Which is more desirable: Ice Aura or Ice Spikes? I WAS trying to breed Ice Spikes into my Lykos lines, but now I am thinking I probably should have been trying for Ice Aura instead:

Ice Aura can be used AT THE SAME TIME as Ice Breath in the Arena when using bite attack. With the Ice Spikes, you can only use EITHER Ice Spikes OR Ice Breath for each Arena attack. Also, Ice Aura has a special maneuver on the battlefield.

What do you guys think?

I'm thinking the opposite, actually.
Sharp claws and Ice spikes make a pretty nice combo for 75% increased damage on Rush. A normal pet hits 115-120 base damage at max level, making a final rush damage of 201 - 210. Preeeeetty nice. And Lykos really only have the choice of Sharp claws or agile paws for paws. They don't really have the great dodge genes to run dodge-counterstrike, so Sharp claws should be a given. On the other hand, Ice breath increases Bite by 50%, and has the interaction between Elemental resist/Elemental weakness going on. 

Being less predictable in arena as defender is a bonus too, so Ice breath/Ice spikes works with that. Being the attacker though, predictable doesn't matter much - I still feel Musical Larynx/Ice spikes/Sharp claws works better than Ice Breath/Ice aura. For battlefield though, definitely Ice breath/Ice aura.*

Showing off the 75% increased damage in action. 35 dmg Rush at level 1.

I'm kind of interested how Lykos will do as a stunner too, Musical Larynx/Ice aura. Much less damage, much worse stun chance than rocs, but it can proc on all attacks. I dont think its worth losing all the damage from Ice breath/Ice spikes, but I think a Lykos like that would be pretty fun to play.

*Edit: Actually, Ice spikes gives Strafing Strike in Tactics, letting you run Movement/attack builds. I'd probably choose it over the Ice aura skill, since chances are your opponent won't have red skills to let you activate the Deadly Frost tactic. Deadly Frost has more conditions than Phobos and Deimos too, which is kind of strange since they basically are the same skill. Ice aura and berserk together can make a nice consistent pure attack tactic team that rerolls though... Hm.

Thank you, Aelisk! There are a lot of layers of complexity I had not considered......you have given me a lot to think about!