priests and hunters
I like hunters. The class is my third favorite to play, and assuming equal skill they’re one of my top two choices for Kill Team (rogue is the other) in an instance. But I always feel a bit awkward around one, because while the hunter can do some nice things for you, it’s not synergistic – and there aren’t a lot of things you can do for your hunter even without the synergism effects. That said, there are a couple of things…
Let’s start with the healpriest. Healers, you will make your hunter very, very happy if you can slip a renew onto his pet now and again — and even keep a flash heal ready. Think of the pet as an off-tank and treat appropriately. Oh – don’t forget to offer food for the pet if you’ve got it. Darn things are empty pits, sometimes.
If the hunter is the designated safety – that is, if things start gnawing upon you it is HE who will save the day – don’t run toward him. You run toward tanks. For hunters, just stand still. The hunter may be good in melee, but ranged attacks are his predominate skill. If the HUNTER chooses to close the gap, that’s up to him. Oh, and he may just send the pet. You did remember to heal the pet, right?
If you’ve got mana, popping an renew on the hunter if a trap breaks unexpectedly can make him very happy. Oh, he’ll handle it, but he’s likely going to get some toothmarks on his jacket in the process.
What can the hunter do for you? besides safety, his number one use to you is traps. If, of course, it’s not being used for cc. There are few things that make me happier than seeing the hunter in my party run over to me, kneel, and leave a frozen chunk of goodness – I mean, an ice trap – next to me. Yes, I’d appreciate it if he’d put it about 10 yards in front of me, but the fact it’s THERE means I don’t have to worry about becoming George.
On the shadow side… sigh. I hate to say it, but there is nothing special you can do for the hunter you’re not doing for everyone in the party. Just be aware that if he’s good he’s going to be the DPS bar YOU are striving to meet. If things get nasty and you can spare it, slapping the mob that just broke his trap with a mindflay (and it’s 50% slow) will give the hunter a little breathing room to not just do something but do something good. But basically, he’s a fellow DPSer – a colleague in the march against these maddening foes. Take care of him as he takes care of you, and if all is done well you’ll enjoy the process thoroughly.
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Great advice for helping hunters out. As a hunter, I often run with healers that don’t consider my pet a member of the party when it’s that same member that’s going to get that mob off them when they grab aggro. That’s the important point for me to get across and thank you for making it.
Concerning Mindflay, I would probably try my own Wing Clip first if my trap fails so I wouldn’t need mindflay. I think it just saves some healer mana to be used somewhere else.
In general I think that hunters have many tools that make them self-sufficient in terms of surviving in a group/raid, which is good for a healer as it makes for one less healing headache.. just don’t ignore us completely, or out pet 🙂
Is there a fast way to target a hunter’s pet? I know you can use F1-F5 to target party members, but is there a shortcut for the pet, too?
Katy, not automatically. However, if you’re willing to do a little macro work, you can create new ones and bind them to the F-keys (getting the nasty little warning that you’re unbinding a default.)
Let’s see if I can do this off the top of my head.
/target [modifier:alt] player1pet; player1
Obviously you wouldn’t need it for player 1 (yourself, always), but you’d do the same macro for each of the other player F-keys.
I’m thinking that just *might* be a problem for player #4…
… heh. so use shift, or ctrl. (Honestly, I hadn’t considered that little issue.)
In any case, though I haven’t used them much (yet), I’m not afraid of macros, and this looks like a good place to use them. So thanks.
Ummm… I know this is a little late to the party, but… You just hit the hunter’s shortcut key twice. So if your hunter’s player 4 and therefore on F4, hitting F4 twice targets the pet. That’s what I’ve always done anyway, and it works even with my Nostromo n52.