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  1. #1
    Eepi's Avatar Member
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    Hunter Pet FAQ

    This is not written by me!! I'm just sharing this with you, MMOwned! I got this from Welcome to wowhead.com.

    I see a lot of questions asked over and over here, so I thought I'd put this FAQ together. Is there any place where I'm off here, or any thing that is missing?

    Q. I rolled a new hunter, but I don't have a pet, how do I get one?

    A. At level 10, you'll find a series of quests which teach you how to tame pets. You'll be asked to tame a few different types of beasts, and when you're done you'll have a new skill under the general tab, Tame Beast. Get near your desired pet (has to be your level or below), activate this skill and a few ticks later you should have your new best friend (or angry pig at this point). Keep him fed, and he can stick with you all the way to 70.

    Q. What is the best pet?

    A. There is no best pet, for all hunters and all hunter play styles. There are classes of pets which have advantages over others, and there are classes of pets which do not have any distinct advantages for the majority of play styles out there. At the current time there are 4 types of pet that are the most popular, and it is not a coincidence that these particular families have distinct advantages over others.
    • Cats - These are the standard for a DPS pet. Cats recieve a 10% bonus to their DPS, but take -2% hit to their health. They can learn Bite, Claw, Dash and Prowl as skills. Prowl is unique to cats, and if you are a Night Elf Hunter, is something that you should certainly consider when choosing a pet. Claw is a focus dump ability, and usually chosen over Bite because of its lack of a cooldown.
    • Ravagers - This is another DPS pet. They're a bit more unique than cats, mainly because cats are a lot more prevalant throughout Azeroth, but this pet has gained some popularity. Before outland ravagers are only found in Azurmyst Isle. Like cats, they recieve a 10% bonus to their DPS, but lose 7% of their stamina in return for an additional 5% armor. This is going to make them slightly more vulnerable to magic attacks, but better in terms of tanking most melee mobs. Ravagers can learn Bite, Dash and Gore. Gore, like Claw is a focus dump ability, and will give a bit higher damage output.
    • Owls (and Bats... Carrion birds) - Owls are a DPS pet, with a 7% DPS bonus, but unlike Cats or Ravagers they do not have any loss in either armor or stamina. They can learn Claw, Dive and Screech. Screech is unique to Owls, Carrion Birds and Bats, and is an AOE attack which causes damage to one enemy and threat to multiple mobs by applying an attack power debuff. This is useful when soloing and your pet needs to maintain aggro on multiple mobs. Mend Pet causes you to get aggro, and it is possible that you could pull mobs off your pet. Using Screech minimizes this. Bats are owls that don't eat meat and don't have claw. They only eat Fruit and Fungi. Carrion birds a bit different, they can learn the same skills as owls, but recieve only a 5% armor buff, no buff to DPS.
    • Boars - Boars recieve a -10% loss to their DPS, but recieve a 7% bonus to Armor and 4% to stamina. Boars can learn Bite, Charge, Dash and Gore. Often a hunter will just train Charge and Gore on their Boar, as Gore is a focus dump ability, and the Charge ability is similar to Dash. Charge is unique to Boars, and a very nice skill for a pet. It's faster than Dash or Dive, and roots the target for 1 second, additionally the next attack gains a bonus to attack power which will generate more threat. Boars are excellent tanks for soloing, and also very good in PVP. One thing about boars though, there are no boars above level 60. While there certainly are several in Outland, these are demons, and not tamable. If you want a boar, get it early on to avoid the pain of leveling it up to 70.
    There is another family which might deserve consideration as well...

    Raptors - Raptors sit in the middle of cats and ravagers in terms of DPS pets. They have the same learnable skills minus prowl of cats, and have more of an armor bonus than ravagers, but also more of a loss to health. If they had an ability to generate more threat like Boars and Owls, they might be more popular pets. The lack a ravager's gore, and have less stamina than a cat which seems to make these other types of pets a better choice. Still, it's hard to fault a hunter for choosing a raptor as their pet.

    Keep in mind these suggestions are tailored towards hunters who are spec'd into Beast Mastery. For other spec's pet choice becomes less of an issue, generally. A BM hunter is going to be the most reliant on their pets, so chosing the proper pet is obviously more important. By no means is a Survival or Marksman hunter's pet inconsequential, they just don't have as big of an impact as a BM hunter does.

    It's been pointed out that Windserpents also probably deserve mention in this section. They do posess Dive and Lighting breath, which is a focus dump skill, along with a 7% increase to DPS. It seems that these pets are most liked by hunters who are spec'd into the MM tree, as lightning breath scales nicely with their RAP. The skill is more expensive in terms of focus use than claw, gore or screech however.

    Q. What about Bears, Wolves, Turtles, Crocs, etc...?

    A. It's not coincidence that most hunters use a pet from one of the families above. In addition to having favorable bonuses to base stats, each of these pets have a focus dump ability and an ability to close distance quickly. "Caster" pets have inferior stats and do less overall damage as compared to other pets, don't tame pets which have mana bars. More information on this can be found here: Petopia: "Caster" Pets

    There are two pets which are in the game with a couple unique abilities that some people find useful. They lack critical other abilities however making them less viable pets.

    Scorpids - Scorpids recieve a 10% armor bonus, and take a 6% loss to DPS. However, they have a unique ability that many find very useful. They have a stackable DOT in their scorpid poison. This effect can stack 5 times on a target, and at max level causes 55 damage over 10 seconds. It is somewhat expensive at 30 focus, and does have a 4 second cool down however, so with one pet, you aren't going to be able to stack the effect on a target 5 times. Scorpids do not have a speed increase ability.

    Gorillas - Gorillas are another pet with a unique ability, thunderstomp. This is an AOE damage ability, and damages multiple enemies, and of course causes threat to them as well. The drawback is it has a 1 minute cooldown. Gorillas also do not have any speed increase ability, and do not have a focus dump ability. Additionaly the highest level Gorilla is a level 55 currently, so it's not a pet you can easily pick up.

    Q. But I've always wanted a Bear!

    A. Tame one then! You can do just fine with a bear, but they aren't going to compare to Cats in the DPS world, or Boars or Owls when it comes to generating threat. Understand that the numbers don't favor them, and save us your "I think my bear is just as good as..." posts. It's not, but you like him, and there's no problem with that... Personal preference can be bigger than any stats or special abilities in this game. Be happy with your pet because he suits you, don't feel that he has to be the best possible pet in the game.

    Q. What about Rare/Elite Pets? Are those better?

    A. Nope. A cat is a cat. A Boar is a Boar. Some pets have either different models, or slightly unusual behavior. For instance mulgore prairie wolves will bark when you click them. Any of these differences are merely aethestic, and have no bearing on the pets performance in battle.

    Q. But I heard I get some special abilities with some elite pets.


    A. Some do, but these abilities can be trained to any pet of the family. In some cases these pets may be the only way to get certain skills at that particular level, but rest assured, that they can, once learned, be trained to any member of that family.

    Q. I read somewhere that if I train xx pet I get xx ability free.

    A. Don't believe everything you read. Some pets come with special abilities already learned, this much is certainly true. However, if you look at your pet tab after you train one of those pets, you'll notice you actually have negative training points to start with. As the pet gains loyalty, you'll get training points, but the special abilities will use up those points just as if you had trained the ability to any pet.

    Q. My pet came with an ability I don't want. What do I do?

    A. You'll have to go to a pet trainer, and retrain him. For instance, if you get a pet with Cower 7, you may want to spend those 21 points elsewhere. Go to a trainer, and retrain him exactly how you want to.

    Q. How many training points do I get?

    A. The formula is: petLevel * (petLoyalty -1) = training points. At 70, with a pet at Best Friend Loyalty(6) you have 350 points to spend.

    Q. Training points are kinda confusing... is there anything to make it easier to see what I can do?

    A. Compared to talent points pet training points are terribly confusing. Levels can be skipped, and there's not a normalized cost for skills. Fortunately there's help. Petopia has a page with links to several calculators: Petopia: Pet Skill Calculators

    Q. What's this Petopia you keep mentioning?

    A. It's a great resource for hunters which has information on just about every pet available. If you haven't visited this site, it's time. Petopia: A visual guide to hunter pets in the World of Warcraft! You can search for a pet which knows a particular skill, see the stat bonuses/negatives for each family here, and find out where to find that perfect pet. I have no affiliation with the site, it is simply just a great resource for hunters to learn more about pets.

    Q. What skills should I train?

    A. That's outside the scope of this FAQ, and worthy of discussion of its own. Briefly though, a focus dump ability, a speed increase/distance closing ability, avoidance and a mixture of greater armor and stamina is probably what you're after. Armor is more important if you're off tanking, or soloing and using your pet as a constant tank, stamina helps more against AOE magic that you might see if your pet is simply DPSing. I like stamina for PVP as your pet is more likely to be taking AOE damage in this situation.

    Q. What does focus dump ability mean?

    A. It's a skill without a cooldown. This means a pet can use this repeatedly to dump their focus during a battle. Beast Mastery hunters generally keep their pets focus full due to investment in talents, so it is useful to have an ability that is never on cool down and delivers damage.

    Q. How do I train my pet a new ability.

    A. One thing a lot of hunters don't realize is that some pet abilities can't be bought at a trainer, they have to be learned from other pets. Some boars out there are running around at level 70 with Gore 2. This means instead of causing 37-61 damage with Gore 9, they're doing 6-10 damage for the same focus cost.

    Training your pet a new skill isn't a quick and easy process like it is to buy a new version of growl, there are several steps involved.
    1. First, you need to find a pet with the skill you desire. Petopia has a great database where you can search by skill and level.
    2. Then you need to stable your current pet.
    3. You need to then find the beast that has the skill and tame him.
    4. Once the beast is your pet, feed him until he's happy, and fight a bit with him. After a bit you'll get a message saying you've learned a new skill.
    5. Once the new skill is learned you can abandon or stable the new pet.
    6. Retreive the pet you want to teach the skill, and then open up the training panel. Train the new skill assuming you have the surplus points and required pet level.
    Not nearly as simple as spending a few silver on a new skill, and kinda time consuming.

    Q. Should I train new levels of special abilities whenever possible?

    A. That's totally up to you. Personally I don't think it's worth the effort. Maybe every 10-15 levels or so go on a skill finding quest, and grab the highest level of the ones you're after. I've known hunters who didn't do it until the late 60s... I'm not going to mention any names though.

    Q. I know Gore 2, but nothing after it... Now I'm 70, do I have to learn every level of Gore up to 9?

    A. No! You only need to learn the level you wish to train. If you want gore 4 for something, you'll to find a pet that already knows the skill, but in most cases it's fine just to get the highest level if you've avoided doing this up to now.

    Some levels of these skills aren't known by any tamable beasts in the game. Gore 5 and Gore 6 are examples of these. Thanks to Sonicblast for pointing this out.

    Q. Ummm... How exactly do I name my pet?

    A. What? You don't like "Cat"? Right click his portrait/health bar, and choose rename.

    Q. Can I rename him again?

    A. No. It's a one time deal.

    Q. How do I get my pet's loyalty to increase?

    A. The mechanics of loyalty aren't immediately clear. One of the ideas is a pet needs to gain experience equal to 5% of your current level to gain one level of loyalty. Some people however have reported gaining loyalty levels by fighting very few mobs, and just having the pet active and well fed for a period of time. One thing is certain though, pets like to eat and kill things. Keep your new pet well fed at all times and kill some mobs with him. He'll gain loyalty over time.

    Q. How do pets gain experience?

    A. By killing things with you. Your pet earns experience by killing any mob which would yeild you experience. This is any mob that is not grey to you, even at 70.

    Q. Do they get experience from quests?

    A. No, and the rested bonus doesn't affect them either.

    Q. What about food, is it important?

    A. Well, it's important to keep your pet well fed at all times. He causes more damage when he's happy, and will lose loyalty if you don't feed him. The type of food isn't important when it comes to your pets utility, but you may find certain pets are easier to maintain because of the food they are willing to eat. Boars eat just about anything except old armor. If something drops you can likely feed it to your boar. On the other end of the scale, bats will only eat fruit and fungi. Sometimes it can be frustrating to find these foods. Fish eaters can be fed with fish you catch, and pets that eat bread can be fed with mage conjured food. Meat seems to be the most prevalant food available from vendors, while fruit and fungi can be harder to find, especially on the Horde side. I would not let food preference influence my decision, as there's plenty ways to have food available that your pet will eat.

    Q. My pet can learn both Claw and Bite, should I train both?

    A. Generally you should not. Bite does do more damage than Claw on a per hit basis, and is more focus efficient than claw, but it's drawbacks lie in that it has a 10 second cool down. Claw is a focus dump skill, and will be used any time the focus is available. The reality here is yes, you will do slightly more damage with a pet that has both claw and bite trained and activated. But the difference is pretty low, and the cost in talent points isn't easily justifiable for most hunters.

    The same can be said for Gore and Bite, Gore does more a damage on average than claw, and also is more mana efficient, so you see even less of a benefit from training both Gore and Bite.

    Q. Is Cobra Reflexes worth training?

    A. Yes! The description isn't completely straightforward, It says that you get an 30% increase in attack speed and reduced damage. The reduction is damage per hit, not overall. The attack speed increase makes up for this, giving your pet an overall DPS boost.

    The common wisdom of slower attacks and bigger crits are better doesn't necessarily apply in this situation either. Your pet isn't really throwing down huge damage, his slightly smaller crits will be more than made up for by the increase in number of attacks, and subsequently, the number of crits which kick off the Ferocious inspiration talent which boosts damage across your party.

    Finally another nice advantage from this skill is it's effect on casters. Faster attacks cause more disruption to casting, a pet with frenzy activated and cobra reflexes can truly be pain in PVP to casting classes.

    Q. Does Dash stack with Bestial Swiftness?

    A. No. Pet pursuit speed increases do not stack. The increase from dash is based on your pet's base speed, which is 115% of a player character's running speed. If you have Bestial Swiftness or Aspect of the Cheetah/Pack on that increase is ignored.

    Q. Are any pets faster than others?
    A. No. All pets have the same base speed in the game now. Certain pets can learn Dash, Dive or Charge, which boost the pursuit speed, but the base speed, and max speed using these abilities is the same.

    Hunter Pet FAQ
  2. #2
    Ferag's Avatar Contributor
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    Anyone can copy-paste from a site. You get rep by actually writing a guide.

  3. #3
    pewpewlazerz's Avatar Contributor


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    actually most people get rep by bringing good finds to the site

  4. #4
    Smeems's Avatar Active Member

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    I wouldn't constitute Wowhead a 'good find'

  5. #5
    SpiritWolf's Avatar Contributor
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    I hate to do this, but one pet does move fater then the others I have found, You might wanna add that the ghost wolf is, at this time that is, faster then other pets.
    Ghost wolves walk then the hunter runs and mine has managed to stay the same speed with a normal mouth with out dash.

    Must be a bug for now. But just wanted to point it out. Nice guide though! +Rep!

  6. #6
    Smeems's Avatar Active Member

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    Bestial Swiftness?

  7. #7
    Boydon80's Avatar Active Member
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    I already knew this, but I appreciated the effort. +Rep

  8. #8
    gcbdm's Avatar Member
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    Good read!

    I've got a 63 Hunter and would like to add a few things.

    Once you have your heart set on which pet you wish to tame, it's not a bad idea to buy a stack of the appropriate food before hand. When I tamed my first pet, I was struggling to find a merchant to buy food from. Needless to say, I lost it pretty quickly. This is especially true if you're new to a certain starting zone.

    Also, if you're on a PvP server it is crucial that you teach your pet dash 2. This will make your pet run 60% faster for 15 seconds once you send him to attack. Many times someone has ganked me while I was low on health. Once I see them again, they think they can run away from me (which they can if their far away), but my pet sure as hell can catch up no problem.

    From my personal experience, it's not worth it to put any training points into any of the greater resistance since you have very limited training points.
    Last edited by gcbdm; 02-26-2008 at 10:08 AM.

  9. #9
    kaduvil's Avatar Member
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    Originally Posted by SpiritWolf View Post
    I hate to do this, but one pet does move fater then the others I have found, You might wanna add that the ghost wolf is, at this time that is, faster then other pets.
    Ghost wolves walk then the hunter runs and mine has managed to stay the same speed with a normal mouth with out dash.

    Must be a bug for now. But just wanted to point it out. Nice guide though! +Rep!
    You can't train ghost wolf anymore, so why bother mention it at all.

  10. #10
    lostsoul23m's Avatar Member
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    petopia and wowhead have similar guides as do other websites. nothing new here really.

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