Understanding Growl Threat
Growl is an incredibly important pet skill for solo hunting. Growl causes the hunter's pet to produce threat -- and threat is what keeps the enemy NPC focused on attacking the pet and not the hunter. Other pet skills, plus the damage done by the pet, also contribute to threat -- but Growl is the single most powerful source of threat available to our pets.
But Growl doesn't just produce a fixed amount of threat. The threat that Growl generates is modified by a number of factors, including:
- The rank of Growl that's being used
- The level of the pet
- The hunter's Ranged Attack Power (RAP)
[Historical note: Prior to Patch 2.4.3, Growl threat depended on the pet's Attack Power (PAP) instead of the hunter's RAP.]
This article explores these factors and how they affect Growl threat. If you'd like to learn more about threat and aggro in general, we recommend the Threat and Aggro articles at WoW Wiki. And you can learn more about Growl from the Growl skill page, of course.
The Growl Threat Formula
Every time a pet uses the Growl skill, it generates a certain amount of threat on the target. The amount of threat that is generated can be summed up with a very simple formula:
Total Threat = Threat from Rank + Bonus Threat from RAP
But that simple formula hides a lot of complexity, including two separate scaling formulas! So let's look at each piece of our formula separately.
Threat from Rank
In general, hunter pets gain access to a new rank of the Growl skill every 10 levels. Each rank has a base threat value that it will always generate at its lowest available level. This base threat value shows up as a property on the skill -- it's the value you'll see if you use a database site like Thottbot or Wowhead to examine a rank of the Growl skill.
For example, take a look at Growl (Rank 2) on these sites: both Thotbott and Wowhead show that Rank 2 has a base threat value of 65.
But in addition to the base threat, Growl scales slightly with the level of the pet. In other words, Growl generates a little extra threat for each level your pet is over the required level for that rank.
For example, let's say that your pet is level 10 and is using Growl (Rank 2), which requires pet level 10. Each time your pet uses Growl, it will generate exactly 65 threat -- because that is the base threat for Rank 2 and because your pet is at the minimum level for Rank 2.
Six levels later, at level 16, your pet is still using Growl (Rank 2), but those six extra levels translate into extra threat. Now Rank 2 is generating 89 threat!
But Growl does not scale forever. Growl (Rank 2) reaches its maximum threat at level 20 -- which makes sense because at level 20 it is time for you to switch to using Growl (Rank 3). Each rank of Growl scales only until the next rank becomes available. After that, the old rank remains at its maximum threat; it won't increase anymore. (At least not from rank! Keep in mind that we are ignoring RAP bonuses for the moment.)
Another way to look at this: The threat that each rank of Growl generates scales smoothly from its base value (at the minimum level) to just below the base value of the next highest rank of Growl (at the level that the next rank becomes available).
The following table summarizes the numbers for all the current ranks of Growl.
| Growl Rank | Required Pet Level | Base Threat | Extra Threat per Level* | Maximum Threat from Rank* | Level of Maximum Threat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank 1 | 1 | 50 | ~ 1.36 | 64 | 10 |
| Rank 2 | 10 | 65 | ~ 4.09 | 106 | 20 |
| Rank 3 | 20 | 110 | ~ 5.45 | 165 | 30 |
| Rank 4 | 30 | 170 | ~ 6.36 | 234 | 40 |
| Rank 5 | 40 | 240 | ~ 7.27 | 313 | 50 |
| Rank 6 | 50 | 320 | ~ 8.64 | 406 | 60 |
| Rank 7 | 60 | 415 | ~ 22.64 | 642 | 70 |
| Rank 8 | 70 | 664 | unknown | unknown | 70** |
|
* Subject to rounding. ** Rank 8 actually caps at level 80, of course, but for the moment we can't get our pets that high! | |||||
Using these numbers, we can put threat from rank into a formula as well:
Threat from Rank = Base Threat + (min(Pet Level, Level of Maximum Threat) - Required Pet Level) * Extra Threat per Level
(Aside: Mathematically-minded readers might notice that the extra threat per level for each rank is the difference between the base threat of the current rank and the one above it, divided by eleven. Eleven?! Why eleven? Because each rank of Growl is 'valid' for eleven levels. For instance, Growl (Rank 6) starts at level 50 and continues to scale through level 60. In other words, it covers levels 50, 51, 52 ... 58, 59, and 60 -- for a total of eleven levels.)
Bonus Threat from RAP
So that's half our formula down! We now know how to calculate the threat from the rank of Growl being used. But what about the rest of the formula: the bonus threat from RAP?
[Historical note: Prior to Patch 2.4.3, Growl threat depended on the pet's Attack Power (PAP) instead of the hunter's RAP.]
On the surface, this is a pretty simple concept: For every point of Ranged Attack Power (RAP) that the hunter has, the pet will generate a little extra threat when they Growl: 1.25 threat for each point of RAP, to be exact.
However, there is a big complication here: a RAP threshold. If the hunter's RAP is under the threshold, then Growl generates NO extra threat. It's only when the hunter's RAP passes the threshold that Growl benefits from the extra threat, and only the RAP over the threshold generates the bonus.
So what's the threshold? Well, it varies by level. And oddly, it depends on the pet's level, not the hunter's level. Unfortunately, we don't yet know a formula to calculate the RAP threshold for every pet level, but I was able to use brute force to calculate the RAP thresholds for at least the following levels. Note that because our ability to measure threat is not exact, each threshold is represented as a small range.
| Pet Level | RAP Threshold |
|---|---|
| 10 | 34-36 |
| 20 | 208-211 |
| 30 | 384-387 |
| 40 | 560-562 |
| 50 | 734-738 |
| 60 | 910-914 |
| 70 | 1955-1959 |
So the formula for bonus threat from RAP looks like this:
Bonus Threat from RAP = (Hunter's RAP - RAP Threshold) * 1.25
Let's look at an example. Assume for the moment that you are a level 70 hunter with a level 70 pet. Your total RAP is about 1800. Now we happen to know that the RAP threshold for a level 70 pet is about 1955 RAP. Since your RAP is not over this threshold, your pet will not get any bonus threat from RAP -- so each time he Growls, he generates only the threat from whichever rank of Growl he is using. Assuming he's using Growl (Rank 8), that's exactly 664 threat.
But let's say that you upgrade your equipment and raise your hunter's RAP to 2000. Now your RAP is above the threshold for a level 70 pet. Since you are about 45 RAP above the threshold, Growl generates about 56 bonus threat, boosting each Growl up to about 720 threat (again, assuming Growl (Rank 8)).
And if you manage to improve your hunter's RAP even further, say to 2200, you'll be adding about 306 threat to each Growl for a total of 970 threat! Your pet very quickly becomes a threat magnet -- IF You can get your RAP above the threshold.
Conclusion
So let's go back to our basic Growl threat formula:
Total Threat = Threat from Rank + Bonus Threat from RAP
How do we get the most threat possible out of Growl?
- Threat from Rank is maximized by using the highest rank of Growl that you can, and additionally is higher for higher level pets.
- Threat from RAP is maximized by increasing your hunter's RAP over a threshold value -- below that threshold it just doesn't matter, but if you can get over that threashold then it helps a lot.
And now you know everything there is to know about Growl threat!
Related Resources
- Growl Skill Page
- WoW Wiki: Threat
and Aggro