Best Hunter Pet for Leveling in Classic Hardcore (WoW HC)

Hunters in Classic Hardcore are one of the best leveling classes in the game. A large reason why that’s the case is that their pet can tank much of the danger involved in the leveling process.

With that in mind, it’s important to make sure that you pick the right pet for the job! Here’s our guide on which is the best hunter pet for Leveling in Classic Hardcore.

What’s the best hunter pet for leveling in Classic Hardcore?

The general consensus in the hunter HC community is that owls are the best hunter pets for leveling in Classic Hardcore.

The main reason is that they can use Screech, which is the best at holding threat against mobs while leveling. It also makes your pet receive slightly less damage by reducing the mobs attack damage, which means less need for wasting mana on Mend Pet.

Owls are overall the ideal mix of both offense and defense.

Tamable Owls:

Name	Level	Location
Strigid Owl	5-6	Teldrassil
Strigid Screecher	7-8	Teldrassil
Strigid Hunter	8-9	Teldrassil
Ironbeak Owl	48-49	Felwood
Ironbeak Hunter	50-51	Felwood
Ironbeak Screecher	52-53	Felwood
Olm the Wise	52 Rare	Felwood
Winterspring Owl	54-56	Winterspring
Winterspring Screecher	57-59	Winterspring

Screech Pets

Any pet with Screech is very good and generally the best to choose for leveling. That includes Bats & Carrion Birds. Owls are slightly better, but there isn’t a huge difference. If you’re a horde player, you’ll likely need to obtain something other than an owl until level 48.

The initial vulture pet that you tame with Screech can easily be used all the way to 60. You just need to make sure to learn new ranks of Screech when you can.

There aren’t that many owls in the game to tame. Here’s a list for them:

Notably, horde players will have a much harder time obtaining an owl until level 48. It’s advised to just use another pet with Screech until then.

Where to learn Screech?

Unfortunately, if you’re playing horde, you will need to travel to Westfall to obtain Screech at levels 16-17.

Screech (Rank 1)

Greater Fleshripper (Carrion Bird, 16-17, Westfall)

Screech (Rank 2)

Salt Flats Vulture (Carrion Bird, 32-34, Thousand Needles)
Shrike Bat (Bat, 38-39, Uldaman (Dungeon))
Dread Ripper (Carrion Bird, 39-40, Desolace)

Screech (Rank 3)

Ironbeak Owl (Owl, 48-49, Felwood)
Dark Screecher (Bat, 50-52, Blackrock Depths (Dungeon))
Carrion Vulture (Carrion Bird, 50-52, Western Plaguelands)

Screech (Rank 4)

Monstrous Plaguebat (Bat, 56-58, Eastern Plaguelands)
Winterspring Screecher (Owl, 57-59, Winterspring)

Best Night Elf pets for leveling

Level	Name	Zone	Ability
≤ 10	Webwood Silkspinner	Teldrassil	Bite – Rank 2
≤ 10	Strigid Hunter*	Teldrassil	Claw – Rank 2
16-17	Greater Fleshripper	Westfall	Screech – Rank 1
17-18	Shore Crawler	Westfall	Claw – Rank 3
18-20	Thunderhawk Hatchling	The Barrens	Lightning Breath – Rank 2
20-21	Green Recluse	Duskwood	Bite – Rank 3
24-25	Black Ravager	Duskwood	Bite – Rank 4
25-26	Elder Ashenvale Bear	Ashenvale	Claw – Rank 4
25-26	Cloud Serpent	Thousand Needles	Lightning Breath – Rank 3
31-32	Young Mesa Buzzard	Arathi Highlands	Dive – Rank 1
32-33	Stranglethorn Tiger	Stranglethorn Vale	Dash – Rank 1
32-33	Plains Creeper	Arathi Highlands	Bite – Rank 5
32-34	Salt Flats Vulture	Thousand Needles	Screech – Rank 2
36-37	Ridge Stalker	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 1
37	Broken Tooth**	Badlands	1.00 AS
37-38	Drywallow Snapper	Dustwallow Marsh	Claw – Rank 5
40-41	Ridge Stalker Patriarch	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 2
40-41	Longtooth Runner	Feralas	Bite – Rank 6
			Dash – Rank 2
			Furious Howl – Rank 3
41-43	Vale Screecher	Feralas	Lightning Breath – Rank 4
			Dive – Rank 2
40-41	Scorpid Hunter	Tanaris	Claw – Rank 6
48-49	Ironfur Patriarch	Feralas	Claw – Rank 7
48-49	Ironbeak Owl	Felwood	Screech – Rank 3
49-50	Saltwater Snapjaw	Hinterlands	Bite – Rank 7
49-50	Hakkari Sapper	Temple of Atal’Hakkar	Lightning Breath – Rank 5
50	Jaguero Stalker	Stranglethorn Vale	Prowl – Rank 3
			Cower – Rank 5
56-57	Bloodaxe Worg	Blackrock Spire	Bite – Rank 8
			Dash – Rank 3
			Furious Howl – Rank 4
57-59	Winterspring Screecher	Winterspring	Claw – Rank 8
			Dive – Rank 3
			Screech – Rank 4
* = keep for leveling		** = stable for PvP

Best Dwarf pets for leveling

Level	Name	Zone	Ability
≤ 10	Starving Winter Wolf	Dun Morogh	Bite – Rank 2
≤ 10	Mangeclaw	Dun Morogh	Claw – Rank 2
16-17	Mangy Mountain Boar*	Loch Modan	Charge – Rank 2
17-18	Shore Crawler	Westfall	Claw – Rank 3
18-20	Thunderhawk Hatchling	The Barrens	Lightning Breath – Rank 2
20-21	Green Recluse	Duskwood	Bite – Rank 3
24-25	Black Ravager	Duskwood	Bite – Rank 4
25-26	Elder Ashenvale Bear	Ashenvale	Claw – Rank 4
25-26	Cloud Serpent	Thousand Needles	Lightning Breath – Rank 3
31-32	Young Mesa Buzzard	Arathi Highlands	Dive – Rank 1
32-33	Stranglethorn Tiger*	Stranglethorn Vale	Dash – Rank 1
32-33	Plains Creeper	Arathi Highlands	Bite – Rank 5
24-25	Agam’ar	Razorfen Kraul	Charge – Rank 3
36-37	Ridge Stalker	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 1
37	Broken Tooth**	Badlands	1.00 AS
37-38	Drywallow Snapper	Dustwallow Marsh	Claw – Rank 5
40-41	Ridge Stalker Patriarch	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 2
40-41	Longtooth Runner	Feralas	Bite – Rank 6
			Dash – Rank 2
			Furious Howl – Rank 3
41-43	Vale Screecher	Feralas	Lightning Breath – Rank 4
			Dive – Rank 2
40-41	Scorpid Hunter	Tanaris	Claw – Rank 6
48-49	Ironfur Patriarch	Feralas	Claw – Rank 7
48-49	Ashmane Boar	Blasted Lands	Charge – Rank 5
49-50	Saltwater Snapjaw	Hinterlands	Bite – Rank 7
49-50	Hakkari Sapper	Temple of Atal’Hakkar	Lightning Breath – Rank 5
50	Jaguero Stalker	Stranglethorn Vale	Prowl – Rank 3
			Cower – Rank 5
56-57	Bloodaxe Worg	Blackrock Spire	Bite – Rank 8
			Dash – Rank 3
			Furious Howl – Rank 4
57-59	Winterspring Screecher	Winterspring	Claw – Rank 8
			Dive – Rank 3
			Screech – Rank 4
* = keep for leveling		** = stable for PvP

Best Orc & Troll pets for leveling

Level	Name	Zone	Ability
≤ 10	Vicious Night Web Spider	Tirisfal Glades	Bite – Rank 2
≤ 10	Venomtail Scorpid	Durotar	Claw – Rank 2
11-12	Savannah Huntress*	The Barrens
19-20	Clattering Crawler	Ashenvale	Claw – Rank 3
18-20	Thunderhawk Hatchling	The Barrens	Lightning Breath – Rank 2
16-17	Deepmoss Creeper	Stonetalon Mountains	Bite – Rank 3
27-28	Ghostpaw Alpha	Ashenvale	Bite – Rank 4
25-26	Elder Ashenvale Bear	Ashenvale	Claw – Rank 4
25-26	Cloud Serpent	Thousand Needles	Lightning Breath – Rank 3
31-32	Young Mesa Buzzard	Arathi Highlands	Dive – Rank 1
32-33	Stranglethorn Tiger	Stranglethorn Vale	Dash – Rank 1
32-33	Plains Creeper	Arathi Highlands	Bite – Rank 5
32-34	Salt Flats Vulture	Thousand Needles	Screech – Rank 2
36-37	Ridge Stalker	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 1
37	Broken Tooth**	Badlands	1.00 AS
37-38	Drywallow Snapper	Dustwallow Marsh	Claw – Rank 5
40-41	Ridge Stalker Patriarch	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 2
40-41	Longtooth Runner	Feralas	Bite – Rank 6
			Dash – Rank 2
			Furious Howl – Rank 3
41-43	Vale Screecher	Feralas	Lightning Breath – Rank 4
			Dive – Rank 2
40-41	Scorpid Hunter	Tanaris	Claw – Rank 6
48-49	Ironfur Patriarch	Feralas	Claw – Rank 7
48-49	Ironbeak Owl	Felwood	Screech – Rank 3
49-50	Saltwater Snapjaw	Hinterlands	Bite – Rank 7
49-50	Hakkari Sapper	Temple of Atal’Hakkar	Lightning Breath – Rank 5
50	Jaguero Stalker	Stranglethorn Vale	Prowl – Rank 3
			Cower – Rank 5
56-57	Bloodaxe Worg	Blackrock Spire	Bite – Rank 8
			Dash – Rank 3
			Furious Howl – Rank 4
57-59	Winterspring Screecher	Winterspring	Claw – Rank 8
			Dive – Rank 3
			Screech – Rank 4
* = keep for leveling		** = stable for PvP

Best Tauren pets for leveling

Level	Name	Zone	Ability
≤ 10	Prairie Wolf Alpha	Mulgore	Bite – Rank 2
≤ 10	Venomtail Scorpid	Durotar	Claw – Rank 2
11-12	Savannah Huntress*	The Barrens
19-20	Clattering Crawler	Ashenvale	Claw – Rank 3
18-20	Thunderhawk Hatchling	The Barrens	Lightning Breath – Rank 2
16-17	Deepmoss Creeper	Stonetalon Mountains	Bite – Rank 3
27-28	Ghostpaw Alpha	Ashenvale	Bite – Rank 4
25-26	Elder Ashenvale Bear	Ashenvale	Claw – Rank 4
25-26	Cloud Serpent	Thousand Needles	Lightning Breath – Rank 3
31-32	Young Mesa Buzzard	Arathi Highlands	Dive – Rank 1
32-33	Stranglethorn Tiger	Stranglethorn Vale	Dash – Rank 1
32-33	Plains Creeper	Arathi Highlands	Bite – Rank 5
32-34	Salt Flats Vulture	Thousand Needles	Screech – Rank 2
36-37	Ridge Stalker	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 1
37	Broken Tooth**	Badlands	1.00 AS
37-38	Drywallow Snapper	Dustwallow Marsh	Claw – Rank 5
40-41	Ridge Stalker Patriarch	Badlands	Prowl – Rank 2
40-41	Longtooth Runner	Feralas	Bite – Rank 6
			Dash – Rank 2
			Furious Howl – Rank 3
41-43	Vale Screecher	Feralas	Lightning Breath – Rank 4
			Dive – Rank 2
40-41	Scorpid Hunter	Tanaris	Claw – Rank 6
48-49	Ironfur Patriarch	Feralas	Claw – Rank 7
48-49	Ironbeak Owl	Felwood	Screech – Rank 3
49-50	Saltwater Snapjaw	Hinterlands	Bite – Rank 7
49-50	Hakkari Sapper	Temple of Atal’Hakkar	Lightning Breath – Rank 5
50	Jaguero Stalker	Stranglethorn Vale	Prowl – Rank 3
			Cower – Rank 5
56-57	Bloodaxe Worg	Blackrock Spire	Bite – Rank 8
			Dash – Rank 3
			Furious Howl – Rank 4
57-59	Winterspring Screecher	Winterspring	Claw – Rank 8
			Dive – Rank 3
			Screech – Rank 4
* = keep for leveling		** = stable for PvP