A new patch means new cuteness in World of Warcraft, so we’re reviewing the pets of K’aresh

We make our love of cute things pretty clear here on Blizzard Watch, I think, so our love for the World of Warcraft battle pets from the Ghosts of K’aresh patch should come as no surprise. Wait, you only heard about the fel capybaras? My friends, you are in for a treat. We have seven types of battle pets coming in patch 11.2.0 that we’ve ranked on their endearing exteriors alone.

First up on this list are the Siphonmites. They come in three colors, and I am supremely freaked out by them. The only saving grace for this one is that his name is Jimmy — though actually, it’s “Morgilito, Spawn of Morgil, Chosen Enemy of Tazavesh, Devourer of K’aresh” according his tooltip. This battle pet gets one fluffy tail out of five on the cuteness scale. Nope.

Moving onto another shudder-inducing candidate, we have the Inchshifters. Coming in four colors, these guys are basically Siphonmites in noodle form. Heck, one of them is named Palek’ti, the Mouth of Nothingness, and that’s pretty apt; they are comprised of a fang-y mouth with a tube body attached. Still a nope for me, Blizzard, even if the Shimmering Inchshifter is “too cute to eliminate.” I give it 1.5 fangs out of five.

Finally, our last bug: the Lapbugs. Still not super cute — I can’t really look at them head on, or at their legs, but I can forgive them their appearances because they also remind me of Ray from Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. They also have four really lovely color combinations; just keep Mr. Long-Legs to himself. Two mandibles out of five.

The Cosmic Rays (really ray pups) actually hold some serious WoW nostalgia for me — I always thought Zangarmarsh was one of the prettiest zones in The Burning Crusade. This is another group that just cannot miss on the color combos — five options and they’re all lovely — but Sao’rhon jumps to the top of the pile with their utterly relatable flavor text: “A very friendly cosmic being. Direct eye contact will obliterate your soul.” For soul obliteration (and their generally weird facial expressions), I give them three stinging tails out of five.

We have six baby Beholder options. My favorite is the Penumbral Terror, because purple, but you can’t go wrong with any of them — look at that little face trying to be all grumpy and serious. That said, they’re still beholders and thus floating eyeball creatures of D&D yore. We rate them three out of five tentacles on the cuteness scale — tiny and adorable, but still creepy as heck and thus tied with the Cosmic Rays for third.

Watchers, I’m not going to lie — when I first saw the Thorntails, I genuinely thought they would win the cuteness cup because oh my goodness, just LOOK at their little faces. There were only two things holding them back: 1) there are only three color options, and 2) the Veridian Thorntail looks like it lost a battle with a highlighter (despite having some adorable flavor text). Still, they merit a five big fluffy ears out of five, and tie with our other favorite because of one thing: availability.

And finally, the one we’ve all been waiting for — the Fel (Snooter) Capybaras. Now, interestingly enough, three of the four colors options that were identified in the PTR build align in name (although not necessarily in appearance) with an existing “snooter” battle pet from Mechagon. These pets are also the only ones with a “Trading Post” source on Wowhead. We now know that the Scruffyhorn Fel Snooter comes courtesy of a promotion where you get it (ahem) “for free” if you spend over $75 USD on Warcraft merch in the Gear Store. Luckily there’s another available from the upcoming Legion Remix. Regardless, we love them and rank them five fiery side-eyes out of five for cuteness, tied with our Thorntails for the cuteness crown.

What do you think? Do the creepy crawlies deserve a second chance? Or are you utterly devoted to the reigning capybaras? Let us know in the comments!

Originally posted August 4, 2025. Updated September 10, 2025.