Pets on Apex are not purely cosmetic. Most of them carry a perk that applies while the pet is out, so the pet you walk around with is a real decision rather than a trophy.

See everything you have unlocked with ::petlist. It only works in safe areas.

How pet perks work

A pet's perk applies while it is following you. Swap pets to swap perks, and there is no cost to doing so. Most pets give a flat experience boost to one skill, and a small number carry a special effect instead.

Experience boost pets

These add +2% experience in the listed skill. Match the pet to whatever you are training.

Skill	Pets
Mining	Rock golem, in all 16 variants
Runecrafting	Rift guardian, in all 15 variants
Slayer	Abyssal orphan, Hellpuppy, Kraken, Midnight, Noon, Smoke devil, Tzrek-jad, Skotos, Ikkle hydra, Abyssal protector, the three Ophi pets
Magic	Chaos elemental, Dagannoth prime, Dark core, Venenatis spiderling, Corporeal critter, Phantom muspah, Duke, Wisp, Olmlet, Puppadile, Tektiny, Vanguard, Vasa, Vespine, and the Tumeken and Elidinis guardians
Ranged	Dagannoth supreme, Kree'arra, Snakeling, Nexling, Leviathan, Awwgentavis, Nid, Butch
Strength	Baby mole, Callisto cub, Dagannoth rex, General Graardor, Smol Heredit, Dom, Tiny tormented
Defence	Kalphite princess, Scorpia's offspring, Scurry
Prayer	Zilyana, Vet'ion jr
Hunter	Baby chinchompa, in all four colours
Fishing	Heron, Tiny tempor
Woodcutting	Beaver
Agility	Giant squirrel
Farming	Tangleroot
Thieving	Rocky
Herblore	Herbi

The skilling pets are the practical ones here, because you get them from the skill they boost. A Beaver makes the rest of your Woodcutting faster, and the same applies to Rocky, Tangleroot, Heron, Giant squirrel and Herbi.

Special effect pets

These are the pets worth deliberately hunting, because their perks do something no other pet does.

Pet	Perk
Jal-nib-rek	Drops go straight to your bank
Tzrek-zuk	Drops go straight to your bank
Vorki	Dragonfire absorption
Baby galvek	Dragonfire absorption
Prince black dragon	Dragonfire absorption
Little nightmare	Smite drains 10% more prayer
Lil' creator	Bonus strength with claws
Lil' destructor	Bonus strength with two handed weapons
K'ril Tsutsaroth	Smite drains slightly more prayer
The six Theatre of Blood pets	Smite drains slightly more prayer

Auto loot pets

Jal-nib-rek and Tzrek-zuk are the two most valuable perks in the game for long trips. Drops bypass the ground entirely and land in your bank, which means no lost loot on death, no full inventory, and no banking runs. If you are farming a boss for hours, one of these changes the trip completely.

Dragonfire pets

Vorki, Baby galvek and the Prince black dragon absorb a large share of incoming dragonfire. That covers the King Black Dragon, Vorkath, Galvek, the metal dragons and anything in the fossil island wyvern caves. It stacks with the usual antifire protection rather than replacing it.

Smite pets

Little nightmare is the strongest of these by a wide margin. The others give a small increase. Only relevant in PvP and against the handful of NPCs that use prayer.

Strength pets

Lil' creator adds strength when using claws, and Lil' destructor adds strength when using two handed weapons. Both are narrow but meaningful if that is the weapon class you actually run.

Improving your pet chance

Three things stack to make pets drop faster:

The Pet Hunter perk from the perk tree
Supporter rank, which improves the skilling pet roll from Iron Supporter upward
Pet bonus tokens, awarded by the daily vote streak on days 18 and 27

Which pet to keep out

Training a skill? Use that skill's pet for the +2%.
Long boss trip? Jal-nib-rek or Tzrek-zuk, every time.
Fighting dragons? Vorki, Baby galvek or the Prince black dragon.
Anything else? Whichever combat skill you want the experience in.