Content:
Key Facts: Pet Battles in Midnight
Updated 12 October 2026 for patch 12.1. Our first version of this page, from October 2025, said pet battles were being removed. That was based on alpha reports and it overstated the change.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Are pet battles removed? | No. Blizzard said all parts of the system from earlier expansions keep working. Wowhead describes the system as “mostly sunsetted”: the combat side is no longer developed, and there are no new Pet Battle world quests. |
| How do I catch a new wild pet in Midnight zones? | Click it and capture it. No battle and no trap are needed. |
| How do I catch wild pets from older zones? | The old way: battle them, then trap one that is below 35% health. |
| Can the new pets battle? | Most cannot. They are “peaceful pets” without abilities. Some can battle, mainly pets added in patch 12.0.5. |
| Is there an achievement for the new zones? | Midnight Safari: 21 wild pets in Eversong Woods, Zul’Aman, Harandar and Voidstorm. Reward: the pet Do, Child of Filo. |
| What did patch 12.1 add? | About 40 new pets, a Coiled Isle Safari achievement, two new Family Battler achievements, and the option to place pets in your house. |
What Blizzard Actually Announced
The October 2025 headlines came from the first Midnight alpha builds. In those builds you could walk up to a wild pet and capture it without a fight, and most new wild pets had no abilities. Wowhead pointed out the side effects at the time: a captured pet arrived as a cage-style item that you used to learn it, and its quality could not be read until you had learned it.
Blizzard’s own post on the alpha forum was more measured than the headlines. It said that fewer and fewer players enjoyed pet battle combat, so the team wanted to iterate on it, that some new pets would be able to battle, and that all parts of the system from previous expansions should continue to operate as before.
That is what shipped. The capture change is live, the legacy content is untouched, and the new pets are split between a large group of peaceful pets and a smaller group that can still fight.
How to Catch Pets in Midnight Zones
In the four Midnight zones a wild pet is a collectible, not a fight.
- Find the pet. Most spawn at fixed spots, and Wowhead’s Midnight Safari page has NPCScan IDs and TomTom waypoints for every pet.
- Click the pet to capture it. There is no battle and no health threshold.
- Learn the pet from your collection if it arrives as an item.
Two details are worth knowing. First, since patch 12.1 the quality of a Midnight wild pet reflects how hard it is to find. Rare-quality pets have respawn timers of several hours, and pets in general are scarcer than before (Wowhead). Second, older zones did not change. There you still weaken the wild pet in a battle to under 35% health, throw a trap, and keep the capture only if you win the battle. The base chance of the upgraded Pristine Trap is 40%, so it usually takes more than one attempt.
Midnight Safari: All 21 Wild Pets
Midnight Safari was added in patch 12.0.0. It is worth 5 points, progress is account-wide, and the reward is the pet Do, Child of Filo. The achievement asks for every wild pet in Eversong Woods, Zul’Aman, Harandar and Voidstorm.
| The 21 criteria | ||
|---|---|---|
| Akil Fledgling Amber Treeflitter Azure Sporebat Blistercreepling Devouring Runt Dragonhawk Mosswing Ebon Snapling |
Gloom Toad Mud Potadpole Nether Familiar Pangolil Riftblade Familiar Rootling Nester Silkcrawler |
Striped Snakebiter Swamp Biter Vibrant Manaling Violet Chick Voidcrawler Waddles Wrathful Wyrm |
Sources disagree on whether the list has 21 or 22 pets, and one launch article counted the zones differently. The achievement page on Wowhead and the Warcraft Wiki both list 21 criteria, so use the in-game achievement tracker as the final word.
Which New Pets Can Battle
Wowhead’s Midnight pet guide marks every pet as either battle-capable or peaceful. Most new pets are peaceful. The battle-capable pets in Wowhead’s guide come mainly from the content added in patch 12.0.5, which brought three new pet sources.
| Pet | Source | Battles? |
|---|---|---|
| Cappy | Earn Cosmic Exterminator in Void Assaults, then buy it from Sergeant Vornin for 1,800 Voidlight Marl | Yes |
| Wriggling Capybara | Wriggling Field Pouch, which can drop instead of the cache at the end of a Zul’Aman Void Strike | Yes |
| Curious Lynx Kitten | Wriggling Field Pouch from an Eversong Woods Void Strike | Yes |
| Chubs | Hidden in the Zul’Aman Ritual Site, The Broken Throne | Yes |
| Overloaded Manaling | Drops from Mana-Gorged Greatwyrm at the Daggerspine Point Ritual Site | Yes |
| Ka’bubb | Earn Abyss Anglers: All Blue Angler, then buy it from Depthdiver Tu’nakit for 2,500 Angler Pearls | No (peaceful) |
A launch roundup from Cymre counted 8 battle pets at release and said the rest of the new pets were companion pets. Treat that count as approximate: sources differ on a few wild pets from the launch zones, and Blizzard has not published a list, so check the pet in your journal.
Patch 12.1: Coiled Isle and Pets in Your House
Patch 12.1 added about 40 pets and kept the same rules: wild pets are click-to-capture and mostly peaceful. The new zone, the Coiled Isle, has its own achievement, The Coiled Isle Safari (5 points, reward: the pet Zesty). It asks for eight wild pets, and Wowhead lists all of them as peaceful.
- The eight Coiled Isle pets: Poisoned Parasite, Steady Croakfrog, Nightfur Kapara, Caustic Writhling, Cursed Spawn, Sleek Snakebiter, Jaundiced Slitherer and Autumn Snapling.
- Long respawns. Caustic Writhling (in the Vaults of Atal’Utek) and Nightfur Kapara are flagged as hard to find. Wowhead suggests a shortcut for rare pets: create an Allied Race character, choose Dragonflight in Chromie Time, take the Silvermoon portal in Stormwind or Orgrimmar and fly to the pet.
- Family Battler. New Family Battler of Cataclysm and Family Battler of Outland achievements keep the tamer content going.
- Pets at home. You can now place pets in your house. Our housing Endeavors guide covers house levels and the 12.1 changes.
Pet Battle Content That Still Works
The tamers and achievements from earlier expansions are still there, and Midnight added Family Battler achievements for Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms and Northrend. Their tamers can be fought once a day each, and the rewards are the pets Moon Darter, Byrn and Webbers plus the Magical Pet Clicker toy. Finishing every Midnight dungeon on Heroic rewards the pet Niblet.
Several pet events around the launch have ended: the Twilight Ascension pets (30 Twilight’s Blade Insignia each, 27 January to 2 March), the Support a Streamer pet Fishmonger May (26 February to 26 March) and the charity pet Roofus (17 March to 12 May). If you missed them, check the Warcraft Wiki pages of those pets before spending gold on a rumour.
Mists of Pandaria Classic is a separate case. Its pet battles are the original Mists of Pandaria system, and our MoP Classic pet battles guide covers them.
What This Means for Collectors and Battlers
- Collectors: No pet team is needed to catch new wild pets, and Midnight Safari and the Coiled Isle Safari are a matter of finding spawns.
- Battlers: Nothing in the old content was removed. What you lose is new material: no new Pet Battle world quests and few new pets with abilities to build teams around.
- Everyone: Do not buy pets or services on the strength of “pet battles are gone”. The system is live. Wowhead keeps pet collection guides for patches 12.0 and 12.1 that list every source. The full patch contents are in our Patch 12.1 overview.
FAQ
Did Blizzard remove pet battles in Midnight?
No. Old content works as before, but new wild pets are click-to-capture and the combat side is no longer developed.
Do I need a trap for Midnight pets?
No. You click the pet to capture it. The 35% health rule and traps apply only to wild pets from older zones.
How many pets does Midnight Safari need?
21 wild pets across Eversong Woods, Zul’Aman, Harandar and Voidstorm.
Can the new pets fight?
Most cannot. A smaller group from patch 12.0.5 can, such as Cappy, Chubs and the Wriggling Capybara.
Can I put pets in my house?
Yes, since patch 12.1.