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The hunter's pet is their constant companion as they travel through Azeroth or Outland. When fighting solo or in small groups, a hunter's pet acts as a tank allowing the hunter to maintain the range hunters require to do their best in battle. When not tanking, pets can be used to do damage in addition to the hunter's shots and stings.

Contents 1 Taming 2 Feeding 3 Fighting alongside your pet 4 Tamable Beasts 5 Non-Tamable Beasts 6 Training your pet 7 Pet scaling 8 List of pet skills 9 External links

Taming

To obtain a pet, the hunter must use his Tame Beast skill on a valid beast family monster exactly their level or lower. Upon starting the taming process, the hunter's armor is decreased by 100% and they cannot perform any other actions, or else the taming fails. The taming process takes 20 seconds, which does not increase with every hit, but can be interrupted.

Taming Tips:

• Hunter abilities such as Concussive Shot, Wyvern Sting, and Freezing Trap can slow or stop a beast, reducing hits to the hunter which allows for easier taming.
  • Try this: lay a trap, and wait for your cooldown. Then pull your target across the trap. Once it is iced, lay another one nearby, and back off even further. Then begin taming. Thanks to the new combat traps, your target should not even touch you!
  • It's best to freeze some beasts, as a few of them have knockback abilities and will interrupt the taming process (forcing you to start over).
• Using Aspect of the Monkey can reduce hits during taming.
• A good way to tame a pet is to ask a mage for help. It's possible to tame a pet that is sheeped. This also works with the druid spell hibernate.
• The Scare Beast ability can also be helpful in conjunction with traps and shots.
• Draenei can cast Gift of the Naaru on themselves just before beginning a tame. Don't wait until you need it as you can't cast it after the tame begins.

Feeding

In order for your pet to maintain happiness and loyalty (a good mood), you must feed it.

Pets eat up to six different types of food: meat, bread, fish, fruit, fungus, and cheese. Some pets, like wolves, will only eat meat, but bears and boars can eat any of the six food types. It is easiest to feed pets that eat meat, bread, and fish because mobs often drop meats, fish can be fished, and bread can be conjured by a mage as pet food.

Feeding pets is very important. The happier a pet is, the more damage it deals. Also, the happier it stays, the more loyalty ranks it gains, and so it gains the ability to learn more skills. If you neglect to feed a pet for too long, the pet may run away!

See Pet Feeding for more info.

Fighting alongside your pet

Generally, one will send the pet in from a distance and allow it to get aggro on the mob before the hunter starts shooting. It is possible to have the pet fight one mob while the hunter attacks another; note, however, that something that the pet kills with no help from the hunter will not be lootable and will not give experience. This is a deliberate decision by Blizzard, not a bug.

Tamable Beasts

There are 23 families of pets for hunters to tame, with 5 of them exclusive to the expansion. Each family has its own skills, diet, and statistics.

Type	Meat	Fruit	Fish	Fungus	Cheese	Bread	HP	Armor	Damage	Special Ability
Bat		x		x			+0%	+0%	+7%	None
Bear	x	x	x	x	x	x	+8%	+5%	-9%	None
Boar	x	x	x	x	x	x	+4%	+9%	-10%	Charge
Carrion Bird	x		x				+0%	+5%	+0%	None
Cat	x		x				-2%	+0%	+10%	Prowl
Crab		x	x	x		x	-4%	+13%	-5%	None
Crocolisk	x		x				-5%	+10%	+0%	None
Dragonhawk	x	x	x				+0%	+0%	+0%	Fire Breath
Gorilla		x		x			+4%	+0%	+2%	Thunderstomp
Hyena	x	x					+0%	+5%	+0%	None
Nether Ray	x						+10%	-10%	+3%	None
Owl	x						+0%	+0%	+7%	None
Raptor	x						-5%	+3%	+10%	None
Ravager	x						-7%	+5%	+10%	None
Scorpid	x						+0%	+10%	-6%	Scorpid Poison
Serpent	x		x				+0%	+0%	+0%	Poison Spit
Spider	x						+0%	+0%	+7%	None
Sporebat		x		x	x	x	+0%	+0%	+0%	None
Tallstrider		x		x	x		+5%	+0%	+0%	None
Turtle		x	x	x			+0%	+13%	-10%	Shell Shield
Warp Stalker		x	x				+0%	+5%	-6%	Warp
Wind Serpent			x		x	x	+0%	+0%	+7%	Lightning Breath
Wolf	x						+0%	+5%	+0%	Furious Howl

NOTE: Beasts that have a mana bar in the wild have dramatically reduced stats once tamed. For a graph showing the differences between normal and "caster" pets, click here to go to the Petopia article on caster pets, and click on the spreadsheet link.

Non-Tamable Beasts

Many types of beasts in the wild cannot be tamed as a hunter pet. These are:

Basilisk Burrower Chimera Clefthoof Core Hound Devilsaur Diemetradon Elekk Frenzy Giraffe

Ghost Wolf Gryphon Hippogryph Hydra Kodo Mana Wyrm Moth Pterrordax Ram Ravasaur Shark Spore Walker

Stag Stegodon Talbuk Thresher Thunder Lizard Worm Wyvern Zhevra Beast Bosses

Training your pet

By using the "Beast Training" ability, pets can be taught a variety of Pet Abilities. (The Beast Training ability is found under the General tab in the spellbook, not the Beast Mastery tab as one might expect.) The number of points available to spend on pet abilities is a function of the pet's level (1-70) and its loyalty level.

Most of these skills, such as Cower and Claw, the hunter must first learn from other beasts tamed in the wild before they can be taught to a pet. This is done by taming a beast with the ability you want to learn and then repeatedly having your pet use that ability near you while it is fully fed and happy. Some talents like Dash can be used and learned outside of combat, but most will require you to send the pet into combat. The hunter will be notified when he has learned the skill, usually just a few short battles. Each pet varies in the skills, and their ranks, so many times a hunter will usually need to tame several pets along his career as he grow up in level. As a hunter's level increases, he can tame stronger pets which initially have (and can therefore teach the hunter) higher ranks of the same skills.

Once a hunter has learned a skill from a pet, he can teach any of his eligible pets the same skill. (See the "List of pet skills table" below, "Trainable by" column). He can even dismiss the pet who taught him the skill.

In addition, Growl, as well as several enhancing abilities that were added in patch 1.8 and patch 1.9, can be learned from Pet Trainers in the cities.

Pets below your level gain experience by fighting alongside you (as long as the hunter receives experience from the kill). When the pet reaches the hunter's level, it stops gaining experience until the hunter levels up. Pets gain approximately the same experience from kills as an unrested character of the same level, and require a much lower amount of experience to level as a character of the same level.

The pet's available training points at any given time is its (Loyalty level-1) multiplied by its base level. By visiting a Pet Trainer, a hunter can remove his pet's current training by paying an ever-increasing fee and cash; a process similar to unlearning your talents in your class trainer.

Also See: Pet builds

Pet scaling

Pets receive attribute bonuses depending on their master's stats. The amount is 15%:

• 1 ranged attack power gives the pet 0.22 AP and 0.1287 spell damage
• 1 stamina gives 0.3 stamina
• 1 resistance gives 0.4 resistance
• 1 armor gives 0.35 armor

List of pet skills

Pet skills come in two types—passive enhancement skills, taught by Pet Trainers in various cities and camps, and active skills, taught from various rare beasts across the land. Active skills require focus—a constantly-recharging point pool that works exactly like a Rogue Energy bar. Every Pet has 100 focus.

Beginning with Patch 1.7, Blizzard has started introducing special, active pet skills. Each skill can only be used by one type of pet and has a specific benefit that is quite useful, usually in PvE. This increases the diversity among hunters pets and usually promotes hunters possessing several pets at the same time. It is expected that with time Blizzard will continue to add special skills to other beasts' types, as well.

Also see: Pet Abilities

Ability		Description	Ranks	DPF	Learned from	Trainable by
	Great Stamina	Increases Stamina by 3-40 (Health points gained = Stamina * 10 ).	1-10	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Natural Armor	Increases Armor by 50-1000.	1-10	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Resistances	Increases Arcane resistance by X.	1-4	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Resistances	Increases Fire resistance by X.	1-4	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Resistances	Increases Frost resistance by X.	1-4	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Resistances	Increases Nature resistance by X.	1-4	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Resistances	Increases Shadow resistance by X.	1-4	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Avoidance	Reduces the damage your pet takes from area of effect attacks by an additional 25/50%.	1-2	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Cobra Reflexes	Attack speed increased by 30%, but damage done is reduced.	1	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Growl	An important aggro-management tool and the opposite of Cower. Generates threat (but no damage) against the target. Helps the pet function like a tank and to keep aggro away from the Hunter with his high DPS. Higher ranks generate more threat and function against higher-level mobs.	1-7	n/a	Pet Trainer	All
	Bite	An instant attack that is more powerful than Claw but has a cooldown and costs more focus points. Causes X to Y damage, 10 second cooldown.	1-8	3.428	Taming	All except: Scorpids, Crabs and Owls
	Charge	Functioning like a Warrior Charge skill, it allows the boar to charge his target (at the range of 8-25 yd), immobilizing it for one second and delivering a single attack with a bonus to attack power. Higher ranks grant more attack power.	1-6	n/a	Taming	Boars
	Claw	Causes X to Y damage, 5 second cooldown. Is claimed to produce more Threat than bite.	1-9	2.6	Taming	Owls, Carrions, Crabs, Cats, Raptors, Scorpids, Bears
	Cower	An important aggro-management tool and the opposite of Growl. Functions like Disengage in that it generates no damage but lowers the threat the pet has (thus encouraging the target to attack a different mark). Higher ranks reduce threat further and against higher-level mobs. This skill is useful in PVE for fine-tuning aggro control.	1-7	n/a	Taming	All
	Dash	An instant burst of speed that increases the pet's movement rate for 15 seconds. Very useful in PVP and stopping runners in PVE, as well as special pulls combined with the Eyes of the Beast skill. Increases movement speed by +X% for 15 seconds.	1-3	n/a	Taming	Tallstriders, Boars, Wolves, Hyenas, Cats
	Dive	Similar to Dash. Increases movement speed by +X% for 15 seconds.	1-3	n/a	Taming	Birds
	Fire Breath	Targets in a cone in front of the caster take X Fire damage over 2 sec.	1-2	DPE	Taming	Dragonhawks
	Furious Howl	Increases the damage of the next attack made by all party members in range (15 yd). The attack must be made within ten seconds. Party members within range receive an extra X to Y damage to their next Attack.	1-4	n/a	Taming	Wolves
	Gore	Gores the enemy, causing X to XX damage. This attack has a 50% chance to inflict double damage.	1-9	2.94	Taming	Boars, Ravagers
	Lightning Breath	Ranged attack, Breathes Lightning, dealing X to Y damage to single target.	1-6	2.12	Taming	Windserpents
	Poison Spit	Spits poison at the enemy, dealing X Nature damage over 8 seconds.	1-3	DPE	Taming	Serpents
	Prowl	Allows the cat to go into stealth mode and to backstab on the next attack, similar to a Rogue. Stealths the pet. Movement is reduced to X% of normal. First attack out of Stealth does Y% of normal damage. Can be used with Dash.	1-3	n/a	Taming	Cats
	Scorpid Poison	Allows the scorpid to poison the target, applying a poison that deals X nature damage over 8 seconds and can stack up to five times.	1-4	DPE	Taming	Scorpids
	Screech	Launches an AoE attack against all enemies within range (5 yd). Also reduces attack power of effected enemies. Blasts a single enemy for X to Y damage, and lowers the Attack Power of all enemies in range by Z.	1-5	2.35	Taming	Bats, Carrion Birds, Owls
	Shell Shield	Reduces all damage by 50%, but decreases attack speed by 30%. Lasts 12 sec.	1	n/a	Taming	Turtles
	Thunderstomp	Shakes the ground with thundering force, doing X to Y Nature damage to all enemies within 8 yards and causing a large amount of threat.	1-3	DPE	Taming	Gorillas
	Warp	Teleports to an enemy up to 30 yards away and gives the pet a 50% chance to avoid the next melee attack. Lasts 4 sec.	1	n/a	Taming	Warp Stalkers

• DPF : Damage per focus, or threat per focus.

External links

Hunter Pets and Pet abilities
Beasts	Bat • Bear • Boar • Carrion bird • Cat • Crab • Crocolisk • Dragonhawk • Gorilla • Hyena • Nether ray • Owl • Raptor • Ravager • Scorpid • Serpent • Spider • Spore bat • Tallstrider • Turtle • Warp stalker • Wind serpent • Wolf
Active abilities	Bite • Charge • Claw • Cower • Dash • Dive • Fire Breath • Furious Howl • Gore • Growl • Lightning Breath • Poison Spit • Prowl • Scorpid Poison • Screech • Shell Shield • Thunderstomp • Warp
Passive abilities	Avoidance • Cobra Reflexes • Great Stamina • Natural Armor • Arcane Resistance • Fire Resistance • Frost Resistance • Nature Resistance • Shadow Resistance
Further reading	Rare pets • Happiness • Training points