How to Use Pets to Boost Your Drop Rates
On this page
- How the Pet System Works
- The Bat Is Your Most Important Pet
- All 5 Free Pets
- Are the Paid Pets Worth It
- Pet Unlock Priority for Maximum Profit
How the Pet System Works
TBH has 8 pets, and they work differently from what you might expect. Every pet you unlock provides a permanent global passive bonus that applies to all your heroes, all the time, even when the pet isn't deployed. Unlocked passives stack — there's no need to choose which pet is "active." Once you unlock a pet, its bonus is yours forever.
| Mechanic | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Unlock Method | Kill a specific number of a specific monster type (usually 5,000 kills) |
| Passive Bonus | Applies globally to all heroes immediately upon unlock — no equipping or selecting needed |
| Stacking | All unlocked pet passives stack additively. 3 unlocked pets = 3 active passives. |
| Farming Location | Each pet has a recommended stage where its target monster spawns in high density |
The Bat Is Your Most Important Pet
The Bat is the single highest-impact pet for farming efficiency. Its passive — +10% Common Chest Drop Rate and +15% EXP gain — directly increases your loot volume and accelerates your hero leveling. Since Common chests are ~50% of all your drops, a 10% boost to that category is a meaningful increase in total items per hour.
| Bat Pet Details | |
|---|---|
| Passive Bonus | +10% Common Chest Drop Rate / +15% EXP Gain |
| Unlock Requirement | Kill 5,000 Bats |
| Best Farming Stage | A1-7 Suburbs (Torment difficulty for fastest kills) |
| Estimated Time | ~2–4 hours on Torment with a decent party |
Why Bat first: The EXP bonus accelerates hero leveling (more levels = more skill points), and the chest drop rate bonus means more items to alchemize for gold or sell on the Steam Market. No other early-game upgrade provides this dual benefit. Unlock the Bat before you invest in any Attack or Defense rune nodes.
All 5 Free Pets
| Priority | Pet | Passive Bonus | Unlock (Kill 5,000) | Farm Stage (Torment) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bat | +10% Common Chest Drop Rate / +15% EXP | Bats | A1-7 Suburbs |
| 2 | Watcher | +15% Gold per Kill | Giant Flies | A2-5 Scorching Dunes |
| 3 | Burning Skeleton | +10% Boss Chest Drop Rate | Fire Elementals | A2-9 Volcano Depths |
| 4 | Blue Golem | +15% Max HP / +10% Armor (all heroes) | Golems | Late Act 2 / Act 3 |
| 5 | Giant Fly | +Item Drop Rate (all rarities) | Giant Flies (additional kills) | Overlaps with Watcher farming |
Notice that Watcher and Giant Fly both require killing Giant Flies — farm them together. Similarly, Blue Golem gives your entire party a massive survivability boost (+15% HP and +10% Armor), making it essential before attempting Hell difficulty.
Are the Paid Pets Worth It
Three pets are locked behind DLC purchases. Unlike the free pets which unlock through gameplay, paid pets unlock immediately upon purchase.
| Pet | Passive Bonus | How to Get | Worth It? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost | +Chest Quality (higher rarities from all chests) | Open 200 chests (free, but time-gated) | Actually free — just requires patience. One of the best pets in the game. |
| Fire Spirit | Fire damage bonus | Paid DLC | Only if you main Sorcerer or Hunter with fire builds. |
| Ice Spirit | Cold damage bonus | Paid DLC | Only if you main Hunter with Frost Bolt focus. |
Pet Unlock Priority for Maximum Profit
If your goal is maximizing Steam Wallet earnings, follow this exact unlock order:
- Bat — Chest drop rate + EXP. Highest ROI. Unlock immediately.
- Watcher — Gold per kill. More gold = faster Rune Tree progression. Farm alongside Giant Fly progress.
- Burning Skeleton — Boss chest drop rate. Bosses drop the highest-value items. This pet makes every boss kill more rewarding.
- Ghost — Chest quality. Start opening chests aggressively from day one. By the time you reach mid-game, you'll have naturally accumulated 200 opens.
- Giant Fly — Item drop rate. Once your party clears stages quickly, volume of drops matters more than quality.
- Blue Golem — Survivability. Essential before pushing into Hell difficulty. A dead party earns nothing.
Remember: All pet passives stack permanently. By the time you've unlocked all 5 free pets, your party has +10% chest drop rate, +15% EXP, +15% gold per kill, +10% boss chest drop rate, +item drop rate, and +15% HP/+10% Armor — all before any gear or rune bonuses. Pets are not optional; they are core progression.