Instance grouping guide for a puller

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See Pull for a more technical overview of pulling.

The Puller
In all cases, the most experienced group member should call the pulls.

Classes: Hunter, Rogue, Mage (for tricky pulls), tank of all varieties, any other CC-skilled class. (situational)

Technically speaking, this role is one of the primary justifications for the existence of the Hunter as a class, and they should rightfully be allowed to do it in most endgame and many early/mid-game scenarios. However, they usually are not, due to the insistence of tanks and leaders in particular and the WoW playerbase in general, which due to a variety of factors and prejudice - is very often not predisposed to having a high opinion of an unknown Hunter's skill or intelligence. The WoW playerbase is often wrong, and in true endgame PvE, it can often be suicidal to not have a very experienced and quick-thinking Hunter perform this delicate and crucial initial part of combat.

What Pullers should do

 * Do not pull until you confirm that the group is ready.
 * Do not pull if your primary healer doesn't have sufficient mana.
 * If you pull and are not tanking then use your least threat-producing effect to pull. (As a Misdirection-wielding hunter, you will want to deal your highest threat-producing effect.)
 * If a hunter is in the party consider allowing them to set down a freeze trap for adds and allow their 30-second cooldown to run a little of its course so that they can lay another trap before the prior trap breaks. But it is not by any means necessary to let it run its full 30-second course.
 * Never pull with a pet unless you are familiar with how to pull your pet back to you, and all mobs are accounted for, with tanking and CC.
 * Respect raid icons if in use. Hit the designated target with the appropriate skill if given one.
 * Hunters should learn how to create the Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety, and lobby that parties they are in to use it
 * Be ready to abort a bad pull, preferably with Feign Death or Vanish, simply die if all else fails, but above all, in such a case be sure that the cluster you are pulling will not get close enough to draw the rest of your party into combat, or else your death will be in vain and a wipe will ensue anyways.

What Pullers want others to know

 * Do not follow the puller, stay at the planned point of engagement.
 * If a ranged mob is being pulled wait until it is in range of the tank before using any aggro-generating skills.
 * Do not attack mobs other than those designated for this pull.
 * Don't sheep or DoT until the pull is done (else bad pulls cannot be aborted), unless one of those spells is previously announced as the pulling spell.

How to pull
Don't pull from the middle of a group. Each mob has an aggro radius. Other mobs crossing this radius (or in any other way chained to the pulled mob) will pass their (nominal) aggro on and follow into the melee. So always pull the mob closest to you. Try to pull as few mobs as possible. If you are not the tank, keep the group well away from you so that if you have a bad pull, the rest of your group don't fall into the aggro radius of the pulled mobs. If everything fails, it's better to take the death and have the healer resurrect only you, than to wipe the party.

Bring the mobs to the party, not the party to the mobs. If you're pulling a ranged mob or caster, make sure you bring him within melee range of the group by going back beyond the group. In that situation it's also particularly useful to do a line-of-sight pull, whereby you run around a corner or behind an obstacle immediately after attracting the mob's attention: leaving their line of sight forces them to follow you around the corner, which means that you do not have to run very far to get them where you want them. This requires discipline on the part of all other party members, so that they don't pull aggro early from the puller, especially if the puller is the tank. The tank should never do such a ranged pull unless it is by LOS.

Only pull mobs specified by the leader and only once he has given you permission to pull.

Request that the party leader use Lucky Charms to designate who you should pull, and who should be CC'd, to ensure that no one in the party will accidentally target and attack the mob that is designated for crowd control.

Warrior or Druid Charge
Warriors should not use Charge when pulling unless you are familiar with the pulls and know by personal experience that it is acceptable. Even so, it is something you will rarely want to do. In those cases where Charge would be unacceptable, and you are pulling as the tank, use Defensive Stance (with shield), and a ranged weapon to do the actual pulling. It is important to bring the enemy back to you, rather than plunge into it, as this greatly reduces the likelihood of extra adds joining the fray. There are times, however, where it may be the best course of action to use it.

If there is no danger of unwanted adds, Charge is an exceptional tanking ability when done correctly. It places the tank far enough into the mob to achieve the Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety if the charge draws more mobs than foreseen. The initial rage generation is huge when it comes to gathering up aggro; speeding up the nuking of tough encounters. It is certainly not appropriate to initiate every pull with a charge, but there are quite some situations where a charge is a good idea; especially on Boss Fights. A warrior tank can charge into a mob, immediately use Demoralizing Shout and a Sunder Armor, quickly switch to defensive stance and apply another sunder or revenge. This takes only a fraction of the time needed to build up enough rage for 3 sunders in defensive stance, and it makes it nearly impossible to pull the aggro off of the tank. The casters, cc and healers can almost immediately begin to do what their roles suggest.