RFC stands for “Request For Comments” — which basically means that I need your help (again!). I’m getting a lot of questions about the pros and cons of each pet family and in particular the pet family skills. But there’s no way that I really test all the pet families in every situation myself, so I want to hear about your experiences with them! (And yes, with 32 pet families this could take awhile.)
Today’s RFC: The Boar family and their Gore skill.
Remember way back when Boars were the big thing? Extra health and armor, plus not only a skill that closed with the enemy fast and boosted their threat through the roof but also a decent damage-dealing skill? Boars were almost as popular as cats! Ah, those were the days.
But these days, all Tenacity pets have high health and armor, all Ferocity and Tenacity pets have access to Charge, and every pet in the game has some decent damage-dealing skills (although some are still better than others). And alas, the Boar’s vaunted threat bonus disappeared even before Patch 3.0. So are Boars still worth it? Is Gore worthwhile?
Please, if you’ve had any experience hunting with Boars in a post-Patch 3.0 world, take a moment to comment and let me know what you think. In particular, I’d like to know:
- What are the pros and cons of Boars in general?
- What are the pros and cons of Gore in particular?
- Are Boars particularly good (or bad) for soloing, grouping, raiding, PvP, tanking, damage-dealing, etc?
- What talents do you suggest for Boars? Are there any required talents, or talents you should definitely skip?
- Do you know any clever strategies for hunting with Boars, or are there any particular gotchas to watch out for?
- Would you recommend a Boar?
(These are just guideline questions — you need’t try to address each one in turn. And yes, this post looks a lot like the other RFCs — after all I’m asking the same questions!)
I’m especially looking for input from people who have been hunting with Boars for the past month or so (since Patch 3.0), but even if you haven’t, feel free to throw if your theorycrafting — just let us know whether your advice is based on experience or spreadsheets (or both)!
This post will remain here as a reference for the future, and additionally I’ll try to distill the basics down into a brief summary for use on Petopia.
As always, thanks for your help!
Makoes if you think this will give you an informed choice then here are your answers.
What are the pros and cons of Boars in general? It is a tenacity pet so can tank. It is a single target tank so cant hold multiple mob aggro well.
What are the pros and cons of Gore in particular? Gore does double damage on charge. Gore doesnt do any extra damage or aggro after the first attack.
Are Boars particularly good (or bad) for soloing, grouping, raiding, PvP, tanking, damage-dealing, etc? No, No, No, No, No, No
What talents do you suggest for Boars? Are there any required talents, or talents you should definitely skip? As with all tenacity – Charge, Growl, Blood of the Rhino, Grace of the Mantis, Barding
Do you know any clever strategies for hunting with Boars, or are there any particular gotchas to watch out for? No
Would you recommend a Boar? No
So basically the answer is no but without knowing the context of how it compares to other pets it doesnt really give you an accurate picture.
Possibly boars are ok, i personally think, and many other hunters i know, that gorillas are THE best solo pets, thunderstomp is an awesome AoE threat generating move that can hold aggro from several mobs at once very well, just lure a large group of enemies by running round then sick em! Thunderstomp gets them all on your pet then volley em down, i recommend gorillas and when you do i hope you will spread the word around about how good they are to all non believers and all those annoying people who use core hounds and other ferocity pets to solo.
@ Boarwood – if you abandoned your pet, you can get him restored by a GM, I got one of my beloved pets back. :)
@drina – they did change the coefficient so Thunderstomp worked on physical damage, BUT that turned out to be a bug which has been fixed as of the last patch 3.03. Thunderstomp is now treated as nature damage. Check the latest patch notes.
@Kaei
Dude, I think everyone pretty much GETS that Gorillas are the be all and end all of tanking right now.
Generally if somebody is NOT using a Gorilla, then it’s probably because they don’t want to be exactly the same as the other 5 thousand huntards out there with their cookie cutter ‘BEST’ builds.
If there is a ‘best’ anything in the game I will generally try to find an alternative to it that is also effective. So leave the guy with his corehound or his ferocity pet in solo. Maybe he just enjoys playing with that particular pet?
Really REALLY sick of the ‘get a monkey like everyone else’ brigade.
I discarded my monkey for a beautiful rhino i’m i no longer considered a hunter=O
Well to jump into a flury of fun I have a Boar (the black & blue armored one from RFD)and will use him on occasion. Pre BC and WoLK I used my boar a lot!! Now I have adopted a gorilla because I wish to grind thru the quests fast and SAFE and the gorilla accomplishes that the best for me. I have a raptor and ravenger but one must go since I plan on getting an exotic pet soon (2 talent points away). The gorilla holds the multi-adds in questing the best. Better than my Boar and my Bear (the rare spawn outside of IF). Yes my stable slots are full and we need more (lol) but not at 500g for the next one..150g was crazy enough. But sad to say the Gorilla is tops for now for multi-adds crown control while I level up into the 70′s.