BfA Hunter Pets

[necroaqua]

Lets talk hunter pets. For those that don't know, hunter pets in BfA have changed a bit. You don't get to pick their spec - the family determines whether they are Ferocity/Cunning/Tenacity. Many pet abilities are duplicated across the pet families. So that results in a chart that shows which pet families belong to which spec and has which ability.

Most of the special abilities are unavailable until level 20 (or higher). So we can't get pets with slows. Mortal wounds (reduces healing on target for 10 seconds) and Dodge (pet gains 30% dodge for 20s) are the only ones we can actually get at 19, and obviously dodge is rather shit. We also can't tame exotics anymore. So we get a choice of mortal wound pets:

• Hyena, Raptor - passive 8% movespeed increase
• Carrion Bird, Ravager, Scorpid, Wasp - passive 10% leech
• Hydra - passive 5% increased HP, on-use reduce damage by 20% for 6 seconds (3 min CD)
• Lone wolf (no pet) - passive 10% damage

We have 2 pets at 19. Which two do you pick and why?

 

[icehawk]

Can I chime in, even though I’m a 20
At the moment I’m running a Scorpid for the mortal wounds debuff, but also for leech. I usually solo queue so I figured the extra 10% leech ticking away in the background is quite handy.
But the amount of times some extra speed would have been helpful.........
I’m torn between cunning for the extra speed or ferocity for the leech.
For now I’m sticking with leech, but I may try some cunning and see how that goes.
Sorry, I know I’m a 20, but that’s very similar to u 19’s.
What r u running with?

 

[necroaqua]

I think that the speed is good all the time. The leech is good when solo. The stam is good for holding the flag...but most premade games you would want to pass after the carry. And the games where theres a standstill are fairly uncommon while soloing - most of the time its very one-sided or the caps happen fast.

So I think I'm going to keep a fast mortal wounds, and a leech mortal wounds. The chances that I'll be holding the flag in a stalemate with stacks and the extra 5% HP and dmg reduction comes into play are probably pretty low...and I'd probably be able to heal that much with leech or run with speed.

For you at 20, you unlock pets with a slow. I'd say a speed pet with mortal wounds (hyena/raptor) and a leech pet with slow (wolf/croc/tallstrider/spider).

 

[Waiwhat]

Have to test if the speed buff stacks with enchants or not, that would solve it. Got a feeling it only stacks with minor speed.

 

[ascoot]

lone wolf shows as a 1% buff for me, despite the tooltip showing 10%. bug?

 

[Waiwhat]

Give it a few mins and it slowly goes to 10%.

 

[Tuskbreaker]

Does Savage Rend require level 20 for raptors?

 

[necroaqua]

Does Savage Rend require level 20 for raptors?

The tooltip on the site says level 1...but I grabbed a raptor and it doesn't have it at 19 =(

I'm gonna have to look at individual pet families rather than rely on petopia for the levels. Bleh...
[doublepost=1532884793,1532883771][/doublepost]

The tooltip on the site says level 1...but I grabbed a raptor and it doesn't have it at 19 =(

I'm gonna have to look at individual pet families rather than rely on petopia for the levels. Bleh...

Second thought. The only thing I have with the ability is a carrion bird that I had from before. I went and tamed a new carrion bird and it doesn't have it. Maybe joining a BG will update it. Otherwise it might be a bug...
[doublepost=1532886307][/doublepost]Went into a BG. Pets didn't get updated.

Filing a bug report. As of right now, pets tamed before BfA prepatch might be GFd?

 

[Tuskbreaker]

The tooltip on the site says level 1...but I grabbed a raptor and it doesn't have it at 19 =(

I'm gonna have to look at individual pet families rather than rely on petopia for the levels. Bleh...
[doublepost=1532884793,1532883771][/doublepost]

Second thought. The only thing I have with the ability is a carrion bird that I had from before. I went and tamed a new carrion bird and it doesn't have it. Maybe joining a BG will update it. Otherwise it might be a bug...
[doublepost=1532886307][/doublepost]Went into a BG. Pets didn't get updated.

Filing a bug report. As of right now, pets tamed before BfA prepatch might be GFd?

I tamed 2 of the ravagers at Draenei isles, neither had it. Nor the wetlands raptors. Bug reported aswell, thanks for extensive research. I hope the abilities just aren't applied into the game before actual launch, or otherwise we might suffer from a small category of pets to use.

 

[Waywicked]

I have a somewhat extensive stable and the only pets i found that still have the mortal wounds ability are 2 carrion birds that i had tamed pre-patch. I went and tamed a new one and he does not have it. I tried all my pets with the pathfinder ability and none added any movement speed. I have 2agil/minor move speed on my boots and after adding a pathfinder pet it stays the same at 110 percent. If i take boots off and then add pet my speed goes from 100 to 108. I am very interested in any findings.

 

[necroaqua]

I have a somewhat extensive stable and the only pets i found that still have the mortal wounds ability are 2 carrion birds that i had tamed pre-patch. I went and tamed a new one and he does not have it. I tried all my pets with the pathfinder ability and none added any movement speed. I have 2agil/minor move speed on my boots and after adding a pathfinder pet it stays the same at 110 percent. If i take boots off and then add pet my speed goes from 100 to 108. I am very interested in any findings.

Thats more or less consistent with my findings. Only my pre-bfa carrion bird still has mortal wounds. None of my other pre-bfa pets do, including newly tamed carrion birds.


The movespeed I do know. Basically certain movespeed abilities fall into certain categories that don't stack. All of the "speed + 2 stat" enchants fall into this. Wearing one of those puts you at +10% movespeed. If you add a gift enchant to cloak (which gives 2% movespeed) - it does NOT stack with it. Likewise, the speed + 2 stat boot enchants don't stack with other movespeed abilities like druid cat/travel form, shaman ghost wolf, warrior's war machine talent, etc. So those don't stack.

Minor speed to boots do stack. So Minor Speed and gift to cloak is 12%. Minor speed, gift to cloak, and pathfinder goes to 20%. Same for other movespeed buffs. So if you want more than 10% movespeed, switch to Minor Speed so that your gift enchant to cloak works or pathfinder works. Or always use the leech pet and use something like pvp power or shadow armor to cloak to sit at 10%, but gain the 2 agi and the other cloak enchant.

 

[Waywicked]

you sir are a genius! Thank you very much for the reply. Now im at 120 percent on my mm hunter!

 

[Bestworld]

My personal MM hunter Point of view:

You take mechanical pet as your cunning pet, since no pet gives anything beneficial in the cunning section. The reason is that at least mechanical pets can't get sapped and polymorphed.

You take carrion bird for Ferocity because of the mortal strike debuff.

Those are the 2 pets you wanna run with.

How it should be utilized:

Lone wolf (no pet) in mid, 10% extra dmg on ur burst swaps. Utilize this well in mid to get clean kills and setups. Aimed shot deals a 50% incr. damage to targets that hasn't been damaged by you beforehand. That extra 10% on top of that is no joke really.

When running objectives around the map, you'd want to summon your mechanical pet for that extra 8% movement speed. I.e. when you're running flags, escorting, or just need that specific map movement for a certain play.

When doing hard goes on EFC, you'd want your carrion bird, unless a warrior is able to provide the mortal strike debuff for you, then you'd obviously want to run lone wolf.

Those are like the basic cookie cutter choices imo.

 

[necroaqua]

My personal MM hunter Point of view:

You take mechanical pet as your cunning pet, since no pet gives anything beneficial in the cunning section. The reason is that at least mechanical pets can't get sapped and polymorphed.

You take carrion bird for Ferocity because of the mortal strike debuff.

Those are the 2 pets you wanna run with.

How it should be utilized:

Lone wolf (no pet) in mid, 10% extra dmg on ur burst swaps. Utilize this well in mid to get clean kills and setups. Aimed shot deals a 50% incr. damage to targets that hasn't been damaged by you beforehand. That extra 10% on top of that is no joke really.

When running objectives around the map, you'd want to summon your mechanical pet for that extra 8% movement speed. I.e. when you're running flags, escorting, or just need that specific map movement for a certain play.

When doing hard goes on EFC, you'd want your carrion bird, unless a warrior is able to provide the mortal strike debuff for you, then you'd obviously want to run lone wolf.

Those are like the basic cookie cutter choices imo.

Solid reasoning for higher level play. Other than the "carrion birds w/ mortal strike are bugged/GFd"...

I want to find a reason to bring a tanky pet to FC as a PuG...but I'm guessing you'd heal more than 5% with the leech or avoid more damage by taking the speedboost.

 

[Bestworld]

Solid reasoning for higher level play. Other than the "carrion birds w/ mortal strike are bugged/GFd"...

I want to find a reason to bring a tanky pet to FC as a PuG...but I'm guessing you'd heal more than 5% with the leech or avoid more damage by taking the speedboost.

Your playstyle as a hunter should already make you a hard target, people should invest into killing you, or forcing you away from your objectives. You have track humanoid to get 100% on-the-fly map info, BGT/BGE to target them, RangeDisplay addon telling you exactly how close they are, and track hidden for rogue/other stealthies. Even Catseye Ultra Goggles if you wanna add that little extra if you're going rogue hunting. You shouldn't feel like leech is a mechanic worth maximizing. Instead, look at what value no pet vs "x" or "y" pet gives you in "z" situation.

 

[necroaqua]

Your playstyle as a hunter should already make you a hard target, people should invest into killing you, or forcing you away from your objectives. You have track humanoid to get 100% on-the-fly map info, BGT/BGE to target them, RangeDisplay addon telling you exactly how close they are, and track hidden for rogue/other stealthies. Even Catseye Ultra Goggles if you wanna add that little extra if you're going rogue hunting. You shouldn't feel like leech is a mechanic worth maximizing. Instead, look at what value no pet vs "x" or "y" pet gives you in "z" situation.

Im just musing about flag carrying as a pug. Not general gameplay. The leech is for when flag holding in a pug cause you cant have the tank pet AND mortal wounds AND speed. Still might be an argument for staying lone wolf to kill faster to live longer...but meh.
[doublepost=1533179863,1533174099][/doublepost]Also to clarify for anyone who hasn't seen dont much hunter stuff, www.wowhead.com/item=134125 allows you to tame mechanical pets.

Those looking for a hard counter, search no further than http://www.wowhead.com/item=7506/gnomish-universal-remote lol

 

[icehawk]

I’m starting to become a fan of the extra speed boost from cunning. I’m at the point where I’d rather give up the leech or extra health for speed.
I’m also a BM fan, so I need a pet out unlike MM.
Makes it so much easier catching all them tricky goblins, rocket boots, gliding twinks out in the Gulch!

 

[necroaqua]

I’m starting to become a fan of the extra speed boost from cunning. I’m at the point where I’d rather give up the leech or extra health for speed.
I’m also a BM fan, so I need a pet out unlike MM.
Makes it so much easier catching all them tricky goblins, rocket boots, gliding twinks out in the Gulch!

Speed is king.

That reminds me though. Can you tame a new carrion bird at 20 and tell us if it has mortal wounds?

 

[icehawk]

Speed is king.

That reminds me though. Can you tame a new carrion bird at 20 and tell us if it has mortal wounds?

Will do. I’m at work atm, but will check it out tonight and confirm. That’ll be for a 20.

 

[necroaqua]

Will do. I’m at work atm, but will check it out tonight and confirm. That’ll be for a 20.

No hurry, and yeah - I wanna see if this missing mortal wounds is a <20 bug or a bigger thing that blizz might actually care about...