Need a little straight shootin (pun intended)

[Kraygor]

So, after four years of not playing (quit just before Burning Crusades came out), I've returned to the game to find SO much changed. One of the biggest things for me is the Pet Talent tree and the "family" of pets. I've tried to do research, I've tried digging around, and I am STILL a little lost because of the divirsity of answers I've found, which leads me to believe there may be no real, or straight, answer to my question, leaving all things subjective.

So, Ten is good for solo
Ferocity is good for DPS
Cunning is good for.....?

I've read it all...Cunning is a good general, excelling neither in DPS or for Soloing, but neither does it suck. Oh wait, all these guys (gals) over HERE say cunning is GREAT for soloing vs Ferocity, but not as good as Tennacity.....yet, these people standing back here say cunning is absolutly the WORST THING EVER and that it holds NO USE anywhere in the game.

So far, as a level 36 Orc hunter, I have Humar the Pridelord (currently sitting at level 29), Death Flayer (36), and a small Ravager (36). Death Flayer seemed to be doing well at tanking, but, as per a good tank, took a while to kill things. Humar I just haven't used him much other than to get him up to my current level at that time. I've had the Ravager for about an hour now (he auto leveled up from 9 to 31 when I tamed him, and I just killed some rap's in STV to get him to 36). While taking him from 31 to 36, I noticed how much faster he was killing things than DF was. He didn't hold aggro to well (then again, he WAS under level).

Now, to be fair, at the time I started to spec, I was MM (working on a 7-57-7 build (I did the two 7's first and was working on the 57 tree when I respec'ed). Now I am a BM working on a 52-14-5 build (only have been working the BM side).

Most of my work is going to be solo work - dungeons (instances) included. I'll start grouping later on when I have to for raids and the what not. So, for now, I'm concentrating on Solo work.

I'm not looking for a "Who is the best pet". I've read them all. The Bear is. Oh, wait, no, the Gorilla. Wait, they took TS away, so now it's the wolf. Oh..no.no..The turtle *sigh* Again, so many opinions, leads me to believe that all pets really are viable, and so are the Family Trees.

Well, this started off as a "can someone(s) give me a straight answer to which tree really stands out where"? kind of question to more of a rant. Really sorry about that. Didn't mean to, really I didn't. I'm just frustrated after reading everything. No, not looking for the cookie cutter answer. That's TOO straight forward, and the mechanics of the game no longer allow for that, I know That's good, that's the way it should be. I guess I'm looking for less of a "You can use it just about anywhere" and more of a This Family for That Area. Again, the front page of Petopia really is nice, and does lay it out, but, again, soooooo many opinions, and not many linning up with each other.

Kraygor, the frustrated, but loveable, Orc hunter

[Saturo]

Tenacity = Tanks, soloing
Ferocity = DPS, Instances / Raids
Cunning = PvP, Snares and such

[Vephriel]

Hey, no worries! You've come to the right place. ^^ If I was just returning to the game now I would be just as confused. o.o

Anyways, I'll try to answer your question as best as I can.

Generally, it's fine to assume that Tenacity pets are one of the best choices for solo levelling. They're built for survivability and maintaining aggro, and truthfully they have a lot of tools at their disposal in order to do this efficiently. Having recently started up a new Hunter myself in the forum guild, I've found a Turtle to be a fantastic pocket tank. Their racial ability Shell Shield paired with the new Cower can mitigate a huge amount of damage, making them damn near invincible when paired with a Mend Pet every now and then. Bears and Crocolisks are good choices too, as their racials allow them to hold aggro on multiple mobs at once. I could go through every pet class, but it's probably simpler to look at the racials on the Petopia site. Each species has its own special abilities that can be useful in a number of different situations.

Ferocity pets are your prime choice for the most DPS. It's perfectly fine to solo level with one of these. Though they don't have quite the stamina of a Tenacity pet, if they're killing things that much faster then you're still not having to worry about them taking damage for long. You'd mostly want to bring one of these into instances with you, but at lower levels it can be just as useful to bring in a Tenacity pet should your tank be sub-par or you need an emergency off tank. My Turtle's saved the group from wiping before when a tank suddenly dies or something aggroes to the healer. ^^

I don't personally have too much experience with Cunning pets, but they're pretty much how you described them. Jack of all trades, ace of none sort of deal. They're equally viable as a levelling pet as they often have unique racial abilities that are different from many other pet species. They're most common in PvP as many of their abilities center around movement impairing effects and such.

Truthfully, you really can use any pet to level with, it all depends on your preference or playstyle. My personal preference is a Tenacity pet, as I don't find any issues with them doing slightly less damage, and I love never worrying about grabbing aggro or having them die on me.

I'd suggest browsing through Petopia, looking at all the pets racial abilities, and then going out to tame a few and experiment with them. ^^ You'll find one that clicks with you, and we're always here if you have more questions.

[Valinai]

I have to concur with Vephriel's support of turtles. I leveled from 20's to just about level 75 with my turtle. I only made the switch to a different pet because I was reaching a point in the game where I needed to do more damage (ie, running more instances) and the turtle isn't a damage dealer, he's a damage TAKER. But that little guy spent a lot of time tanking. Gave me and the arms warrior I was usually paired with the chance to do our DPS thing.

My hunter is my first ever WoW C, so I came into the pet thing going O.O quite a bit myself. I can definitely empathize. The best way I came to terms with it was thinking of the pet as (use your imagination here) a third weapon slot.

You have your Melee Weapon, your Ranged Weapon and your Pet Weapon. Equipping different types of pets into the Pet Weapon slot allow you to play the Hunter differently. For example, using the turtle, it was like carrying around a shield. Using a Ferocity pet is like having a second melee weapon. I didn't use Cunning pets really, so I can't testify to their usefulness or not, but I know that they have some unique abilities that could be useful in that "Pet Weapon Slot".

[Rhyela]

As mentioned above, it tends to be: Ferocity = DPS/instances, Tenacity = TPS (threat)/solo, and Cunning = PvP. However, I have leveled almost exclusively with a ferocity pet of one kind or another (carrion bird, cat, etc.) with little trouble. Just recently I found it necessary to grab a tenacity pet (turtle named Sheldon :3 ) for some of the tougher "group" quests that I feel frisky enough to attempt myself. I am also rather pleased with my silithid cunning pet as far as damge, but his racial just isn't all that useful in dungeons where mobs don't run. However, he's fun as heck in PvP when someone's trying to run away, and they get webbed. Plus, his damage isn't too shabby, either.

Honestly, at your level you could probably find a pet that you like, whether aesthetically or for its racial ability, and be fine. It seems to me that at later levels, the differences become more apparent (i.e. bringing a cat vs. a crocolisk to a raid). But for solo-leveling and 5-man dungeons, to be honest, you can get away with whatever you like the best. ^_^ My advice is to go through the skills first (Big List is a good place to start), find one that sounds interesting, and then pick a pet with that skill. But don't be afraid to mix and match and find one that works for you!

Good luck and let us know where your travels take you!

[Vephriel]

*nods* I agree with Edrawr. At the stage of the game where you are, there's a lot of flexibility and room to do your own thing. You can get away with any type of pet in an instance, and the same goes for questing and levelling.

Choose a pet that truly makes you happy to own and you'll enjoy playing that much more. ^^ Don't stress over the picky details until you're at least 80. Just have fun!

[Kikanu]

For leveling purposes, you'd be best off with

Bear - Tenacity
Cat - Ferocity
Ravager - Cunning


Bears have a swipe they can spam, so they can hold aggro on many targets at once. Cats have a nasty bleed, AND can stealth to do an extra hard-hitting attack. Ravagers can stun an opponent every 40 seconds (Shorter wait if you spec into Longevity in Beast Mastery), and at higher levels, it will have Roar of Recovery, a Cunning talent that restores your mana.


At 80, I would RECOMMEND the following;

Worm (Beast Mastery only) - Tenacity (for the armor debuff that STACKS with a warrior's sunder armor, and also does the same effect for two sunders)
Wolf (If MM or Surv)/Spirit Beast (If BM) - Ferocity (Wolves give a nice Attack Power buff every few seconds to you, and Spirit Beasts just seem to hit harder than cats now)
Sporebat/Bird of Prey - Cunning (Sporebats give an armor reduction debuff in an AoE cloud for 10 seconds, and it is spammed. Bird of Prey steals a target's weapon, which FROM EXPERIENCE has reduced boss damage by a good chunk, helping keep the tank alive.)

[Dulanie]

Tenacity = tank
Ferocity = dps
cunning = utility

The Ten, and Fer trees have been pretty well explained so I'll focus on Cunning in this post. I leveled from 10-71 with a ravager before I for a jormunger for tanking. The ravager does better dps then some ferocity pets, but has higher durability and agro hold. Their racial is nice too especially since mobs tend to run. Ravage is kind a damage ability that also stuns the target fior 2 seconds. Also if you put talent points into armor and health as well as damage they turn into an armored chainsaw.

There is also a thread floating around here (I forget where ) that has a comparisson list of pets dps.

[Kraygor]

Well, so far, I've spent the day with my ravager. It's a HUGE difference from the scorpion (Death Flayer). However, again, I have to be fair. I'm not sure if it's just the change in pet, or the re-spec into BM, or both. I made way too many changes all at once to know for sure. So I'll have to take out DF and see how well he does with the BM.

So far, I'm in the Badlands, taking things that are red (orange) and Deep Red (one or two levels into red) and living through it. I'm even going up against two red (orange) mobs at once (pulled an extra a couple times on accident, not paying attention and had them walk too close) and my Ravager took it with no problem (and a couple mend pets with the mend pet major glyph ). Basically, as long as I don't let it get out of hand, I OWN the badlands right now (though I haven't "uncovered" the east side yet. Only the north, central, and west sides.

I have to say, I'm really digging the cunning Ravager Then again, I AM only L36

I want to thank all of you who took the time to answer Its not like looking through mud any more. Not translucent, but not opaque either Keep it coming if you have more info to give! I'm sure someone has something else that will help, if not me, then someone else in the future who finds this post!

Kraygor <--- Trying so hard not to be "That Huntard"

[Kitairra]

Hey, no worries! You've come to the right place. ^^ If I was just returning to the game now I would be just as confused. o.o

Anyways, I'll try to answer your question as best as I can.

Generally, it's fine to assume that Tenacity pets are one of the best choices for solo levelling. They're built for survivability and maintaining aggro, and truthfully they have a lot of tools at their disposal in order to do this efficiently. Having recently started up a new Hunter myself in the forum guild, I've found a Turtle to be a fantastic pocket tank. Their racial ability Shell Shield paired with the new Cower can mitigate a huge amount of damage, making them damn near invincible when paired with a Mend Pet every now and then. Bears and Crocolisks are good choices too, as their racials allow them to hold aggro on multiple mobs at once. I could go through every pet class, but it's probably simpler to look at the racials on the Petopia site. Each species has its own special abilities that can be useful in a number of different situations.

Ferocity pets are your prime choice for the most DPS. It's perfectly fine to solo level with one of these. Though they don't have quite the stamina of a Tenacity pet, if they're killing things that much faster then you're still not having to worry about them taking damage for long. You'd mostly want to bring one of these into instances with you, but at lower levels it can be just as useful to bring in a Tenacity pet should your tank be sub-par or you need an emergency off tank. My Turtle's saved the group from wiping before when a tank suddenly dies or something aggroes to the healer. ^^

I don't personally have too much experience with Cunning pets, but they're pretty much how you described them. Jack of all trades, ace of none sort of deal. They're equally viable as a levelling pet as they often have unique racial abilities that are different from many other pet species. They're most common in PvP as many of their abilities center around movement impairing effects and such.

Truthfully, you really can use any pet to level with, it all depends on your preference or playstyle. My personal preference is a Tenacity pet, as I don't find any issues with them doing slightly less damage, and I love never worrying about grabbing aggro or having them die on me.

I'd suggest browsing through Petopia, looking at all the pets racial abilities, and then going out to tame a few and experiment with them. ^^ You'll find one that clicks with you, and we're always here if you have more questions.

It's...like you...read my mind,or sumthin'....(puts tin foil hat back on)

Yeah,this pretty much answers your question...Move along,people!! Veph pwned this post good! Nothing to see here!!




Kitairra

[Ryno]

Truthfully, you really can use any pet to level with, it all depends on your preference or playstyle.

Aye, hit the nail on the head there.

Try them all out. See how they work. Pick what best suits you. That's about it.

[Dragonpuff]

Kraygor, to be honest, I leveled to cap with a Cunning pet, and never had a problem. Never once touched an actual 'tank' pet, never gave a dps-cat more then a passing glance. I pushed through 3-man group quests with just my Wind Serpent at my side! (I love being a Hunter so much. As I always told my brother, I'm a party in and of myself!)

It really doesn't matter, while your leveling, what pet you choose. They all have their uses, and they are (now) all different in so many ways from each other. Go with what you like, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

[Kraygor]

Thanks everyone I still haven't taken DF out yet. Been running around with my Ravager still I'm now, fairly easily taking all red (orange) mobs, and deep red (two levels deep, ocasionally 3 levels deep! 41 being first deep red, and I've taken up to a 43 with some sweat ).

Really begining to like my Ravager a lot

[Akyo]

while lvling up and doing random dungeons you are free to use anny pet youd like and they all work just fine. Of course each hunter will have a different oppinion on whats the best or better pets.

I have lvld alts with all kinds of pets, cunning, fero and tenacity, they all work but some really stand out.
untill you can spec your Tenacity pets into Thunderstomp, Bears and crocks really stand out as lvling pets thanks to their aoe ability, which makes em build aggro easyer.
Spiders, silithids, chimeras, hyenas, bats.. all pets with a slow and stunn do great if you have their special skill under your controll and not autocast for the moments you should pull aggro of your pet. + if someone around your lvl should try and gank you, your pet can give em a annoying time.

Most Fero pets are pure dps machines with either a dot(bleed) skill or dps boost, yet again these do great for single target, though if you aggro a group you might be in a bit of a pinch.

while lvling as BM takeing the + armor,+ stam and healing talents in your Bm tree helps alot at those times and makes your Tenacity (or tank speced fero or cunning!) into quite a though cookie.