Every hunter pet family
The table lists every family a hunter can tame in the WoW Forever client, with its diet and the abilities it can learn. An ability in bold belongs to that family alone. The only change to the families themselves is a name: the Owl is now called Bird of Prey.
| Family | Diet | Abilities |
|---|---|---|
 Bat | Fungus, Fruit | Bite, Dive, Sonic Blast |
 Bear | Meat, Fish, Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit | Bite, Claw, Dash, Swipe |
 Bird of Prey | Meat | Claw, Dive, Mine! |
 Boar | Meat, Fish, Cheese, Bread, Fungus, Fruit | Bite, Charge, Dash |
 Carrion Bird | Meat, Fish | Bite, Claw, Demoralizing Screech, Dive |
 Cat | Meat, Fish | Bite, Claw, Dash, Prowl |
 Core Hound | Meat | Bite, Lava Breath |
 Crab | Fish, Bread, Fungus, Fruit | Claw, Dash, Pinch |
 Crocolisk | Meat, Fish | Bite, Dash, Dismember |
 FoxNEW | Meat | Bite, Dash, Trickster's Dance |
 Gorilla | Fungus, Fruit | Bite, Dash, Thunderstomp |
 Hyena | Meat, Fruit | Bite, Dash, Tendon Rip |
 Raptor | Meat | Bite, Claw, Dash, Savage Rend |
 Scorpid | Meat | Claw, Dash, Scorpid Poison |
 Spider | Meat | Bite, Dash, Web |
 Tallstrider | Cheese, Fungus, Fruit | Bite, Dash, Dust Cloud |
 Turtle | Fish, Fungus, Fruit, Raw Fish | Bite, Dash, Shell Shield |
 Wind Serpent | Fish, Cheese, Bread | Bite, Dive, Lightning Breath |
 Wolf | Meat | Bite, Dash, Furious Howl |
New pet abilities
Ten families learn an ability that the Classic Era client does not have, so every family now has one of its own. The numbers are for the highest rank in the client; lower ranks are weaker and need a lower pet level.
Viciously bites enemy appendages for 54 damage and reduces the effectiveness of any healing by 50% for 10 sec.
Your tallstrider kicks up an abrasive cloud of dust, reducing the target's Armor by 505 for 30 sec.
Grabs an enemy's weapon with its talons, causing 44 damage and disarming them for 4 sec.
Pinches an enemy's legs for 95 damage and reduces movement speed by 50% for 9 sec.
Slash an enemy with razor talons, causing the target to Bleed for 156 damage over 18 sec.
Emits a piercing shriek, inflicting 84 Nature damage and increasing the casting time of all spells by 60% for 30 sec.
Swipe 3 nearby enemies, inflicting 21 damage.
Tears at an enemy's legs for 60 damage over 9 sec and reduces movement speed by 50% for 9 sec.
Increases your pet's chance to Dodge by 50% and decreases the time between your pet's attacks by 30% for 12 sec.
Entangles an enemy in a corrosive web, immobilizing them and dealing 52 Nature damage over 4 sec.
Abilities every pet can learn
These sit on the general pet skill line, so any family can learn them: Growl and Cower for threat, Great Stamina and Natural Armor, and a resistance to each school of magic.
Increases Arcane resistance by 120.
Cower, causing no damage but lowering your threat, making the enemy less likely to attack you.
Increases Fire resistance by 120.
Increases Frost resistance by 120.
Stamina increased by 40.
Taunt the target, increasing the likelihood the creature will focus attacks on you.
Armor increased by 1000.
Increases Nature resistance by 120.
Increases Shadow resistance by 120.
How to feed your pet
Cast Feed Pet and pick a food from your pet’s diet in the table above. Bears and boars eat everything except raw meat and raw fish, which makes them the easiest to keep fed; wolves, raptors, spiders, scorpids, birds of prey, foxes and core hounds eat only meat, so pack some before a long trip. The client also has the error “That food’s level is not high enough for your pet”: food far below your pet’s level does not work.
Pets still have happiness and loyalty. Blizzard’s September 24 development notes fixed “an issue where Pet Happiness was not decreasing once your pet was at max loyalty.”
Taming and learning abilities
- Since the September 24 beta update, “Tame Beast no longer works on Beasts that are higher than the Hunter’s level.”
- Every ability has ranks, and each rank needs a minimum pet level: Bite, for example, has eight ranks at pet levels 1, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48 and 56 in the client. As in Classic, tameable beasts know certain ranks of their family’s abilities. Blizzard’s October 1 notes say some beasts had ranks “that were too high level for that creature” and that this was fixed.
- Aggressive Mode is back: the October 1 notes say it “can be found under the pet tab in your spell book.”
Fox and Core Hound
The Fox is a new family: the Classic Era client has no fox. Its ability, Trickster’s Dance, raises your pet’s chance to dodge by 50% and its attack speed for 12 seconds. The Core Hound family exists in both clients and breathes Lava Breath at two nearby enemies. Where, or whether, you can tame either in WoW Forever is not in the client data, and Blizzard has not said; we will add it once it is confirmed in game.
Which pet should you pick?
There is no tested ranking yet, so choose by what the abilities do in the client:
- To hold enemies while you level: a bear (Swipe hits three nearby enemies), a turtle (Shell Shield halves the damage it takes for 12 seconds) or a boar (Charge).
- For damage: a raptor (Savage Rend bleeds), a cat (the first attack from Prowl deals 50% more damage), a wind serpent (Lightning Breath) or a bat (Sonic Blast).
- For control and support: a spider (Web roots), a crab (Pinch) or hyena (Tendon Rip) to slow, a bird of prey (Mine! disarms), a crocolisk (Dismember reduces healing), a tallstrider (Dust Cloud lowers armor), a wolf (Furious Howl raises your party’s attack power) or a gorilla (Thunderstomp hits everything nearby).
What the client does not tell us
- Where to tame each family: tame locations are server data, so this page does not list them.
- Attack speed: the pet skill line also contains passive “Faster Attack” (I–VII) and “Slower Attack” (II–III) effects. Which pets get them is server data.
Plan the rest of your hunter with the Hunter guide, the Hunter talent calculator and the racials for each race.