WoW Classic Pets Guide for Hunter and Warlock
Pets are wonderful companions. They accompany you through thick and thin, helping you through tough times. That is, as long as you take care of them. Good thing your WoW Classic pets don't need taking care of, with them being a collection of pixels (you still have to feed them, though). They're handy in a fight, but bringing them to a raiding party can be chaotic.
Battle pets set Hunters and Warlocks apart. These companions allow them a bit more flexibility in roles, depending on the pet they have. The critters can tank, keeping the hurt away from their master. Besides that, they have utility abilities that are handy in combat, making them an asset. Here's everything you need to know about them.
How to Get Hunter Pets
Hunters tame their pets. We recommend learning about your intended taming target first through Beast Lore. It would indicate several pertinent information, the foremost being whether it's tamable or not. Once you've decided, you must go to their habitat and use the 'Tame Beast' ability on them.
Using it will freeze you in place with 100% less armor for the spell's 20 seconds of channeling. If you survive that time, the ability will be successful, and you will obtain your pet. You can only have one active pet and two in the stable. Additionally, you can't try to tame a pet with a higher level than yours.
As mentioned above, you'll need to feed your pet. The action will increase your bond with it. The deeper the bond, the stronger the companion. Having your pet be in the 'Happy' status will provide your pet a 125% damage bonus!
Neglecting and missing mealtimes will eventually make the pet run away. You must capture another one again, but it'll never be the same as the one you lost.
Hunter Pet Specifics
Each hunter pet belongs to a specific family based on its species. That puts similar-looking creatures together. There are 23 pet families currently in WoW TBC Classic:
- Bat
- Bear
- Bird of Prey
- Boar
- Carrion Bird
- Cat
- Crab
- Crocolisk
- Gorilla
- Hyena
- Raptor
- Scorpid
- Serpent
- Spider
- Tallstrider
- Turtle
- Wind Serpent
- Wolf
- Dragonhawk
- Ravager
- Ray
- Sporebat
- Warp Stalker
Once Wrath of the Lich King Classic arrives, it'll add 9 more families. Each family belongs to one of three categories:
- General: Those that have balanced traits
- Offense: Pets that have higher damage output but lower Health and Endurance
- Defense: Creatures that can take more damage at the cost of weaker damage output
A pet's family also determines what skills and abilities they learn. All bats can use Tranquilize or Dispel, for example. Some families even have a bonus ability, such as Prowl for cats. It also affects which specialization they have at the start.
There are three pet specializations:
- Cunning
- Ferocity
- Tenacity
Cunning has an immobilization cleanse utility and increases the mobility of allies. Ferocity improves the DPS capability of the Hunter, the pet, and their friends. Lastly, Tenacity helps the Hunter and pet pair to endure all kinds of damage.
Make sure to tame a pet that fits your playstyle! Otherwise, you could get one that could complement your Hunter's abilities. Hunter pets level at a different rate from your character, so you should also keep that in mind. You can switch specializations after taming the creature.
Warlock Pet Specifics
Warlocks have different mechanics for their pets. Also, these creatures are all considered demonic pets and are summoned instead of tamed. Warlocks have four summons they can all unlock.
Here are the Warlock pets:
- Imp
- Voidwalker
- Sayaad (Succubi and Incubi)
- Felhunter
Demonology Warlocks get an extra minion, the Felguard. Each one of them has its own pros and cons. The Imp is the weakest, but it's the only one that attacks at range. Voidwalkers are tanks, while the Sayaad are masters of crowd control. The Felhunter is excellent against magic users but isn't too suitable for other types of opponents.
With the Enslave Demon skill, they can temporarily take control of Infernals and Doomguards. The maximum duration of the mind control is 5 minutes. However, it diminishes every time you try controlling the same target more than once.
You can only summon one kind of demon at a time. Warlocks learn the summoning spells through quests that unlock as they level up. They must complete those to get the minions. These demonic companions level up as your character does. However, you must go to a Demon Trainer and buy Grimoires for them to learn new abilities.
Fortunately, if your level is high enough, you can skip spell ranks and go for the highest you can at the moment. You don't have to buy the Grimoires for all the levels, so you can save up gold that way.
Summoning one of them requires a Soul Shard, which you can obtain by killing an enemy using 'Drain Soul' or 'Shadowburn.' Purchase the skill from your trainer if you haven't already.
Additional Pet and Minion Information
In raids, a Hunter's pet can be a little unruly. Tank pets can steal aggro from the main tank, which can cause wipes in the worst-case scenario. Since players also use shortcuts and unconventional paths, the pets can get stuck or even draw a horde of mobs to your location. If you're raiding, it would be prudent to leave your pet outside the dungeon for a time.
Warlock minions have no such restriction, though. They're more useful in raids for their utility. It helps that Warlocks only need Soul Shards to keep re-summoning their demon pets.
Beast Lore can tell you where to find specific creatures to tame. Although, the majority of beasts you encounter throughout your journey are tamable. Still, it's wise to consult the lore because it can also tell you what kind of food they like, among other things.
Have fun exploring Azeroth and battling enemies with your new companions!
