Non-Combat Pets for Druids

Unlike a Resto’s Bear pet or a Bear’s Resto pet, these are pets that follow you around without complaining that you haven’t given them Mark, Thorns, and/or healed them. The right non-combat pet can be the finishing touch to your online persona, and there are many form/pet combinations that work quite nicely together.

• Caster Form, Night ElvesIf you’re Restoration-specced and do things beside raiding and instancing, you may spend a lot of time in wisp form (which I like to refer to as our “no one heals the healer” form). This makes the Spirit of Summer a great accessory. This pet is a seasonal one, but luckily, it’s available now through July 5th during the Midsummer Fire Festival. The quest, A Light in Dark Places, involves visiting Stratholme, Scholomance, LBRS, and Dire Maul, so you may want to bring along a rogue or feral friend to help.
• Caster Form, TaurensTauren druids may want to get back to their barnyard roots with a pig pet, making Mr. Wiggles from the Children’s Week quest, Warden of the Horde, in Orgrimmar a “flavorful” choice. Another barnyard option is the quested, Prairie chicken which can be obtained with some difficulty by Horde players.
• Tree of LifeSince there is no difference between our two healy forms, the same non-combat pet works for either. As a tree, you might consider offering your boughs as home to any number of fowl, including the easily Outlands-quested, Miniwing. An owl purchased in Darnassus also works, of course, but — at least for Night Elves — these pets are somewhat common and could be said to lessen the mystique of your form/pet combination. Another appropriate choice is the Tree Frog which is available each month through the Darkmoon Faire vendor, Flik.
• Non-epic Flight FormThe Great Horned Owl looks like a smaller version of your non-epic Flight Form given its brown coloring. It’s also a cross-faction pet for Taurens, making its acquisition more arduous and significant. Similarly, a Night Elf in Flight Form shares her coloring with the Hawk Owl. Pick up either of these pets from Owl Trainer Shylenai, near the Teldrassil Forest entrance to Darnassus.
• Cat FormThis one is a no-brainer, especially for Taurens whose catform resembles a lion whose jaw is permastuck from having too many gnomes stick their heads in its mouth. The cross-faction Orange Tabby or Cornish Rex cats have a similar coloring to your own and can be purchased from the Crazy Cat Lady Donni Anthania in Elwynn Forest. Night Elves will have a more difficult time finding a purple cat (perhaps because purple cats look odd?), but any of the multitude of available feline companions should work. Or be ironic and pick up a Worg Pet from the LBRS quest, Kibler’s Exotic Pets.
• Bear Form and Dire Bear FormIf you were lucky enough to pick up the Collector’s Edition of the original game, you could choose the adorable Panda Cub as your bear-like (although not technically a bear) companion. Of course, no amount of questing/farming will get you this rare pet, so a more feasible choice might be Mr. Wiggles (think “Winnie the Poo and Piglet”) or even the bumblebee-esque Firefly pet which is a rare Zangarmarsh drop from Bog Needlers. After all, lore-wise everyone knows bears love honey and can even eat from ceramic pots of it, much like potion containers…

Of course, any pet that you choose should be one that you enjoy having follow you around as few pets are worth monopolizing bank space that — certainly in the case of druids — is at a hefty premium.

A special thanks goes to Breanni of Warcraft Pets whose web site is extremely well organized and is a favorite of mine when considering what new animal I should add to my menagerie.

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