Ding 26!

Starting at the moment I dinged level 25, I cleared out my battle history as recorded by KombatStats and allowed the addon to collect data as I made my way from 25 to 26.

It's interesting to see, percentage-wise, how my attacks were actually utilized. I dealt a total of 117,083 damage, divided between my attacks as follows:

• Melee: 48.7%
• Raptor Strike: 37.0%
• Mongoose Bite: 7.3%
• Immolation Trap: 5.2%
• Wing Clip: 1.8%

Together my pet wolf Cafall and I dealt a total of 164,255 damage, with Cafall accounting for 47,172 of that -- a minority 28.7% of the total damage.

I'm happy to see that my Raptor Strikes represent a healthy percentage of my damage, but I find myself longing for level 30, when I finally pick up Counterattack. Over the course of the level I parried 103 times. That's a lot of lost opportunities.

Looking at Immolation Trap's damage dealt, it's fair to say that 5% is not insignificant, and I think it reinforces my earlier assertion that traps are an important part of the melee hunter's repertoire.

Incidentally, just to reinforce that it's me, not my pet, who's the primary combatant, the damage taken breakdown was 60% (26,958) to me and 40% (18,172) to Cafall. He is neither tank nor battle champion -- only a fast friend who stands ready to assist.

Part of what causes Cafall to take damage is my technique of using him to perform ranged pulls. Sometimes a pull just doesn't go off like I'd hoped (and I expect Dash to help with that when he learns it). Poor Cafall sometimes finds himself swamped with adds, whimpering as he limps valiantly back toward me. And how do I handle it? I abandon him to his fate. (Nobody tell G.E.T.A., okay?) I'll toss on Aspect of the Cheetah and book it in the opposite direction, leaving him dazed and in the dust. Eventually I get so far away from him that he disappears! This is great, because it prevents him (and me) from dying on those bad pulls. As soon as he's vanished and I'm out of combat, I just blow my whistle and he's right back by my side, ready to try again, his happiness icon still just as green as the grasses of Mulgore.

When I do take damage, I find that it's not always practical to sit and eat or to bandage after combat. Since I primarily grind on beasts, cloth for bandages isn't readily available so I prefer to save bandages for when I'm in combat and don't have the option of eating. And I don't always want to sit down to another meal of Curiously Tasty Omelet when I still have 13 minutes left on my last food buff. So to kill the time, I do leatherworking in the field while my health and mana regenerate. I don't manufacture items, but I work Light and Medium Leather into Heavy Leather. That frees bag space and saves food and bandages, ultimately letting me grind for longer before I head back to town.

When I hit level 25, I put a point into Deterrence. Ordinarily Deterrence would be considered a panic button similar to a Rogue's Evasion. For the melee hunter, Deterrence's increase to dodge and parry chances by 25% for 10 seconds means that the chance to Mongoose Bite or Counterattack are also increased. Deterrence has a very long cooldown -- five minutes -- meaning that it probably should be saved for those uncomfortable occasions when you need a boost to kill off something quickly, or survive just that little bit longer.