Croc or Wolf?

[rakanik]

Can someone help em with a decision please? What would be better to BM Solo with; Croc or Wolf?
Unless someone can think of somthing better? I am Tauron. Thanks for any and all help in advance.

[Vephriel]

Well, it depends on what you want your pet to do.

A Wolf is a Ferocity pet. They're made to do as much damage as possible. You can definitely solo with a Ferocity pet since you can burn down mobs quickly.

A Crocodile is a Tenacity pet. They're built for survivability. While a croc may not do as much/as fast damage as a Wolf, it can survive multiple mob encounters much easier.

Personally, I prefer to solo with a Tenacity pet in most cases. You do plenty of DPS with one, and the extra survivability really helps in tight situations.

[Rhyela]

I agree that the tenacity pets are generally better to solo with, and at lower levels (have no idea what level you are), you can get away with bringing them to instances, since ferocity pets don't really shine til higher levels when the beat'em talents become available.

Popular tenacity choices for leveling are...*drum roll*...

- Bears: Swipe is an AoE that will help to keep mobs off of you and on your pet instead

- Boars: At level 20, I believe, you can spec into Charge. Charge + Gore = double damage, and is great for building threat at the start of the fight, making it more difficult to peel the mob off of your pet and onto yourself.

Now for the ferocity pets. I tend to disagree with the current mindset of "wolf > every other pet in the game", but I'll list them anyway since like it or not, they're a popular choice.

- Wolves: Yes, yes, we all know what they do. Buff the damage of the pet and hunter for 20 seconds on a 40 second cooldown. But really, at lower character and gear levels when your AP isn't that wonderful anyway, it's not going to make that much of a difference. I prefer a pet with a shorter CD at lower levels, something such as a.....

- Cat: Rake will give you steady damage on a short cooldown, and the first hit out of prowl grants a 25% damage bonus. Pretty handy, no? Not to mention there are tons to choose from at a relatively low level.

- Carrion Birds: One of my personal favorites. The AP reduction is really nice for minimizing some of the incoming damage, not to mention it's even useful in instances that a warrior doesn't feel like keeping up Demoralizing Shout.

- Raptors: Kind of a WoW staple, since they've been around since the dawn of time. Their family ability isn't going to give you the steady damage of a cat, but if it procs, it's very nice indeed. Plenty of colors to choose from, too.

And now, for the cunning pets. The majority of these are utility pets. I go for the more damage-focused cunning pets, while other people swear by the utility-driven pets. It's all personal taste.

- Dragonhawks: These are nice because the fire bypasses armor, doing more damage on enemies/bosses who tend to take less damage from physical hits. The fire breath looks pretty nifty, too.

- Wind Serpents: Another personal favorite of mine. Like the dragonhawks above, they have magic-based damage which will bypass armor. And, they have a really awesome swimming animation. <3

- Ravagers: A pet I've never tamed and likely never will, but many people love them for their stun ability. If you're BM and have intimidation, you can keep an enemy stunned for a few seconds, which can save your butt if things get hairy.

- Bats: Basically the same as a ravager, but with a longer range. The tradeoff is that it's also on a longer cooldown. Again, not my personal favorite but a lot of people like them.

I won't list every single pet out there, these are just the ones that I tend to see more often and that have their uses while leveling/questing/instance-grinding.

The choice is ultimately up to you. You can easily get three stable slots fairly early on, so why not just try a few out and see which one works best for you? Many people are often surprised at how well a certain pet fits them that they'd have never thought to tame before.

I wish you luck!!!

[FuzzyDolly]

For leveling 10-80, all I used was my owl from Darnusses. The cunning tree and the snatch ability was awesome, at least for me. I say get yourself one pet of each tree and find the one that works with your game style. (Plus it really helps if you enjoy the look and sound of your pet. You'll be spending alot of time together.) You can have every hunter on this forum answer this question and every hunter on this forum will most likely give you a different answer.

[rakanik]

Ok thanks guys. Just wish I could get to some of the zones to tame some of those Alliance Pets, but at a measly 21st lvl its pretty hard to do just yet. Thanks again, and great sight BTW!

[Azzrazzah]

Nah, it's not that hard.. Corpse Jumping is easy and fun when showing off that hard to get pet.. Just strip off all your armor (No need for repair bills) and go for it!! I had a lvl 10 NightElf, as soon as I was able to tame I corpse jumped to The Ghostlands and got a lynx... That's running through The Plaguelands as a lvl 10.. I died alot.. But I got that hard pet!!!

[Vephriel]

Yup, the easiest way to obtain pets in faraway lands is to 'corpse-run'.

All you do is run there as a ghost, find a Spirit Healer in the area, and then LOG OUT. When you log back in and ask the Spirit Healer to rez you, you will remain in that place. If you don't log out first then you're transported back to where you died originally.

[Rhyela]

Yup, the easiest way to obtain pets in faraway lands is to 'corpse-run'.

All you do is run there as a ghost, find a Spirit Healer in the area, and then LOG OUT. When you log back in and ask the Spirit Healer to rez you, you will remain in that place. If you don't log out first then you're transported back to where you died originally.

Works like a charm, really, and it cuts down on your run time significantly since you run faster in spirit form. I ran all the way from Durotar (well, Silverpine actually after taking the zeppelin) to Dun Morogh for a bear using this trick.

[rakanik]

hehe I got a Ravager this morning using that trick. It looks realy cool. But now, as he is my second pet (Boar in my pet holder thingy), before I could train him up I fought a 22nd lvl stag and got my rear handed to me. Now I wonder, What good are Cunning pets? What are they best at? PvP only? They cant take agro off of me when they are 17th lvl, will they be able to once my ravager catches up to my lvl?

[FuzzyDolly]

I stand by my love for going 70 levels with my owl from the cunning tree. He's always served me well. I really think you should give it a try.

[rakanik]

an owl huh? Ok, gonna give it a look see and try to get one, I can always go back and get another boar or croc or something to tank with.

[Rhyela]

hehe I got a Ravager this morning using that trick. It looks realy cool. But now, as he is my second pet (Boar in my pet holder thingy), before I could train him up I fought a 22nd lvl stag and got my rear handed to me. Now I wonder, What good are Cunning pets? What are they best at? PvP only? They cant take agro off of me when they are 17th lvl, will they be able to once my ravager catches up to my lvl?

Your ravager will do much better once it reaches your level. Remember that your pet, being five levels below the mob, was likely missing a LOT. The less hits it gets in, the less threat it puts out onto itself, and the more you get. Give him some time to level up (at your level it shouldn't take long) and you should start to see a difference.

You may also consider taking Ravage off of auto-cast. That way you can use it when YOU need it, rather than when the ravager feels like using it (usually right as the mob is about to die, in my experience ).

[Direksone]

Well, it depends on your specc. If you're beastmastery you'll have acces to special pets, obviously.

I leveled with a bear on lower levels, great survivability, can also AoE tank due to Thunderstomp, but really the bear sucked.. His threat was terrible, you're better off taking a ferocity pet, theyre more squishy but due to their higher damage theyll have more threat. Get a devilsaur when you can, untill then it's your call, going for survivability with crap TPS or less survivability and more threat/dmg. My devilsaur does fine tanking, though I am Draenei and therefore have two healing abilities I can use on him.

Devilsaur ftw.

[Saturo]

Actually, tenacity pets are much better at TPS. How? Guard Dog, plus 20% on Growl, which is about 75% of the pets TPS, whereas the actual damage is 25%.

Ferocity pets only plusside is that the mob is dead a bit quicker.