After doing some testing in Ulduar 25 last night, it looks like the Laser Barrage on Mimiron does indeed hit pets and pretty much insta-kills them. So, Ulduar is generally pet friendly, though later fights can be difficult if you're not paying attention to your pets health and certain AOEs.

It's a little weird. Some AoE stuff they're immune to and some they're not. They take damage on Council from the AoE explosions (not that much to worry about), but the green circles of death don't affect them.

It's a huge pain when they're standing in something bad due to boss positioning and you have no way to move them since they always attack from the rear now.

Yes, it's rather inconsistent. The Laser Barrage will kill your pet almost instantly but the missiles he fires in phase 2 and 4 don't hit pets.

I am fairly sure the Missiles do hit pets, unless Rocket Strike is some other effect: World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis

(Turtle is a pet)

It is usually pretty easy to avoid though if someone is calling out when a missile is targetting melee, or whenever a missile is launched at all (although I imagine that degree of caution would be pretty bad for BM).

Anecdotally, I'm also pretty sure I've seen my own pet get oneshotted by a rocket before I started pulling out, although I can't verify since those nights I uploaded to WMO which doesn't seem to parse out pets individually.

Same here, we're raiding 10m about 6 hours a weeks.

I was a SV, but now there's just too much crap to watch for (procs/CDs) while learning the new content. The shot rotation/priority feels like a flat tire as well, so I'm now a BM/MM.

So far, I'd say Ignis favors BM, if only for the time spent in the pot doing nothing. Razorscale, favors MM (with Hawkeye) as Razorscale usually lands in blue fire so unlucky fire spots would kill a pet. XT depends on what your raid needs: AoE might favor MM with Volley, but BM burning XT/Heart is probably better use. Kologarn probaly doesn't matter as long as someone doesn't drag beams onto your pet. Auriaya is a miserable fight for hunters in general (very hard to stay out of melee range at times), BM is probably the best way to make the most of it.

As a side note, I have found the Glyph of KS works great. There are very few fights that don't require target switching, so being able to pop off a KS on an add and then one back on the main target is great--it's not just about getting more KS on the boss.

I don't use SS glyph just because of all of the movement. It's the SS that gets left out when I have to get off a death rune, or out of fire, or move into/out of range.

Similarly, I took the SrS glyph over AotH, because autoshots only work when standing still. Sometimes the few extra autos could do a bit more damage, but not having to worry about SrS for an extra 6 seconds makes life easier.

Granted, it's new content and I'm probably spending more time running around than I have to, but for now that's what works best for me.

My pet was randomly dying in p2, so I'm very sure it is due to rocket strikes that I simply cannot see due to how far away I am. Usually the melee call out when one is on them and you have to pull your pet out if you hear that. There are big gaps between phases that let even a sv hunter res their pet.

I have heard this argument from quite a few hunters, and it still does not make sense to me. What is preventing you from staying 5 yards away from the boss? And I just start my volley cast when she is casting swarm, and I get massive aoe dmg aswell. I can stay in top3 fairly easy like this.

The boss isn't the problem, it's everything else going on. I wish the fight was just about staying 5 yards away from the boss, that would be very Nax-like. Maybe we just have less experienced raiders than you, (none of us did the test realm) but the guardian is all over the place, the boss is always shifting, there's the holes to dodge, running around corners to get LoS, bad camera angles from the walls, raid fear--it's just a very busy fight with a lot of elements that aren't friendly to hunters. At least as a BM, your pet has very good melee DPS (compared to other hunters at least) and you could still do your volley trick. BTW... How do you start channeling Volley without being able to see where to target where the swarm will pop out?

I'm not sure what strategies your raid uses but the MT should never have to move unless he's feared or is standing in a void zone. Same for you; unless you're feared or are in a void zone, you have no reason to move.

Your raid, minus the tanks and melee, should be stacked on top of eachother. Whoever is (trying to) tank the guardian should be dragging it away when it's about to die so the void zone is less likely to hit the raid.

yeah that's the theory, and I guess it comes down to practice. I gave my raiding situation and the short list of bosses should be a clue as to my PoV--so everyone can take my posts with a grain of salt.

Between the fears, required movement, and the guardian pouncing the group i.e. getting into melee range, the fight isn't great for hunters compared to the other fights leading up to this one. I stand by my statement that BM is probably the best way to make the most of a tough fight.

For Mimiron:
Phase 1 - you don't have to keep your pet out of shock waves. If it's fully raid buffed it will survive and with judgement of light, raid heals, bloodthirsty, etc - it will be back to full health before the next shockwave. This is almost true for SV and MM hunters too, but if yer pet is missing fort or you don't give it mammoth treats, it will die. I find that speccing my pet in to Dash is very beneficial as SV.

Phase2 - This is a little tricky for BM, but here's my suggestion. Trade out a steady shot every now and then for a mend pet. The AOE damage shouldn't be an issue. The main problem is making sure your pet doesn't get hit by red rockets or by the lazer barrage. This is where BM hunters have to be pro at keeping an eye on their pets. In my raid, people will call out in vent when the red rocket is on the melee. When I hear this, I immediately pull my pet out (using a macro). When lazer barrage comes, I pull my pet back as well.

Phase3 - no issue for pets, usually for phase3 I change my pet from passive to defensive. Then back to passive for phase4.

Phase4 - this phase just sucks for pets. I find it almost impossible to keep an eye on my pet, so if he gets hit by an unlucky red rocket... well that's what heart of the pheonix is for. I still pull him out during lazer barrage and I will throw a mend pet if I see him taking aoe damage.

Oh, and here's the macro I use. I find it incredibly useful for being quick with sending pet in and pulling it out.

/pet attack
/petfollow [target=pettarget,exists]

Bind that to a hotkey. If you hit that when your pet isnt' attacking, it will attack that target. If you hit it when your pet is already attacking something, it will come back to your side. Remember though, this won't work if your pet is on defensive while you're attacking something. It will try to come back to your side and then immediately go back to attacking the target you're attacking. However, if it's on passive, it will run right to you and wait until you hit it again. I also find it very useful for when i have to switch targets quickly.


My question to you dual-speccing BM hunters - what are your gem and enchant priorities? Obviously BM favors atk power while MM and SV favor agility. Most of us min-maxers went SV when BM was nerfed so all our gear and gems were picked with the thought process that 1 agi > 2 ap. So what I'm wondering is, which do you prioritize and why?