do grab the pair circling around your other targets. Once the static pulls are cleared, move the raid down, grab the three cavs, then the skeletal steeds down the left (Track Undead here!) and then rotate around from the left side clockwise. Use proximity aggro rather than running up to those last 4 groups. And yes, you need to kill those groups before fighting Razuvious.


Edited, Oct 18th 2006 at 10:05pm PDT by Azuarc

I would say it depends on your situation. Do you have an easier time getting a Stratholme group, or getting into a successful ZG run? Drop rates can suck sometimes, but it will come up eventually. On the other hand, you might be waiting a while to get the faction you need for ZG, and you still might rather complete your dungeon 2 set. (I'm not actually analyzing the items; only commenting that there is no one right answer to this question.)

While it's not extremely common, I actually do that on occasion. In fact, while we were learning the encounter, I used to do that all the time against Razorgore while standing away from the rest of the raid for when the MT got conflagged.

OK, I admit, it's more common than any sane hunter would concede to. My guild thinks I'm psychotic.

I don't have much at all, really. Just some odds and ends. I'd like to have more, but it isn't fair to the other classes normally to take those sorts of items. I have a Heavy Dark Iron Ring, a Dragon's Blood Cape, and a Medallion of Steadfast Might. Other than that, I just go with my main gear.

Edited, Sep 19th 2006 at 5:52am EDT by Azuarc

This has nothing to do with hunters, but those are the cards needed to compile the Darkmoon Faire decks. And yes, the aces are worth much more than the other drops in the set. Do an AH check on "ace" and see what the other 3 are going for.

Thanks for all the info. One more question - when I add talent points to pets such as thick hide, do these then apply to any new animal that I tame?

galaeb, do you have the feed pet ability? If you don't, then you forgot to do a quest from your trainer that comes right after the taming quests. It basically just sends you from your first town (Razor Hill, Dolanaar, Bloodhoof or Kharanos) into the hunter trainer in your capital. My bet is you missed that quest, since that is what gives you Beast Training.

Shadow, to ward fears and DoTs. Nature can be supplemented by Aspect of the Wild when necessary (it's worthwhile to switch to that aspect any time you fight a druid anyway).

I'd say max Shadow, one rank less Arcane and Nature.

There's a couple reasons, the simplest of which is that it's easier for the tank to pull. One click and they have all the initial aggro.

Another reason is that many hunters are unskilled at pulling -- mostly because they're never allowed to pull in instances.

My personal opinion: if the warrior knows what he's doing, let him get the basic pulls. Fill in for the more complicated/dangerous pulls, such as quickly moving patrols. Keep in mind that you can still use your traps on every pull. In fact, you can Mark a mob that you're going to side-pull into a Freeze trap, while the rest of the mobs all head straight for the tank.

Just because you don't fire the first shot doesn't mean you can't utilize some of your pulling potential.

There is no excuse for any class besides a hunter or a warrior to pull. Rogues have no qualifications for pulling, nor do they need the aggro.

There's a Razorfen Kraul and a Razorfen Downs. I assume you mean Downs.

Giving specific pulling tips in certain zones would take a novel to write out thoroughly. Really you just need to learn the general tricks of the trade. Watch for patrols, including with tracking. Learn how close you can usually get to mobs and how close they need to be to link. Recognize when you should do something more than just shoot and run. And that's really all you need to know, beyond very specific knowledge (like the summoners in Scholomance will just stand and summon mobs all day long until you kill them, whereas most casters will chase you if you run out of line of sight.)

If it's the video I remember, he did that in Uldaman a LOONG time ago. I have a feeling some of the stuff he did won't work any more. If you want to see some good splitting though, I suggest you check out Dysphoria's hunter vs. world videos. The way she splits the Omokk pull is amazing.

Az, sorry if I missed this if already discussed, but all the Talent build links on Page 3's post are broken.

I'm particularly interested in this one:

Blame Blizzard. They keep changing the URL to reach their talent calc. I may need to redo those on WoWhead or something.

This may be biased... but playing a twinked char is for those people who have fun playing an FPS on god-mode...

People who just want to win, not to compete.

*shrugs*