drain tanking, wich pet?

[Temmuvas]

ok let me start off with what I think I understand on how Drain Tanking goes.

send in pet, dot all you can, pet will lose aggro and mob will attack you, suck mana then health.

then I hear people saying succy while doing more damage, but gets hurt more, vw doesnt do quite enough damage but less hurt.

if the object is for the quick kill why not use succy since the mob is supposed to come to you anyway? does vw keep mob off of you to get other casts in before mob comes to beat on you?

I have also read that drain tanking doesnt work that well until your mid 20's (if I remember correctly). until that point should I demo spec so that I can have pet do more for me than the draining?

Sorry bout all the ?'s getting wow up on monday and am excited
Temmuvas

P.S. sorry I posted in wrong spot please move me

[Moardin]

Given that with my affliction build I get more DoTs, I typically just use succy on easy fights that I want to do quickly (usually solo questing) due to increase damage. Usually I turn off her threat reduction (as I want her to come to me before she gets hurt too much and it saves her mana so I can drain it from her) and then after I get aggro and/or I am happy with DoTs, I will drain life and usually be fine.

I think it really depends on situation. I am spec'd with heavy affliction/light demo and don't seem to have issues with drain tanking. This goes with any pet in use.....just depends on situation.

On the other hand, with the vw, you will get hit less (vw holds more hate). So this means less life taps and less down time ....with dark pact, I want to kill fast and have my pet use less mana while still causing decent damage.

[dinuteranet]

You have right,man.

[sonte]

I use the VW most of the time.
my build currently
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=NAMriMbkVkZ0L

First reason as stated above the voidwalker can hold aggro better causing me to have less down time.

Next, comsume shadows + health funnel gets old VW from almost no health to full health in 5 seconds(no waisting of bandages).

Another reason is that when i am questing, i seem to always be fighting things 2-4 lvls higher than me, and when i played with the succy i just seemed that i was not nearly as effective (more downtime).

Aoe taunt...ever pulled two mobs when you only wanted to pull one. I keep it off auto but when its needed its there. I have time to dot up the first mob that my VW is attacking and normally taunting. Then doting up the second mob pulls it to me and i proceed to DL. Then when it is dead my VW is still happily fighting the first mob who is also close to dead at this point. After this me and my VW are ready to go onto the next mob with almost no down time. If I tried that with the succy she would most likely be dead after that.

Next, Sacrifice + http://www.thottbot.com/?n=69546 nifty stopwatch can get you out of almost any bad situation(just make sure you are not dazed when you hit the stopwatch).

Lastly, in my opinion VW looks a lot cooler than the succy although i still chuckle when she squeals and smacks her *** lol.

[gimmpy]

Drain tanking usually means you are the one taking the damage. Using the vw is hardly considered that. Personally, I would recommend using the vw until you are past level 30. I started drain tanking once I got dark pact, but if you are going down a different talent tree, you might choose differently. Once I got dp, I just used imp for mana battery and fire shield. Turn him on passive, go to max range, fire off an immolate, start running away while applying all insta dots, pick your next target and apply all insta dots. Then you have the option of grabbing more or firing off a drain life until all mobs are dead. dp to full as you are running to next mob and you are no worse for wear. All depends on personal preference I guess, but I find that you use enough mana that it warrants using the imp. The succy was always oom when I needed it even with her abilities turned off. You can take that for what its worth. Just my 2c.

[Duckie]

I use VW too mosty

[Kerowyn]

I use my felhunter when drain tanking. Mana free DPS means I get all the mana I want to dark pact, and that I actually get to use my pet DPS instead of hording it for myself (as I would with the imp.) He has enough HPS to offtank an add for a few if things get heavy. Devour is just icing, no need to worry about being debuffed.

[Snidlee]

First, I didn't start drain tanking until level 30. At that point I used succy. When I finally got Dark Pact, I pulled out the imp as a mana battery.

[KJ]

I am using my VW, for some reason my Succi DPS is equal to the VW and my Imp is hitting at 225 or so critting a little over 300. Be to be honest I used to fear kite everything I possibly could but I am tired of chasing after stuff to loot it. CoEX is nice but seems to wear off before fear. So the VW just tanks the mobs like a good little bluberry he is.

It is modified draintanking for sure (Just using different pet) and I hope everyone is playing to thier style and not to a specific style because it fits the description of "Drain tanking". Mix it up is all I can say. The same things will not work for EVERYONE.

[Nagato]

I personally use my VW too. the fights may last 1-2 seconds longer but i end the fight with full health full mana and the VW near full. if i get adds no worries he can aoe taunt them all while i drain multiples down..