Hunter Pet Abilities Guide for WoW Classic

In Classic WoW, Hunter pets gain strength through the abilities they learn. These abilities are divided into two types: active and passive. Active abilities are used to deal damage or provide utility. Passive abilities, meanwhile, give permanent bonuses that improve survivability and mitigation.

Abilities come in different ranks, with higher ranks offering more effectiveness, such as increased damage, movement speed or spell resistance. Higher ranks also cost more training points and can be harder to obtain.

The strongest pets are those which are trained with abilities at their highest ranks. The top Hunters will always aim to acquire these abilities to maximize their pet’s performance in both PvE and PvP.

Hunter Pets Guide

Hunter Pet Training

Best Hunter Pets

Hunter Pet Abilities

Unlocking Pet Training

At level 10, Hunters gain access to the pet training quest chain. The final quest in this chain requires the Hunter to visit their race’s capital city to complete their training:

Orc/Troll: Training the Beast
Tauren: Training the Beast
Night Elf: Training the Beast
Dwarf: Training the Beast

Upon completing the final quest, Hunters unlock Beast Training, which allows them to learn new abilities and teach them to their pet by spending training points.

After learning the Beast Training ability, it can be found in the first page of your spellbook.

Training Points

Training Points (TP) are earned by your pet and are used to train both active and passive abilities. The total number of training points a pet has depends on two factors: loyalty level and pet level. The total amount of points your pet can have is calculated using the formula:

• Pet Level × (Loyalty Level – 1)

For example, a level 60 pet with the highest loyalty rank (Best Friend: Rank 6) will have a maximum of 300 training points that can be spent on abilities. Loyalty increases while you level with your pet and keep it happy by feeding it regularly.

To teach an ability through Beast Training, your pet must have the required level, be part of a suitable pet family and have enough training points. As ability ranks increase, their effectiveness improves, but they also cost more training points as a result.

The Beast Training menu, where Hunters can choose abilities for their pet.

Active vs Passive

Hunter pet abilities can be classified into two types: Active and Passive.

Active

These are abilities that are cast by your pet which can provide extra damage or some form of utility. Hunters can only train four active abilities for their pet at any given time.

Popular examples include:

• Bite
• Claw
• Dash
• Screech

Passive

These abilities provide permanent bonuses and do not require any casting to be active. Hunters can train as many passive abilities for their pet as they want, provided they have the required amount of training points.

Popular examples include:

• Great Stamina
• Natural Armor

Ability Ranks

Hunter pet abilities come in multiple ranks, with each rank increasing the effectiveness of the ability. Higher ranks provide stronger effects, such as increased damage or higher movement speed.

Active and passive abilities are different in the way that they are obtained. While all passive abilities can be trained from a pet trainer, active abilities must be learned from taming creatures out in the world.

Higher ranked abilities cost more training points, and the maximum amount of points a pet can have is 300. This means that Hunters cannot maximize all possible active and passive abilities, so they must choose which combination will be best for them.

Rank 3 is the highest rank of Dash, meaning it is the most effective version of that spell and, ultimately, the most expensive.

Depending on your pet and situation, the best set of abilities can be found in our Hunter Pets guide.

How Can I Train a Higher Ranked Ability?

Here is an example. Let’s say you are leveling and your pet currently has Bite R1 and you want to upgrade it to Bite R2. Here are the steps you should follow:

1. Stable your current pet.
2. Find and tame a pet which has Bite R2.
3. Let the tamed pet use that ability, either in combat or outside of combat (an example for this is Prowl, which you can learn out of combat by continuously casting it).
4. Wait for a message in chat which says “You have learned a new ability: Bite (Rank 2).”
5. Abandon or stable the tamed pet.
6. Retrieve your original pet from the stable.
7. Open Beast Training and teach Bite R2 to your main pet.

This process is how Hunters learn new or higher ranked abilities for their pets, and it remains the same throughout the entire game.

Hard-to-Get Abilities

While many abilities can be learned from mobs in the open world, some of the highest ranked abilities often require more effort to obtain. Certain ranks are only available from creatures inside raids, making them difficult to obtain without a group. Solo taming these creatures is possible, but can be extremely challenging.

Before attempting to tame any of these creatures, stable your current pet, as you cannot tame a new one with another pet summoned. If you choose not to stable your pet, be ready to abandon it before the taming process.

Bite R8 and Furious Howl R4

Bloodaxe Worg is not only one of the few mobs in the game which has the highest rank of Dash, it is also the only mob in the game with the highest rank of Bite and Furious Howl, making it admirable for taming to learn its abilities.

This wolf patrols near the end of Lower Blackrock Spire (LBRS) with two other elite mobs and other groups of elite mobs stationed around its patrol path, making it hard to tame without a party.

Bloodaxe Worg from Lower Blackrock Spire.

Lightning Breath R6

Son of Hakkar is the only mob that provides the highest rank of Lightning Breath, the main damaging ability for wind serpent users.

It can be found near the final boss of Zul’Gurub (ZG), so taming it requires entry into the raid and cooperation from your group.

Son of Hakkar from Zul’Gurub.

Active Abilities

Active abilities can be grouped into two types:

• Damage: Abilities that cause direct damage (e.g., Bite, Claw).
• Utility: Non damaging abilities that provide some sort of benefit (e.g., Screech, Furious Howl, or Dash).

Hunters can only assign four active abilities to their pet at once, so choosing the most effective abilities is essential for your pet’s performance.

A Hunter’s pet can only have a maximum of 4 active skills at a time.

Some active abilities are far more popular than others, and some are rarely ever used except in niche situations. Here are some of the most popular active abilities used by Hunters.

Bite and Claw

• The main pet damaging abilities.
• Used by almost every Hunter’s pets in every PvE and PvP scenario.

Dash and Dive

• Provides a short increase in movement speed.
• An example is in PvP, when chasing an enemy player.

Prowl

• Exclusive to the Cat family.
• Allows the Cat to stealth, making it ideal in PvP encounters.

Screech

• Reduces the melee attack power of enemies.
• Stacks with similar abilities like Demoralizing Shout.
• Commonly used by Owls and Bats in raids.

Passive Abilities

Passive abilities provide permanent bonuses to your pet while it is alive. These can be learned from pet trainers which are typically found in capital cities or, in some cases, out in the open world.

To train these abilities in your Beast Training spellbook, the Hunter must be at the required level. However, your pet must also meet the level requirement to be able to learn the ability.

For example, if a Hunter reaches level 30 but their pet is only 29, they can purchase Growl R4 from the trainer, but their pet cannot learn it until it reaches level 30.

Here are all of the passive abilities, and their max ranks, that a Hunter can learn from a pet trainer:

• Growl R7
• Great Stamina R10
• Natural Armor R10
• Arcane Resistance R5
• Fire Resistance R5
• Frost Resistance R5
• Nature Resistance R5
• Shadow Resistance R5

All passive abilities are situational, as your choice will depend on if you are leveling, raiding or PvPing.

A Hunter who is leveling will want their pet to take the highest rank of Natural Armor, as this will reduce the physical damage it takes from mobs. In raiding, however, you don’t want armor on your pet as it will not tend to tank mobs, and instead you should spec into specific resistances or Great Stamina.

For more detailed recommendations based on your pet family and activities, refer to our Hunter Pets guide.

FAQ

Q) I tamed a pet, but it doesn’t have any training points?
A) Training points are earned as your pet’s loyalty levels up. You will need to keep it happy by feeding it and attack mobs in combat that give you experience so that you can gain pet loyalty.

Q) When is the best time to change my pet abilities?
A) You should look to adjust your pet abilities when you switch activities that you are doing.
For example, if you are going to raid Molten Core after a PvP session, you may want to untrain Prowl on your Cat and put more training points in a higher rank of Fire Resistance to improve its survivability.

Q) Where can I find a pet trainer to train passive abilities?
A) Most pet trainers can be found in major cities near your Hunter class trainers. There are some cases where you can find pet trainers in remote locations, such as Danlaar Nightstride for Alliance in Ashenvale and Ogromm for Horde in Swamp of Sorrows.

Q) What abilities should I prioritize?
A) Refer to our Hunter Pets guide for the best combination of abilities for your pet.

Q) What if I am unhappy with my pet’s abilities and want something different?
A) You will need to visit a pet trainer and pay a fee to reset your pets training points.

Q) Why is an ability greyed out in Beast Training?
A) Your pet has already learned that ability.

Q) Why does an ability show no training point cost in Beast Training?
A) That ability cannot be learned by your pet’s family type.