My 3.1 tanking pet: the crocolisk

Gorilladins, you have seen your day. But all the other tenacity pets got jealous as they quietly followed you and your hunter after they were abandoned, and learned the ways of the thunderstomp. Now, all tenacity pets can use this, but you aren't left in the cold! You still have pummel.

My own gorilla, Sasquatch, will not be seeing much of me anymore. I just tamed my friend Cranky, the Crocolisk. It will take some time for us to get used to each other, but we will see that his bad attitude will be focused on the enemy and not at me.

Why did I go with a Crocolisk? While it may be a fun thing to do sometimes, hunters don't tank instances or raids regularly, and when I'm using my tenacity pet its usually when I'm soloing something. This is the only special pet ability in the tenacity group that can damage more than one at a time, which means group aggro will get better. It is also great on fast-hitting bosses :)

What's the best for a single-target boss though, in most cases? I'd have to say either the Turtle, Warp Stalker (yeah, seriously), or the Worm. The turtle can reduce damage done by 50% every minute for 12 seconds, which is 20% of the time (like the Warrior's Shield Wall). The Warp Stalker has an extra 50% chance to dodge three attacks every 15 seconds (for the slow, hard hitting bosses this is awesome, and a great compliment to the Crocolisk). Then there's the Worm who can do damage and reduce 10% of armor, stacking up to two times. (Kinda like a warrior's Devastate. The devastate stacks at a total of 20%, just like the worm's.)

Of course, health is very important for a tank, but I like to focus more on the ability to hold threat. If specced correctly, as BM, your tanking pet should get a 50% bonus of all heals done to her, which is a ridiculous bonus. (Cheer up your healer friends by letting them see how high they can crit on yer tenacity pet!) None of it matters if you/anyone pulls though. That's why I chose the crocolisk.

When Macros Help and When They Hurt

Here's all the macros I have, which I use on a regular basis:

One-button aspects, with full control

This one is a fantastic Aspect macro which puts all your aspects onto one button (make the icon the question mark, the first choice, and it will show whichever you'll use). Post this one with no return/new lines, just paste as one line:

/use [mod:alt,mod:ctrl] Aspect of the Wild; [mod:ctrl,mod:shift] Aspect of the Cheetah; [mod:ctrl] Aspect of the Viper; [mod:shift] Aspect of the Pack; [mod:alt] Aspect of the Beast; [mod:alt,mod:ctrl] Aspect of the Wild; Aspect of the DragonHawk

translation:
hold nothing, click to get dragonhawk
ctrl- viper
shift- pack
alt- beast
alt+ctrl- wild
shift+ctrl- cheetah

Misdirection

This one is awesome for MDs- i'm going to explain focus first.

A focus target is one you choose to mess with macros. You choose a target (in this case, your main tank), and type /focus . You can also right click on their portrait and choose "set focus".

/cast [nomodifier, target=focus, exists] misdirection
/cast [nomodifier, target=pet, exists] misdirection
/cast [modifier:shift, target=pet] misdirection
/cast [modifier:ctrl, target=othertank] misdirection

translation-
if you have a focus target, Misdirects to your focus.
if you don't have a focus target, MDs to your pet.
Hold shift when you have a focus, and it MDs to your pet.
Hold ctrl when you have a focus (or not), and it MDs to whoever's name you put in here

Master's Call

This one is for Master's Call-

/cast [nomodifier, target=healer1] Master's Call
/cast [modifier:ctrl, target=healer2] Master's Call
/cast [modifier:shift, target=player] Master's Call
/cast [modifier:alt, target=healer3] Master's Call

Translation- cast the Call on whoever you have put in the various spots, based on what you are pressing in this case, pressing nothing causes Master's Call to go to healer1, ctrl sends to healer2, alt sends to healer3, and shift sends to the hunter casting ("player"). of course, replace the healer1, healer2, and healer3 with people's names in your group. (Great for arenas!)

Assist Macro

When I have a focus, it targets the target of my focus. If not, it targets the my pets target. During raids/instances, I always have focus set on the Main Tank.

/assist [target=pet]
/assist [target=focus, exists]

(I have this set to my 1 hotkey, by the way. Easy way to get on the right mob when there's a bad pull, or whenever there's more than 1 target).

simple pet helpers

/cast carrion feeder

This is simple, but as I'm sure you noticed, you can't put your pet's skills on your cast bars, and the pet is only limited to 4 on her's. However, you can write a macro with the name of the pet's ability to use it, and put that macro on your cast bar. It works with anything. Dash, Taunt, whatever.

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During raids, I usually replace all my hotkey'd melee attacks with additional assist macros that each have the name of a tank (in order same as tank list), so that I can easily go from skull, to x, to whatever without having to move my mouse or anything. I also have some extra misdirect macros which i use when there's more necessary.

When NOT to use macros:

I do not use any macros to cast spells/shots. I have all my shots and stings and whatnot somewhere in my cast bars, in a place that I know, so that I can have full control. In WotLK there is almost never a time to be just sitting there DPSing. Sometimes you need to run around to a certain area, sometimes you need to get adds, sometimes you need to kite (I hate you, Gluth!). But you should always at least be casting that Misdirection.

For some of you, macro'd shot rotations may work, but I found that the less you rely on that and the more you rely on yourself, the better you get. Its also more fun that way- its a bigger challenge.

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Are there any macros I missed that every hunter should have? Let me know!