Firstly, original credit for this thread goes to @pestopartyy, who put this together before launch.
Also, thanks to @Ratore, @darreltan2004, @Space0ctopus, and @narfkeks for help with testing and suggestions throughout the months.
With the FL4K skill guide being completed recently and Mayhem 2.0 just released, it’s about time to finish this for anyone looking to really min-max FL4K’s pets. I’m not going to focus too much on pet damage in this post since they aren’t scaling for Mayhem 2.0 yet, but trust me once they do I’ll be all over with a dedicated pet compendium! In the meantime you can find their damage formula and other FL4K goodies in Ratore’s Damage Formula thread.
Now that we have a much better understanding of how the different pets work, we can see that there is a fair amount of nuance and min-max potential depending on what you want to do. This thread will serve as a resource that gives info on each of the pets and how to make the most out of them.
This is a community effort, so feel free to contribute any knowledge you may have on the pets as well so we can make this the most comprehensive guide possible!
Skill ratings
: Bad skills. Don’t use these at all once you unlock other pets.
: Workable. These pets are more niche and require specialized builds to really be worth taking.
: Excellent. These pets will be the best choice for just about every build and are universally useful no matter what you’re doing.
Table of Contents
Jabber
The Jabbers are handy sidekicks with unique mechanics. They are primarily ranged attackers, meaning they have a lot of strange interactions with FL4K’s pet skills. They also love impersonating Donkey-Kong, which can be a benefit or a detriment depending on your level of patience.
They are also the only pet that won’t commit suicide at Wotan, so that’s cool.
Jabber Sidekick
Requires no skill points to unlock
FL4K is joined by a loyal Jabber companion, armed with a Pistol. While accompanied by the Jabber, FL4K’s Movement Speed is increased.
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Attack Command : The Jabber throws a Radiation Barrel at enemies.
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Passive Bonus : +5.0% Movement Speed
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Base Damage shot : 2728
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Attack Command : 19755
Great in: Not running into Wotan
This pet is useful when you first get it, but like all of the tier 1 pets, it isn’t worth keeping once you unlock tier 2. It only has one passive, its damage is the worst out of all the Jabbers, and it doesn’t have any unique qualities that make it worth keeping.
Upside is, if for some reason you’re using attack command anointments, this guy has the quickest response to attack commands among all the pets. That’s not enough to save him from being a starter pet only though.
Beefcake Jabber
Requires 10 skill points invested in Stalker to unlock
FL4K’s Jabber evolves into a Beefcake, discarding its pistol and equipping a Shotgun. While accompanied by the Beefcake, FL4K gains increased Movement Speed and Maximum Health.
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Attack Command : The Beefcake summons a melee weapon to deliver a powerful attack that knocks enemies back.
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Passive Bonus : +5.0% Movement Speed, +10.0% Max Health
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Base Damage shot : 8669
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Attack Command : 19755
**Great in:**Attack command builds, pet damage builds (with or w/out Gamma Burst)
Beefcake’s max health passive is actually extremely useful for FL4K since they have so much percentage based healing. With Barbaric Yawp it actually gives as much health as Self Repairing System. However, in Borderlands it’s generally better to regen health than to have more, and the opportunity cost of taking a pet for a defensive bonus rather than an offensive one is rather high. He is also terrible at stacking Frenzy on his own for what it matters.
Damage wise, Beefcake gained a lot from the 7/23 patch. His shotgun received a 44% damage boost, putting its damage above Gamma Burst boosted melee attacks by 10%. He is also the best pet to take advantage of Go for the Eyes on attack commands, and this play style is viable for most mobbing content even on M10 when you utilize the Hollowpoint GR perk for extra damage.
Gunslinger Jabber
Requires 15 skill points invested in Stalker to unlock
FL4K’s Jabber upgrades his gear and equips an SMG. While accompanied by the Gunslinger, FL4K gains increased Movement Speed and Critical Hit Damage.
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Attack Command : The Gunslinger equips a Rocket Launcher to attack the target.
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Passive Bonus : +5.0% Movement Speed, +5.0% Critical Hit Damage
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Base Damage shot : 644 x40 in full burst
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Attack Command : 38522 x3 rockets
(Effected by splash damage, AOE)
Great in: Attack command builds, not running into Wotan, staying alive to pick you up
Gunslinger is the best damage pet bar none. His damage is so much higher than the others it isn’t even fair. He also keeps the most distance from enemies and will rarely die even in Mayhem levels, so he will always be there to get you out of FFYL. If you’re looking for a pet with a useful passive, his crit damage bonus can be helpful, but this isn’t the pet to go for as a stat stick.
It is amazing at stacking Frenzy on its own for what it counts.
Be aware that as of 7/23 patch that increased mayhem scaling, Gunslinger will frequently kill himself with his attack command on high mayhems. There isn’t much you can do to mitigate this, but just be extra careful when using the AC.
Skag
Skags are a great generalist pet. Their passive Bonus Damage is universally useful, and since all they do is melee they tend to be the "smartest"pet. As pets, they aren’t incredibly interesting, but if you want a stat stick then you can’t go wrong with any of them in a pinch. If you want a pet that kills things though, don’t look here. They aren’t great at it.
Guard Skag
Requires no skill points to unlock
FL4K is joined by a loyal Skag companion, which will increase FL4K’s Damage.
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Attack Command : The Skag vomits acid onto enemies.
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Passive Bonus : +5.0% Damage
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Base Damage melee : 4,939
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Attack Command : 4,939 x4 ticks
**Great in:**N/A
Besides the fact that Guard Skag is a good skaggo, there isn’t anything that makes this guy worth keeping equipped past level 12. He only has one passive, his attack command is weak, and he doesn’t do anything mechanically different than the other skags.
Great Horned Skag
Requires 10 skill points invested in Master to unlock
FL4K’s Skag evolves into a larger, Great Horned Skag which will increase FL4K’s Damage and Gun Damage.
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Attack Command : The Great Horned Skag charges at enemies and knocks them into the air.
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Passive Bonus : +5.0% Damage, +10.0% Gun Damage
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Base Damage melee : 4,939
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Attack Command : 9877
Great in: Stat stick
Horned Skag’s passive increases to Bonus Damage and Gun Damage are extremely potent and make him one of the best pets to take on any build. With 5/5 Barbaric Yawp he will give you 45% damage total on his own. More damage is never a bad thing.
However, his usefulness will depend heavily on your build. FL4K is able to access a lot of V1 damage on their own, and elemental damage is a much better damage bonus with something like a pearl. Come level 65, Horned Skag’s passive won’t be as impactful. It is still a great bonus though.
Be aware that as of 7/23 patch, his attack command is dealing 50% of the damage it should be doing.
Eridian Skag
Requires 15 skill points invested in Master to unlock
FL4K’s Skag evolves into an Eridian Skag, which will increase FL4K’s Damage and Fire Rate.
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Attack Command : The Eridian Skag pulls nearby enemies in by generating a Singularity.
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Passive Bonus : +5.0% Damage, +5.0% Fire Rate
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Base Damage melee : 4,939
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Attack Command : 4939 (melee) + 13828
(Effected by splash damage, AOE)
Great in: Meh as a stat stick
Eridian skag is still a skag, so is somewhat useful simply for the Bonus Damage. The increased fire rate isn’t bad, it’s actually quite good considering FL4K doesn’t have a ton of easy access to fire rate, but the amount is low even with 5/5 Barbaric Yawp. While it is still a DPS increase, it won’t as useful as the extra Gun Damage for most weapons.
Since Eridian is a tier 3 pet, he gets splash damage on his attack command as well. Unfortunately, unlike Gunslinger and Countess, he has the worst base damage out of any pet’s attack command. Splash is splash and with a dedicated build you can still get it to do more than most of the other pets, but not by much, and not enough to justify building around it.
Spiderant
Spiderants are very interesting. With All My BFFs, their base regen applies to their own health, making them able to withstand tremendous amounts of punishment even with low health regen. This also makes them a great choice for support builds utilizing All My BFFs to grant team health regen. This also makes them great for healing teammates since All My BFFs applies your healing percentage to the entire team.
Two of the spiderants are come in elemental variants, meaning they can stack Frenzy with their DoTs, and have synergy with the Pearl, Flesh Melter, and Consecutive Hit anointments. They are very quirky, but extremely useful.
Spiderant Centurion
Requires no skill points to unlock
FL4K is joined by a loyal Spiderant companion, which will cause FL4K to constantly regenerate health.
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Attack Command : The Spiderant charges into enemies.
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Passive Bonus : Regenerates +1.0% of Max Health/sec
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Base Damage melee : 4,939
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Attack Command : 11,853
Great in: N/A
Centurion has the same problem as the other tier 1 pets: no second passive means it will be instantly invalidated the second you unlock Scorcher. It also doesn’t have any interesting mechanics, which sucks because the other spiderants have them in spades.
Be aware that as of 7/23 patch, her attack command is dealing 60% of the damage it should be doing.
Spiderant Scorcher
Requires 10 skill points invested in Hunter to unlock
FL4K’s Spiderant evolves into a Scorcher, occasionally dealing Incendiary Damage to all enemies nearby. While accompanied by the Scorcher, FL4K constantly regenerates health and deals increased Elemental Damage.
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Attack Command : The Scorcher charges enemies.
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Passive Bonus : Regenerates +1.0% of Max Health/sec, +10.0% Elemental Damage
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Base Damage melee : 4,939
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Attack Command : 11.853
Great in: Stat stick
Scorcher is overloaded on good things. Her elemental damage buff is absolutely bonkers, and is one of the most powerful damage bonuses you can get for FL4K. Considering how low most of FL4K’s health regen skills are, the 3% you get from this skill with 5/5 Barbaric Yawp is actually substantial. She is also surprisingly effective at stacking Frenzy with her lava pool attack, which does a decent amount of damage itself. This attack is also great at stacking the Consecutive Hits anointment and the Pearl of Ineffable Knowledge.
Be aware that as of 7/23 patch, her attack command is dealing 60% of the damage it should be doing.
Spiderant Countess
Requires 15 skill points invested in Hunter to unlock
FL4K’s Spiderant evolves into a Countess, which will cause FL4K to constantly regenerate health and gain Damage Reduction.
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Attack Command : The Countess burrows underground and then emerges dealing Corrosive Damage in an area.
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Passive Bonus : Regenerates +1.0% of Max Health/sec, +5.0% Damage Reduction
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Base Damage melee : 4,939
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Attack Command : 29632
(Effected by splash damage, AOE)
Great in: Attack Command builds
Countess is amazing choice for damage, equal to Gunslinger under the right circumstances. Her teleportation attack command is extremely useful for moving her around the battlefield and behind cover, and it also does a boatload of damage when built around. Countess can also stack the Flesh Melter artifact for you, although she doesn’t benefit herself.
Definitely don’t take her for the passive though. You have several other sources of damage reduction that cost less points and give the same amount as Countess.
Final Notes
Hopefully this guide helps you on your way to min-maxing your battle buddy! I expect there to be some changes to pets in the future so these ratings are subject to change. Until then though, GLHF and bring plenty of Skag chow! 
If you know I was wondering what the maximum mayhem level in the new mayhem 2