I’m assuming most of you who read this blog also read OutDPS, however, if you are one of the three or four people who doesn’t, I’m going to take a quick minute to bring a post there to your attention:
It appears that simply letting your pet auto-cast its attacks lags a bit and results in a DPS loss. You can find the details (and advice on how to fix it) right here.
Also note that this effects all pets, including warlock and mage ones.
Just a heads-up from your Friendly Neighborhood Pike!
Now if only I could think of a fix that would let your pet attack its own target while you DPS yours… would really help on fights like Deathwhisper where you generally leave the pet on the boss and take out adds :\
Wow. Who knew.
the only way to do that is use focus macros. but as a hunter, if you’re already focusing the tank for MD, it gets a bit more complicated. You will probably have to manually put in the name of the enemy NPC that you want your pet to attack.
@Euripides: Can you use the @pettarget macro modifier on Hunter pets?
@Euripides: Hmmm. I’ll have to look more closely at what the pets are doing. I often send the pet after one thing while I beat something else down, particularly in 5-Man ToC when we have a new 80 with us and they don’t know the fight or don’t know how to do the fight on the toon they just got to 80. Sending my Core Hound after the mage while I kill the rogue helps with the sheeping she does. From my POV, as long as I don’t pull aggro off the tank, my pet is happily chewing on another mob while I’m burning down the add the tank wants killed.
In CoS, doing a guild timed run, I’ll often put the Core Hound on aggressive so he gnaws at the skellies which tend to go after the healer.
Now you have me wondering if he really is sticking with the mobs I send him to or if he’s switching to what I’m targeting.
Since I am obviously one of those three or four people (who reads here but not OutDPS), thanks!
Any guesses/theories on if this applies to Unholy DKs with perma-ghouls? (I play a lowbie hunter rarely, but I do have an Unholy DK)
@Cynwise… Yes, I believe @pettarget modifier does work. I am switching most of my macros over to this form so if it doesn’t work I’ll make note of it.
Along the same lines as some of the questions here, again, over at OutDPS, there’s this article on ICC macros:
http://outdps.com/2010/01/13/icc-macros/
Some of the macros in the article can get pretty crazy to someone who isn’t used to macros. But basically something that looks like this:
/cast [mod:shift, @pettarget] Chimera Shot; Chimera Shot
.. I think is valuable to all hunters whether you are raiding or not. It will let you keep a Serpent Sting rolling on your pet’s target while you do your regular massive damage on your target. So for me, Chimera is bound to the ‘3’ key. If I hit 3 normally, it will fire Chimera Shot at my target, basically normal behavior. If I hit shift-3, it will fire a Chimera Shot at my pet’s target while I continue to attack my target.
And one more thing… yes, hunters need two focus frames! 🙂
I’ve noticed this problem with Rabid for as long as I could remember. I just leave it on my pet bar and use it when my pet “forgets” to.
Oh yes, I forget where I read about this, but linking Bubbles’ Waterbolt with my Frostbolt does show a small DPS increase.
Yes. His name is Bubbles.
@ Mattias – I’m assuming it also effects DK ghouls but I’m not entirely certain, so you may want to check with someone else on that…
@ Saffron – Bubbles is a perfectly acceptable name. /nod