How to Choose a Hunter Pet in WoW

Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning Pet Trees in World of Warcraft 3.1

Oct 25, 2009

Choosing a pet is the biggest decision WoW hunters have to make. Pet trees, talents, and skills vary depending on if the pet is of the ferocity, tenacity, or cunning tree

Individuals who play a hunter in World of Warcraft have a wide range of choices when it comes to a pet. This allows added customization for the player. Pets can be changed, but any time spent leveling a pet will be lost once it is released.

Why Hunter Pets are Crucial to Game play

A pet contributes a large percentage of the hunter’s overall dps. Depending on the type of pet a player chooses, that percentage can be 20% or higher. This makes all the difference in end game raids when dps becomes vital to downing raid bosses.

Hunters benefit from their pet’s skills and talents. The ultimate focus of a pet is to keep a mob’s attention away from the hunter so that the player can take advantage of his character’s ranged dps. Hunters were never meant for close combat and because of this, a hunter should never venture off on his own without a pet close by.

The Ferocity Tree

Pets that fall under the ferocity tree do the most damage. These pets are most commonly used for end game raids, when dps is critical. Ferocity pets not only have higher dps themselves, they also have abilities which can increase the dps of the hunter.

Ferocity tree talents are centered around increasing speed and the power of the pet’s attack.

The Tenacity Tree

Pets in the tenacity tree do less damage than other pets, but have a far greater survivability. Tenacity pets are primarily used as a tank for the hunter when a tanking player is not available. These pets have aggro generating abilities than can be very useful to a hunter while soloing.

Tenacity tree talents focus on increasing the pet’s stamina and armor level while generating and maintaining threat.

The Cunning Tree

Pets in the cunning tree are a good balance of tenacity and ferocity talents. These pets have less stamina and armor than tenacity pets, but more than ferocity pets. Their damage is greater than that of pets within the tenacity tree, but lower than those in the ferocity tree. Aside from having a “middle of the road” status, however, cunning pets have an increased focus on crowd control. This makes them an ideal choice for PvP encounters.

Other Factors to Consider About Hunter Pets in WoW

There once was a time when a hunter’s primary concern when choosing a pet was the pet’s attack speed. Even now, numerous websites exist that list the attack speed of each tameable beast in Azeroth. Fortunately, attack speed is a thing of the past. All pets have the same attack speed, and this should no longer be a factor when deciding which beast to tame.

Hunters are allowed to have multiple pets, but only one pet can accompany the player at any given time. Other pets must be stabled. Most cities have a stable, but stables are fairly obsolete. Any hunter has the ability to switch out his or her pets from anywhere in the world. This ability, however, has a 30 minute cool down. If a new pet is desired in that time frame, the player must visit a stable or release his current pet into the wild.

The copyright of the article How to Choose a Hunter Pet in WoW in Role-Playing Video Games is owned by Candice Gillingwater. Permission to republish How to Choose a Hunter Pet in WoW in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.