Taming the Beast (Horde)

• Reach level 10
• Accept Taming the Beast from ThotarThotar: the first Taming Rod

At 10 go to Thotar, the hunter trainer inside the barracks in Razor Hill. If Sian'dur in Orgrimmar, Kali Remik in Sen'jin Village or Kary Thunderhorn in Thunder Bluff hands you The Hunter's Path, take it and hand it to Thotar for a little experience; it is only a pointer, and you can take the first rod without it.

• Tame Dire Mottled Boar for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living boar
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Thotar
• Accept Taming the Beast from Thotar

Dire Mottled Boars (level 6–7) roam just north and west of Razor Hill. How the rod works: target a living beast, use the Taming Rod from inside its range and stand still for the whole channel while the beast hits you. Moving, fighting back, a heal from someone else or anyone else hitting the beast breaks it and costs one of the rod's few charges; if they run out, destroy the rod, abandon the quest and take it again from Thotar. The boars charge from 20 yards, so start with the rod, not Auto Shot. The tamed boar becomes your pet for practice. Keep each rod: it goes back to Thotar.

• Tame Surf Crawler for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living Surf Crawler
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Thotar
• Accept Taming the Beast from Thotar

First dismiss the boar (right-click your pet's portrait, Dismiss Pet): a released practice pet can turn on you. Surf Crawlers (level 7–8) walk the beaches around Sen'jin Village and the Echo Isles; the small Pygmy Surf Crawlers do not count. A crawler runs for help at 15% health, so do not hurt it.

• Tame Armored Scorpid for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living scorpid
• Turn in Taming the Beast at ThotarThotar: Tame Beast
• Accept Training the Beast from Thotar

Dismiss the crawler. Armored Scorpids (level 7–8) crawl the dry plains west and south-west of Razor Hill, some just south of the road west out of town; Track Beasts shows them. Their hits can break the channel: start at full health and keep still.

• Turn in Training the Beast at Ormak GrimshotOrmak Grimshot: Beast Training

Follow the road north to Orgrimmar's gate. Ormak Grimshot stands with the hunter trainers in the Valley of Honor, up the ramp at the city's east side; Xao'tsu, the pet trainer, is a few steps north of him.

• Reach level 10
• Accept Taming the Beast from Yaw SharpmaneYaw Sharpmane: the first Taming Rod

At 10 go to Yaw Sharpmane, who stands at the north edge of Bloodhoof Village. The Hunter's Path from Kary Thunderhorn in Thunder Bluff, Sian'dur in Orgrimmar or Thotar in Razor Hill also leads here, for a little experience; it is only a pointer.

• Tame Adult Plainstrider for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living plainstrider
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Yaw Sharpmane
• Accept Taming the Beast from Yaw Sharpmane

Adult Plainstriders (level 6–7) walk the plains south-west and north-west of Bloodhoof Village. How the rod works: target a living beast, use the Taming Rod and stand still for the whole channel while it hits you; moving, fighting back or anyone else's help breaks it and costs one of the rod's few charges (out of charges: destroy the rod, abandon the quest, take it again). A plainstrider flees at 25% health, so do not damage it first. Keep each rod: it goes back to Yaw.

• Tame Prairie Stalker for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living stalker
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Yaw Sharpmane
• Accept Taming the Beast from Yaw Sharpmane

Dismiss the plainstrider first (right-click the pet portrait, Dismiss Pet): a released practice pet may attack you. Prairie Stalkers (level 7–8) roam the grass north of Bloodhoof Village.

• Tame Swoop for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living Swoop
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Yaw SharpmaneYaw Sharpmane: Tame Beast
• Accept Training the Beast from Yaw Sharpmane

Dismiss the stalker. Swoops (level 7–9) glide over the plains north-west and north-east of Bloodhoof; the Taloned Swoops do not count. A Swoop's knockdown breaks the channel, but it lands only once per channel: start the rod just after it has used it.

• Turn in Training the Beast at Holt ThunderhornHolt Thunderhorn: Beast Training

Head north to Thunder Bluff and take a lift up. Holt Thunderhorn stands with the hunter trainers on Hunter Rise; Hesuwa Thunderhorn, the pet trainer, is nearby.

• Reach level 10
• Accept Taming the Beast from Elayaa EasewindOptional

At 10, Elayaa Easewind, a hunter trainer on Zephras Isle, may send you on to Valanaar with Taming the Beast. It is only a pointer: skip it if you are already in Valanaar.

• Turn in Taming the Beast at Quel'ana QuickgaleOptional
• Accept Taming the Beast from Quel'ana QuickgaleQuel'ana Quickgale: the first Taming Rod

Quel'ana Quickgale stands with the trainers by Valanaar's west gate, Quel'dora Quickgale beside her.

• Tame Windsong Crawler for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living crawler
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Quel'ana Quickgale
• Accept Taming the Beast from Quel'ana Quickgale

Windsong Crawlers live only by water: the nearest scuttle along the shore south-west of Valanaar, among the crabs. How the rod works: target a living crawler, use the Taming Rod and stand still for the whole channel while it hits you; moving, fighting back or anyone else's help breaks it and costs a charge. Killing one does not count.

• Tame Ornery Galestrider for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living galestrider
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Quel'ana Quickgale
• Accept Taming the Beast from Quel'ana Quickgale

Dismiss the crawler first (right-click the pet portrait, Dismiss Pet). Ornery Galestriders graze in the Gustberry Lowlands, the fields a short walk west and south-west of Valanaar.

• Tame Vuldren Alpha for Taming the BeastUse the Taming Rod on a living alpha
• Turn in Taming the Beast at Quel'ana QuickgaleQuel'ana Quickgale: Tame Beast
• Accept Training the Beast from Quel'ana Quickgale
• Turn in Training the Beast at Quel'dora QuickgaleQuel'dora Quickgale, beside her: Beast Training

Dismiss the galestrider. Vuldren Alphas hunt in the same Gustberry Lowlands, a little further south.

• Tame a beast of your level to keepOptional
• Near Razor Hill: Durotar Tigers (cats, level 7–8) roam the south of Durotar, from Sen'jin Village down the coast; Venomtail Scorpids (9–10) the north-west toward Orgrimmar; at 11–12, Savannah Huntresses (cats) prowl the plains around the Crossroads in the Barrens.Orc, Troll only
• Near Bloodhoof: Flatland Prowlers (cats, level 9) and Prairie Wolf Alphas (wolves, 9–10) roam the plains of northern Mulgore; at 11–12, Savannah Huntresses (cats) prowl around the Crossroads in the Barrens.Tauren only
• Near Valanaar: Vuldren Alphas (level 10), the beast of your last practice tame, hunt the Gustberry Lowlands; Shriekling Matriarchs (raptors, level 9) nest just west of Valanaar; Shadowgale Urseras (bears, 10–11) roam the north of Zephras Isle.Skyborne only
• Feed Pet: open your spellbook, cast Feed Pet and click a food your pet's family eats (the pet's tooltip lists them: cats eat meat and fish, boars almost anything). Raw meat looted from beasts counts. To buy: Grimtak the butcher and Innkeeper Grosk in Razor Hill sell meat, Kaga Mistrunner in Thunder Bluff and the innkeepers on Zephras Isle too; Bloodhoof's innkeeper and bakers sell bread. Food near the pet's level makes it happiest; much lower food gives about half. You cannot feed in combat.
• Happiness: the face on the pet frame. An unhappy pet does three quarters of its damage, a happy one a quarter more. Happiness drains slowly, faster when the pet dies; a pet left unhappy too long can run away.
• Loyalty grows with time and kills. Each loyalty rank raises the training points you spend in Beast Training (pet level times loyalty rank minus one).
• Beast Training (spellbook, General tab) teaches your current pet the abilities you know. To learn a new ability or rank: leave your pet with a stable master (Shoja'my in Razor Hill, Seikwa at Bloodhoof, Genn Fairweather on Zephras Isle, Xon'cha in Orgrimmar), tame a beast that has it (its pet spellbook tab shows what it knows), use the ability in fights until the game says you learned it, then take your own pet back and teach it with Beast Training. A pet holds four active abilities at most.
• Pet trainers sell Growl ranks and resistances. Horde: Harruk in Razor Hill, Reban Freerunner at Bloodhoof, Xao'tsu in Orgrimmar's Valley of Honor, Hesuwa Thunderhorn on Thunder Bluff's Hunter Rise, Quel'dora Quickgale in Valanaar, later Grokor in Stonard and Zudd at Grom'gol.
• Call Pet, Dismiss Pet and Revive Pet are in your spellbook now; Mend Pet comes from your trainer at 12. A dead pet needs Revive Pet; one that is away more than about 100 yards is dismissed and comes back with Call Pet.

Tame Beast works like the rod: a beast of your level or lower, a channel you must not move during, the beast hitting you all the while. A pet keeps the level you tame it at and levels up with you; it can never be above your level, so tame one close to yours. Each family has its own ability on Forever (a boar's Charge, for example). For levelling, a cat hits hardest (Claw and Bite) and a boar takes more punishment.