Hunter Pet Retrospective: Deathmaw

The third installment of my Hunter Pet Retrospective features one of my all-time favorite pets, Deathmaw. This pet is second only to Loque’nahak in terms of how difficult he was to obtain. I spent probably a week or so camping the Burning Steppes before I finally laid eyes on the black Worg of death.

Why did I spend all that time looking for an ordinary black Worg you ask..? Well, it’s because he used to be extraordinary. As I’d mentioned in my Broken Tooth retrospective, before the attack speed normalization some pets offered an advantage for PvP. One such pet was Deathmaw, the rare spawn black Worg found in the Burning Steppes.

Deathmaw was second only to Broken Tooth and the Zul’Gurub Bat when it came to attack speed. Since I was always partial to wolves, and the Worg skin in particular, once I hit level 53 I was off to the Steppes. I frequented his spawn locations off and on for about a week. This was the first time I really learned the meaning of “rare spawn”. However, as was the case with virtually all my rare pet taming expeditions, I still enjoyed the “thrill of the hunt”.

Thrill may not be the best word to describe it, as that part only comes at the end when you’re finally face-to-face with what it is you’ve been seeking. Luckily I chose skinning as a primary profession back when I started, because it’s always managed to make these taming adventures worthwhile and profitable. I acquired quite a few Black Dragonscales while I was out looking for Deathmaw.

After many evenings of fruitless searching, I finally decided to try my luck in the morning one day. I logged on for a quick trip around the Steppes to check his spawn points hoping that maybe this break in my routine would bring me a bit of luck. Sure enough… almost immediately after logging on I saw him pacing around over by the Boulderfist Ogres. Since the BS was always pretty busy with farmers and questers back then, I was pretty freaked out that someone would come by and try to kill him before I could finish my taming.

I hauled ass over to where he was, dropped my trap, and began the ritual. 20 seconds later… < Garwulf’s Pet >! Woo Hoo!

Deathmaw was one of my all-time faves because he had the fast 1.2 second attack speed, but was a lot sturdier than a cat. He ended up being one of my primary PvP pets because he was so well-rounded. Wolves were middle-of-the-road pets back in the pre-TBC era, so most players wouldn’t worry about being attacked by them, not to mention BM pets were only a shadow of what they are now. This guy was great because he would nibble away at casters, totally interrupting their spells, while I’d just sit back and fill them full of darts. Good times.

Starting when I got him, I used to name all of my pets (which were always rares) their actual in-game names. Even after I tamed him, I used to spend a lot of time in the Burning Steppes farming Dragonscales for my Black Dragonscale Armor. On a few occasions I’d receive tells from other Hunters who about fell out of their chairs when they targeted him, only to realize he was already someone else’s pet. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had a difficult time tracking him down.

I began this series of reflections and sentiments a month ago when I decided to abandon what was perhaps my all-time favorite pet, my Wind Serpent, Trogdor. A lot of people would laugh at such trivialities, but I kinda get attached to some of my virtual pets. I’ve tamed and abandoned just about every rare pet in the game, but there are some that I wished I could’ve kept.

I tell you what… since my Grimtotem Spirit Guide is my only non-exotic dps pet, if his stutter-step poses a problem after I dual-spec, I just may be headed back to the Steppes for this guy. Blizz has no intention of fixing the Ghost Wolf’s running bug and that could be an issue if I decide to raid as MM or SV. Of course, there’s another rare wolf in the game that I have an affinity for, and he’s a one-of-a-kind skin which fits my modus operandi. Do you know which wolf I speak of?