Survival pet selection

[Doth777]

A few weeks ago I did a few rough tests on pet dps for BM to get an idea of which pet would probably be the most optimal (raptor won if I remember correctly). In raid testing this week, I was using my copied Live toon which is nowhere near as geared as a premade, and it's dps was disappointing.

Now I've rolled a raiding premade and gone Survival and got 4 pets to 85: Wolf, Wind Serpent, Cat, Raptor. These four are the premiere (non-exotic) dps pets in my opinion, covering the top buff/debuffs desired. I plan to test them this afternoon, and am really curious about the Wind Serpent for Survival. Will the 8% magic damage increase be enough to compensate for the Wind Serpent being a Cunning pet and no Call of the Wild cooldown?

I'll probably re-test BM on this new raiding toon to see how it compares now, as I prefer BM's style. And if BM wins, I'll continue raiding as BM

[Sarayana]

I'm very curious to see what you find out.

[Antares]

Wind Serpent? Top DPS? Really? I do like the Outland Wind Serpents...

Raptors I can see. Again, Outland models rock.

[Trinia]

I was doing some undergeared testing on my Hunter on Live before. I'm looking forward to your Cata beta results, since I've fallen in love with my recently tamed purple OL style raptor and my fel-green OL styled Wind Serpent. <3

(Glad to see my raptor tame was a smart move for BM, too. BM = <3)

[The Insect Man]

DOn't forget cunning pets have tyhe focus regen ability, which they will autocast intelligently. That's going to be a hidden DPS increase. Probably not a balance to Call of the Wild, but narrowing the gap.

[Royi]

You're obviously missing the pet that would blow any of those 4 out of the water, literally:

[Lycanthrope]

Yeah, I use my four accordingly:

Wolf - 5% crit if there's no Feral Kitties or Warriors or Rogues.
Raptor - Normally used on bosses for that lovely 20% reduced armor.
Dragonhawk - 8% extra magic damage if no one has it.
Worm - Farming, 5 mans, and ICC trash and the Valithria Dreamwalker fight (he can take adds on one side while one of our tanks goes dps).
I sometimes switch out the Worm for my Ravager for the 4% increased physical damage buff.


I also have all four Spirit Beasts, a crocolisk, etc, trying them all out so I can keep comparing, but the first few I listed are best for me and my group currently.

[Jaraii]

If you are going back to bm, don't skip the chimaera. I don't know if its aoe is fixed on beta, but it could make the difference. I know it's decent on live when you can get it to cast it.

[Cerah]

Yeah, I use my four accordingly:

Wolf - 5% crit if there's no Feral Kitties or Warriors or Rogues.
Raptor - Normally used on bosses for that lovely 20% reduced armor.
Dragonhawk - 8% extra magic damage if no one has it.
Worm - Farming, 5 mans, and ICC trash and the Valithria Dreamwalker fight (he can take adds on one side while one of our tanks goes dps).
I sometimes switch out the Worm for my Ravager for the 4% increased physical damage buff.


I also have all four Spirit Beasts, a crocolisk, etc, trying them all out so I can keep comparing, but the first few I listed are best for me and my group currently.

I would suggest a devilsaur over the wolf if you're BM. You get the same 5% crit debuff on enemies, and their Monsterous Bite ability decreases healing affects on the targets. I'm sure there's a number of annoying bosses that could be useful for.

Other than that, good raid group! I just might try that kind of configuration myself on my next ICC run. (Hopefully I'll have a group that gets all the way through the second wing next time)

[Doth777]

Survival tests are done!

I seperated the pet's dps from my own just to show how each did seperately. These tests were mainly to see which pet maximized my own dmg/dps best, since as Surv the pet is a much smaller portion of it. To get the total, just add the pet's and mine together. Also just as a note, my dps is a slight bit less than it was, as DoTs ticking after FD dropped reduced it before Recount closed the fight.

Each test was 5 min long, using the in game stopwatch to be as precise as I could.

Coming in at first: Cat with 11,370 Dps

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2nd place: Wind Serpent with 11,059 Dps

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3rd place: Wolf with 10,847 Dps

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And last but not least: Raptor with 10,473 Dps

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I expected the Raptor to be last, since so little of my dmg is physical and he provides the Armor Pen-type debuff. I also expected the Cat to do really well, but was very surprised with how close the Wind Serpent was to it. The Wind Serpent started much slower than the rest (no Call of the Wild) but soon I was flooded with Focus, I actually had to run the test twice because the first time I couldnt spend it fast enough and felt it ruined the test. Haste is amazing for Focus generation, and Rapid Fire + Roar of Recovery (not to mention Blood Lust) is Focus heaven.

[Doth777]

And for those who asked about the BM tests, I ran the two I felt would be the highest for BM: Raptor and Cat. Unfortunately, BM was considerably under Surv in total DPS, but should still be raid viable.

Cat Test 9,523 Dps:

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Raptor Test 9,151 Dps:

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Also on the Raptor, they changed Tear Armor to be in line with the other armor debuffs, capping it at 3 stacks of 4% each (12% total). On the plus side, the made Raptors "smart", meaning they now continue to refresh the debuff once it is capped, as the previously would not recast Tear Armor until the max stack fell off.

[SgtMakkie]

Thank you so much for doing this testing! I'm curious if a Spirit beast would do equally well as a cat, due to it using heal's in a raid setting and thereby (albeit in a small way) affecting the amount of focus left for damage.

(separate question: Pet abilities, are these macro-able in way that the pet can still cast them? - so a spirit beast heals it's targets target - the tank?)

[Doth777]

It should be able to, yes. I used a macro to heal myself with Spirit Mend in raids, so I'd bet there's a way to macro a target of target cast.

I figure a spirit beast and cat will be virtually identical because of the same buff. The 5 pet Focus spent on Spirit Mend every ~30 sec shouldnt be enough to completely skew things, that small of a difference could just as easily be contributed to RNG

[Ellaran]

With the way Wild Hunt works now, Cunning pets can really lay on the DPS. With us giving them Focus with our crits, the MM talent that gives them a free Basic Attack somehow (forgot the name and how it works, I suck ^^; ) and the Cunning talent that also gives them free Basic Attacks, Cunning pets can keep their Focus over 50 for a long time and do some heavy hits with Claw, Bite and Smack. Factor in Feeding Frenzy, and hoo boy.

May want to test a Serpent too, their ability is the same as the Raptor's.

[Antares]

A few weeks ago I did a few rough tests on pet dps for BM to get an idea of which pet would probably be the most optimal (raptor won if I remember correctly). In raid testing this week, I was using my copied Live toon which is nowhere near as geared as a premade, and it's dps was disappointing.

Now I've rolled a raiding premade and gone Survival and got 4 pets to 85: Wolf, Wind Serpent, Cat, Raptor. These four are the premiere (non-exotic) dps pets in my opinion, covering the top buff/debuffs desired. I plan to test them this afternoon, and am really curious about the Wind Serpent for Survival. Will the 8% magic damage increase be enough to compensate for the Wind Serpent being a Cunning pet and no Call of the Wild cooldown?

I'll probably re-test BM on this new raiding toon to see how it compares now, as I prefer BM's style. And if BM wins, I'll continue raiding as BM

Forwarded a link to this thread to the PTB at WarCraft Hunters Union, on your behalf, Doth.

[Doth777]

Factor in Feeding Frenzy, and hoo boy.

Good point, I hadnt considered that. In a boss fight scenario, the Wind Serpent would almost certainly pull ahead of the Cat once the boss reach 35% hp or under because of that 16% more dmg done.

Cool, thank Antares

[Royi]

Doth, what about the Seagull?

[Doth777]

The Seagull's dps was so epic it broke my recount and uninstalled my beta, it was just too much for my comp to handle!

[Royi]

The Seagull's dps was so epic it broke my recount and uninstalled my beta, it was just too much for my comp to handle!

I knew it!