Leash As a verb , this is what it ' s called when a mob suddenly clears its aggro list , switches to Evade mode and runs quickly back to its spawn point , where it resets . Overland . Leashing is the primary means for players escaping combat . From an early level , all players learn that if you run from a mob in one direction for long enough , the mob will break off combat and reset . However , hitting a mob seems to reset the leash range . One way to pull a mob to a far off location is to periodically attack it ( for example , walking backwards while meleeing it ) to keep its attention . Leashing is also one way to prevent training , in the sense of griefing somebody by luring mobs onto them . ( Since the mob will be in evade mode while returning to its spawn , and will not aggro on anyone it runs past . ) Bosses . For boss mobs , particularly raid encounters , leashing is triggered in a slightly different way . Some boss mobs are intended to be fought in a certain area . If the boss is pulled outside of that area , it will automatically leash ( clearing aggro and returning to its spawn in evade mode as above ) , " regardless " of how recently it has been hit . Note that there are many bosses who either do not leash or are fought in an area where escape is impossible . EXAMPLES : Most of the priests in Zul ' Gurub ( with the exception of Arlokk the Panther and Bloodlord Mandokir ) , can be leashed . If a pull is bad or the fight goes awry , it is a common strategy to simply have the remaining people run out of the area . Hakkar will then tell the priest to " not be lured into the mortals ' trap , " and the boss will reset . This strategy has been known to glitch however . Thekal once continued chasing raid members around the entire instance despite being told to go back home four times by Hakkar . He was persistent enough to swim through rivers , cross bridges , dash up hills , and even go into Arlokk ' s temple seeking out every last raid member and cutting them down . Instances . Non - boss mobs in instances generally do not leash . The only way to escape them is to exit the instance , or to use an aggro - clearing ability like the hunter ' s feign death . Some instances however have spots that cannot be pathed to by NPCs . You can identify such a location by attempting to attack an NPC while standing at it ; if the NPC faces you but evades , the NPC cannot get to the location . Most of these spots are accessed by jumping onto objects or different elevations that cannot be reached by walking . This is to prevent players from being able to kill NPCs without being attacked themselves . ( Note that the new knockback effects being added in Wrath of the Lich King would create many problems with evading mobs , and thus it is reasonable to infer that there will be some game mechanic to prevent such evade locations from appearing . ) At these evade - locations , a player need merely to stand there long enough . The mobs will give chase as far as they are able , then stand and stare at you for a while , probably wondering why it is nobody ever taught them to jump , then they will remove you from their aggro list . If the evade - location is within aggro range of their normal patrol rout or spawn point though , the leashed NPCs may immediately attempt to re - engage you ; although they will be unsuccessful , it will make you unable to leave combat for more than a second or less .