Utgarde Keep, near the starting zone in Howling Fjord, is most likely one of the first Northrend instances you will go to. It’s a fairly straightforward dungeon, being the first on the continent, but there are a few things to point out with each boss and the trash.

Trash Mobs
The first couple of trash pulls in here are easy, though if this is a group’s first foray into a heroic and are still gearing up, be wary of the patrols. The come up and down the path directly in front of you. Try and fight the two on the left and right in the first room as separate pulls, then pick up the patrols.

Past the first circular room of three pulls (you can skip the third by hugging the wall if you don’t need rep or XP), is an area with Enslaved Proto-Drakes and their handlers. In fact there is one immediately on the left of the room, so make sure no one runs in willy nilly or they will get their face chomped on.

When fighting these mobs, my groups always burn down the drakes first and then the handlers. For pet survivability, wait for your tank to grab them and turn them away from the party. Then send the pet in to attack at the drakes rear or side. They let out a flame attack in a cone in front of them that can easily kill your pet (especially our new, squishier SV version).

The other thing to look out for is that many of the humanoid mobs throw little time bombs out, either during the fight or right as they die. They can kill your pet pretty quick too, so if you see one yank the leash and bring him back quick. Also, after each mob kill, stay put and wait a second to make sure all bombs have detonated. More than once Hesston ran in to skin and got blasted in the face by a bomb. Rez please!

The rest of the trash is the typical affair. Casters first, everyone else second. There will be worgs with some of the pulls. If there are two, I usually take it upon myself to put scare beast on one (none of the pulls are close enough to where it would fear them into another pull) and burn down the other. They don’t have a lot of HP, and if you pop growl on your pet he should be able to tank it enough for you to kill them without any other assistance, before helping the group out with skull. Don’t forget to turn growl off/cower on before jumping back into the fray.

Boss fights below the jump.

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Tags: heroics,hunters
Categories: dungeons, heroics, hunters, hunters scope, strategy
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As a hunter, Hesston relies on his pet. We need our pet to survive. He’s out there charging into battle for us, holding those mobs at bay so we can blast away with our ranged weapon and make short work of them without even scratching our armor. Our pet, or pets, are a hunter’s best friend, so I thought I’d give them a little attention here.

I said before, that for most of the first two-thirds of Hesston’s adventuring life, things were pretty much a solo run. However, it never really felt that way since we had our tamed beast alongside us to brave the dangers of Azeroth. We were always a party of two.

Over time I’ve tried out several different pets; from crocs to raptors, and even spiders and a turtle. And with all of the beautiful pets out there, it’s pretty darn hard to decide what to keep in those stable slots. Right now though, I’ve settled on two that I keep on a steady rotation and serve a certain purpose.

KITT:

This here is KITT, my lovable cat that I found in Zul’Drak. He’s a ferocity pet, for those keeping score. That means he gets cool abilities like Heart of the Phoenix and Lick Your Wounds, two things that keep this guy alive during those tough raids. That’s right, KITT here is my main raiding pet. He packs a wallop with the DPS. Why, just the other night in the Construct Quarter of Naxxramas, KITT was going crit crazy and almost topped the tank in aggro on some mobs due to all of the damage he was dishing out. The tanks may have been missing some taunts or something too, but whatever. Go kitty! Along with the cool talent tree abilities, cats also have rake, a great damaging hit that puts a fun little DoT bleeding affect on the target. Seriously, you can keep your devilsaurs, I’m sticking with the kitty.

Whitey:

This here is Whitey, my gorilla tank, or Gorilladan as some people call it. I first grabbed a gorilla way back in Un’Goro crater, but that one got too old a squishy so I let him out to pasture and picked up Whitey here in Sholozar Basin. As a tenacity pet, he’s really great at taking all kinds of punishment from the enemy. He doesn’t dish out too much damage himself, but that’s OK. Thanks to his threat-generating AoE ability, Thunderstomp, he can hang on to multiple mobs while I give them a big-bad Volley or two. For this reason, the gorilla is really the best pet for soloing those old dungeons Hesston missed out on. He also came in handy while I gained new experience in Northrend since he could take on all those mobs that were new to me. Whenever I need to farm some leather in Sholozar, I take Whitey here to bunch up all of his old buddies together so I can blast ‘em down and take all that wonderful skin. Sure, I feel a little guilty about having him beat up his fellow gorillas, but so what, he’s on my side. I feed him fruits and berries and stuff, he’s got it made.

My other slots are filled with a useless Core Hound I grabbed from Azuremyst Isle and a wasp I haven’t used much either. The hound stinks, and I’m not just talking about his breath. Wait, actually I am. That stupid breath of his goes off before he even gets to mob we’re killing, bringing it to us instead of vice-versa. Wrong doggy, keep him away!

And the wasp, yeah, I’d rather not talk about it.

So, I’ve been looking for a third pet to round out my collection. I’m leaning toward something from the cunning tree just so I can have one of each type. Who knows, a cunning pet might turn out excellent for raiding. However, none of those pets really appeal to Hesston right now.

So, until the infamous Loque’nahak shows himself, KIT is my go to beast for smacking the enemy around. Fellow hunters, what’s in your stable?

Tags: hunters,pets
Categories: hunters, pets, screenshots
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