Best WoW Hunter Pets - PvE DPS Pets
If you’re looking for a pet to join you in instances or raids, these four pets are your best choice for both personal DPS and group utility. Any hunter spec may make use of wolves, raptors, and wasps, while devilsaurs are a Beast Mastery exclusive pet.
Best WoW Hunter Pets - Wolves
Pet Special Abili
_
ty: Furious Howl, Increases melee and ranged attack power by 320 for the wolf and its master for 20 sec. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 40 second cooldown.
One of the most classic pets in World of Warcraft, the wolf is also the most popular as it offers the best personal DPS, even for Beast Mastery hunters. This is mainly due to its special ability, Furious Howl, which offers a personal DPS boost that sims higher than any other pet ability. This same ability used to be group-wide, making it a required pet in days of old. Now, Furious Howl is only for the hunter, but still tops the charts in what it offers to the DPS hunter.
Best WoW Hunter Pets - Raptors
Pet Special Ability: Savage Rend, Slashes the enemy with the raptor’s talons for 59 to 83 damage, and causes the target to bleed for 21 to 27 damage every 5 sec for 15 sec. Successful critical strikes with this ability temporarily boost the raptor’s damage by 10% for 30 sec. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 1 minute cooldown.
Coming in second on DPS charts is the raptor. Savage Rend, as a bleed ability, is enhanced by abilities that increase bleed damage (Mangle and Trauma). Raptors offer a great secondary option for hunters who want a high DPS without choosing a wolf.
Wasps
Pet Special Ab
ility: Sting, Your wasp stings for 64 to 86 Nature damage, and decreases the armor of the target by 5% for 20 sec. While affected, the target cannot stealth or turn invisible. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 6 second cooldown.
Although the wasp offers a little less personal DPS than wolves or raptors, it does offer a crucial raid debuff not often offered in every raid group. Sting is classified as a minor Armor Debuff, and does stack with Acid Spit, Expose Armor, and Sunder Armor. It does not stack with a druid’s Faerie Fire or a warlock’s Curse of Recklessness, so if either of these classes are present and providing your group this debuff, you’re better off using a different pet.
Special note: The constant flapping of the wings of this mount, plus its higher profile due to flying, may annoy some players.
Devilsaurs
Pet Special Abi
lity: Monstrous Bite, Your devilsaur ferociously bites the enemy, causing 91 to 123 damage, and boosts its own damage by 3% for 12 seconds. This effect stacks 3 times. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 10 second cooldown.
Exclusive to Beast Mastery hunters, the Devilsaur offers comparable DPS to the wolf or raptor as it greatly boosts its own DPS with a virtual 100% uptime. This pet offers the best DPS for BM hunters, followed by wolves and then spirit beasts.
Be aware that the devilsaur makes a lot of noise, even when idle, and its size may be annoying to some.
Hunter PvP Pets
Do you enjoy PvP with your hunter? There are a variety of pets that offer great utility for hunters in PvP, but here are the top four!
Hunter PvP Pets - Crabs
Pet Special
Ability: Pin, Pins the target in place, and squeezes for 112 damage over 4 sec. Instant cast, 40 second cooldown.
The crab is a popular pet as it both roots its target and does damage in the form of a DoT. This pet can be used both to stop a fleeing enemy and to hold a charging enemy in place, keeping them out of melee range from the hunter.
Due to its cooldown, it is recommended that hunters manually use Pin by keybinding it for easy use when needed.
Spiders
Pet Special Ability: Web, Encases the target in sticky webs, preventing movement for 4 sec. Instant cast, 40 second cooldown.
The spider’s ability is very similar to the crab, except without a damage component. Nonetheless, because of its root - and because many players are arachnophobic - the spider is another popular choice for hunters who want to keep their target in place.
Like crabs, it is recommended that hunters with spiders hotkey Web for manual use.
Serpents
Pet Special Ability: Poison
Spit, Spits poison at an enemy, dealing 104 Nature damage over 8 sec and reduces the target’s casting speed by 25% for 8 sec. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 10 second cooldown.
Although other pets exist that interrupt spellcasts, Serpents are viewed as the superior anti-caster hunter pet because of a lower cooldown and increased overall use of their skill, Poison Spit. In addition to its damage, the increased casting speed portion of Poison Spit is great against most casters.
Beast Mastery hunters looking for this same utility should tame a Core Hound, which offers the same debuff but with greater damage (and a more intimidating looking pet).
Chimaeras
Pet Special Ability: Froststorm Breath, Your pet simultaneously breathes frost and li
ghtning at an enemy target, inflicting 128 to 172 Frost and Nature damage and slowing the target for 5 sec. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 10 second cooldown.
An exotic pet for Beast Mastery hunters only, the Chimaera offers a two-part special. Most obviously used for its slow (again useful for either retreating or charging enemies), Froststorm Breath also uses two different types of damage, making it less resistible.
Chimaeras also have the added benefit of being a rarely used pet.
Tanking and Soloing WoW Hunter Pets
Hunters are known to have threat issues with their pets when soloing or grinding (with the exception of Beast Mastery, which gets an added taunt for their pets). This can make even questing difficult for hunters, without the help of a special pet.
These four pets are designed to give any hunter a great tank pet, with both durability and increased threat. They make great pets when soloing, grinding instances or multiple mobs, and even as a standby tank against elite mobs.
Crocolisks
Pet Special Ability: Bad Attitude, Snap back for 89 to 125 damage at any target that strikes you for the next 45 sec. Instant cast, 2 minute cooldown.
At first glance, a two minute cooldown ability may seem too long to make the Crocolisk a worthwhile tank. However, this ability offers incredible threat generation, making it perfect for AoE grinding.
Hunters wanting to get the most of their crocolisk pet should gather multiple mobs, cast Misdirect on their crocolisk, use Volley, and then enable Bad Attitude to watch the crocolisk’s threat scale exponentially.
Turtles
Pet Special Ability: S
hell Shield, The turtle partially withdraws into its shell, reducing damage taken by 50% for 12 sec. Instant cast, 1 minute cooldown.
The turtle is a classic tank pet, having been commonly used since vanilla WoW due to its high durability. Shell Shield is a great defensive cooldown, useful for both AoE situations and facing elite mobs. Given a hunter’s Mend Pet spell is only minorly effective when the pet is taking substantial damage, Shell Shield helps keep the turtle alive longer, allowing a hunter to finish off the enemies before they become a threat to the hunter.
Warp Stalkers
Pet Special Ability: Warp, Teleports to an enemy up to 30 yards away and gives the pet a 50% chance to avoid the next 3 melee attacks. Lasts 4 sec. Instant cast, 15 second cooldown.
Like the turtle, the warp stalker has a great, effective defensive cooldown. Warp does not last as long as Shell Shield, and only offers a chance to miss versus straight damage reduction; however, it can also have significantly more uptime due to a shorter cooldown.
This unique ability offers the added benefit of teleporting instantly to an enemy within 30 yards, reducing wait time for the hunter before they can begin DPSing.
Bears
Pet Spe
cial Ability: Swipe, Swipe nearby enemies, inflicting 90 to 126 damage. Instant cast, 20 Focus, 6 second cooldown.
If you’ve ever watched how effective a druid in bear form can tank multiple mobs merely by spamming Swipe, you have an idea of how great this classic tank pet can be. The main difference is that the bear pet’s swipe ability uses a frontal cone, instead of the druid’s 360 degree attack.
However, with a low cooldown, and the ability to become a focus dump skill in combination with growl and Thunderstomp, the bear offers amazing AoE threat, and even solid single target threat, making a great all around tank pet for any hunter.
This post is part of the series: Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft
Our guide will help eager World of Warcraft non-combat pet collectors build their pet collection and earn pet-related achievements by covering all the pets available from vendors, through quests and holidays like Children’s Week, and those only available from rare spawns.
- Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft (WoW): Vendor Pets
- Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft (WoW): Quest Reward Pets
- Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft (WoW): Engineering and TCG Loot Pets
- Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft (WoW): Faction Pets
- Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft (WoW): Rare Drops
- Guide to Companion Vanity Pets in World of Warcraft (WoW): Feat of Strength and Collector’s Edition Pets
- Is there an Add-on that Allows You to Summon a Random Pet in WoW?
- The Best WoW Hunter Pets
- World of Warcraft Companion Vanity Pets: Blizzard Store Purchases
FAQs
What is the best hunter pet for DPS? ›
Cat. Cats are one of the highest damage pets while also having the highest attack speeds. These are great choices for leveling, PvE, and PvP content.
What's the best pet for Hunter in WoW? ›| Pet Family | Type | Unique Ability |
|---|---|---|
| Cat | Offense ⚔️ | Prowl |
| Crab | Defense 🛡️ | – |
| Crocolisk | Defense 🛡️ | – |
| Gorilla | Defense 🛡️ | Thunderstomp |
For Hunters, Marksmanship is the best PvE spec.
Beast Mastery and Survival will not be as good, with a minor exception for Beast Mastery at very early gear levels (explained below). If you want to play one spec for all PvE content, go for Marksmanship.
Literally doesn't matter. No sarcasm. While it's true that all pets' damage has been equalized, they do differ slightly on utility, especially for beast mastery hunters. Core Hounds are the best solo content pet, as they have a damage reduction and a good ability.
What is the best hunter pet for leveling? ›Best Hunter Pets For Leveling in Classic WoW
For leveling there are a few good options. However the best option is a Owl or Carrion Bird. The reason Owl's and Carrion Bird's are so powerful for leveling is due to their Screech ability.
1 Unbind the Felbound Wolf
The Felbound Wolf is a rare spawning green-skinned wolf tamable in the Tanaan Jungle.
- 1 Violet Dredwing Pup.
- 2 Bound Lightspawn. ...
- 3 Char. ...
- 4 Gilded Wader. ...
- 5 Undying Death Roach. ...
- 6 Decaying Mawrat. ...
- 7 Devoured Wader. ...
- 8 Courage. The flying battle pet has somehow eluded WoW players for several months. ...
But the best pets Beast Mastery Hunters have available to them are Spirit Beasts. With an offensive dispel, an increased health pool, and a full-blown healing cooldown in Spirit Mend, Spirit Beasts bring more versatility to a group than any other pet.
Do different hunter pets do different damage? ›All pets in the game do the same damage, play what you think is cool and suits your hunter. That being said, each pet specialization has its own abilities. A wolf, being a Ferocity pet, will have Primal Rage (Blood Lust) whereas Hati, being a Tenacity pet, will have the Survival of the Fittest defensive cooldown.
Can hunters tame demons? ›Hunters can tame Undead creatures in Shadowlands, including Hell Hounds, Undead Raptors, and Gluth! Also, Blizzard, while you're at it, let hunters tame slimes.
What is the best pet for beast mastery hunter Shadowlands? ›
What is the Best Pet for Beast Mastery Hunter? All pets do the same damage, but we recommend using a Spirit Beast for almost all situations. It is Tenacity so it gives you extra health and a defensive, and it has Spirit Mend which is a small heal on a 30-second cooldown.
Is Hunter good for PvE? ›Due to some longstanding issues with Destiny 2's seasonal model and two nerfs in the 30th Anniversary Pack, Hunters are now the worst PvE class. There is almost always an imbalance between classes in any multiplayer game, however small that may be, and Destiny 2 is no exception.
What hunter spec is best for PvE Shadowlands? ›Best Hunter Leveling Spec in Shadowlands
Many players have chosen Marksmanship as their choice of best Hunter leveling spec. Marksmanship does not rely on pets for their damage nearly as much as Beast Mastery, but it can still dispatch of enemies really quickly with a barrage of lethal shots.
Marksman is less mobile and a bit slower. But people in game tell me change to marksman. As i understood beast master is better for solo, quests, level up, grinding and marksman is better for raids and dungeons.
Do all hunter pets do the same damage Shadowlands? ›Hunter pets have gone through many changes over the 17-year history and saw another new change going into the most recent expansion, Shadowlands. All pet damage and health values are normalized, so it does not matter what pet you choose the damage will be the same.
Do MM hunters use pets Shadowlands? ›Do Marksmanship Hunters Use Pets? Typically no. In pure single target situations, pets are comparable damage to using Lone Wolf. As soon as any additional targets are added, using a pet is a DPS loss versus rolling with Lone Wolf.
Is beast mastery hunter good in Shadowlands? ›Beast Mastery Hunter Shadowlands 9.2.
Thanks to pets, this is one of the best classes for soloing content. This class also grants a bunch of utilities such as Binding Shot, Tar Trap, Freezing Trap, Intimidation, Misdirection and Primal Rage, as well as an immunity Aspect of the Turtle.
Ravagers are the best PvE pets for both leveling and damage output early on in TBC. They have strong DPS stats, but most importantly have the unique ability Gore, which is an incredibly strong focus dump. At Level 70, you will still use your Ravager to start.
Is Wind Serpent better than Ravager? ›Doing direct comparisons between two Phase 1 BIS BM hunters, the Wind Serpent netted 300k more damage over a SSC clear (excluding Lady Vash) over our other BM hunter's Ravager, comparing gore to lightning breath damage (using Warcraftlogs data).
Are Wind Serpents good pets wow? ›The Wind Serpent family of Hunter pets are an offensive pet, meaning they deal high DPS but have lower armor or health. To keep your pet well-fed and happy, in order to maximize its damage, you must feed your Wind Serpent pet Bread, Cheese, and Fish.
How often does Skoll Spawn wow? ›
Spawn rates and time
Every 8-16 hours in one of known locations. Every 30 minutes at south west corner of Temple of Storms.
How To Tame Sambas! RARE Grand Lion Hunter Pet - YouTube
How do you tame exotic pets in Shadowlands? ›Every New Tameable Shadowlands Hunter Pet and Where to Find Them
Which battle pets sell best? ›- Kuburp-proudmoore May 22, 2019, 6:29am #1. ...
- Hruin-aggramar (Hruin) May 22, 2019, 7:54am #2. ...
- Celtic-emerald-dream (Celtic) May 22, 2019, 9:18am #3. ...
- Kuburp-proudmoore May 22, 2019, 1:58pm #4. ...
- Doggler-suramar (Doggler) May 22, 2019, 4:20pm #5. ...
- Hruin-aggramar (Hruin) May 22, 2019, 8:20pm #6.
That was news to me. Yeah, I find that kind of lame. Pets like the darkmoon rabbit and crawling claw are epic quality when received but once learned they are reverted to rare status.
Can you catch legendary pets in wow? ›Pets you can't capture
Legendary pets.
- Starting Bestial Wrath With High Focus.
- Casting Kill Command on Cooldown.
- Proper Pet Control.
- Knowing How to Sim Yourself.
- Analyzing Your Mistakes as a Beast Mastery Hunter.
Boars were one of the very few pets easy to feed, a feature that appealed to many hunters. The only other pets capable of eating all types of foods are the bears, dogs, and goats.
What is the easiest spirit beast to get? ›Manasabers in suramar are spirit beasts, those are pretty easy to attain. The mana saber in suramar is the easiest. Spawn time is like 10 minutes. The porcupines in mop are also short spawn time but you have to get their health down to like a third before you can tame them.
Do exotic beasts do more damage? ›No. Spirits or ferocity ones. All pets deal the same damage (Worms and Chimaeras excepted, because their exotic abilities are actually a DPS loss), they just have different utility.
How many pets can a hunter have out at once? ›
Up to five pets can be kept active at once, depending on the hunter's level. In order to tame any more pets, existing ones must either be stabled or abandoned. I'd like to stable my pet here" option, and drag the pet's icon from an active slot on the left to a stable slot on the right.
Do pets do damage in wow? ›Pet damage has been normalized for a long time meaning only the pet family matters. Small correction, pet damage has been normalized, but pet attack speed still varies by family and sometimes by pet within the family.
How do you tame a dragon in Shadowlands? ›Hunters can tame Cloud Serpents in Shadowlands through purchasing a tome at Exalted with Order of the Cloud Serpent: How to School Your Serpent. Cloud Serpents are part of the Serpent Hunter Pet family, and can be found all over Pandaria. Some notable ones include Rei Lun, Huolon, Tsulong, and Nalak.
Can hunters tame dragonkin? ›Dragons are dragons/dragonkin. Hunters can only tame beasts. Until or if they change that, we can't tame dragons.
Can you tame Dakarr? ›In case anyone was wondering, it's not tameable.
What is the best pet for a marksman hunter wow? ›What is the Best Pet for Marksmanship Hunter? Generally speaking, you should not use a pet at all as a Marksmanship Hunter due to your Lone Wolf passive ability. If you do want to use a pet, we recommend a Ferocity pet for the self-healing.
How do you tame Oondasta? ›How To Tame OONDASTA & HORRIDON WoW BFA 8.2 - YouTube
Which Hunter super does the most damage? ›Blade Barrage, boosted with the fresh damage of Knock Em Down, the new Solar 3.0 aspect that gives you more knives to throw, and combined with a specific exotic, it's about 50% more damage than any other super in the game.
What do Orpheus rigs do? ›The Orpheus Rig's exotic perk allows the user to regenerate their super incredibly quickly, as long as they have managed to tether a number of enemies. This also helps to produce a staggering number of Orbs of Light for teammates, making the armor one of the most useful pieces of gear for generating orbs.
What is Moebius quiver? ›The new version of Moebius Quiver, however, shoots a volley of three arrows simultaneously, and it shoots it twice, meaning that players can land the same amount of arrows more easily and very fast, increasing the Super's DPS. RELATED: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Power Caps Explained.
Is MM hunter easy? ›
Marksmanship Hunter Overview
From a playstyle perspective, Marksmanship is relatively simple with only a few central abilities you must understand to play the spec optimally.
Marksmanship hunter has high mobility since the only cast that you have to stand in place for is Aimed Shot. This spec also has a really good AoE burst but currently it stands out from other classes on single target. Hunter in general has a lot of utility such as immunity, aoe slow, incap and root.
Are hunters good in Shadowlands? ›Marksmanship Hunter is one of the strongest DPS classes in Shadowlands. Marksmanship Hunter has been a popular class among players through the early stages of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands.
Is Hunter Easy? ›Hunter is very easy to level, easy to play with lots of room to master. If you like being at the top of damage, play a hunter.
What is the best pet for beast mastery hunters? ›But the best pets Beast Mastery Hunters have available to them are Spirit Beasts. With an offensive dispel, an increased health pool, and a full-blown healing cooldown in Spirit Mend, Spirit Beasts bring more versatility to a group than any other pet.
Do different hunter pets do different damage? ›All pets in the game do the same damage, play what you think is cool and suits your hunter. That being said, each pet specialization has its own abilities. A wolf, being a Ferocity pet, will have Primal Rage (Blood Lust) whereas Hati, being a Tenacity pet, will have the Survival of the Fittest defensive cooldown.
What is the best pet for survival hunter? ›Best Pet for Survival Hunter
For Raiding and Mythic+, we recommend using a Ferocity pet in most situations. They grant you Leech, which causes you to heal yourself whenever you do damage. For some situations where you need maximum health to help you survive one-shot mechanics, a Tenacity pet would be better suited.
What is the Best Pet for Marksmanship Hunter? Generally speaking, you should not use a pet at all as a Marksmanship Hunter due to your Lone Wolf passive ability. If you do want to use a pet, we recommend a Ferocity pet for the self-healing.
Are BM hunters good in Shadowlands? ›Beast Mastery Hunter Shadowlands 9.2.
Thanks to pets, this is one of the best classes for soloing content. This class also grants a bunch of utilities such as Binding Shot, Tar Trap, Freezing Trap, Intimidation, Misdirection and Primal Rage, as well as an immunity Aspect of the Turtle.
Boars were one of the very few pets easy to feed, a feature that appealed to many hunters. The only other pets capable of eating all types of foods are the bears, dogs, and goats.
Can hunters tame demons? ›
Hunters can tame Undead creatures in Shadowlands, including Hell Hounds, Undead Raptors, and Gluth! Also, Blizzard, while you're at it, let hunters tame slimes.
Do exotic beasts do more damage? ›No. Spirits or ferocity ones. All pets deal the same damage (Worms and Chimaeras excepted, because their exotic abilities are actually a DPS loss), they just have different utility.
How many pets can a hunter have out at once? ›Up to five pets can be kept active at once, depending on the hunter's level. In order to tame any more pets, existing ones must either be stabled or abandoned. I'd like to stable my pet here" option, and drag the pet's icon from an active slot on the left to a stable slot on the right.
Do pets do damage in wow? ›Pet damage has been normalized for a long time meaning only the pet family matters. Small correction, pet damage has been normalized, but pet attack speed still varies by family and sometimes by pet within the family.
What is the best pet for beast mastery hunter Shadowlands? ›What is the Best Pet for Beast Mastery Hunter? All pets do the same damage, but we recommend using a Spirit Beast for almost all situations. It is Tenacity so it gives you extra health and a defensive, and it has Spirit Mend which is a small heal on a 30-second cooldown.
Do MM hunters use pets Shadowlands? ›Do Marksmanship Hunters Use Pets? Typically no. In pure single target situations, pets are comparable damage to using Lone Wolf. As soon as any additional targets are added, using a pet is a DPS loss versus rolling with Lone Wolf.
Is survival hunter good in Shadowlands? ›For the first time since being reworked into a melee class in World of Warcraft Patch 7.0, all the way back in 2016, Survival Hunter is a competitively viable, borderline top-tier class during Patch 9.2, the final patch of the Shadowlands expansion.
Is beast mastery or marksmanship better? ›Marksmanship is performing a bit better overall than Beast Mastery at the start of Shadowlands, but the balance will almost certainly shift at some point once we get the crit and haste needed to really start to shine.
Can you tame elite beasts in WoW? ›Elite enemies in WoW have a golden dragon image around their potrait. An elite pet is not any more powerful than a non-elite pet once it has been tamed, but in the wild an elite enemy is significantly tougher -- so taming one can be a special challenge.