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I think it’s about time to do something constructive here. The question at hand is ‘Which pet should I choose?’
Well if you think about it, there’s really 2 things a pet can do. They can hold agro while you kill things, or they can kill things for you. But looking further, they’re both the same thing. If a pet isn’t keeping up with your damage, they aren’t holding agro and the mob is quickly closing. HP and armor are nice but can be augmented with Mend Pet as needed. DPS can only be improved by increasing your own attack power, but if your pet is losing agro already improving AP is counterproductive.
So let’s talk about the variables of Pet DPS: base stats and abilities. Below is a table of the pets ranked according to their DPS modifiers. Taking a pet with a modifier of 1.07 or higher is a nice start.
| Family | DPS Modifier |
| Raptor Ravager Cat Bat Owl Spider Wind Serpent Nether Ray Gorilla Hyena Dragonhawk Carrion Bird Crocolisk Wolf Tallstrider Serpent Spore Bat Crab Scorpid Warp Stalker Bear Turtle Boar |
1.1 1.1 1.1 1.07 1.07 1.07 1.07 1.03 1.02 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.95 0.94 0.94 0.91 0.9 0.9 |
*Data from http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/html/articles/stats_families.shtml
To further maximize DPS, the largest factor is a focus dump ability. What’s a focus dump? It’s an ability that can be used as soon as there’s focus to use it. This means choosing a pet with Claw, Gore, Screech, Lightning Breath. The first 2 are basically 2 ways to do the same thing. Screech has the advantage of affecting multiple mobs which is nice, and Lightning Breath is nice for initial agro and counteracting crits with GftT. Damage isn’t the only way to generate threat tho, and players have found that boar’s charge is a great way to glue a mob to your pet. Boars already have gore as well so for soloing, they’re considered one of the best pets though I personally haven’t tried one yet.
The other issue is PvP. If your pet is not in range of your opponent, it isn’t doing anything. Luckily, some pets also get movement abilities: Dash, Dive, Charge, Warp. Dash and Dive just give a speed boost which is nice all around. Warp instantly puts your pet in attack range, but since most melee players ignore pets, the bonus to dodge is wasted. Here again, Charge is supremely useful. Not only does it put your pet at the enemy in a second, but it immobilizes which is another second you can use to get to/stay at ranged.
This grouping of abilities yields the following table. PvE focused individuals can choose anything from the top 2 cells, while PvP focused will probably be happiest with either of the left 2 cells. I would recommend a pet from the top-left cell to any player. Conveniently, all but the warp stalker are available before level 20 for lowbies, and all but the boar* are available at level 65 or higher so the grind there is minimal. (*Ravager coming in 2.2) The pets in red have the further advantage of being high DPS.
| Movement & Focus Dump | Focus Dump |
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| Movement | Neither |
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*Raptors currently are getting dash on the PTR.
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August 15, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Goeben
Excellent guide! Let me add that aspiring hunters should not be fooled by a boar’s low base DPS. With Gore and the talents Bestial Discipline and/or Go for the Throat, a boar will put out an impressive amount of DPS for a “tanking” pet. More importantly, Charge is amazing for generating threat. For a hunter leveling in the Marksman tree (and many do, unfortunately), a boar with Charge is the ONLY pet that can consistently keep agro.
At this time, Boars are clearly the best general purpose pet. For any hunter build, a boar trained with Gore and Charge is fantastic for solo PvE, better-than-average for PvP and group PvE.