Hunter: Pet Training - Cat abilities

vosfihalo · August 12, 2008, 02:57 PM

Background: I shelved my warlock for a bit to roll a hunter so I could have a second 70 before the expansion, mostly to be my herbs gatherer for my warlock Inscriber when xpack goes live. Oreo, my ghost saber, and I just hit level. 30; this now makes available Prowl and Dash.

Question: Cats have several abilities to choose from--Prowl, Dash, Claw, Bite, Growl, & Cower, of which I can only choose 4. I've decided to keep Dash, Claw, and Prowl. The dilemma is between growl and bite. Bite adds additional damage, which is definitely what I want; this is also the set-up I read another hunter using for their cat. Can the initial damage from Bite and Prowl be enough to hold aggro on a mob? Is Growl necessary enough to sacrifice Bite? I want to hear from the cat masters here.

I'm trying to level ASAP, so max damage is essential.

RomaGoth · August 12, 2008, 03:08 PM

I would personally not take cower, it is pretty much useless. The skills my cat has are:

Growl
Bite
Dash
Prowl

Bite is much more effective than claw, does more damage, and gains more aggro for your pet. Growl works pretty well in gaining aggro as well, just make sure you turn it off in groups or your tank will not keep aggro as well.

Check out Petopia, a great pet website:

Petopia: A complete guide to hunter pets in the World of Warcraft.

Edit: I forgot to add that there are major changes to pets in Wrath of the Lich King, so forget everything you know about pets after the next few months.

Grandorf · August 12, 2008, 03:39 PM

you got to have growl to gain arrgo

Maltyrius · August 12, 2008, 04:00 PM

Having spent a good amount of time on my hunter over the last year I'm going to heavily disagree with Bite over Claw - at least in the current pre Wrath game (more on that soon).

Bite has a cooldown and Claw does not. The net effect is that Claw becomes a 'focus dump'. That boils down to, if your pet has focus he can hit with claw. The faster you generate focus (BM crits etc) the faster your pet hits with claw. Meanwhile, the pet with bite is waiting for the CD.

Source for numbers:
Claw vs Bite - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

In general, a properly specced hunter with decent numbers will generate more DPS from claw due to the focus dump mechanic. Now, in Wrath all that changes to Bite, Claw and Smack being ALL normalized focus dumps and which one you get depends on which pet family you chose.

For now I suggest Growl, Claw, Prowl, Dash for everday purposes such as questing, farming, instances.

EDIT: Wrath of the Lich King FAQ for pets http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/ht...kills.php#bite

Can't recommend this site highly enough for hunter pet info. Mania brings a passion to the site that is not rivaled by many (Akasha, Gurgthock and BRK are among them!).

RomaGoth · August 12, 2008, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maltyrius

Having spent a good amount of time on my hunter over the last year I'm going to heavily disagree with Bite over Claw - at least in the current pre Wrath game (more on that soon).

Bite has a cooldown and Claw does not. The net effect is that Claw becomes a 'focus dump'. That boils down to, if your pet has focus he can hit with claw. The faster you generate focus (BM crits etc) the faster your pet hits with claw. Meanwhile, the pet with bite is waiting for the CD.

Source for numbers:
Claw vs Bite - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft

In general, a properly specced hunter with decent numbers will generate more DPS from claw due to the focus dump mechanic. Now, in Wrath all that changes to Bite, Claw and Smack being ALL normalized focus dumps and which one you get depends on which pet family you chose.

For now I suggest Growl, Claw, Prowl, Dash for everday purposes such as questing, farming, instances.

You are correct. I actually got those two backwards. I prefer claw over bite as well.

Always take the one that has no GCD, as you can use it repeatedly (assuming the pet has enough focus).

Thanks Malt for setting me straight.

Tzat · August 23, 2008, 05:58 AM

Claw is a focus dump while Bite is not.
What this means is that the damage output of Bite is limited by the ability's cooldown while Claw is not (as long as your pet got focus it keeps using Claw). In a raid situation Claw is essential for your damage output while Bite merely is a minor DPS boost on top of Claw, plenty of hunters even choose to completely skip Bite for more resistance training.

While levelling you want to prioritize Growl so I suppose there could be situations when you might prefer to not use up all your focus on Claw but as soon as you get Beastial Discipline that shouldn't be much of an issue. I'd just train Dash, Claw and Growl when levelling and spend the rest of your training points in Cobra Reflexes, Avoidance, Stamina and resistances / armor (depending on the situation) and only train Bite if you got an abundance of training points (you never want that one on auto-cast alongside Growl). Prowl is cute but very situational.

August 12, 2008, 02:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
vosfihalo Member Character Info vosfi 70 Gnome Warlock Archimonde US PvP Guild: The Revolution Profile: Blizzard Armory	Pet Training - Cat abilities Background: I shelved my warlock for a bit to roll a hunter so I could have a second 70 before the expansion, mostly to be my herbs gatherer for my warlock Inscriber when xpack goes live. Oreo, my ghost saber, and I just hit level. 30; this now makes available Prowl and Dash. Question: Cats have several abilities to choose from--Prowl, Dash, Claw, Bite, Growl, & Cower, of which I can only choose 4. I've decided to keep Dash, Claw, and Prowl. The dilemma is between growl and bite. Bite adds additional damage, which is definitely what I want; this is also the set-up I read another hunter using for their cat. Can the initial damage from Bite and Prowl be enough to hold aggro on a mob? Is Growl necessary enough to sacrifice Bite? I want to hear from the cat masters here. I'm trying to level ASAP, so max damage is essential.

August 12, 2008, 03:08 PM	#2 (permalink)
RomaGoth Lock of All Trades Character Info RomaGoth 70 Human Warlock Durotan US PvE Guild: Ultima Forsan Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/8/53	Re: Pet Training - Cat abilities I would personally not take cower, it is pretty much useless. The skills my cat has are: Growl Bite Dash Prowl Bite is much more effective than claw, does more damage, and gains more aggro for your pet. Growl works pretty well in gaining aggro as well, just make sure you turn it off in groups or your tank will not keep aggro as well. Check out Petopia, a great pet website: Petopia: A complete guide to hunter pets in the World of Warcraft. Edit: I forgot to add that there are major changes to pets in Wrath of the Lich King, so forget everything you know about pets after the next few months.

August 12, 2008, 03:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
Grandorf Member	Re: Pet Training - Cat abilities you got to have growl to gain arrgo

August 12, 2008, 04:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
Maltyrius Moderator Character Info Maltyrius 70 Human Warlock Khaz Modan US PvE Guild: Prestige Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 43/7/11	Re: Pet Training - Cat abilities Having spent a good amount of time on my hunter over the last year I'm going to heavily disagree with Bite over Claw - at least in the current pre Wrath game (more on that soon). Bite has a cooldown and Claw does not. The net effect is that Claw becomes a 'focus dump'. That boils down to, if your pet has focus he can hit with claw. The faster you generate focus (BM crits etc) the faster your pet hits with claw. Meanwhile, the pet with bite is waiting for the CD. Source for numbers: Claw vs Bite - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft In general, a properly specced hunter with decent numbers will generate more DPS from claw due to the focus dump mechanic. Now, in Wrath all that changes to Bite, Claw and Smack being ALL normalized focus dumps and which one you get depends on which pet family you chose. For now I suggest Growl, Claw, Prowl, Dash for everday purposes such as questing, farming, instances. EDIT: Wrath of the Lich King FAQ for pets http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/ht...kills.php#bite Can't recommend this site highly enough for hunter pet info. Mania brings a passion to the site that is not rivaled by many (Akasha, Gurgthock and BRK are among them!). Last edited by Maltyrius; August 12, 2008 at 04:33 PM.

August 23, 2008, 05:58 AM	#6 (permalink)
Tzat Newly Registered User Character Info Tzatziki 70 Tauren Hunter Nagrand Euro PvE Guild: Hex Talent Spec: 0/20/41	Re: Pet Training - Cat abilities Claw is a focus dump while Bite is not. What this means is that the damage output of Bite is limited by the ability's cooldown while Claw is not (as long as your pet got focus it keeps using Claw). In a raid situation Claw is essential for your damage output while Bite merely is a minor DPS boost on top of Claw, plenty of hunters even choose to completely skip Bite for more resistance training. While levelling you want to prioritize Growl so I suppose there could be situations when you might prefer to not use up all your focus on Claw but as soon as you get Beastial Discipline that shouldn't be much of an issue. I'd just train Dash, Claw and Growl when levelling and spend the rest of your training points in Cobra Reflexes, Avoidance, Stamina and resistances / armor (depending on the situation) and only train Bite if you got an abundance of training points (you never want that one on auto-cast alongside Growl). Prowl is cute but very situational.