Fire pet tanking

[Arterian]

I have been using the fire pet a lot in groups lately, and I have been pleasantly surrpised at his ability to tank. With merc (Which even on reactive uses minimal mana) he can typically tank anything an air pet can. Earth takes the lead for sure, especially versus multiple mobs, but the fire isn't a slouch, it also pulls serious aggro and does some great damage.

I have to laugh, I was in an Argath group last night and after parsing the fire pet was outdamaging the whole group. Pretty sweet.

[Cielli]

Was doing some parses last night on him. He's doing more than 10k dps when used properly & soloing. Something worth noting about the fire pet, He's the only pet, even with rageswords, who can off-the bat hold aggro over Servant. THis has a two-fold benefit, when your pet is not tanking, his damage shield is doing no DPS, Surge is our most efficient form of damage ( after pets )... SO not only is Surge working full-time from the pull at 3-4k dps, but the early aggro win for Fire means you can cast your servant right off the bat too, so he can go full duration on t1 ROF mobs, & in T2 you can get 2 servants in... With any other pet The servants going to pull aggro unless you wait a good 8-10 seconds after engaging with pet, bc if at any time the mob turns to fight your servant, you instantly lose 3-4k dps bc that servant has no dmg shield.

With FIre pet doing head-and shoulders the most pet dps, surge working full-time, and servants fighting from the beginning & to full duration, there really is no more fast & efficient way to solo grind.

Anytime you can make your group aware/able to pull/tank the mobs in melee range of your fire pet you should, as he's nearly doubling the dps of most of the other pets in melee range.

[Sillaen]

I can't say I've tried this yet with the lvl 98, but it wouldn't be the 1st time.

Back in the ancient days, the fire pet pre lvl 50 (before it turned into a caster)was an absolute beast at everything. This was back when his own personal dmg shield was better than anything you could cast and it tore mobs apart.

I suspect the only reason fire is able to do this now if because with a merc it has a dedicated healer, though it's still probably the worst tank of all the pets. Fire has always been good in groups as long as your tank knows what he/she's doing.

Last year sometime I tried the lvl 93 against mobs in HoT lower and it got beat up badly vs 1 mob and absolutely shredded by more than 1. Of course I solo, not molo so the only healer my pet has is me.

[Cielli]

Really just comes down to preference on the merc vs. no merc choice, Solo'ing without the merc I'm about equal on exp gained in a lesson burn as when im using the merc, You're killing faster with the merc/fire pet combo, and your using less mana, but you're getting 30% more exp per kill without the merc.... Soooo. Just depends what zone I choose to do my lesson in...

but yeah, its you're using a merc, its worth knowing the 98 fire pet can easily and comfortably tank RoF content with a balanced healer, switch to reactive if you get an add.