best hunter pet?

[Lilscrappy]

I'm a casual player, and I've collected a few pets, never really thought much about it. Someone told me yesterday I should have a wolf for a pet. Whats the best hunter pet? Should I have a wolf, what's the best for DPS? Thanks.

[Cyph3r]

Honestly, don't worry about it. Basic rule of thumb is if you're running raids or dungeons, use a ferocity pet. If you're pvp'ing, use whatever gives you the extra utility you like (I prefer cunning pets, others like the dps of ferocity, and still others like tenacity for their survivability), and if you need a really strong tank pet, get a tenacity.

As far as individual families, it's too late in the game for it to really matter. Yes, currently wolves are top dps in most cases. However, come patch 4.0.1 that all goes away, pets are getting changed a lot, and will all do the same dps. You'll bring whichever one has a buff the group needs, or just whichever one is your favorite.

I'll probably be sticking with my cat for 90% of the time in Cataclysm because well, he's my favorite.

[Hyolith]

Yeah come 4.0.1 in a few weeks it won't really matter. I believe they are trying to make all pet damage approximately the same and took away the damage to most of their abilities, except of course bite and claw and such.

[rockallnite]

BM dps - devilsaur
MM / Surv dps - wolf because of the buff
This is only if you want to min-max. Any pet is good.

PVP: crab or spider because of the pin / web

This for WotLK, and I'll throw in Ravager for pvp cuz of the stun/interrupt

Concerning Cataclysm, cats are the new wolves, so they'll probably be used by MM/Surv for the agility buff.
I'll most likely be having an all-purpose cat for lvling/raiding/whatevz since they theyve gotten better, and then my usual spider/crab/ravager for PvP

[Highwind]

"Cata only info"

Petopia did most of the work already, and unless something changes in a big way there is a nice Flow Chart for everyone to follow =)

The short answer is you will likely use a lot of pets in Cata, and you will switch to the best one for each group or fight etc.

Pet Usage Flowchart:


Pet Usage Flowchart and Ability Spreadsheet Thread:
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4753

[Deleted]

Best pet is of course my Sian Rotam!

[MskdEnigma]

"Cata only info"

Petopia did most of the work already, and unless something changes in a big way there is a nice Flow Chart for everyone to follow =)

The short answer is you will likely use a lot of pets in Cata, and you will switch to the best one for each group or fight etc.

*Images From Petopia

Yeah I think those sheets are nice and all but do not account for whether or not the pet is ferocity. I mean it's nice to buff the raid but I like me my Call of the Wild and Ferocity pets increased damage.

Basically if you are looking for Max DPS however you wanna stick with the Ferocity pets on that sheet: Raptor, Devilsaur, Wolf, Cat, Hyena, Core Hound.

[dracco4heads]

Ty Highwind, very very nice there.

[GeorgeParty]

I'm a casual player, and I've collected a few pets, never really thought much about it. Someone told me yesterday I should have a wolf for a pet. Whats the best hunter pet? Should I have a wolf, what's the best for DPS? Thanks.

There is no real best pet, there is best pet type for each role.
If your a BM PVE go for a Exotic Dino pet, . If your a MM or Survival PVE go for a cat or a wolf as the spec buffs it (The difference between the 2 is very little, but many cat pets can stealth, Many wolf pets have a dps increasing Howl Buff)
And of course if you PVP go for any pet that has a stun or root ability.

[Highwind]

...I mean it's nice to buff the raid but I like me my Call of the Wild and Ferocity pets increased damage.

Ghostcrawler (this morning, along with a few other points):
"We changed pet scaling to make all 3 pet types scale with the same amount of attack power, which should bring the 3 pet types DPS closer together (though Ferocity will still do the most damage, as intended). We want Ferocity to do more damage than Cunning, but not by a huge margin."
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...000&pageNo=102

Attack power wise the pets are the same, so breaking talents down for non-BM it would be:

Ferocity: Spider's Bite, Call of the Wild, Rabid
vs
Cunning: Owl's Focus, Feeding Frenzy, Wolverine Bite, Roar of Recovery

They both will have: Serpent Swiftness, Dash, Spiked Collar, Culling the Herd, and 1/2 Wild Hunt

Its fair to say that Ferocity will still pull ahead, but not by "that" much and that is Ghostcrawlers point. The biggest gain is really that 9% crit from Spider's Bite imo.


Edit: Oh and I think picking up one of your missing buffs will make the up the dps loss from using a cunning. Like off the top of my head I'd bet that using a Wind Serpent for 8% spell damage on a target would help you more then having a ferocity pet with an overlapping buff you don't need, easy (if your group didn't have it, and you had the buffs higher on the chart etc).

[Deleted]

Pick what looks nice, Id rather have a ballin Qiraji pet with pretty colors then a monotone wolf that increased my dps by 500, which is negligible once you get over that 10k mark ( tho some will care, but thats their issue )

[Thereign]

Pick what looks nice, Id rather have a ballin Qiraji pet with pretty colors then a monotone wolf that increased my dps by 500, which is negligible once you get over that 10k mark ( tho some will care, but thats their issue )

because 10k dps is supr gud, rite?

[Deleted]

yes its super good sarcastic infant

[Coldfire989]

Wrath of the Lich King:
BM "starting out" pet: Devilsaur
BM "ICC25-man" pet: Wolf (the more 251/264 gear you get, the more armor pen you stack, the better the wolf is)
MM / SV: Wolf
Running around / looking awesome / heroic dungeons: Whatever you like most.

Cataclysm:
BM / MM / SV (if there is a buff or debuff missing): Whichever pet brings the best buff or debuff your group doesn't have
BM / MM / SV (if every buff and debuff is present): Whatever Ferocity (or possibly Cunning) pet you like the most.

Pretty much this baring any sweeping changes from now till then.