Trying to decide on the 5 to bring with you

[gaghiel]

Ok, so Cata has been out for a few weeks now and people have had time to settle into their roles a little bit, and I am trying to decide what are my 5 that I will keep with me for whatever may come. Feel free to vote above but please explain in some comments, I am curious to know what people think.

I used to be BM until I realized how good Survival is and so, much to my chagrin, I must leave my awesome pets at home and explore with some of the 'normal' pets I have tamed.

This leaves me perplexed now as its hard to decide which ones will do me the best as far as DPS is concerned. I'm leaning between 4 different pets for dps: Raptor, Cat, Windserpent and Ravager
and 2-3 pets for Tanking: Boar (yay fire), or Croc and maaaybe either a Turtle/beetle or Warpstalker.

Ive been having great luck with my Windserpent because of its +8% spell damage increase and I assume that is because most of survivals attacks are considered spells. Or are they? The ravager's 4% physical would be almost as good I would think because we're bow users and they do physical damage most of the time.

After that perplexity, we have raptors who just reduce armor which is awesome, but which of those three should I lean towards? Does it even matter really? Should I just say to heck with it and bring my Battlecat with me?

Tenacity is mostly just a matter of which one I think is the coolest and having my fire boar around to show off. I really like my crocodile (and Gezzarak the warpstalker also) but I hear that Turtles/Beetles have some mighty tanking skills. So there is that to consider too.

Any help for the decently knowledgeable but confuzzled hunter? I wanna be a bad ass, but still have my pretties too. Thats what Cata was all about for us.

Ps. If the blizz lurkers are reading, buff BM hunters cause Im sad that they are STILL so much worse than MM and SV in the DPS game. It hurts me. Also Hydras.

[Knobhead]

For raiding purposes, I'm bringing Cat, Wolf, Wind Serpent, and a Raptor. I use the one whose buff/debuff is missing from the raid setup. The fifth slot is taken up by my Turtle for hard solos, generally old raid bosses.

[Comett]

I haven't exactly tested them all yet, but from my (somewhat limited) experience, having a cat/spirit beast/DK who actually keeps his buff up or failing that wolf/devilsaur really does do wonders for DPS. Even in my Surv spec, if I don't use my cat I notice a good 3k~ dps decrease.

The armour decrease is certainly beneficial though again it's provided by a couple of other classes (warriors for one... I think maybe druid also?).

A windserpent sounds like a great benefit for Surv and the raid in general... I haven't used one in a long time to be honest but I like them. I might see if I can make room in my stable and give one a go.

However, regardless of buffs, to be honest I'd use whatever pet I enjoy at that time (within reason, lol... I wouldn't bring a tenacity pet in a progression raid etc). Bring a cat. Bring a wolf. Bring a windserpent. But also bring a pet you just really enjoy working with cause at the end of the day even if you DO need the pet buff you only need it on bosses so you might as well enjoy the pets while you can.

[Jin]

I was just thinking about this but have a slightly different question.

In my server/battlegroup there are so many jerks. Jerks jerks jerks that don't care shit about anything but raw DPS.

It's really boring but for those times when I can't find a guild group and have to do random, what pet would boost my own personal DPS the most? :p

[Acherontia]

I picked Something Else--and I shall explain!

I think whatever's best for a group is whatever buffs it the best. If you have a warlock and mage, use the wind serpent! Just a matter of covering the missing buffs and using what most benefits the party as a whole

[Ryno]

Ive been having great luck with my Windserpent because of its +8% spell damage increase and I assume that is because most of survivals attacks are considered spells.

Serpent sting, nature damage. Black arrow, shadow damage. Explosive shot, fire damage. Cobra Shot, nature damage. Arcane shot, arcane damage. Serpent spread, nature damage.

Except for auto-shot, almost every single thing you do as SV is magic. I recommend Wind Serpent or Dragonhawk, same ability.

Of course, a boomkin brings a similar buff, so in that scenario you might consider another.

[Tulune]

If the group is melee heavy, a Fox for the attack speed debuff or a Carrion Bird for the attack damage beduff really helps out the healers.

[Kurasu]

for those times when I can't find a guild group and have to do random, what pet would boost my own personal DPS the most? :p

As pet buffs don't stack with the player buffs, this would strongly depend on what the rest of the group is bringing. A Shale Spider is probably your best bet for a 'very important group buff' and a Core Hound and heroisms, if you are BM. If not, I would go for a wolf (for the crit), cat (for the strength/agil), and either windserpent/dragonhawk (for a Surv) or Ravager (for a MM). Armor reduction is handy as well, though it does strongly depend on whether your warrior is using Sunders.

[Jin]

Yeah you're right about that and I do when I'm in nice groups with friends or guild.

But when I'm in those random jerkass groups that link dps-meters every 5 minutes I rather have something that buffs ME

[Kurasu]

But when I'm in those random jerkass groups that link dps-meters every 5 minutes I rather have something that buffs ME

And if that random jerkass group you're in has a warrior that's using sunders, your raptor or serpent won't do a thing because they don't stack with the group. If they have a warrior using the shout, your cat's roar won't work because the cat's roar doesn't stack with the shout. If that rogue you're with is Sublety, your +5% crit wolf won't help out because the rogue already brings it.

That's what I was trying to say above. There's no pet that will always buff *you* because depending on the group, they may already be bringing what buff the pet offers you. And DPS-wise, all Cunning pets are the same as all Cunning pets, all Tenacity are the same as all Tenacity, and all Ferocity is the same as all Ferocity.

[Wassa]

I believe the five best pets for survival for dps wise is cat -> wind serpent/dragonhawk -> wolf -> ravager -> raptor.

Keep in mind this is for soloing max dps, based on target dummy tests and other info I read. In groups, you need to pick and choose pets based on what will help your group out the most, not just for you.

[Cialbi]

I picked Something Else--and I shall explain!

I think whatever's best for a group is whatever buffs it the best. If you have a warlock and mage, use the wind serpent! Just a matter of covering the missing buffs and using what most benefits the party as a whole

Warlocks can simply apply Curse of the Elements, and preclude the need for a wind serpent or dragonhawk entirely.

This makes for a good example of what the deciding factor is - what buffs or debuffs is the group lacking that would actually be beneficial? If your group is lacking the bleed-enhancing debuff, but no one in the group can apply a bleed effect, then a hyena won't be particularly helpful. If there is someone in the group who can and does apply a bleed effect, they are also quite likely to be able to apply the bleed debuff themselves. I think combat rogues and assassin rogues are alone in appying bleed effects but not the bleed-enhancing debuff.
_

As for the poll itself, I picked the one that would be most useful for a SV hunter if in a group that somehow has none of the listed buffs or debuffs available to them. My choice was wind serpent, since it buffs everything that a SV hunter uses except their autoshots, and their pet's attacks. The Str/Agi bonus is nice but flat buff that doesn't scale with gear at all. I don't know when the 8% spell damage debuff outshines the flat Agi bonus for SV, but once DPS actually becomes important, you are more likely to be past that point in terms fo your gear.

[Jäysee]

I selected other. I have Sambas for dps in any spec, Jadefang for the awesome tanking(offtank) ability and 5% to stats buff in any spec, and once I get Karoma I will use her for dps in BM. I also keep a corehound on hand just in case I am in a group without a mage or shammy for the heroism type buff.

[Kalliope]

It all depends on your group's composition and whether a particular buff is already covered.

I loosely prioritize cat then wolf. Due to my raid composition, I raid with my ravager and swap to my wolf on fights where our bear is an owl instead. I don't usually run with my raptor, since sunder is usually covered, though I did need her for vault once. I generally don't get around to bringing my dragonhawk for 5s, since the increased spell damage taken is a less important buff to most groups than the crit buff (which is good for everybody) and my raid has a warlock.

There is no "one pet" to bring. There will always be buffs of some sort brought by the rest of your group. It's just a question of which important buffs aren't covered. There's no sense in bringing your cat for the super-important agility buff if you have a dk tank, for example. You'd do better bringing a different buff, just to have two buffs instead of one.