GarsNotes: Best DPS Pets

33 thoughts on “GarsNotes: Best DPS Pets”

1. Hello, came across your very valuable guide here recently, a bit of history about me if you will: I am playing a level 80 BM Hunter in the Wrath Expansion on a private server. I have no interest in raiding with her, just doing my own “solo thing” I have been pondering with great interest the choice of a Wolf as top DPS for this expansion. In my own experience with target dummies, yes, the wolf out-shines a spirit bear I am very fond of, and of course my tank croc pet. I do have a question., and or observation however. If one looks at the pet stats of the damage of the bear, they are listed as 1093-1180 damage output. If one compares that to the wolf however, the wolf is “only” listed as 729-787 damage. I am getting these numbers from right-clicking on my pet’s icon and pulling up attributes. So, since the Wolf Is top in DPS, are the base numbers meaningless, or in fact does “Furious Howl” Shine that brightly as it were? Thanks for any input!

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   • Hi David, Pets are pretty homogenized in WotLK with all of their modifiers linked to their respective talent trees. Properly specced, a ferocity pet will always out-damage a tenacity pet since the ferocity tree talent choices favor DPS where as tenacity favors threat and survivability. If you’re somehow seeing a tooltip that shows the wolf not hitting as hard then it’s perhaps due to Cobra Reflexes which increases attack speed but reduces damage per hit.

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2. Just curiosity, since you wrote this WoW changed and added some new pets, do you believe that your “rank” is not reliable anymore?

   Perhaps you should change some of your champions to quilens, am I right?

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   • Yes I agree, have the pets changed since WOD?

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     • All pets deal equal damage now.

       There are three pet specializations: Ferocity (DPS), Tenacity (Tank), Cunning (PvP).

       Ferocity is best while raiding, and you can set any pet you want at any time, while out of combat, to your desired pet specialization by going to your own hunter specialization pane and selecting the Pet tab on the bottom.

       A few pets have a few different abilities and buffs. Some slow the target for a few seconds, which is good for PvP. Some provide buffs like 5% crit, 5% haste, 5% multistrike, or mastery.

       For Beast Mastery hunters there’s a few more exotic options for level 69 hunters and up, but they don’t deal more damage. They simply have an extra ability.

       TL;DR: Wolf/Devilsaur is still best pet.

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3. If your looking for a good looking Wasp pet there are some very pretty ones in Sholazar basin by the Skyreach pillar ( also one of the spawn points for the spirit beast Loque).

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4. Im pretty new in WoW
   using 4 0 3a patch
   how can i unlearn pet’s talent?

   thanks

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   • Xshoot,

     Just go to the hunter pet trainer. They will ask you if you wish to unlearn all of your pet’s talents. It costs nothing, so feel free to do it as often as you need while playing with talents.

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5. this is in regards to the wolf being best pet, yes the howl is sweet but it has been brought to my attention that the raptor is better now after 4.0.1 due to its arp abilities, can anyone shed some light on this?

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   • Actually, as long as it’s a Ferocity pet, no pet is really any better than the other. It just depends upon which buff is needed at the time.

     The info in this guide is no longer relevant since 4.0.1 has gone live.

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6. Monstrous bite no longer does damage, it now debuffs healing by 25%. So…utility for pvp maybe but not as shiny anymore. Not planning on wasting any more time waiting for Krush to spawn.

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7. Hi Gar,

   Thanks for the fast reply. I figured it was an old post later on, when I discovered it wasn’t containing Shark Attack and Wild Hunt. No probs tho, I specced my pet on it ASAP.
   Now the problem is I get like 6.5k dps in my survival spec, whilst I only manage to reach 4-4.5k in BM spec. Would this be a bad spec or just wrong gems (still +20 agi gems) and gear stats? I don’t feel like spending shiteloads of money on an x-number of gems just to see if it improves.
   I don’t like the new patch at all. I just worked out an awesome PvP survival build, to find out it has been reset, had a change of talents, and an overall screwup on the spellbook. Focus isn’t really my thng either, and I’m not gonna say anything about Volley. I feel we as hunters are severely screwed in general, specially in PvP, where you don’t have time to stand still and cast Steady Shot.
   I don’t know about you, but I think I need some real hardcore adapting to either BM or MM, with MM being the least thing I want.

   Regards,

   Osaka – Alonsus EU

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8. First of all thanks for putting hunter-possibilities on the net.

   Second, you’re kinda confusing me. In the section BM glyphs, pets and shot rotation you mention that ‘Raiding without Heart of the Phoenix is dangerous baby, yeah!’ But in here, you made a talent build that doesn’t include HotP. So now my question is, as a BM: spec it or don’t? I found it very useful as a survival hunter (although unneeded), but I can imagine it’s almost a necessity for a BM hunter.
   With the new Cataclysm-patch, I felt survival was by far the weakest build for raiding, but maybe it’s just me hating focus. Could you spew some updates regarding to this matter? Would be very much awesome.

   Regards,

   Osaka – Alonsus EU

   P.S: Raptors are nowhere near top dps for BM… in fact, I found Spirit Beasts statistically better. Just my point of view though.

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   • Hi Osaka,

     Sorry for the confusion… The previous post you were referring to is over a year and a half old. I’d posted it when pet survivability vs AE wasn’t so hot. This guide is more current, and as far the talents are concerned, much more accurate.

     SV seems to be regarded as the lowest DPS spec atm. I haven’t messed with it yet, so I can’t confirm. I might start toying with it in the next week or so, but I’m mainly focusing on BM right now.

     Pre-patch, Raptors were higher than Spirit Beasts. Your results could have been different, but it’s been mathematically proven. The raptor’s former special accounted for more DPS than Spirit Strike. Sad but true.

     Spirit Beasts are getting their day now though – in PvP anyway. 🙂 Their special abilities now place them in the top 3 for BM PvP.

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9. Hrmz was reading ej (Best Possible DPS in Shandaras WotLK Spreadsheet), according to that best dps pet for bm is Raptor? Is this purely based on endgame gear? Just a tad confused which pet to get for my last slot devilsaur / raptor.

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   • Honestly, this is the first I’ve heard a mention of the raptor being tops. I’ll have to plug this in later just to check for myself.

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10. Gar,
    I appreciate all you do for the hunters, and i agree we all need to stick together but my question is…
    Why Cobra Reflexes? The skill points i feel could be better used toward your pets Stam, the reasom i ask is because Cobra reflexes cuts your pets damage while making him faster to attack. Does this build really compensate for the loss of DPS you take from Cobra Reflexes?

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    • Hi Stephen,

      I updated the guide and elaborated a bit on the pet build. Hopefully this may answer some questions regarding talent point placement.

      The reason Cobra Reflexes is a DPS boost is because your pet attacks more frequently. More frequent hits, even though they’re for less damage, is a boost to DPS. Why..? Because more attacks means more chances to crit, which means more attacks that are doing double damage.

      This is especially important for Beast Masters who rely upon pet crits to get Frenzy procs.

      Hopefully that explanation is adequate. 🙂

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      • Hi Gar,
        I’ve often wondered if this logic is correct, not only for Cobra Reflexes but several other things (that I can’t think of right now). I mean, crit has a certain percentage chance on each hit, and (I assume) the amount of crit damage is based on the amount of normal hit damage (even including +crit damage % enhancements such as meta gems). If the base hit damage is the same over time with Cobra Reflexes (only shared over more hits), the total crit damage would also be the same, since the number of crit hits would be proportionally higher but the damage of each one would be proportionally lower.

        I don’t doubt your actual experience of finding that it does give more DPS. I just think that the increased DPS must surely come from some other benefit of having more frequent hits and/or crit hits.

        But to be sure, I won’t lose any sleep over this, and neither should you! 🙂

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        • The increase in speed is disproportionate to the reduction in damage.

          Crit concerns aside, it does more damage with the talent than without.

          also, the point about crits: The total crit damage over time is the same, but with talents that proc from pet crits occuring on a per-crit basis, more frequent, weaker crits are worth more.

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11. Many of PingHansen’s comments echo (meh… sorry!) my own character and experiences so closely that I could almost have written them myself. It was only after I levelled 80, asked myself the question “Well, what now?”, and then found your superb site by accident when trying to find out what “hit cap” meant (yes, really!), that I realised I was so not really being a hunter at all. I can’t help feeling, looking at their gear and watching them using the same few hunter shots and abilities one PvE mob after another, that most levelling hunter mains are in a similar situation, and, like me at the time, completely oblivious to it. How many levelling hunter mains regularly use their sneaky trap abilities, or their strong melee hits, or their aspects, or FD, for example? I could be wrong, but I think it’s a small minority. These are the things (for every class of course) that make the game so rewarding and fun – not just grinding another level or two in one evening’s play.

    So there is definitely a place for a guide to being a good levelling hunter, covering both PvE and PvP, and I believe a good place to begin is with the first talent points… i.e. from 10 up. A very tall order, I know!

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    • I hear you! (or is that “read”)

      Just leveling is actually quite boring. Doing a good job of it and having to use the gray matter, is what makes the game fun – which is also why I cringe every time Blizzard nerf the game.

      Speaking (writing) of that; I have had great fun collecting grape bins from the Defias infested field and the head of that André guy behind Northshire Abbey and tools from the troll caves in the dwarf/gnome starting area. It was also a great learning experience. Now the mobs in the starting areas are all neutral, and it has become sooo boring. Who ever came up with that brain-dead idea? They ought to sack those who approved the change. On the other hand, the persons who lowered the requirements for mounts … Now, THEY had the right idea!

      And pleeeeease, Blizzard; give us some more class-specific quests, so we can learn to use our respective classes better.

      But back to the rant at hand – leveling. I’d much rather be challenged during the leveling, and learn how to do it right, than rush through leveling and then having to unlearn all my bad habits.

      Besides, endgame is not that fun, after a while. Grinding rep through dailies and marks through dungeon finder quickly becomes exceedingly boring. I find myself getting new very bad habits from running heroics in ICC gear – I hardly ever use anything else than Volley, except for on the bosses. Actually, PUGs are most fun, when I’m in a bad group, because then I’m the one who has to make up the difference – and I get to moan about it afterwards ;o) Even ICC becomes quite repetitive after a while – especially if you cannot find the right raiding guild.

      And that’s another point – I cannot see why any sane person would want to commit to running the same few bosses again and again, with a bunch of highly strung abusive primadonnas, every damn Wednesday. Hello! We’re supposed to have FUN! It’s a GAME! So finding the right guild is important.

      End of rantings and ravings ;o)

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    • Felinin,

      I agree with both you and Ping in regards to a “hunter handbook”. I did start to put a leveling guide together some months ago (https://huntsmanslodge.com/hunter-leveling-guide-levels-1-20), but I only managed one edition. 😉

      I do think there is a need for a concise guide full of many fundamentals and various tools.

      I have already been planning on doing this for PvP, but I’m now going to queue up a PvE guide as well.

      Now, just need to find the time…

      Ping,

      I like your rants. 🙂

      You and I think very much alike as it pertains to this game. I am very much a solo player myself and have never understood “the grind” that people subject themselves to. To me it’s a compulsion (ie: addiction) really.

      Blizzard managed to tap into a realm of the human psyche that allows them to control people’s thoughts and emotions with the allure of shiny, sparkly, glowy pixels. It really is absurd when you think about how emotional people get over all of this, and how many real life sacrifices are made in order to excel at WoW.

      At any rate… I’m a big proponent of solo play. It’s nice to have the lively atmosphere of an MMO, but I usually prefer to partake in endeavors that don’t require a huge time commitment. I like to be able to play at my own pace – on my own schedule, log off when I need/want to, etc…

      I think the solo angle is a great one – not necessarily “extreme-solo”, although that’s fun too, but as you said, a basic handbook for helping those who just want to have fun with the class and not get all crazily immersed in end-game.

      Thanks for your input. 🙂

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12. Hello,

    What’s your opinion as to macroing Call of the Wild into ALL abilities?
    While levelling BM I’ve had it on every shot because, well, uptime is good and I’ve not NEEDED to keep it for anything. Going through dungeons like this and blowing misdirect/BW/RF at the start of any boss has seen me consistently doing top DPS in dungeons (Not necessarily a pride point when levelling, but if my DPS is TWICE the next highest, it’s having a genuine effect on the speed of the instance).

    Obviously, at higher level it may be important to use the synergy of CotW, BW, KC, Rabid etc etc as shown in your macro. Knowing me, though, I’m not good at remembering loads of cooldowns. BW never gets used on trash, for example, nor RF. In your experience, is the added damage from syncronising cooldowns better than the higher uptime but occasional waste of all-shots-macro?

    P.s. Thanks again for the site.

    Dirtprotest, 75 Tauren Hunter, Azjol-Nerub EU.

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    • Dirtyprotest,

      Rather than macro Call of the Wild to all abilities, wouldn’t it just be easier to leave it on auto-cast?

      The reason it is good to macro CotW with RF or BW is because it is on a long 5 minute cooldown, which means it’s uptime is piss-poor. Therefore, we want to maximize its benefit each time we use it.

      Using it during BW means that we see 10% more AP added to our already 10% increased damage, and our pet receives 10% more AP factoring into its 50% increased damage.

      Using it with RF means that all additional shots fired during the buff will hit harder due to the 10% additional attack power.

      I’d estimate the average time between dungeon bosses to be about 5 minutes, which means you should be able to use CotW + RF for each boss encounter. Using it on trash is a waste. Under normal circumstances you wouldn’t want to use RF on trash – CotW should be viewed the same way.

      Save it for bosses and stack it with other big abilities.

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      • Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

        I’ll monkey with my macros tonight, and stick it with RF and BW.

        One additional thing – there’s a typo in the extended pet talnet section – you list the c/d of CotW as 5 seconds, instead of minutes. 😀

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        • Crikey! Thanks for catching that! 🙂

          Err… I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about… it says 5 minutes. 🙄

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13. Nice writeup. Short and to the point, while providing what endgame hunters need to know.

    But here lies a bit of a problem! All this _is_ endgame info. How about some info for the aspiring mass?

    While I very much appreciate your writings (I’ve gotten some great advice for my own endgame hunter), I’d like to try making you change your focus a bit.

    The fact is, that there is about a million endgame hunter guides out there, but I’ve discovered very few guides that cater to the aspiring hunter – and none that were worth reading.

    You had a good thing going with that horde hunter you were leveling, but you stopped the guide at level 20.

    My feeling is, that the best hunters, are hunters that have learned their class from the bottom, with a bit of good advice. And by trying to get rid of the bad habits at an early stage.

    Not a leveling guide, but rather a how-to-become-a-good-hunter guide.

    Imagine, a guide that from the start taught hunters not to be huntards, the bane of our class. e.g. by suggesting doing selected quests/monsters in certain ways – perhaps right after prompting the hunter to learn certain key abilities. Improving the hunter’s understanding of the class by working new abilities into the rotation/priority as they become available.

    I’m not very social, so leveled my own hunter by soloing most of the way. As I didn’t have anyone to lean on for knowledge, I did things my own way. While I did learn new abilities as they became available, I usually stayed with the sure and tried and didn’t gain understanding of how to really play the class – much less of how to apply it in a group. As a result, I actually had to be taught how to use misdirection inside Naxx – by a somewhat perplexed healer ;o) I also used keyboard turning well into the 70’ies and had never kited anything – except by mishap. All this changed, when I discovered a good hunter guide at ensidia.com, your macro guides and Kripp’s videos. And when I discovered the dungeon finder, things really took off! Took me very short time to get from just above huntard stage with lousy gear and no enchants/gems to being considered a well above average hunter, and well-geared team-player. I know that I’ll never really shine, and there are quite a few skills I’m not yet comfortable with, and I’ll never be good at PVP.

    Imagine, if there had been a good guide available …

    But now my youngest son have a hunter in the works, and my wife has finally started playing as well.

    Imagine, if there was a good guide available …

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    • I hear ya loud and clear Ping. I’m going to give that idea some considerable thought.

      If time permits, look for something within the week.

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      • Like Tony Says: Grrrrreat!

        Now for the hard part – waiting ;o)

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      • I think someone has been led astray, since we have passed the three week mark ;o)

        Seriously, I have pointed quite a few level 70+ hunters to your 1 – 20 section, and several of them were better hunters after. It seems that things like managing Growl/Cower doesn’t come naturally. I learned to look for stamina with a BM, in stead of focusing primarily on agility, agility, attack power, hit and agility, like a MM

        Now, if level 80 hunters can learn from a 1 – 20 guide, then try to imagine the possible impact of the next section (argh, the Pressure! ;o))

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        • HaHa… you noticed that. 😉

          I should have preceded my reply with, “best case scenario”… lol.

          I have good intentions, but time is my enemy. A guide such as that one requires a good chunk of time for me to collect and organize my thoughts.

          It’s in the hopper still. 🙂

          Sometimes I’ll forsake playing for weeks on end just to keep up with everything, but lately I’ve had a surge of the WoW bug, which is a good thing… considering the site’s relevancy and success is pretty contingent upon me actually playing the game.

          Eh… no more excuses… I need to get that one out. Rather than give an updated time frame, I’ll just keep things suspenseful. 😉

          I’ll try to surprise you. 🙂

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          • OK, I promise to be surprised if you ever come up with something ;o) Nah, just kidding. Making a guide because you feel pressured to do so, is a bad thing.
            So we’ll look forward to seeing it, whenever you FEEL ready.

            And keep away from stress. Trust me on that one, because I had to be pensioned off on that account. I didn’t listen to the signals, and had to pay the price – twas quite a whopper!

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