Best tank pet...?Follow

I've heard many opinions on this, and I want to hear more, and maybe some more concrete information.
I'm currently a level 32 BM hunter, and I've been able to solo myself through quests with mobs as high up as level 40 (Jungle Stalkers) and I've soloed Wailing Caverns, The Deadmines, and Shadowfang Keep in around 30 minutes without even an ounce of trouble.
Now, this all might seem irrelevant, but I see it as directly related to my question.
I'm currently using Ghamoo-rha, the turtle from Blackfathom Deeps/Depths/whatever it is. If I recall correctly, he's at 1.5k health and 2.6k armor.
Now, looking at the stat modifiers on Petopia, it seems clear to me that the turtle would be the best tank. However, I have heard from multiple people the boars and/or bears are better/the best tanks.
Now, I've also heard different things like turtles take the best group beatings and boars are the best solo target tanks and etc and etc, but it's starting to confuse me and I just wanted some concrete answers.
Thank you in advance for any answers or help --
-- Narane, 32 Huntress of the Sisters of Elune.

Edit: As I re-read my post, the fact that I had typed "thinks" instead of "things" became glaringly obvious and sparked my OCD, so I fixed it.

Edited, Jan 15th 2008 11:43pm by Ulawen

Simple, to the point. I like it, thanks. I think I'll run both for a little while then, see how I like them, considering the pet EXP gain increase in the last patch.

Every time you tame a boar, Elune kills a baby moonstalker.

Oh, and just to clarify a bit.

Turtles get the highest armor (+13%), sure. And the -50% damage taken for -43% damage dealt.

But boars still get a total +13% to defense, from +4% health and +9% armor. They also deal far more damage with gore, and create a massive starting threat with charge. Turtles don't even get dash, so a boar starts a fight much faster.

For a small number of kite-immune elites that you might try to solo, the turtle might just do a bit better with his shell shield. But for just about anything else, boars rock.

Just remember to get a DPS pet for instances and BGs.

i have never tried the turtle but have heard from some that have tried it that it can lose aggro and as i tend to play close to targets and even with a boar can get the mobs on me i would not try one , apart from they are never able to move fast

yes i know my play-style sucks as i rarely fight at maximum distance hence the pets losing aggro to me

to me for solo use at below 60 the boars rule , with charge that stuns and gives extra attack power , the speed of charge available from level one unlike any other pet and of course my favourite part is they eat anything you get that drops

bears are ok but need a special attack as well as to me they are limited in what they can do , but of course that applies to many pet types

for mobs/groups yes the birds/bats with screech do work well as tanks , i have used them many times but dislike the wings that always seem to make targeting harder for me , and yes i know i could do a macro with target/pettarget but rarely use macros

the real truth is you can use your pet training points to make just about any pet into a reasonable tank and against bosses i doubt any pet will last more than a few hits , but as an off tank almost any pet would be ok unless the boss has areas of effect damage as i found the pet heal just cannot keep up with the damage some elites can do , even the turtle would die in the end

So... anything?

After testing boars,cats,raptors,ravagers,bats and bears,my money is on boars for single target tanking..

No other pettype even comes close to the agro that a boar produces in just the first 2 seconds :)

My lvl 62 boar generates 5k agro in the first charge alone...and the target is dead long before I can catch up to that :D

Alright then, thank you all for the help, it seems Boar is the way to go.
I'm going to miss being able to have 5-6 things beating on my pet, look like it's going to kill it, then shell shield and let mend pet get him up to almost full before it wears off and he starts taking a beating again... but meh, I'll live will the huge aggro.
I only wonder if he can last as long against stitches xD

I'm actually preferential to bats. They do bite and screech (I believe carion birds can do both IIRC) but they have higher DPS, so slightly higher threat gen on the main target. That and the bat from ZG looks awesome.

I have a lvl 70 BM hunter, and I use cat, won't say it's the best tanking pet, but it's best for me, I can solo most of elite mobs outside of instance in outland(non-boss) with just quest blue, and won't aggro myself. mainly for 3 reasons.
1. pet has claw, why claw? coz it's the only skill that doesn't have cold down, pet can keep hitting the target as long as pet has energy, and as a BM hunter, every crit adds 50 more energy to pet(you should know which talent that is, i'm not telling).
2. kill command. use it as soon as it pops.
3. high crit gear and a faster range weapon. why faster? coz more chance to crit and less high crit amount to OT.

and to keep a low down time while soloing, I choose higher armor then hp, and have 50% aoe reduction and all 4 resist for instance run, so far it works.
well, have fun with ur pet, and treat it well.

What BM talent does this? I know of an MM talent. But that works off your ranged crits. Not your pets.



What?? Why?? What speed weapon are you using? As a BM hunter you should be after the slowest range weapon you can find. A faster wepon means more hits, if all you are doing in autoshoot. But what highend hunter just does that? Steadyshot has become the norm for me no matter what I am doing and fast weapon will cut into your autoshoot clipping shots.



I am really not trying to pick on you. Have you tried any other pets? I like my cat, I do. But I would not call him as effective at grinding with me as my Owl, or my old boar.

Hyrdophobia

Well said, and I totally agree. Personal skill and knowledge of what you are capable of is the greatest soloing tool.

My point, in reference to tanking pets, was simply that certain pets do a better job at tanking. If I am soloing with my instance/pvp kitty and I get three or more mobs on him, I actually have to work. I have to make him switch targets to get threat on all. Or I need to drop a freeze trap. Because I AM going to pull aggro when I pop off mend pet. Whereas with Bandit the owl I can keep mend pet on him at all times, while constantly plugging slugs into our target. He can have 3,4,5 things on him and he maintains threat on everything through my healing.

Hyrdophobia

There's actually specefic speeds you want to look for for ranged weapons, not "the slowest" or "the fastest." Generally you want steady shot to not clip auto-shots, but also have as little time between steady and auto as possible (or allow a 1:1.5 rotation without clipping auto-shots, but as fast as possible within that).

Also, Bats would have HIGHER DPS than owls if you're using screech, because if you use screech you wouldn't use claw, and thus bite fits in giving more DPS. For a DPS pet, something with 10% and claw/gore would be a better choice than a carrion bird. I'd rather have a bat and a cat/raptor/ravager that have set abilities than a CB/owl I switch back and forth from claw to screech.