TheWoWDBWorld of Warcraft
Battle Pets
Browse 2245 battle pets with a journal description or collection source. Filter by family, then open a pet for the available details.
Check your battle pet collection
Type your character name and pick it from the list to see which battle pets you are missing and the easiest wins. Results are read from the armory when you check.
Datamined from the current retail game build. Tap a type button above to filter by family.
Aquatic
Magic
Critter
Beast
Humanoid
Dragonkin
Flying
Mechanical
Elemental
Undead
WoW Battle Pets: Collecting, Leveling, and Team Building
World of Warcraft's pet battle system gives you a way to train and battle creatures across your journey, from leveling alts to competitive PvP. Battle pets exist in the game, divided into ten distinct families, each with different strengths and weaknesses. As a casual collector or when building a serious PvP team, understanding how pets work and where to find them changes how you approach the system. This guide covers the core mechanics, how to find pets on this database, and how to build a team that works.
What Are Battle Pets and How the System Works
Pet battles are a separate combat system from your main character. You capture wild creatures, level them up, and train them to fight other players' pets or NPC trainers. A battle pet has its own level, health, and learned abilities. When you pit your pet against an opponent's pet, you choose which move to use each turn, and the pet's stats determine the damage and effects.
Every battle pet has a rarity tier, ranging from Common to Rare, with colors indicating quality on the item tooltips. Rarity affects a pet's base stats: a Rare pet of the same level hits harder and takes more damage than a Common pet. You can also have multiple copies of the same pet, which is valuable because some battles require specific team compositions and different battles play to different pet strengths.
The level cap for battle pets matches your character level, topping out at level 25. Once your character hits max level, your pets can also reach 25. You level pets by battling, and each battle awards experience, typically based on the opponent's level. This means you can speed up leveling by fighting enemies slightly above your pet's current level.
The Ten Battle Pet Families
WoW organizes battle pets into ten families, each with inherent strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these matchups shapes how you build a team. The site's pet pages show family badges so you can identify families at a glance while browsing. You can filter by family on the main battle pets page to see all available options.
Aquatic pets are common in water areas and tend to have strong sustained damage. They learn moves that benefit from being around water or that reference aquatic themes. Aquatic pets excel at outlasting opponents through consistent damage and healing moves. Aquatic pets include crabs, turtles, fish, and other water dwellers, all built for endurance battles.
Beast pets make up the largest family, representing mammals and non-magical creatures. Beasts are generally balanced in their stats and learn a wide variety of moves. You'll find wolf pups, kittens, rabbits, boars, and other furry creatures here. Because there are so many Beast pets in the game, you can almost always find a good Beast option for your team. The diversity in Beast pets means some are built for speed, others for tanking, and still others for pure damage output.
Critter pets are small creatures like insects, rodents, and arachnids, though some mechanical critters exist too. Critters tend to have lower health but often compensate with speed and utility moves. Many Critter pets learn crowd control abilities that confuse or weaken opponents. They fill specific team roles rather than serving as main attackers, though a well-bred Critter with the right move pool can surprise opponents.
Dragonkin pets represent dragons and dragon-like creatures. Dragonkin are typically strong all-around, with moderate health and damage output. They learn powerful multi-hit abilities and benefit from the many dragon pets available throughout the game. Dragons are iconic in World of Warcraft, so Dragonkin pets are sought after both by collectors and competitive players. Some of the strongest pets in the meta are Dragonkin.
Elemental pets are composed of magical energy or primal forces. Elementals often have moderate health and strong special abilities. They represent things like elemental cores, fire elementals, and void creatures. Elementals learn abilities that manipulate the battlefield, setting up weather effects or causing damage over time.
Flying pets are birds and flying creatures. They typically have lower health but higher speed, allowing them to act first in many matchups. Speed is a critical stat in pet battles, so Flying pets are often used as team leads to gain initiative. A Flying pet with high speed and a strong opening move can often set the tone for the entire battle.
Humanoid pets are small human-like or civilized creatures. This family includes gnomes, goblins, and constructs that fit the humanoid form. Humanoid pets are less defined by a specific strength and more by the individual pet's move pool. Some of the most interesting and unique pets fall into this category.
Magic pets are infused with arcane or mystical power. Magic pets often learn crowd control abilities and useful debuffs. They represent the most diverse family in terms of playstyle, ranging from pure offense to pure defense. Magic pets can be unpredictable, learning moves that counter traditional strategies.
Mechanical pets are robots, golems, and constructs. Mechanical pets tend to have higher health and learn abilities that ignore the opponent's defensive buffs. They're especially useful against pets that set up shields or high defenses. Many Mechanical pets learn repeated-damage abilities and self-healing moves, making them durable opponents.
Undead pets are zombies, skeletons, and necromantically animated creatures. Undead pets have a unique trait where they restore a portion of health when they return to battle after being knocked out, making them surprisingly durable. This passive effect gives Undead pets natural longevity and makes them excellent for drawn-out battles.
Family matchups matter, but they're not absolute. While Aquatic pets have advantages against certain families and disadvantages against others, the moves a pet learns often determine the outcome more than the family badge. A single rare or powerful move can shift a matchup entirely. This means a well-played team with less-optimal families can beat a team with perfect family coverage.
Pet Quality, Rarity, and Breeds
Every battle pet has a rarity tier: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and sometimes higher tiers for special pets. The rarity affects the pet's base stats at every level. A Rare quality pet of level 10 will have substantially higher health and attack power than a Common pet of the same level. Rarity compounds as pets level up, so the gap between a Rare and a Common pet widens significantly by level 25.
Beyond rarity, each pet has a breed, which is a hidden stat distribution. A pet's breed determines whether it favors attack, health, speed, or a balanced spread. Two identical pets of the same rarity and level can perform differently based on their breed. High-speed breeds make flying pets even faster, turning them into guaranteed first-movers in matchups. Tanky breeds give health-focused pets more longevity, allowing them to survive fights that kill non-optimized versions of the same pet.
Breeds exist on a spectrum rather than discrete categories. Some pets are bred for maximum speed with minimal health, making them glass cannons. Others lean heavily into health, turning them into defensive anchors. The most versatile pets have balanced breeds that work adequately in most situations, even if not optimally.
Most casual players don't need to worry about breed optimization. You can win plenty of battles with random breeds on your pets. Serious PvP battlers, however, will sometimes catch multiple copies of the same pet and keep only the one with the best breed. They'll trade or sell copies with sub-optimal breeds to other players. The difference between an optimized breed and a random one can mean the difference between winning and losing a close matchup when both teams are equally skilled.
Pet quality also affects their resale value. Rare pets, especially pets with competitive breeds and good move pools, command higher prices on the auction house. Some special pets are cosmetic or have no battle value but are sought by collectors purely for prestige. Collectors are willing to pay significant gold for complete collections or rare variants.
Capturing Wild Battle Pets
The primary way to build your pet collection is capturing wild creatures. Wild pets appear in zones throughout Azeroth and all expansions. Each zone has specific pets available, and some pets only appear in certain weather conditions or during specific seasons. The database shows you exactly which zone to visit for any specific pet.
To capture a wild pet, you weaken it in battle using one of your own pets, then throw a pet trap at it. The capture chance depends on the wild pet's remaining health (the lower, the better) and your personal capture percentage bonus. Higher bonuses come from having more pets at maximum level and from certain items that boost capture rates.
Not all creatures in the world are capturable. Some creatures tied to quests or story moments cannot be captured. Your battle pet UI shows which creatures are capturable when you target them, so you always know before engaging. Some pets are cageable, meaning you can sell them on the auction house, and others are soulbound to your account and cannot be traded.
Wild pets start at low levels and gain levels slowly as they battle. If you want to level a freshly caught pet quickly, you can use rare battle stones to boost it to higher quality, though this is an expensive option for casual play. More commonly, you'll battle your wild pets against tougher opponents to speed up their experience gain.
Leveling Your Battle Pets
Leveling a battle pet follows a straightforward formula: defeat enemies, earn experience, and watch your pet grow. A pet's experience bar fills based on battle difficulty. An easy victory against a much weaker opponent rewards very little experience, while a challenging match against a pet close to your level rewards substantially more. The challenge rating matters: fighting a pet five levels above your pet yields more experience than fighting an opponent at your level.
The fastest leveling often comes from finding an NPC trainer or wild pet that's slightly above your pet's level. When your pet reaches a higher level, you can challenge even tougher opponents, creating a natural progression curve. By the time your pet reaches level 25, you'll have a competent fighter ready for most content. Experienced players often know which trainers give the best experience rates at specific level ranges.
The experience curve accelerates at higher levels. Getting a pet from level 1 to 10 takes fewer battles than getting from level 20 to 25. This means your first few pets level quickly, but subsequent pets take longer. However, once you have a strong level 25 pet, you can use it to carry your newer pets through experience gains.
Some pets level up faster than others due to game mechanics that reward certain playstyles. Pets with moves that hit multiple times or deal damage over time earn experience at slightly accelerated rates in certain matchups. However, the difference is minimal, and any pet can reach level 25 with enough battles. The move pool doesn't affect leveling speed as much as choosing the right opponents.
Special items called battle stones can be found or purchased to instantly level a pet or improve its quality. These stones are valuable and should be saved for pets you plan to use long-term rather than spent on experimental pets. Battle stones come in different types: some increase a pet's level, others increase its rarity, and still others grant special boosts. Using stones effectively means targeting pets that are already strong or that you know you'll keep forever.
You can also level multiple pets at once using a specific strategy: bring a strong level 25 pet and a weaker pet you want to level up, then have both fight. Your strong pet does most of the damage while your weaker pet acts occasionally. This method is slower than leveling a single pet, but it lets you build multiple team members simultaneously.
Understanding Pet Stats and Battle Mechanics
Each battle pet has three core stats: health, attack power, and speed. Health determines how many hits a pet can take before fainting. Attack power increases the damage your moves deal. Speed determines turn order in battle.
Speed is arguably the most important stat because it determines who acts first each turn. In most matchups, attacking first gives a significant advantage. You can disable the opponent before they act, heal before taking damage, or simply deal damage before receiving it. This is why Flying pets and high-speed breeds are disproportionately valued.
Health and attack power interact with your pet's moves. A pet with high attack power and low health might deal massive damage but die in a few hits. The opposite, a tanky pet with low damage, can survive long battles but might not finish opponents quickly. Finding the right balance depends on your team's strategy and the opponents you face.
During each turn, both pets select a move to use. The faster pet acts first. Depending on the move, various effects can happen: direct damage, healing, stat increases or decreases, crowd control effects like stuns or confusions, or damage over time effects that persist across multiple turns.
Weather effects and terrain effects can change how battles play out. Some moves create rain that boosts Water-type damage. Others create sandstorm or hail effects. These battlefield conditions persist for a number of turns and benefit certain pet families while hindering others. Knowing which moves set up which conditions helps you plan team compositions.
Crowd control effects like stuns prevent a pet from acting next turn, essentially removing a turn from that pet's timeline. Confusions make a pet act randomly or even harm itself. These effects are powerful but usually appear on moves with longer cooldowns. Using crowd control at the right moment can turn losing matchups into victories.
Turn order is complex because it factors in the pet's speed stat, buffs and debuffs that modify speed, and some moves that always go first or always go last regardless of speed. Moves that always go first are valuable because they bypass normal speed calculations. Moves that always go last are rarer but can have powerful effects.
Understanding these mechanics lets you predict battles before they happen. Two experienced players with the same team will produce the same outcome most of the time because the math is deterministic. However, a surprising move or unexpected pet choice can throw off calculations.
Cageable Pets and the Auction House
A major part of the pet economy is the battle pet market. Some battle pets are cageable, meaning you can place them in a cage and sell them on the auction house for gold. Other pets are soulbound and locked to your account permanently. The system is designed to let collectors and pet trainers trade valuable pets without forcing players to make permanent character-wide decisions.
Cageable pets vary wildly in price. Common wild-caught pets might sell for just a few gold, while rare battle-pet drops or special event pets can cost thousands. Pets with competitive moves or optimal breeds sell for higher prices to PvP players. Some players specifically hunt rare pets to resell them, turning pet catching into a profitable gold-making activity alongside traditional farming or crafting.
The auction house shows you all available battle pets and their current prices. If you catch multiple copies of a rare pet, selling the extras funds your pet leveling and team building. Conversely, if you need a specific pet for your team and don't want to spend hours hunting for it, the auction house lets you buy one directly.
Be aware that some pets are only available during specific events or expansions. Limited-availability pets tend to hold their value better and can become more expensive over time. Seasonal pets available only during certain times of year are also sought after, especially if you missed the event when it was current.
Building a Battle Pet Team
Most serious pet battles involve bringing three pets to battle, similar to Pokémon. You choose a team composition and fight using all three pets in sequence. The order matters: your first pet leads the battle and acts first most of the time, which can determine the outcome if both teams are close in power. Switching between pets mid-battle is allowed, so your team structure and the pets' move pools are equally important. Read more detailed team strategies in the guides section.
A good team typically includes one pet with strong sustained damage, one pet with crowd control or utility moves, and one pet that counters common threats. You also want to ensure your team has good coverage against the opponent's likely team, which comes from experience and knowledge of which pets are popular in the current meta.
Leading with a fast pet is often smart because speed determines who attacks first in any given turn. Flying pets with high speed stats can often land the first hit, which carries psychological weight and tactical advantage. If your flying pet can knock out an opponent's pet before it acts, you've effectively won the first exchange and forced your opponent to switch. The lead position is contested because controlling it is valuable.
The middle pet usually handles threats your lead pet struggles with. If your lead is weak to Magic-type damage, your second pet should resist or be immune to such damage. Proper coverage means every pet on the opponent's team meets resistance from at least one of your pets. However, coverage is a balancing act: if you build purely for coverage, you might lack damage output.
Your third pet is often a closer, a pet strong enough to clean up weakened enemies and capable of finishing matches that go long. A pet with good health and balanced damage works well here, as does a pet with healing moves that let it stall out longer matches. The ideal closer can adapt to multiple scenarios rather than being a one-trick specialist.
Switching is a major strategic element. Switching your pet between turns lets you avoid an unfavorable matchup, bring in a fresh pet with more health, or position yourself for the next turn. However, switching gives your opponent a free turn to attack, set up buffs, or heal. Good players use switches deliberately, not reactively.
Some teams focus on one pet carrying the entire match. A tanky pet with healing moves and high damage output can slowly wear down opponents. Other teams use synergy, where pets work together through buffs and debuffs to create situations where each pet is stronger than it would be alone.
How to Read a Battle Pet Page on TheWoWDB
This site catalogs battle pets organized by family. Each individual pet page shows you the pet's name, rarity, level range, and where to find or obtain it. You'll see the pet's moves, which abilities it learns at different levels, and its breed distributions. The pages also show which quests, items, or zones are connected to that pet.
The page displays the pet's sources too. Some pets are wild catches available in specific zones. Others are quest rewards, achievements, or special event drops. Knowing where to find a pet saves you hours of searching in the wrong location. If a pet is sold by an NPC, the page links directly to that vendor.
The family badge on each pet's page shows you its type at a glance, and the page lists which families it has strong and weak matchups against. This guides your team-building decisions and helps you understand why a specific pet might be strong or weak in your current format.
You can filter the entire battle pet catalogue by family, allowing you to browse all Aquatic pets or all Flying pets at once. If you're building a team and need a specific family member that knows certain moves, this filtering function speeds up your search dramatically.
The site also tracks which pets you own through character lookup. Type your character name and realm, and the site will fetch your collection from the official armory, showing you which pets you already have and which ones you're still hunting. This is far faster than manually checking your collection while in-game.
Competitive vs. Casual Pet Battling
Some players collect pets purely for fun and aesthetic appeal. Others optimize their teams for competitive PvP pet battles. The difference in approach is significant.
Casual players focus on catching interesting or rare-looking pets and leveling a diverse team for variety. You might keep a team of eight or ten different pets and rotate through them based on mood or pet aesthetics. There's no pressure to optimize breeds or learn complex move combinations. Many casual players enjoy reading about pet lore or finding pets from their favorite zones or creature families.
Competitive players focus on a smaller pool of pets known to be strong in the PvP meta. They'll catch multiple copies of the same pet, looking for optimal breeds. They memorize which moves counter which opponents and practice team combinations until they can predict outcomes before the battle even starts. Competitive players also study the talent system and theorycraft interactions between pet abilities.
Both playstyles are valid and rewarding. Casual pet collectors enjoy the sense of progression and the visual variety of the pet roster. Competitive players enjoy the strategic depth and the satisfaction of mastering specific matchups.
Pet Abilities and Move Pools
Every battle pet has access to a set of moves, which are learned as the pet gains levels. Some moves are basic attacks that deal direct damage. Others are crowd control abilities that stun, slow, or confuse the opponent. Healing moves let you sustain through longer battles, and buff moves increase your stats or debuff the opponent.
Each pet has a limited move pool, typically learning four different moves by level 25. You choose two of those four moves to have active at any time, allowing for team customization. A pet might learn both a strong damage move and a healing move, but you can only bring one of them into battle.
The move pool is where depth enters the system. Two pets of the same family might serve completely different roles because one learns crowd control moves and the other learns damage. The most versatile pets, those that learn many different move types, tend to be valued more highly.
Some moves have cooldowns, meaning you can't use them every turn. A powerful attack might be on a three-turn cooldown, requiring you to plan several turns ahead. Learning to time cooldowns correctly separates casual players from competitive ones.
Finding Rare and Special Pets
Certain pets are significantly harder to obtain than others. Some come from achievement rewards, requiring you to complete specific challenging tasks. Others come from limited-time events that only occur once or twice a year. Browse the events hub to see which seasonal pets are upcoming.
Raid drop pets are particularly valuable because they require defeating high-level bosses. These pets are usually Rare quality and command high prices on the auction house if they're cageable. Some raid drop pets are soulbound, making them exclusive to whoever defeats the boss. Checking which pets come from dungeons or raid encounters helps you plan which ones are worth hunting for gold value.
Seasonal pets available only during specific times of year become increasingly valuable as time passes. If you missed collecting holiday pets years ago, you might need to buy them on the auction house at inflated prices, or you'll need to wait for the next occurrence of that holiday.
The rarest pets are typically cosmetic or have limited utility in battles, making them valuable purely for collection completeness. Completionists who want to own every available pet often spend enormous amounts of gold chasing down these rare drops.
Version Differences
Pet battles were introduced in Mists of Pandaria as a distinct game system with new mechanics and pet families. Earlier versions of World of Warcraft, including Classic Era, The Burning Crusade, and Wrath of the Lich King, do not include pet battles.
If you're playing on a version that supports pet battles, some pets available in retail may not yet be available there, and the progression might be slightly different.
Check the individual pet pages on this site to see which version each pet is available in. The site tracks version differences so you can plan your collection based on which version you play.
Where do I start with pet battles?
You unlock pet battles by visiting your faction's pet trainer. Alliance players visit Audrey Burnhep in Elwynn Forest near Goldshire, while Horde players visit Veras Darkstar in Durotar. The trainer will give you a starter pet and explain the basics. From there, you can capture wild pets and begin leveling your collection. Your faction choice doesn't restrict which pets you can capture, so both Alliance and Horde can access the same pool of wild battle pets.
Can I sell all my pets on the auction house?
No, some pets are soulbound to your account and cannot be sold. The pet's tooltip shows whether it's cageable or soulbound. Cageable pets can be placed in a cage and listed on the auction house, but soulbound pets stay with you permanently. Most captured wild pets are cageable, but special drops or achievement rewards are usually soulbound.
What makes a good first pet?
Your first pet depends on your goals. For collecting, any pet you find interesting is a good first pet. For battles, look for a pet with balanced stats and a good move pool. Many players start with common wild-caught pets because they're easy to find, free to acquire, and let you learn the system before investing resources.
How long does it take to level a pet from 1 to 25?
It depends on the opponents you fight. Leveling against opponents close to your pet's level goes relatively quickly, maybe several hours for an entire session. If you only fight much weaker opponents, leveling takes much longer. Competitive players often speed up leveling by fighting specific high-yield opponents repeatedly.
Do I need to be max level on my character to battle pets?
No, you can start pet battles at any character level. Your pet's maximum level is capped by your character's level, but if you're a low-level character, you can still capture and level pets. You'll simply cap out at a lower level until your character grows stronger.
Which family is best for beginners?
Beast family pets are often recommended for beginners because they have balanced stats and a wide variety of move types. They're common in the wild, affordable, and learn moves that work in many situations. Flying pets are also beginner-friendly because speed is powerful and easy to understand.
Can I battle other players' pets?
Yes, pet battles include a PvP ladder system. Once you have a few leveled pets, you can challenge other players or sign up for the PvP queue. Wins and losses affect your rating, and high-rating players compete for prestige and occasionally special rewards. However, many players never engage with PvP and focus purely on collecting or fighting NPC trainers.
What's the difference between a wild pet and a breed?
A wild pet is a specific creature you capture from the world. Its breed is a hidden stat distribution determining whether it's fast, tanky, or balanced. Two identical pets caught in different locations might have different breeds, making one better for speed-focused teams and the other better for defensive play.
Are there pets I can only get during certain events?
Yes, seasonal and holiday pets are only available during specific times of year. If you miss an event, you'll need to wait for the next occurrence or buy the pet on the auction house from someone who caught it during the event. Planning ahead to catch event pets saves you gold later.
How do I check what pets I already own?
This site lets you type your character name and realm into the collection checker. It queries the official Armory and shows you exactly which battle pets your character has, along with their levels and quality. This is faster than checking in-game and helps you plan which pets to hunt next.
Playing WoW Forever? Forever is Blizzard's Classic-based version and it is still in beta, so this guide does not make claims about how this system will work there. What the beta client actually contains is tracked on the WoW Forever hub, and anything you read about Forever before launch can change. Until it ships, the Classic Era notes in this guide are the closest reference for how a Classic ruleset treats this topic.