Hunter Pet Buffs, Debuffs, and Utility Abilities in MoP

[Kalliope]

With just days to go to the Mists of Pandaria expansion, I've broken down the useful pet buffs, debuffs, and utility abilities in video and infographic form.

For everyone's convenience, I'm going to post the charts here as well for reference.





Link to Malazee's original thread for Cataclysm, the whole reason this one exists.

[GormanGhaste]

Ooo, thanks for this, think it will be going on card-stock for easy reference!

[Rawr]

I'm confused on somethings on the second list, Compact Taming List. 1st off I'm not sure what the "Both" means, it has WS, Wolf/Hydra, Wolf/Hydra then SB/Cat, Cat, Cat then WS, Unavailable, WS. Shouldn't be WS, Wolf/Hydra, Wolf/Hydra then SB, Cat, Cat then WS, Unavailable, Unavailable? Because the Wolf/Hydra isn't in the same box as the WS I'n not sure why Cat is in the same box as SB seems redundant, also they forgot Quilin as they too give Crit. And the 3rd line WS under Both isn't available to both so why is it listed (same goes for the next two lines). In the Mortal Wounds line why is the Devilsaur ability Monstrous Bite not listed? In the Physical Vulnerability line what does "Any" mean under BM, shouldn't the whole line just say Boar/Ravager? The Weakened Blows I'm amusing they mean the Turtle and Beetle special abilities. Next two lines I've already stated what I think is wrong.

[Kalliope]

I think a lot of your questions will be answered by the following points, Rawr:

- The compact taming list is the smallest number of pets you need in each spec.
- The "both" column lists the fewest number of pets you need to cover both BM and a non-BM spec.

That's why there are BM-only pets in the last column - they're representing the BM-only abilities.

So, to address the rest more specifically:

- You're correct that quilen should be listed with water striders for the crit buff. I didn't list them only because it would have made the chart even wider.
- The cat appears with the spirit beast in the BM column because you could technically run with either and it wouldn't matter. The spirit beast heal isn't as big a benefit as all that.
- The "any" for BM for physical vulnerability means that you can bring any of the four physical debuff pets, as opposed to just the two listed for the other two. BM hunters looking for that debuff can bring a rhino, worm, ravager, or boar.
- You don't need a devilsaur at all if you're doing a minimalist list of pets, since you already bring a mortal blows effect yourself as a hunter.
- Weakened blows causes the enemy to do less damage, not reduce incoming damage. That's why turtles and beetles aren't covered in the video or on the charts at all.

[Amber]

Registered just so I could thank you for this, and also point out that Sporebats are missing from the 50% cast speed reduction (Spore Cloud). I have this ability on both beta and live.
Just had a little mini panic attack thinking I'd have to get another cast speed reduction pet.

[Kalliope]

Registered just so I could thank you for this, and also point out that Sporebats are missing from the 50% cast speed reduction (Spore Cloud). I have this ability on both beta and live.
Just had a little mini panic attack thinking I'd have to get another cast speed reduction pet.

Actually, you probably will have to - as mentioned in my video, sporebats are likely to lose that debuff because no class or pet has both the casting speed buff and the casting speed debuff, which is why I didn't list them.

Welcome to the forums!

[Amber]

I didn't notice the video, just skimmed the chart. I'm sure you're going to be tired of constantly pointing out what has been gone over in the video, sorry!
It's still worth noting though, I suppose, being four days out from live and still no change from Mind Quickening.

[Kalliope]

I didn't notice the video, just skimmed the chart. I'm sure you're going to be tired of constantly pointing out what has been gone over in the video, sorry!
It's still worth noting though, I suppose, being four days out from live and still no change from Mind Quickening.

Oh, absolutely, it's very much worth noting! The last I had heard, there was a tooltip error regarding the new buff, so I expect that will be fixed soon.

As for going over stuff in the vid, it's good to have everything written out here too.

[Anyia]

Nice, thanks Kalli!