What's your preference for a solo-tanking pet?

[Bryxi]

I had to reroll my (now level 34 MM) hunter (I haven't played since before Cata came out and I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing... best to start anew, right?) and now that I've gotten call pet 2 (about time they added something like this! haha, thanks bliz devs!) I have two spots for a soloing pet and a dps pet...

I still love my Humar the Pridelord so that's one down... but I'm a little confused about a good solo-tanking pet. I wanted to get a bear, but I found out they no longer have swipe. Are turtles good at holding aggro while questing/soloing? I've been trying out some of the tenacity pets and found some don't hold aggro that well...

I guess I could be considered a newb again since I'm still learning the newer stuff in the game, so please be gentle on me

[Kalliope]

Bears still have an AoE ability that helps them generate threat - and all tenacity pets can be specced for thunderstomp. So you're mostly comparing family abilities - the passive melee damage reduction from a bear versus the turtle's overall damage reduction cooldown.

Lowbie levels are a bit weird, since your pets won't necessarily have all the abilities they need for excellent tanking as of yet.

Oh yeah....and my preference is made obvious by my favorite pet. I do also have a turtle for some situations, though.

[Talaridan]

Turtle and Bear are both considering the "best", especially for lower levels.

I would personally recommend the bear, if only because the Demoralizing Roar is an AoE Debuff and can help hold aggro on multiples if you don't go too crazy with Multi-Shot and Mend Pet. Plus the Roar reduces damage taken on yourself and the pet.

I'm honestly not too fond of the bear model, but my Tirisfal Bear, Blightclaw, is slowly growing on me.

[Tankperson]

I've used all the tanking pets. At the lower lvls a bear was better for his aoe ablity to gather up a couple of mobs. But once you can spec into thunderstomp around lvl 40-50 I think it was it really didn't matter. Right now on two of my 4 85 hunters I use scorpids madexx models. Black, blue and I have a red on a thrid one but I don't use that one often.

Theres a rare green beetle you can in the southern barrens which is pretty cool for it's lvl if you don't like the turtle models. Warp stalkers and crocs are great their slows really help your pet reach them before it reachs you.

[Bryxi]

Haha ok! Thanks you guys/girls I haven't fully looked at the new pet talents so I'll have to go take a look just for the "education", I suppose, not sure what to call it. But I'll definitely have to go check out some of the bear & turtle models too...

[Melentari]

Right now, I'm cycling between Plink and Boing, my beetles. I also have two turtles that I adore. One of my other hunters has a bear, but I've not soloed much with him out. Those are my three general preferences, though.

[Sarayana]

I relaly don't think it matters all that much. I leveled through the 80-85 Cata content with a boar, and loved it. Like the others have said, Thunderstomp is the big one, and you can spec into that for all of them.

Oh, crocs are great too!

All in all, just browse Petopia and test out a few, see what you like for your toon and play style.

[Foru21dr]

the thunderstomp spec is one of you main threat holder along with growl. Until you reach that level, you may find your tank pet may not hold aggro as well. Any of the tenacity pets will work well when you get to that level.

My favorites though are
Turtle
Bear
Croc
Scorpid

[Mario]

Now iv tried the the turtle and the bear and dont get me wrong they are both good for tanking but to a hard hitting mob it can be a little hard to keep them alive. The pet that i have had the best results with is a Spirit Beast, they take more dmg but they can heal themselves with there special ability, with lick wounds, and with me throwing up mend pet they stay alive alot longer they my blizzard designated tanking pets ( Turtles and Bears ). Also with them being a ferocity pet they get the instant res ability so if they do die you have a battle rez for them. A good example of this is just yesterday i was trying to solo the Grinch boss for the holiday daily event so i tried to do it with my lave turtle ( Bowser ) and i would get the boss down to about 30% befor my turtle would die even with me constantly keeping mend pet on him. So i tried it again with my spirit beast and at about 40% the spirit beast died but with the instant rez i was able get the pet back up let him get agro and kill off the last 40%.

[Acherontia]

I levelled my li'l MM hunter with Ferocity pets + kiting, or just Aimed cast, usually killed everything in 1-2 shots even without heirlooms. For harder mobs, I used a bat for the stun or a spider for the root, and kited it, with Growl off. It's more successful than trying to pet-tank, as MM at least, imo.

If you're dead-set on a tank pet, or want one on the side for hard-hitting non-kiteable mobs (are there any left these days?) turtle or beetle have the best racial for survival

[Kurasu]

For me, my favorite solo-tanking pet was always my turtle, Panzer. Nigh-on unkillable, and you can't pull aggro off him with a crowbar as long as you give a little threat-time. A beetle would work similarly, but <meme> I LIKE TURTLES! </meme>

[Lisaara]

Scorpids and Crabs are my favorite. :3

[ravingsockmonkey]

Gosh... I remember back before the pet families existed and you bought the skills you wanted your pet to know. I mostly used stamina/armor/resistance specc'ed kitties for leveling back then because they were my favorite. Then the first part of BC happened and pet aggro was so high, that I was co-tanking instances with a sporbat (which had no special ability back then). Suddenly gorillas showed up with thunderstomp, and everyone wanted one. I didn't really like them though. I was happy when they introduced the pet families, but the news mentioned around Blizzcon that they were considering making the pet families more of a pet spec kind of excited me.

/OldTimerOff

All of that being said (<_<;;;), I like crabs and shale spiders if I need a really tanky tank pet. Shale spiders are extra nice for their buff aura, and since they are made of rock that just makes me feel better about them! Crabs are great for their low profile, but before you can spec into the growl buff and thunderstomp a bear might be best.

[GormanGhaste]

I love Crabs, but if you want them to generate the most aggro, be sure to put Pin on manual cast. It's a channeled ability, during which they cannot use Growl or other abilities.

[Wassa]

I prefer worms for solo tanking. Even if Burrow Attack drops aggro, the aoe is worth it for large pulls, just make sure your Deterrence is up. Plus Acid Spit helps you down mobs quicker if you don't need the survivability cooldown turtles/beetles have.

I recommend bears for low level hunters as their Demoralizing Roar helps a little with aoe threat and reduces damage coming to them. Once you get Thunderstomp, a turtle or beetle are your best tanking pets. Shale Spiders, if you are BM and high enough level to tame one, also make great tanks with Kings buff and a stun. If you need a tank pet to interrupt casts, try a Gorilla.

Other tenacity pets don't really have tanking abilities, but their abilities can be useful under certain situations.

[Araela]

I prefer turtles or bears - bears for the aoe, turtle for the shield. I've never had much of a problem with either!

[Davarra]

Low level, bears have good aoe threat and decent survivability, or turtle/bug for hard tank. Crocs could be an idea too if your gig was more burn em running than lock and wear down in place. More something I'd consider in surv than beast, personally.

Later on, squees give you a free buff and have stun, but of course that's something you can't begin to look at til 83 or 84.

[Heleos]

Turtles all the way!

[Lupis]

I'm kind of freeform for my solo-tank. Basically it runs down to whatever looks good with my hunter. However, I do tend to lean towards Beetles/Turtles, as they have the best ability for taking on big elites. Really, though, it's basicaly whatever my hunter bonds to. At the moment, one hunter has a rhino, one has a hydra that I never specced into Ferocity, one has a beetle and my current main has a boar until I get high enough level for the beetle I want.

[Ket Shi]

I prefer a shale spider, myself. The embrace of the shale spider buff gives a nice boost to both master and pet.

For low levels, a bear is probably best, with their AoE special.