A Guide to Choosing a Pet - Revised for BC. part 3

A Guide to Choosing a Pet - Revised for BC. part 3
Date: 05/07/2007

C. Looks

Don’t overlook the appearance and animations of your pet. If you don’t like the way your pet appears, you are more likely to end up dumping it or failing to use it and keep its level up. I, for example, hate the look of worgs (you know, wolves with the 2 giant fangs) and their idle animations; they just stand there with their mouth half open and their tails maybe wagging a bit. On the other hand, “lean” wolves scratch and sniff like dogs and occasionally sit down and raise their heads and howl. I’ve had several worgs, but I always ditched them in favor of a “real” wolf. Head on over to http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/ to view the different pets you can obtain to see which ones you like the look of.

D. Caster Stats

Some Wind Serpents, Warp Stalkers and Dragon Hawks have what are known as “caster stats.” Pets with “caster stats” have less armor and/or health than their non-caster brethren. Using the Petopia site you can determine what pets have “caster stats.” You should avoid them.

E. Attack Speed

Once a major issue in pet choice, this is no longer a significant issue. All pets have a base 2.0 attack speed. Cobra Reflexes, if trained, will drop this to 1.54. If you are a Beast Master Hunter with 5/5 in Serpent Swiftness it will drop further to ~1.3 and when Frenzy procs. it will drop
to ~0.99.

F. Eating Habits

Different pets eat different foods. You may want to take into account how easy/hard it will be to get food for your pet as you decide what you want. Boars & Bears are the easiest to feed since they eat most anything. Bats eat only fungus & fruit and can be a pain to keep fed. Meat and fish eating pets are relatively easy to feed since you just kill or fish and feed what you get.

III. That’s all well and good, but what pets have you chosen as best for you and why?

have three pets currently, A dps pet, Humar the “rare” spawn black lion from the Barrens, a middle-of-the-road pet, a Vilebranch Raiding wolf, the black wolf from the top of the temple of Jin’thalor in the Hinterlands and an Avain Warhawk (technically a dps pet and actually an owl, not a hawk) from Sekketh Halls. I chose these for my pets for the following reasons:

1. Looks: I wanted a wolf as my pet since the first day I rolled my hunter. I didn’t care about anything much more than the fact I liked the way the wolf looked and in my day as a paper based RPG’r playing Dungeons and Dragons, I always played a character with a pet wolf. The first time I saw the black wolf the hunter trainer in Darnasus has I decided that was the kind of wolf I wanted. I had to wait to level 42 though to get one (the rare wolf Snarler). When I hit 50 I traded him for the Vilebranch Raiding wolf I currently have and plan to keep. As for Humar, he is the only black cat in the game and he matched the wolf I planned on getting (I got Humar at level 23) so he was a natural choice for looks. Plus, he just happened to be around when I cruised by the area, I didn’t have to camp for him at all. The owl, on the other hand, is bright red and blue, which is unusual for an owl. All other owls are various shades of brown, gray or white. I felt a bright red & blue owl was unusual and I’ve only ever seen 1 other hunter with the owl I have.

2. Useage: I do a little PvP work in BG’s, not a lot, but some and as a Night Elf a high dps pet with prowl to go with my shadowmeld make a great combo so a cat is a natural choice and Humar fits the bill. I do a fair number of 5 mans and some raiding and group a lot and have found that my play style benefits most from a wolf in those situations and I like furious howl as an ability. I also like to solo a lot and for solo work I have found that the screech debuf from my owl along with a scorpid sting shot from me do a lot to reduce the ability of a mob to damage me or my pet. Plus Screech is a great aggro holder and with the higher than average dps of an owl we can take down mobs pretty quickly when I solo. If I were a Marks or Survival spec’d hunter I’d probably trade the owl for a carrion bird since it has a little better armor/health than an owl. However since I’m a BM spec’d hunter I can make up for the loss in health and armor suffered by the owl a bit better and boost the owl’s dps a fair amount.

IV. Wait a minute, what about special abilities, aren’t they important?

Yes, pet abilities need to be considered. IMO they should be broken down primarily along lines of PvE and PvP usefulness. However, think about how you play and what each ability does to decide which ability works for you in which situation.

A. PvP:
The best abilities for PvP play are probably Screech, Dash, Dive, Charge and for Night Elfs only, Prowl. Screech serves as a AoE debuff of the enemy in BG which is always useful. Charge gets your boar in there really fast and roots the enemy for 1 second. Dash, Dive and Charge can also be used to chase down runners (The guy with the flag will never escape a boar if you do it right). Night Elfs on Defense can prowl a cat and shadowmeld and catch enemy players by surprise very effectively. Thunderstomp (the special skill of Gorillas) also has some use in PvP due to its AoE damage and stun effect. And Lightning breath, (the wind serpent skill) since it is ranged, is an ok ability as well doing a decent amount of damage from range and not mitigated by armor. Warp is also a pretty decent ability for getting your pet on another player fast and Gore is a nice DPS booster.

B. PvE:
The above abilities are good for PvE for the same reason they are good for PvP. However, in PvE Furious Howl (the wolf/worg skill) becomes an important ability too because it will boost the damage of everyone in a group – running 5 mans it is a wonderful addition to that first attack on a mob. Scorpid poison and poison spit are also useful, especially in doing solo work, but remember as a DoT ability they will break a freeze trap. I have yet to find a real use for Cower in anything though I know some hunters who keep their pet trained in it so their pet can effectively dump unwanted agro. In solo work you usually want your pet to hold agro. In a 5 man run, if all is going well, your tank produces more threat than you pet and will hold agro no matter what your pet does so cower doesn’t have much use. Thunderstomp and Screech are probably the best abilities to use if you want your pet to grab and hold agro (growl and Furious Howl and being BM spec’d also work well in this regard, but screech in particular is an agro magnet). Lightning breath is useful since it is ranged like you and you can keep your pet away from being hit by a mob. Shell shield is what makes turtles the hardest pet in the game to kill. They will take a licking and keep on ticking. When it comes to PvE you should consider what it is you will want your pet to do as you decide which pet you should have and what skills you need in a pet. A bird with screech is an excellent choice for solo work since it will grab and hold agro. well and has a decently high dps. The same could be said of a Boar as well, a bit less dps than the bird, but charge will generate a large amount of aggro right off the bat. On the other hand, for raids and 5 mans, a wolf with furious howl is possibly a better choice since it will boost the melee dps of party members and/or your personal dps.