Crow — Pet of the Month: August 2014

This month's pet is known for bringing darkness wherever it goes, but it makes a fine feathered friend for any collector and battler — it's the Crow!

Collecting the Crow
The Crow is a wild pet that resides in the dark forest on the Darkmoon Island. Due to mysterious forces behind the island, adventurers can only visit during the first full week of each month.

Although this pet is wild, it's a crafty creature and it cannot be easily found wandering around the island. The Crow only spawns as a secondary pet in a wild battle, so collectors will need to find a Darkmoon Glowfly to engage in battle with to lure out the elusive bird. Keep in mind that Glowflies will only have a secondary pet on their team if they are level 5 or higher, and not all teams will be accompanied by a Crow even if they are of appropriate level.

Players struggling to find one or a specific breed can always continue the search on another server. Joining a group with a RealID friend or even creating a new character on a different realm — there are a few methods that would work.

The Darkmoon Faire has come and gone for this month, so be prepared to wander and search the gloomy forest of the Darkmoon Island for your very own Crow next month!

Battling with the Crow
The Crow is an offensive marvel. It shares its most flashy moveset with its popular cousin, the Gilnean Raven.

Darkness is a weather effect which decreases healing done, blinds your opponent and reduces their accuracy. However, blinding your opponent boosts the hit chance of the deadly Nocturnal Strike from 50% to 100%.

Both the Crow and Raven also have the same choices in the first slot as well. Peck is a standard, no-frills Flying dps move. Alpha Strike is a bit trickier. It deals additional damage if your pet goes first. It also deals that damage in two separate strikes, making it a poor choice if your opponent has a damage shield like Stoneskin, but usually Alpha Strike has better throughput than Peck otherwise.


The place the Crow differs is with the addition of Murder. Besides having a really cool ability name, it applies the Shattered Defenses debuff we've all come to love and hate in the same fashion as Swarm. Small hits, which then add up to double the damage per hit. Shattered Defenses is key for many synergistic combos, making this pet quite versatile. The Darkness/Nocturnal Strike 1 - 2 punch is better for solo throughput and PVP.

The one place the Crow is lacking is in defense. Though the Crow's last ability, Squawk, can help a bit in this aspect, its reduction is by a mere 25%. It also takes the place of Call Darkness, meaning that you should only use Squawk if you're opting to not use Nocturnal Strike, or have another option for that synergy up your sleeve.

Check out our forum thread discussion on the Crow and submit your own thoughts on this pet.

Battling Discussion on the Crow

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, comprised of pet analyses, team strategies and general thoughts on pets.