Pulling a monster - guide

Your pet is a tank, a damage dealer, a lifesaver, and cherished companion (hey, he's always able to play when you are.) Your pet is also the best puller in the entire game. The fine art of pulling is a necessary skill that I find many Venomancers have not mastered.

Pulling refers to extracting 1 monster from a group of several aggro monsters. When walking into the pack equals certain death (or just an unpleasant pummeling) then you need to pull one mob at a time. Many people think a ranged attack will pull a single monster. Try it in a dungeon, you will get mobbed. We must all learn to pull.

Step 1 - Get ready

Stand well back from the monsters, fully out of range. Have your pet out, ready, and loyal. Select your target, but do not attack. Press 'P' to bring up pet screen.

Step 2 - Pet attacks
Have your PET attack. You do not attack. Click on the pet attack icon, or Press Alt 1. Your pet will obligingly run over and attack. Good Pet.

Step 3 - Dismiss pet

After your pet has hit the chosen mob 1 time dismiss your pet. Yes, I said Dismiss. (This is why you have the pet screen up BEFORE starting the attacks.) You see, after your pet attacks he will be mobbed. We are trying to avoid a mobbing, so dismiss your pet. If your pet dies OR is dismissed, then anything your pet attacked will come running for YOU.
Believe it or not we want that sometimes.

Step 4 - Call up pet

Immediately after dismissing you pet, you must call up your pet. Wouldn't want that monster getting to you without your faithful companion by your side. If you were far enough from the group of monsters your pet should be ready before the monster hits you.

It's a lot easier to open P page and pull the pets image to your hotkeys

then you hit your hot key/click it's picture once to call it and once to unsummon it

If your short on time you can even have a fast pet with a good move like high level ripping bite to make the hit then unsummon

Then pull out your tanker

If you have a spot on your action bar you should try this method.

Celaeris also pointed out that if you have a Werebeast or other tank in your party, then you don't need to resummon your pet. This is true, but pet does additional damage, so it's up to you.

Step 5 - Kill monster

As soon as your pet has been called up you need to kill the mob. Sometimes this means having the pet attack while you heal, sometimes you just kill it together. If the mobs are really packed in I will have one pet pulling, then call up a fresh (undamaged) pet to kill the monster. Annoying to keep switching, but if it keeps me alive without cash shop goodies so be it.

Step 6 - Rinse and repeat

Other stuff - When in a dungeon with others, you will find that many people don't understand how pulling works. Many melee types will jump in to save your pet, then bring the whole mess of monsters back to you. The result is usually a lot of death. Ranged attackers may also try to bail your pet out, and bring multiple mobs back for a round of fun and exp loss.

Save yourself some frustration (and experience) and take a minute or two to explain how you are going to pull the mobs. Tell them not to attack until the pulled mob has walked over to the group. Tell them not to go charging in. Tell them to ONLY attack the monster you are attacking.

In time everyone will understand, but for now (based on many dungeon runs) many people just don't get it, and a lot of people wound up dead and frustrated.

Basically, sometimes you do want to resummon, but you don't need the pet to get the aggro off of you. Basically, whoever attacks the chasing mob will get aggro (or if a priest heals you). You just want to make sure someone (pet or party member) takes the mob from you.

I do resummon, heal up my pet, and then usually go off to lure the next mob. (Although in other situations, I'll need to revive my pet, if it died, heal it up, give it a bit of loyalty first). Any decent party can kill a dungeon mob in about 10-15 seconds, so your job as a WF is to make sure there's a constant stream of mobs so you clear out the dungeon fast. So I've done a lot of lure, and then summon again to lure the next mob. You just have to be a bit slower to ensure that they kill the mob before the next one comes (so someone can take the mob off of you). HP Enhanced are the ones to really watch out for, the rest go down pretty fast. Defense Enhanced / Magic resist are annoying too, but it depends on your groups composition.

But that's more about learning to party play and dynamics, which is kind of out of the scope of the guide. I like to do things fast, and do it safe, so you'll have to balance things out.

And you will find moves that move really fast in later dungeons (aka Hall of Dusk), and you'll probably get nuked once (or hit by an archer) before your pet can take aggro, so you have to be careful. Sometimes when your pet is going to lure, you run back so you separate a bit more distance between you and the mob. But this is all advanced techniques. Any reader who cares will read the rest of the topic to see more tips (or at least I'd think the first page).