So you have your ultimate pet, or so you think. Many people don't realize this,
but as a hunter you can train your pets in skills other than "growl". How you ask?
That is the purpose of this tutorial!
So for instance, let's say you trained a standard brown bear from an area such as
Loch Modan. Did you know that same bear can learn THREE other HIGHLY useful
skills? Unfortunately, you can't learn these skills from the standard pet trainer,
you have to learn them "yourself" by training other pets around Azeroth.
Pet Skill Descriptions/Purpose
1. Growl: This is the standard skill which all pets can learn from the pet trainer.
Essentially this skill makes your pet draw aggro from the mob, forcing it to attack
it and keep you at a safe distance where you can continue to pelt it with your
ranged weapon. This skill is best left on "auto-cast" where your pet will
continually growl until it is out of focus.
2. Bite: This is a "special skill", which causes much more damage than your
standard attack. Unlike your standard attack, this special move uses some of
your pet's focus points so when set on auto-cast along with growl it can sap up
your pet's focus rather quickly. However, using bite/growl along with your ranged
weapon you'll be able to kill mobs much more quickly.
3. Claw: This is the rolls royce of all pet attacks. It is widely considered to be far
superior than bite, due to its quick recast time (just a few seconds compared to
bite's 10 seconds). In addition to the quick recast time, it takes up significantly
less focus than bite. Keep in mind however, when combined with growl the quick
recast time will have your focus disappearing very quickly. That being said, your
pet causes so much more damage your mob will likely be dead when combined
with the power of your ranged weapon. This is a MUST have pet skill.
4. Cower: This causes your pet to "disengage" from the mob it is currently
aggroed on, however to get the mob to leave your pet and aggro you instead you
need to start blasting it with your ranged weapon. It's extremely useful in the
following fashion:
a. Have your pet attack the mob, while you stand back at maximum range.
b. Once your pet has aggroed the mob with growl, and used claw/bite a few times
start blasting.
c. Let your pet get close to death, and turn off the growl/claw (or bite) skill, and
enable cower. The mob will soon aggro you instead.
d. Continue blasting the mob, and switch to your melee weapons once in range.
e. After you've hit the mob a few times turn claw or bite back on your pet, and
have it attack the mob once again. You can completely dominate mobs a few
levels higher than
you in this way.
"Keeper Pet"/Eligible Pets
First thing you'll need to do is determine your "keeper" pet, or the pet you wish
to use throughout the game. At this point there are really only a few options.
I highly recommend going with a pet who can use Claw/Cower/Growl.
Unfortunately the following pet types do not support the "claw" special move.
Bats
Boars
Crocolisks
Gorillas
Hyenas
Spiders
Striders
Turtles
Serpents
Wolves
Worgs
This may seem very inconvenient, but I assure you the growl/cower/claw combo
simply can't be touched by other combinations in the game. Try it and you'll be
shocked. So that leaves you with the following choices of pets for your "keeper"
pet.
Bats
Bears
Birds
Cats
Crabs
Owls
Raptors
Scorpids
The 6 pet types above can attain the coveted growl/cower/claw combo I continue
to praise thus far in this tutorial. So go get one! Now onto how to actually train
your new best friend in the ultimate 3 skill combo.
How/Where to Learn these New Skills
As mentioned earlier, your local pet trainer only teaches you one skill...."Growl".
So how can you learn the other skills such as bite, claw and cower? Here are the
details.
First things first, after taming your "keeper" pet, go to your local
stableman/woman and buy a stable for your pet. Throw him in there, and head
back out to the wild and tame an animal which already has the skill you desire in
their arsenal.
After taming one of these animals your character can "learn" their individual skill
by having it attack an opposing mob. For instance, after taming an "ice claw"
bear in the Dun Morogh area, feeding it some food (to make sure it doesn't run
away) and having it attack another mob with its claw skill, you will receive a
message saying "you have learned a new skill: claw". So at this point, when you
access your "best training" area via the general skills area you now have the
ability to teach any eligible pet the claw skill (in other words your keeper pet)!
Not the most obvious thing in the world, and a feature somewhat hidden by the
dev staff.
So, now that you know the method to learn these new skills, you need to know
which pets innately have these skills in the wild, here is a list of mobs (sorted by
skill/level/area)
which you can use to start the taming process.
Skill: Bite
The following mobs have the "bite" skill in their arsenal immediately after taming.
Bite Level One (9-11 Damage, Requires Pet Level 1)
- Dun Morogh: Snow Tracker Wolf, Winter Wolf
- Durotar: Dreadmaw Crocolisk (9-11)
- Mulgore: Prairie Wolf
- Teldrassil: Webwood Venomfang
Bite Level Two (16-18 Damage, Requires Pet Level 8)
- Barrens: Eycheyakee, Highmane Huntress, Highmane Prowler, Oasis Snapjaw
- Dun Morogh: Starving Winter Wolf, Timber
- Ellwyn Forest: Prowler
- Loch Modan: Forest Lurker, Loch Crocolisk
- Mulgore: Prairie Wolf Alpha
- Redridge Mountains: Tarantula
- Teldrassil: Giant Webwood Spider, Lady Sathrah, Webwood Silkspinner
- Tirisfal Glades: Worg
- Westfall: Coyote Packleader
Bite Level Three (16-18 Damage, Requires Pet Level 16)
- Ashenvale: Ghost Paw Runner
- Duskwood: Green Recluse
- Hillsbrad Foothills: Spider
- Loch Modan: Wood Lurker
- Redridge: Greater Tarantula
- Silverpine: Bloodsnout Worg
- Stonetalon Mountains: Besseleth
- Tarren Mills: Forest Moss Creeper
- Wailing Caverns: Deviate Crocolisk
Bite Level Four (31-37 Damage, Requires Pet Level 24)
- Ashenvale: Ghostpaw Alpha
- Blackfathom Deep: Ghamoo-Ra
- Duskwood: Black Mastiff, Naraxis
- Hillsbrad Foothills: Giant Moss Creeper, Snapjaw
- Tarren Mills: Elder Moss Creeper
- Wetlands: Giant Wetlands Crocolisk
Bite Level Five (40-48 Damage, Requires Pet Level 32)
- Arathi Highlands: Giant Plains Creeper, Plains Creeper
- Badlads: Crag Coyote
- Dustwallow Marsh: Darkfang Lurker, Drywallow Crocolisk
- Thousand Needles: Turtle
Bite Level Six (49-59 Damage, Requires Pet Level 40)
- Feralas: Longtooth Runner, Snarler, Undead Wolf
- Hinterlands: Witherbark Broodguard
- Swamp of Sorrows: Deathstrike Tarantula
Bite Level Seven (66-80 Damage, Requires Pet Level 48)
- Felwood: Felpaw Ravager
- Hinterlands: Saltwater Snapjaw, Vilebranch Raiding Wolf
- Western Plagueland: Diseased Wolf, Plague Lurker
Bite Level Eight (81-99 Damage, Requires Pet Level 56)
- Blackrock Spires: Bloodaxe Warg
Skill: Claw
Claw Level One (4-6 Damage, Requires Pet Level 1)
- Dun Morogh: Ice Claw Bear
- Durotar: Pygmy Surf Crawler
- Teldrassil: Strigid Owl
Claw Level Two (8-12 Damage, Requires Pet Level 8)
- Darkshore: Thistle Bear
- Dun Morogh: Bjarn, Mangeclaw
- Durotar: Encrusted Surf Crawler, Venomtail Scorpid
- Ellwyn Forest: Young Forest Bear
- Orgrimmar: Scorpid
- Silverpine: Bear
- Teldrassil: Strigid Hunter
Claw Level Three (12-16 Damage, Requires Pet Level 16)
- Ashenvale: Ashenvale Bear, Clattering Crawler
- Darkshore: Den Mother
- Hillsbrad Foothills: Gray Bear
- Loch Modan: Black Bear Patriarch, Ol' Sooty
- Tarren Mills: Gray Bear
- Westfall: Crab
Claw Level Four (16-22 Damage, Requires Pet Level 24)
- Ashenvale: Elder Ashenvale Bear
- Desolace: Scorpions
- Shimmering Flats: Scorpid Reaver
- Thousand Needles: Scorpion
Claw Level Five (21-29 Damage, Requires Pet Level 32)
- Desolace: Scorpashi Lasher
Claw Level Six (26-36 Damage, Requires Pet Level 40)
- Feralas: Ironfur Bear
- Swamp of Sorrows: Silt Crawler
- Tanaris: Scorpid Hunter
Claw Level Seven (35-49 Damage, Requires Pet Level 48)
- Burning Steppes: Deathlash Scorpid
- Felwood: Angerclaw Mauler, Ironbeak Hunter
- Feralas: Ironfur Patriarch
- Winterspring: Shardtooth Bear, Winterspring Owl
Claw Level Eight (43-59 Damage, Requires Pet Level 56)
- Western Plaguelands: Diseased Grizzly
- Winterspring: Elder Shardtooth, Winterspring Screecher
Skill: Cower
Cower Level One (Requires Pet Level 1)
- Barrens: Elder Plainstrider, Fleeting Plainstrider
- Darkshore: Foreststrider Fledging, Moonstalker Runt
- Dun Morogh: Juvenile Snow Leopard
- Durotar: Durotar Tiger
- Mulgore: Elder Plainstrider, Flatland Cougar, Mazzranache
- Teldrassil: Mangy Nightsaber, Nightsaber
- Tirisfal Glades: Greater Duskbat
Cower Level Two (Requires Pet Level 8)
- Barrens: Ornery Plainstrider
- Darkshore: Giant Foreststrider, Moonstalker Sire
- Hillsbrad Foothills: Starving Mountain Lion
- Stonetalon Mountains: Panther, Twilight Hunter, Twilight Runner
Cower Level Three (Requires Pet Level 16)
- Arathi Highlands: Highland Strider
- Hillsbrad Foothills: Feral Mountain Lion
- Razorfen Kraul: Kraul Bat
- Stranglethorn Vale: Stranglethorn Tiger, Young Stranglethorn Panther, Young
Stranglethorn Tiger
- Thousand Needles: Crag Stalker
Cower Level Four (Requires Pet Level 24)
- Badlands: Ridge Huntress, Ridge Stalker
Cower Level Five (Requires Pet Level 32)
- Eastern Plaguelands: Noxious Plaguebat
- Stranglethorn Vale: Jaugero cat near Booty Bay
Cower Level Six (Requires Pet Level 40)
- Eastern Plaguelands: Monstrous Plaguebat
- Winterspring: Frostsaber Cub
Skill: Growl
This skill can be learned from any local pet trainer, for all levels 1-8. No need to
tame any pet to learn.
Growl Level One (Required Pet Level 1)
Growl Level Two (Required Pet Level 8)
Growl Level Three (Required Pet Level 16)
Growl Level Four (Required Pet Level 24)
Growl Level Five (Required Pet Level 32)
Growl Level Six (Required Pet Level 40)
Growl Level Seven (Required Pet Level 48)
Growl Level Eight (Required Pet Level 56)
Conclusion
Hopefully this will help clear up some of the more confusing aspects of pet
training as a hunter. I assure you by following the directions laid out in this
tutorial, you can achieve the most potent pet/hunter combination in the game.