What Pets Should I Tame?

We now have five stable slots to work with, and pet training has been completely overhauled. These and many other changes made to how our pets behave and interact with us and our surroundings beg the question: what pets should I tame? The answer can be as simple as “Whatever pets you like the best”, or as complex as determining which pets perform the best under different circumstances.

General Use

For general use while farming, questing and soloing, the pet you choose can really be whichever you most enjoy. If this is how the majority of your time is spent, then selecting a pet that you like to have around is important.

Think about what types of activities you enjoy when you’re out and about, doing your own thing. Do you like to tackle elite mobs that present a challenge? Then perhaps a Tenacity pet is what you should look for. Do you enjoy farming and want to be as efficient as possible at it? A Ferocity pet will probably be your best bet. If you enjoy a mixture of these things, or can never tell what each new day might bring, a Cunning pet can offer you the utility to do just about anything.

If your biggest concern for a general use pet is how aesthetically pleasing the pet is, you may want to consider putting a little extra effort into your taming by going after rare spawns.

As always, Petopia is an invaluable resource for helping you pick out the perfect pet to tame. Can’t think of a name for your new pet? Have Mania give you a hand.

My Favorites

Ferocity 

• Sian-Rotam: Cat, Level 60 Quest Spawn, Winterspring
• King Bangalash: Cat, Level 43 Elite, Stranglethorn Vale
• Ironjaw: Wolf, Level 63-63, Terokkar Forest

Tenacity 

• Ursius: Bear, Level 56, Winterspring
• Old Grizzlegut: Bear, Level 43 Rare, Feralas
• Rotting Agam’ar: Boar, Level 26 Elite, Razorfen Kraul

Cunning 

• Hakkari Frostwing: Wind Serpent, Level 48-49 Elite, Temple of Atal’Hakkar

Instances

Now, instance performance carries a whole different set of priorities and considerations for many Hunters. Some Hunters attempt to get as much performance out of their pets as possible, while others may take a more casual approach.

Pet performance is something others have covered in much greater detail than I ever could, so I’ll leave that to the experts. However, performance alone is not the sole consideration when determining which pets you want for doing instances, and so other concerns are what I shall focus on here.

Pet Tanking

If pet tanking in instances is something you aspire to, or find yourself forced into frequently, a Tenacity pet is worth the investment. Because of changes to pet training, you can no longer tame a Ferocity pet and spec it to tank adequately through talent choices. Of course, all pets will have Great Stamina and Natural Armor available to them, and these talents will do in a pinch, but these alone will not give your pet long-term survivability as an instance tank. That being the case, you’ll want to pick up a Tenacity pet if tanking is what you truly want your pet to shine at in instances.

Once you’ve picked out a Tenacity pet, you’ll want to spec it appropriately for survivability. Keep in mind, if you’re spec’ing your pet for Survivability, don’t do it in half measures by trying to include damage talents. Be bold! Spec for the total tanking package. This should include talents such as:

• Blood of the Rhino
• Pet Barding
• Guard Dog
• Avoidance
• Last Stand

Because the Tenacity tree is packed with tank-y goodness, it can be difficult to know which talents to focus on first and which talents you’ll need to leave out altogether. If you’re unsure how to spec your pet for tanking, talk to some tanks you know! Ask them what stats or abilities they use the most, and apply that knowledge to your pet’s spec. There are many schools of thought on which tanking stats are best–too many to cover here–so be sure you’re getting input from multiple sources if you can. There’s plenty of information to be had on blogs and forums for tanking, so you might ask for advice there as well.

The best advice I can give would be to spec your pet to maximize Stamina and Armor, as these are two major determining factors in your pet’s survivability. Keep in mind that your pet needs to be able to hold aggro off multiple DPSers at a time, so spec’ing to improve threat generation is also key.

Raids

Anyone who’s visited the inside of even the smallest raid instances knows that raids are a totally different animal than regular instances. Each raid comes with it’s own group composition requirements, and every member needs to know what is expected of them. In raids, a Hunter’s role is clear: deal damage. Crowd control is infrequent for Hunters in most raids (although, there are some exceptions), and in the majority of cases pet tanking is unrealistic and unnecessary. As such, the pet(s) you bring to raids should reflect the expectations your group has for your part in the proceedings.

Enter the Ferocity pet.

Ferocity pets are, more often than not, your best bet for a raiding companion. They’re geared towards dealing the most damage of any pet family, and will therefore maximize your overall damage output. The talents you choose for your Ferocity pet should reflect this role, and include talents such as:

• Cobra Reflexes
• Spiked Collar
• Spider’s Bite
• Call of the Wild

Call of the Wild is particularly interesting, because not only does it increase your pet’s damage output, but it also provides a buff for party members within 40 yards making it especially useful for melee-heavy raid groups. This, in tandem with a wolf’s Furious Howl ability, is a great bonus to any raid.

Filling Your Stables

Now, to get to the point of all this yammering: which pets should you tame?

Your best bet is to tame at least one pet of each time: Tenacity, Ferocity and Cunning. For Hunters that predominantly enjoy solo activities, Cunning pets are a great choice. For Hunters that participate mostly in 5-man instances, a Tenacity pet isn’t a bad investment. For raiders, Ferocity pets are a must. Taming one of each type of pet will give you the flexibility to choose which pet to use based on the circumstances you’re faced with, and allows you to maximize your effectiveness through adaptability.

Now, even taming one of each pet type leaves you with two empty stable slots. That means you can go pick up a couple pets of your choice that might just have sentimental or aesthetic value to you.

My favorite pets have always been my cats, and I currently have three in my stables. This is partly because two of the cats have special sentimental value to me. Another reason I have multiple cats is because it makes it easier to differentiate my cats from other Hunters’ pets in a raid, by being able to switch to a pet that looks different from theirs. This was especially important when cats were far and away the most popular choice for pets.

To sum things up:

• Fill three stable slots with one of each pet type: Tenacity, Ferocity, and Cunning
• Use your other two slots to indulge your personal tastes

How have you filled your stables so far?

Related Posts

• Leveling Pets is Easy
• My Latest Tenacity Pet
• 3 Things You Should Know About 3.0
• Wrath: Your Cat is Lame
• Pet Talent Calculator v3.1.2

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