Direhorns- What are they good for?

[Nachtwulf]

Putting this here since the patch goes live today and it's no longer ptr speculation.

Yes, they're awfully cool, don't get me wrong. Giant triceratops are, definitely, awesome.

That said, though, their special ability...well... mystifies me completely. What the hell is it good for? Sure, okay, if you're questing somewhere that has a whole lot of mobs like, say, Dread Wastes, then yes, a conical forward spell-reflect is probably... nominally handy. Sometimes. But by the time you can even get a direhorn, you're pretty much PAST the solo questing thing, and down to dailies which we've all been doing just fine without a spell-shield.

Initially it sounds neat for PVP... except that the reflect is forward facing, and I don't know ANYONE that is going to be bothering to face a pet in PVP when they could be ganking its owner. The reflect doesn't work if the guy has his back to the pet, so it's really not very handy here.

Which leads me to PVE... where it's also worthless. Pets stand behind things they don't have aggro to, so therefore the spell reflect doesn't do anyone any good in a raid or dungeon environment... at least, I can't think of any bosses that fart damage backwards at random. Some, like Ultraxion, force everyone to stay in front, but... that's definitely the exception, not the rule, and in any case I kind of don't think that blast thing he does is something that's reflectable.

Soooo... why does this ability exist? Why didn't they give direhorns something that's actually worthwhile? Or am I missing something. It really just doesn't seem to stack up when compared to, well, pretty much any buff any other pet can bring.

[Rawr]

I have to agree completely with you. It seems like many NPC spells can't be reflected so I wouldn't even use them for soloing. The only thing they are good for, in my opinion, is standing in Org and even then there are no rares so why bother? I'm not going to get one on my main, her stables are full and I'm camping a rare atm, I may get one on an alt just for shits and giggles.

[Makoes]

I am actually surprised they didn't give it something like Bellowing roar, a short fear ability.

[Bonita]

They are good for annoying my friend when I make large pets stand on him while he afks. No idea why it bothers him, but I think my Devilsaurs are getting a break and my direhorn shall rule! lol

I also have no idea what that ability will be useful for though.

[Kalliope]

My theory is that it's a skill to be used against big burst damage. You know, the sort of hit that could potentially one-shot your pet, or otherwise make quick work of him. Instead of reducing the damage taken by 50%, like a turtle or beetle, dire horns would completely reflect the damage.

[Sigrah]

If it were up to me, they would have been given a "sunder armor" type ability over the "spell reflection" ability. Anyways, I'm guessing one way to make spell reflection useful in PVP is if you're defending a specific spot in a battle ground. Have the pet stand in one spot, you stand behind it, put it on passive, and if a spell caster starts shooting at you, just click spell reflection and hope they aren't smart enough to start AoEing.

[Jadein92]

Putting this here since the patch goes live today and it's no longer ptr speculation.

Yes, they're awfully cool, don't get me wrong. Giant triceratops are, definitely, awesome.

That said, though, their special ability...well... mystifies me completely. What the hell is it good for? Sure, okay, if you're questing somewhere that has a whole lot of mobs like, say, Dread Wastes, then yes, a conical forward spell-reflect is probably... nominally handy. Sometimes. But by the time you can even get a direhorn, you're pretty much PAST the solo questing thing, and down to dailies which we've all been doing just fine without a spell-shield.

Initially it sounds neat for PVP... except that the reflect is forward facing, and I don't know ANYONE that is going to be bothering to face a pet in PVP when they could be ganking its owner. The reflect doesn't work if the guy has his back to the pet, so it's really not very handy here.

Which leads me to PVE... where it's also worthless. Pets stand behind things they don't have aggro to, so therefore the spell reflect doesn't do anyone any good in a raid or dungeon environment... at least, I can't think of any bosses that fart damage backwards at random. Some, like Ultraxion, force everyone to stay in front, but... that's definitely the exception, not the rule, and in any case I kind of don't think that blast thing he does is something that's reflectable.

Soooo... why does this ability exist? Why didn't they give direhorns something that's actually worthwhile? Or am I missing something. It really just doesn't seem to stack up when compared to, well, pretty much any buff any other pet can bring.

Actually in arena and rated battle grounds a hunters pet is focused heavily. ESPECIALLY BM hunter pets. Now with that reflection ability it really would be pretty handy against mages/other spell casters. No it does not have "quite" as useful ability as lets say a spider for pvp or a crit buff for raids, but all the buffs are so well covered do we really need another crit buff/sunder armor? I find their ability to be rather useful and i will be trying my hand in it in PvP. Give it try first

[Agravaine]

Has it been verified as a spell reflect? Because it sounds more like a 6-second damage immunity, similar to a turtle's shell shield. Especially since it's another tenacity special ability.

Edit: the animation of the ability might even be similar to that of the Emperor's Courage in Mogushan Vaults -- a directional armor that forces you to get behind him to apply any debuffs and do any damage.

[TygerDarkstorm]

It says in game on the tooltip that it's a spell-reflect.

[Nachtwulf]

It says it 'reflects all spells in front'.

It's kind of vaguely worded. It almost sounds like it doesn't actually have to be targeting the pet, but that must not be right.
Anyway... okay so maybe in arena people bother with pets. But it seems kind of silly to introduce a whole special-snowflake pet family for like.... 1/45th of the WoW population. Not that many people actually arena... less than battlegrounds, dailies, or raiding certainly. (in fact out of all of my friends, I know exactly one person that does arenas.)

That said, I went out and got one anyway. because dammit, they're neat.

[Sethalaen]

I can understand what you mean. A lot of the pet abilities seem somewhat useless. Some are awesome, like the Cat/Spirit Beast's roar, the Wolf's Howl, etc.

However, many of them don't seem to have too much practical use.

That said, Direhorns are the most detailed hunter pets to date, I think and very awesome looking! Plus, they certainly look like tanks!

[Sesamee]

Actually when facing a BM hunter in pvp not focusing on the pet is a bad idea. Still, I do agree the new ability doesn't initially seem to be all that great or exciting. And the fact that it's channeled really has me worried. I haven't played around with it too much yet though so am reserving judgement. Maybe it's just so different from what we had before so we have to get used to it? I hope they don't end up as another "luxury" stable slot...super awesome and I'm way to attached to get rid of but otherwise not so useful.

[SylviaDragon]

As someone who spends most of her time in pvp, I can tell you that I won’t be using this in arenas and probably not in rbgs either. The spell reflect is nice if your pet is being focused but it can easily be brushed off. Since its channeled, it sounds like the pet will have to hold still. Players can just move behind the pet and with a 30 sec cd I’m not sure if it’s worth having. Can it reflect non-spell attacks like melee abilities? Because its usually melee that picks on my pet.

All in all, I would rather bring a spirit beast for the extra hot that both myself and my pet can use instead of the reflect. I could see non BM hunters using this but since those specs are not as dependent on their pet, they would probably want to focus more of pets that grief their opponents. (spiders, owls, ect.)
Just personal preference of course but I don’t think the spell reflect is worth giving up buffs that better ensure your own survivability over your pet. It is an awesome looking pet though and I love the look of them. I doubt I can justify keeping one but will enjoy it while the fad lasts.

[Agravaine]

It says in game on the tooltip that it's a spell-reflect.

Managed to get one and check it out. Strange, in my game, the spellbook ability says "Deflects," the channeled cast says "Deflecting," and the spell animation looks exactly like the Emperor's Courage shield effect. Perhaps the word "reflective" in the ability name is misleading.

[TygerDarkstorm]

It says in game on the tooltip that it's a spell-reflect.

Managed to get one and check it out. Strange, in my game, the spellbook ability says "Deflects," the channeled cast says "Deflecting," and the spell animation looks exactly like the Emperor's Courage shield effect. Perhaps the word "reflective" in the ability name is misleading.

Yes my apologies, I was going off memory when I typed that. If I had been thinking straight I would have just opened up the direhorn Petopia page.

"Reflective Armor Plating [Special Ability]
Channeled 30 sec cooldown
Deflects all spells cast in front of the Direhorn for 6 sec."

[Agravaine]

No worries, I really wanted to make sure before I said anything else... at this point it seems equivalent to a turtle as a tank pet -- 6 seconds no spell damage taken on a Direhorn, 12 seconds of 50% damage on a turtle.

[Novikova]

I like how they look mostly. I honestly feel bad I can't think of much for their ability, though it is handy when there's a boss with spinny aoe poo cloud type magic damage.

[Vephriel]

Whenever I see the title of this thread all I can hear is War (what are they good for? Absolutely nothing).

It's definitely a bit of a lackluster ability, but I don't mind much myself. I'd use them regardless because of how much I love their models.

[SpiritBinder]

Whenever I see the title of this thread all I can hear is War (what are they good for? Absolutely nothing).

It's definitely a bit of a lackluster ability, but I don't mind much myself. I'd use them regardless because of how much I love their models.

This ^

For me I <3 the new slate turtle style and colouring so much, I have been waiting for a colour scheme and style like this for so long. His ability is handy, but the reality is it's so rare that it's ever used that it does not matter. For me I'd love him with or without a special (though this is purely from a solo/questing/daily perspective) Sure it's ability isn't a buff/debuff that one may have to cover for a raid, but if you 25man, it's pretty rare you'd have to worry these days

Direhorns- What are they good for?
… for the new “Group” Warbringer Rare mobs and defect that fear spell!
... for looking freaking amazing!?!
... for "stomp Stomp STOMPING" your enemies into the ground! (oh that waddle, so cute!)
... for coming in an array of great primal colours
... and just for FUN!

oh and...

I said, war, huh Good God, y'all!!

[Holgarr]

I was interested in Direhorns... until this thread. now i'm not so sure I should bother...