So, with the PTR changes to Thunderstomp, this suddenly opens up a whole new world of tank pet options! Who’s going to be on top now? I just don’t know!
To begin with, let’s just give a big THANK YOU to blizz for this change. We have a whole host of tenacity pets, but if you want a pet to actually tank something (I’m a fan of pet-tanking instances) then you have no choice but the gorilla. Thunderstomp is so much better than anything else, and AOE aggro is vital for pet tanking. Without it, your healers will pull everything but the main target off your pet.
But now that every tenacity pet can get thunderstomp, who do you pull out of the stables for pet tanking? Let’s take a look.
Gorilla: The gorilla’s new ability smells like nerf-bait to me, most likely in the form of a much longer cooldown. With longevity the cooldown on that ability is 7 seconds. So every 7 seconds he can block spellcasting (in one school) for 4 seconds. Imagine sicking him on a healer in PVP? I know, it sounds like fun, but now imagine the healer could prevent you from firing for 4 seconds out of every 7? Sure, it’s not as broken as a rogue in pvp, but still. Nerf inc. Gorilla will no longer be our main pet tank, but his ability will be useful against many bosses.
Crocolisk: Right now these bad boys are on the top of my list for suspected best tank pet. A little over half the time (with longevity) they have Thorns! They cause damage to everyone that attacks them, every time they’re attacked! Fantastic AOE aggro, plus thunderstomp! Whee!
Bear: Arust will love this one, but the bear has a more limited aoe attack with Swipe right now. Add thunderstomp and again we have better aoe aggro than the gorilla does now. As good as the crocolisk? No, but I believe that swipe does more damage (and thus more threat) than the croc’s bite, so the Bear may do a better job of holding aggro on the main dps target (always a concern) while mostly relying on thunderstomp to take care of the others.
Turtle: An interesting aspect of Thunderstomp going to everyone is that you could argue that your pet can generate enough aggro on non-dps targets to hold onto them without help. This means that perhaps you can choose a pet for mitigation purposes instead of aggro purposes, in which case the turtle is the best bet.
Just yesterday (literally) I finally got my silly gorilla to 80. /sigh
But, I do have the 80 slime croc from the bugged Oracles daily in the stable, so all is not lost.
Yeah, hooray for the slime…I got it just to, well, have it – how cool would it be to actually USE it! Yay, “Ralph” might get to come join the party.
Very interesting things on the horizon.
It’s annoying that neither Rhinos nor Worms seem to be better tanks than any that you have mentioned. Oh well, I guess I have to go retame a bear for AE farming.
I think Rhino might make the list. The list was for non-exotic pets though. Because Thunderstop plus the KB of the Rhino might really pwn face.
I am really looking forward to trying these. Right now I just have a gorilla for taking and farming, and even then I had never been fully satisfied. Then again, I inspect for raid, as opposed to farming. Perhaps a dual spec will make this better regardless of what kind of thinking pet I use.
Yay! I’m glad I kept my bear I tamed at level 10! Having kept him levelled up, now he’s 71 (same level) and these changes mean he’ll get a lot more use
what about pets for an MM hunter since the raid wide AP buff is going away?
that is on the wolf pet
you said “Crocolisk: Right now these bad boys are on the top of my list for suspected best tank pet. A little over half the time (with longevity) they have Thorns!”..
where is it? I went out and got a croc and I cant find anything in his spellbook saying anything close to “thorns”
would you mind showing me?
nevermind, bad tude has a CD on it but its casted every time my croc takes damage. Having a 1.4 min CD listed on it was really throwing me off.
I’m liking the croc as well, especially since i kept my oracles hydra-croc over the ooze.
And yay for stealth fixes! The hydra crocs annoying “snapping” animation no longer has sound attached to it, so you can actually stand using him as a pet.
I have a EPL plague pig as my favorite tank pet (named MANBEARPIG). He has the thunderstomp ability as well (didn’t see him on the list). I use him for leveling cause I can just keep sending him after mob after mob and his stomp keeps them ignoring my multi / volley. Great ablility, SSOOO glad they changed it!!
I just tamed a 76 gorilla (same lvl as me) I’ll try him out, maybe a crock too later and see which I like better. Thanks for the info..MAN I love this site!!
question i have a spirit beast (Gondoria) he is doing as much damage as the tanks in most of my bouts why are they not on the list cause they are more DPS????
And the hydra or slime crocs how do i gt one????
they are spawned from a quest in sholazar basin. classified as crocolisks. however, unless they have changed again, blizz has made these untameable again. i am KICKING myself for not taming one. bah
crystella, damage and threat are not the same. Any dps pet (spirit beast included) will do more damage than a tank pet. But tank pets have ways of upping their threat and taking more punishment, which is what this thread is concerned with.
Could someone tell me a good pet for lvl in lvl +39 ? Atm in allways top 1 in WG and AB in PvP with my BM build. Been top 1 since lvl +20 when i changed to BM
kroko+hiller=bugagagagagagaga—–>boooms!!!
So, I guess i’m still the only living proponent of Rhino pets for tanking?