Back when I was around 1000 PvP victories I thought the Robo-Chick was awesome. It was my go to Mech. After becoming more experienced in pet battling I moved away from it. It was gathering dust until I brought it out for 100 Battles: Bandicoon. Now that it’s fresh in my memory I remember how much fun I had with it so I’m gonna give it some more playtime.
I’ll be using an S/S breed (325 speed) with Batter, Overtune, and Wind-Up. My two attacks are mechanical, I could go with Peck instead of Batter to diversify my attacks, but I like having a multiple attack on a speed pet. Overtune may seem like a waste on an S/S pet, but I like to use it on birds. Also 325 will tie a lot of pets in the speed department, I may need it to make sure I go first. That, and the other choice is Rebuild. I don’t plan on running any multiple Mech teams so Rebuild goes to waste. Finally what can I say about Wind-Up, I love it. A 10% damage buff if you are patient and you then you can unload it for 594 damage when you choose.
I looked through my teams and I have four pre-existing teams, but I’ll only use two of them. I would like to make some new teams, hopefully I can be a little bit more creative. Lately it’s been all about my Spirit Crab, Basilisk, and Warbot. Hey why not? If that’s what’s fun to me now then I’ll go for it. Screw creativity!
Team 1 (Back to Basics)
S/S Banicoon (Tongue Lash, Survival, Poison Fang)
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
A team I made for my Badicoon battles. It did alright, going 7-3.
Win: Restless Shadeling, Scourged Whelpling, Twilight Fiendling
I know that it’s generally agreed upon that the Fiendling is a bad PvP choice, but it looks so darn cool. I have to say that this P/P breed sure hit hard. Not quite hard enough. It was a close battle with the Bandicoon being the sole survivor with 1 hp thanks to Survival.
Loss: Nether Ray Fry, Muckbreath, Harbinger of Flame
I made a bad call. I thought I could survive a Surge before my Failsafe kicked in, which would guarantee a turn to unleash my Wind-up. But the Surge took me took me to 0 hp, I couldn’t swap because I was Bleeding, I never got my Wind-Up off.
Loss: Direhorn Runt, Tiny Snowman, Winter’s Little Helper
Too much Elemental damage for my Mech, not enough Critter to absorb it. I’ve played this peson a fair amount and they do well.
Win: Zandalari Anklerender, Alpine Foxling, Spectral Porcupette
I was playing with fire and wanted to see if the Black Claw/Hunting Party combo still did crazy damage. It does, 1.3k on the second turn of Hunting Party. My Robo-Chick’s Failsafe saved it, then it took out most of the Anklerender and put a hurt on the Foxling when my opponent swapped.
Win: Fel Flame, Qiraji Guardling, Sourged Whelpling
I was thinking about how awesome Survival was for giving me the win when my 95% accuracy Snap missed the kill shot twice in a row. Luckily I had enough hp remaining on the Crab so that two missed snaps didn’t prevent me from winning. Still, that was some drama I didn’t need.
Record: 3-2
Assessment: The Chick has gotten off to a mediocre start. When all else fails blame the Bandicoon.
Team 2 (Bird Is The Word)
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
P/S Warpstalker Hatchling (Blinkstrike, Triple Snap, Devour)
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
This is my anti-bird team. A good pet battler will usually make counter teams that can stand up to all comers, not just the team they were designed to beat. Not me haha. If I want to take something down bad enough to run my “anti” teams I go all the way and take the risk of failing miserably against other teams. Therefore I’m not expecting this team to do well.
Win: Silkbead Snail, Celestial Dragon, Summit Kid
I took a gamble thinking my opponent would start with the Kid so I started with the Chick. My guess was right, the Kid stayed in and died to a Wind-Up and Batter. Next came the snail so I brought the Warpstalker. Good match ups for me. I didn’t even need the Imp, my Chick and Stalker took the whole team out, and the Chick even had 7 hp to spare.
Win: Gilnean Raven, Infinite Whelpling, Lil’ Tarecgosa
Even with an anti-bird team Ravens still scare me. You just never know when the Darkness misses are going to totally screw you. Thankfully the misses were at a minimum. I had one scare where the Infinite Whelpling put me to Sleep, but there was no chain Sleeping. The anti-bird team did its job and beat a bird. Boy would that have been embarrassing otherwise.
Win: Searing Scorchling, Celestial Dragon, Hyjal Bear Cub
The moonlight helped the Imp’s healing, when I brought the Imp back in the end it had almost full health. I’m not a big fan of moves like Triple Snap that are completely random on the second and third hit, as opposed to moves like Flurry where the second hit is automatic. This time the Warpstalker only hit it’s first move, and that’s such a tiny attack.
Win: Anubisath Idol, Amethyst Spiderling, Amethyst Spiderling
When I saw this team I wasn’t sure what their strategy was going to be, I’m still not quite sure. Sandstorm misses were present. It was close, my Warpstalker was the sole survivor with 180 hp.
Win: Harbinger Of Flame, Proto-Drake Whelp, Alpine Foxling
The Proto-Drake did well, it managed to stay alive for longer than I expected with both Lift and Ancient Blessing. I had to dance around all the Harbinger’s Elemental damage with my Chick. This was a difficult and engaging battle.
Record: 5-0
I was worried this team wouldn’t do well against non-fliers and it went undefeated. Shows you how much I know. The Fiendish Imp makes any team that it’s on a danger.
Team 3
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
S/S Mongoose Pup (Gnaw, Survival, Dive)
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling (Crystal Prison, Feign Death, Thrash)
A fast and somewhat fragile team.
Win: Ethereal Soul Trader. Gregarious Grell, Scourged Whelpling
I was faster than all of them so I could really control the battle. I didn’t even have to use Survival.
Loss: Hopling, Mongoose, Pandaren Earth Spirit
It’s embarrassing to admit but I played this one badly. I left my Basilisk as my only pet to take on the faster Hopling because I thought I had the win wrapped up. I should know better. The Basilisk is worthless against faster opponents.
Win: Clockwork Gnome, Infinite Whelpling, Kun-Lai Runt
A message to all: please keep bringing those Kun-Lai Runts. It really is helping me level my alts fast.
Win: Anubisath Idol, Netherspace Abyssal, Baby Ape
I saw the Sandstorm and knew I was in trouble. With so many multi-attacks the only way I can take down the Idol is by spamming Wind-Up. I started out with my Basilisk and then swapped to my Chick. After the fist Wind-Up missed in the Sand I was bummed. After that they all hit and the Idol thankfully stayed in to take them. After that it was still a Sand fest, but I was able to survive with my Mongoose long enough to see off the Sand. After that the usual trickery was enough to wrap up the win.
Loss: Gilnean Raven, Crow, Blighthawk
I knew I would be put to the test against this team, as fun as the Basilisk and Mongoose are they have a big weakness against birds. Not all is lost, in the past my Robo-Chick has been a good bird killer. Overtune makes the Chick faster than Flyers, that’s what its sole purpose is. But in order to damage one must hit, which is the opposite of what my Robo-Chick was doing: missing.
Record: 3-2
Assessment: I really enjoy the Mongoose/Basilisk combo, though I’m not sure the Robo-Chick is a good match for them. I had fun though, and that’s the point.
Team 4
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling (Crystal Prison, Feign Death, Thrash)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
Here I go again throwing in my two favorites with the Robo-Chick.
Win: Fel Flame, Emerald Proto-Whelp, Giant Bone Spider
After some Prison/Feign combos and the Crab doing its thing my opponent had a dead dragon and half a Flame. I had two full pets so they decided to throw in the towel.
Win: Infinite Whelpling, Amber Moth, Kun-Lai Runt
A different Kun-Lai Runt, the usual result. It seems like people aren’t even thinking about Deep Freeze being avoided anymore. It’s just Chill then Deep Freeze, which is so easy to avoid.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Oily Slimeling, Jungle Grub
Same story as above. I feigned the Deep Freeze and in comes my Crab to make quick work of the Runt.
Win: Pint-Sized Pink Pachyderm, Darkmoon Zeppelin, Lava Crab
I think this may be the first time I’ve solo’d an entire team with my Basilisk. They swapped a lot, and when they attacked they used AoEs, with the exception of the elephant. Forums, “Basilisks are OP” thread incoming!
Draw: Cinder Kitten, Stunted Direhorn, Lil’ Ragnaros
Aww, 37 hp away from the win. Now that people have figured out that going the Trap/Sons route is better than the Conflagrate route Lil’ Ragnaros is turning into one of those pets I hate to see. It’s no fun being trapped. In this case it’s really no fun being trapped with a Direhorn breathing down your neck.
Record: 4-0-1
Assessment: My two favorite pets performed well as usual.
Team 5
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
H/P Blighted Squirrel (Scratch, Adrenaline Rush, Rabid Strike)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
Win: Clockwork Gnome, Fiendish Imp, Scourged Whelpling
Nice start. This a top flight team. I was able to take the Imp out when it was rooted by the Whirlpool. Adrenaline Rush was nice to outspeed the Imp, it saved me from taking an extra burn before I took it out.
Win: Mount Hyjal Cub, Searing Scorchling, Celestial Dragon
It’s nice having Whirlpool as coverage for the Chick, I can lay it down as a threat to any salivating Elementals who have eyes for my Chick. It worked once on the Scorchling but the second time my opponent thought it would be worth it to take a Whirlpool with an Elemental. It wasn’t.
Draw: Kun-Lai Runt, Mr. Bigglesworth, Enchanted Broom
When you have no avaoidance this combo can be a PITA to deal with. I had no avoidance.
Win: Nexus Whelpling, Clockwork Gnome, Arcane Eye
From running an Arcane Storm team myself I know that Mechs are its worst enemy. I have a Mech. My Robo-Chick took out the Eye and most of the Gnome before expiring. Finishing off the dragon was easy.
Loss: Stunted Direhorn, Anubisath Idol, Fiendish Imp
Sandstorm and Direhorns. I’ve played this team quite a bit lately. The Imp seems like an odd fit on a Sandstorm team, but this person pulls it off pretty well.
Record: 3-1-1
Assessment: The more I use the Blighted Squirrel the more I like it. Only three wins for this team, I hoped to to better.
Team 6
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Plagued Blood)
S/S Black Rat (Scratch, Poison Fang, Survival)What? Did someone say something about fast Critters? Okay, I guess I’ll have to put the 341 speed Rat to work.
Win: Celestial Dragon, Swamp Croaker, Jungle Darter
I started with the Chick against the Dragon and took some strong damage so I swapped after charging my Wind-Up. The Rat was able to put up its Dot and get some backline healing thanks to Plagued Blood. Those Frogs were brutal on my Whelpling though. Bubble (and any two attack block) is annoying because if you attack it with multi-attacks the attacks don’t count individually for the purposes of taking out the shield. My Tail Sweep hits twice per turn, it should knock out the Bubble. Flurry is an exception to this. I know that Flurry will knock out a Decoy in one turn and the same is probably true for Bubble. Back to the battle, my Rat had to hit two Scratches in a row for the win and it came through.
Win: Lil’ Ragnaros, Darkmoon Tonk, Ethereal Soul Trader
My Whelpling took out the soul trader easily. It was going to be a close one until I anticipated the Ion Cannon and swapped in my 6 hp Robo-Chick. Your Cannon just did 6 damage.
Win: Dusk Spiderling, Jungle Darter, Clockwork Gnome
Battles like these are so fun. My opponent has the Gnome, I have my Scourged Whelpling, other than that we have some underused mid-level pets. It’s all about strategy and exploiting strengths and weaknesses. I was able to force the Chick Versus Spider at the end which allowed the win.
Win: Nordrassil Wisp, Darkmoon Tonk, Kun-Lai Runt
I used the Rat’s speed to get Poison Fang up on the Wisp, which blinded the Rat. I swap to my Scourged Whelpling. Don’t you think it would be wise to get rid of the Magic pet? I do over 600 damage with Tail Sweep. Ok, maybe they forgot I had Tail Sweep. Now would be a good time to swap. Wait, I have a better idea! Keep the Wisp in then run away after I kill it with another Tail Sweep! And that’s what happened.
Win: Nordrassil Wisp, Darkmoon Tonk, Kun-Lai Runt
Umm, really? A few hours lated I queue up and I get the exact same person as above. Unfortunately, it was the exact same game: I Poison with Rat, swap to Whelpling, Tail Sweep twice, they run away. I’m all for making mistakes, but please learn from them. And please don’t run so easily. Sure it’s essentially two versus three but your Tonk can dish out the damage and your Runt can seriously hurt my mech.
Record: 5-0
The last two wins were on the cheap side. The Scourged Whelpling is a really awsome pet, it can fit well with a number of teams. I don’t think I’ve had enough Rat yet, I see some Rat testing in the future.
Team 7
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
H/S Mirror Strider
P/P Emperor Crab
More coverage against Elementals. With two Aquatics I’m scared of birds, as usual.
Win: Nether Ray Fry, Electrified Razortooth, Scourged Whelpling
This was shaping up to be a real nail-biter. Until my opponent swapped in the Razortooth to take a Whirlpool. They really wanted that bonus against my Robo-Chick. The poor Razortooth didn’t get a move off.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Cogblade Raptor, Silky Moth
I won this one on a lucky crit. My Strider had 195 hp versus the Runt, who had 800+ hp. I Pumped and cross my fingers, it worked for 938 damage. And just when I was about to rage at losing twice in a row to this person (I just lost with another team).
Win: Baneling, Scourged Whelpling, Unborn Val’kyr
“Interesting” battle. It was nice to see a Baneling, there aren’t too mant running around my meta. Then it Exploded first turn. Mis-press? Inexperience? Who knows. They brought in the Scourged Whelpling, used Dreadful Breath until it the Whelpling died, then ran away. Like I said, “interesting”.
Loss: Qiraji Guardling, Ash Spiderling, Clockwork Gnome
It’s games like this that make me hate Sandstorm. A killshot miss is annoying.
Win: Shore Crab, Shore Crab, Shore Crab
Bow in the presence of your Emperor! My P/P Emperor was able to solo two of the H/P Shore Crabs, and still have 800ish hp left. The third one ran.
Record: 4-1
Assessment: I thought Fliers would destroy my two Aquatics, but this team was able to withstand two of them, even if one was a crit win and the other was poor play.
Team 8
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
S/S Black Rat (Scratch, Poison Fang, Survival)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
Ok, you caught me, this is close copy of team 1, but instead of Tongue Lash the Rat has Scratch. It’s also 341 speed, which might come in handy against Imp’s. What can I say? I like fast Critters. It’s no secret that I also like Undead crustaceans.
Win: Pandaren Earth Spirit, Corefire Imp, Magical Crawdad
Any win against that stinkin’ Crawdad is a good win. My opponent kept the Spirit in vs. the my Rat, it did weak damage and with the Critter racial there were no stuns. The Crab took care of the Imp, the Robo-Chick Wound-Up the Crawdad into oblivion. I’m loving this Mech at the moment.
Win: Winter Reindeer, Rapana Whelk, Scourged Whelpling
Facing two Critters with the Spirit Crab was not a difficult task. Which is a funny thing to say since Critters are supposed to be hard counters to undead.
Win: Dark Whelpling, Scorpid, Shrine Fly
Back before pet battles and shared pets I used to make sure all my toons had some sore of Whelpling. I thought they were awesome. Now they’re just meh due to their lack of PvP prowess. Like this Dark Whelpling here. Easy victory. Having used the Shrine Fly a decent amount myself let me know exactly what to expect.
Loss: Qiraji Guardling, Celestial Dragon, Amber Moth
I think it’s safe so say that Sandstorm teams account for a lot of my losses.
Win: Enchanted Broom, Netherspace Abyssal, Mini Thor
When will having a 341 speed Rat pay off? Now. At the end of the battle the Rat was able to survive an extra round to kill the Broom for the win. I still had a low health Crab in the back so it wasn’t all that dramatic.
Win: Tainted Waveling, Sunreaver Micro-Sentry, Cogblade Raptor
The Sunreaver took out my Spirit Crab one on one, I found that to be a surprise. Never underestimate the power of Extra Plating is the lesson there. After my Crab died I brought in the Chick, it tore the Raptor a new one under Lightning. The Waveling fled when I swapped to my Rat and still had a near full-health Chick.
Record: 5-1
Oops, an extra battle. Pretty good for a Critter that doesn’t see much PvP use. Okay, who’s kidding who? The Crab carried the Rat.
Team 9
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
P/P Lil’ Ragnaros (Sulfuras Smash, Magma Trap, Sons of The Flame)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
Let me give Lil’ Ragnaros a chance. It’s annoying when I face him, let me share the annoyingness with the world.
Win: Golden Civet, Phoenix Hatchling, Celestial Dragon
It’s nice to see someone using a Mongoose/Civet well. This battle involved a lot of swapping. My Traps ended up going off at good times for me, which reminds me of why I don’t like Rag that much. It seems like a lot of rng. Your success is based somewhat off of when your Traps decide to detonate.
Loss: Anubisath Idol, Darkmoon Tonk, Lil’ Deathwing
Sometimes I think I’m playing two separate games: pet battles and Sandstorm battles. With the accuracy reduction and damage reduction it just gives the battle a completely different feel. But what was really funny about this game was a non-Sandstorm miss led to my downfall. The Tonk was recovering from its Ion Cannon so I set up a Whirlpool for the incoming Deathwing. All I had to do was hit with my 95% Snap and down goes the Tonk, in comes Deathwing to the Whirlpool. But I missed, the Whirlpool went off on the turn that I took the Tonk down. Not to mention the Tonk got another Missile off on me. That one miss was a huge swing in damage.
Draw: Ghostly Skull, Grinder, Fel Flame
That dumb rock Grinder hit two stuns. One of them was against Rag. I probably should have swapped, but then when Rag comes back he’ll always be slower. If things go wrong for Rag he sure goes down quick. That’s the strategy I use versus Rag, take him down hard and fast or else get hit hard.
Win: Grinder, Searing Scorchling, Sunreaver Microsentry
This time Grinder was not so lucky. The Crab shields helped against the Lightning. Whirlpool can really hurt those Elementals.
Win: Harbinger of Flame, Phoenix Hatchling, Soul Of The Aspects
I tried to get the Robo-Chick in versus the Soul but my opponent wasn’t gonna let me. Sometimes you just have to take it like a… Chick. I did as much damage as I could before the Harbinger melted me. Rag was able to get off two Traps. In the end I used Sons and there was nothing for my opponent to do but stand there and die.
Record: 3-1-1
Assessment: As I mentioned above Rag relies a little bit too much on rng for my tastes. Only winning three out of five shows if I do decide to use Rag regularly I should practice some more. The Chick is performing very well, I’m remembering why I liked it so much. Wind-Up did a really good job when facing the Idol.
Team 10
S/S Robo-Chick (Batter, Overtune, Wind-Up)
P/P Diemetradon Hatchling (Quick Attack, Triple Snap, Ravage)
S/S Mongoose Pup (Gnaw, Survival, Dive)
I’m feeling some H-envy when I look at those breeds. This is a fragile team.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Crimson Shale Hatchling, Silkbead Snail
To me this is what pet battles should be like more often. There’s no uber pets that you have to plan around because they’re so blatantly powerful. There are six somewhat equal pets (the KLR is probably a slight step above the others), how can we out think and out strategize each other? As expected with all of the strong and weak attacks there was a lot of swapping and trying to get the upper hand. My Mongoose was in good shape with strong attacks versus both the Snail and Shale spider. Both my Dive’s hit which helped propel me to the win. I should mention that both of the un-Chilled Deep Freezes didn’t proc a stun.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Crimson Shale Hatchling, Silkbead Snail
Same opponent as above. We both tried to do things a little differently, this time my opponent started with the Runt and I started with the Chick. Last game there were no Deep Freeze stuns, this time I was not so lucky. My Diemetradon got stunned upon entry and I decided to sacrifice it in order to put in the fast Mongoose upon its death. It worked, I took out the Runt that way. Both Dives hit for me, giving me a combined four out of four on an 80% move.
Win: Lesser Voidcaller, Wild Jade Hatchling, Rapana Whelk
What is this, National Snail day? Luckily for me I have a lot of anti-Critter. I was tricked by the move selection, I’m so used to the Lightning/Cyclone combo that sometimes I forget about Lift. What was a decent battle was somewhat ruined by my opponent leaving early, but I had the win in hand. I’ve come back from worse, I guess they’re not as confident.
Win: Lesser Voidcaller, Wild Jade Hatchling, Twilight Spider
Same opponent, they left early again. Sorry that I chose to dive and avoid your Lift and Curse Of Doom at the same time. I’ll take the win and the experience.
Record: 4-0
Assessment: I’m only doing four battles because I did six with Team 8. This team is unbeatable! Ha ha of course not. I didn’t face one top tier pet (unless you count the Kun-Lol Runt). I think I may go to a minimum of ten battles in future battle logs, five just doesn’t provide as much insight as I would like.
Overall Record: 40-7-3
Overall Assessment: Really? The Robo-Chick had a better overall record than the Spirit Crab, somehow that’s hilarious to me. As with any support (or lower-tier) pet it’s all about who you pair it with. The Robo-Chick had a lot of powerful buddies. Still, an 80% win rate is good. There was no team that really stood out as showing off the Robo-Chick’s talents. It can do well with a number of different teammates. I will keep some of these teams and hopefully use them some more. As usual, fun is the goal of any game and there was definitely some fun to be had.
Published August 2013, Patch 5.3
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