Feign Death for Hunters: Threat Drop, Trap Tricks and Pulling

◆How Feign Death Works

The ability is learned from the hunter trainer at level 30. Its parameters in Vanilla 1.12.1:

• Cast: instant, no mana cost.
• Cooldown: 30 seconds.
• Duration: up to 6 minutes, until you stand up yourself.
• Effect: enemies stop attacking the hunter and forget the threat he generated.

Any action — moving, shooting or using another ability — makes the hunter stand up and act again. Keep in mind that only your own threat is wiped. The pet keeps fighting, so set it to passive before you play dead in a dangerous situation. Read more about how aggro is distributed in the article on threat mechanics.

◆Failures and Resists

Feign Death in 1.12.1 can fail: the combat log shows a resist and the enemy keeps hitting the hunter on the ground. Such failures happen more often against higher level targets, including raid bosses. That gives a simple rule: after pressing the button, always check who the enemy has switched to. If the mob is still hitting you, stand up at once and switch to plan B — a bandage, a potion or a retreat to your group.

Another pitfall is effects that keep working on you after you drop. When several enemies are nearby or you are taking periodic damage, prepare an escape route in advance instead of relying on a single button.

◆The Freezing Trap Trick

Traps in 1.12.1 can only be placed out of combat, and Feign Death drops the hunter out of combat. That is the famous combo players call the "FD trap":

1. You are in combat and an extra enemy is running at you.
2. You press Feign Death — combat is reset for you.
3. You stand up right away and drop a Freezing Trap at your feet.
4. The enemy runs in, freezes, and you keep fighting your main target.

Freezing Trap is available from level 20 and holds the target for up to 20 seconds at its highest rank; any damage breaks the ice. The trap lasts 1 minute and only one can be active at a time. All ranks and talents are covered in the hunter traps guide, and macros for the combo are in hunter macros.

Feign Death in Raids

In raids the hunter deals heavy ranged damage and can easily overtake the tank on threat. Feign Death is your threat drop: press it after a string of crits or as soon as your threat gets close to the tank. This lets you keep high damage without long pauses. After the drop, wait for the tank to confirm he holds the target and only then continue your hunter rotation.

The second raid benefit is saving on repairs. When a wipe is unavoidable, the hunter can feign death and survive it if the enemy does not see through the trick. Do not abuse this: if the raid needs you to help with recovery, agree on it with the raid leader.

Feign Death in PvP

Against players the ability can clear their target, so they have to select the hunter again. That gives you a moment to regain range or place a trap. Experienced opponents re-target quickly, so the combo works best when a melee warrior or rogue is chasing you. Tactics against each class are covered in the hunter PvP guide.

◆Pulling Mobs with Feign Death

In dungeons the hunter often handles pulls. The "FD pull" helps separate one enemy from a tight group:

• aggro the pack with a shot and run back to your group;
• press Feign Death — some mobs lose interest and walk back to their spot;
• the remaining mob is picked up by the tank, the others wait for their turn.

The method does not work on every pack, but it saves pulls where no other crowd control is available. General pulling and positioning rules are described in the pulling guide.

◆Situation Table

◆Related Guides

• Hunter guide — class basics and leveling.
• Hunter abilities — full list of skills.
• Hunter traps — ranks, talents, tactics.
• Hunter macros — combos on one button.
• Threat mechanics — how group aggro is calculated.
• Crowd control by class — who controls targets and how.

Ready to try the trap combo yourself? Create an account and connect to the WoW x5 server — with boosted rates a hunter reaches Feign Death after just a few hours of play.