Marksmanship Hunter Pets Guide — The War Within (Season 1)
The following guide covers everything you need to know about Beast Mastery Hunter Pets in The War Within, including the best ones to use in each situation such as Raiding, Mythic+, and Soloing/Open-World Content.
Please refer to our Hunter Pets Guide for more information regarding Hunter pets, including what the different pet families are and where you can find pets.
Best Raiding Pet for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within
In raids, due to our Lone Wolf talent in The War Within, you will rarely use a pet as Marksmanship, as the DPS loss is too great.
One valid reason to summon a pet is if you are down a healer and worried about dying to slow ticking damage. In this case, having any Ferocity pet active will grant you 4% Leech, which heals you for 10% of all damage dealt. This is valuable self-sustain for difficult moments in fights, and surviving is better than dying, even if you lose a bit of DPS.
Another would be that you, for some reason, are the only player able to provide a Bloodlust effect to the group. As unlikely as this is in a raid environment, it is another practical reason to have a Ferocity pet (any type will do) at the ready.
While any good-looking Ferocity pet will do well in most situations, Healing Reduction pets like Carrion Birds, Ravagers, Scorpids, and Wasps can be situationally useful. These will reduce enemy healing, and this effect works on bosses that heal themselves and can be invaluable in niche scenarios where no one else is providing this effect.
Best Mythic+ Pet for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within
For Mythic+, the first consideration you need to make is whether you need to be the Bloodlust for the group. If you do, you are locked into using a Ferocity pet to activate it every 10 minutes. You do not need to have it active otherwise.
The best way to use Bloodlust as a Marksmanship Hunter is to pre-cast Dismiss Pet. Then, when only ~0.5s are left on the cast, you activate the Primal Rage. You can do this while casting Dismiss Pet, since it is a pet-activated ability.
If you do not need to Bloodlust for your group, then you should rarely use a pet, as the DPS loss, especially in AoE, is massive.
Still, it can be worth having a Damage Reduction Tenacity pet prepared. These can be used to taunt mobs for heavy tankbuster mechanics to spare your tank a lot of damage. With their 50% damage reduction on a 1-minute cooldown and 5% extra max health, these pets can take heavy hits regularly.
Best Soloing and Leveling Pet for Marksmanship Hunter in The War Within
For open-world content and soloing in The War Within, Ferocity pets are preferred, as their Leech will allow them to heal themselves for a bit of their damage. The best Ferocity pet for tanking things is a Scalehide, as they have 50% reduced damage taken on a 1-minute cooldown.
Pet Specializations
There are 3 different pet specializations. These specializations are determined by your pet family and they cannot be changed. We recommend having a variety of pets of each spec, so that you can cover any situation.
Pet Spec | Passive Effect | Active Ability |
---|---|---|
Ferocity | Predator's Thirst gives you and your pet 4% Leech. Leech heals you based on how much damage you do. | Primal Rage, which provides the Bloodlust/ Heroism effect, increasing Haste for you and all nearby allies by 30% for 40 seconds. This shares cooldown with Bloodlust/Heroism and similar effects. |
Tenacity | Endurance Training increases the maximum health of you and your pet by 5%. | Fortitude of the Bear is a defensive ability that increases your maximum health by 20% for 10 seconds, on a 2-minute cooldown. |
Cunning | Pathfinding increases the movement speed of you and your pet by 8%. | Master's Call removes all movement-impairing effects from your pet and a friendly target, and makes them immune to movement-impairing effects for 4 seconds. The friendly target can be you. It has a 45-second cooldown. |
Pet Families and Abilities
Every Pet Family has a special ability. We recommend having at least one of every special ability and spec combination.
Ferocity Pets
Special Ability | Description | Pet Families |
---|---|---|
Damage Reduction Cooldown | Reduces the damage taken of your pet by 50% for 12 seconds. This has a 1-minute cooldown. | Core Hound (Exotic), Scalehide. |
Self-Dispel | Removes 1 Disease, 1 Magic, and 1 Poison effect from your pet. 10-second cooldown. | Bats, Rays |
Healing Reduction | Reduces the healing taken of your pet's target by 25% for 10 seconds. This has a 6-second cooldown, which means that it will be active all the time. | Carrion Bird, Devilsaur (Exotic), Ravager, Scorpid, Wasp. |
Damage Reduction On Low Health | Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health. | Clefthoof (Exotic), Gorilla. |
Dodge Chance Cooldown | This ability increases your pet's Dodge chance by 30% for 20 seconds. It has a 1.5-minute cooldown. | Cat, Courser, Wind Serpent |
Slow/Snare | Reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Crocolisk, Spider, Tallstrider, Wolf, Chimaera. |
Tenacity Pets
Special Ability | Description | Pet Families |
---|---|---|
Damage Reduction Cooldown | Reduces the damage taken of your pet by 50% for 12 seconds. This has a 1-minute cooldown. | Krolusk (Exotic), Beetle, Turtle. |
Self-Dispel | Removes 1 Disease, 1 Magic, and 1 Poison effect from your pet. 10-second cooldown. | Spirit Beast (Exotic), Waterfowl, Stag |
Healing Reduction | Reduces the healing taken of your pet's target by 25% for 10 seconds. This has a 6-second cooldown, which means that it will be active all the time. | Direhorn, Hydra, Riverbeast, Lizard. |
Damage Reduction On Low Health | Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health. | Oxen, Bear. |
Dodge Chance Cooldown | This ability increases your pet's Dodge chance by 30% for 20 seconds. It has a 1.5-minute cooldown. | *Feathermane, Dragonhawk, Toad. |
Slow/Snare | Reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Worm (Exotic), Crab, Mammoth, Blood Beast |
Magical Damage Reduction | Shimmering Scales reduces your pet's magical damage taken by 70% for 8 seconds, on a 1.5-minute cooldown. | Lesser Dragonkin |
*Feathermane pets also have Updraft, which enables Slow Fall for you and your pet, allowing you to fall safely from almost any height while the pet is active for 30 seconds.
Cunning Pets
Special Ability | Description | Pet Families |
---|---|---|
Damage Reduction Cooldown | Reduces the damage taken of your pet by 50% for 12 seconds. This has a 1-minute cooldown. | Shale Beast (Exotic), Boar, Mechanical. |
Self-Dispel | Removes 1 Disease, 1 Magic, and 1 Poison effect from your pet. 10-second cooldown. | Sporebat, Moth, Water Strider (Exotic) |
Healing Reduction | Reduces the healing taken of your pet's target by 25% for 10 seconds. This has a 6-second cooldown, which means that it will be active all the time. | Hyena, Rodent, Raptor. |
Damage Reduction On Low Health | Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health. | Gruffhorn, Pterrordax (Exotic), Camel |
Dodge Chance Cooldown | This ability increases your pet's Dodge chance by 30% for 20 seconds. It has a 1.5-minute cooldown. | Fox, Monkey, Serpent. |
Slow/Snare | Reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Basilisk, Bird of Prey, Hound, Warp Stalker, Aqiri (Exotic). |
* Water Strider pets also have Surface Trot, a passive ability that lets you and your pet walk on water while out of combat. Damage will break this effect.
Exotic Pets (Beast Mastery-only)
Pet Family | Specialization | Special Ability | Exotic Ability |
---|---|---|---|
Core Hound | Ferocity | Obsidian Skin reduces your pet's damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown. | Molten Hide causes your pet to gain Molten Hide when it gets hit by a melee attack, causing it to deal slight Fire damage to all further melee attackers for 10 seconds. It can only activate every 60 seconds. |
Chimaera | Ferocity | Frost Breath reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Froststorm Breath is an 8-second channeled ability for your pet that deals AoE damage to all enemies within 12 yards every 2 seconds. It costs 10 Focus to activate, and then 5 Focus per second to maintain. |
Devilsaur | Ferocity | Monstrous Bite reduces the healing taken of your pet's target by 25%. It lasts 10 seconds and has a 6-second cooldown, meaning it is up all the time. | Feast lets you order your pet to consume a nearby Humanoid or Beast corpse within 5 yards, healing your pet for 20% of its maximum health, and restoring 20 Focus over 6 seconds. |
Clefthoof | Ferocity | Thick Hide gives your pet a 60% damage reduction for 15 seconds when it falls below 40% health. This can only occur once every 2 minutes. | Blood of the Rhino is a passive effect that increases your pet's armor by 10%, and increases the effectiveness of all healing done to it by 20%. |
Carapid | Tenacity | Bulwark reduces the damage taken of your pet by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown. | Calcified Carapace reduces the Physical damage taken of your pet by a very small amount. |
Stone Hound | Tenacity | Stone Armor buffs your pet when it falls below 40% health, reducing its damage taken by 40% and healing it for 3% of its maximum health every 1 second for 15 seconds. This effect can only occur every 2 minutes. | Eternal Guardian is an instant resurrection for your pet. If your pet has died, you can use it to instantly revive it with 100% of its health. It has an 8-minute cooldown. |
Spirit Beast | Tenacity | Spirit Pulse removes 1 Magic, 1 Disease, and 1 Poison effect from itself. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Spirit Mend heals a friendly target for a small amount instantly, and applies a small healing DoT for 10 seconds. It costs 5 pet Focus. It can be cast on yourself as well. Spirit Beasts also have the Prowl stealth ability, like Cats. |
Worm | Tenacity | Acid Spit reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Burrow Attack is an 8-second channeled ability for your pet that deals AoE damage to all enemies within 12 yards every 2 seconds. It costs 10 Focus to activate, and then 5 Focus per second to maintain. |
Krolusk | Tenacity | Bulwark reduces your pet's damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown. | Calcified Carapace passively reduces your pet's Physical damage taken by approximately 10%. The proper spell data is not in the game for this ability yet. |
Shale Beast | Cunning | Solid Shell reduces your pet's damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. It has a 1-minute cooldown. | Shimmering Shale passively reduces your pet's magic damage taken by approximately 10%. |
Aqiri | Cunning | Tendon Rip reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Dune Strider passively increases your pet's movement speed by 30%. |
Water Strider | Cunning | Soothing Waters removes 1 Magic, 1 Disease, and 1 Poison effect from itself. It has a 10-second cooldown. | Surface Trot allows you and your pet to walk on water. Any damage taken will cancel the effect and cause you to fall in the water. |
Pterrordax | Cunning | Ancient Hide Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health. |
Changelog
- 09 Sep. 2024: Preliminary updates for The War Within Season 1.
- 22 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Pre-Patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Updated for Patch 10.2.5
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 06 Jan. 2023: Added page.
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This guide has been written by Azortharion, a Hunter Guidewriter, Theorycrafter, and top player since 2014, who is widely considered one of the best PvE Hunters in the world. He is an accomplished player with hundreds of top parses across all Hunter specs. He is the Head Admin of Trueshot Lodge, the official Hunter Class Discord. You can find him on his stream on Twitch and his channel on YouTube. He also has his own, personal Discord server where you can freely ask him any Hunter questions you may have!
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