In WoW Forever, every hunter pet family has an ability of its own, foxes join as a new family with Trickster's Dance, and pets draw stats from their hunter's gear rather than from players' buffs. Below are the 18 families, where to tame the foxes, the rare beasts testers have tamed and the talents that change pet play, as of October 7, in the beta capped at level 30.
What changed for pets
Blizzard's Hunter Class Deep Dive of September 30 sets four rules:
- Pets get increased stats from their hunter's gear.
- Player buffs that raise stats no longer work on pets.
- Every family can learn Bite or Claw, sometimes both, and Dive or Dash.
- Every family has one ability no other family has.
The beta's development notes add two rounds of fixes:
- September 24: Tame Beast no longer works on a beast above the hunter's level; the wolf's Furious Howl gives 40% less Attack Power; bats now properly get Sonic Blast; happiness falls again once a pet is at full loyalty.
- October 1: the Aggressive mode is back, in the pet tab of the spellbook. Some beasts knew ability ranks too high for their level; Blizzard fixed them, which could make a pet forget an ability.
The 18 families and their abilities
The beta client (build 1.60.1.70245) gives each family its own ability, its basic attack and its movement ability:
| Family |
Its own ability |
Basic attack |
Movement |
| Bat |
Sonic Blast |
Bite |
Dive |
| Bear |
Swipe |
Bite, Claw |
Dash |
| Bird of Prey |
Mine! |
Claw |
Dive |
| Boar |
Charge |
Bite |
Dash |
| Carrion Bird |
Demoralizing Screech |
Bite, Claw |
Dive |
| Cat |
Prowl |
Bite, Claw |
Dash |
| Crab |
Pinch |
Claw |
Dash |
| Crocilisk |
Dismember |
Bite |
Dash |
| Fox (new) |
Trickster's Dance |
Bite |
Dash |
| Gorilla |
Thunderstomp |
Bite |
Dash |
| Hyena |
Tendon Rip |
Bite |
Dash |
| Raptor |
Savage Rend |
Bite, Claw |
Dash |
| Scorpid |
Scorpid Poison |
Claw |
Dash |
| Spider |
Web |
Bite |
Dash |
| Tallstrider |
Dust Cloud |
Bite |
Dash |
| Turtle |
Shell Shield |
Bite |
Dash |
| Wind Serpent |
Lightning Breath |
Bite |
Dive |
| Wolf |
Furious Howl |
Bite |
Dash |
The Owl is now the Bird of Prey. The client also holds a Core Hound family with Lava Breath, but it is not in Blizzard's list, and no tester had tamed one as of October 7.
How pets learn their abilities
As in Classic, you can only teach your pet an ability you know yourself: some come from the pet trainer in town, the others from taming a beast that already knows them, Petopia explains. A rank also needs your pet to reach its level: rank 1 of Trickster's Dance, for example, needs a level 20 fox and costs no training points. And since September 24, you can only tame a beast of your level or lower.
Foxes: where to tame them
Foxes live on Zephras Isle, the Skyborne starting zone, levels 1 to 14 on our Zephras Isle map. The island's foxes are the vuldren, and testers have also tamed Slydris, a rare vuldren.
- Trickster's Dance, the fox's own ability, raises its chance to dodge by 50% and makes its attacks 30% faster for 12 sec, from pet level 20. Testers put its cooldown at about 3 minutes.
- Getting there: Horde hunters of any race take the zeppelin from Skywatcher Plateau, in northwestern Mulgore, to the island. For Alliance hunters who are not Skyborne, reports of a route conflict as of October 7. A Skyborne hunter starts there; the race comes with the Skyborne Heroic Pack, as our Skyborne guide explains.
- Beta bugs: some vuldren cannot learn Growl, and one slyvern, a flying fox, is classified as a wolf, so it gets neither Trickster's Dance nor Furious Howl.
Rare beasts testers have tamed
Testers on the Petopia forum and on WoW Forever Pets agree on these, with their English names:
| Beast |
Family |
Where |
What testers report |
| Coldrasp |
Wolf |
Whispering Forest, Tirisfal Glades, around 19.5, 65.4 |
A level 12 elite; since September 24 you need to be level 12 to tame it |
| Ghostfang |
Cat |
Dun Morogh, just before the tunnel to the Wetlands |
An icy blue cat with no abilities |
| Nightscreech |
Bird of Prey |
Teldrassil, near the Oracle Glade |
A rare owl with no abilities; its spawn timer is disputed |
| Mystmane |
Bear |
Shadowgale Forest, Zephras Isle |
A rare bear, tamed by testers |
| Slydris |
Fox |
Zephras Isle |
A rare vuldren; it cannot learn Growl |
The talents that change pet play
Blizzard's Deep Dive reworks the Beast Mastery talents around the pet:
- Endurance Training now gives your pet Armor as well as Health: Thick Hide is merged into it.
- Focused Fire, new, makes you and your pet deal more damage while your pet is out.
- Unleashed Fury and Ferocity give your pet less than before, but now also apply to the hawks of Summon Hawk, the 16-point talent, which keeps up to two hawks out for 18 sec each.
- Intimidation gives your pet's next attack a 100% higher chance to be critical.
- Improved Mend Pet now lowers the Mana cost of Mend Pet.
- In Marksmanship, Lone Wolf, the 11-point talent, gives you 20% more damage while you have no pet out.
Our talent calculator has the Hunter's three trees with these talents, and our Hunter guide covers every other Hunter change. The other classes are in our classes overview.
