WoW Forever: The Best Hunter Pets for Leveling (1–30)

Your pet does half the work while you level a Hunter, and in WoW Forever it matters more than ever: pets now scale with your own gear, every family has its own unique ability, and there's a brand-new Fox family. Pick the right pet and you'll rarely rest, rarely die and almost never lose aggro on a pull.

Here's which pet to use while leveling, why, and where to find a good one. Everything below reflects the current beta (level cap 30), so a few details may still change before launch on November 4.

Quick answer

• Safest pick: Bear or Boar. Both have extra armor and health, so they hold the target while you shoot. Bear's Swipe hits up to three enemies, which makes it the best pet when pulls get messy.
• Most damage: Cat. Cats hit hard and can learn both Bite and Claw, but they're fragile. Use one when you're comfortable controlling pulls.
• Most armor: Turtle. The tankiest family, with Shell Shield for emergencies, at the cost of slow kills.
• For groups: Wolf. Furious Howl raises the party's melee attack power.

New to Hunter? Tame a Bear or Boar first and switch to a Cat later.

How pets work in WoW Forever

A few rules changed from Classic, and they shape which pet is best:

• You tame your first pet at level 10. Your Hunter trainer starts a short quest chain that sends you to tame three specific beasts. Finishing it teaches Tame Beast, Beast Training, Feed Pet and Revive Pet.
• You can only tame beasts at your level or lower. You can't grab a higher-level pet early anymore, so you'll swap pets a few times while leveling.
• Pets scale with you. Your pet gets a share of your attack power and your critical strike chance, so upgrading your own gear makes your pet stronger too. Player buffs no longer boost pet stats.
• Every family has one unique ability. Each one can also learn Bite or Claw (some both), plus Dive or Dash.
• Higher ranks come from taming. To teach a better rank of an ability, tame a beast that already knows it, then teach it to your other pets through Beast Training.
• Happiness still matters. A happy pet deals 125% damage, a content one 100% and an unhappy one only 75%. Feed it out of combat, and remember that letting it die costs a lot of happiness.
• Your pet earns its own XP. It gets a quarter of the experience you earn from kills and stops leveling when it reaches your level, so an old pet catches up quickly if you keep it out.

You can keep three pets: one active and two in the stable after you buy the extra slots.

The best leveling pets

Bear: the safest all-rounder

Bears have more armor and health than most families, and their new Swipe ability hits up to three targets in front of the bear. That's the big one for leveling: when you pull two or three mobs, Swipe keeps all of them on your pet instead of on you. If you only tame one pet for the whole 1–30 range, make it a bear.

Pick it if: you want to pull several mobs at once, or you're playing Hardcore and can't afford mistakes.

Boar: the tank that gets there first

Boars are about as tanky as bears and open every fight with Charge, which closes the distance, briefly roots the target and boosts the boar's next hit. That gets threat on the mob before your first shot lands. In the beta, Charge only fires on its own when your pet is set to Assist and you attack first, so set it up that way.

Pick it if: you mostly fight one mob at a time and want your pet to lock the target down immediately.

Cat: the damage pick

Cats are one of the strongest offensive families, can learn both Bite and Claw, and get Prowl for a big opening hit from stealth. They kill faster than any tank pet, but they have less armor, so a bad pull is far more dangerous. Pair a cat with Beast Mastery talents for the fastest kills.

Pick it if: you're confident with Mend Pet and controlling pulls, and want to level as fast as possible.

Turtle: maximum survivability

Turtles have the highest armor of any family and Shell Shield cuts the damage they take for 12 seconds, at the cost of their attack speed. They're slow killers, but almost nothing takes them down.

Pick it if: you're fighting elites or mobs above your level and survival matters more than speed.

Wolf: the group pet

Furious Howl raises melee attack power for you and your party. It's a nice bonus in dungeons without a Warrior, since it doesn't stack with Battle Shout. Wolves are a solid middle ground between damage and durability.

Pick it if: you run a lot of leveling dungeons with melee friends.

Every family at a glance

Owls are now called Bird of Prey. See the full Hunter pets guide for what each family eats. Many of these abilities don't fire on their own yet in the beta, so check your pet bar and click them manually if needed.

Fast cats to tame by level

Hunters still chase fast-attacking cats. Whether faster attacks mean more damage is still debated in the beta, but a fast cat does build threat more smoothly between your shots. These are good options at each stage:

Remember you can only tame beasts at your level or lower, so hold on to your current pet until you reach the level of the one you want. For bears and boars, simply tame one around your level in the zone you're questing in: both are common in the early leveling zones.

Which pet for your spec

• Beast Mastery: the leveling spec we recommend. Talents like Unleashed Fury and Ferocity make any pet hit harder, and Summon Hawk at level 25 adds up to two extra attackers. A Bear or Boar is safest; a Cat is fastest.
• Marksmanship: the new Lone Wolf talent gives 20% more damage while you have no pet out. It's an interesting option later on, but a pet tank is still safer while leveling.
• Survival: a sturdy pet such as a Boar or Bear lets you fight closer without taking the damage yourself.

Pet tips for leveling

• Turn off Growl in groups so your pet doesn't steal aggro from the tank.
• Use Mend Pet early, not when your pet is almost dead. Improved Mend Pet in Beast Mastery also makes it cheaper.
• Keep your pet fed. An unhappy pet loses a quarter of its damage.
• Don't let your pet die. It costs happiness and the time to revive it.
• Upgrade your own gear. Your pet's power now grows with your attack power and crit.

Ready to plan your Hunter? See the Hunter leveling guide, build your talents in the talent calculator, and check where Hunter ranks on the leveling tier list.