Hunter After Launch in WoW: Forever — Pet Care on Live…

Our earlier Hunter guides cover the starter basics, pet families, Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival leveling, level 60 gearing and the raid role. This one is about the live game, nine days in: what Blizzard's first hotfixes changed for Hunters and pets, how pet care actually works (taming, happiness, loyalty, training points), which pet to use for leveling and dungeons right now, and how to keep your mana up. Where this disagrees with our older posts, this one is newer.

Key dates (Blizzard): the game launched Nov 4, 2026. Blizzard posted class tuning plans on Nov 6 and the numbers on Nov 10, and says it will make balance changes on Tuesdays when needed. Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20 players) and Onyxia's Lair (40 players) open on Dec 9.

Read this first: the hotfix list below is official. The pet care rules (happiness, loyalty, training points, pet XP) come from community guides written from the beta and from how Classic worked; Blizzard hasn't published its own pet care guide for Forever. Spell costs come from the beta client data on wowforeverprogress. We point out where sources disagree or where something is unconfirmed.

What changed for Hunters since launch (official)

From Blizzard's "WoW: Forever Hotfixes" page (Pacific dates as Blizzard lists them):

Nov 6 (announcement): Blizzard said "Hunter pets and Warlock Voidwalkers are not as durable as tanks as we would like them to be" and that its aim is for them to be "relatively the same as in Classic Era". It didn't give numbers then.

Nov 9: Vulgara the Insatiable and the Shrieklings of Zephras now belong to the correct pet families. Also fixed: Hunters sometimes pulling enemies from very far away just by targeting them. If you kept getting surprise adds in the first week, this was likely why.

Nov 10: pets "erroneously had 150% of their normal health"; Blizzard corrected this to 115%. Arcane Shot now costs 11% of base mana at every rank (Blizzard says the cost at levels 6 and 60 is nearly the same as before, and slightly lower in between). Beast Mastery: Summon Hawk also costs 11% of base mana at every rank, and the hawks deal about 80% more melee damage.

Nov 11: Volley no longer triggers procs, and it now stops channelling when you move.

About that pet health change: Blizzard's wording calls it a bug fix, and Endgame Tools reports it the same way, but on paper it's less pet health than some of you had, and Wowhead reported it as a pet nerf. Blizzard's notes don't say when the 150% started or what pet health was at launch, so we can't tell you whether your pet is tougher or weaker than on Nov 4. What's clear is that pets now sit at 115% of normal health, and Blizzard's stated target is Classic Era durability. Use Mend Pet a little earlier on big pulls until you get a feel for it.

Other first-week changes worth knowing: dungeon enemies give 50% more experience (first-week hotfix), most quests level 48 and up now also give gold (Nov 10), and Berdun's Trusty Rifle no longer has random stats and isn't Bind-on-Equip anymore.

Still in effect from the Nov 2 notes: all traps share one 30-second cooldown, Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot and Serpent Sting hit harder, Aspect of the Hawk gives up to 110 ranged attack power at rank 6, and pets no longer lose their innate attack speed passive when you untrain them. Orc's Command (+5% pet damage) is back. Our raid role post has the full list.

Pet care on live: the basics

Getting your first pet (level 10). Your Hunter trainer starts a short quest chain where you tame three beasts with a taming rod. Finishing the chain teaches Tame Beast, then a last quest teaches Beast Training, Feed Pet and Revive Pet (Warcraft Tavern). Don't skip the last step.

Taming rules (Warcraft Tavern, Conquest Capped, client data):

You can only tame beasts at your level or lower (since the Sep 24 beta update).

Tame Beast is a 20-second channel, costs 60% of your base mana, and lowers your armor by 100% while you channel. If the beast stops attacking you, or another player hits it, the tame fails.

You can't tame while you have a pet out, dismissed, or dead in your stable. Stable it (or revive it) first.

Safer tames: Aspect of the Monkey (8% dodge in the client data; the BM talent of the same name adds more and gives your pet half the benefit), a Freezing Trap at your feet, and Concussive Shot as it runs in. Clear your target after the shot so Auto Shot doesn't kill it.

Happiness. Your pet's mood changes its damage: Happy 125%, Content 100%, Unhappy 75% (Warcraft Tavern, Conquest Capped). Feed Pet raises it, food close to your pet's level works best, and you can't feed in combat. Happiness drops slowly over time, a lot when the pet dies, and Dismiss Pet costs 50 happiness (that's in the spell's own tooltip). Mouse over the happiness icon on the pet frame to see what it eats. A new tame starts out very unhappy, so feed it right away.

Caveat: Warcraft Tavern noted that happiness was bugged on the beta and only dropped when the pet died. We haven't seen Blizzard confirm whether that's still true on live, so keep feeding anyway.

Loyalty and training points. Loyalty has six ranks, Rebellious, Unruly, Submissive, Dependable, Faithful and Best Friend, and rises while your pet is happy and fighting with you (mobs that give you no XP don't count). An unhappy pet loses loyalty. Loyalty unlocks training points, which you spend in Beast Training; Warcraft Tavern says a level 60 Best Friend pet has 300. A beast tamed at a high level can start with negative training points until its loyalty catches up. In Classic, an unhappy pet at the lowest loyalty could run away for good; ONN says beta reports suggest Forever works the same, so don't let a new pet sit unhappy.

Pet abilities. A pet can have four active abilities. To teach a new skill, stable your main pet, tame a beast that has it, use it in combat until you see the "learned" message, then go back to your main pet and teach it in Beast Training (Warcraft Tavern). Every family can learn Bite or Claw (some both) and Dash or Dive, and each family has one unique ability (Blizzard deep dive).

Untraining is safe now. Some guides written before launch still warn that resetting a pet's training removes its attack speed passive. Blizzard's Nov 2 notes say pets "should no longer lose their innate Attack Speed passives when untraining them". Re-check your pet's attack speed after a reset just in case.

Pet levelling. Pets have their own XP bar. Warcraft Tavern says a pet gets 25% of the XP you earn from each kill of a green-level mob or higher (no rested or quest XP), and stops at your level. If you tame a new pet at 50, expect it to lag behind for a while; tame one close to your level when you can.

Stables. You can own three pets: one active plus two stable slots you can buy at any Stable Master (Warcraft Tavern). A handy setup is one leveling or tank pet, one dungeon pet, and a free slot for learning new abilities.

How pets scale in Forever. Pets get stats from your gear and can't take player stat buffs (Blizzard deep dive). Warcraft Tavern says pets get 10% of your total attack power and 100% of your crit chance, and use Focus that regenerates continuously. In PvE, damage is normalised within a family, so a fast-attacking pet hits for less per hit than a slow one of the same family.

Which pet to use now

These picks are Warcraft Tavern's, with our notes. Nobody has level 60 logs yet.

Leveling, damage: Cat. Fast attacks, can learn both Claw and Bite, and its unique Prowl gives +50% on the first attack from stealth. Weaker as a tank on tougher mobs.

Leveling, tanking: Boar. Sturdier, and Charge gets it to the mob first and holds threat while you shoot. With pet health now corrected to 115%, a durable pet plus the BM Endurance Training talent (pet health and armor) is the safe pick if your pet keeps dying. Turtle's Shell Shield (50% less damage taken for 12 seconds) is another defensive option from the client data.

Dungeons: Cat for damage, or Wolf for Furious Howl (+83 melee attack power to party members within 15 yards for 1 minute). Furious Howl only helps melee, so it's best when your group has melee and no Warrior Battle Shout. Warcraft Tavern notes you can find Wolves with a 1.2-second attack speed.

Solo and harder world content: Wolf or Boar. Warcraft Tavern says Furious Howl also helps the Wolf hold threat since it buffs the pet and you.

Beast Mastery: your pet is most of your damage, and the Nov 10 hawk buff (+80% hawk melee damage) makes Summon Hawk a bigger part of it too. Orc's Command adds 5% pet damage.

Marksmanship with Lone Wolf: you get 20% more damage with no pet out, so you skip most of this. You'll still want a pet for leveling and solo play.

In dungeons, turn Growl off (right-click it on the pet bar) so your pet doesn't take mobs from the tank, and use Cower if it pulls threat. Don't send it in before the tank has the pack. That's standard Hunter practice, not a Forever-specific rule.

Mana: Arcane Shot, Mend Pet and Revive Pet

Forever's client data doesn't list Aspect of the Viper, so mana comes from your mana pool, drinks, and your spec's talents. What helps:

Arcane Shot now always costs 11% of base mana. Blizzard says that's roughly the same at levels 6 and 60, and slightly cheaper in between, so mid-level Hunters save a bit.

Summon Hawk shares its cooldown with Arcane Shot and now costs the same 11%. For BM it's the better button on that cooldown now that hawks hit harder.

Revive Pet costs 100% of your base mana and brings the pet back with 15% health. Tame Beast costs 60%. Drink before you revive or tame, not after.

Mend Pet (rank 7: 480 mana, 245 health per second for 5 seconds) is cheaper than a revive. Start it early, and BM's Improved Mend Pet now also lowers its mana cost.

Talents that give mana from Spirit while casting: Bestial Discipline (BM), Rapid Recuperation (MM, after Serpent Sting hits), and Resourcefulness (Survival, on crits). MM's Efficiency makes Shots, Stings and melee abilities cheaper (Blizzard deep dive).

Don't open every fight with every button. On weak mobs, Auto Shot plus your pet is often enough.

Known bugs and open questions

Blizzard's launch Known Issues thread (updated Nov 5) has no Hunter entries.

From the beta known-issues list (tracked by WoW Forever Tier List): pet hit and Expertise aren't shown on the character sheet, and the Ferocity talent's pet crit isn't shown either. Both are display issues; the stats still apply. We haven't seen these marked fixed for launch.

Pet happiness only dropped on death in the beta (Warcraft Tavern). Unconfirmed on live.

Great Stamina: Forever News's datamining of the live client says this pet skill's tooltip changed on Nov 6 and again around Nov 13 (it now reads as a Health bonus). Blizzard hasn't announced it, so treat it as unconfirmed until it appears in the hotfix notes.

Quick checklist

Feed your pet after every death, every tame and every dismiss. Keep food near its level in your bags.

Use Mend Pet earlier on big pulls; pets sit at 115% health since Nov 10.

BM: put Summon Hawk on the Arcane Shot cooldown more often now.

If you untrained a pet before Nov 2 and it lost its attack speed, check it now.

Turn Growl off in dungeons. Keep a spare stable slot for teaching new abilities.

Volley now stops if you move, so plant your feet for the full 6 seconds.

Remember Dual Specialization unlocks at level 40 (Blizzard deep dive) if you want a separate pet-tank leveling build and a raid build.

What's still unknown: what pet health was at launch before the Nov 10 fix, whether Blizzard will tune pets again, whether happiness decay works on live, the Great Stamina change, and how pets hold up in the Dec 9 raids. We'll update when we know more.

Sources

Blizzard: WoW: Forever Hotfixes (Nov 9, 10 and 11 Hunter entries, dungeon XP, quest gold, Berdun's Trusty Rifle), Class Tuning Incoming – November 10 (Nov 6 post, via Blue Tracker), Beta Development Notes – Updated November 2 (traps, shots, pet attack speed passives), Hunter & Druid class deep dive (pet scaling, family abilities, mana talents, Dual Specialization at 40), Known Issues – Updated Nov. 5

Endgame Tools: Nov 10 hotfixes (pet health, hawks, mana costs) and WoW Forever Leveling: patch notes (how the pet health change was reported)

Warcraft Tavern: Hunter Pets Guide, Best Hunter Pets and Pet Loyalty & Training

Conquest Capped: Hunter Pets Guide and ONN: Hunter pets, taming and care (taming, happiness, loyalty)

Beta and live client data: wowforeverprogress Hunter overview (spell costs and pet abilities; data from talentsforever.com, CC BY 4.0), Forever News: Hunter changes (Great Stamina datamining), WoW Forever Tier List: known issues

Images: header and pet care cheat-sheet by Systematic, made for this post using the Systematic wallpaper and brand colours. Spell icons on the card © Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead (Classic icons used as stand-ins; Forever's may differ). Card numbers from Blizzard's hotfix notes (Nov 9–11), the Hunter deep dive, beta client data (wowforeverprogress) and community pet guides (Warcraft Tavern).