Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Pets

Updated: April 18th 2009


Individual Pet Analysis

Ferocity:  Wasp  Wolf  Hyena  Moth
Cunning:  Chimaera  
Tenacity:  Gorilla  Scorpid


Note: Only Ferocity Pets can reliably crit in PvP (Spider's Bite talent), as full Resilience negates most of the 15% pet crit a BM Hunter can manage.

Ferocity: A+
   

PvP / BM PvP / PvE / BM PvE
 


  • Bloodthirsty gives your pet a 10% on attacks to increase its health and happiness by 5%, this is essential while leveling / grinding and very useful in PvP and PvE (2 points is not worth it unless to get to Heart of the Phoenix since the healing does not stack)
  • Improved Cower can work in PvP, but would have to be cast manually which makes it tough to use with the pet GCD
      • Spider's Bite is the quintessential talent of the Ferocity tree for PvP, as it allows your pet a much better chance to crit targets that have a high level of Resilience 
      • Rabid is an interesting talent but suffers from a short duration and a stacking ability; meaning, for at least half of the 20 seconds Rabid is up, it is below 5 stacks.  This ability shines in PvE, but in PvP it is not that great.
      • Lick your Wounds and Heart of the Phoenix are great survivability pet talents in PvP and PvE
        • Call of the Wild is a solid short term dps gain  
        • Shark Attack increases pet damage by 3/6%.  A very good dps talent.
        • Wild Hunt increases the contribution pets get from your Stamina by 20/40% and Attack Power by 10/20%.  Wild Hunt is slightly better than Shark Attack dps wise, and the pet gets more health.


        Tenacity: B-

        PvP
          
         

        • Roar of Sacrifice is the main selling point for having a Tenacity pet in PvP; your pet absorbs 30% of the damage done to you
        • Blood of the Rhino is a major bonus in helping to keep our pets alive, especially since with Roar of Sacrifice your pet will be taking damage even if they are not being specifically targeted (although Mend Pet is still not really enough if your pet is being fully targeted, a pocket healer would be required)
        • Grace of the Mantis is a mini Resilience talent that can help in PvE and PvP
        • Last Stand might be useful in PvP if it didn't require 3 points in Avoidance
        • Intervene is tough ability to use as it requires a certain distance (8-25 yards) from the target.  If used properly can be a very nice ability.


        Cunning: B+ 
           
        PvP / BM PvP
          
         
        • Best mobility since dash is always up with 2/2 in Mobility
        • Owl's Focus is not very helpful since every build incorporates Go for the Throat
        • Carrion Feeder is actually not as bad as I first believed it to be.  It restores 800 happiness and 11,088 health over 4 ticks (the health may be dependent on your pets total health).  Your pet is channeling during this time.
        • Cornered (2/2) gives your pet 50% damage & 60% less likely to be crit on when your pet is below 35% health, which really isn't that often unless your pet is dead
        • Feeding Frenzy (2/2) is a 16% boost in pet damage when the target falls below 35% health, it lasts 10 seconds making it a pretty decent talent for PvE and PvP
        • Wolverine Bite is decent vs. Rogues & Druids, without BW or Kill Command on it hits for 500 and crits for 1000 on a 70 Rogue (BW makes it hit for 750 and crit for 1500), but its not that great vs other classes
          • Roar of Recovery suffers from a 3 min cooldown and low mana recovery, but its still semi-decent in PvP and PvE since mana is very important
          • Bullheaded also suffers from a long cooldown, but it can be auto-cast which is very nice (although it does not automatically break Blind for some unknown reason, even though it can break it)

          • Roar of Sacrifice is a nice addition to the Cunning tree making it worthwhile in PvP
                     

                20 comments:

                Anonymous said...

                Love the website. I think the devilsaur should be moved to the Tenacity tree (with its monstrous bite skill intact). With pet families being equalized and the devilsaur currently being a lame choice for ferocity (second to cats and raptors in pve and poor utility in pvp), I think it would be the perfect fix for this exotic pet.

                Unknown said...

                Please Update this to 3.1 =D

                David said...

                It's next on my to do list. Over the next few days I plan to update this page.

                Chad said...

                Love the website, but I was wonering if we could get some updated opinions on pet specific pet abilities, such as the croc 'bad attitude.' Once again, love the site, keep up the good work.

                Anonymous said...

                Hey

                question, ive always wanted to know why are ferocity pets the main choice for PVEing (and i mean while levelling from 1-80)???
                I have been using my pet boar... im level 53 now and i have upgraded so far mainly his tanking talents in the tenacity tree (stamina and the like and thunderstomp)... Sure they probably dont kill as fast as ferocity pets, but they hold aggro so beautifully.. against elites or whatever.. and still killing doesnt take that long at all really??

                Do ferocity pets hold aggro better?? they are much weaker too....

                would love an answer. :) .. also your talent tree for tenacity pets... do you have one for a PVE spec??

                Thanks again :)

                David said...

                Tenacity pets are fine for leveling. But so are Cunning and Ferocity.

                Tenacity pets do hold the best aggro. They are also the easiest to heal up and take the least damage.

                Ferocity pets do the most damage and slightly heal themselves while they are attacking. They can also be instant rezzed every 10 minutes.

                Cunning pets kind of get the shaft but are merely okay. But since leveling isn't really that difficult, Cunning pets can still fair well.

                Anonymous said...

                Hm well decided to switch to a bear, swipe + thunderstomp rocks!! (except when enemies are hitting the bear from behind :P).. although the rage cons can be pretty high because i got charge+thunderstomp+swipe+taunt all on auto...

                dunno if this is the way to go?

                David said...

                Yeah, sounds fine.

                Unknown said...

                i love this site. Ei Shaedon by any chance do you have any updates for the pet talents, im trying to do a MM PvE for the latest patch but it seems that i cant find a good talent tree for my bear...

                David said...

                Well, for PvE Hunters usually tend to stick with Ferocity, as it has the most damage potential. Why do you use a bear?

                Unknown said...

                Well basically i have wolf, but sometimes its hard to kill some elites if im using that pet, i try to chose bear coz they said thats its good for "tanking" and its a lot tougher... i just dont know the characteristic of Tenacity and Ferocious...

                David said...

                For solo pve, a turtle is really nice for solo'ing elites. A bear is probably 2nd best, holds better aoe aggro, but worse at tanking high dmg.

                For raid pve, you'll probably want a ferocity pet for max dmg.

                Unknown said...

                ahhhh ok.... thanks again which is much better though in raids is it MM PVE or BM PVE? i tried solo'ing on my BM with my wolf and i did good... oh yeah im just wonderin if whats ur rotation in MM? my apologies if i ask to much question lol...

                David said...

                Haven't really been raiding recently. I'm guessing Marks is still king in PvE, but BM is better than it used to be.

                I would just try both out and see what style you like playing more.

                As for the Marks rotation, its basically throw up Serpent Sting and blow Chimera Shot whenever it is up. Throw in Arcane and Arcane Shot when you can, and then fire Steady Shot when you have dead time. That's just the basics though.

                Anonymous said...

                What's your pvp pet Bm?
                P.s fantastic site!

                David said...

                My pvp pet is mainly a Core Hound at the moment. I also sometimes use my Wasp or Chimaera.

                itgrowls said...

                theres an easy way to get around the whole can't cast pet abilities because of focus in pvp. the shot rotation on a bm hunter should include aimed shot for pvp. macros can cast a hunter ability and a pet ability at the same time in most cases at least they do on my rig. so each of my shots is cast with a pet ability in order to maximize dps. i pve only but im sure it could be modified to be used for pvp too. SSt + Cotw, SS + rabid, AS + furocious bite (have a dino) etc etc. theres even macros for using certain buttons when casting on the button bar.

                Anonymous said...

                Your website is very useful. Also very detailed in your descriptions of talents and glyphs, big help.

                I was wondering what your thoughts were on a core hound as your pvp pet? I am doing pretty well with him, but was wondering if i should stay with my cat.

                David said...

                Currently, a core hound is probably better than a cat. A cat would only be more useful against rogue teams (help keep the rogue from restealthing).

                In the future with the Cunning tree getting a small buff with the Wolverine Bite change I see a Chimaera as a very popular pet again. This would be especially true when pets scale with most of our stats (crit chance).

                Wulfhelm said...

                I don't see anything about Silithids. They are extremely tough. The stinging web will catch ALL characters, even the baddest bosses will be caught in it. It also has very high health...which translates into higher health for the hunter as well. Try one and you will see why 'I' think it is the best pet you can have for business. All others are just for show.