WoW Forever Crab Pet Guide: Tame Spots, Skills and Stats

The WoW Forever crab pet is armor with claws attached: armor modifier 1.13, health 0.96, damage 0.95. Tame a Clattering Crawler in Ashenvale for Claw 3, swap to a Barbed Crustacean in Blackfathom Deeps for Claw 4, and retire on a Monstrous Crawler in Swamp of Sorrows, the highest level crab on the map, with Claw 6 out of the box. It tanks mobs while you level. It does almost nothing else.

Crabs eat bread, fish, fruit and fungus, never meat, and learn exactly one attack. This WoW Forever hunter pet guide runs on the 2004 family data Forever is built on, because Blizzard has not published a single crab change. The Forever changes that do touch your crab are real and confirmed: pets now scale from your own stats, and Endurance Training now raises pet health and armor together.

Where to tame a crab and the best tame spots

Crabs live on coastlines, next to every murloc on Azeroth, so bring patience. The answer to where to tame a crab in WoW Forever depends on your level, since Tame Beast refuses anything above you, and every Claw rank a wild crab already knows is a rank you get for free.

Coordinates are for TomTom style addons and point to confirmed spawn points on each coast. Crabs patrol the whole shoreline around them, so walk the beach instead of staring at the number.

Crab	Level	Zone	Claw when tamed	Coordinates
Pygmy Surf Crawler	5-6	Durotar	Claw 1	/way 52.1 84.0
Surf Crawler	7-8	Durotar	None	/way 63.3 98.0
Encrusted Surf Crawler	9-10	Durotar	Claw 2	/way 58.4 15.7
Pygmy Tide Crawler	9-10	Darkshore	None	Darkshore coast
Corrupted Surf Crawler	10-11	Durotar	None	Durotar coast
Young Reef Crawler	10-11	Darkshore	None	Darkshore coast
Tide Crawler	12-14	Darkshore	Claw 2	Darkshore coast
Sand Crawler	13-14	Westfall	None	/way 39.6 12.3
Sea Crawler	15-16	Westfall	None	Westfall coast
Reef Crawler	15-17	Darkshore	None	Darkshore coast
Shore Crawler	17-18	Westfall	Claw 3	/way 35.9 87.9
Encrusted Tide Crawler	18-20	Darkshore	None	Darkshore coast
Silithid Protector	18-19	The Barrens	None	Spawned, no fixed camp
Clattering Crawler	19-20	Ashenvale	Claw 3	/way 10.1 33.4
Raging Reef Crawler	20-21	Darkshore	None	Darkshore coast
Spined Crawler	20-21	Ashenvale	None	Zoram Strand
Skittering Crustacean	22-23 elite	Blackfathom Deeps	Claw 3	Inside the dungeon
Snapping Crustacean	23-24 elite	Blackfathom Deeps	Claw 3	Inside the dungeon
Barbed Crustacean	25-26 elite	Blackfathom Deeps	Claw 4	Dungeon map 57.3 87.8
Enraged Reef Crawler	30-32	Desolace	None	North west coast
Southern Sand Crawler	40-41	Stranglethorn Vale	None	/way 35.3 87.9
Silt Crawler	40-41	Swamp of Sorrows	Claw 6	/way 86.5 86.4
Monstrous Crawler	43-44	Swamp of Sorrows	Claw 6	/way 93.1 69.9

Four spots matter. Everything else is a crab you tame, regret, and abandon at the stable.

• The Clattering Crawler on the Zoram Strand is the first crab worth a stable slot, because it shows up at 19-20 with Claw 3 already learned.
• The Barbed Crustacean is the only crab with Claw 4, so drag your group through Blackfathom Deeps and tame it before the tank pulls it.
• The Silt Crawler gives Claw 6 at 40-41 on the Swamp of Sorrows coast and saves you from waiting three more levels.
• The Monstrous Crawler is the final crab, 43-44 with Claw 6, and it is the one you level to 60.

Crab family stats and where the family ranks

The crab is a defense family. Every number below is a multiplier on the base pet, which in Forever is a bigger base than it was in 2004, since pets now take a share of your Agility and other stats.

Stat	Crab modifier	Verdict
Armor	1.13	High, tied for the best armor in the game
Health	0.96	Low, one of the thinnest health pools
Damage	0.95	Low, you will notice it
Attack speed	2.0 on every crab	No fast crab exists, stop looking

At level 60 with no training, the classic database numbers put the crab here among popular families:

Family	DPS at 60	Armor at 60	Health at 60
Cat	56.25	4014	2990
Raptor	56.25	4128	2899
Spider	54.75	4014	3052
Gorilla	52.25	4014	3174
Wolf	51.25	4204	3052
Crocolisk	51.25	4395	2899
Crab	48.75	4509	2929
Scorpid	48.25	4395	3052
Bear	46.50	4204	3296
Boar	46.00	4357	3174
Turtle	46.00	4509	3052

Armor ties turtles for first. Health beats only raptors and crocolisks. Damage sits in the bottom five. A turtle has the same armor, more health and Shell Shield, which is the crab’s biggest problem and the reason nobody writes songs about crabs.

Crab pet skills and where to farm every rank

A crab learns Claw, Cower and Growl as actives, plus Natural Armor, Great Stamina and all five resistances as passives. Claw and Cower are learned by taming a beast that knows the rank and fighting with it until the rank sticks. Growl and every passive come from the pet trainer.

Claw rank	Pet level	TP cost	Damage	Crab source	Other source
1	1	1	4-6	Pygmy Surf Crawler	Scorpid Worker
2	8	4	8-12	Encrusted Surf Crawler, Tide Crawler	Young Forest Bear
3	16	7	12-16	Shore Crawler, Clattering Crawler	Ghost Saber
4	24	10	16-22	Barbed Crustacean	Elder Ashenvale Bear, Scorpashi Snapper
5	32	13	21-29	None	Scorpashi Lasher, Vile Sting, Drywallow Snapper
6	40	17	26-36	Silt Crawler, Monstrous Crawler	Scorpid Hunter, Ironfur Bear
7	48	21	35-49	None	Ironfur Patriarch, Angerclaw Mauler, Shardtooth Bear
8	56	25	43-59	None	Winterspring Screecher, Elder Shardtooth

Claw 5, 7 and 8 exist on no crab. Tame the scorpid, crocolisk, bear or owl from the table, fight until you learn the rank, dismiss the donor, teach your crab. Skipping this leaves a level 60 crab swinging Claw 6, which is a very expensive rock.

Cower is the only other active worth the points, and a crab never has it when tamed. Take it from cats, bats and tallstriders:

Cower rank	Pet level	TP cost	Threat removed	Where to learn
1	5	8	30	Durotar Tiger, Nightsaber
2	15	10	55	Savannah Patriarch, Moonstalker Sire
3	25	12	85	Crag Stalker, Young Panther
4	35	14	125	Ridge Stalker, Ridge Huntress
5	45	16	175	Jaguero Stalker, Plaguebat
6	55	18	225	Frostsaber Cub, Monstrous Plaguebat

Trainer skills cost nothing to find and everything in training points:

Skill	Ranks	Pet levels	TP for top rank	Top rank effect
Growl	7	1, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60	0	415 threat
Natural Armor	10	10, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, 60	150	+1000 armor
Great Stamina	10	10, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, 60	185	+40 Stamina
Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature, Shadow Resistance	5 each	20, 30, 40, 50, 60	105 each	+140 resistance

Training points follow pet level times loyalty level minus one, so a level 60 Best Friend crab has 300. Only the highest rank of each skill counts against that budget.

• The solo tank build takes Claw 8, Growl 7, Natural Armor 10 and Great Stamina 8 for exactly 300 points.
• The resistance build takes Claw 8, Growl 7, Great Stamina 10 and one resistance at rank 4 for exactly 300 points.
• The group build drops Growl, takes Claw 8, Cower 6, Great Stamina 10 and Natural Armor 6, and spends the last 22 points on rank 1 resistances.

Best named crabs, rares and looks

There is no rare crab in the original roster. No silver dragon, no spawn timer, no camping story to tell your guild. The named tames that matter are the ones that already know something.

• The Barbed Crustacean is the closest thing to a trophy crab, an elite that is the sole crab source of Claw 4.
• The Monstrous Crawler is the last and highest crab in the game, which makes it the endgame crab by default.
• The Silithid Protector is a red crab wearing a bug’s name in The Barrens, and it spawns instead of sitting in a camp.
• The Clattering Crawler is the best looking blue crab for its level, and its Claw 3 makes it useful too.

Color	Crabs with this look
Red	Pygmy Surf Crawler, Surf Crawler, Silithid Protector
Blue	Tide Crawler, Clattering Crawler, Southern Sand Crawler
Bronze	Shore Crawler, Silt Crawler, Monstrous Crawler
White	Encrusted Surf Crawler, Barbed Crustacean, Enraged Reef Crawler

Red is the rarest look at high level because no red crab exists past 19. If you want a red crab at 60, you tame a baby in Durotar and level it by hand, which is exactly as fun as it sounds.

Raid or PvP: what a crab is actually for

The crab is a leveling tool. As a WoW Forever tank pet it holds threat on quest mobs and elites while you shoot from range, and the armor soaks warrior and rogue swings better than anything short of a turtle.

Content	Crab verdict	Why
Solo leveling	Good	High armor and Growl hold mobs while you shoot
Soloing elites	Good	Survives melee elites that fold cats
Dungeons	Weak	Low damage, and Growl must be off near a real tank
Raids	Bad	Low damage and thin health against raid AoE
Resistance fights	Niche	Resistance ranks help, any family can learn them
PvP	Bad	Slow 2.0 swings and no Dash, Charge or snare

The best hunter pet in WoW Forever for raids will not be a crab. Marksmanship gets Lone Wolf for 20% more damage with no pet at all, and Beast Mastery wants pet damage for Focused Fire and Bestial Wrath, so a slow defensive family loses on both paths.

A WoW Forever Beast Mastery pet in PvP needs to stick to targets, and Intimidation works from any family. The crab is slow, hits like a wet towel, and exists in battlegrounds mostly as a speed bump for rogues who picked the wrong target.

Feeding, happiness and loyalty

Crabs eat bread, fish, fruit and fungus. They refuse meat, the one food every beast you kill drops, so carry vendor bread, beg a mage for conjured bread, or level Fishing. Feed Pet gives 10 bites over 20 seconds, and food close to the pet’s level gives more.

Blizzard has not confirmed any change to WoW Forever pet happiness, so plan for the system the game was built on:

Mood	Pet damage	Loyalty effect
Happy	125%	Loyalty grows over time
Content	100%	Loyalty holds
Unhappy	75%	Loyalty drops, the pet may leave

Food quality vs pet level	Happiness per bite	Per full feeding
Close to pet level	35	350
A bit lower	17	170
Much lower	8	80

The same goes for WoW Forever pet loyalty: six levels, each adding training points, and a pet at the lowest loyalty and happiness at once walks away for good.

• Rebellious is where a fresh tame starts, so feed it before the first pull.
• Unruly comes after the first loyalty gain and still barely listens.
• Submissive is where training points start to feel usable.
• Dependable is the middle ground for most leveling crabs.
• Faithful is close to the final training budget.
• Best Friend is the cap and unlocks the full 300 points at level 60.

• Loyalty only grows while you gain experience with the pet out, so a crab parked in the stable never improves.
• A pet death hurts happiness hard and slows loyalty, so Mend Pet before the crab drops, not after.
• Mounting hides the pet but does not drain happiness.

Forever changes that touch your crab

The confirmed talent changes for World of Warcraft Forever hunter pets are small but they all favor a tanky family:

• Pets scale from hunter stats such as Agility, so the crab’s armor multiplier applies to a bigger number in endgame gear.
• Endurance Training now raises pet health and armor, replacing the old separate Thick Hide talent.
• Improved Mend Pet cuts mana cost and gives each heal a chance to cleanse a curse, disease, magic or poison effect.
• Improved Aspect of the Monkey passes half of your dodge bonus to the pet.
• Spirit Bond regenerates health for you and the pet every 10 seconds.
• Bestial Swiftness gives pets 30% movement speed, which a crab with no Dash badly needs.
• Summon Hawk adds up to two hawks on Arcane Shot’s cooldown, and hawks do not replace your main pet.

Anyone searching for a WoW Classic Plus hunter pet list should read that as: old families, old skills and old taming spots stay the best, and nothing announced so far gives the crab a reason to leave the beach.

Crab lore

Forever is set in the first year of the story, after the Forsaken Kingdom campaign and before Molten Core. The crabs did not notice. They were on the beaches of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms before the orcs landed in Durotar, and they will be there after everyone else leaves.

The Zoram Strand crabs live beside Blackfathom Deeps, the sunken temple of Elune that naga and the Twilight’s Hammer turned into a shrine to Aku’mai. The crustaceans inside are elite because anything that survives next to an Old God pet gets tough. The Monstrous Crawlers of Swamp of Sorrows are simply the biggest crabs in the world, and the local quest wants their legs.