Wings Over Atreia: A guide to Aion's menagerie

What does every Daeva need while jetting around Atreia besides a sturdy set of wings? Why, a Daeva's best friend, of course! And there is certainly quite an assortment of pets to choose from in Aion, from the standard pooch to the very non-standard heavy machinery. Introduced three expansions ago in Assault on Balaurea, pets have become a common sight as you travel about the world, whether you are chillaxing in town or hot on the trail of some XP. Pets are even commonplace in PvP; practically every contestant in the recent PvP tournament had a pet out. That's because not only are pets fun, but they are functional, too.

Just how many pets are there? Back when I first started this project, I had almost everything together in fairly short order. Then I blinked, and the pet population exploded! And every time I thought I had them all, more would pop up. So chances are NCsoft will throw another one into the mix by the time you read this, but we'll forge ahead anyhow; it's time to get this guide out there to help all those who wish to adopt the cute cuddliness of some little critter (just one look in those big puppy/panda/bulldozer eyes, and you know you're a goner) or even those who just want to know where that pet they just saw comes from. So regardless if whether you're in the market for one pet or just have the urge to collect them all, welcome to the Aion menagerie.

Just as the number of pets has increased, so too have the ways in which you can acquire them. Initially there were basically special promotions, the pet merchant, quests, and loot drops. Now, pets can also be obtained from dailies and bought from the Black Cloud Marketplace. Most pets are bought with some type of in-game currency or from the cash shop.

For our purposes here, we will classify pets by how you obtain them, be the manner in-game, through gameplay, or otherwise. Each critter will also be listed with its type: companion, signal/enemy alert, fortune, pack, purebred, looting, and medicine bag. (For a refresher -- signal pets alert to nearby enemies, fortune pets offer an item after feeding, looting pets loot, medicine bag pets auto consume your consumables to buff, and purebreds can have multiple functions.)

Pet Merchant

The in-game pet shop is an NPC called the Pet Merchant, found in capital cities and the major fortresses in Balaurea. Pets here can be purchased with Kinah and are available to all Daevas, meaning level 10+ and able to travel to the Sanctum and Pandaemonium. After you buy the egg (all pets come as eggs), you get it hatched at the Pet Minder. The Pet Merchant also sells pet manuals, which allow you to have special emotes with your pets, and pet food. The possible pets here are:

Companions:

• Capped Fungie

• Indigo Ribbit

• Manic Aukwi

• Quick Kirca

• Red Eye Larail

• Rotund Methu

• Striped Elroco

• White Dagg

Fortune:

• Button-Eye Mookie (gives bundle of gems)

• Headstrong Poroco (gives bundle of gatherables)

• Mellow Ksellid (gives bundle of minerals)

• Rotund Ayas (gives bundle of dyes)

Pack:

• Goldentail Dorion (six-slot)

• Silvertail Dorion (six-slot)

Alternative game currency

Another way to buy pets in-game is from the various tokens earned through daily and weekly quests with the different organizations or through the Crucible Arenas.

Companions:

• Crikey Kitter; Radiant Ops/Blood Crusade

• Golden Wuf; Alabaster Order/Field Wardens

• Mischievous Manduri; Orichalcum/The Circle

• Sawteeth Rotan; Orichalcum -- also by questing in Kromede's Trial

• Turkish Kitter; Fortuneers/Charlirunerk's Daemons

• Wild Kitter; Alabaster Order/Field Wardens

Fortune:

• Pudgy Porgus (gives unknown bundle); Fortuneers/Charlirunerk's Daemons

• Runaway Poppy (gives bundle of elemental stones); Crucible

Pack:

• Crimson Kerub (12-slot); Orichalcum/The Circle

• Woodkeeper Ailu (18-slot); Merry Men

Signal:

• Desert Naeda; Radiant Ops/Blood Crusade

• Silver Wuf; Crucible

Buff:

• Pointy Hat Sprigg; Crucible

• Steel Narki; Silverine Ltd

Looting:

• Pink Nyanco (looting); Crucible

Quested

Sometimes you can get a pet just by completing a quest or a series of them.

• Golden Drakie (pack, 18-slot); Toy Fair (Elyos) or This is Not a Toy! (Asmodian) quests -- Stories of the Past chain

• Purple Ribbit (companion); Initial pet quest

• Sawteeth Rotan (companion); KT repeatable

• Silius Fortress Golden Stormwing (signal; buff; pack, 24-slot)

Looted

A few pets can be acquired just through normal gameplay as a drop, usually in an instance.

• Sunset Drakie (pack, 18-slot); Empyrean Crucible

• White Beard Manduri (buff); Esoterrace -- now also in cash shop

Special events

Some pets were given as special promotions or special events and could not be obtained through other means. Initially, a number of specific pets were available only if you bought the Assault on Balaurea expansion from specific retail outlets. However, at one point those once exclusive pets were also available for purchase in the cash shop.

Companion:

• Altgard Kitter; 2.0 purchase

• Annoying manduri; perk

• Beluslan Kitter; 2.0 purchase

• Border Daggie; 2.0 purchase

• Fuzzy Elroco; 2.0 purchase

• Grassy Drakie; 2.0 purchase

• Green Diabol; MMOBomb exclusive

• Golden Radama; MMOBomb exclusive

• Heiron Kitter; 2.0 purchase

• Helper Pixie; Nightmare Circus event

• Palmist Acuran; a three-headed dragon

• Pointytail Acuran; a three-headed dragon

• Skullabra Krall; 2.0 purchase

Others:

• Aqua Griffo (pack, 24-slot; signal; fortune); Veteran reward

• Spurred Crestlich (fortune -- gives bundle of enchantment/manastones)

Black Cloud Marketplace:

Another way to get your hands/claws on a few pets is to buy them in Aion's cash shop. Some pets are of a limited duration, however, so understand when you buy these pack pets that the goods they store will "disappear" until you purchase another one (at which point the items will reappear in the new pet's inventory).

Companions:

• Bottlenose Tion (Discontinued)

• Mau Cubling (Discontinued)

• Pointy Kitter

Fortune:

• Azure Drakie Egg (gives bundle of Balaur mats)

• Hungry Porgus (gives bundle of enchantment/manastones)

• Pink Point Radama Egg (gives bundle of aether); 30 days

Pack:

• Big Girl Shugo (30-slot); 15 days

• Big Boy Shugo (30-slot); 15 days

• Bluemane Trico (12-slot)

• Crescent Inquin (12-slot)

• Evolved Speckled Ailu (12-slot); regular from 2.0 purchase

• Goldmane Trico (12-slot); previously Aion magazine subscription

• Micro MuMu (18-slot)

• Mini MuMu (18-slot)

• Pink Griffo (12-slot)

• Potbelly Inquin (12-slot)

• Red Shell Potcrab (12-slot)

• Shugo Lad (24 slot)

• Shugo Lass (24-slot)

• Traveling Kitter (26-slot)

Signal:

• Crewcut Fungie

• Evolved Kungfu Manduri

• Evolved Teasing Jefi

• Helpful Box Mimic

• Pinkhair Steren

• Princely Ailu Egg; 30 days

• Watchful Ailu

Buff:

• Red Diabol

• Shugo Lad, Flag Bearer

• Whitebeard Manduri

Loot:

• Flame Bogel

• Meon Bulldozer

• Worg of the Dead (Discontinued)

Purebred:

• Boxing King Kerub (signal; pack, 12-slot)

• Infernal Diabol (buff; fortune -- gives AP boost); 30 days

• Innocent Merek (buff; fortune -- gives XP boost); 30 days

• Sidekick Yume (signal; buff)

• Tahabata Egg (loot, buff); 30 days

The end is near

Now you can see why creating an all-inclusive list is quite the feat! It's a good thing that the pet inventory can hold 100 pets. So did you see all the pets you own -- or want to own -- on this list? Or do you have another pet that wasn't covered? If so, let us know in the comments below!

A final bit of news

Now that your mind is already reeling with the plethora of pets, I need to share another unrelated bit of news with you. Circumstances such as they are (perhaps I am off trying to acquire all the pets!), Wings Over Atreia is going on a bit of a hiatus; it will no longer be appearing every two weeks. But don't think you are getting off completely! I am not about to hang up my wings permanently, either here or in the game, so WOA will be back from time to time, sharing relevant Aion news, interviews, and other Atreian tidbits. Perhaps we can even slip in a new release of the ever-popular Solorius carols. Are you brave enough to join me in a sing-a-long?

Soaring through the Aionosphere, MJ Guthrie touches down biweekly to bring you Wings Over Atreia. Featuring tips, guides, and general snippets of life in Aion, the column is better than Tutty-on-a-stick, ackackackackackack! Have a suggestion to share? No need to bribe a Shugo -- just send mail to mj@massively.com.