The Battle Pet system is essentially the Pokemon of World of Warcraft, and while it doesn’t quite match the former's glory, it is certainly enough for a minigame or just something to do while taking a break from dungeons, PvP, raids, or whatever you mainly do.
Battle Pets are decently diverse, and there is a variety of ways to acquire them. However, as individuals, some are simply better than others, and this list aims to bring up the best Battle Pets you should focus your attention on.
Unobtainable Pets, as well as pets only obtainable through the in-game shop, will not be included in this list. Sorry, Lil’ Ragnaros!
10/10 Weebomination
Weebomination is a wonderful Undead Pet, as it has great self-sustain and damage, be it single-target or area-of-effect (AoE). It’s important to make sure at least one of your other pets has died before bringing in your Weebomination, as you want it to have a target for its Consume Corpse.
On top of that, its Corpse Explosion deals some big damage as it is percentage-based, dealing 15 percent of the Weebominaiton’s health plus adding a five percent damage-over-time (DoT) effect to the enemy pet. Overall, it’s a great tank with a nice capacity for damage.
9/10 Kun-Lai Runt
Kun-Lai Runt is here primarily for its chain combo, which is as follows: Frost Shock to chill the target, Deep Freeze the chilled target for the 100 percent stun chance, then Takedown the stunned target for double damage. While this combo is massive, it is easily avoided by your opponent by swapping Pets out.
As such, it may pay to run another Battle Pet in your team that can prevent your opponent from swapping out Pets. Either way, swapping Pets is a loss of tempo, so you gain an advantage regardless.
8/10 Brightscale Hatchling
Brightscale Hatchling is a very well-rounded Pet for a couple of reasons. First, it has a high health pool (as most turtles do). Second, it has the Flash ability, which is one of the most powerful abilities in the game due to its two-round, 50 percent blind. Third, it has Reflective Shield, an extremely powerful ability that reflects 50 percent of damage taken back at the Pet that dealt the damage.
All this Pet lacks is healing, so pairing it up with another Pet that can provide some restoration for it is very worth it.
7/10 Soul Of The Forge
Soul of the Forge is a very durable Elemental Pet with its high health pool, Extra Plating (50 percent damage reduction), and Reforge, which provides potent healing.
Its offensive capabilities aren't outrageous, but with its damage reduction and healing, it can easily out-sustain many other Pets — while slowly whittling them down with its basic damage ability.
6/10 Snowfeather And Direbeak Hatchlings
The Snowfeather and Direbeak Hatchlings function similarly. In both cases, their Falcosaur Swarm! Ability increases the enemy Pet’s damage taken by 50 percent, and if you follow that up with their Predatory Strike, you’re dealing big damage.
As if this deadly combo wasn’t enough, they each have incredible defensive spells to help them out. The Snowfeather Hatchling has Crouch, reducing damage taken by 50 percent, and the Direbeak Hatchling has Ironskin, reducing a flat amount of damage from all incoming attacks. Their strong defensive and offensive capabilities, and their high speed (mostly thanks to them being Flying Pets) make them forces to be reckoned with.
5/10 Anubisath Idol
Anubisath Idol, an iconic unit from Ahn’Qiraj, is a powerhouse of a Humanoid Pet that can both take and dish out some nice damage. Between its Sandstorm ability (or Stoneskin) and a Humanoid Pet’s natural ability to heal at the end of every round in which they deal damage, Anubisath Idol can survive quite a while.
It’s got a nice chunk of health too, making their healing from their Humanoid passive even more powerful. Lastly, you can either be more defensive with its Deflection or more offensive with its Rupture. Either way, this is a great Pet to have in your arsenal.
4/10 Direhorn Runt
Direhorn Runt (and Pygmy and Stunted Direhorn) is a super strong Beast Pet, mainly due to its damage output. This Pet has low speed, but that can be fixed with its Primal Cry. From here use Horn Attack, which has a 50 percent stun chance, followed up by Trihorn Charge, which always goes first, regardless of speed.
Direhorn Runt becomes even more dangerous when it's below 50 percent health, as its damage is doubled. Regardless, since it can both deal big damage, boost your team’s speed, and possibly stun your opponent, this Pet is a great choice.
3/10 Xu-Fu, Cub Of Xuen
Xu-Fu, Cub of Xuen — Xuen is the White Tiger from the Mists of Pandaria expansion — is a scary Beast Pet to go up against. It’s got very high damage output and some very strong healing if you run Prowl and Feed.
Prowl increases the damage of its next ability by 150 percent, and Feed is an attack that heals it for 100 percent of the damage dealt. So, this essentially acts as a full heal while dishing out a heavy-hitting attack at the same time.
2/10 Unborn Val’kyr
Unborn Va’kyr is not fun to deal with at all. Between its Haunt and Curse of Doom abilities, this Pet has incredible damage-over-time (DoT) damage, and it’s really as simple as that. Since it’s considered dead while Haunt is active, it can avoid taking any area-of-effect damage that might come your team’s way, too.
Unborn Val’kyr may not seem threatening, but don’t underestimate the power of its Haunt and Curse of Doom. Better yet, if you pair this Pet up with another that can force your opponent to swap Pets, those two curses will still stick to the Pet that got swapped out — making it very possible that they’ll just get KO’d while out of combat.
1/10 Lifelike Mechanical Frostboar
The Lifelike Mechanical Frostboar is the best Mechanical Pet, and that's quite a statement considering how many great Mechanical Pets are out there. The reason for that claim is simple: this Battle Pet has high health and sustain, and strong defensive and offensive capabilities.
Its Decoy ability (one of the best abilities to have in Pet Battles) affords your team some breathing room, while it can either heal itself with Pig Out or heal its entire team (if the team is Mechanical) with Rebuild. The only real drawback to this Pet is its low speed, but everything else easily makes up for that.
