Beast Mastery Hunter Pets Guide — The War Within (11.0.5)

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 Spirit Beast (Tenacity) pets primarily. We do not want Ferocity pets because the Leech they offer will primarily heal your pet since it is doing most of your damage.

Additionally, Spirit Beasts offer Spirit Mend, a self-heal every 30 seconds for around 10% of you or a friendly player's maximum health. Most Hunters do not use this manually but macro it into defensives like Exhilaration or Survival of the Fittest. Leaving it on "auto-cast" will automatically pick a low-health target in the group to heal.

While a Spirit Beast will serve you well in most situations, Healing Reduction pets like Hyenas, Rodents, and Raptors can be situationally useful. These will reduce enemy healing, and this effect works on bosses that heal themselves and can be invaluable in niche scenarios where no one else is providing this effect.

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 a Mortal Wounds healing reduction pet, such as a Carrion Bird, Devilsaur, Ravager, Scorpid, or Wasp. There are several mobs throughout Mythic+ in The War Within that heal themselves, as well as bosses. Since none of the other pet utilities is typically relevant for Mythic+, having a Ferocity healing reduction pet as your "default" is a safe bet.

If you do not need to Bloodlust for your group, then I recommend the same as for Raiding, a Spirit Beast. These do not provide healing reduction, however, so in dungeons where this is a concern, swap to a Tenacity Healing Reduction pet, like a Direhorn, Hydra, Lizard, or Riverbeast.

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 determined by your pet family and they cannot be changed. 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 and spec combination.

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.	Krolusk (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, Toad.
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.

* 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.

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.
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.
Krolusk	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.