New Mage: How is CoH used?

[Solb]

Title is self-explanatory, I hear people comment on CoH and how it has different uses, what exactly are they? thanks in advance!

[Raavak]

Removing aggro is one of the better utility uses. Bringing people deep into dungeons is nice if you have an evac'er in the group.

[Daldaen]

To elaborate on the above:

CotH will clear the aggro of the person you are summoning if they are a certain distance from you. This makes it useful to speed up an FD split or get someone who is stuck/FDed in a dangerous location to safety. (In a Velious patch it is changed to not clear aggro if they are standing on top of you already tanking something, they would have to be 250' or some such distance away for the aggro to clear)

If you are in a tough to get to location, having a Druid/necro/wizard cast egress/levant/abscond -- teleporting themselves to zone line -- and inviting someone just joining your group, then you are able to CotH both the new person and the caster who self evacuees back.

[Solb]

Awesome thanks for the explanations

[diplo]

if i feel like i'm in a rut when i'm soloing, i'll run away from the merb, start my coh then kill my pet right before spell lands so i don't have to gate and can start over