Best raid pet/ Best BM pvp pet

[Berzerkk]

Hey I sorta have two questions but decided to put them in one topic.
1st question - What is considered the best pet for PvP. I am BM as well so I can get Exotic pets, but everyone is saying don't focus on pet damage yet almost half of my damage is from my pet. I have a Devilsaur right now but is there better ones?
2nd question - I don't really need a direct question but I kinda just want to open this up to discussion. What are good Raiding pets? What type of pets do we need? DPS pets or pets with good buffs? That is just open for discussion, thank you and go ahead and discuss!

[Lisaara]

Any pet can be the best. We have so many options. It's just really how YOU click with your pets. Which one fits your needs best.

[TygerDarkstorm]

To be honest, pets more than ever right now, are up to the hunter's choice. For raids, you can either bring whatever buff/debuff is missing, or just use whichever pet you like. Ferocity pets should yield the highest DPS, although I think some cunning pets aren't all that far behind.

For PvP...it's hard to name a "best pet" because so many pets do so many different things and it's really how your playstyle in PvP ends up. I personally like pets that can snare or root my target because I find myself up against melee a lot. Chimaera's are great for kiting, and they get a nice little AoE ability as well. Dogs and crabs have a channeled root that can come in handy, bats and wasps have a 2 second stun. On one of my brief stints in a BG with a bat for a pet challenge, I discovered that it was quite fun to have a second stun I could weave in with Intimidation to keep my opponents annoyed. I also like that the bat stun is ranged and costs no focus.

But everyone will get different mileage with their pet of choice. I love that we can swap between 5 pets on the fly now so you can pull out a corehound or nether ray for that pesky caster and then swap to a chimaera or something for an annoying melee.

[Katja]

Seagulls

[Tsaikojen]

The best pet will always be the one that fits how your character looks. Were the only class in the game that can choose our weapons appearance, so exploit the hell outta that smexy gravy!

[Acherontia]

For PvP, whatever fits your playstyle--Silithid or Chimaera for kiting, Spirit Beast for the (now comparitively weak) heals, Devilsaur for the weak MS, bat, wasp or monkey for stun, etc.

For PvE, I personally am going to level a selection of buff pets to 80 so that I can alternate for heroics and raids to help the group.

Some possibilities:

Spirit Beast/Cat - Agi/Str
Wolf/Devilsaur - 5% crit.
Hyena - +Bleed Debuff
Core Hound - Bloodlust
Dragonhawk/Wind Serpent - + Magic Dmg Taken
Ravager - + Physical Dmg Taken
Raptor - ArP Debuff
Silithid - Fortitude
Shale Spider - BoK

The list goes on and on. But if you have a couple of these pets, you'll be set for any situation!

[Mousie]

For PVP, it really does depend on your playing style, some like stuns, some like slows, some like disarms, some like automatic healing debuffs, it's really up to you. Imo, play around a bit with different families of pets and see which ones you like the most.

As for PVE, our job now is to fill in the buffs that other players don't bring. There's a great post here on Petopia that already goes over this in depth:
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=4753

Remember, you have to help your raid as a whole, instead of trying to just buff your own DPS.

[slic123]

Check my post about what pets are the best for 5 man HC and 10 mans:D
http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7585

[Bastor]

As a Beastmastery Hunter myself, I will say that you should definetly take an exotic Pet if you have the possibilty. They have the best buffs available to pets in addition to one normal skill.

With that out of the way:

For PvE, I like to bring my Ancient Core Hound, since Shamans are not in every group. If there's a shaman available I will bring one of my Spirit Beasts.
If you insist on a dps pet, you can choose between:

Core Hound (Cast Time Debuff/Bloodlust)
Devilsaur (+5% Crit/Healing Debuff)
Spirit Beast (+Str/+Agi/Heal Spell)

Cast Time Debuff is pretty obsolete in PvE, so I wont go into that but:

If you have a shaman or a mage at 85 there already is bloodlust
If you have a Sub Rogue or a Fury Warrior or a Feral Druid there already is 5% Crit
if you have a Warrior, a Paladin or a Death Knight you already have the Str/Agi Buff

At this point you can pretty much choose whatever you like.

For PvP, I like spirit beasts for their heal in BGs, core hounds for their bloodlust in arenas.

Most of the other exotic pets are good as pvp pets in one way or the other:

Devilsaur has a physical heal reduce debuff (which used to stack with our poison, I dunno if it still does)
Rhino has a knockback which is fun in BG's like EotS or AB
Chimera has a ranged snare

As my pvp pet, I prefer the Silithid for all around pvp. Stam Buff plus Root is awesome.