Each week we’ll look at the history and utility of some of the greatest abilities in the Hunter’s arsenal
This week’s ability is Distracting Shot. This is a utility ability and not a DPS shot. It’s been around since the early days of WoW and has evolved a bit over the years. Today it’s a taunt. That’s right a genuine taunt! Be careful using it against targets you don’t want to tank. It’s primary purpose is to get a mob to focus its attention on you. Now, I know what you’re thinking. We’re DPS not tanks. More importantly, we’re ranged DPS who like to stand as far away from the bad guys as possible. Why in the world would we want one to punch us in the face?
For the most part you won’t be using this in raids or five mans. It’s not a standard part of the DPS rotation, but it does have its uses. If a healer draws aggro you can use Distracting Shot to pull the mob off of them and potentially keep them from dying. If there are encounters where your need to kite a mob around, Distracting Shot will help you with that. There are also times where you raid encounter goes to Hell and all the tanks die. A couple of Hunters can use Distracting Shot to ping-pong aggro and maybe finish off those last few percent.
If you are at all into pet tanking, then you absolutely love Distracting Shot. You can combine it with Glyph of Distracting Shot, which causes the mob to attack your pet, to help your pet keep aggro. One thing to remember is that it is a taunt and does not affect Misdirection. Once upon a time it did, but not anymore.
Distracting Shot is a handy ability that you won’t use all the much, but you should keep it nearby and be ready to use it when opportunities strike.
Good Hunting!
