Animal companion

"Pet" and "pets" redirects here. For "mini pets", see Miniature.

“

To charm an animal simply target any animal and use the skill Charm Animal while you have that animal selected. The animal will turn hostile and attempt to attack you, and it is important that nothing interrupt the charming process during this critical phase. Bringing along a friend to heal you or applying a self heal before attempting to charm an animal is often a good idea. Your pet will attack any target you attack. The one thing you'll need to remember is that it will take a pet a few seconds to switch targets when you do, but a good Ranger can use this to her advantage. At times you may want to tame a new pet. Before you can do that you will need to give your old pet to a tamer. Simply speak to a pet tamer and that person will take care of the rest.

— Mara, Expert Ranger

An animal companion (colloquial: pet) is an ally that can follow and fight alongside a ranger in combat zones.

Pets are first found as wild animals that have to be tamed using the skill Charm Animal. The Zaishen Menagerie can offer to breed animal companions if specific requirements are filled.

Pets will appear as long as their master has any of the ranger skills Charm Animal, Comfort Animal (PvE), or Heal as One (PvE) equipped when entering a combat zone.

Although pets are subject to usual AI issues, they have a faster movement or attack speed to compensate. In PvE they take 33% less damage and deal 33% more damage compared to a regular ally. The damage increase applies to the pet's base damage, bonus damage from pet attacks, and other sources, such as Splinter Weapon.

A player can make its pet the main part of its strategy. To draw out the pet's full potential, however, investing attribute points in Beast Mastery is required, as the damage dealt by the pet as well as the effectiveness of most pet-related skills scale with the attribute.

General

Behavior

• A character's pet appears in instances that are not a guild hall, outpost or town
• Like all creatures, pets gain experience, to a maximum level of 20. Their appearance is based on which species of charmable animal they are and their level, which determines their size.
• Pets follow their owners and use standard melee attacks. The pets' AI behavior is similar to that of minions: they attack and move to the owner's target, but have difficulty changing target and are easily bodyblocked. However, like heroes, pets can be directed using the pet interface screen which allows the owner to order their pet to heel, to guard, or to lock target.

Unlocking pets

A player can unlock a character's or hero's current pet, or any pet in the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds, so any character or hero on that account can access and charm them.

Differences between pets

Pets are mostly identical aside from their physical appearance. Their main difference lies in their damage type, which is either slashing or piercing damage, except for the Hound of Balthazar, which deals fire damage.

• With the current damage resistances and weaknesses in PvE, slashing is actually strictly superior to piercing damage (notably against Plants and Skeletons), so pets dealing slashing damage are a bit more interesting strategy-wise compared to pets dealing piercing damage.
• The Black Bear deals less damage per second than all other pets, because it routinely stops to activate its Brutal Mauling attack skill, though this allows it to benefit from some Paragon skills.
• All pets move 25% faster than regular NPCs, except the Moss Spider, Racing Beetle and Tiger. The Racing Beetle compensates by having a higher attack speed. This bonus is not counted against their max movement or attack speed.

Fighting abilities

Any given pet's fighting ability is determined by several factors.

• The pet's evolution and level, as well as the owner's rank in the ranger attribute Beast Mastery, determine base damage and health.
• Beast Mastery shouts specifically affect the pet's speed, armor rating, health, or damage.
• Pet attacks cause the pet to attempt a specific action, usually in the role of a regular character, such as interrupting or inflicting conditions.

Acquisition

Each character may have only one pet at a time, which belongs to them whether or not they equip one of the three pet-bringing skills. PvP-only characters start already owning a level 20 Elder Wolf (which they can later trade), but roleplaying characters must charm their own.

You can only charm charmable animals, and only if you do not currently have a pet. After finding one in the wild or in the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds, you must target it and activate Charm Animal. If the pet is alive when the skill finishes activating, the animal becomes friendly and bound to the character as their companion. That means that the animal will accompany and obey its master whenever they equip any skill that states "your animal companion will travel with you". Heroes can also tame and own pets, if you order them to activate Charm Animal while targeting a valid animal.

Most non-charmed animals spawn as neutral, but will turn hostile if any attacks or offensive skills are activated upon on them, including during the activation of Charm Animal and excluding skills that inflict conditions without targeting such as Burning Speed. (Animals wandering in the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds and those that spawn as allies, such as the White Moa, are an exception as well.) Friendly AI in the party will attack and possibly kill animals that turn hostile before they can be charmed, so it is advised to set heroes to Avoid and/or flag the AI-controlled party members away while charming.

Some enemy rangers spawn near charmable animals, and will begin charming them when a player comes within aggro range effectively preventing players from charming them. However, flagging heroes and henchmen to engage the enemies before the player is in range causes the foe to attack before charming. As long as the animal is not hit by area of effect damage, it will remain passive and charmable.

Pets can also be unlocked for an account at the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds, without ever encountering one. All of them can be unlocked by paying with Balthazar Faction or Zaishen Coins, or only the non-prestige ones by purchasing the Pet Unlock Pack. PvP-only characters can only get a new pet by charming one unlocked in the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds.

Changing and retraining pets

Characters (and their heroes) can release their current pet for free at a pet tamer. This allows the character to charm a new pet. If the animal is at level 20 and was charmed outside the Menagerie, tamers will pay 100 for them. If you wish to unlock the pet before releasing it, speak to Emryd the Tamer first.

Pets cannot be retrained, but if a player wants a different evolution, they may charm the same one again or request one of a specific evolution at the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds.

Zaishen Menagerie Grounds

The Zaishen Menagerie Grounds, located on the Battle Isles, is a place where a player can unlock pets for an account. By talking to Emryd the Tamer while with an animal companion, all evolutions equivalent and below of that animal companion become unlocked for that account, and start wandering the grounds. Helena will unlock any pet, and higher evolutions of any pet, for a fee of Zaishen Coins or Balthazar Faction. On request, Wynn will spawn any unlocked pet of any unlocked evolution for the player to charm. Silavor and Salome supply interesting trivia about every animal. If available, Hokusai will change a Racing Beetle's decals for a small fee.

Only one of the Strider or the Moa Bird must be unlocked in order to unlock both of them. The purchasable Pet Unlock Pack automatically unlocks all non-prestige pets into the Menagerie.

Tier	Minimum level	Evolution requirement	Unlocked pets
1	n/a	n/a	Level 5 unevolved
2	12	n/a	Level 12 unevolved
3	12	evolved1	Level 12 evolved
4	15	n/a	Level 15 Elder2
5	15	evolved	Level 15 evolved
6	20	n/a	Level 20 Elder
7	20	evolved	Level 20 evolved

¹ Aggressive and Playful (levels 12 to 14) or Aggressive, Dire, Hearty and Playful (levels 15 to 20).

² Same stats as unevolved.

Only tier 1 pets wander around the Menagerie; to charm higher tiers, speak to Wynn. She can also spawn level 20 Playful and Aggressive pets, which are hard to get through standard evolution because they usually upgrade to Hearty or Dire by that level.

Game mechanics and AI behavior

Skill effects

• Animal companions are treated as allies, so they are unaffected by skills that affect party members.

Experience

• Animal companions earn experience during combat, even while dead and out of range of the party.
  • Like player characters, their level is capped at level 20.
  • Like all creatures, their experience gain scales with their level. ^{[verification requested]}
  • They do not earn the bonus experience from missions, quests, or experience scrolls. ^{[verification requested]}
  • Some players believe that pets share experience earned with other pets in the party; however, no one has offered experimental evidence one way or the other.^{[verification requested]}

Death and Death Penalty

Like all creatures in the game, animal companions die when they reach 0 health.

• Dead pets do not leave exploitable corpses and do not appear as grey dots on the compass.
• Dead pets can be resurrected using Comfort Animal, Revive Animal, or Heal as One; after a wipe, they also resurrect with the owner at resurrection shrines.
• There are two potential effects that can take place when a pet dies:
  • In PvP-arenas where their owner can suffer Death Penalty, the pet suffers 15% Death Penalty.
  • In PvE and in PvP-arenas where their owner can suffer Death Penalty, the owner's skills are disabled for 10...4...3 seconds based on their rank in Beast Mastery. The exception to this is when the owner is not primary or secondary ranger (i.e., before they choose their secondary profession).

Progression
Beast Mastery Disabled duration	0 10 1 10 2 9 3 9 4 8 5 8 6 7 7 7 8 6 9 6 10 5 11 5 12 4 13 4 14 3 15 3 16 3 17 2 18 2 19 1 20 1

Pet Controls panel

By default, the animal companion attacks the target that its owner is attacking with a slight delay before it changes to a new target; however, players can control their pets' behavior as detailed via Pet Commander.

Example of the pet control panel.

The Pet Control panel (pictured) allows a player to control their animal companion. The panel displays a picture of the pet, the pet's health, any skills or effects the pet is under, and the three behavior modes. Unlike heroes and henchmen, pets cannot be controlled using flags.

The panel is off by default when you enter an explorable area; it can be toggled on/off by clicking the number beside the pet's name in the party window.

The three behavior modes are:

Attack: "Attack my Target". When activated, the pet locks onto your target, and will attack it as long as it's in aggro range. If the target dies, moves out of range, or is reselected, the pet returns to Guard or Heel mode, whichever it was in before it entered Attack mode.

Guard: "Protect Me". The pet moves to and attacks the same target as its owner, when the target is within range. (Spellcasters will find this range is slightly less than casting/wand range, so they may need to take a few steps closer to the target before the pet will engage.). The pet will also spontaneously attack any hostile foe attacking its master if the foe is adjacent to the master.

Heel: "Return to Me". The pet will not attack in this mode; if it is distant, it will return immediately to the owner's side.

Bug.If a pet in Heel mode is changed to Attack mode, it will actually go back to Guard mode after its target is killed, despite the pet control panel displaying Heel mode

Anomaly.A pet in Heel mode will be changed back to Guard mode after zoning.

Name

Players can name a character's pet by using a special command: /petname <name> or /namepet <name>. If no name is specified, the name will be reset to the default of the pet's evolution and species (e.g. "Hearty Phoenix"). Pets controlled by heroes cannot be named. Pet names must be 3 to 12 characters and may only consist of letters and (non-consecutive) spaces. If a pet named by the player is released to a tamer, the next charmable animal that character charms will use the same name.

Evolution

A pet automatically evolves as it levels up, and its specific evolution depends on the kind of fighting it gains experience from. Average evolutions go from Unevolved to Elder, but pets usually evolve from the defensive Playful to Hearty or from the offensive Aggressive to Dire. The easiest way to get a pet of the desired evolution is to unlock all possible evolutions by death leveling the animal in the Zaishen Menagerie Grounds.

This info is a temporary placemarker in place of official information. Use at your own discretion. Caveat lector.

Evolution effects Evolution Health Damage Dire -60 +15% Aggressive -30 +5% "Unevolved" base base Elder base base Playful +30 -5% Hearty +60 -15%

Evolution chart Level 3-10 → Level 11-14 → Level 15+ Evolution Damage ratio → Evolution Damage ratio → Evolution None high damage dealt to damage received ratio → Aggressive high damage dealt to damage received ratio → Dire low damage dealt to damage received ratio1 → Elder low damage dealt to damage received ratio → Playful high damage dealt to damage received ratio1 → low damage dealt to damage received ratio → Hearty no damage dealt or received → None2 no damage dealt or received → None low to high damage dealt to damage received ratio → Hearty

1. In the wild, it is difficult to evolve an aggressive pet into an elder ^{[verification requested]} and nearly impossible to evolve a playful one into an elder.
2. Some reports indicate that it is possible to evolve mid-level pets into Elder pets, but there is not much data available.

• Heroes' pets evolve in the same way.
• The pet's evolution may also be affected by the damage dealt to its owner.

Bug.Sometimes when a pet evolves, its name will not update until it is reset with the /petname (or /namepet) command.

In pre-Searing

• Pets in pre-Searing Ascalon may be evolved to dire before charming by use of death leveling. See that page for more information. Be aware that players can only charm pets up to 4 levels higher than them.
• To evolve an aggressive/dire pet after charming (such as bears who are difficult to charm) that requires micromanagement through pet commands (attack, guard, heel)...
  • Players should place as many attribute points into Beast Mastery as they can to boost pet damage output.
  • Players should command their pet to attack while the player simply watches or tanks (takes damage) for their pet. Another way is to wield a weak weapon and attack at melee range. Foes will generally attack players instead of pets if the player is in melee range.
  • Aloe Seeds/Husks in Green Hills County are desirable enemies to greatly boost the pet's damage given/damage received ratio since they do not attack and have very weak armor. However they also have very low health so Stone Elementals can be another good target for their extremely low attack speed. This is especially true for warthog trainers, as Hulking Stone Elementals are weak against blunt damage.
  • Rinse and repeat until comfortable about getting experience from harder enemies that do more damage to the pet (see next step).
  • Most pet experience can be gained by killing foes from Vanguard quests or in the Northlands. Consider allowing the pet to die stay dead on these XP excursions to minimize their damage taken. Dead pets will still gain XP even when out of compass range, provided they are less than 6 levels higher than the foes. If leaving the pet dead, redistribute attribute points from Beast Mastery into other attributes.
  • Continue to use lower level foes to improve the pet's damage given/damage received ratio.
  • At level 15 the pet should be dire.
• Like in post-Searing, through normal play without micromanagement, pets will usually evolve to playful/hearty. To reduce pet damage output, do not put attribute points into Beast Mastery.

Bug.Striders might be bugged so that they do not evolve into aggressive/dire as of 2014 and stay unevolved, even when death-leveled.

Armor and health

Animals have base armor rating of level*3+20 and base health of level*20+80. Thus all level 20 pets have 80 armor rating. Amount of health also depends on pet's evolution; a table below shows the health of level 20 evolved pet.

Evolution	Hearty	Playful	Elder	Aggressive	Dire
Health	540	510	480	450	420

Animals are naturally infused against the Mursaat’s Spectral Agony and have a 33% damage reduction in PvE (since the August 6, 2009 update).

Damage

Amount of damage

The multiplier for a pet's base damage is determined by its level and its owner's Beast Mastery. Species makes no difference. Since the August 6, 2009 update, pets deal 33% additional damage in PvE.

Pets can inflict critical hits, but unlike weapons, they do not inflict maximum damage before the multiplier. The damage multiplier for an animal companion's critical hits is not known, but is suspected to be approximately √2 (~141%) before rounding.

The values stated below do not take into account the 33% damage boost in PvE :

Evolution	Hearty	Playful	Elder	Aggressive	Dire
Damage range	15-35	17-?	17-41	18-?	20-46
Non-critical damage range1	15-25	17-27	17-29	18-30	20-32
Estimated critical damage range	21-35	24-38	24-41	25-42	28-46
Observed critical damage range	?-35	?-?	?-41	?-?	26-46
Average (mean) damage2	21.1	?	24.4	?	28.1

1. As mentioned in Wynn's dialogue.
2. Average damage is based on the data in this thread. [1]

Note: Damage is calculated for 12 Beast Mastery and a level 20 animal companion

Types of damage

Most pets deal slashing damage, but some deal piercing damage. The following table presents the various types of pets, organized by the type of damage they deal.

Slashing	Piercing	Fire	Notes
Albino Rat1 Black Bear Black Moa Black Wolf Crocodile1 Hyena Iguana1 Jahai Rat Jingle Bear Lion Lioness Lurker Lynx Melandru's Stalker Moss Spider Panda Polar Bear Racing Beetle Reef Lurker Tiger Warthog2 White Tiger White Wolf Wolf	Black Widow Crane3 Dune Lizard Flamingo3 Moa Bird3 Mountain Eagle3, 4 Phoenix3 Rainbow Phoenix3, 4 Raven4 White Crab4 White Moa4 White Jingle Moa4	Hound of Balthazar	These pets deal piercing damage when unevolved. The warthog deals blunt damage when unevolved. These pets deal slashing damage when unevolved. These pets deal slashing damage when evolved to Dire.

Profession

Based on Amateur Hour and There Can Be Only One.

Warrior

Ranger

Hound of Balthazar Wolf

Albino Rat Black Bear Black Moa Black Widow Black Wolf Crane Crocodile Dune Lizard Flamingo Hyena Iguana Jahai Rat Jingle Bear Lion Lioness Lurker Lynx Melandru's Stalker Moa Bird Moss Spider Mountain Eagle Panda Phoenix Polar Bear Racing Beetle Rainbow Phoenix Raven Reef Lurker Tiger Warthog White Crab White Jingle Moa White Moa White Tiger White Wolf "I Will Avenge You" Warriors' Elder Wolves Master of Interrupts' Elder Wolf Squeakers

List of pet skills

Skills that only affect pet

Pet attack skills

See also: Pet attack

Pet support skills

Icon	Name	Description						Attribute	Campaign
	Call of Haste	Shout. (30 seconds.) Your pet moves and attacks 33% faster.	0	1010	0	02525		Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Call of Haste (PvP)	Shout. (30 seconds.) Your pet moves and attacks 25% faster.	0	1010	0	02525		Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Call of Protection	Shout. (120 seconds.) Your pet has 5...17...20 damage reduction.	0	055	0	09090		Beast MasteryZ	Prophecies
	Comfort Animal	Skill. Your pet gains 20...87...104 Health. Resurrects your pet (10...48...58% Health.) If you have Comfort Animal equipped, your animal companion will travel with you.	0	055	01.001	0011		Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Comfort Animal (PvP)	Skill. Your pet gains 20...87...104 Health. Resurrects your pet (10...48...58% Health.)	0	1010	01.001	0011		Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Feral Aggression	Skill. (5...17...20 seconds.) Your pet attacks 33% faster and deals +3...9...10 damage.	0	1515	0	02020		Beast MasteryZ	Eye of the North
	Otyugh's Cry	Shout. (10...22...25 seconds.) Your pet has +24 armor and is unblockable.	0	055	0	03030		Beast MasteryZ	Prophecies
	Revive Animal	Skill. Resurrects all nearby allied pets (10...77...94% Health).	0	055	066	02020		Beast MasteryZ	Prophecies

Skills that affect both the master and their pet

Requires the master's pet to be both present and alive

Icon	Name	Description						Attribute	Campaign
	Companionship	Skill. Heals you for 30...102...120 if you have less Health than your pet. Heals your pet for 30...102...120 if it has less Health than you.	0	055	02.002	01010		Beast MasteryZ	Eye of the North
	Ferocious Strike	Elite Pet Attack. Deals +13...25...28 damage. You gain adrenaline and 3...9...10 energy.	0	055	0	0088		Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Never Rampage Alone	Skill. (18...25 seconds.) You and your pet attack 25% faster and have +1...3 Health regeneration.	0	1515	0	02020		Sunspear rankZ	Nightfall
	Predatory Bond	Shout. (5...17...20 seconds.) Your pet attacks 25% faster and you gain 1...25...31 Health whenever your pet makes a successful attack.	0	1010	0	03030		Beast MasteryZ	Factions
	Rampage as One	Elite Skill. (3...13...15 seconds.) You and your pet attack 33% faster and move 25% faster. No effect unless your pet is alive.	0	2525	0	01010		Beast MasteryZ	Nightfall
	Scavenger Strike	Pet Attack. Deals +10...22...25 damage. You gain 3...13...15 Energy if target foe has a condition.	0	055	0	01010		Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Strike as One	Elite Shout. Your animal companion instantly moves to your target and inflicts Bleeding (5...13...15 seconds) with its next attack. The next time you hit with an attack, you inflict Crippled condition (5...13...15 seconds).	0	055	0	01010		Beast MasteryZ	Nightfall
	Symbiotic Bond	Shout. (120...264...300 seconds.) Your pet has +1...3...3 Health regeneration. Half of all damage dealt to your pet is redirected to you.	0	1010	0	05555		Beast MasteryZ	Prophecies

Pet is not required to be activated

Icon	Name	Description						Attribute	Campaign
	"Together as One!"	Elite Shout. (3...13...15 seconds.) All party members near you or your pet deal +5...13...15 damage [sic] and gain +1...6...7 Health regeneration. PvE Skill	0	1010	0	01515		ExpertiseZ	Core
	Heal as One	Elite Skill. (15 seconds.) Your pet's attacks steal 1...16...20 Health. Initial effect: heals you and your pet for 20...87...104; resurrects your pet (50% Health) if dead. If you have this equipped, your pet will travel with you.	0	055	01.001	0055		Beast MasteryZ	Factions
	Heal as One (PvP)	Elite Skill. Heals you and your pet for 25...121...145. If your pet is dead, it is resurrected with 50% Health. No effect if neither you nor your pet are below 75% Health.	0	055	01.001	0088		Beast MasteryZ	Factions
	Run as One	Stance. (5...13...15 seconds.) You and your pet move 25% faster.	0	055	0	01515		Beast MasteryZ	Factions

Related skills

Icon	Name	Description						Prof.	Attribute	Campaign
	Charm Animal	Skill. Charm target animal. Once charmed, your animal companion will travel with you whenever you have Charm Animal equipped. You cannot charm an animal that is more than 4 levels above you.	0	1010	1010	0		rangera	Beast MasteryZ	Core
	Predatory Bond (PvP)	Shout. (5...17...20 seconds.) You gain 1...25...31 Health whenever your pet makes a successful attack.	0	1010	0	03030		rangera	Beast MasteryZ	Factions
	Signet of Sorrow	Signet. Deals 15...63...75 damage. Recharges instantly if target foe is near a corpse or has a dead pet.	0	0	01.001	03030		necromancera	Soul ReapingZ	Nightfall

Notes

• It is possible to death level all pets; however, the Rainbow Phoenix is seldom death leveled since it can only be done by primary Dervishes, Ritualists, or Rangers (due to the player having to be alone and use both Charm Animal and Eternal Aura or Lively Was Naomei) and the method to do so is much slower than "standard" death leveling.
• Pets still gain experience when they are dead, and/or out of compass range.
• A pet can gain experience even while its owner is dead, and thus achieve a higher level than its owner (though it can be easily surpassed).
• Pets grow in size as they level up, but the difference only displays after changing zones.
• Pet attacks and shouts only work if the pet is in party range of the user.
• Heroes' pets will inherit the same combat mode as their owner, unless you manually change it after setting the hero's behavior. Unlike heroes, you cannot control pets using flags.
• For characters and heroes in zones without Death Penalty or who are not primary nor secondary rangers, skills are not disabled when their pet dies.

Anomaly.When riding Junundu in the Desolation, pets immediately die upon entering the wurm and are resurrected at your location once you exit. They continue to gain experience. The exception is in the Gate of Desolation mission, pets receive their own wurm, but cannot use skills.

Trivia

NPCs that have pets

Certain NPCs bring their own pets, including:

NPC	Pet	Species	Pet location(s)
"I Will Avenge You" Warriors	[1] Elder Wolf	Wolf	Zaishen Challenge and Zaishen Elite
Master of Interrupts			Isle of the Nameless/Isle of the Nameless (PvP)
Aurora	Hector	Reef Lurker	The Jade Sea
Daky	[1] Squeakers	Jahai Rat	Heroes' Ascent
Endre	Elder Reef Lurker	Reef Lurker	The Jade Sea
Sujun	Ling Wong	Panda	During The Red Frog
Zho	Onyx	Black Moa	The Norn Fighting Tournament (despite Zho's unfortunate history with the species)

NPCs with non-charmable companions

Some NPCs are accompanied by non-charmable animals that follow them like pets, but are simply ally NPCs:

NPC	Companion	Species
Cheswick	Oink	Warthog
Danika	Sheena Brutus	Wallows
Master Seeker Nathaniel	Snow	Snow Wolf
Nehdukah	Pork Chop	Warthog
Nicholas Sandford Nicholas the Traveler	Professor Yakkington	Dolyak
Old Mac	Joe	Devourer
Shadow	Carlotta	Moss Spider

Bosses with pets

The following ranger bosses are always accompanied by their pets:

Boss	Pet's species
Ashlyn Spiderfriend	Black Widow
Bolten Largebelly Dzabel Land Guardian Tundoss the Destroyer	Crocodile
Milodestus the Wrangler	Reef Lurker
Royen Beastkeeper	Crane
Salke Fur Friend	White Tiger
Sergeant Behnwa	Hyena
Thul The Bull	Wolf

External links

• Video of locations of Prophecies pets
• Video of locations of Factions pets 1
• Video of locations of Factions pets 2
• Video of locations of Nightfall pets

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