Why wolves are now the best pet in Minecraft

Wolves have always been an interesting case in Minecraft. They were intended to accompany players as they adventure around survival worlds, looking for interesting structures to loot and biomes to explore. However, they've always been a bit too weak to really pull this off and would often get themselves killed due to poor pathing and a lack of protection.

Thankfully, Mojang has finally addressed this longstanding complaint in the most recent update, Armored Paws. This update has made wolves the best pet available to players for several reasons, some of which are described in detail below.

---

Why wolves are the best Minecraft pet

Wolf Armor

A group of wolves equipped with wolf armor (Image via Mojang)

The biggest change from the Armored Paws update that has made wolves a way better pet than they used to be is the addition of Minecraft wolf armor. Crafted and maintained using the new armadillo scutes, wolf armor can be put on tamed wolves and acts similarly to a shield, converting HP damage into durability damage. It doesn't work, however, on sources like fire, lava, or magic.

Even if this was the only change from Armored Paws, it would be enough to make wolves the best practical pet for adventuring, but in reality, it's only one of several wolf changes in 1.20.5/1.20.80.

---

Health Increase

Wolves now have the health of hoglins and enderman (Image via Mojang)

Wolves have also had their base health doubled from 20 to 40. This equates to an increase in hearts from 10 to 20 in the game. This is balanced out, however, by the single nerf Armored Paws brought wolves: their environmental damage resistance has been removed. This applies to any environmental source, so essentially anything other than players and arrows.

This means that wolves are the same in terms of damage to most threats but are significantly harder for players and skeletons to take down.

---

Healing Buff

This change also means players need to use less of their food to keep wolves healed (Image via Mojang)

The final buff that wolves got from Minecraft's Armored Paws update was a buff to their healing. All food items are now twice as effective at restoring health to injured pet wolves. This essentially means that players can adventure with them for twice as long since a stack of food restores double the health.

---

Putting it all together

Wolves are amazing to have on adventures, even without armor (Image via Mojang)

So, to recap, as of Armored Paws, wolves have more health, heal better, and have a new piece of equipment that makes them impossible to damage via conventional means until it's broken. This update took wolves from an occasionally useful tool to an essential member of any worthwhile Minecraft survival base.

---

Other useful Minecraft pets

A group of the game's many different pets (Image via Mojang)

The other pets in Minecraft each have their own utility to offer players, even if they aren't as powerful as the recently buffed wolves.

For example, parrots can imitate nearby hostile mobs. This allows them to act as a sort of proximity alarm, as long as players make sure to listen to them. Minecraft's adorable cats, on the other hand, are able to scare away both creepers and phantoms. Both of these are considered among the most annoying mobs in Minecraft, so keeping them away is quite a benefit.

And lastly, horses and their many different variants are amazing early-game ways to explore. Of course, they eventually become outdated due to elytra and firework rocket flight, but their use is still undeniable before this.