Which pet for a melee hunter?

[Coffeepot]

I have foolishly challenged myself to level a hunter using only melee weapons. I know it's not advised and all that jazz, but I feel like doing it anyways.
My question to you fine folks is what type of pet would make this the easiest? Are there any abilities in particular that any pets have that would benefit me the most?
Thank you very much!

[Solunerra]

I would say go with a Wolf, Cat, or Raptor. Also BM spec would help the most. The Raptor lowers armor btw. Boar also works as it makes physical damage to more.

[Demonicow]

lol u just gotta worry about dungeons they will prolly kick you and call you a huntard unless you dont do dungeons at all? in which case just to make it even harder try lvling a hunter with a melee weapon with no pet! unless going without a gun is challnge enough or if ya wanna go for the impossible no weapons no pet and no armor of course youd be foolish to do any of what i said lol and for another challenge try downing enemies 10 lvls higher then you if you can do all that then your preety l33t

[Sukurachi]

I'd say the ultimate challenge would be to level a hunter with no weapon nor pet and function as a healer.

Of course, having a Priest as a tank could also be a challenge.

[Zaranock]

I'd say the ultimate challenge would be to level a hunter with no weapon nor pet and function as a healer.

Of course, having a Priest as a tank could also be a challenge.

Once upon a time, a shadow priest tanked The Labyrinth of BC expac with only a healer and a dps as support. He also did the most dps and almost as many self heals. When we all died, he soloed the mobs that killed us.


Shadow priest got tank skills bro.

[Sukurachi]

Yes, I remember doing that floating dungeon in Uldum, with 3 friends, and we all died on the last boss... except the priest (not even a shadow priest) and HE finished off the boss.

[Chimera]

To go melee, I'd definitely suggest:

Ravagers/Raptors/Boars/Worms (exotic)/Rhinos (exotic)/Tallstriders for the 4% damage increase done to enemies affected
Quilen (exotic)/Wolves/Devilsaurs (exotic) for 5% crit increase
Shale Spiders (exotic) for 5% stat increase but they also have a web wrap ability that glues their enemies in place so you'll need to turn that off
Something Spirit Beast for their heal ability
Maybe something that can disarm (Birds of Prey), though this only works if they have a weapon to begin with
Or if it's a matter of trying to outlast it since it'll take a lifetime and a half to kill anything, something that can reduce an enemies attack power (Bears/Carrion Birds)
Or perhaps something that can physically endure (Beetles/Turtles)
Spellcasters can be downright awful so families like Sporebats/Core Hounds (exotic)/Foxes/Goats
Ones who's abilities stun the enemy entirely are Bats (2sec stun)/Cranes (breaks when they take damage but a 4sec stun otherwise)/Monkeys (4sec stun)/Nether Rays (also spell locks for 2secs)/Moths (also spell locks for 4 secs)/Wasps (2sec stun)/Basilisks (cannot harm target and stun lasts 3secs)/Gorillas (2sec stun)/Porcupine (2sec stun)

Blizz pretty much culled absolutely everything ability related except for traps (and you need a range weapon to use the trap launcher) that didn't require a ranged weapon so you're literally stuck auto attacking, using a pet, and placing traps at your feet for any source of damage :X

[GormanGhaste]

I don't have any constructive suggestions, but this topic has made me nostalgic for all the old situations when we Had to melee as hunters. Tanking mobs while leveling up low level pets, leveling weapon skills (yes, I did compulsively level the melee ones too), and learning pet skills from pets always seemed to happen more quickly when I melee'd the mob, although I don't know if that was really true.

[Dweezill]

Carrion Birds would be pretty good. They have an AoE damage reduction ability. That seems like a pretty good choice to me.

[SylviaDragon]

perhaps try a snake? 10% melee attack speed buff.
birds of prey can disarm for 8 sec

if you go bm (which would be a good idea, extra pet damage and stuff to pick up the slack. but if you want this to be about the hunter and not the pet just skip these.)

core hound for hero
spirit beast for heals.
a chimera/worm for the aoe situations may be nice but probably not as useful.

[Heleos]

...and learning pet skills from pets always seemed to happen more quickly when I melee'd the mob, although I don't know if that was really true.

I felt like it did happen faster as well.