What pets to bring to 5 man's (HC and normal)

[slic123]

Hey there boys and girls. I'd like to make a post on what pets I think you should bring with you to a heroic, ofcourse, everyone here would like to use whatever pet they want, but it's a big dps loss for the entire party (mostly). I put the pets I bring to heroics, and why I bring them. I put them in order of buff importance. This is a post for survival hunters, not for BM.

Wolf - 5% crit. This buff is up 80% of the time, but if it aint, it's a big dps loss for alot of party members. I always bring my wolf.
Wind Serpent (Or Dragonhawk)- Due to the 8% increased spell damage only being provided by moonkins, warlocks and rogues, this is a must to take with you in 5 mans atleast, because of the huge damage boost (if you are survival) but also for the rest of your group (provided there are some casters)
Serpent (or Raptor) - If there's no warrior or druid tank, you will probably miss out on the -12% armor. Since rogues never use expose armor, and resto/moonkin druids don't use faerie fire. This is also a very big dps increase for physical party members
Cat - The 155 str/agi is a buff provided by many many party members, but if it's NOT there, it's, again, a big DPS loss. I'd say take this with you at all times aswell
Ravager - Last but not least, the 4% increased physical damage taken that this little guy provides, is a pretty decent buff aswell. If you have all of the buffs above covered, bring the ravager.

So in order of buff importance: Wolf > Wind serpent/Dragonhawk > Serpent/Raptor > Cat > Ravager.
I find that in 10 man raids, the Ravager buff is the only one not provided (Frost DK, Combat Rogue and Arms Warrior).
In 25 mans I take whatever pet I want, which is mostly my purple plainstrider

I hope this helps picking out a pet DPS-wise, and makes you realize how important our pets can be

-Slic

[slic123]

Also i'd like to add if you're still in doubt what spec you should be, survival is insanely good at the moment. Compared to any other class or hunter spec, it's basically the best dps out there at the moment.
Recount for Pit Lord Argaloth:
1. Slic (Hunter) - 14859.1 DPS
2. Dazboots (Hunter) - 13405.4 DPS
3. Beefo (Feral Druid) - 11039.0 DPS
4. Chronicle (Enhancement Shammy) - 10903 DPS
5. Henki (Demonology Warlock) - 9834 DPS
6. Roxa (Shadow Priest ) - 7998.1 DPS

This isn't the only fight where hunters dominate, we dominate everywhere! (Hunters for president, anyone?)

[Minifig]

Core Hounds are pretty good too because of their pet version of "heroism"..

[slic123]

Yeah, but this is specifically for survival as stated above, so i let out exotics

[SgtMakkie]

Pets rock in HC's. Sometimes they can be a real pain, if aggro'd by another mob that results in too big a pull. But this can overcome other classes too. At the moment I'm switching between BM and SV. For BM the pet of choice is without doubt my Corehound Chromo, the BL ability on certain bosses is really helpful in burning down the last 30%. For SV either a Cat or Wind Serpent, this is more open to choice as I pick and choose depending on the group composition.

However I find that I'm able to tank bosses (orzuk normal and the robot in deadmines hc [today]) or adds (Blackrock Cavern - Last boss) in fights without too much problem using a Beetle. These guys just ROCK.

[Warfish]

Bring whatever you like, and don;t worry about min-maxing?

The min-maxer "must bring this" attitude is one of the factors that made me quit raiding oh so long ago. With all due respect, Wow isn't that hard (it's one of the easiest MMO's out there tbh), it simply does not require such strictness for success.

So roll with what you enjoy. If you're any good at your class, you'll still succeed just fine even with the "wrong" pet.

[Shade]

I've not tried survival recently, I will look into it though.

I run as a BM and just take my cat, corehound, beetle and twin sb where ever I go. I'll have to reconsider my pet carry when I actually get into raiding, but right now I like having the spirit beasts the most-their healing ability has saved a number of tanks and myself from quick death in the new instances.

[slic123]

Bring whatever you like, and don;t worry about min-maxing?

The min-maxer "must bring this" attitude is one of the factors that made me quit raiding oh so long ago. With all due respect, Wow isn't that hard (it's one of the easiest MMO's out there tbh), it simply does not require such strictness for success.

So roll with what you enjoy. If you're any good at your class, you'll still succeed just fine even with the "wrong" pet.

This only goes if you're not interested in bringing the best your class can bring, if you are in a raiding guild, you will want to bring the pet that provides the proper buff. As I said, this is optional, but if you want to be serious about your hunter you should use a pet according to context

[Marintha]

Very nice post. Those are the five pets that I've pretty much decided on as well.

I can only think of a couple that you might want to bring along, at least in specific cases:

Sporebats : Aoe that slows casting speed, can be useful in MANY heroics, whenever there are groups of casters.

Birds of Prey : They disarm, which is pvpish, but it works on some useful things now! Example: Throngus in Grim Batol can be disarmed when he goes dual swords. Very nice.

Gorillas : Yes, a tenacity pet. But if your group is having trouble with interrupts, Gorillas have the only good interrupt of the many pets (30 second cooldown rather than the other pets, which have 45 second and 1 minute cooldown!).

The pets I mentioned are mainly useful in CERTAIN places. So use your own judgment when picking your five. You can always queue up near a stable master, too.

[Kalliope]

Totally approved; this would be my short list as well.

[Cozzene]

Cat
Wolf
Raptor
Tallstrider
Tank pet of my choice.

That's how I play, even as Surv (note the lack of + magic dmg), and have yet to be worse than... well, the top, on any dmg meter. So, I'll wake the "bring whatever you like" stance. If your pet is making THAT huge of a difference... something's wrong. In fact, I'd almost pay Blizzard to set EVERY pet to have the old wolf buff from Wrath. No other special abilities. They ALL do that and only that. Just so there wouldn't be any "bring this or you aren't 1337". They make me sad.

[Kalliope]

Heh, no one is saying that bringing any other pet makes you un-1337. These are just the pets to buff yourself as a survival hunter while in instances if you're interested in buffing yourself.

[peanutbuttercup]

My currently 5 are:
* wolf for crit
* cat for horn of winter
* boar for tanking if needed
* tallstrider just because
* nether ray for interrupts, and I've found myself using it a lot on certain fights (example, first boss in SFK) because utility counts too

I would like to have a bird of prey too for disarm but we can't carry 6 pets

[Tudyk]

I always bring cat and wolf (or spirit beast and devilsaur) just in case those buffs aren't covered. My current other 3 are core hound, windserpent and ravager.

If I've got 5% crit, str/agi, +spell damage, +phys damage and a bloodlust from the rest of the group, I use my spirit beast for the free heals. =D (Still haven't gotten around to testing out a -armor pet ... has anybody done the math on that?)



And on a minor rant ... WHY are both +spelldmg pets cunning? Ugh >.<