Beast Mastery Hunter Pets Guide — The War Within (11.2.5)

Note that as of Patch 11.1, all Pets can now have their pet specialization changed. This significantly opens up customization and reduces the gaps between Pets in terms of usefulness. While some Pets are still better than others, it matters far less than it used to, and you can pretty much always get away with playing the pet you want.

In the following sections, we describe the best Pets for various situations. We make some references to their abilities. If you want to know in detail about all the pets, specializations, families, and special abilities, scroll further down to our table covering this information.

For Raiding in The War Within, you should look towards Aqiri Pets (Tenacity) pets. They have +30% Movement Speed over all other Pets, which can indirectly improve their DPS as they will spend less time chasing after teleporting or moving bosses and mobs.

While Tenacity is generally the best Raiding Pet Spec, for its +5% Max HP and Fortitude of the Bear defensive cooldown, it is wise to keep multiple Aqiris available, one of each spec, in case an encounter demands a Ferocity, or more likely, a Cunning Pet.

It is also worth keeping a Pterrordax around. These have the Updraft Ability, which is a toggleable, permanent slowfall that applies to when you Disengage. In other words, this will extend your Disengage distance, which can be cool (and helpful) for mobility. You probably do not want Updraft on all the time, however, so I recommend using this macro setup for it:

Swap out your Disengage button with this macro:

• /use Disengage
• /use Updraft(Exotic Ability)

Then, in order to ensure that you do not have Updraft enabled outside of your Disengages, macro this single line into other abilities, or keybind a macro with this line separately. Since you will doubtless be pressing other buttons between your Disengages, you can seamlessly and automatically toggle it on and off with this macro setup.

For Mythic+, the first consideration you need to make is whether you need to be the Bloodlust for the group. If you do, then you are locked into using a Ferocity pet. The best Ferocity pet you can use for almost all Mythic+ purposes is an Aqiri Pet.. Their extra movement speed helps them chase down mobs and close distances more quickly, leading to a small DPS increase over other pets. With that said, you should DISABLE the auto-cast feature on their Tendon Rip ability. Otherwise, they may slow mobs that the tank is trying to gather up, preventing them from getting stacked properly and just generally being annoying.

If you do not need to Bloodlust for your group, then I recommend the same Pet, an Aqiri, but specced Tenacity instead. You can change your pet's specialization at a Stable Master, but I actually recommend grabbing multiple Aqiris, ideally 3, one of each Pet Spec.

In some dungeons, you may fight mobs that heal themselves. It is not often talked about, but some classes and specs provide a debuff that reduces enemy healing taken, like Warriors with their Mortal Strike. If no one else is providing healing reduction in the group, you should use a Pet that can! Several Pets provide this effect, like Hyenas, Raptors, Rodents, Carrion Birds, Devilsaurs, Ravagers, Scorpid, Wasps, Direhorn, Hydras, Lizards, and Riverbeasts. The Pet Spec does not matter for this effect, but Tenacity should be your default when you are not providing Bloodlust.

Finally, you should also have a Damage Reduction Tenacity pet prepared. These can be used to taunt mobs for heavy tankbuster mechanics to spare your tank a lot of damage. With their 50% damage reduction on a 1-minute cooldown and 5% extra max health, these pets can take heavy hits regularly.

For open-world content and soloing in The War Within, Ferocity pets are incredible, as all of their Beast Cleave damage will contribute to healing itself. The best Ferocity pet for tanking things is the Clefthoof. Their Blood of the Rhino means that their Leech will heal themselves for more, and the increased Armor will reduce Physical damage taken substantially.

There are 3 different pet specializations. These specializations are initially determined by your pet family but can be changed freely at a Stable Master. We recommend having a variety of pets of each spec, so that you can cover any situation.

Pet Spec	Passive Effect	Active Ability
Ferocity	Predator's Thirst gives you and your pet 4% Leech. Leech heals you based on how much damage you do.	Primal Rage, which provides the Bloodlust/ Heroism effect, increasing Haste for you and all nearby allies by 30% for 40 seconds. This shares cooldown with Bloodlust/Heroism and similar effects.
Tenacity	Endurance Training increases the maximum health of you and your pet by 5%.	Fortitude of the Bear is a defensive ability that increases your maximum health by 20% for 10 seconds, on a 2-minute cooldown.
Cunning	Pathfinding increases the movement speed of you and your pet by 8%.	Master's Call removes all movement-impairing effects from your pet and a friendly target, and makes them immune to movement-impairing effects for 4 seconds. The friendly target can be you. It has a 45-second cooldown.

Every Pet Family has a special ability. We recommend having at least one of every special ability. If you wanna be ultra-prepared, grab 3 pets of each Special Ability — one for each spec.

Special Ability	Description	Pet Families
Damage Reduction Cooldown	Reduces the damage taken of your pet by 50% for 12 seconds. This has a 1-minute cooldown.	Carapid (Exotic), Beetle, Turtle.
Self-Dispel	Removes 1 Disease, 1 Magic, and 1 Poison effect from your pet. 10-second cooldown.	Spirit Beast (Exotic), Waterfowl, Stag
Healing Reduction	Reduces the healing taken of your pet's target by 25% for 10 seconds. This has a 6-second cooldown, which means that it will be active all the time.	Direhorn, Hydra, Riverbeast, Lizard.
Damage Reduction On Low Health	Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health.	Oxen, Bear.
Dodge Chance Cooldown	This ability increases your pet's Dodge chance by 30% for 20 seconds. It has a 1.5-minute cooldown.	*Feathermane, Dragonhawk, Hopper.
Slow/Snare	Reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Worm (Exotic), Crab, Mammoth, Blood Beast
Magical Damage Reduction	Shimmering Scales reduces your pet's magical damage taken by 70% for 8 seconds, on a 1.5-minute cooldown.	Lesser Dragonkin

*Feathermane pets also have Updraft, which enables Slow Fall for you and your pet, allowing you to fall safely from almost any height while the pet is active for 30 seconds. It will also extend the distance of your Disengage

*Water Strider pets also have Surface Trot, a passive ability that lets you and your pet walk on water while out of combat. Damage will break this effect.

*Pterrordax pets also have Updraft, which enables Slow Fall for you and your pet, allowing you to fall safely from almost any height while the pet is active for 30 seconds. It will also extend the distance of your Disengage.

Pet Family	Specialization	Special Ability	Exotic Ability
Core Hound	Ferocity	Obsidian Skin reduces your pet's damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown.	Molten Hide causes your pet to gain Molten Hide when it gets hit by a melee attack, causing it to deal slight Fire damage to all further melee attackers for 10 seconds. It can only activate every 60 seconds.
Chimaera	Ferocity	Frost Breath reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Froststorm Breath is an 8-second channeled ability for your pet that deals AoE damage to all enemies within 12 yards every 2 seconds. It costs 10 Focus to activate, and then 5 Focus per second to maintain. It is a DPS loss to keep this ability enabled in all situations.
Devilsaur	Ferocity	Monstrous Bite reduces the healing taken of your pet's target by 25%. It lasts 10 seconds and has a 6-second cooldown, meaning it is up all the time.	Feast lets you order your pet to consume a nearby Humanoid or Beast corpse within 5 yards, healing your pet for 20% of its maximum health, and restoring 20 Focus over 6 seconds.
Clefthoof	Ferocity	Thick Hide gives your pet a 60% damage reduction for 15 seconds when it falls below 40% health. This can only occur once every 2 minutes.	Blood of the Rhino is a passive effect that increases your pet's armor by 10%, and increases the effectiveness of all healing done to it by 20%.
Carapid	Tenacity	Bulwark reduces the damage taken of your pet by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown.	Calcified Carapace reduces the Physical damage taken of your pet by a very small amount.
Stone Hound	Tenacity	Stone Armor buffs your pet when it falls below 40% health, reducing its damage taken by 40% and healing it for 3% of its maximum health every 1 second for 15 seconds. This effect can only occur every 2 minutes.	Eternal Guardian is an instant resurrection for your pet. If your pet has died, you can use it to instantly revive it with 100% of its health. It has an 8-minute cooldown.
Spirit Beast	Tenacity	Spirit Pulse removes 1 Magic, 1 Disease, and 1 Poison effect from itself. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Spirit Mend heals a friendly target for a small amount instantly, and applies a small healing DoT for 10 seconds. It costs 5 pet Focus. It can be cast on yourself as well. Spirit Beasts also have the Prowl stealth ability, like Cats.
Worm	Tenacity	Acid Spit reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Burrow Attack is an 8-second channeled ability for your pet that deals AoE damage to all enemies within 12 yards every 2 seconds. It costs 10 Focus to activate, and then 5 Focus per second to maintain. It is a DPS loss to keep this ability enabled in all situations.
Carapid	Tenacity	Bulwark reduces your pet's damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown.	Calcified Carapace passively reduces your pet's Physical damage taken by approximately 10%. The proper spell data is not in the game for this ability yet.
Shale Beast	Cunning	Solid Shell reduces your pet's damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown.	Shimmering Shale passively reduces your pet's magic damage taken by approximately 10%.
Aqiri	Cunning	Tendon Rip reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Dune Strider passively increases your pet's movement speed by 30%.
Water Strider	Cunning	Soothing Waters removes 1 Magic, 1 Disease, and 1 Poison effect from itself. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Surface Trot allows you and your pet to walk on water. Any damage taken will cancel the effect and cause you to fall in the water.
Pterrordax	Cunning		Ancient Hide Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health.