A Hunter's Guide to Tanking

[Hello]

Have you ever wanted to tank as a melee hunter? Are you and your group bored waiting for your next tank? While difficult, hunter tanking can be done. I have written a guide from my experiences what has worked on my 85 melee hunter.

Beast Mastery is the best spec for tanking. You should have a threat meter add-on installed, and make sure that your pet is #1 and you are #2 on threat at all times.

Hunter Spec: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cdGfboGdRRoZG0G


Beetles and Turtles are the best tanking pets, due to their special abilities.

Tenacity Spec: http://www.wowhead.com/petcalc#VozG0rMzokz

However, if you really, truly want to, you could use a Spirit Beast, in which case you would use this spec. Tenacity pets are very highly recommended though.

Ferocity Spec: http://www.wowhead.com/petcalc#mbzcbbodzcz

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Abilities you should have on your bar:



Raptor Strike - Use whenever ready.

Kill Command - Use whenever ready.

Wing Clip - Use on fleeing mobs.

Disengage - You can auto-shoot, turn and Disengage into a group of mobs. If used carefully works as a charge to gain distance.

Immolation Trap - Use whenever ready. Use this instead of Explosive trap if you only have 1-3 mobs to tank.

Snake Trap - Use whenever ready.

Multi-Shot - If you can, you can walk backwards or Disengage to use Multi-Shot. Try to use this only when you need more threat, because this may be annoying to melee DPS as the mobs may run away after you.

Freezing Trap - Use like normal as a CC.

Explosive Trap - Use whenever ready.

Ice Trap- Use like normal as a CC slow.

Distracting Shot - Use as a taunt if a mob gets pulled off of you.

Deterrence - Use if you are in danger of dying so the healer may have time to heal you.

Misdirection - You can use this on your pet if you like.

Mend Pet - Use whenever your pet is taking damage. Can macro into other attacks if you like.

Intimidation - Use when you need your pet to get threat on a mob that is attacking another person.

Hunter's Mark - Will be explained later on.

Taunt: Pet Ability - Make sure Taunt is off auto-cast. Make a macro for Taunt, and then use it when necessary.
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Aspects to use are Aspect of the Wild on certain fights with nature damage, and Aspect of the Fox on all other accounts. It will give you constant focus to use for Kill Command and other attacks.

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Step1: Hunter's Mark the main target. This is the target your group will be attacking first. After that mob dies, Hunter's Mark the next target. It will make handling threat easier.

Step 2: Set CC, if any. Pull mobs. There are various ways to do this, and you can decide what your own way to pull is.

Step 2: Use your attacks on the main target. Drop an Explosive Trap or Multi-Shot to get threat of all creatures.

Step 3: Keep attacking. If your group is straying from the main target, you can switch targets to gain more threat.


Bosses: Use all your single attacks on the boss. Make sure you and your pet have plenty of threat.


That's really all there is to it. The rest is learned from experience and practice.

[Cerele]

a simple, dont stand in fire mend pet at all times would have worked too..

[Lisaara]

a simple, dont stand in fire mend pet at all times would have worked too..

^ This

Not really much to know for tanking as a hunter.

[Aeladrine]

Um, if this works for you and you want to play this way, go for it? But keep in mind that people are probably going to get pissed at you if you do this in a dungeon, unless it's a group of friends and you prepare for it.

I would never tank as a hunter this way, but have at it, I guess. To each their own!

[Kalliope]

I can't imagine that the majority of this is serious. The hunter's constant misdirections for threat and ability to heal their pet are far too beneficial to be wasted by sticking a hunter in melee range. Replace wing clip with concussive shot for a slow.