Marksmanship Hunter Pets Guide — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

In Raids, using a pet is universally suboptimal, since dropping Improved Spotter's Mark to get a Pet via Unbreakable Bond is a large DPS loss.

That said, if you do want to use a pet anyway, while any good-looking Ferocity pet will do well in most situations, Healing Reduction pets like Carrion Birds, Direhorns, Hydras, Hyenas, Lizards, Raptors, Ravagers, Riverbeasts, Rodents, Scorpids, orWasps 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.

In Mythic+, using a pet is universally suboptimal, since dropping Improved Spotter's Mark to get a Pet via Unbreakable Bond is a large DPS loss.

Since we can provide the Bloodlust effect via Harrier's Cry, there really is no reason except for fantasy to use a Pet in Mythic+. If you do want to use one, I recommend a Ferocity Pet for the Leech bonus, especially since the Tenacious Talent already offers most of the best benefits of a Tenacity pet.

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.

There are 3 different pet specializations. These specializations are initially determined by your pet family but can be changed freely at a Stable Master. 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.

Every Pet Family has a special ability. We recommend having at least one of every special ability. If you wanna be ultra-prepared, grab 3 pets of each Special Ability — one for each spec.

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.	Beetle, Boar, Carapid (Exotic), Core Hound (Exotic), Mechanical, Scalehide, Shale Beast (Exotic), Turtle
Damage Reduction On Low Health	Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health.	Bear, Camel, Clefthoof (Exotic), Gorilla, Gruffhorn, Oxen, **Pterrordax (Exotic)
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, Dragonhawk, *Feathermane, Fox, Hopper, Monkey, Serpent, Wind Serpent
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), Direhorn, Hydra, Hyena, Lizard, Raptor, Ravager, Riverbeast, Rodent, Scorpid, Wasp, Whiptail (Exotic)
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
Self-Dispel	Removes 1 Disease, 1 Magic, and 1 Poison effect from your pet. 10-second cooldown.	Bats, Moth, Rays, Spirit Beast (Exotic), Sporebat, Stag, *Water Strider (Exotic), Waterfowl
Slow/Snare	Reduces the movement speed of your pet's target by 50% for 6 seconds. It has a 10-second cooldown.	Aqiri (Exotic), Basilisk, Bird of Prey, Blood Beast, Chimaera, Crab, Crocolisk, Hound, Mammoth, Spider, Tallstrider, Warp Stalker, Wolf, Worm (Exotic)

*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. It will also extend the distance of your Disengage

*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.

**Pterrordax 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. It will also extend the distance of your Disengage.

Pet Family	Special Ability	Exotic Ability
Aqiri	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%.
Carapid	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 function of its HP. It is a huge damage reduction for a ton of tiny hits, but is poor for individual, large hits.
Chimaera	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. It is a DPS loss to keep this ability enabled in all situations.
Clefthoof	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%.
Core Hound	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.
Devilsaur	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.
Pterrordax	Ancient Hide Reduces your pet's damage taken by 60% for 15 seconds when your pet falls below 40% health.	Updraft gives you and your pet slow-fall for 30 seconds, with no cooldown.
Shale Beast	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%.
Spirit Beast	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.
Stone Hound	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.
Water Strider	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.
Whiptail	Serrated Strike 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.	Shadow Jump causes your pet to pounce on your target from up to 30 yards away, teleporting behind them and slowing them by 1 sec. This has a 40-second cooldown.
Worm	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. It is a DPS loss to keep this ability enabled in all situations.