Warhammer 40K: Greatest Grimdark Pets That Will Melt Your Heart & Enemies
Let’s talk about the cutest and deadly pets you can find in the galaxy.
Man or Xenos, it seems to be a universal constant that everyone loves pets. 40K is full of adorable and deadly beings thats the so called “sentient races” keep around for company and often protection. Some of these are quite famous, others are more obscure. Today lets take a look at the five best pets in 40K. I’m also going to limit us to pets that have actual models so you can field them.
5. Gyrinx
If “Psychic Space Cat” is something that sounds cool then a Gyrinx is the pet for you. These cat like beings are powerful empaths, able to form mental bonds with their “owners” and even take on some of their personality. They are also useful at boosting the psychic potential of their owner, or bond mate, with Yvraine being the most famous owner. As such they are highly prized, and used not just by insidious Xenos but also by humans. It seems that a love of cute cats (and likely cat memes) transcends species, is this the secret to galactic peace? Now I’m not a huge one for cats (being pretty allergic) and it well known that cats are just secretly evil murder machines, so a cat with psychic abilities sounds horrible to me. Still it’s cute so it gets to make the list, but it gets to be last.
4. Anzuq (Cyber Berkuts/Cyber Eagles) 
Birds are cool, and cyber birds are even cooler. Humans have a long history of using tame, or semi-tame, birds, and so its no surprise that in 40K augmented birds are a somewhat common and useful pet. Cyber Eagles, and their varieties such as Berkuts, are pretty common and come in a number of different shapes and types. They can spy on people, hunt your enemies and look majestic. Of all them though Anzuq, currently the pet of Kor’sarro Khan has got to be the coolest. He’s known as the Hawk of Fire and Water, which is rad, not a lot of pets, or birds, get epic titles, but he does. He’s also super old, and important enough that the White Scars keep him in status so that he can live longer. In the game he even gets rules, this bird could kill Abbadon (or do the last wound) if he felt like it.
3. Hamadrya
The Hamadrya is basically a Chaos version of a Gyrinx. It’s a small, shape changing likely warp beast that follows around Huron Blackheart. Sometimes its looks like a angry frog, other times its like a little psychic velociraptor, sometimes its mammalian. It can fight a bit, but the most important thing it does is giving its owner, in this case Huron, strange warp powers and letting him cast spells and such. It’s creepy, but pretty deadly. If you are a fan of the Ruinous Powers this is your best bet for a “nice” pet.
2. Aximillion
Aximillion is 40K’s best boy. The loyal hound of Nitsch’s Squad of the Elucidian Starstriders Aximillion has been some places and seen some stuff out there in the dark void. Though it all he’s kept his regal bearing and love of rubs. While 40K has a long history of dog-ish companions, from “wolves” to cyber-mastiffs. Aximillion bests them all with his poise and breeding. The most surprising thing about him is that he is at the end of the day, just a dog. No psychic powers, no mutations, no cyber enhancements, just a regular old dog, with his regal old human comrades. It’s refreshing to think that even 40,000 years from now, man’s best friend will be with us, still loyally facing down all the terrors of the dark at our side. Aximillion is the answer to the question, are their good guys in 40K? In fact, the dogs may be the most good there is in the Imperium.
Honorable Mention– Fenrisian Wolves
I really wanted to put wolves on this list, but as we all know, there are no wolves on Fenris.
1. Nightwing (Psyber-Raven)
Nightwing is the personal pet of the Space Wolf Rune Priest Njal Stormcaller. Psyber-Ravens are popular with Space Wolves, especially Rune Priests, and like many on this list can enhance the psychic abilities of their masters. Ravens of course are dark, edgy and cool. Arguably they are the most Grim Dark pet you can have, owning ones allows you free reign to quote the Old Earth remembrancer P’oe at will. Nightwing of corse is the best known of them all, named after, we assume, an legendary Terran hero from before the Dark Age of Technology. He’s a cool bird, and I think the only pet to get two official GW models (three if you count Epic). On the battlefield he hits like a frag grenade going off, which doesn’t seem that impressive until you remember he’s just a bird, how many birds do you know that bite as hard as a grenade? None. Psyber-Raven’s also have the habit of sitting around mutter ominous phrases (I blame P’oe) which I gotta say is pretty rad and adds to their whole Grim Dark personality. Overall, these dudes are rad.
Let us know which pets we missed, and which is your favorite, down in the comments!
