Companion

Companions (a.k.a. small pets, non-combat pets, mini-pets, or vanity pets) are small creatures (or mechanical replicas thereof) that follow your player character around. They are mainly for show. Several of these companions have their own characteristic behaviors (see individual descriptions).

Overview
Companions cannot attack or be attacked in the normal sense, however, and  will kill critters,  will battle each other, and  "will fight other fighting robot companions", a PvP game within the game. Companions have a small hidden amount of health and can be killed by the pet swimming in lava, standing on fires, or other environmental means of damage.

You can own as many companions as you like. Each one you acquire is added to the pets section of your character sheet.

The Blood Parrot, spawned from the, and the Coyote Spirit, spawned from , are exceptions and are summoned from the corresponding item. These are both items of apparel of some value in their own right, and having the item of apparel disappear when the pet is spawned would not be a welcome change. Because these two pets spawn differently than the other companions, they are not currently counted toward the pet achievements.

Peddlefeet, when spawned by being shot with a, is also an exception and does not count toward the pet achievements.

You can only have one companion out at a time, and summoning another one replaces the one that's already out.

Once summoned, companions will attempt to accompany your player character as you move about the game world. Some appear to be better at this than others. Jumping down from an elevated location will often send a companion off on a circuitous route to reach your new location. If your companion gets left behind, it may catch up and reappear, but may have to be re-summoned. There is no penalty for re-summoning. (The Tiny Snowman is stationary, and will not follow you.)

If you are teleported or use any form of transportation that reloads the environment your companion disappears and has to be re-summoned. The only ship or zeppelin that doesn't is the ship between Teldrassil and Darkshore, and the zeppelin between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff. If you log out your companion disappears and has to be re-summoned during your next session.

While some companions can only be purchased by certain factions, most vended companions and many dropped companions can be traded at Auction Houses. Companions obtained through quests are bind on pickup and cannot be sold. Pets you learn how to summon cannot be learned again, so you are prevented from owning duplicate pets.

Also, for some reason, most companions have 42 hit points.

Achievements

 * grants 10 achievement points when you obtain a vanity pet.
 * grants 20 achievement points (and replaces 'Can I Keep Him?') when you collect 15 unique vanity pets.
 * grants 30 achievement points (and replaces 'Plenty of Pets') when you collect 25 unique vanity pets.
 * grants 40 achievement points (and replaces 'Plethora of Pets') and a is mailed to you when you collect 50 unique vanity pets.
 * grants 50 achievement points (and replaces 'Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart'), and a is mailed to you when you collect 75 unique vanity pets (Added in Patch 3.0.8)
 * grants 10 achievement points and a is mailed to you when you have grouped with 100 random people in Heroic Dungeons. You must finish the dungeons.

Game considerations
Some companions impact the game in some way. In particular, companions do not stealth. If your character uses stealth, your companion will reveal your presence. Mobs do not notice companions, so having one can be useful to indicate your location to party members. The possesses both of these capabilities, unless they are inebriated.

A projects a "Disgusting Aura" when it accompanies its owner. The aura reduces the owner's defense and all resistances by 20, and colors its owner green as if the owner were poisoned.

During and shortly after the Love is in the Air seasonal event, can be shot at your opponents to mark them with a Peddlefeet companion.

Flying pets of any sort can sometimes interfere with clicking to target. This affects the pet owner, PvP opponents, and even party members desiring to buff or heal the pet owner. This is not normally a significant problem, but in the midst of frantic PvP combat, the interference can be noticeable.

The will vend several items to its owner. One of these,, is designed for being used in combat (but see , the impact is minor). The other items are a set of costume items with no stats that allow you to dress up as an ethereal, a ball that can be played with in-game (there are others, such as ),, which will transform a non-combat pet into a fleshbeast, and , a conjured alcoholic beverage.

The and the  are spawned from items rather than learned, and are not currently counted toward the pet achievements. Similarly, the created by engineers remains an item due to its cooldown characteristics.

Other types
There are companions that can be acquired for a time that aren't normally regarded as companions, but pretty much do the same thing as permanent companions. Many of these are in the context of a quest. Some examples are the orphans for Children's Week, Peddlefeet from the, Nass from. None of these count toward the pet count achievements. When a temporary companion is spawned your current companion is despawned.

Note: The might appear to be a temporary companion, but will draw aggro like a combat pet, even though it does not fight.

Achievement reward
The following companions are only available to players who have met a certain achievement criteria. Companions related to a specific world event are excluded from this list.

Profession
The following companions are learned from items that players may create with professions.

World events
The following companions are only available during the progress of certain world events. The Argent Tournament is excluded from this list.

Generally available
The following companions are generally available to any player and, unless noted, the item from which they are learned is not soulbound. Once the item is used (to learn how to summon the companion), it is destroyed. Beforehand, however, the item may be freely traded to other players. Companions from world events and companions created by professions are excluded from this list, even though some of these may be traded freely to other players. Most of the companions on this list are the result of quests or random drops.

Some of the following companions are only sold by vendors from one faction, but they may be traded to the other faction via the Neutral AH if they are BoE.

(The following needs to be assimilated into the above tables for drops and quests)


 * Vendor


 * Nether Ray Fry –, Terokkar Forest (Exalted with Sha'tari Skyguard and )
 * Tiny Spore Bat –, Zangarmarsh (Exalted with Sporeggar and 30 Glowcaps)
 * Rustberg Gull (Alliance) (Alliance) or Rustberg Gull (Horde) (Horde)
 * Nurtured Penguin Egg – in Dragonblight or  in Howling Fjord (Exalted with Kalu'ak and )
 * Ghostly Skull – in Dalaran  (BoP)
 * Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot – Purchasable from or  in Dalaran,


 * Drop
 * Mr. Grubbs
 * Tiny Crimson Whelpling – Zone drop from the Wetlands
 * Tiny Emerald Whelpling – Zone drop from the Swamp of Sorrows
 * Dark Whelpling – Zone drop from the Badlands
 * Azure Whelpling – Zone drop from Azshara
 * Parrot Cage (Green Wing Macaw) – Drop from Defias Pirates in The Deadmines
 * Disgusting Oozeling – Drop
 * Captured Firefly – Drop
 * Mojo – BoP Random drop when Amani Hex Stick used on frogs at Zul'Aman
 * Magical Crawdad Box &mdash; Random reward from a very rare Fishing drop named
 * Phoenix Hatchling – Drop from in Magisters' Terrace
 * Tickbird Hatchling – Random chance from Mysterious Egg
 * White Tickbird Hatchling – Random chance from Mysterious Egg
 * Proto-Drake Whelp – Random chance from Mysterious Egg
 * Cobra Hatchling – Random chance from Mysterious Egg
 * Giant Sewer Rat – Rare fishing drop from Dalaran Sewers.
 * Fox Kit
 * Tiny Shale Spider


 * No longer available
 * Vampiric Batling – Dropped from Prince during the Scourge Invasion. No longer available.

Blizzard Authenticator Activiation
Sent as a thank you for linking a Blizzard Authenticator to your account.
 * Core Hound Pup

Blizzard Pet Store
Some pets are available exclusively through purchase from the Blizzard Pet Store. (US/EU)
 * Lil' Phylactery
 * Lil' XT
 * Pandaren Monk
 * Moonkin Egg
 * Lil' Ragnaros

First available for purchase on Feb. 22, 2010 for a limited time, are two new plush toys: the Gryphon Hatchling and Wind Rider Cub. These toys come with a matching "BONUS In-game Companion" of the same name, via a loot code card. The companions are Account-bound and are not faction-based.
 * Gryphon Hatchling
 * Wind Rider Cub

No longer available
The following companions are no longer available in the game, except to those who received them previously. Common examples are rewards for purchasing the collector's edition of a game or participating in a real life event.

Collector's Editions
These companions are only available to players who bought the Collector's Edition of the game. They are not tradeable in any way. Players may only choose one companion, but each character on the same account can choose a different companion. As the item is bound to your account, it is now possible to have all three on one character.
 * Zergling Leash
 * Panda Collar
 * Diablo Stone

These companions are only available to players that purchase the Collector's Edition of the Burning Crusade expansion pack. Only European players are able to obtain both companions for each character.
 * Netherwhelp's Collar
 * Lurky's Egg (European only)

This companion is only available to players that purchase the Collector's Edition of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack.
 * Frosty's Collar

This companion is only available to players that purchase the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition.
 * Mini Thor

This companion is only available to players who purchase the Collector's Edition of the Cataclysm expansion pack.
 * Lil' Deathwing

BlizzCon
The Murky companion is only available to people who attended the BlizzCon event and worked on both US and European realms. Another baby murloc was made available to European players through conventions and competitions.
 * Blue Murloc Egg (BlizzCon 2005)
 * Pink Murloc Egg (European events)
 * Heavy Murloc Egg (BlizzCon 2009)
 * Smoldering Murloc Egg (Blizzcon 2010)

Arena Tournament
The Murkimus the Gladiator pet was given to all players who entered the 2009, 2010, or 2011 Arena Tournament and played at least 50 (or 200 for 2009) rated arena matches with a 3v3 arena team.
 * Murkimus the Gladiator

World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
Available only to those players who receive a rare "loot" card in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.
 * Hippogryph Hatchling
 * Banana Charm
 * Rocket Chicken
 * Dragon Kite
 * Soul-Trader Beacon
 * Landro's Lil' XT

Blizzard Worldwide Invitational

 * Fortune Coin (appears to be only valid on Korean servers)
 * Tyrael's Hilt

Country Specific Giveaways

 * a housecat made of jade. Given out to players on Chinese realms who logged in between October 19 and November 24, 2009. Grants the Feat of Strength.
 * a housecat made of onyx. Given out through the mail to players on Korean realms as part of a promotion. Grants the Feat of Strength.
 * Competitor's Souvenir blue and purple Chinese dragon – Reward available only in China, and only during the 2008 Summer Olympics Spirit of Competition event. There were samples of this companion in the Ironforge and Orgrimmar battle rooms during the 2008 Summer Olympics. On EU and US servers, this appears to have been due to a bug, and the item does not appear to even have a valid item id in the US and EU.

World of Warcraft Anniversary Pets
Mailed to all players as gifts for WoW's 4th and 5th anniversaries, one to every character. These pets bind to account, do not disappear once learned, and can be kept so that any new character can learn them by mailing one from an older character that has the item.
 * Baby Blizzard Bear - 2008
 * Onyxian Whelpling - 2009

Advertisements and Promotions
Available via the Mountain Dew Choose Your Side promotion website by redeeming using a Battle.net account. Available only from June 9, 2009 - August 20, 2009.
 * Warbot Ignition Key (US only)

Battle.net Account Conversion
Mailed as a thank-you gift, first sent on Oct. 15, 2009, to all early adopters of converting their World of Warcraft accounts to Battle.net accounts, before Nov. 11, 2009 (Nov. 12, 2009 for EU Realms).
 * Unhatched Mr. Chilly

Bugs
Patch 3.0.2, Oct 14, 2008, introduced the companion inventory item, the container, as a charged item with a single charge that spawns the companion in your pets section. After the patch was introduced, all existing pet items (i.e. those in the mail, in your bags, in the bank, etc.) were disallowed from being put up for auction. The auction system would see the pet items as "an item with charges used" and would not post them. These items are still usable, but simply may not be auctioned. New pet items created after the patch, by purchasing from a vendor or receiving as loot, may be auctioned as before.

API
As of patch 3.0.2, a number of companion-related functions have been added to the World of Warcraft API, chief among them GetNumCompanions and CallCompanion.