Removing Elemental Strike (root) would make my mage pet much more popular on end game mobs, I cringe when I see the pet root message and the offtank takes a couple whacks because of my pet (very noticeable on long shadow fights). Plus as I understand it, when rooted npc's take less damage? Can anyone clarify / verify how this works and is there anything that will fix it?
Rooted NPCs take less damage from archery.
As for what a rooted mob chooses to attack, it's the nearest thing on its hate list.
