pet-battle-strategies
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Corefire Imp will melt faces and take names
Corefire Imp may be one of the underdogs out there in the battle pet world. I'm sure some pet battlers use this little troublemaker on teams, but sadly, I haven't seen him in many PvP battles. A diamond in the rough, I tell you! Corefire Imp has a chance to drop off of Magmadar in Molten Core. Collect the imp's 11 battle pet friends hiding in a few old world raids and earn the Raiding with Leashes achievement, which rewards the fabulous Mr. Bigglesworth. So, even if you're not interested in rotating the imp onto your teams, farming him up is worth it. Corefire Imp is of the Humanoid family, but wields mostly Elemental attacks, with a few other types thrown in: Slot 1 Burn or Rush Slot 2 Immolation or Flamethrower Slot 3 Cauterize or Wild Magic The real strength of Corefire Imp is that he makes a great tank. The imp's only weakness is to Undead attacks, which are relatively rare. The Humanoid passive -- recovering 4% maximum health every attack -- is what really wins in combination with his abilities. Let's take a closer look!
No experience multiplier for Elite Battle Pets, working as intended
I started my Beasts of Fable quest line for the first time after 5.2 went live and was curious about how much experience a low level pet would receive when defeating an Elite Battle Pet. I was pretty excited. Would my newbie little Crawling Claw instantly complete most of his leveling journey? Nope. He earned 224 XP. Which, in the scope of battle pet leveling, is peanuts. Not even worth bringing a low level battle pet in to soak experience. But these are Elite Battle Pets! What's the dealio? Could it be a bug? I took to Twitter to find out, and was pleasantly surprised to receive an answer from Lead Content Designer Cory "Mumper" Stockton. @kristin @cm_zarhym @ghostcrawler Yes, this is intended. They have higher drop rates for rare stones and alt panda pets. - Cory Stockton (@mumper) March 7, 2013 So, we should just stick to power leveling battle pets elsewhere. At least we have a great chance to earn rare Battle-Stones and cute pandas while plowing through the Beasts of Fable.
Capture a Crow when the Darkmoon Faire's in town
If you're into battle pets, the Darkmoon Faire needs to be on your monthly to-do list. Outside of the variety of pets and mounts available in exchange for Darkmoon Prize Tickets, Darkmoon Island is home to a few wild battle pets, including the Crow. Here's a rundown of its abilities: Slot 1 Peck or Alpha Strike Slot 2 Squawk or Call Darkness Slot 3 Murder or Nocturnal Strike We have some basic Flying-type abilities here, and between Peck and Alpha Strike, the latter is usually recommended. Even with a slower breed of Crow, the Flying family passive grants 50% extra speed above 50% health, so you can expect that extra hit from Alpha Strike. In slots 2 and 3, you have two paths to choose from. If you're going up against an Elemental battle pet with the Crow (not recommended), Squawk and Murder may be better choices, but against any other type, Call Darkness and Nocturnal Strike will be your powerhouse combo.
Patch 5.2 PTR: Triple turkey stack gobbled by pet battle crowd control nerf
Now that MoP has been out for a few months, I find myself enjoying pet battles far more than I thought I would. That being said, it was only a matter of time before griefing made its way into this part of the game as well -- even if it is by turkeys. Yes, turkeys. It all started with the rather harmless sounding "Triple Turkey." Unfortunately, it's not a sandwich I can nom on, but is instead something much more sinister in the world of pet battles. The Triple Turkey comp quickly became the flavor of the month for trolls in PvP pet battles, using abusing the irritating Food Coma ability to the max. If you've never encountered it before, Food Coma puts the opponent to sleep for two rounds, on a five round cooldown. But that cooldown only applies to the turkey who casts it. So, we were left with creative individuals who would use Food Coma, swap to a second turkey, use Food Coma, swap, and so on.
Sporeling Sprout, the humanoid wild pet you've always wanted
If you haven't purchased the Pandaren Monk pet off of the Blizzard store (or don't have access to the numerous limited edition murlocs and holiday pets), it can be a challenge finding a good humanoid pet to use in pet battles, especially early on in your battling career. The first one you'll gain access to is the recently implemented Harpy Youngling from the Northern Barrens, but it isn't very good as a humanoid pet as it has primarily flying-type moves. You can acquire the Stunted Yeti as early as level 12 in Feralas, but in my humble opinion, the first humanoid wild pet worth its weight is Zangarmarsh's Sporeling Sprout, acquired around pet level 18. The Sporeling Sprout, which spawns in Zangarmarsh near Sporeggar, possesses a moveset that deals a mix of humanoid, undead, and elemental damage, all depending on which abilities you decide to use. Its attacks are as follows:
Creature Feature: The Tiny Twister, ruiner of the bench
Not all wild battle pets spawn by the same rules. Finding the pet you want may be more involved than making a cursory flyover of a zone while watching your minimap. Some wild pets only spawn during certain weather conditions. Some wild pets share spawns with full-fledged mobs. Today's pet, the Tiny Twister, is the latter sort ... maybe. The Tiny Twister is an Elemental-type pet that can be found in the Arathi Highlands. The curious thing about this pet is that players aren't completely sure how its spawn works. There are three different common beliefs about its spawning: It shares its spawn with the Thundering Exiles in the area, so you must kill them for a chance at a Tiny Twister spawn It shares its spawn with any other type of wild pet in the area, so you must eliminate those for a chance at a Tiny Twister spawn Only X number of Tiny Twisters can spawn in a given length of time, so all you can do is wait There is more evidence for that second option than any other, but without the ability to see the coding behind its spawns, we can't be too sure in any direction. In any case, killing the Thundering Exiles and eliminating other wild pets in the area would be a good way to pass the time while waiting for a Tiny Twister to spawn, so it doesn't matter which theory is correct, in any case. Engaging in all of the above applies in one way or another. All of that being said, if you rush out to Arathi Highlands immediately after a server reset, you'll find the place absolutely littered with these little guys and will have no problem catching one whatsoever.
The Terrible Turnip is a pet collector's best friend
If you're on a quest to catch all of the wild pets Azeroth has to offer, there's one pet you'll want to add to your arsenal as soon as possible: the Terrible Turnip. Why? Two words, my friends: Weakening Blow. Weakening Blow is an Elemental ability unique to the Terrible Turnip. It is, perhaps, the most powerful tool in a pet collector's arsenal. Weakening Blow cannot reduce an enemy's health below 1. That means, if you're using your Terrible Turnip, you'll never again accidentally kill that rare-quality Nether Faerie Dragon you've been spending hours attempting to find. It also means you don't need to continuously level mid-range pets to prevent your level 25s from insta-gibbing critters in old world zones, should you need to go back and find something you missed. The Terrible Turnip, even at level 25, will never kill those low level critters. In the world of pet collecting, nothing is more essential to your toolkit than Weakening Blow.
Pet battles are magic with the Nether Faerie Dragon
At its most basic level, pet battles are a game of rock, paper, scissors. Flying beats Aquatic, Aquatic beats Elemental, and so forth. However, there are a few pets that change up that dynamic and add another level of complexity to the system. The Nether Faerie Dragon, for example, is a Flying pet. Despite its Flying designation, it abandons most stock Flying abilities, possessing a range of powerful Magic abilities instead. Its abilities are as follows: Slot 1 Slicing Wind or Evanescence Slot 2 Arcane Blast or Life Exchange Slot 3 Moonfire or Cyclone Only two out of six spells on this Flying-type pet are actually Flying abilities, while the rest are Magic. Choosing between Slicing Wind and Evanescence is purely a matter of personal preference -- the former provides more offensive versatility while the latter provides more defensive options. However, it almost seems foolish to pass up the deadly combination of Arcane Blast and Moonfire.
