Hunter Pets Guide for Vanilla World of Warcraft
Class We get this question at least once a day on the forums: "What is the best pet?" The answer is complicated and it's silly to be saying "it depends" all the time, and tiresome to continually point people at Petopia, so I thought I'd make this thread to lay the question to rest. It's a culmination of data drawn from experience, the data collection of the Good Intentions Guild and Petopia, and the input of the many hunters on this forum. Hopefully, it will finally be some kind of definitive response to the question, "I've got this new spell, now what should I tame?"
The answer, as so many do, begins with another question: What kind of pet do you want? Hunter pets break down into three basic categories.
Tank pets take a lot of hits without flinching, while you lay on the damage. They're a good choice for leveling, because they don't have much problem surviving long battles or adds.
DPS pets deal more damage than other pets but tend to be a little flimsy. They're nearly a must-have for serious PvPers, because in PvP people don't really attack your pets, so their tanking function is basically moot and you want to squeeze out as much damage as you can.
Middle-of-the-road pets are pretty sturdy and decent damage-dealers, but not exceptional at either. They're good pets for players who ask a lot of different things from them - solo PvE one day, guild Warsong game the next - and need them to perform well whenever.
Keep in mind that these are general inclinations, not hard and fast laws. An owl can tank perfectly well if you spec it for that - it's just that it will never be able to take quite as much punishment as a tank-specced bear. That's important so I'll say it again: The difference between different classes of pet is less than 5%, so the most important thing is to find something that suits your playstyle, that's easy for you to feed and that you don't mind looking at.
MY OVERALL, BROAD SWEEPING RECS
If you don't have the patience to consider all the info I'm about to dump on you and then pick your own pet, here's my advice.
If you want something that will take a beating for you while you do all the damage, get a bear or a boar.
If you want something that will chew off faces in PvP, get a cat. Probably the Rake, Broken Tooth or a Frostsaber Cat, depending on your level.
If you want something that will do pretty well in any situation, get a wolf or a vulture.
SOME INITIAL CONCERNS
There used to be two other things we worried about when choosing a pet - attack speed and pursuit speed. Pursuit speed has been negated by the 1.8 patch, so if you care if your pet can catch something, all you should look at is the ability to learn Dive/Dash. If you're a serious PvPer this is a skill you MUST have.
Attack speed is still around, though, at least for now, and here's what it means. Most pets attack at 2.0. Some, mostly cats, have faster attack speeds, making them great for caster interrupts in PvP. There is a school of thought, however, that favors 2.0 attack cats, because Prowl multiplies the first hit the cat makes out of stealth, and a slower cat gains a greater bonus from this.
A BREAKDOWN OF THE SEVENTEEN FAMILIES OF PET
The following sections owe a great debt to Bamoo and Mania of Petopia, whence much of this information is drawn. Their dedication and generosity in gathering and sharing pet data with the hunter community is humbling and awesome. Some data is also taken from the Good Intentions Guild, who also rock.
Health: At 60. "High" is around 3300, "medium" around 3000, and "low" around 2800. Remember that magic ignores armor, so health may be more important to your tank or raid pet than armor.
Armor: At 60. "High" is around 3900, "medium" around 3700, and "low" around 3500.
DPS: At 60. "High" is around 54, "medium" around 50, and "low" around 47.
Diet: The more things a pet eats, the easier it is to feed, particularly at low levels when getting an appropriate vendor is hard. Meat, fish and bread are the easiest foods to come by, in that order, because meat drops and most innkeepers sell it, fish can be fished, and bread can be conjured. Fungus is very hard to find Alliance side, cheese is fairly rare Horde side, and fruit in general is rare.
Abilities: Of Dash/Dive, Bite and Claw, what this pet can learn (all pets can learn Growl and Cower).
Family ability: The special attack only this type of pet can learn.
Special mobs: Any members of this family that stand out from the rest, for one reason or another.
When and where do I tame my pets at?
Although I do not have a complete list with me, I can reference you to a guide that strategically tells you what pets to tame and when to tame pets with the famous hunter leveling guide by Mancow, you can get it here for a small price, I think it's well worth it in my opinion.
TANK PETS
Bears
Health: High
Armor: Medium
DPS: Low
Diet: Bread, cheese, fish, fruit, fungus, meat
Abilities: Bite, claw
Family ability: None to date
Bears are a classic tank choice. The ability to learn both bite and claw means they can generate more hate than their low base DPS suggests, and there's nothing you can carry that they won't eat. They're also available at pretty much every level of the game, making them easy to pick up at any time. Their main weakness is the lack of Dash, and they're still waiting on a defining ability. Also, if you care about that sort of thing, their animations are pathetic. No idles, no sitting, and their jaws never close. Go ask a druid friend to take his form, and get a look at his face. Yeah, bears look like that.
Special mobs: In Winterspring lives the white bear Ursius, with an amazingly slow 2.4 attack speed, and even slower are the young forest bears of Elwynn at 2.5. This means a pet that hits less often but for bigger crits, which can make for better aggro control. Thanks to Bram and Durex for this tip.
If you really like the white bear look and can't wait 'till Winterspring, there are two white bears in Dun Morogh - Mangeclaw, a level 11 quest mob on a maybe 40 second respawn timer, and Bjarn, a level 12 rare spawn. If you're Horde this is one hell of a long walk, good luck.
Boars
Health: Medium-high (baseline +4%)
Armor: Medium-high (baseline +4%)
DPS: Low
Diet: Bread, cheese, fish, fruit, fungus, meat
Abilities: Bite, Dash
Family ability: Charge
Boars are the fast tank. Both charge and dash let them pick up the pace to catch or pre-empt an opponent, and the AP bonus from charge can provide a nice opener. There's a lot to be said for a pet who can root your foe anywhere you want. Their broad diet is another nice plus. And if you want a unique pet, boars are completely unique among beasts for their medium-high armor and medium-high health. Auzduk would also like me to remind you that boars have more idle animations than average and generally show a fair amount of personality, comparable to tallstriders, wolves or cats (although like most pets, they don't have a swimming animation).
Special mobs: In Razorfen Kraul, there are a particular set of boars which wear armor. This is just a visual thing, it doesn't actually affect their stats at all, but many hunters find the idea of an armored boar really damn cool, and they can be pretty imposing at higher levels. These are the Rotting, Raging, and Plain-Old Agam'ar boars.
Crabs
Health: Low
Armor: High
DPS: Medium
Diet: Bread, fish
Abilities: Claw
Family ability: None to date
Crabs are rare, but have a few things to recommend them. They hold their own well in a fight with Claw and moderate DPS. They're very easy to feed if you like fishing, and they have a low profile making them easier to see over in combat. Plus they're huge at 60, which is kind of nifty to see. Their low health makes them less effective defensively against casters, though, and they suffer from a lack of distinctive abilities and relative world rarity.
Special mobs: All crabs are created equal. The only restriction to picking one up is that you should try to do so by your mid-40s, as they disappear from the gameworld at that point.
Crocolisks
Health: Low
Armor: High
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fish, meat
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: None to date
You won't see many hunters with crocs, and it's mostly for one reason: they make this noise, sort of a broken-vacuum-y rasp, ALL THE TIME. It's like this CONSTANT Darth Vader-cum-Iron Lung thing following you around. Most hunters hate it, and those who don't mind often get grief from raid buddies who do. If you don't mind it, though, you've got a unique pet with a low profile and a nasty bite.
Special mobs: Crocs all have the same stats after taming. However, there is a white croc skin found only in three places: the Wailing Caverns, on a rare in Dustwallow, and on a simply huge creature called the Sewer Beast, a level 50 croc who lives in the Stormwind Canal. No seriously. He's very, very rare, but a great deal of fun to tame, because hey, you've tamed a croc that grew to enormous size in the sewers, and how many hunters can say that?
Gorillas
Health: High
Armor: Low
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: Thunderstomp
Gorillas are a late-level pet, not showing up until STV. They're unusually good tanks due to their AoE and medium DPS, and can often hold a group of mobs against a Volley or Multishot. They also have more animations than average, which annoys some and pleases others. Con-wise, their diet is a pain in the ass, but the biggest drawback IMO? You can't tame A-Me, the quest robot gorilla in Un'Goro. How cool would that be? CYBER-APE OF DOOM!
Special mobs: There aren't any really special apes, apart from A-me, who as I said you can't tame. /sad But worthy of note is the red-skinned U'cha, a named quest mob found in a cave in Un'goro crater. I bring him up because he's the highest-level ape in the game, and not a huge hassle for a 60 hunter who decides she wants some simian artillery, and because he's not mentioned on Petopia, so those who stop looking there might miss him.
Scorpids
Health: Medium
Armor: High
DPS: Low
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Claw
Family ability: Scorpid poison
The big thing to be aware of with scorpids is scorpid poison, which will break crowd control and keep things chasing you longer than they otherwise would, should you choose to run. A low profile and some very slick skins make this a visually enticing choice, however.
Special mobs: Death Flayer, a scorpid in Durotar, has a fast 1.6 attack speed. If you're Alliance and interested in him, or any other scorpid at that level, you're in for a bit of a hike, as they live in mostly Horde areas until the 30s.
Tallstriders
Health: High
Armor: Low
DPS: Medium
Diet: Cheese, fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite, dash
Family ability: None to date
The key to the tallstrider is dash. They're fast and durable, with medium DPS to keep the attention of your enemies. They also have some neat idle animations and some bright, attractive skins. On the flip side, they suffer from an annoying diet and a lack of a family ability.
Special mobs: Tallstriders have a couple of interesting variations. There are two unique skins, the bright pink flamingo-like Mazzranache of Mulgore and the blue and orange Clutchmother in Darkshore. People may warn you off Mazz, but it means they missed the last patch - he used to have a slower-than-normal pursuit speed, but pet pursuit has been normalized so have no fear about picking him up. Also worth checking out are Ornery Plainstriders, which dwell in the Barrens and enjoy a 1.3 attack speed.
Turtles
Health: Medium
Armor: High
DPS: Low
Diet: Fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: Shell shield
Turtles are durable, and shell shield gives them that last extra bit of life against a particularly brutal opponent or when you need them to off-tank for just a few seconds more (although if you're going to use that skill, please wait until 1.10. Trust me). And who doesn't love to say "chelonian"? But there are a few things to keep in mind. Turtles are bigger than you think they are, and can block your view, and though their listed DPS isn't meaningfully lower than a scorpid's or a boar's, they don't have charge or poison to make up the difference. This means they can have trouble keeping a mob's attention, especially if you use shell shield.
Special mobs: A turtle is a turtle is a turtle. For now, there are no unusual chelonians, not even a unique skin (see, I told you "chelonian" is fun to say).
DPS PETS
Bats
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite, dive
Family ability: Screech
Bats are often considered a good PvP pet. Screech is a useful debuff to have when you're flapping over the flag where everyone's clustered, and many players enjoy the large obstruction to visibility caused by the wingspan and hover height of this pet.
Special Mobs: The bat family has one great hero: the Bloodseeker Bat, a resident of Zul'Gurub. With a blazing 1.0 attack speed and a lighting fast pursuit speed, this was once the must-have beast for endgame PvP. Since the speed normalization, he chases only as fast as Dive can take him, but his attack speed remains and is nothing to sneer at.
Cats
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Fish, meat
Abilities: Bite, claw, dash
Family ability: Prowl
Cats are a perennial favorite, and looking at their stats it's easy to see why. They can learn more abilities than any other pet by picking up all three of the general abilities. They dish out a lot of damage and are easy to feed. Prowl appeals to night elves who can shadowmeld along with their pets, and even to other hunters who just want to feign dead and take a quick bathroom break undetected. And visually, cats offer more selection than any other family, with detailed body renderings, dozens of skins, natural and varied animations, and several models. The only reason not to choose a cat, apart from RP reasons, is that everyone has one, if that's the sort of thing that bothers you, and a lot of players, particularly other hunters, will give you a lot of crap with "oh, another moonstalker. How nice."
Special mobs: Wow, there are so many cats of note I'm hardly sure where to start. Most famous is Broken Tooth, the badlands cougar with the incredible 1.0 attack speed. Then there's the Rake, a level 10 Mulgore lion who clocks at 1.2, and Humar, the unique and beautiful black lion of the Barrens with a 1.3 attack speed. Then there're Echeyakee and Sian-Rotam, who share the otherwise unique luminescent white lion skin. Araga, a cougar in the Alterac Mountains, has a unique skin as well. And finally, in Winterspring you'll find Rak'Shiri, Shy-Rotam and Frostsaber Pride Watchers, which have a 1.5 attack, unusual skins, and the same high-shouldered mesh as the night elves' mounts. Shy-Rotam and Echeyakee are both spawned only by Horde-exclusive quests, so it can be a bit of a coup for an Alliance player to have one.
Owls
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Claw, dive
Family ability: Screech
Owls, much like bats, are valued for their ability to get in people's way in PvP. They're also a popular choice because they're simply quite beautiful, even though there are only two skins. They're also oddly rare in the gameworld for about thirty levels, living in Teldrassil at less then ten and then not appearing again until Felwood in the forties. Thus, an owl is a sign of some prestige for young Horde hunters, who have to travel to the most protected place in Azeroth to get one.
Special mobs: The only unique owl is Olm the Wise. He's just an ordinary owl after taming, but it can be kind of entertaining to do so, as he has membership with the Cenarion Circle. You must be "at war" with them in order to tame him (which doesn't hurt your rep with them). Name him Olm and parade him in front of the druids, just for fun.
Raptors
Health: Low
Armor: Medium
DPS: High
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Bite, claw
Family ability: None to date
No one is quite sure why raptors don't have Dash, but so long as that's true, they'll remain less popular than cats. Still, if you want to rip something to shreds, the raptor will serve you well, with high DPS and the capacity to learn both bite and claw. They also seem to have a modicum of draconic intelligence, since most of them wear jewelry. I find this weird, and it's the reason I've never had one. The only real reason to recommend against them, though, is that they're a little flimsier than other DPS choices due to a low health.
Special mobs: Takk the Leaper is a sleek raptor in the Barrens with a mostly unique black skin (it's also found on raptors in WC). He used to be prized for his fast pursuit speed, but since normalization, he's just another raptor.
Spiders
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: None to date
Spiders have only marginally less visual variation than cats, with "spindly" and "furry" variations and brilliant, colorful skins. Despite a lack of combat abilities, they can actually be an unexpectedly strong asset in PvP. First, spire spiderlings have a 1.5 attack, good for casters, but more because the spindly spiders look so damn real that they do freak out players who are IRL afraid of spiders, and can throw them off their game. I've seen it happen. Of course the flip side is, having the thing with you all the time might freak you out a bit. Not a pet for the phobic.
Special mobs: There are two spiders of note. The Spire Spiderling, in Blackrock Spire, has a fast 1.5 attack speed, and a startling blue skin found only on one other spider. The level 27 Naraxis, of Duskwood, is a spindly creature with a unique red skin.
Windserpents
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Bread, cheese, fish
Abilities: Bite, dive
Family ability: Lightning breath
Windserpents are sort of an odd man out, when it comes to hunter pets. They have this ranged attack that isn't really ranged, because they can't stand next to you and spit. They're widely believed to be "weak" - this is partly true, because most wind serpents seem to suffer from what Petopia calls "caster stats" - a pet with above-average Int and Spirit but unusually low Stamina and Strength. And then there are the sons of Hakkar, which change skins every time you summon them (although there's a possibility that this behavior will be changed in an upcoming patch). Altogether they're a generally weird pet.
But they do have the ability to attack from range, something available to no other pet. And they're flying snakes. So they're not a pet without substantial merit. Just do yourself a favor, and before you tame one, swing by Petopia and make sure it doesn't have caster stats.
Special mobs: As I mentioned, keep an eye out for the Sons of Hakkar found in Zul'Gurub. Every time you summon them they'll have a different skin. Another nice catch from Wailing Caverns is the Deviate Dreadfang, with its unique "black" skin (it's blue, but people call it black, because they're odd, and because Bliz did it first when they named the skin file).
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD PETS
Carrion birds
Health: Medium
Armor: Medium
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fish, meat
Abilities: Bite, claw, dive
Family ability: Screech
Carrion birds are widely and wildly underrated. They have that vision-obstruction thing going on, which can be good or bad, depending on your perspective, and the fish in their diet makes caring for them much easier. More pertinent, they, in my opinion, take the best advantage of Screech. Screech causes massive aggro in the mobs that it hits, making it effectively an AoE taunt, and the carrion bird, with its higher armor, is the most equipped of the fliers to handle that. With both Claw and Bite, they can put out a lot of damage, which equals more aggro and faster mob death. The blue one's not bad-looking either.
Special mobs: The most underrated pet in the game in my opinion is the overlooked Spiteflayer. A 1.2 attack speed carrion bird, she can learn claw, bite, dive, and screech, obstruct the opposition's view, fly harmlessly over lava, and take a sound beating without even blinking. Yeah, she's kind of ugly, but even that can be a plus, if you're a hordie who wants to keep that "savage" flavor.
Hyenas
Health: Medium
Armor: Medium
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fruit, meat
Abilities: Bite, dash
Family ability: None to date
The hyena is fairly unremarkable, just an average critter with no family skill. However, it has both sounds and visuals that might recommend it to the aesthete who's not after the min/max - there are white, black, purple and red hyenas, and they have a kind of cool little laugh. I'd like them more if they had a realistic diet (as in, eating not just your food but your armor, too, if you want to feed it to 'em).
Special mobs: For a unique red skin and a 1.5 attack, try taming a scarlet tracking hound out of Scarlet Monastary. Or look up Ravager, a level 51 purple hyena, and enjoy a 1.3 attack speed pet.
Wolves
Health: Medium
Armor: Medium
DPS: Medium
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Bite, dash
Family ability: Furious howl
Saved the best for last. =)
Not really, but wolves are my personal pick. They have as many rich animations and as complex a model rendering as cats, they're fast when they need to be, and furious howl is IMO the best ability in the pack (partly because, right now, it causes a bit of AoE aggro, although this may be a bug). Also, after cats, they have the widest variety of <2.0 attack speeds, so at almost any level, you can pick up a pet that will serve you well in the wild and in the occasional battleground between quests. And they DANCE! (Although you do need a shaman friend or an MPQ reader to witness that).
Special mobs: There are several special wolves out there. I should touch on Snarler; this snazzy black rare was the first big-name hunter pet, because he had high innate magical resistance which he retained once trained. Bliz patched that out pretty quick, but he's still a good-looking dog (although a vilebranch raiding wolf looks the same, attacks at 1.7, and isn't on an insane spawn timer). Ghostpaw alphas are another strong choice, with a 1.3 attack speed and pre-trained Bite and Furious Howl. Deathmaw, and his much younger cousins the slavering worgs, at 1.2 attack, are the fastest attacking wolf, and any canine afficianado will eventually have to tame the bloodaxe worg found in Blackrock Spire, as it's the only source of Bite 8 and Furious Howl 4.
One other wolf to know about is Lupos, a rare Duskwood spawn. In the wild, his bite does shadow damage (which ignores damage reduction from armor). This made him a great PvP pet, unexpectedly deadly to warriors and pallies used to ignoring our furry/scaly/feathered or chitinous friends. He was normalized with pet speed, though, and now deals physical damage after taming.
OKAY, STILL NOT HELPFUL.
Right, then. Your Very First Pet:
Get a bear or a boar.
Seriously, ignore those scorpids and moonstalkers and lions and raptors and pretty white snow leopards. They're nothing but trouble. You're level 10. You're buying arrows and getting three silver a quest turn-in. You don't have cash to be spending on pet food. You want something that you can feed that spider meat or the sunfish you just pulled out of the river or the tasty muffins you got as a quest reward that you'll never ever eat, anything you can find.
Actually if you want the snow leopard grab it now, because you do not want to be leveling it up later. But for a transitory pet, the most important thing for a low-level hunter is the convenience of the omnivorous diet.
AND FOR MY SECOND PET?
Okay, let's talk stable slots.
We only get two. Theoretically, this means three pets - two stabled, one active, right? Well, theory's nice and all, but that's not how it works. In actuality, a couple things cut down on our ability to play World of Pokemon:
In order to learn a new rank of a pet ability, you have to train it off a pet in the wild. In order to train a pet in the wild, you must currently have no pet. Ergo, if i rather like my Feral Nightsaber, and don't want to lose him, but i need to teach him the next rank of Bite, i have to stick him in the stable and go find a spider or something.
So, until you've learned every rank of every active ability, you're effectively limited to two permanent pets, since you need that last slot free for temporary teaching trains.
Another thing to keep in mind is that leveling pets is a pain in the ass. Every time you ding you have to wait for your pet to catch up, and if there's a large level gap, you can spend hours upon hours, sometimes days at high levels, trying to close it. And pets in the stable gain no XP, so if you travel with your boar for a week or so, your owl's going to fall a few levels behind. By the time you've gotten him caught up, your boar will be lagging. It is possible to keep two pets at the same level as yourself, but not if you have any interest in your own speedy advancement and fight mostly yellow or harder mobs.
--A Quick Note on Pet Leveling--
Pets do not gain XP from quest turn-ins or from exploring new areas. I don't have any conclusive data on whether or not they gain the bonus group XP or bonus XP from a rested state. What this means is don't quest, don't explore, and just to be safe, don't get too rested if you don't want to outstrip a pet you're trying to level.
HOWEVER if the pet is far behind you, you probably will want to travel with a group, because a pet at less than about 90% of your level is nearly useless when soloing, particularly as you get close to 60.
Happiness at least is easy to get up quickly, though - just do a little BG. It seems pets gain 1000 happiness on every rez in the BGs. Hello loyalty!
--End Quick Note on Pet Leveling--
Alright, Meen, so you're telling me I'm looking at two pets?
Yes!
Well, no.
I reccomend sticking to just one pet, until at least level 40. Despite the different categories of pet, all pets are essentially face-chewing tanks. With Beastmastery spec, in particular, any pet used properly is a strong PvE ally who will beat on things and get beat on while you advance through the game. Very fast. Stick to one pet, and you'll never have to worry about retraining loyalty, having the wrong kind of food in your pack, or forgetting how you should be using your pet's special attack.
The exception to this is, if you're a serious PvPer, you're going to want more than one pet. A pet fully optimized for PvP is not typically an effective PvE pet. I'll give you an example.
Once upon a time, I decided I wanted in on this PvP scene. I was level 53 at the time, and had a ghostpaw alpha, my wolf main, and broken tooth, my trusty pvp cat. Both were level 52, as I'd been making an effort towards that. I did some quests in Un'Goro with my wolf, who had my typical PvE generalist spec - health, FH, bite, dash, some nature and fire resist - and we solo'd a devilsaur, just for kicks. The 54+ one, not the 53+, I believe.
I came back when my puppy dinged to level up my cat. This is BT with full PvP spec - max shadow and nature resists, full suite of damaging abilities and prowl. In other words, a literal paper tiger and didn't even know growl. This cat is a red beast of DOOM in PvP specced like that, but the devilsaur would have wiped the crater with our ass. We stuck to greens and yellows, and I stayed on mostly autoshot to avoid pulling aggro.
The point of the story is, if you love PvP, and want to do BG from level 10, by all means, use your second stable slot.
Once you hit the endgame, you're likely to want more pets, however. Full raids are a different ballgame than normal PvE, and require more focused specs. For example, the pet I take to Molten Core has full Fire Resist and an armor boost, neither of which I'd ever spend the training points on with a generalist pet. That boar's never seeing the inside of Alterac Valley, that's for sure, but neither would I take him to Blackwing Lair. I've got my wolf with high shadow resist for that. If you're doing more than one instance at once, like trying to learn MC at the same time as Zul'Gurub, and you do Arathi Basin on weekends, you'll probably find yourself making use of all three available pet slots.
In the endgame, then, what's a good second pet? Well, a wolf is perhaps the quintissential raiding pet, and I'm not just saying them because they're my favorite. Pets, particularly for non-BM hunters, are pretty outclassed by real boss fights. A good tactic is to have your wolf sit right by your side and make a macro that ties Furious Howl to Multishot (both on the same 10 second timer). Particularly if you're standing near other hunters, over the course of the raid this can add up to very decent DPS.
Boars are a nice choice as well. They have the fortitude to get in there and dps for a bit with the proper buffs and resists, but more uniquely, they're great at squishy rescue. When a mob peels off from the crowd and attacks your priest, your boar can charge and root it, giving your priest time to step back and stand safely until your tank can get there. And they eat bread. This saves you a LOT of money and means you can toss them into any old fight, because any time they get unhappy you ask your mage buddy for some food.
Windserpents finish off the best raider troika for me, because of their flight and ranged attack. They'll never run through the lava because of poorly programmed pet pathing, and when melee is just too dangerous, you can still send them in close enough for two lightning breaths and then recall them to safety until their focus comes back. Plus THEY EAT BREAD. See above.
The answer, as so many do, begins with another question: What kind of pet do you want? Hunter pets break down into three basic categories.
Tank pets take a lot of hits without flinching, while you lay on the damage. They're a good choice for leveling, because they don't have much problem surviving long battles or adds.
DPS pets deal more damage than other pets but tend to be a little flimsy. They're nearly a must-have for serious PvPers, because in PvP people don't really attack your pets, so their tanking function is basically moot and you want to squeeze out as much damage as you can.
Middle-of-the-road pets are pretty sturdy and decent damage-dealers, but not exceptional at either. They're good pets for players who ask a lot of different things from them - solo PvE one day, guild Warsong game the next - and need them to perform well whenever.
Keep in mind that these are general inclinations, not hard and fast laws. An owl can tank perfectly well if you spec it for that - it's just that it will never be able to take quite as much punishment as a tank-specced bear. That's important so I'll say it again: The difference between different classes of pet is less than 5%, so the most important thing is to find something that suits your playstyle, that's easy for you to feed and that you don't mind looking at.
MY OVERALL, BROAD SWEEPING RECS
If you don't have the patience to consider all the info I'm about to dump on you and then pick your own pet, here's my advice.
If you want something that will take a beating for you while you do all the damage, get a bear or a boar.
If you want something that will chew off faces in PvP, get a cat. Probably the Rake, Broken Tooth or a Frostsaber Cat, depending on your level.
If you want something that will do pretty well in any situation, get a wolf or a vulture.
SOME INITIAL CONCERNS
There used to be two other things we worried about when choosing a pet - attack speed and pursuit speed. Pursuit speed has been negated by the 1.8 patch, so if you care if your pet can catch something, all you should look at is the ability to learn Dive/Dash. If you're a serious PvPer this is a skill you MUST have.
Attack speed is still around, though, at least for now, and here's what it means. Most pets attack at 2.0. Some, mostly cats, have faster attack speeds, making them great for caster interrupts in PvP. There is a school of thought, however, that favors 2.0 attack cats, because Prowl multiplies the first hit the cat makes out of stealth, and a slower cat gains a greater bonus from this.
A BREAKDOWN OF THE SEVENTEEN FAMILIES OF PET
The following sections owe a great debt to Bamoo and Mania of Petopia, whence much of this information is drawn. Their dedication and generosity in gathering and sharing pet data with the hunter community is humbling and awesome. Some data is also taken from the Good Intentions Guild, who also rock.
Health: At 60. "High" is around 3300, "medium" around 3000, and "low" around 2800. Remember that magic ignores armor, so health may be more important to your tank or raid pet than armor.
Armor: At 60. "High" is around 3900, "medium" around 3700, and "low" around 3500.
DPS: At 60. "High" is around 54, "medium" around 50, and "low" around 47.
Diet: The more things a pet eats, the easier it is to feed, particularly at low levels when getting an appropriate vendor is hard. Meat, fish and bread are the easiest foods to come by, in that order, because meat drops and most innkeepers sell it, fish can be fished, and bread can be conjured. Fungus is very hard to find Alliance side, cheese is fairly rare Horde side, and fruit in general is rare.
Abilities: Of Dash/Dive, Bite and Claw, what this pet can learn (all pets can learn Growl and Cower).
Family ability: The special attack only this type of pet can learn.
Special mobs: Any members of this family that stand out from the rest, for one reason or another.
When and where do I tame my pets at?
Although I do not have a complete list with me, I can reference you to a guide that strategically tells you what pets to tame and when to tame pets with the famous hunter leveling guide by Mancow, you can get it here for a small price, I think it's well worth it in my opinion.
TANK PETS
Bears
Health: High
Armor: Medium
DPS: Low
Diet: Bread, cheese, fish, fruit, fungus, meat
Abilities: Bite, claw
Family ability: None to date
Bears are a classic tank choice. The ability to learn both bite and claw means they can generate more hate than their low base DPS suggests, and there's nothing you can carry that they won't eat. They're also available at pretty much every level of the game, making them easy to pick up at any time. Their main weakness is the lack of Dash, and they're still waiting on a defining ability. Also, if you care about that sort of thing, their animations are pathetic. No idles, no sitting, and their jaws never close. Go ask a druid friend to take his form, and get a look at his face. Yeah, bears look like that.
Special mobs: In Winterspring lives the white bear Ursius, with an amazingly slow 2.4 attack speed, and even slower are the young forest bears of Elwynn at 2.5. This means a pet that hits less often but for bigger crits, which can make for better aggro control. Thanks to Bram and Durex for this tip.
If you really like the white bear look and can't wait 'till Winterspring, there are two white bears in Dun Morogh - Mangeclaw, a level 11 quest mob on a maybe 40 second respawn timer, and Bjarn, a level 12 rare spawn. If you're Horde this is one hell of a long walk, good luck.
Boars
Health: Medium-high (baseline +4%)
Armor: Medium-high (baseline +4%)
DPS: Low
Diet: Bread, cheese, fish, fruit, fungus, meat
Abilities: Bite, Dash
Family ability: Charge
Boars are the fast tank. Both charge and dash let them pick up the pace to catch or pre-empt an opponent, and the AP bonus from charge can provide a nice opener. There's a lot to be said for a pet who can root your foe anywhere you want. Their broad diet is another nice plus. And if you want a unique pet, boars are completely unique among beasts for their medium-high armor and medium-high health. Auzduk would also like me to remind you that boars have more idle animations than average and generally show a fair amount of personality, comparable to tallstriders, wolves or cats (although like most pets, they don't have a swimming animation).
Special mobs: In Razorfen Kraul, there are a particular set of boars which wear armor. This is just a visual thing, it doesn't actually affect their stats at all, but many hunters find the idea of an armored boar really damn cool, and they can be pretty imposing at higher levels. These are the Rotting, Raging, and Plain-Old Agam'ar boars.
Crabs
Health: Low
Armor: High
DPS: Medium
Diet: Bread, fish
Abilities: Claw
Family ability: None to date
Crabs are rare, but have a few things to recommend them. They hold their own well in a fight with Claw and moderate DPS. They're very easy to feed if you like fishing, and they have a low profile making them easier to see over in combat. Plus they're huge at 60, which is kind of nifty to see. Their low health makes them less effective defensively against casters, though, and they suffer from a lack of distinctive abilities and relative world rarity.
Special mobs: All crabs are created equal. The only restriction to picking one up is that you should try to do so by your mid-40s, as they disappear from the gameworld at that point.
Crocolisks
Health: Low
Armor: High
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fish, meat
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: None to date
You won't see many hunters with crocs, and it's mostly for one reason: they make this noise, sort of a broken-vacuum-y rasp, ALL THE TIME. It's like this CONSTANT Darth Vader-cum-Iron Lung thing following you around. Most hunters hate it, and those who don't mind often get grief from raid buddies who do. If you don't mind it, though, you've got a unique pet with a low profile and a nasty bite.
Special mobs: Crocs all have the same stats after taming. However, there is a white croc skin found only in three places: the Wailing Caverns, on a rare in Dustwallow, and on a simply huge creature called the Sewer Beast, a level 50 croc who lives in the Stormwind Canal. No seriously. He's very, very rare, but a great deal of fun to tame, because hey, you've tamed a croc that grew to enormous size in the sewers, and how many hunters can say that?
Gorillas
Health: High
Armor: Low
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: Thunderstomp
Gorillas are a late-level pet, not showing up until STV. They're unusually good tanks due to their AoE and medium DPS, and can often hold a group of mobs against a Volley or Multishot. They also have more animations than average, which annoys some and pleases others. Con-wise, their diet is a pain in the ass, but the biggest drawback IMO? You can't tame A-Me, the quest robot gorilla in Un'Goro. How cool would that be? CYBER-APE OF DOOM!
Special mobs: There aren't any really special apes, apart from A-me, who as I said you can't tame. /sad But worthy of note is the red-skinned U'cha, a named quest mob found in a cave in Un'goro crater. I bring him up because he's the highest-level ape in the game, and not a huge hassle for a 60 hunter who decides she wants some simian artillery, and because he's not mentioned on Petopia, so those who stop looking there might miss him.
Scorpids
Health: Medium
Armor: High
DPS: Low
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Claw
Family ability: Scorpid poison
The big thing to be aware of with scorpids is scorpid poison, which will break crowd control and keep things chasing you longer than they otherwise would, should you choose to run. A low profile and some very slick skins make this a visually enticing choice, however.
Special mobs: Death Flayer, a scorpid in Durotar, has a fast 1.6 attack speed. If you're Alliance and interested in him, or any other scorpid at that level, you're in for a bit of a hike, as they live in mostly Horde areas until the 30s.
Tallstriders
Health: High
Armor: Low
DPS: Medium
Diet: Cheese, fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite, dash
Family ability: None to date
The key to the tallstrider is dash. They're fast and durable, with medium DPS to keep the attention of your enemies. They also have some neat idle animations and some bright, attractive skins. On the flip side, they suffer from an annoying diet and a lack of a family ability.
Special mobs: Tallstriders have a couple of interesting variations. There are two unique skins, the bright pink flamingo-like Mazzranache of Mulgore and the blue and orange Clutchmother in Darkshore. People may warn you off Mazz, but it means they missed the last patch - he used to have a slower-than-normal pursuit speed, but pet pursuit has been normalized so have no fear about picking him up. Also worth checking out are Ornery Plainstriders, which dwell in the Barrens and enjoy a 1.3 attack speed.
Turtles
Health: Medium
Armor: High
DPS: Low
Diet: Fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: Shell shield
Turtles are durable, and shell shield gives them that last extra bit of life against a particularly brutal opponent or when you need them to off-tank for just a few seconds more (although if you're going to use that skill, please wait until 1.10. Trust me). And who doesn't love to say "chelonian"? But there are a few things to keep in mind. Turtles are bigger than you think they are, and can block your view, and though their listed DPS isn't meaningfully lower than a scorpid's or a boar's, they don't have charge or poison to make up the difference. This means they can have trouble keeping a mob's attention, especially if you use shell shield.
Special mobs: A turtle is a turtle is a turtle. For now, there are no unusual chelonians, not even a unique skin (see, I told you "chelonian" is fun to say).
DPS PETS
Bats
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Fruit, fungus
Abilities: Bite, dive
Family ability: Screech
Bats are often considered a good PvP pet. Screech is a useful debuff to have when you're flapping over the flag where everyone's clustered, and many players enjoy the large obstruction to visibility caused by the wingspan and hover height of this pet.
Special Mobs: The bat family has one great hero: the Bloodseeker Bat, a resident of Zul'Gurub. With a blazing 1.0 attack speed and a lighting fast pursuit speed, this was once the must-have beast for endgame PvP. Since the speed normalization, he chases only as fast as Dive can take him, but his attack speed remains and is nothing to sneer at.
Cats
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Fish, meat
Abilities: Bite, claw, dash
Family ability: Prowl
Cats are a perennial favorite, and looking at their stats it's easy to see why. They can learn more abilities than any other pet by picking up all three of the general abilities. They dish out a lot of damage and are easy to feed. Prowl appeals to night elves who can shadowmeld along with their pets, and even to other hunters who just want to feign dead and take a quick bathroom break undetected. And visually, cats offer more selection than any other family, with detailed body renderings, dozens of skins, natural and varied animations, and several models. The only reason not to choose a cat, apart from RP reasons, is that everyone has one, if that's the sort of thing that bothers you, and a lot of players, particularly other hunters, will give you a lot of crap with "oh, another moonstalker. How nice."
Special mobs: Wow, there are so many cats of note I'm hardly sure where to start. Most famous is Broken Tooth, the badlands cougar with the incredible 1.0 attack speed. Then there's the Rake, a level 10 Mulgore lion who clocks at 1.2, and Humar, the unique and beautiful black lion of the Barrens with a 1.3 attack speed. Then there're Echeyakee and Sian-Rotam, who share the otherwise unique luminescent white lion skin. Araga, a cougar in the Alterac Mountains, has a unique skin as well. And finally, in Winterspring you'll find Rak'Shiri, Shy-Rotam and Frostsaber Pride Watchers, which have a 1.5 attack, unusual skins, and the same high-shouldered mesh as the night elves' mounts. Shy-Rotam and Echeyakee are both spawned only by Horde-exclusive quests, so it can be a bit of a coup for an Alliance player to have one.
Owls
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Claw, dive
Family ability: Screech
Owls, much like bats, are valued for their ability to get in people's way in PvP. They're also a popular choice because they're simply quite beautiful, even though there are only two skins. They're also oddly rare in the gameworld for about thirty levels, living in Teldrassil at less then ten and then not appearing again until Felwood in the forties. Thus, an owl is a sign of some prestige for young Horde hunters, who have to travel to the most protected place in Azeroth to get one.
Special mobs: The only unique owl is Olm the Wise. He's just an ordinary owl after taming, but it can be kind of entertaining to do so, as he has membership with the Cenarion Circle. You must be "at war" with them in order to tame him (which doesn't hurt your rep with them). Name him Olm and parade him in front of the druids, just for fun.
Raptors
Health: Low
Armor: Medium
DPS: High
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Bite, claw
Family ability: None to date
No one is quite sure why raptors don't have Dash, but so long as that's true, they'll remain less popular than cats. Still, if you want to rip something to shreds, the raptor will serve you well, with high DPS and the capacity to learn both bite and claw. They also seem to have a modicum of draconic intelligence, since most of them wear jewelry. I find this weird, and it's the reason I've never had one. The only real reason to recommend against them, though, is that they're a little flimsier than other DPS choices due to a low health.
Special mobs: Takk the Leaper is a sleek raptor in the Barrens with a mostly unique black skin (it's also found on raptors in WC). He used to be prized for his fast pursuit speed, but since normalization, he's just another raptor.
Spiders
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Bite
Family ability: None to date
Spiders have only marginally less visual variation than cats, with "spindly" and "furry" variations and brilliant, colorful skins. Despite a lack of combat abilities, they can actually be an unexpectedly strong asset in PvP. First, spire spiderlings have a 1.5 attack, good for casters, but more because the spindly spiders look so damn real that they do freak out players who are IRL afraid of spiders, and can throw them off their game. I've seen it happen. Of course the flip side is, having the thing with you all the time might freak you out a bit. Not a pet for the phobic.
Special mobs: There are two spiders of note. The Spire Spiderling, in Blackrock Spire, has a fast 1.5 attack speed, and a startling blue skin found only on one other spider. The level 27 Naraxis, of Duskwood, is a spindly creature with a unique red skin.
Windserpents
Health: Medium
Armor: Low
DPS: High
Diet: Bread, cheese, fish
Abilities: Bite, dive
Family ability: Lightning breath
Windserpents are sort of an odd man out, when it comes to hunter pets. They have this ranged attack that isn't really ranged, because they can't stand next to you and spit. They're widely believed to be "weak" - this is partly true, because most wind serpents seem to suffer from what Petopia calls "caster stats" - a pet with above-average Int and Spirit but unusually low Stamina and Strength. And then there are the sons of Hakkar, which change skins every time you summon them (although there's a possibility that this behavior will be changed in an upcoming patch). Altogether they're a generally weird pet.
But they do have the ability to attack from range, something available to no other pet. And they're flying snakes. So they're not a pet without substantial merit. Just do yourself a favor, and before you tame one, swing by Petopia and make sure it doesn't have caster stats.
Special mobs: As I mentioned, keep an eye out for the Sons of Hakkar found in Zul'Gurub. Every time you summon them they'll have a different skin. Another nice catch from Wailing Caverns is the Deviate Dreadfang, with its unique "black" skin (it's blue, but people call it black, because they're odd, and because Bliz did it first when they named the skin file).
MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD PETS
Carrion birds
Health: Medium
Armor: Medium
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fish, meat
Abilities: Bite, claw, dive
Family ability: Screech
Carrion birds are widely and wildly underrated. They have that vision-obstruction thing going on, which can be good or bad, depending on your perspective, and the fish in their diet makes caring for them much easier. More pertinent, they, in my opinion, take the best advantage of Screech. Screech causes massive aggro in the mobs that it hits, making it effectively an AoE taunt, and the carrion bird, with its higher armor, is the most equipped of the fliers to handle that. With both Claw and Bite, they can put out a lot of damage, which equals more aggro and faster mob death. The blue one's not bad-looking either.
Special mobs: The most underrated pet in the game in my opinion is the overlooked Spiteflayer. A 1.2 attack speed carrion bird, she can learn claw, bite, dive, and screech, obstruct the opposition's view, fly harmlessly over lava, and take a sound beating without even blinking. Yeah, she's kind of ugly, but even that can be a plus, if you're a hordie who wants to keep that "savage" flavor.
Hyenas
Health: Medium
Armor: Medium
DPS: Medium
Diet: Fruit, meat
Abilities: Bite, dash
Family ability: None to date
The hyena is fairly unremarkable, just an average critter with no family skill. However, it has both sounds and visuals that might recommend it to the aesthete who's not after the min/max - there are white, black, purple and red hyenas, and they have a kind of cool little laugh. I'd like them more if they had a realistic diet (as in, eating not just your food but your armor, too, if you want to feed it to 'em).
Special mobs: For a unique red skin and a 1.5 attack, try taming a scarlet tracking hound out of Scarlet Monastary. Or look up Ravager, a level 51 purple hyena, and enjoy a 1.3 attack speed pet.
Wolves
Health: Medium
Armor: Medium
DPS: Medium
Diet: Meat
Abilities: Bite, dash
Family ability: Furious howl
Saved the best for last. =)
Not really, but wolves are my personal pick. They have as many rich animations and as complex a model rendering as cats, they're fast when they need to be, and furious howl is IMO the best ability in the pack (partly because, right now, it causes a bit of AoE aggro, although this may be a bug). Also, after cats, they have the widest variety of <2.0 attack speeds, so at almost any level, you can pick up a pet that will serve you well in the wild and in the occasional battleground between quests. And they DANCE! (Although you do need a shaman friend or an MPQ reader to witness that).
Special mobs: There are several special wolves out there. I should touch on Snarler; this snazzy black rare was the first big-name hunter pet, because he had high innate magical resistance which he retained once trained. Bliz patched that out pretty quick, but he's still a good-looking dog (although a vilebranch raiding wolf looks the same, attacks at 1.7, and isn't on an insane spawn timer). Ghostpaw alphas are another strong choice, with a 1.3 attack speed and pre-trained Bite and Furious Howl. Deathmaw, and his much younger cousins the slavering worgs, at 1.2 attack, are the fastest attacking wolf, and any canine afficianado will eventually have to tame the bloodaxe worg found in Blackrock Spire, as it's the only source of Bite 8 and Furious Howl 4.
One other wolf to know about is Lupos, a rare Duskwood spawn. In the wild, his bite does shadow damage (which ignores damage reduction from armor). This made him a great PvP pet, unexpectedly deadly to warriors and pallies used to ignoring our furry/scaly/feathered or chitinous friends. He was normalized with pet speed, though, and now deals physical damage after taming.
OKAY, STILL NOT HELPFUL.
Right, then. Your Very First Pet:
Get a bear or a boar.
Seriously, ignore those scorpids and moonstalkers and lions and raptors and pretty white snow leopards. They're nothing but trouble. You're level 10. You're buying arrows and getting three silver a quest turn-in. You don't have cash to be spending on pet food. You want something that you can feed that spider meat or the sunfish you just pulled out of the river or the tasty muffins you got as a quest reward that you'll never ever eat, anything you can find.
Actually if you want the snow leopard grab it now, because you do not want to be leveling it up later. But for a transitory pet, the most important thing for a low-level hunter is the convenience of the omnivorous diet.
AND FOR MY SECOND PET?
Okay, let's talk stable slots.
We only get two. Theoretically, this means three pets - two stabled, one active, right? Well, theory's nice and all, but that's not how it works. In actuality, a couple things cut down on our ability to play World of Pokemon:
In order to learn a new rank of a pet ability, you have to train it off a pet in the wild. In order to train a pet in the wild, you must currently have no pet. Ergo, if i rather like my Feral Nightsaber, and don't want to lose him, but i need to teach him the next rank of Bite, i have to stick him in the stable and go find a spider or something.
So, until you've learned every rank of every active ability, you're effectively limited to two permanent pets, since you need that last slot free for temporary teaching trains.
Another thing to keep in mind is that leveling pets is a pain in the ass. Every time you ding you have to wait for your pet to catch up, and if there's a large level gap, you can spend hours upon hours, sometimes days at high levels, trying to close it. And pets in the stable gain no XP, so if you travel with your boar for a week or so, your owl's going to fall a few levels behind. By the time you've gotten him caught up, your boar will be lagging. It is possible to keep two pets at the same level as yourself, but not if you have any interest in your own speedy advancement and fight mostly yellow or harder mobs.
--A Quick Note on Pet Leveling--
Pets do not gain XP from quest turn-ins or from exploring new areas. I don't have any conclusive data on whether or not they gain the bonus group XP or bonus XP from a rested state. What this means is don't quest, don't explore, and just to be safe, don't get too rested if you don't want to outstrip a pet you're trying to level.
HOWEVER if the pet is far behind you, you probably will want to travel with a group, because a pet at less than about 90% of your level is nearly useless when soloing, particularly as you get close to 60.
Happiness at least is easy to get up quickly, though - just do a little BG. It seems pets gain 1000 happiness on every rez in the BGs. Hello loyalty!
--End Quick Note on Pet Leveling--
Alright, Meen, so you're telling me I'm looking at two pets?
Yes!
Well, no.
I reccomend sticking to just one pet, until at least level 40. Despite the different categories of pet, all pets are essentially face-chewing tanks. With Beastmastery spec, in particular, any pet used properly is a strong PvE ally who will beat on things and get beat on while you advance through the game. Very fast. Stick to one pet, and you'll never have to worry about retraining loyalty, having the wrong kind of food in your pack, or forgetting how you should be using your pet's special attack.
The exception to this is, if you're a serious PvPer, you're going to want more than one pet. A pet fully optimized for PvP is not typically an effective PvE pet. I'll give you an example.
Once upon a time, I decided I wanted in on this PvP scene. I was level 53 at the time, and had a ghostpaw alpha, my wolf main, and broken tooth, my trusty pvp cat. Both were level 52, as I'd been making an effort towards that. I did some quests in Un'Goro with my wolf, who had my typical PvE generalist spec - health, FH, bite, dash, some nature and fire resist - and we solo'd a devilsaur, just for kicks. The 54+ one, not the 53+, I believe.
I came back when my puppy dinged to level up my cat. This is BT with full PvP spec - max shadow and nature resists, full suite of damaging abilities and prowl. In other words, a literal paper tiger and didn't even know growl. This cat is a red beast of DOOM in PvP specced like that, but the devilsaur would have wiped the crater with our ass. We stuck to greens and yellows, and I stayed on mostly autoshot to avoid pulling aggro.
The point of the story is, if you love PvP, and want to do BG from level 10, by all means, use your second stable slot.
Once you hit the endgame, you're likely to want more pets, however. Full raids are a different ballgame than normal PvE, and require more focused specs. For example, the pet I take to Molten Core has full Fire Resist and an armor boost, neither of which I'd ever spend the training points on with a generalist pet. That boar's never seeing the inside of Alterac Valley, that's for sure, but neither would I take him to Blackwing Lair. I've got my wolf with high shadow resist for that. If you're doing more than one instance at once, like trying to learn MC at the same time as Zul'Gurub, and you do Arathi Basin on weekends, you'll probably find yourself making use of all three available pet slots.
In the endgame, then, what's a good second pet? Well, a wolf is perhaps the quintissential raiding pet, and I'm not just saying them because they're my favorite. Pets, particularly for non-BM hunters, are pretty outclassed by real boss fights. A good tactic is to have your wolf sit right by your side and make a macro that ties Furious Howl to Multishot (both on the same 10 second timer). Particularly if you're standing near other hunters, over the course of the raid this can add up to very decent DPS.
Boars are a nice choice as well. They have the fortitude to get in there and dps for a bit with the proper buffs and resists, but more uniquely, they're great at squishy rescue. When a mob peels off from the crowd and attacks your priest, your boar can charge and root it, giving your priest time to step back and stand safely until your tank can get there. And they eat bread. This saves you a LOT of money and means you can toss them into any old fight, because any time they get unhappy you ask your mage buddy for some food.
Windserpents finish off the best raider troika for me, because of their flight and ranged attack. They'll never run through the lava because of poorly programmed pet pathing, and when melee is just too dangerous, you can still send them in close enough for two lightning breaths and then recall them to safety until their focus comes back. Plus THEY EAT BREAD. See above.
