Aggro question

[cdalman]

I know what aggro is, how it works (basically), how to get it lose it keep it etc. My question is specifically about damage. The example below is based on a warlock, but I imagine the answer is the same for all classes

The current toon I'm lvling is a 43 warlock. I know roughly how much I can throw at a mob and in what order, depending on pet, before I pull aggro off of each of my pets. Just yesterday, I finished tailoring myself the full shadow weave set minus the head piece for an added 90+ shadow damage.

So is aggro based on damage dealt(amount in numbers) per your lvl vs mob lvl, or is it based on a hidden threat number that each talent/ability has?

I know when you land a crit, if your threat is high you will almost always rip aggro off. I don't know if that is because there is a higher threat number for a crit, or if it is because of the damage.

So I guess my basic question, is aggro related to actual total number of health point taken off or something else. Thanks!

[Loriel]

The short answer is that the amount of aggro gained is based purely on the amount of health taken off, unless otherwise specified in the spell description. Crits add more aggro because they do more damage, no other special factors are involved.

The special cases are spells and abilities like Mind Blast for Priests and Searing Pain for Warlocks - iirc both of these add double the amount of threat per point of damage inflicted (relative to a regular spell).

In some encounters, proximity and line-of-sight could also impact the amount of aggro gained, but the basic formula is still "damage = aggro".

[shifttusk]

You're also forgetting things like feral druid and prot war skills as well as distracting shot