Guide to hunter pets in Warlords of Draenor

Warlords of Draenor is introducing five new hunter pet families -- hydras, riverbeasts, stags, clefthooves (exotic), and rylaks (exotic). That brings the grand total to 48 pet families. Many pet abilities have also been changed to fit the buff and debuff changes in Warlords. Exotic pets are more differentiated from standard pets in that they all have a total of three special abilities or buffs instead of just one or two. You'll be able to start taming pets from the new families with patch 6.0.2 (except for riverbeasts and rylaks which only exist in Draenor).

Perhaps the most exciting hunter pet addition is the new spirit beast, Gara (pictured above). In order to tame Gara, hunters must embark on an epic quest that takes them all over Draenor to reunite Gara with her former master and ultimately save her from the Void. I've written a detailed guide on how to do it, but you'll want to avoid that post if you want to figure it out for yourself.

Let's begin with a breakdown of the new families.

Clefthoof (Exotic)

The clefthoof family was formerly known as the rhino family so it's not technically brand new, but it's been renamed and expanded to fit in the clefthooves from both Outland and Draenor. You can also find some really nice saddled clefthooves (like the one above) that match nicely with mounts available in Warlords. They also have a robust suite of special abilities.

Special abilities

• Wild Strength: The Clefthoof's presence inspires your raid, granting them 3% Versatility and 5% Multistrike chance.

• Thick Hide: When falling below 40% health, the Clefthoof's skin will thicken, granting 50% reduced incoming damage for 12 sec (2 min cooldown).

Browse clefthoof looks on Petopia.

Hydra

Hunters have been asking to tame hydras for years and we're finally getting them. There are a ton of hydras to tame before even going to Draenor. If you ask me, the ultimate hydra tame is definitely Chimaeron (pictured above), a raid boss from Blackwing Descent. Chimaeron must be brought below 20% health before you can begin taming. It's a challenge to do solo at level 90, but easy to do at level 100.

Special ability

• Keen Senses: Increases mastery by 550 (scales with level)

Browse hydra looks on Petopia.

Riverbeast

Riverbeasts are WoW's hippopotamus analog. Like clefthooves, they're large pets. Since this type of beast is a new addition to Draenor, there's not much variety in riverbeasts. They all use the same model, but there's five different colors. They'll also match well with the new riverbeast mounts.

Special ability

• Gruesome Bite: The Riverbeast bites gruesomely at its target, causing Mortal Wounds on the target (reduced healing).

Browse riverbeast looks on Petopia.

Rylak (Exotic)

Rylaks are similar to chimaeras, except they spend all of their time on the ground instead of in the air. You may recognize the look from the Iron Skyreaver mount on the Battle.net store. And yes, it's possible to tame a match to that mount, including the armor. These exotic pets have a very unique special ability -- a slow fall!

Special abilities

• Savage Vigor: The rylak roars, granting all party and raid members 5% additional Haste and 10% additional Stamina.

• Updraft: Your rylak beats its powerful wings, slowing the fall speed of both itself and the hunter for 30 sec.

Browse rylak looks on Petopia.

Stag

The stag family includes almost everything with antlers -- deer, caribou, Pandaria stags, gazelles, and Outland and Draenor talbuks. This is another pet family brought to you by popular demand. Pictured above is one of the new Draenor talbuks.

Special ability

• Grace: Graceful and elegant, the Stag increases your raid's Versatility by 3%.

Browse stag looks on Petopia.

Other new pets

Aside from the new pet families, there are many new pets to tame from existing families, such as the three new pets shown above. If you see a pet you like in Draenor, you simply go and tame it. No camping, no fighting over the spawn with other hunters. There are no rares in Draenor in the traditional sense. Vignettes are technically classified as rares, but they respawn in a matter of minutes.

This doesn't change the status of rare pets from previous expansions, you'll still have to camp for those. I'm hopeful that future content patches in Warlords will introduce some new challenge tames. Our big special tame in 6.0 is most definitely Gara.

You can browse all new pet looks on Petopia.

Pet families, listed by buff

Many pets have had their buffs or debuffs switched around in Warlords. Here is the full list of pet families and what buff, debuff or special ability they provide. As a reminder, Exotic pets can only be tamed and used by beast mastery hunters.

Unique pet abilities

In addition, the following Exotic pets have unique abilities only available to their family.

• Core Hound: Molten Hide (thorns)

• Water Strider: Surface Trot (water walking)

• Worm: Burrow Attack (AoE damage)

• Spirit Beast: Spirit Mend (heal)

• Spirit Beast: Spirit Walk (stealth), Cats also have Prowl

• Devilsaur: Feast (heal/focus regen)

• Chimaera: Froststorm Breath (AoE damage)

• Rylak: Updraft (slow fall)

• Direhorn: Reflective Armor Plating (spell deflect) *Note: Not an Exotic pet