The Best Battle Pets in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Pet Battles are a niche side to World of Warcraft, appealing to collectors, completionists, and to those who like games like Pokemon.

If, like me, you’re a fan of Pet Battles and collecting pets, you will have been happy to see Dragonflight introduce a whole new range of pets and companions to catch, build, and buy.

To help you build up your collection and win more Pet Battles in World of Warcraft, I’ve put together this guide on how to pick the best Battle Pets in Dragonflight, using pets from every expansion and separating the pets into their family groups.

Which pets in this list will you be tracking down to add to your team?

Best Critter Pets in Dragonflight

One of the best Critter pets that you can get in Dragonflight is the Dust Bunny, from the Legion version of Dalaran. This pet can be a hassle to get hold of, as you have to track down the Dusty Rug rare item in Dalaran, which can spawn around the city.

The Dusty Rug spawns in the Alliance Greymane Enclave, the Barbershop, the Magical Menagerie shop, next to the Horde bank, next to the Horde inn, and on the second floor of the Legerdemain Lounge in the Alliance area.

The Dusty Rug is small, clickable, and has a blue and yellow design. It’s important to note that there are fake Dusty Rugs, too! If you can’t click on it, it’s not the right one. This may sound obvious, but I almost got caught out a few times.

I camped a spawn point for a few hours on my Alliance main and had no luck. I then hopped over to my Horde main on another server and ran into a Dusty Rug almost immediately, next to the Horde inn. It can be anywhere from 15 minutes to multiple hours, so I’d suggest hopping servers and trying both factions.

Once you find a Dusty Rug and click on it, you’ll be able to see the Dust Bunnies in Dalaran.

These pets have some great abilities, like Smoke Bomb, Burrow, Dodge, and Stampede. Pet Battle fans will know that WoW pets can fall into different breeds based on three key stats (Health, Power, and Speed) , like H/P (for Health and Power) or S/H (for Speed and Health).

Dust Bunnies tend to skew on the speedier side, and they’re great opening pets for a battle. Try looking for an S/S or S/H breed if you can. There are some great WoW add-ons for Pet Battle fans that can point out what breed a pet is before entering a battle.

Another great pick to add to your team if you’re looking for the best Critters in World of Warcraft is the Red Cricket. This Red Cricket requires a decently lengthy reputation grind.

Head to Halfhill in the Valley of the Four Winds, and complete quests with Farmer Yoon until you complete the quest Learn and Grow V: Halfhill Market.

Then, head to The Heartland and find as many Dark Soil patches as possible. You’ll find blue reputation items in them, which will help you improve your reputation with an NPC named Sho in Kunzen Village. Look for Lovely Red Apples, they’re worth the most.

You can also find Dark Soil patches in other Pandaria zones.

Turn in the items to Sho, and get the reputation level with her up to Best Friend status. The quests she offers also boost your reputation with her. Once you’re Best Friends, you’ll get the Red Cricket mailed to you by Sho.

While Red Crickets don’t have the highest speed or health, they have a ridiculous amount of power. In fact, they’re one of the most powerful Battle Pets in World of Warcraft. They’re great pets to have on your team alongside a speedier opening pet, and have useful moves like Inspiring Song to help out the whole team.

Best Beast Pets in Dragonflight

If you want to find the best Beast Battle Pets in World of Warcraft, you’ll want to check out the Zandalari raptor pets from the Isle of Giants in Pandaria.

The pets to look out for are:

• Zandalari Anklerender
• Zandalari Kneebiter
• Zandalari Footslasher
• Zandalari Toenibbler

These Battle Pets drop from the Zandalari Dinomancer mobs on the Isle of Giants, and can drop from the Primal Devilsaurs and War-God Dokah as well.

The Zandalari pets are hugely popular for tackling tricky Pet Battle bosses or dailies, as they’re fast, powerful, and have a great move set. I can personally vouch for them being able to take down tanky foes quickly. Black Claw, Hunting Party, and Primal Cry are particularly unique moves.

The Celestials Tournament in Pandaria is a great source of powerful Battle Pets and Xu-Fu, Cub of Xuen is a wonderful pick if you’re looking for more Beast pets. It also has an incredibly eye-catching model, and looks like it would match Mage spec transmogs nicely.

You’ll need three Celestial Coins to purchase Xu-Fu from the Celestial Tournament vendor, and you get these Celestial Coins by completing the Celestials Tournament.

Xu-Fu has some great moves like Moonfire (which deals damage and turns the weather into Moonlight) and Spirit Claws (which always hits when the weather is Moonlight), making it a great pick for foes that have accuracy reduction moves. I’d recommend picking the Feed move to go with these moves for easy healing.

Another strong pick for the best Beast Battle Pet in World of Warcraft is the Cheetah Cub, found in Northern Barrens quite early on in the leveling experience. They’re unassuming at first, but are actually some of the quickest and strongest Beast pets in the game.

Max level Cheetah Cubs have decent Power and Health, but Speed is where they really shine. Look for an S/S build if you can. I’d recommend picking the moves Rake, Devour, and Prowl, and setting your team up so the Cub is the first pet to go into battle.

Best Humanoid Pets in Dragonflight

One of my personal favorite pets is the Anubisath Idol, which happens to be one of the best Battle Pets in Dragonflight. This pet is immensely tanky, with a varied set of moves that is suitable for a wide variety of encounters.

You get this pet by defeating Emperor Vek’Lor in Ahn’Qiraj in the Twin Emperor boss battle.

There’s a 10% drop rate for this pet, so even though you can get it off the Auction House, I’d really suggest just grinding it out. There are other cool drops in the raid, including iconic transmog pieces and rare mounts, so it’s worth your time.

My recommended move set for this pet would be Crush, Sandstorm, and Rupture, although switching Crush for Demolish can be a good pick for tackling Beast pets if you’re willing to roll on the 50% hit chance.

The Kun-Lai Runt is another one of the best Humanoid Battle Pets that you can get in WoW.

You can find these pets easily in Pandaria, in the Kun-Lai Peaks. Many players have reported that they had the most luck finding this pet during the day (around noon, server time) and with War Mode turned off on their character.

It’s hard to pick the best moves for this pet, as it has so many effective combos. Using Frost Shock and Deep Freeze together is great, as Frost Shock applies the Chill debuff to the target and Deep Freeze has a 100% chance of stunning a Chilled target. That being said, Rampage, Mangle, and Thrash are great too.

Best Elemental Pets in Dragonflight

The Ruby Droplet from the Timeless Isle in Pandaria is one of the best Elemental pets to get in Dragonflight. It is a rare drop from the rare spawn Garnia on the island, with a 3% drop chance. It can take a while to get, but it’s absolutely worth the effort.

Put simply, the Ruby Droplet is one of the most difficult pets in the game to kill.

It has immense survivability, with moves like Drain Blood, Absorb, and Bubble. It’s not a pet that has hard-hitting burst damage, but it can survive almost anything and is suitable for soaking up large amounts of damage in the middle of a tricky battle.

Pandaria is home to some of the best Battle Pets in World of Warcraft, and I’d really recommend tracking down the Pandaren spirit pets. After completing the spirit tamer quest line, you will be able to pick one of the following pets:

• Pandaren Water Spirit
• Pandaren Air Spirit
• Pandaren Earth Spirit
• Pandaren Fire Spirit

They all represent one of the 4 elemental tamers that you will have just faced in the quest line, and I would recommend grabbing the Battle Pet that represents the tamer that you struggled defeating the most.

The spirit pets all have relevant elemental abilities that align with the element that they represent, and are quite tanky as well. They’re good pets to open a fight with.

Best Magic Pets in Dragonflight

If you’re looking for a powerful Magic Battle Pet, you can’t go wrong with an Erudite Manafiend. This is a pet I have on my team quite a lot as it’s tanky and has some great moves that can help during PVP Pet Battles.

To find an Erudite Manafiend, you’ll need to make sure that it’s daytime first. It’s a time-gated spawn. Head to Aszuna, near the Ley Ruins of Zarkhenar (the purple bit in the top right of the map) and you’ll find these pets floating about.

If you go there when it’s not daytime, you’ll find Eldritch Manafiends instead. These pets are also great and worth capturing, but I’d recommend waiting and finding an Erudite Manafiend still as they almost always come with great stats.

Another good pick for fans of Magic pets is the Living Mud Mask.

The Living Mud Mask is a new pet added in Dragonflight, and it’s a must-have for your Battle Pet team. The pet is a reward for completing the quest Special Treatment, in the zone Thaldraszus.

To start this quest, head to the Serene Dreams Spa. Kill the mob named Mudgatu, and pick up the Derelict Sunglasses item. This will start the quest Derelict Fashion, which takes you to the NPC Zeldis.

You’ll be able to talk to Zeldis more after turning in the initial quest, which will lead to him gliding away to another zone and injuring himself. When this happens, a slime NPC called Sneaky Mud Mask will appear and hide behind the nearby NPC named Barozdormu.

Head to the slime NPC, and the quest Special Treatment will appear. You can then head back over to Zeldis to turn in the quest, which will reward you with the pet.

I would recommend opting for the moves Spa Day, Glop, and Mudslide, to give yourself plenty of versatility. The move Soothe is another good choice if you know you’re facing a pet that you know you’ll need to subdue quickly.

Best Undead Pets in Dragonflight

In my opinion, the Unborn Val’Kyr is one of the best Battle Pets in World of Warcraft, regardless of pet family or abilities. It’s incredibly powerful and it’s one that I have on my team for almost every battle that I go into.

The Unborn Val’Kyr is somewhat uncommon and can be found in these locations;

• Dragonblight. South of Azjol Nerub, North of Wyrmrest Temple, or on the Forgotten Shore. I personally found mine near Wyrmrest Temple.
• Icecrown. West of Adul’Thar, near Icecrown Citadel, or between Mord’Rethar and Argent Vanguard. From my research, Icecrown is the zone where most people have found their Unborn Val’Kyrs.
• Crystalsong Forest. South of Violet Stand by the mountains, in the Forlorn Woods, and near Sunreaver’s Command.
• Sholazar Basin. On the mountains in the top Northwest and Northeast part of the Basin and South of the waterfall in River’s Heart.
• Borean Tundra. Near Bor’Gorok Outpost, to the South of Garrosh’s Landing, and South of Death’s Stand.
• Grizzly Hills. To the West of Amberpine Lodge across the river, to the West of Thor Modan, and near Dun Argol.
• Howling Fjord. In between Skorn and Utgarde Keep, North of Nifflevar, and Southwest of the Explorer’s League Outpost.
• The Storm Peaks. In between the Snowdrift Plains and Temple of Storms, near Camp Tunka’Lo, and near K3.
• Zul’Drak. In between Drak’Tharon Keep and Thrym’s End and outside Gundrak.

The Unborn Val’Kyrs used to be a lot rarer, but you should be able to find a good quality one after visiting a few of these different spawn points.

I would recommend using the moves Curse of Doom, Unholy Ascension, and Shadow Shock. I use my Unborn Val’Kyr as an opening pet for tricky battles, starting with a damage move like Shadow Shock, applying Curse of Doom, and then using Unholy Ascension to increase damage taken for the next 9 rounds.

Another great Undead Battle Pet is the Son of Sethe.

You can purchase this pet from the Arrakoa Outcasts vendor when you reach Revered with them, in either Warspear or Stormshield depending on your faction. It costs 1000 gold.

I would recommend using the Drain Blood, Touch of Blood, and Touch of the Animus moves to ensure immense survivability and tankiness.

It also has a unique appearance and would look good with Hunter spec transmogs.

Best Dragonkin Pets in Dragonflight

One of the best Dragonkin pets to get in Dragonflight is the Magic Nibbler. Aside from being super cute, this pet has a great move set and is a good opener pet to have.

To get this pet, you’ll need to reach Renown level 18 with the Valdrakken Accord faction. The vendor that you can get the Magic Nibbler from is Groundskeeper Kama, located in Valdrakken.

I would suggest picking the moves Arcane Storm, Proto Strike, and Ancient Blessing. The combination of these moves will help to keep your Magic Nibbler alive for longer, while dealing significant damage. The Amplify Magic move is good, too, so you could switch Arcane Storm out for that if desired.

The Infinite Whelpling is a must-have for a strong PVP team.

To pick up one of these pets, head to the Caverns of Time in Tanaris. It’s important to note that some folk have reported needing to server hop to find this pet.

I would suggest picking up the moves Tail Sweep, Early Advantage, and Sleeping Gas. Early Advantage is an incredibly useful move that can quickly sway a battle in your favor if you’re taking a lot of damage.

Best Aquatic Pets in Dragonflight

There are a lot of strong Aquatic pets in Dragonflight, and the Leopard Tree Frog is worth picking up for its survivability and speed. It has some great healing moves too.

You can find these frogs all over The Jade Forest and Gorgrond. It is possible to find an S/S breed for this pet, and it’s worth aiming for this as this can counter tricky Undead pets with ease.

I would recommend picking up the moves Swarm of Flies, Cleansing Rain, and Frog Kiss for this particular pet.

Another great pet to pick up for your team is the Magical Crawdad. This one can be a pain to farm, but if you’ve got max level Fishing, you’ll be alright.

Head to Terokkar Forest. There are three lakes which you will be able to fish at:

• The lake in Skettis.
• The lake near Allerian Stronghold.
• The lake in Stonebreaker Hold.

You’ll need to fish up an item called Mr Pinchy from a pool of Highland Mixed School. Using the item will allow you to speak to an NPC of the same name.

Right click on Mr Pinchy to ‘make a wish’. You can do this every four hours and up to three times per Mr Pinchy that you fish up. If Mr Pinchy gives you the Magical Crawdad Box, you will be able to get the pet from this item.

This process can take a long time. I spent a while researching how many casts it took people to get Mr Pinchy, and some folk reported up to 500 individual casts. There are also 5 items that Mr Pinchy can give you, so you may need to fish up multiple.

This pet is worth the grind, though. It’s one of the tankiest Battle Pets with decent Speed and Power, and has powerful healing moves like Wish and Healing Surge that make it a great support pet to have on your team.

Best Mechanical Pets in Dragonflight

The Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling is one of the best Mechanical Battle Pets in Dragonflight, and it’s one of the most annoying to go up against in a PVP battle, too! It has some incredible moves and is decently easy to get your hands on. I would see it working well alongside a dark Rogue spec transmog, too.

Engineers with 75 Pandaren Engineering points can make Mechanical Pandaren Dragonlings. They’re often listed on the Auction House too.

The moves Thunderbolt, Bombing Run, and Decoy are exceptional for the Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling. Decoy is a particularly great move for this pet as you’ll often come across S/S breeds, meaning you can use Decoy before the other pet and get a head start.

The Darkmoon Zeppelin is another great Mechanical Battle Pet.

You can purchase this pet with 90 Darkmoon Faire tickets, and it can sometimes be found as a reward for Darkmoon Faire daily quests, although this is quite rare. You can also see them on the Auction House sometimes, too.

With a balanced build and a strong move set, this is a fantastic defensive pet. I would recommend picking up the moves Decoy, Bombing Run, and Missile. The Explode move is powerful but quite risky to pick up for battles, in my opinion, although some folk use it successfully for quickly leveling up their Battle Pets.

Best Flying Pets in Dragonflight

Out of all the Flying pets in Dragonflight, I would recommend hunting down any moths wherever you can. Almost every moth I’ve come across in the game has been powerful and decent for PVP, but the one that I’ve had the most success with is the Crimsonwing Moth.

You can find these moths all around Talador, although there don’t seem to be too many spawn points near Shattrath City.

I would recommend picking up Cocoon Strike, Moth Dust, and Call Lightning, although Reckless Strike and Slicing Wind can be good when you’re tackling Aquatic foes.

Whitewhisker is another Flying pet that’s worth picking up in Dragonflight. The cute design is what initially drew me to this pet, but it’s actually very powerful.

The NPC that you’ll need to speak to in order to find this pet is Nuptuk, in The Azure Span. Nuptuk stands in-between the Azure Archives and Camp Nowhere, and will tell you about Snow Glare Sunglasses when you interact.

Once you’ve spoken about the glasses, Whitewhiskers will spawn around you and you’ll be able to see them on your mini map.

I would recommend getting the Flyby, Call Blizzard, and Lift Off moves for your Whitewhisker. The Predatory Strike move is very powerful, but the long cooldown can make it somewhat undesirable for fast-paced PVP battles.