Garwulf, Author at HuntsmansLodge.com

The Last of Us

February 4, 2016 By Garwulf 4 Comments

My second time queueing for this instance and I won. My orc out-gears Garwulf 708 to 702, but the best I’ve managed on him is 3rd place. It must be the transmog. Folks were scared, I know it. No one, I mean…NO ONE wants the business end of my crossbow.

I would also like to thank all of the Death Knights and Ret Paladins that did not join this instance.

This coliseum business is kinda fun. I only started doing it last week, so it’s still pretty new and exciting to me. Winning it was a thrill, considering I only ever see plate wearers come out victorious, but let that be a lesson…

Do NOT underestimate the hunter in the loin cloth.

03/21/2016 Update: I’ve competed in this arena probably 20 times since this post, and managed to win it another 4 times. I’ve won it a total of 3 times now on Garwulf, twice on my Paladin, but I have yet to get a win on my orc BM hunter.

I’ve had pretty good success on Garwulf, winning it 3 out of the 7 times I’ve queued for it. The first time I won felt largely due to luck, but when I won it straight away the 3rd time I queued, I figured I must be doing something right. My next win came on my 4th attempt this past week, so at 3 for 7, I feel like I’m doing alright – especially since this event so heavily favors hybrid classes and plate.

My orc BM hunter is running pretty much the exact same spec as Garwulf, but I’ve never gotten past second place on him. Opposing players seem to gun for me, plus I feel like Garwulf has a very slight edge due to a few tricks up his sleeve.

For one, I think Shadowmeld offers a huge advantage. After I run around tagging everyone in the arena, I usually will try to go invisible for 4 or 5 seconds, allowing me to escape some damage and get a few precious ticks of Spirit Bond in. If I’m really out of the fray and unnoticed, I can sometimes get some bandage ticks in as well.

Next, I happen to have a supply of Baby Spice in my bank which I feel works very well for avoiding getting focused at the start. Lastly, I keep a hefty supply of Drums of Fury on hand at all times (since I’m a LW’er), which I pop right around the time Bestial Wrath is about to come off cooldown. The little extra haste buff helps me deal with the remaining 3-4 players that are left at that point. This week I’ll buy some drums off the AH for my orc to see if that little boost will do the trick.

I may post a few more tips on how to tackle this event as a BM hunter, but in the meantime, feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll do my best to provide some answers!

Taming Ban’thalos in Legion

February 3, 2016 By Garwulf 8 Comments

Post has been updated to reflect the hunter changes in Legion. The same basic strategy as before holds true, but since we no longer have Distracting Shot, we’ll use Concussive Shot to pull Ban’thalos instead.

Taming Ban’thalos has always been a bit of a challenge. He spawns up in the sky above the Sanctuary of Malorne, so you need to be on a flying mount to engage him. Second, he’s neutral, so you need to get his attention somehow. Third, you need to not die from fall damage once you do get his attention.

At level 100, he poses another interesting challenge. How do you aggro him without killing him?

Back in Cataclysm, the taming challenge involved a strategy which was basically: tag Ban’thalos by attacking him, then tame him without dying. At level 100, however, this strat no longer works because even if you take off all of your gear and punch him, there’s a chance that could still kill him. Instead, you need to use Concussive Shot ~~an ability which a lot of hunters may not even have on their action bars…Distracting Shot~~. This shot will cause Ban’thalos to get angry with you while not damaging him.

How to Tame Ban’thalos at Level 100

This process is surprisingly easy once you know what to do.

Taming Gara

February 1, 2016 By Garwulf 3 Comments

I know I’m a little late to the party here, but I gotta say…I really enjoyed the Gara taming adventure. I had so much fun with it, I put together a map with some helpful tips so that hunters who still desire to add this coveted Spirit Beast to their stable might have an easier go of it.

I’ll stop back in and update this post with a bit more info and screenshots, but for now, enjoy the infographic! Feels good to update the site again! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I last posted. Bad Garwulf, Bad!

Click the image to enlarge.

UI update coming soon

February 2, 2015 By Garwulf 8 Comments

I promise.

Hopefully those of you still using my UI comp have been able to keep the addons updated and things running smoothly, but for those of you waiting on me to update things so you can try it out, I’m getting close to uploading it. There were some annoyances I needed to smooth out, addons to replace, etc…but I feel this configuration is pretty usable and stable now.

This screenshot doesn’t reveal much, but I’ve kept things very minimalist, yet I’ve added some extra stuff in this latest iteration. I also included an old school touch to the UI by incorporating some Blizzard textures. After fussing with ElvUI for a few days, I did this in revolt to the absurdly minimalist displays that some of the UI replacement packages leave you with. I’m all about having a large uncluttered world view, with things positioned where I want them, but this is World of Warcraft, and not some techie sci-fi romp. I actually like the feel of the traditional artwork and textures, and how they add to the ambiance of the game.

This design compliments the default look of the game’s UI while having all of the advantages and goodness that a custom UI provides. Some players go out of their way to strip every single bit of Blizzard artwork from their gaming experience. This time around I’ve decided to embrace it.

In my opinion, this is the best version of my UI I’ve done. I’m anxious to see how you guys like. 🙂

/stops dangling carrot