Best Hunter Pet in WoW Forever: Leveling & Dungeon

There is no single best Hunter pet in WoW Forever — the right family depends on whether you are questing or pulling in a dungeon. For leveling, Cats deal the most damage and attack fast, while Boar is the pick for its stun. For dungeons and tanking, Tenacity families carry the work: Bear for holding packs and Boar for early crowd control. Wolf and other Ferocity pets are the group DPS option, though no proven DPS winner exists after the September 24 tuning.

Everything below assumes the beta's level-30 cap, so pet ability ranks and family bonuses are the ones live in that bracket.

Best leveling pet families

• Cat: Deals the most damage of any family right now, attacks very fast, and the best ones are available early without camping rare spawns. Cat is Ferocity with Claw for bonus damage and Dash for movement speed, and it is the most accessible pet, tameable from level 1 in starting zones.
• Boar: A Tenacity pet whose Boar Charge immobilizes the target for 1 second, making it the best early crowd-control pet because the immobilize stops adds from running to your caster. Boar is tameable from level 10 and appears in multiple zones.
• Wolf: A Ferocity pet with Furious Howl for burst damage on short fights, tameable from level 15 in Duskwood and Ashenvale.
• Bear: A Tenacity pet with Swipe, a cleave on a 5-second cooldown, and the highest HP of the tank families. Tameable from level 10.

Cats are the pick for raw damage and speed, while Boar is the pick for its stun. If you want killing speed, take the Cat; if you want to stop a runner reaching your healer, take the Boar.

Best dungeon and tank pets

Tenacity is the family to bring into dungeons, since it trades damage for survivability and a Last Stand cooldown.

• Bear: The best tank pet, with the highest HP and a cleave that holds multiple targets. Recommended for dungeons on Beast Mastery.
• Turtle: Shell Shield reduces damage taken, making it the best mitigation pet; tameable from level 15 in The Barrens.
• Boar: Still useful in dungeons for the Boar Charge immobilize when your group needs a second stop.

Pet management matters more in dungeons than anywhere else — a pet that pulls extra enemies is a wipe risk, so keep it controlled. Let your pet land a few attacks before you open up, so it holds threat instead of you.

Best DPS pets for groups

Ferocity is the DPS family, and its 5/5 bonus is +5% pet damage. Beast Mastery stacks its own 5% pet damage bonus on top of that.

• Wolf: Furious Howl increases party members' melee Attack Power, which made it the burst pick for short fights and group melee support. Blizzard cut the Furious Howl bonus by 40% on September 24, so its previous top-tier placement needs fresh testing.
• Raptor: Savage Rend is a bleed ability, making Raptor a strong raw DPS pet on paper; it is tameable at level 30 in Stranglethorn Vale.
• Cat: Dash plus Claw keeps it competitive as a general DPS pet and the easiest to obtain.

After the September 24 tuning there is no proven DPS winner, so treat Wolf as a support pick for melee groups rather than a settled best-in-slot.

Pet family bonuses

Cunning is the utility family: Spider's Web immobilizes targets, Bird of Prey's Mine! damages and disarms, and Chimera's Froststorm Breath is the caster option.

Pets by Hunter spec

• Beast Mastery: Any Ferocity pet works, since BM's damage bonus scales the pet; Wolf for solo and Bear for dungeons are the common picks.
• Marksmanship: Take a Tenacity pet such as Turtle or Bear, because MM's damage comes from the Hunter rather than the pet.
• Survival: Cunning pets such as Spider or Cat suit the melee playstyle.

Beast Mastery is the recommended leveling spec overall, and both Marksmanship and Survival remain viable.

Taming and pet leveling

Tame Beast is an 8-second cast, and you should approach the beast carefully to avoid aggro first. After taming, set the pet's specialization and spend its training points at a Beast Training NPC in a capital city, which unlocks at level 10.

• Levels 1-10: Tame pets the same level as you.
• Levels 10-15: Tame pets the same level as you.
• Levels 15-20: Tame pets the same level as you.

Feed your pet between fights, use Mend Pet below 50% health, and avoid over-pulling — a dead pet costs you XP. The September patch also prevents taming beasts above your own level.

Exotic pets unlock at level 60 with Beast Mastery, so they are out of reach in the current beta: Chimaera for caster damage, Devilsaur for raw DPS, Spirit Beast for its Spirit Mend heal, and Silithid for AoE.

See also: WoW Forever Dungeon XP Buff: Is Dungeon Leveling Worth It? and WoW Forever Class Changes: Hunter, Druid, Priest, Warrior