Feather Duster

[SrJulie]

In the movie "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" Tina Turner turns to Mel Gibson and delivers the following line: "One day cock of the walk, the next day a feather duster."

And that seems to be the issue:

Beast master hunters used to be the top of the dps charts and now we seem to be the bottom. Having recently returned to WoW with my level 80 hunter I am still debating what pet best fits raiding in Naxramus and Ice Crown. I have been using my recently acquired spirit beast, and I think I could probably run with a level 2 "flamingo" and my guild would be ok with it - they are just that nice.

I have heard the current tops on the DPS charts is the devilsaur, I had read that he has been replaced by the wolf (that may be because Ghostwolf complained about wolves being "overpowered"), and I have heard raptors.

Any thoughts about a good high dps output pet for naxramus, icecrown and various five player heroic instances?

What pet is the current "cock of the walk"?

[Tahlian]

For 5-mans? Run with whatever pleases you...though a tenacity pet might not be the best choice.

For raiding effectiveness on the other hand, the wolf is still considered the best dps pet, even for a beast master, though it is followed by the devilsaur for second place. I believe that the devilsaur may actually surpass the wolf in effectiveness until you reach a certain gear level, at which point they switch places...though I am, in all honesty, a little unsure of what exactly that gear level is.

I have run with both my wolf Cinders and my devilsaur Clayburn, and switch them out for raids as I see fit. I do decent enough damage, and so long as I carry my weight, my raid (which is, by the by, a 10-man) doesn't seem to care which I use.

Hope this helps.

[SrJulie]

So what makes the difference between a five person instance and a 10 person instance. I realize that one is going to be scaled so as to be more difficult - still why the highest dps pet for a 10 person? The question I have, is that I guess I don't understand why the buff that a wolf does particularly makes it better. The language says "...within 15 fee". Being a beast master hunter the first thing I do is send the pet down range at the mob. Certainly this means he won't be withing 15 feet any more.

As far as tenacity pets are concerned I am still unsure of what to use in the sword room in Ice Crown citadel. That is one bear of a segement to do...wow.

Thanks for the help.

Julie

[Tahlian]

Well, a 5-man heroic is, to an extent, "just a heroic," as they say. There's times I'll pull out my spirit beast to run a heroic or two to get frost badges and a chance at some shards and maybe an upgrade belt if I happen to draw one of the new Icecrown 5-mans. While a certain level of performance is expected in a 5-man dungeon, it is nowhere near the same level as is expected from a 10- or 25-man raid.

They've also reworked the way the wolf's Furious Howl works. I believe they removed the range limitation on it...but only the wolf's master, the hunter, gets the AP bonus. He's no longer a walking raid buff, he just buffs his hunter. Even for a Beast Master, that extra AP Furious Howl gives is a nice bonus.

When I run Halls of Reflection (or I should say, when I get shunted into it as a random...I won't go in there unless it's a run with guildies/friends otherwise)...I think from here on out, I'll be using Cinders exclusively in there. It's not that Clayburn can't bring the damage to kill the undead waves - he certainly can. It's that many tanks prefer using the alcoves on the side to line-of-sight pull the undead to them...and devilsaurs are, well, a bit ungainly in a confined space like that, and when it's imperative that you get your target and start killing quickly, his size can be a real impediment. Cinders, being a "devil dog," is smaller, and won't cause that problem.

But yes, HoR is a bear of an instance. I've dps'ed it and tanked it, and it's incredibly challenging.

[Jangalian]

I have been testing the dps with Cunning pets. I have to say, if you spec them the right way, they put out the numbers that some of the DPS have. I'm having really great luck with a bald eagle named Haokah. (I am so sick to death of wolves, raptors, cats, and devilsaurs that I could cry. I'll never release my King Krush tho, he was too hard to wrangle. )

Too bad the snowy eagles have some lighting issues, I would have tamed one of them instead. But that aside, I'm thinking that the cunning pets might be worth investigating. Try one and see because ultimately, the hunter is the one that makes a pet great.

[Ryno]

Try one and see because ultimately, the hunter is the one that makes a pet great.

An excuse to use a sporebat... eeeeexcellent!!

[Jangalian]

...if you want to use a sporebat, you must be the most epic hunter alive to make up for THAT sorry excuse for dps. And by epic, I mean able to move mountains by breathing, to one-man the new Onyxia, and finally beat Arthas at Scrabble. He's be in ICC a while; he's gotten very, very good.

[Ryno]

...if you want to use a sporebat, you must be the most epic hunter alive to make up for THAT sorry excuse for dps. And by epic, I mean able to move mountains by breathing, to one-man the new Onyxia, and finally beat Arthas at Scrabble. He's be in ICC a while; he's gotten very, very good.

I breathed near a mountain once. Then it was gone sometime later.

I solo'd Onyxia, recently. I had 9 other people who helped watch.

Scrabble will be the name of the sporebat. All shall quake in fear.

[Jangalian]

You made me laugh. Seriously. Congrats!

[Ryno]

You made me laugh. Seriously. Congrats!

Haha, thanks.

Wait you think I'm joking?

[Raze]

...if you want to use a sporebat, you must be the most epic hunter alive to make up for THAT sorry excuse for dps. And by epic, I mean able to move mountains by breathing, to one-man the new Onyxia, and finally beat Arthas at Scrabble. He's be in ICC a while; he's gotten very, very good.

What makes you believe Sporebats have terrible DPS? They have an AoE Armor reduction and DoT, the latter of which stacks with anything and the former serving as a nice supplement if classes that bring the typical armor reduction debuffs aren't there.

Yes, Sporebats were the running gag of hunter pets in TBC, but it's Wrath of the Lich King now, and the space manta rays improved in a big way. Trust me.

[Ryno]

space manta rays

I've read that book.
http://books.google.com/books?id=WhqhMU ... q=&f=false

But to the point, I think he was saying sporebat AoE damage compared some other cunning pet skills, isn't as good by any means. Also the reputation, hehe.

[Storytime]

Ok, seeing as this seems to have turned more into a gagshow, I'd like to get back to the topic at hand... First of all, I'd like to see some proof that a BM hunter with a wolf can get anywhere near a devilsaur (which you won't find), and also some proof that a cunning pet can even get close to a ferocity one... Elitistjerks.com, raiding as bm thread tested to see if a cunning pets Wolverine Bite could ever be worth considerring, and it turns out it's literally the worst scaling pet attack in the entire game... If you are playing a SV or MM hunter, you're going to want the wolf for the 40sec cooldown attack power buff- I respect you all for having fun with the game, I agree wholeheartedly that you should do whatever you can get away with to stay happy; that being said, I feel the poster of this thread wanted a legit answer so he can improve his gameplay in a more serious effort-

[Ryno]

Ok, seeing as this seems to have turned more into a gagshow, I'd like to get back to the topic at hand... First of all, I'd like to see some proof that a BM hunter with a wolf can get anywhere near a devilsaur (which you won't find), and also some proof that a cunning pet can even get close to a ferocity one... Elitistjerks.com, raiding as bm thread tested to see if a cunning pets Wolverine Bite could ever be worth considerring, and it turns out it's literally the worst scaling pet attack in the entire game... If you are playing a SV or MM hunter, you're going to want the wolf for the 40sec cooldown attack power buff- I respect you all for having fun with the game, I agree wholeheartedly that you should do whatever you can get away with to stay happy; that being said, I feel the poster of this thread wanted a legit answer so he can improve his gameplay in a more serious effort-

True, it did get off topic, heh. But there's not much to say. BM isn't as good as SV or MMS right now for PvE DPS. And if you still want to be a BM hunter, it's been said before, devilsaur seems to be one of if not the best.

[SrJulie]

First, last and always a beast master...

That said, this is about filling the last stable slot with a good pet for raids at Naxramus. For placed like 5 person heroics and ice crown citadel I use Gondria. I also have the big blue faced gorilla from Ungoro Crater, Nuramoc from Outlands, the Queen Wasp from Scholazar Basin (before she was made untameable).

The best bets so far seem to be a wolf class, a t-rex, or a raptor. In actually raiding in Nax it does seem that the buff from the wolf isn't affected by the distance from the boss. The t-rex is just so big that I am afraid he will get in the way on raids. A cunning class pet? I have serious doubts of the class coming anywhere close to a ferocity class pet and the extra life that I can get for the pet with ferocity is too incredibly useful to give up.

[Ryno]

I don't see almost any hunters using a raptor, ever. My suggestion, for getting pets for Naxx, would be to get a wolf and and a devilsaur pet (if your stables have room), and just switch them out when you feel it's needed. People complaining on devilsaur? He die a few times during a hard fight? Call stabled pet, switch to a wolf, see if it's any better. And I agree, the idea of a cunning pet for a BM hunter probably doesn't have much math to back it up.

[Kalliope]

Devilsaurs are fine in Naxx; you just might want to swap him out on Heigan.