Controlling Your Pet As  Death Knight

New unholy Death Knights often complain that they have problems controlling their Ghoul and many find that they do not get the most out of it in terms of effectiveness. The following article aims to outline some of the tricks and macros that change your Ghoul from being a simple fire and forget DoT pet to an effective part of your character.

The first thing you should understand is how to maximize your Ghouls raw power. When you first summon your Ghoul it takes a snapshot of your current stats to determine its own; the two key attributes relevant to it being your stamina and strength. To get the best possible results from your Ghoul you will want to summon it when you are buffed and preferably with any strength procs such as your Rune of the Fallen Crusader active.

The best way to activate your procs before summoning your Ghoul is by using the target dummies located in most main cities. For PvP and Arena it can be far more important to have the most health possible on your Ghoul to ensure its survival so equipping a tanking set before summoning can give a significant increase to its health for a small reduction in its strength.

After you have your Ghoul summoned it’s important to understand how to control it. The best pet stance to choose for maximum control is passive and you will want to take both Leap and Gnaw off auto cast; this allows you to specify exactly who your Ghoul attacks as well as pull off several unique moves. The first thing you will want to create is a Ghoul recall macro as follows.

/cast [target=player] Leap
/petfollow

What this macro does is cause the Ghoul to instantly leap to you if in range and follow you; since you will be in passive stance your Ghoul will not run off again to engage another target. By doing this you can keep your Ghoul out of dangerous situations caused by him either chasing someone too far or to keep him out of the lava waves when fighting Sartharion.

The next macro you will want is an offensive one.

/cast Leap
/petattack
/cast Gnaw

What this macro will do is cause your Ghoul to leap to your current target and begin attacking it if it is not currently near it; Gnaw will not cast since it was not in range to begin with. If your Ghoul is currently attacking your target though and is next to it Leap will not cast since you will be too close however Gnaw will causing your Ghoul to stun the target for 3 seconds.

Between these two macros you have complete control over your Ghouls mobility and its stun. The final macro you will want is to get your ghoul to explode for a massive burst of damage.

/target pet
/cast Corpse Explosion
/targetlasttarget

This will command the Ghoul to explode starting its fast cast timer; do note however that if the Ghoul has just used an ability which activates its global cool down then it will not explode but the runic power cost and cool down period of Corpse Explosion will be used. Either time the ability carefully or quickly turn off auto casting on Claw before exploding your Ghoul.

By combining these macros together you are able to get the most of your Ghoul by precisely directing its movements and chaining together your Ghouls stun and explosion with several of your own large hits. With timing a combination of your Ghouls explode and a critical Scourge Strike hit can deal 8-10k damage instantly and reliably; truly dominating a target.