A 5-man army

[NightOwl]

So what pets are the best to keep on hand during PUG heroics/regular five-mans? I always have my wolf for crit, a cat or spirit beast for strength/agility, a ravager for the amazing Ravage but I am at a loss for the last two slots! I love the idea of group-wide buffs (pally at heart) but I also want a pet that provides the optimum dps and not with something obscure like bleed damage. So a raptor and carrion bird maybe? I don't know, what do you keep on hand for the obligatory dungeon runs?

[Saturo]

The raptor is the same as the ravager.

Personally, I suggest a windserpent for that sexy magic damage buff, and something with an interrupt, which always comes in handy.

[Kalliope]

Actually, it's raptors and serpents who are the same.

I agree on the wind serpent/dragonhawk option. Interrupts are interesting, depending on your spec. A raptor is all right, but that buff is usually covered. Ditto on the carrion bird. I do tend to give that last spot to a bleed-increasing pet, since the others are usually covered. But then, I run as marks and have silencing shot.

[NightOwl]

Haha, I just went and got myself one of those Netherstorm wind serpents. SO METAL.

I love birds of prey, would Snatch be considered an interrupt or should I pick up a moth?

[Nubhorns]

Snatch is a disarm, not an interrupt. :)

The only issue with interrupts is that you have to micro-manage them - not a huge issue, but a problem for lazy people like me. xP

[Vephriel]

The only constants I really keep with me are a Devilsaur (Skorn pretty much never leaves my active slots ), Ravager, and Cat or Spirit Beast. The other two are swapped out all the time for whatever pets I feel like spending some time with. I do usually keep a Tenacity pet with me though for random soloing or emergency tanking.

[Acherontia]

Agi/str, 5% crit, ArPen, Bloodlust, backup tank--that's my army

As BM, I've tanked a few heroics bosses after the tank has died, so I think that's a worthy thing to bring along.

For me, those pets are Spirit Beast, Devilsaur/Wolf (although I toggle off the Devil's MS effect), Raptor, Core Hound & Beetle.

[dayseeder]

I use my hydra (crit), raptor (sunder), spirit beast (my offspec is BM, and the agility buff is common enough I don't feel the need to bring a cat as well or instead of him), wasp (stun: I'm on a PvP server, and he's additionally my favorite (: ), and a beetle or turtle. Even if you don't solo very often, there's countless times where pulling out your tenacity pet can salvage a potential wipe.

Edit: Acherontia and I apparently have similar line-up taste. (;

[Xella]

I've been keeping my fifth slot open because there are still some rares that I'd tame if I ran across them between queues and I don't do throw-away pets if I can help it, so if I had all five with me and came across one, I'd be in a pretty pickle, heh.

I usually run with wolf (crit), spirit beast (agi/str), sporebat (cast speed/"nothing else I have with me is needed, pretty pet time!"), and I swap the fourth out between shale spider (stats), dragonhawk (spell damage), ravager (physical damage), and serpent (armor reduction). Dragonhawk and Serpent have been the most common lately, though when I finally do start carrying around a fifth, it'll likely be an interrupt because in five-mans, that's likely to be the most necessary (mostly because most pugs don't kick). My spirit beast gets used the least in the heroics I've been in lately, with wolf and dragonhawk used most often.

[Jatbirkkal]

I tend to keep my Corehound, Worm, and Dragonhawk with me, other two slots are free (One is for situational things, raids and such, when I need a pet to replace a class buff that's missing.), and slot five is always open for tames. Meh.

[Kurasu]

Generally when I run, the most common things I'm asked to bring are +5% crit (probably the #1; Devilsaur), Fort (Silithid), +4% phys damage (Ravager), +8% magic damage (Dragonhawk), and Agi/Str (Spirit Beast). Nowadays, Fort isn't as necessary as it used to be, so the Silithid can be swapped out for something else, like a Shale Spider or emergency tank.

[Victorelle]

I use my kitty or my Krush for the damage buff or the ones with the spell buffs are nice

[Ziarre]

Spirit Beast (I adore my Fantastic Four--Rakesh, Vihar, Anima, and Kizuka), Devilsaur/Wolf (Arawn's my big talkative buddy, and Kizuu toughed it out with me when BM was nerfed), Cat (Griever is Griever <3), Tenacity pet (ah Samira, how you frustrated me), and...something useful in the fifth slot. Lately this is either my raptor Azrak or my corehound Uruloke.

I double up on the str/agi buff since if I need to swap specs to Survival, Griever's frequently the only one of my active lineup that I can use...and only pulling him out then means I don't have to respec him every time. Still figuring out what decides I have to respec the pet in the case of a spec swap, and it's epic to have my old friend with me if I need that extra AoE kick.

[Tyuriwen]

Well nowadays the only constants are Exedra, my hydra, Ickis, my silithid (for PvP), and Yoko, of course, my big green Devilsaur =3 The rest I tend to switch out to spend time with (Erulissë and Tiéla, my two cats, are running with me currently, to get some bonding time) =) I tend to use Exedra in 5 mans, for the crit buff, or if I'm feeling lazy sometimes I'll switch to Yoko <3 Anthwax, my raptor, I usually bring to raids, since the other 2 hunters in my guild love their wolf and cat (and pretty much the other pets are for show, it's sad), so I'm there with my lime green raptor 'n' proud =3

[Harvoc]

I actually have one of each pet for the buffs and debuffs that should be provided in dungeons and raids. Based on Malazee's Pet Usage Flowchart, my active slots for dungeons contain my raptor, Screamslash, my wolf, Deathmaw, my ravager, Quillfang, my wind serpent, Hayoc, and my cat, Sambas. In my stabled slots, I have my other two dungeon pets: my hyena, Giggler, and my sporebat, Sporewing. Because of the limited amount of buffs/debuffs in dungeons, the only pets I've used so far are my raptor, wolf, and ravager. I haven't had any groups where the armor debuff, crit buff, physical damage debuff all were covered. Since dungeons don't matter that much, do you guys think I should stick with what I'm doing now, or alternate my pets out every dungeon run?

[Wassa]

My main line up for raids/heroics usually is tallstrider, ravager, cat, wolf, and fox. Why both the tallstrider and fox when they have the same buff? Well, the fox never is in combat; she is there to dance on the corpses of lazy people that die and don't run back. =P Always get a reaction from that hehe.

[Comett]

My lineup is very similar to the above posts but I'll add mine here for information's sake.

1) my cat, agi/str, also because he's my favourite pet and I'd bring him along even if he was useless
2) my wolf, crit, seems to be the most commonly useful in 5- and 10-mans
3) my windserpent or dragonhawk (I rotate them hehe), +8% spell damage, another commonly needed
4) usually I'll bring along a tank pet - often just my scorpid, he does fine as an emergency tank
5) more often than not I'll just rotate whatever other pet/s I feel like bringing, though commonly of late they've been my raptor or a double-up of the above buffs (eg another cat, a spirit beast, devilsaur etc)

[Fafnir]

Dragonhawks/Windserpents aren't so hot for heroics since their debuff has a significantly long cooldown, especially if you aren't BM.

My RDF line-up is usually cat/wolf/ravager/sporebat/corehound.

It helps quite a bit in ZA/ZG to go BM for certain fights just for bloodlust if it's lacking - Akil'zon comes to mind. Believe it or not, the Sporebat cloud is very helpful for the caster-heavy trash packs. Wolf and cat of course for highest personal dps buffs, and ravager since its debuff is almost as good as sunder but not covered by pve spec classes.

[Cyone]

I use Loque for boss-damage and thrash with CC. Grubthor the worm for AOE in thrash groups. And a Gorilla for interrups.

....Even if you don't solo very often, there's countless times where pulling out your tenacity pet can salvage a potential wipe....

I've read this often and I always have the feeling that I missed something.
Is there a talent or glyph that shortens the time for releasing the other pet?
Usually if I see the tank die, there is barely enough time to switch on growl and misdirect to pet. If I start to release my pet then, its a wipe before the tenacity pet is out.

[Acherontia]

Edit: Acherontia and I apparently have similar line-up taste. (;

So we do! Good taste at that ;D

I've read this often and I always have the feeling that I missed something.
Is there a talent or glyph that shortens the time for releasing the other pet?
Usually if I see the tank die, there is barely enough time to switch on growl and misdirect to pet. If I start to release my pet then, its a wipe before the tenacity pet is out.

I am going to assume you mean dismiss rather than release But yeah--I have the tank on focus for MD anyway, and usually I can tell when the tank is about to die. Unless the mob is just about to die, I can dismiss (2.5 sec cast?) then pop out my tank pet, who has growl on by default, and send pet/mend pet. It takes maybe 3 seconds total, so usually just as the tank keels over, the pet takes aggro. Manually click the taunt asap as well, assuming the pet doesn't immediately shoot up to top aggro--if it's been a long fight, you want to taunt at once.

Keep Taunt, Last Stand, Cower & Shell Shield on the bars, and keep the latter two on autocast but use them early too. My beetle is specced for soaking up damage and only that, and performs admirably even on heroic bosses. In fact, some bosses are more EASILY tanked by a hunter pet--no positioning issues, no worries about AoE damage. A great example of this is Venoxis in the new ZG--my pet took almost no damage from him. Obviously it's not optimal, but you can usually finish off a heroic boss if the tank dies, if you have your dismiss/call tank pet easily available. I'd definitely recommend it, at least as BM--try practicing on a dummy a few times, just the dismiss/call/send + mend + taunt!