Animal companion


 * For information about so-called "mini pets", see: Miniature
 * For information about necromancer minions, also sometimes called "pets", see: Minion

Characters can obtain an animal companion (also known as a pet), using the Charm Animal skill. These animals fight as melee attackers alongside the character, who can use skills specific to animal companions to augment their abilities. As the Charm Animal skill is a ranger skill, it is generally only possible to play with an animal companion as a primary or secondary ranger.

Getting a Pet
Pets are character-specific; each character must charm their own pet, and cannot be shared with other characters. To obtain a pet you must use Charm Animal on an animal. Hero's may also charm an animal either as a primary or secondary ranger.

Whenever a character has Charm Animal equipped, his pet will tag along when he is outside of cities and outposts.

Provided you do not get rid of the pet as described below, the pet is permanently linked to your character; even changing from a ranger secondary profession does not sever this link; when you change back to a ranger secondary and equip Charm Animal the pet will be unchanged.

All PvP characters have Elder Wolves, which cannot be lost or replaced.

Getting rid of your pet
It is not possible to charm a new animal while one already has a pet. The only way for a primary character to get rid of a pet on the continent of Tyria is to speak with Jarrel the Tamer. He can be found just outside post-searing Ascalon City or next to Master Ranger Nente in Regent Valley (Pre-Searing). The tamer may give a small amount of gold in exchange for an experienced pet (100 gold pieces for a level 20 pet). Giving up a pet at a tamer is final; there is no way to get it back. Hero's cannot give up a pet as confirmed by GW Support.

On the continent of Cantha, you can get rid of a pet by speaking to one of following tamers: Sahnlae (outside Shing Jea Monastery), Chibichi (in Bukdek Byway), Zarek (outside House zu Heltzer) or Callista (outside Breaker Hollow).

In Elona, Nehdukah (outside Sunspear Great Hall) will take your pet.

You need to have Charm Animal equipped, and thus your pet with you, when getting rid of your pet.

Pet Rules

 * Pets are not affected by skills that affect the whole party. They are considered an ally and as such, skills like Aegis will have no effect on them.
 * Pets are a type of creature according to Edge of Extinction and other skills that target creatures.
 * A pet will always attack the same foe as its owner (sometimes changing target with a delay) at a rate of one attack every two seconds.
 * Pets receive Death Penalty in PvP (as of the Thursday July 13th update). Gaile Gray has confirmed that the same change will eventually be implemented in PvE play.
 * When a pet dies, all of its owner's skills are disabled for between 10 and 3 seconds based on the owner's Beast Mastery level. If a pet dies soon after it is resurrected (approximately within 15 seconds), the owner's skills will not be disabled for this death. If you aren't actually a ranger, your skills aren't disabled when your pet dies.  (This can happen in early PvE play before you have chosen your secondary profession.)
 * When a pet dies, its location does not show as a grey dot on the compass.
 * Pets can only be resurrected with Comfort Animal, Revive Animal, Heal as One or a Resurrection Shrine. Resurrection skills targeted on players cannot target pets.
 * If a pet is unnamed (see below), its name may change as it levels up and evolves (i.e. a Melandru's Stalker may become a Playful Stalker).
 * Pets gain experience and level up from combat, to a maximum level of 20. They will gain experience in this way even while dead, regardless of the distance to the dying foes, but the party screen will only update the level when the pet is within radar distance of the master. Pets do not gain experience from quest rewards or mission completion, and are unaffected by experience scrolls. On the other hand, they level up approximately twice as fast as players from regular experience gain.

Pet attacks
A pet's damage is relative to the amount of attribute points invested in its owner's Beast Mastery attribute, with diminishing returns for rank greater than the owner's Level/2 +2. Pets attack roughly once every 2.15 seconds and inflict critical hits at a rate that depends on the owner's Beast Mastery attribute. With 12 points invested in Beast Mastery, a level 20 Elder pet does 17-41 damage per hit against an AL 60 target.

Different types of pets do different types of physical damage. Slashing damage is dealt by Piercing damage is dealt by The damage type dealt is unknown for Factions animals at present, confirmed animal types are
 * Black Bears
 * Lynxes
 * Melandru's Stalkers
 * Moa Birds
 * Striders*
 * Warthogs*
 * Wolves
 * Black Widows
 * Dune Lizards
 * Tigers
 * Cranes
 * Reef Lurkers
 * Black Moas
 * Phoenix

* The Prima Guide has listed these types of pets as doing a different type of damage, and many other fansites copied that information. However, actual testing shows the information in the Prima Guide to be incorrect. For discussion on this matter, see here.

Health and Armor

 * All pets have the same health and armor based on their current level.
 * Pets have the equivalent of infused armor.
 * The armor can be modified via Otyugh's Cry.


 * Health = Level &times; 20 + 80
 * AL = Level &times; 3 + 20

Pet Evolution Stats

 * Hearty: -15% damage, +60 health
 * Playful: -5% damage, +30 health
 * Elder: -0 damage, +0 health
 * Aggressive: +5% damage, -30 health
 * Dire: +15% damage, -60 health

It is commonly believed that an Elder pet has a damage bonus of +3; however, attempts to validate this have shown that an Elder pet does indeed do less damage than a Dire one.

Damage Comparisons.

Black Widows are always level 20, and spawn with a random evolution. Black Moas have been observed with the properties of the Elder evolution.

Training for a Specific Pet Evolution
Generally, the pet evolves at levels 11 and 15. However, in certain cases this has varied; such instances are rare and not fully understood, though leveling up while dead does seem to delay evolution to the next time the pet levels up. Other times the pet name does not update appropriately; in this case, name your pet, then reset the default name with /namepet or /petname. Which evolutionary path the pet takes is dependant on the play style of its master leading up to the pet's evolution and is still undergoing research.

The following factors are believed not to be involved in pet evolution:
 * Amount of healing on the pet
 * Levels of monsters fought
 * Number of times the pet died
 * Number of foes killed by the pet

The following are observed to have some correlation with defensive evolutions (Playful/Hearty):
 * Low ratio of damage dealt by pet vs damage by owner
 * Amount of damage taken by the pet
 * Amount of damage taken by the pet without killing the pet

The following are observed to have some correlation with offensive evolutions (Aggressive/Dire):
 * High ratio of damage dealt by pet vs damage by owner
 * High absolute damage dealt by pet

Have a look at the Guide to evolving a Dire Pet if you want a dire Pet.

The Elder evolution can be acquired by playing one of the above two play styles until the pet reaches its first evolution and then changing which play style one uses.

Auto leveling of pets (and Hero's) can occur at Jennurs Horde. Kill the first 2 Harbringers and the Margonites just beyond them. Set a flag for your Hero's and Henchmen and check that your group is stable. Leave the computer on. Several variations of skill sets (and allowing the pet to level while dead and also the hero dead) for pet leveling and locations of the hero been tried here with no success other than a hearty evolution. It has been tried with nothing other than points in beast mastery, no weapon or low value weapon of an "off type", no skills other than pet skills loaded including symbiotic bond. Pattern observed is playful at 11 and hearty at 15.

Pet Skills
It's also a good idea to bring along some other pet-related skills. Some skills like Poisonous Bite along with Scavenger Strike can make a good combo.

Pet Naming
A primary character's pet can be given an individual name with the commands "/namepet " or "/petname ". Both commands, when used without anything following it, will reset the pet's name to its default state. A pet's name can be up to 12 characters long. Note that an individual name will also carry over to a new pet. Pet name does not affect a pet's evolution, it will simply mask the prefix displayed until you reset the name to default. Note that more then one pet can have the same name so it will be harder to find which pet is yours. Heroes cannot rename their pets as confirmed by GW Support.

You cannot change the name of your pet in the middle of a PvP match. You may, however, change it while in any PvP outpost or the Isle of the Nameless.

Pet growth
Tyrian pets generally grow as they increase in level, while Canthan pets generally stay the same size.

Pets confirmed to grow Pets confirmed not to grow
 * Melandru's Stalker
 * Dune Lizard
 * Moa Bird / Strider
 * Snow Wolf
 * Warthog
 * Black Bear
 * Crocodile
 * Hyena
 * Jahai Rat
 * Black Moa (always level 20)
 * Black Widow (always level 20)
 * Phoenix
 * Tiger / White Tiger
 * Crab

Related skills
The following skills affect animal companions:
 * Bestial Pounce
 * Brutal Strike
 * Call of Haste
 * Call of Protection
 * Comfort Animal
 * Disrupting Lunge
 * Feral Lunge
 * Ferocious Strike
 * Maiming Strike
 * Melandru's Assault
 * Predator's Pounce
 * Revive Animal
 * Scavenger Strike
 * Symbiosis
 * Symbiotic Bond

Trivia

 * The dire pet evolution is probably named after the Canis dirus, an extinct wolf subspecies from the last ice age, or the many other 'Dire Animals' from Dungeons & Dragons.