Marksmanship soloing guide: part 2 - pets

The choice of pets:
Cunning pets  are nearly useless as far as soloing is concerned, unlees the boss hits like a depressive kitten useless.

Tenacity pets are the most used pets because of their superior tanking capabilities

Ferocity pets can be useful if, for a reason or another, you don't need extensive healing or you cannot use mend pet because of line of sight/distance issues.

Tenacity pet talents:
Basic tanking spec: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/tool/pet-calculator#Pp01!!ZkahaZgdZg!

Abilities:
-Charge is great because bosses/adds usually run faster than players. It can be replaced by Boar's speed.
-Thunderstomp is mandatory.
-Last stand is a life-saver CD if anything goes wrong or a boss frenzies, or can be used if pet rotations are in order
-Roar of sacrifice actually serves as a damage reduction CD for the hunter
-Taunt is a tricky ability - it doesn't work on all bosses, but it can be very useful: taunt + FD offers good lead on aggro, making you lose less dps. Besides, some bosses despawn when you FD, so taunt is the only solution to pet switching.
-Intervene: I seldom use intervene, so it's better to read about it on http://outdps.com/2011/11/16/hunter-damage-reduction-cooldowns/#more-4803




Ferocity pet talents:
Basic survival spec: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/tool/pet-calculator#zp00!gVggaaZjWd!!

Abilities:
-Dash is far more interesting than charge
-Serpent swiftness and Bloodthirsty maximize self-heal for your pet.
-Lick your wounds is better used manually near 10% health, because if automatic he will use it at 50% health. It can also be used as a way to gain a lot of aggro.
-Heart of the phoenix allows you to survive an error. It can also be used as a second self-heal (though with aggro drop, so better keep it for times of great need).


Best pets:
Sporebat! (sorry, I just had to say it)

Tenacity:
Turtle/Beetle: best reduction cooldowns. They can be used as soon as possible against easy bosses, or in time with burst damage.
Bear: same overall reduction than turtle, if the boss does linear, physical damage.
Gorilla: 30-second cooldown interrupt.

Ferocity:
Fox/Tallstrider: best survivability
Moth: 1-minute cooldown interrupt

To be continued...