taming a pet

i have a few questions about taming a pet
1) wht skill do i need to tame a pet?
2) wht will happen if my pet dies?
3) does my pet rise levels?
4) how many pets can i have each time?

1. Charm Animal - can be aquired Pre-searing from Master Nente, or possibly from the skills guy in Ascalon city in Post (not sure, I had it in Pre)
2. It dies. You can res your pet using Comfort Animal, or it will just appear with you if you change sections / enter a town.
3. Yes. Your pet gains experience is it kills much like you do.
4. Just one AFAIK. You can change your pet by locating a tamer and 'giving' your pet to him. I've never actually tried this yet though.

Nothing amazing happens.

You talk to him and he mentions something about collecting animals for some nefarious purpose or another.

You ask 'do you have any interest in my companion here?'

He says something along the lines of '*Sigh* It'll do I suppose. Are you sure?'

You say 'yes, I think it's time I found a new companion.'

Your pet mysteriously vanishes. No special effects that I'm aware of, no noise, it just vanishes instantly, both from the game world and from your party menu. It's actually pretty weird, but this isn't exactly the game which you expect to use any sort of logic...

Then you're free to go out and charm a new animal to torture with your adventures. Or not. Whatever you choose. Isn't it weird, though, how you can feel a mild emotional attachment to a pet that doesn't actually exist? Or is that just me...?

wht animal can i tame?

Nah, its kinda like that Ikea commercial with the lamp being left outside in the rain because it got replaced by the new lamp.

Ones I know of: Melandru Stalkers, Striders, Moa Birds, Bears (later on I've heard), Wolf, Snow Wolf, and some kind of Spider (also later on in the game I've heard). I'm sure there's others I just don't know about... I'm not all that far into the game yet.

All the pet info you'd ever want... sort of:

pet - damage type
--------------------
Strider - Piercing
Wolf - Slashing
Warthog - Blunt
Moa Bird - Slashing
Melandu's Stalker - Slashing
Snow Wolf - Slashing
Lynx - Slashing
Dune Lizard - Piercing
Black Bear - Slashing
Elder Black Widow - Piercing
-------------------------------


Think of it in these terms:

Piercing: Arrows/Axes
Blunt: Hammers (knockdown effect)
Slashing: Swords

A lot of people get the Warthog, because it's the only pet that does Blunt damage, and therefore can knock down the enemies it's attacking, thus interrupting spells and such.

A lot of people strive for the Spider, because it's just really cool to have a spider for a pet! Also, their attack animation is sweet (they leap onto their target and just go crazy) and they do occassional poison damage.

Melandru's Stalkers are pretty decent pets. They have moderate HP, and moderate damage. Same with the Lynx.

Wolves, Snow Wolves are also decent. They have higher HP than a Stalker/Lynx, and do slightly better damage.

Bears are awesome pets. They have wicked-high HP and can actually do a special attack (brutal mauling) completely on their own.

Warthogs are wicked pets for interrupting enemy attacks/movements/abilities. They seem to have slightly weaker defense and attack though.

Dune Lizards I've never seen, so I have no clue how they would work for you. Same goes for Moa Birds/Striders. I don't know how their HP/Attack would be rated, compared to the other pets.

Pets grow in levels as you fight, they grow in size every 5 levels (and their name will change, unless you've customized your pet's name with /petname *name*). Some pets have special attacks (like the Bear with it's 'Brutal Mauling') which you don't even need to trigger with a beast-mastery ability.

As for where to find them, I don't know. Do we not yet have a sticky on 'Pets'. I think it'd be smart to compile all available pet knowledge into a sticky, to limit the insane amount of posts we get from people who don't even know the basics.

Keep in mind, that dropping an experienced pet for a new one means the new starts....I believe at level 5....that based may be increased in more advanced areas....I never look at the level of a green target.

I only have pre-searing Ascalon to go by (as I tend to keep a pet once I have it), but I think that you get the pet at whatever level it started at. For instance, Stalkers in Regent's Valley are level 5, so when you tame them you get a level 5 pet. Striders are level 1 all over pre-searing, so when you tame them you get a level 1 pet. And Wolves are, I believe, level 2. I've started over recently and wanted a Strider as a pet, and when I tamed it it remained level 1.

its easier to level a pet presearing than getting a level 5 lizard when you are 20


pets gain levels as you hunt stuff for experience

When I went to get my Black Bear out side of Beacons Pearch he was lvl 5 and I traded in my lvl15 Strider to get him but now he is lvl 16 and not only do I love to have him around he is quite popular with all my Guildmates

seen at a different link
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...180#post114180