The Hunter class is capable of taming many of the wild beasts found in the world. In general, anything classed as a Beast can be tamed, with some exceptions. Certain beasts which are classed as Exotic require you to play Beast Mastery and have reached level 37 or above, in order to tame and use them for combat. Others require you to obtain a tome of learning, to understand how to tame them – such as Feathermanes and Gargons. What might be required to tame a certain creature depends on which family it belongs to.
Hunter Tomes
Hunter Tomes are special books for Hunters, which are used to learn the ability to tame pets from new pet families. Note that certain races may have the knowledge to tame some of these creatures by default and thus do not need that particular tome. Example: Undead/Forsaken by default know how to tame certain undead creatures.
The hunter tomes available in-game are:
- Ancient Tome of Dinomancy - Teaches how to tame Direhorns.
- Mecha-Bond Imprint Matrix - Teaches how to tame Mechanical pets.
- Tome of the Hybrid Beast - Teaches how to tame Feathermanes.
- Blood-Soaked Tome of Dark Whispers - Teaches how to tame Blood Beasts.
- Gargon Training Manual - Teaches how to tame the Gargon of Revendreth.
- How to School Your Serpent - Teaches how to tame Cloud Serpents.
- Simple Tome of Bone-Binding - Teaches how to tame Undead beasts.
Taming Challenges
Currently in-game, hunters can attempt to tame some creatures who are more challenging, often requiring special tactics in order for you to successfully befriend them. Note that the difficulty level of taming one of them depend on your own level and experience. Some were considered challenges several expansions ago but may no longer be such. A good way to find out is to look up a specific creature beforehand - unless you want to figure it out for yourself.
How to gather information about beasts – and what info is available in-game
Anyone who wish to learn more about a beast which they might want to tame, can use an ability called Beast Lore, found in the spellbook under Pet Utility. The ability requires you to target the beast in question and then press the ability, or you can press it first and then use it on any beast you mouse over. Using the ability allows you to gather information about the target beast, displaying diet, abilities, specialization, whether or not the creature is tamable, and if it is exotic.
Note that in terms of power/throughput, no pet is better than other ones. If you tame a beast that is of “Elite”-status, it will be the same for you as if you tamed any other beast in the world. This also applies to Pet Specializations(Ferocity, Tenacity, Cunning).
Diets
All beasts out in the world, once tamed, have dietary preferences where they only eat certain types of food. These different diets include the following: Bread – Cheese – Fish – Fruit – Fungus – Meat - Mechanical Bits - Raw Fish - Raw Meat. What diets a particular pet likes or not depends on which family that particular pet belongs to. All creatures that belong to the same family all like the same types of food. In the past, you needed to continuously feed your pet to keep it happy. This requirement has since been removed and nowadays, feeding your pet is only used to rapidly heal it for a large amount of health(out of combat).
Abilities
Each hunter pet family has a varied set of abilities available to use, both for combat as well as for flavour. There are several types of abilities, some are available to all families, while some are not. These abilities are divided into the following categories:
- Common abilities - Three abilities found in pets of all families.
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Core family abilities - Each family has one core ability. These are uniquely named, but there are only 6 different types.
- Defense - Auto/on-demand ability, reducing damage taken.
- Dodge - Auto/on-demand ability, increases a pet’s chance to dodge inc attacks
- Mortal Wounds - Auto/on-demand ability, the pet causes the target to gain less health from incoming heals.
- Pet Cure/Dispel - On-demand ability, the pet removes a certain harmful effect from itself.
- Slow - The pet slows the target’s movement speed.
- Triggered Defense - Allows the pet to automatically reduce its damage taken for a certain duration, whenever it gets low on health.
- Spec abilities - Each family gains two abilities from the specialization to which it belongs (Ferocity, Tenacity, Cunning). One ability is a passive effect, the other an active ability focusing on added utility.
- Exotic abilities - All families classed as Exotic gain one extra ability, unique to that family. Some examples are: Clefthooves come with Blood of the Rhino, Core Hounds come with Molten Hide, Spirit Beasts come with Spirit Mend.
- Bonus abilities - 3 families have one extra ability. Cats come with Prowl(stealth), Feathermanes come with Updraft(slows fall speed), Spirit Beasts come with Spirit Walk(same as Prowl). With patch 9.1, the Pterrordax-family also have access to the ability “Updraft”.
- Tricks - Several families can also perform a ‘trick’ - an action that is purely cosmetic. In some cases this depends on the NPC model, whether they’re able to perform a trick or not.
Pet Specializations
Ferocity, Tenacity, Cunning
Apart from Pet Family-abilities, all tamed beasts are also linked to one of 3 available specializations. These are Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning. For a while(Legion), hunters used to be able to freely switch between these specializations, but this is no longer the case. For example, Spirit Beasts are classed as Tenacity and that cannot be changed, meaning all Spirit Beasts come with the same two abilities tied to the Tenacity-specialization.
- Ferocity comes with a passive called Predator’s Thirst(Leech) and the active ability Primal Rage(Bloodlust).
- Tenacity comes with a passive called Endurance Training(Bonus health) and the active ability Survival of the Fittest(reduces damage taken).
- Cunning comes with a passive called Pathfinding(Bonus movement speed) and the active ability Master’s Call(removes movement impairing effects from the pet and a friendly target).
Two of the active abilities mentioned above that are tied to Pet Specializations require you to be at certain levels to be able to use them. Ferocity: Primal Rage – requires level 26, while Cunning: Master’s Call – requires level 28. Tenacity: Survival of the Fittest – does not have a level requirement to use, assuming you have an active pet with that ability.
At Level 22 Hunters learn an ability called “Command Pet”, which is a combo-ability that is usable no matter which pet you have active. When you use that ability it is the same as using whichever Pet Spec-ability that is currently available(Primal Rage, Survival of the Fittest, Master’s Call), it changes depending on which pet you have out.
The ability called “Pet Utility” along with “Command Pet” can both be found in your spellbook in the Hunter tab(not the tab that holds spec-specific abilities). All other abilities tied directly to your pet can be found in the spellbook for your pet which has its own separate tab at the bottom of the spellbook interface, called “Pet”.
New Hunters
As of patch 9.0.1, hunters no longer start out with a pet. Now you get your Pet Utility at level 5 as part of an introduction/tutorial. An exception to this is if you start playing as an Allied Race on your Hunter, as they begin at a higher level than normal.
Pet names and renaming a tamed beast
By default, once a pet is tamed, it starts out with a basic name – usually one that fits its family, such as “Cat” or “Boar”. This name can be changed by right-clicking on the portrait and then clicking on “Rename” in the menu that appears. Note that some creatures once tamed retain their original names from before the taming process. This only happens with special creatures that are either classed as “Rare spawns” or for other reasons have a special name.
If you tame a normal creature with a name that is the same as its family, you can rename it by following the steps described above. If you tame a special beast, you will need a specific item to be able to rename it, known as a “Certificate of Ownership” which is obtainable from an Auction House or from creating one yourself if you have Inscription as a profession. Anyone that has the profession really can craft these.
Note that if you choose to rename a beast with a special name, you might not be able to get that name back again at a later time. “Certificate of Ownership” can be used on any pet which has already been given a special name - either automatically when tamed, or manually by yourself.
Pet Stables – managing your active vs inactive pets
As you continue playing the game, you will likely encounter more and more creatures which you might want to keep. You can only have a maximum of 5 pets with you at all times, when at level 48 or above. The level-requirements to unlock how many pets you can bring with you are as follows:
- Call Pet 1: Level 5
- Call Pet 2: Level 10
- Call Pet 3: Level 17
- Call Pet 4: Level 41
- Call Pet 5: Level 48
If you find that you want more pets than what you can bring with you, you have the option to place tamed pets in a Stable which you can access by talking to a Stable Master located in a city. Engineers can also craft an item called “Interdimensional Companion Repository” which allows access to the Pet Stables from a remote location, for a limited time per use. Anyone who wishes to do so can buy and use these particular items created by Engineers.
The Pet Stables can hold up to 200 unique pets.
Beast Mastery – talent: Animal Companion
Since Battle for Azeroth, Beastmasters have a way to always have 2 pets active. This is possible due to the talent known as “Animal Companion” which you get as an option at level 15. Note that in order for you to get the pet you want as your second pet, you must visit a Stable Master in a city and then place that pet in the first slot in your stables, this because of how the talent works.
The second pet works a bit differently from your main pet. It does not benefit from any of the 3 different passive effects available through Pet Specializations(Ferocity: Predator’s Thirst, Tenacity: Endurance Training, Cunning: Pathfinding). The second pet also does not use any family-abilities nor the following Common abilities – Growl, Basic Attacks(Bite, Claw, Smack).
As of now, the Animal Companion deals damage through 4 different attacks. These are:
- Auto Attacks – As it sounds, automatic melee-swings performed by the pet(s).
- Kill Command – Core ability, requires you to use it manually.
- Beast Cleave – Activated when you use Multi-Shot, lasts for 4 seconds, causes Auto Attacks made by the Animal Companion to hit up to 5 other nearby enemies as well.
- Stomp – Optional talent choice. Triggers whenever you press the ability “Barbed Shot”, causing your pet(s) to charge to the target and then Stomp the ground.
In addition to this, when you choose the talent “Animal Companion” there is a hidden aura which takes effect, causing both your main pet and the second pet to deal 65% of normal damage each. If you do not pick this talent, your main pet deals 100% of normal damage by itself.
This hidden aura does not only affect your main pets, but it also affects other companions/beasts summoned by you. Some examples of this are the Spitting Cobra which you can summon if you have chosen the talent with the same name, as well as companions/guardians summoned when you use certain trinkets you have equipped. It is unlikely that this is working as intended but it has been present ever since the talent was first introduced.
Abandoning a pet
To get rid of a pet, right-click its portrait and select “Abandon Pet.” You cannot get an abandoned pet back, so be careful not to get rid of the wrong pet.
If you’ve come this far, thanks for reading!
Here are some additional links for further reading or if you want to look up something in particular, something that might be useful for you as a hunter/player:
#https://www.wowhead.com/
#https://www.wow-petopia.com/index.php
Worth noting is that the community can help out with additional tips regarding pets, and more. Whether you’re interested in PvE or PvP, the forums or Discord communities(Trueshot Lodge - Hunters) can answer specific questions as to what is best/useful for specific situations.
In case I’ve missed something that might be useful to know regarding Hunter pets, feel free to comment below!