How to Tame Gumi (Blue Spectral Porcupine)

Gumi, the level 90 blue spectral porcupine, is the second of the three new spirit beasts added in patch 5.2 that I'll be going over. This little guy is one heck of a terror. In all honesty I thought this was one of the hardest hunter pets to tame that I've encountered yet. Maybe THE hardest. At least for me, taming this guy made taming the other two spectral porcupines seem like a cakewalk.

Like Degu and Hutia (Gumi's red and green buddies), Gumi will need to be kited and dps'd down to about 20% health before his Strong Will buff will drop and you will be able to tame him. He will also two-shot you if he gets within melee range. Unlike the other two beasts though, this guy has no special abilities to be aware of. What makes this guy so difficult is the speed that he moves at. 

This beast moves so fast, it's as if he's mastered the art of teleportation. Those who (like myself) could never seem to get out of the habit of backpedaling will likely have the toughest time taming him. It is possible though, it will probably just require a few more tries before you nail it. I'll be honest here, I died a lot trying to nab this pretty beasty. Thankfully there is a spirit healer very close by.

Where to find Gumi:

There are a few things I'd like to recommend to make this tame go a little more smoothly:

Glyphs:

• Glyph of Tame Beast
• Glyph of Aspect of the Cheetah
• Glyph of Disengage
• Glyph of Ice Trap
• Glyph of Pathfinding

Talents:

• Posthaste - The extra speed buff can be very helpful in putting some distance between you and Gumi
• Binding Shot - An extra cc, I'd recommend using this right before your about to tame him
• Exhilaration - If Gumi gets too close and you eat a hit, this will come in handy
• Dire Beast - Basically an extra dot while kiting 
• A Murder of Crows - Best dot you can throw on him while running for your life
• Glaive Toss - It doesn't hurt to have an additional slow, plus it's instant!

Prepping to tame:

Before you even think about starting to kite this guy, make sure you are in beast mastery spec and that you have an empty stable slot open. You'll also want to make sure that you have aspect of the Cheetah up. If you choose to have a pet out to help dps him down a little faster, make sure that it has taunt off (otherwise Gumi will kill your pet). You'll also want to make a macro and have it on your hotbar so that you can abandon this pet right before you can begin taming Gumi. The macro to abandon your pet is: /script AbandonPet(). It's certainly not necessary to use another pet, but the extra dps can definitely make a difference, especially if you don't have the best gear.

Kiting location options:

Once your ready to tame, you will have quite a few kiting options. Some may find one easier than another. First, let me tell you what worked best for me. I chose to kite Gumi up through the mountain path north of Mount Neverest. I preferred this path because I encountered absolutely no hostile mobs along the way, I took no falling damage from using disengage, and being that it's already a laid out path - it's very easy to follow. At one point along the path (after you run past the graveyard) there will be a fork. Here you will take a left and then just keep following the path heading west. In the screenshot below I drew a line to show which path I mean. 

The next kiting option I've seen done successfully is to kite him around in a large circle. If you tend to backpedal like I do, I wouldn't recommend kiting this way. If your good a strafing you'll probably find this method fairly simple. You'll also encounter no hostile mobs, and if you're careful you shouldn't take any fall damage from disengaging down the mountain. I illustrated the path in the screenshot below.

Another way I've seen him tamed is to kite him down the mountain. Personally I wouldn't recommend this way unless your very careful with Disengage. Disengaging at the wrong location while working your way down can lead to a ton of falling damage or even death. I also found there was a much greater probability of running into hostile mobs along the way. Which ever route you decide to take though, it will probably take a few tries before you figure out what works best for you.

Making it happen:

Now let's talk about the tame itself, and the spells you should be using the most to make this work. Concussive shot is a must. This spell should be used whenever it's not on cooldown. The moment the debuff wears off of Gumi's speed skyrockets instantly. Use Glaive toss whenever it's available, and the same goes for Ice Trap. Concussive shot is your most important slow, but glaive toss and ice trap certainly do help. 

Keep up as many dots up as you can while trying to keep as much distance as possible. That really is the name of the game here. Try to keep serpent sting up at all times. Use A Murder of Crows right away, and after using readiness be sure to use it again! The same goes for Dire Beast, summon this extra pet whenever it's up. Most of your damage will likely be coming from your dots, so everything helps. Don't forget to throw a snake trap and explosive trap in his path as well. Snake trap not only adds a dot, but it will also help slow him down a bit.

If you get hit by Gumi while kiting be sure to pop a healing potion or use your Exhilaration. When/if he hits you don't forget to put aspect of the Cheetah back on, as getting hit will knock the buff off if your using the glyph. If things start looking bad and Gumi is all up in your junk, Stampede can be your best friend. I found Stampede to be my "oh shit!" button for this tame. I'd recommend not using this cooldown right away, but save it for when you really need it.

When Gumi starts getting fairly low on health (25-30% or so) get ready to begin your tame. Make sure there is as much distance between you and him as possible. As soon as his Strong Will buff wears off you'll want to throw a Binding Shot in front of him, use that pet abandon macro, then hit Deterrence and Tame Beast as quickly as possible. 

Here is a video below of my successful kite through the mountain path and tame. ~

Good luck to those who give this guy a shot and happy hunting! ^-^