August 2017   « Archives | Current News »

UPDATE: Thanks to a heads up from developer Jeremy Feasel, it's been revealed that Blizzard is trying some new tech for Pet Battles in 7.3.

Currently on the PTR the Crysa and Environeer Bert encounters will scale down in level to the highest level pet on your team.

Using a full team of level 1 pets will result in the enemy team scaling down to all level 1 pets. A team of two level 1 pets plus one level 25 pet results in an all level 25 enemy team.

Available abilities depend on the level the team scales to (for example, level 1 scaling only unlocks the first ability). The quality (rare, epic, etc.) of the trainer team does not change.

A new 7.3 PTR build was released this week and it included a lot of Pet Battle content! Many new pets to collect, plus new Family Familiar-styled Argus achievements. [source]


New Pets
In the recent PTR build 23 new pets were added, many of which use new pet models found on Argus (examples pictured above).

• 12 new wild pets from Argus
• 5 new pets from drops
• 1 new quest reward
• 1 pet from a new achievement (more information below)
• 1 new Winter Veil pet
• 1 pet from a new reputation vendor
• 2 currently from unknown sources

All 7.3 datamined pets

With these additions, the current total number of new pets coming in Patch 7.3 is now 42. That's a lot of pets!

New Achievements: Family Fighter
As mentioned above, a pet will be the reward from a new set of achievements.


Family Fighter is similar to Family Familiar — Pet Battlers will need to defeat Argus pet NPCs with teams comprised of one pet family. The achievement rewards the new pet, Felclaw Marsuul.

Players will have to use each pet type to defeat a total of 18 new pet NPCs. These encounters are located across Argus.

PSA: [Family Fighter] pets are up all the time, and can be battled even if their WQ isn't up. Do the achievement at your own pace!

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) August 2, 2017

According to developer Jeremy Feasel on Twitter, unlike the trainers from Family Familiar, the Family Fighter NPCs will be spawned indefinitely and can be battled even if their World Quest isn't active.

Are you ready to take on this new challenge? We can't wait!

New Blizzard Store Pet
A new battle pet is now available from the Blizzard Store. [source]

Discovered during PTR datamining just a day prior to her release, Twilight (pictured right) came as a complete surprise to many collectors. But what an absolutely lovely surprise!

Twilight can be adopted for $10 from the Blizzard Store (US / EU), or as part of a bundle with her larger mount counterpart, Luminous Starseeker (US / EU).

This adorable little kitten is unique, as she will periodically change colors (blue, purple, and yellow).

She behaves similarly to other cats and will respond to player emotes (/sit and /dance) directed at her.

We're very eager to add Twilight to WarcraftPets; her pet profile is currently a work in progress. Thank you for your support and patience.

UPDATE: Twilight has been added to WarcraftPets! Her profile image is still a work in progress. Users that have adopted Twilight may not see her appear as collected even after re-importing their collections. We're looking into this, however it could be an issue with this pet in the Blizzard Armory.

We're ecstatic to welcome Twilight into our battle pet families and our hearts!

We're celebrating the Pet Battle Bonus Event this week by sharing a pet that's part of a Squirt leveling team. Squirt just made her appearance for NA/Oceanic realms, and she will not be back during this month's Bonus Event. However, EU players rejoice! A "Super Squirt" day is coming up on August 26.

That being said, this month we're covering the Blighthawk! Be sure to check out the forum post linked at the end of this article for the Squirt leveling team that incorporates the Blighthawk.

Collecting the Blighthawk
The Blighthawk is an Undead wild pet that can be found as level 10 - 11 in Western Plaguelands and as level 25 in Val'sharah. It has 4 different breeds.

Western Plaguelands can be somewhat of a headache if you haven't made any quest/story progress in that zone. Phasing can cause problems for pet collectors looking for a wild Blighthawk.

If you have the time and desire, simply progress the storyline for Andorhal to achieve proper phasing with the Blighthawks.

If you'd prefer to skip the quests, one trick is to keybind the 'Interact with target' function. Use a '/target Blighthawk' command/macro to target one of the phased Blighthawks, and then use your interact keybind to engage it in battle.

Another way to collect this pet from Western Plaguelands is to battle other wild pets in the zone. The Blighthawk can spawn as a secondary pet, making it possible to find and capture one even if their main spawn location is phased for you.

Of course, skipping Western Plaguelands and opting for a higher level Blighthawk is another option. This pet also spawns around Bradensbrook in Val'sharah, although not nearly as often as it can appear in Western Plaguelands. The upside to collecting the Blighthawk from a Broken Isles zone is its level; you won't have to put as much time or energy into leveling it to max.

The Blighthawk is definitely a unique looking Undead flyer, and is a must have for any collection!

Battling with the Blighthawk
The Blighthawk is an abomination, stitching together two families into one damage dealing powerhouse with a few tricks to spare.


Its two first slot abilities are a great example of this. You could go with big Undead damage in Infected Claw, or switch things up with the multi-hitting Flying move Slicing Wind.

The Blighthawk retains many abilities common with other owl-type pets. Cyclone, a team-wide pseudo damage over time ability subject to RNG, is a very common Flying move, though it does prove a unique asset among Undead pets. The Blighthawk also uses Lift-Off, providing this pet with a useful dodge move with decent damage to boot. Those two abilities share the third slot, leaving the second slot open for two Undead moves.

Those two Undead moves are really where your choices for the Blighthawk get interesting. You could choose Ghostly Bite, a move which deals huge damage, but at the cost of stunning your Blighthawk for the next turn. The other option is Consume Corpse, which heals the Blighthawk by ‘consuming’ a pet which is currently pushing up daisies on your team. Ghostly Bite is a great move on a res turn as an early pet, since you don’t need to worry about being stunned if you’re about to die. Meanwhile, the choice of Consume Corpse means your Blighthawk needs to be the last on your team alive. Both moves can be decent, so it’s up to you to decide based on your needs.

The Blighthawk is an excellent pet for hard-hitting dps in most situations, as long as you stand downwind from its little undead self.

Check out the Squirt leveling team that uses Blighthawk in the forum discussion on this pet!

Battling Discussion on the Blighthawk

Pet of the Month is co-written by Liopleurodon, an experienced pet battler and long-time WoW player. She maintains her own Pet Battle blog and is a Pet Battle columnist on the fansite Blizzard Watch.

UPDATE: Thanks to Gráinne and Eggs from the EU Battle.net forums, an undocumented PVP change was brought to our attention — Players that have earned a Prestige companion on one faction can now purchase the companion of the same rank on the opposing faction.


Patch 7.3 is live this week! There are many new pets to collect, a new trainer to defeat, new Pet Battle challenges await on Argus, and more. [source]

New Pets
There are 42 new pets added in Patch 7.3. From Argus wild pets and drops, to the next installment of Raiding With Leashes, there's a variety of pets to collect!

• Raiding With Leashes V - 15 new pets found in Cataclysm raids — collect them all and earn the achievement Raiding With Leashes V: Cuteaclysm which rewards Amalgam of Destruction.
• 12 new wild pets found on Argus, a few of which come in different colors!
• 6 non-wild pets from Argus.
• 2 new profession dropped pets - Herbalists and Skinners will find one each on Argus.
• 2 reputation pets - One from a new Master Fisher NPC in Azsuna, but only once you've earned enough reputation with her. Only one Master Fisher will appear on the Broken Isles each day. The second pet can be purchased after you've earned enough esteem with the Argussian Reach on Argus.
• 2 new holiday pets - Hallow's End and Feast of Winter Veil.
• 1 new dropped pet from a new Trainer (more information below).
• And last but not least, an achievement pet for completing a new set of Pet Battle challenges on Argus (more information below)!

Check out all 42 new pets!

Some pets found on Argus will not be available to collect day 1 of the patch. These pets are in zones that must be unlocked first. The current expected zone progression will be:

• Week 1 = Krokuun and Antoran Wastes
• Week 2 = Mac'Aree

With all of these new pets, it might be difficult to choose which one will accompany you on your adventures. Let RNG choose for you and use the new Summon Random Battle Pet (pictured below) button to call out a random favorite pet.


The command to summon a random pet and random favorite pet can still be used, however with this new button collectors won't have to manually create their own macro.

New Trainer
Head to Gnomeregan to find a new trainer, Environeer Bert.

This NPC is similar to Crysa, however instead of three flying pets, Bert has three epic quality level 25 Mechanical pets.

Complete his daily quest to receive a Leprous Sack of Pet Supplies, which has a chance to drop the new pet, Dibbler!

Scaling Trainer Battles
Speaking of Crysa, both she and Bert have received a unique update in 7.3 — scaling pets!

Some new tech is being tested on these two Trainers that allows for their teams to match the highest level pet on a player's team. Only the level will scale, and Trainer pet qualities and breeds will not change.

We'll have to see if other Trainers will eventually receive the same scaling tech in the future.

New Challenges
In the same style as the Family Familiar achievement, Argus will have its own set of Pet Battle challenges.

Family Fighter is a new meta-achievement that rewards the Felclaw Marsuul pet (pictured right).

Players must use each pet type to defeat a total of 18 new pet NPCs found on Argus. These fel-corrupted pets have new abilities that will require your best team to overcome!

• Antaen Cannon
• Greater Apocalypse
• Void Gate

Unlike Family Familiar, Family Fighter will not be gated behind specific World Quests popping up each day.

PSA: [Family Fighter] pets are up all the time, and can be battled even if their WQ isn't up. Do the achievement at your own pace!

— Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) August 2, 2017

Instead, the NPCs of Family Fighter will always be spawned and available to battle, allowing battlers to complete these new challenges as quickly or as slowly as they please!

Pet Changes
A few pets received updates in this latest content patch.

• Sun Darter Hatchling - Previously Critter, now Dragonkin
• Eye of Inquisition - Can now be caged
• Celestial Calf - No longer unique (can have 3 in Pet Journal)

With the influx of so many new pets, we've updated Dragonkin, Flying, Critter, Humanoid and Aquatic pet families with one new sub-category each. Check out all pet families (and their sub-categories) here: Companions By Family.