My motivation is simple: the Fly has done well against Direhorns, and they are currently the most common pet on my meta. I also like the fact that the Fly has a Critter move which is good against Undead. This will be my fist attempt at 100 Battles, hopefully I won’t get bored of the Fly. I’m only going to use one pre-made team and create nine new teams to use. Let’s do this!
Team 1
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Shadow Slash, Immolate, Sear Magic)
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
A couple of DoTs for Swarm to help out.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Giant Bone Spider, Direhorn Runt
I Gated the Bone Spider right away, in came the Direhorn. I was going to Swarm, but I didn’t load the right moves. Glowing Toxin will have to do. The DoTs slowly wear down the Direhorn as it gets swapped for the Bone Spider. The Fly Cocoons the Death Grip. Surprise, I have a Critter move. Spider dies fast, Imp takes care of the Direhorn, Fetish finishes off the Runt.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Amber Moth, Elder Python
This time I took Swarm like I wanted, the Imp and Moth did their scripted dance in the beginning (Moth Dust/Immolation, Burn/Cocoon Strike), but my opponent kept the Moth in for the Nether Gate. It basically went downhill from there.
Win: Fiendish Imp, Direhorn Runt, Kun-Lai Runt
I just had a draw against this opponent with team 2 below. After I won the initial Nether Gate vs. Nether Gate coin flip and the Direhorn missed with a Charge my spineless opponent ran away. Really? You run the most powerful Imp + Direhorn comp and you run at the first sign of trouble? Sad.
Win: Feline Familiar, Clockwork Gnome, Crawling Claw
The Imp Gated out the Claw, which came back in and died to the Fly, not before Gripping the Fly out to meet its Doom in the backline. Imp vs. cat, then Gnome, then cat. It ended up with a dead Gnome and a Familiar with 67 hp for the Fetish to finish off.
Win: Gregarious Grell, Scourged Whelpling, Alpine Foxling
Scratch was hitting the Undead dragon for 500+. Got to use Sear Magic on Death and Decay. I’m racking up the wins so far, but that’s expected with the Imp, he’s currently one of the best if used right.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Direhorn Runt, Giant Bone Spider
It never gets old beating Direhorns. Or Kun-Lai Runts. The DoTs did a big part of the damage to the Direhorn. This was a close one that came down to the last shot. Would my 90% Burn hit for the win? Thankfully yes.
Loss: Anubisath Idol, Magical Crawdad, Tranquil Mechanical Yeti
Sandstorm. There has to be some way to keep my team from going undefeated. But seriously, I hate Sandstorm. I hate Crawdads. I was about to take out the Crawdad right before healed with Wish, and Sandstorm helped cause the miss.
Win: Direhorn Runt, Gilded Moth, Garden Moth
Both the Garden Moth and the Direhorn Runt were B/B. Perhaps this person thought the Direhorn could carry the team regardless of the breed. Whatever the reason for bringing bad breeds, this was still a close one. The Moth hit a Sleep, but it was a good time for me to swap anyways, so it didn’t make much of a difference.
Win: Effervescent Glowfly, Giant Rat, Dark Phoenix Hatchling
A Nether Gate miss resulted in my Imp’s death. Luckily it didn’t cost the battle. Another close one, that Rat really messed up my Fetish.
Win: Anodized Robo Cub, Squirrel, Thundertail Flapper
This is why I love Pet Battles, there’s five run of the mill pets, one top tier pet (which I’m guilty of bringing /shame), and it turns out to be a fun-filled strategic match-up. My Imp is on a miss streak, luckily I have the Pet Accuracy Recorder to tell me his Burn and Nether Gate are hitting like they’re supposed to. I don’t use Squirrels well but they often seem to do well against me, I should try and improve my Squirreling.
Record: 9-1
Overall Assessment: The Fly is off to a great start. It did have the Imp and the Fetish to help it and it didn’t face too many top flight opponents. The one time I had to face a Direhorn/Imp my opponent ran. This team luckily only saw one Sandstorm, which is always going to give it trouble.
Team 2
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Plagued Blood)
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
The Imp and Scourged Whelpling are part of my main DoT team. Hopefully the Fly won’t bring em’ down.
Draw: Fiendish Imp, Direhorn Runt, Kun-Lai Runt
The opposing Imp won the Nether Gate coin flip so I didn’t get my Immolation up until halfway through the battle, which kind of defeats the point of having an Imp. The Fly did well against the Direhorn, as expected. Of course the Fly really has to watch out for Nether Gate. A big Magic attack like that can take away your Flying bonus quick.
Win: Scourged Whelpling, Amber Moth, Brilliant Kaliri
Swarm while Plagued Blood was up did some nice healing on the Fly.
Win: Onyxian Whelpling, Snake, Marsh Fiddler
After 12 rounds both the dragon and cricket were dead, while all three of my pets had close to full health. The Snake ran.
Win: Infected Squirrel, Water Waveling, Kun-Lai Runt
I think I’m on to something good. The Imp did his job and backline healed/DoT’d, the combo of Immolation + Death and Decay + Swarm really took the Runt down fast. Bad timing for my opponent when the Deep Freeze was blocked by Cocoon.
Loss: Fiendish Imp, Fiendish Imp, Briliant Kaliri
Came down to a coin flip on the last move with Imps, my opponent won it. This was a bit disappointing because I don’t feel that my opponent played it particularly well, but a timely crit that killed my Fly and the coin flip at the end made them the winner. When losing like this I try and remember that I win by rng, too.
Loss: Fel Flame, Searing Scorchling, Darkmoon Tonk
Again with the bad luck. Started out Imp vs. Flame, Flame Burned, I used Immolation, Flame Scorches Earth, I Burned, which missed. Not a big deal, I gotta get him outta there now before the Conflag comes. I miss Nether Gate, the Conflag comes as expected, I have one dead Imp, the Flame had 1400+ hp. It was actually closer than I thought it would be at the end but it’s hard to come back from such a horrible start.
Win: Lil’ Ragnaros, Zandalari Kneebiter, Kun-Lai Runt
This time it’s personal (I hate Lil’ Rag). Gated Rag out twice before he could do anything. I ate the Runt’s Deep Freeze while chilled with the Imp since I knew I’d recuperate thanks to Plagued Blood. Which basically amounted to the Runt doing minimal net damage, if any. From there it was just a matter of swapping at the right time so as not to get decimated by the Kneebiter.
Win: Hopling, Darkmoon Tonk, Infected Squirrel
My opponent made a big mistake interrupting my Swarm with Hopling, which allowed me to get out of it early after applying Shattered Defenses. The debuff without getting locked into three rounds was nice. After making this mistake (which resulted in Hopling’s death) and then missing a Missle my opponent white flagged it.
Win: Spirit of Competition, Pandaren Earth Spirit, Kun-Lai Runt
The Imp and Scourged Whelpling have so much synergy. This wasn’t much of an interesting battle, I kept the Imp in until it had around 500 hp, took it out for the Scourged Whelpling, later brought in the Fly. Having the two DoTs and Plagued Blood up and then Swarming was exactly what I wanted. It worked well.
Loss: Clockwork Gnome, Wild Jade Hatchling, Enchanted Lantern
If you don’t any type of defense Lightning can really wreck you. Add in a miss from a Burn, a timer run-down trick/mistake (I was thinking of what to do for about 10 seconds and all of the sudden my turn was over), and it wasn’t pretty. The timer run-down was really lame, but I think I was heading for a loss anyways.
Record: 6-3-1
Overall Assessment: 60% win rate with a Fiendish Imp isn’t that great. This team lacks some punch.
Team 3
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Plagued Blood)
P/P Harbringer of Flame (Jab, Immolate, Conflagrate)
I brought in the Harbinger because I wanted something that packed a punch, and the Immolate ticks can benefit from the Plagued Blood.
Win: Sunreaver Micro-Sentry, Fel Flame, Enchanted Broom.
Harbinger destroyed the mech fast, the Scourged Whelpling Tail Swept the Broom, the Fly and Whelpling finished off the Flame. A fast battle.
Loss: Wild Jade Hatchling, Sunreaver Micro-Sentry, Terrible Turnip
My team could potentially do well against Lightning with all of my DoTs. Swarm with Lightning was great, but it wasn’t enough for the win this time. I really dislike Sons of the Living Root + Lightning. Another reason that Turnip is on my most hated list. That and his ugly face, which needs a good punching.
Win: Sporeling Sprout, Darkmoon Zeppelin, Eye of The Legion
I played it wrong and still ended up winning. The Eye and the Harbinger cancelled each other. The Fly did well against the Zeppelin and its Decoy. My opponent tried to explode my Fly down, but I swapped to my Scourged Whelpling at the perfect time (by blind luck, I didn’t see it coming). The Fly and the Whelpling had no trouble with the Sporeling.
Loss: Kun-Lai Runt, Ghostly Skull, Darkmoon Zeppelin
I’ve been doing so well with the Fly lately that I saw this team and didn’t really think it was a big a deal. I used Swarm at a bad time and got locked into it. I hate losing because I screwed up!
Draw: Lil’ Deathwing, Frosty, Chrominius
My Harbinger’s three misses (only one under Darkness) really hurt me here. I know it’s a draw, but it feels like a loss.
Win: Clockwork Gnome, Sunreaver Micro-Sentry, Tranquil Mechanical Yeti
When I saw it was going to be a lightning team and saw I had no shields I thought it might be a massacre. It was, but I was doing the massacring. The problem was the Yeti opened up with Ion Cannon vs. the Harbinger. 700+ damage to me, but Immolate + Conflag from a pet with 325 power meant the Yeti didn’t get off anything else. The Sunreaver came in, took an Immolate and Swapped, the Gnome decided to Repair and let my Harbinger get off another Conflag. Poor play.
Win: Baby Blizzard Bear, Pandaren Monk, Gilded Moth
Newsflash: Getting Conflagrated while Burning hurts really bad. People sometimes forget this, like this battle. The Moth missed Moth Dust, Harbinger destroyed it with Conflag, opponent couldn’t catch up after the initial setback.
Win: Lil’ Ragnaros, Celestial Dragon, Voodoo Figurine
It started out as the Celestial Dragon vs. my Harbinger of Flame. Three Jabs later the dragon was dead without getting off a heal. It did set up Lil’ Ragnaros to use Conflagrate on the Harbinger. Pain. The Fly and the Scourged Whelpling took Rag down, the Fly Scratched down the Figurine. Lil’ Rag without a Magma Trap is a lot easier to deal with.
Win: Lil’ Ragnaros, Celestial Dragon, Voodoo Figurine
Same team as before, this time the Harbinger missed a Jab, which allowed the dragon to get off a heal. Changed things up a bit, but the result was the same, albeit a closer match. Again, no Trap on Rag makes him a much less formidable opponent.
Loss: Wild Jade Hatchling, Terrible Turnip, Clockwork Gnome
So everything was going as planned, I took the Jade Hatchling down to around 300 hp and completely obliterated the Gnome with my Harbinger (by anticipating the swap: DoTing when it entered, then Conflagrating). The Harbinger dies to turrets and I put in my Fly to get a Cocoon off. Gonna swap to the Scourged Whelpling to soak the Lightning and then… I HIT THE WRONG DAMN BUTTON! I hit 3 instead of 4, all of the sudden I’m locked into a three round Swarm while the Turnip is underground. The Fly is gone lol. The Turnip ended up swapping out, letting it’s Sons refresh and it ended up killing my Scourged Whelpling, too. I went from owning to getting facerolled by a turnip, thanks to one mis-press. My opponent must have thought I was an idiot.
Record: 6-3-1
Overall Assessment: I wanted some Power from the Harbinger, I got it. Its DoT didn’t synergize well with the Plagued Blood as I thought it might. It just never worked out that way. I may keep this team to get some use out of the Harbinger but it wasn’t really all that interesting. Same record as the other Scourged Whelpling/Shrine Fly team. Perhaps I overestimated their synergy.
Team 4
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
P/P Warbot (Missle, Minefield, Extra Plating)
H/P Gilded Moth (Alpha Strike, Cocoon, Moth Dust)
Two fliers. I was going to give them some coverage against Magic in the form of a Dragonkin, but I find soft countering Magic with Mechs works quite well. With that Extra Plating most Magic attacks will feel like tickles.
Win: Oasis Moth, Desert Spider, Crawling Claw
Seems like a themed Tol’Vir Team. The Moth ate a Minefield to immediately lose the Flying bonus, the Spider ate a Minefield for 1k+ damage. It wasn’t pretty. I really like the Warbot against the Claw because if you use Extra Plating the turn immediately after Curse Of Doom the Plating will last long enough to absorb the damage when it hits.
Loss: Clockwork Gnome, Hopling, Infinite Whelpling
Wow, that’s the worst that I’ve lost in a long time. The Gnome got two repairs off, the turrets took their toll on the fragile Fliers, it was bad. Moths are funny because when they hit everything they seem like pet battle gods. If they miss a few times they go down fast.
Win: Eye of The Legion, Spirit Crab, Crawling Claw
The Eye and The Spirit Crab both used Dark Simulacrum, I think they were trying to steal my Minefield. It didn’t happen and the Warbot soloed both of them. The Claw ran.
Win: Curious Wolvar Pup, Pandaren Fire Spirit, Snarly
A very close battle, Fly won it with weak attacks against the Wolvar with only around 300 hp remaining. Extra Plating helped versus Snarly a lot.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Nexus Whelpling, Onyxian Whelpling
Another close one. Even though I had 800 hp on my Fly, I was Chilled and had a Deep Freeze coming my way, which would’ve surely taken away my Flying bonus.
Win: Crawling Claw, Stunted Direhorn, Fiendish Imp
After having the Claw and Imp die, my opponent had a full health Moth and a half-health Warbot to take down with the Direhorn. Run away little Direhorn. The Claw got a nice Scratch for 1000+ with the debuff from Swarm. All my opponents pets are getting nerfed in 5.4.
Win: Crow, Onyxian Whelpling, Hopling
I’m realizing that my Warbot does really well against Crows/Ravens with the Extra Plating. And those birds aren’t very durable so they will rarely outlast the Minefield it throws. The Shrine Fly did well against the Onyxian Whelpling.
Win: Mr. Bigglesworth, Arctic Hare, Flayer Youngling
It was looking like it was going to be a close one, my Moth had 784 hp left with a full-health bunny coming in. Until the bunny walked into a Minefield and the Sleep hit. When the bunny died I still had 784 hp.
Loss: Fiendish Imp, Fiendish Imp, Pygmy Direhorn
His Imps counter both mechs and birds, what can I do? I tried to dance around his Nether Gate so it didn’t hit a bird, I should’ve just taken taken it because I wasted a lot of turns. I got beat bad. This really is a nasty comp because: The Direhorn is the most powerful pet in the game. Its hard counter is Mechs and its soft counter is Fliers. In comes the Imp, which counters both of those. It’s annoying that so many people run these, but it’s clearly the best comp out there.
Win: Direhorn Runt, Warbot, Electrified Razortooth
Started Warbot vs. Warbot, both threw mines. I Plated and my opponent swapped to the Razortooth. I know Plating is going to do well against Blood In The Water, so I stay in. Turned out to be a good choice, I take out the Razortooth and get another Minefield down. The enemy Warbot takes it, has to throw another Minefield of its own down since the first is about to expire. He finishes my Warbot, my Moth comes in to die to the enemy Warbot, but the Fly finishes out the battle with some Scratches on a Shattered Direhorn.
Record: 8-2
Assessment: This would seem to be a good anti-Direhorn team, but thanks to the Direhorn/Imp combo it isn’t. A good team, though. Wherever I put in a Warbot I seem to win a lot. Those mines are brutal.
Team 5
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
H/S Crystal Spider (Crystal Prison, Sticky Web, Spiderling Swarm)
I’ve never run Spiderling Swarm before, seems like a one hit wonder. Hopefully I can Web then Prison then Swarm, but then what? Swap I guess. Pick up the slack Crabby!
Loss: Anubisath Idol, Direhorn Runt, Fiendish Imp
My team is not good against Sandstorm. This is a hard team to beat anyways. Spider got crushed by Direhorn.
Win: Magical Crawdad, Feline Familiar, Silent Hedgehog
The Spider combo worked perfectly, but then all it could do was spam Web or swap. Was enough to get by this team. Scratch and Shattered Defenses isn’t too shabby, it hits in the high 600s.
Win: Pet Bombling, Pandaren Earth Elemental, Hopling
I was pretty much beaten, it was the Hopling vs. my Fly, with only my weak attacks against it. But it missed not once, not twice, but three times. Rage. Lucky win for me.
Win: Corefire Imp, Magical Crawdad, Grasslands Hopper
This one ended up being a hard fought battle. It ended up with the Crystal Spider versus the Hopper, which was easy, but getting to that point took awhile. 36 round battle, could’ve been much worse.
Loss: Anubisath Idol, Direhorn Runt, Fiendish Imp
Another Sandstorm. Very unpleasant to face with multi-attacks. The Spirit Crab is actually quite good with the double shielding, but the Undead Crab can’t take down the whole team.
Win: Sporeling Sprout, Fossilized Hatchling, Scourged Whelpling
Start with the Spider combo on the Whelpling, a lot of swapping took place this game. It ended with the full-health Fly versus the three-quarter health fossil and a Whirlpool down. Whirlpool + Swarm hit for 950ish.
Win: Scourged Whelpling, Shimmering Wyrmling, Stunted Shardhorn
It’s faster than all of em’ so I sent my Spider out against the Wyrmling, swapped to the Crab who finished off the Wyrmling and the Shardhorn. Thanks to some misses by the Shardhorn I had a lot of health on my Crab and almost full heath on my other pets. The Whelpling ran.
Win: Sporeling Sprout, Anubisath Idol, Swamp Croaker
The Sporeling was an S/S breed so its speed gave me a little bit of trouble. This was a close one until my opponent swapped his Swamp Croaker in to take a web, then a Beast racialed Spiderling Swarm, which put it to an end. The last battle was my Fly against the Sporeling. I didn’t bother Swarming, just weak Scratched it down. A close one.
Win: Wild Jade Hatchling, Terrible Turnip, Clockwork Gnome
Lightning is annoying. However, one of the only nice things about fighting the Lightning dragons is that their first two moves are scripted. You know they will Lightning and Cyclone their first two turns. I saw it coming and wondered if my spider could use Lightning against it. Yes, but not as well as I thought. The dragon ended up killing the spider with 86 hp left. The rest was just the Crab laughing at Lightning with its Shell Shield.
Loss: Qiraji Guardling, Stunted Direhorn, Pygmy Direhorn
What’s with all the Sandstorm I’m getting? I think people are finally comprehending the power of Trihorn Shield and Sandstorm. Which sucks for me because I hate Sandstorm and Direhorns.
Win: Lil’ Deathwing, Frosty, Chrominius
Just had an rng-heavy loss to this team with Team 3. This time Lil’ Deathwing was not so lucky. Wasn’t close. The Spiderling Swarm did a nice job on Chrominius. The Spirit Crab was awesome as usual.
Record: 8-3
Apparently counting to ten is hard for me. All three losses are attributed to Sandstorm. I had my doubts about the Crystal Spider, but it performed decently. The thing I didn’t like about it was after I Web/Crystal Prison/Swarm all I can do is Web for 3 rounds. I can mess with the rotation and move set some more, but I’ll continue to use it. I don’t know if this really was that great of team, despite it’s record.
Team 6 (World Class Wreckin Cru)
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling (Crystal Prison, Feign Death, Thrash)
The only Fly team I’m using that I’ve used before, this one is from my Spirit Crab battles.
Win: Crow, Kun-Lai Runt, Darkmoon Tonk
This was a close one. The Basilisk started against the Tonk and took some damage before Feigning. The Tonk used Ion Cannon early against my Crab, I did some quick calculations and thought I could finish him off and get a Whirlpool out for the next pet. Which I could’ve, if I didn’t miss Snap. So I wasted a turn on the Tonk, who recovered and took me to 0 hp. The Fly did a good enough job of setting the Basilisk up for the kill on the Crow, but now I have a full health Runt to deal with. I Feigned the Deep Freeze, after that the Runt never slowed me, which allowed me to get my triple Thrashes in and also a Prison. Bad ending on their part.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Rapana Whelk, Sandy Petrel
Crab took out the Petrel and got a Whirlpool down for the Runt, Basilisk got Runt down to 31 hp before Feigning, a Swarm and Thrash later the Basilisk is the sole survivor.
Loss: Magical Crawdad, Fiendish Imp, Giant Bone Spider
This was a P/B Imp so it wasn’t that scary. An annoying game, Wish is just a PITA to deal with, especially when you miss a 95% Snap on the Crawdad when you’re trying to chop him down. Even more annoying was missing a 95% Scratch killshot on the Spider. It was looking like a loss anyways, but that leaves a bad taste.
Win: Corefire Imp, Highlands Turkey, Pandaren Monk
The Basilisk bought the Imp down to around 200 hp to start the battle. The Imp couldn’t heal due the Crab’s Shield. The battle ended up being kind of a faceroll. Which is fine, I’ve never liked that Panda much anyways.
Win: Amber Moth, Luyu Moth, Clockwork Gnome
Crab takes down the first Moth with 200 hp to spare, Basilisk messes with Gnome before Feigning. Had 700 hp and an Undead racial to spare at the end.
Win: Emerald Proto-Whelp, Scourged Whelpling, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling
A close-fought battle. A lot of family strengths and weaknesses to exploit. One thing I love about 5.3 is the 100% moves. In the end I had the Proto-Whelp at 582 hp with Prison available. It was impossible for me to lose at that point if I Prison then Thrash twice.
Loss: Direhorn Runt, Qiraji Guardling, Stunted Direhorn
If there was ever a team that was personally made to get my goat it would be this one. I think Sandstorm is the most overtuned weather, by far. I don’t like using the overpowered and soon to be nerfed Direhorns. This lovely team had both. Double shielding with Trihorn shields. It was still a very close battle, it came down to whether or not my 300 hp Basilisk could take out the 500 hp Guardling. It was a matter of wether or not I can Prison and then get in my third hits. Missed Crystal Prison, gg.
Win: Gilnean Raven, Kun-Lai Runt, Direhorn Runt
The Crab started out horribly. It missed applying Whirlpool, two missed Snaps, the Raven killed it. The Basilisk came in to take the Raven down and yep, you guessed it, missed. By the time the Raven was dead my Crab was dead and my Basilisk had 864 hp, against a full-health Kun-Lai Runt and Direhorn. A lot of folks on my battlegroup would have run at this point (or before). I stuck it out, Feigned the Primal Cry, Cocooned the Deep Freeze, but it looked bleak as my Basilisk had about 200 hp to face a Shattered Direhorn. The rng made up for the earlier misses in a big way when the Charge missed, my Basilisk finished off the Direhorn and 500ish hp Kun-Lai Runt. Phew.
Win: Lil’ Bad Wolf, Mojo, Onyxian Whelpling
After a few Thrashes on Mojo I put in the Crab. By the time the Crab was done so was Mojo and the Onyxian Whelpling had less than 300 hp. That Crab is awesome. The Fly never came out to play.
Win: Enchanted Broom, Giant Bone Spider, Father Winter’s Helper
I had good timing on all the Swaps and Feign Deaths. My opponent didn’t. While they ran away I thought of how few Brooms I see these days. Probably has something to do with the Imp being the king swapper.
Record: 8-2
Assessment: The only team in this segment that I had used before. Basilisk is my favorite pet, Crab is incredible, the Fly provides some support, this team is expected to do well, and it did.
Team 7
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Plagued Blood)
P/P Baby Ape (Smash, Roar, Banana Barrage)
I was looking for something with a DoT and a heavy hitting ability. The Ape fit the bill, although Smash being only 85% accuracy might be problematic.
Loss: Anubisath Idol, Stunted Direhorn, Fiendish Imp
This team again. Sandstorm and DoTs, good for the Sandstormer. Sandstorm also completely shuts down Swarm.
Loss: Direhorn Runt, Stunted Direhorn, Qiraji Guardling.
Two for two getting put against a Sandstorm team. Trihorn Shield plus Sandstorm just about blocks everything. Seems legit.
Win: Unborn Valk’yr, Darkmoon Tonk, Magical Broom
I ate three Minefields, two with the Whelpling, one with the Fly. I also took an Ion Cannon to the Face with my Whelpling. I should have lost. The Valk used Curse of Doom on my Ape, which was my last pet, but the Ape finished the Valk before it went off.
Win: Luyu Moth, Sandy Petrel, Dragonbone Hatchling
Not sure what the enemy strategy was, but it seemed to involve a lot of unnecessary swapping. An easy win, my opponent ran before it ended. It could have been worse, running three of the same family is always a huge risk.
Win: Spirit of Competition, Fossilized Hatchling, Darkmoon Tonk
I started with my Whelpling who got rooted by the Fossilized Hatchling, the Tonk was brought in. The Whelpling went toe to toe with the Tonk, they cancelled each other out. The Fly and the Ape had no problems taking out the other two pets.
Win: Scourged Whelpling, Shimmering Wyrmling, Stunted Shardhorn
My Undead dragon took out the Wyrmling quick, my Fly did the same to the enemy Whelpling. Another quick one. I really like the model of the Stunted Shardhorn, I’ve found a place for it on a few teams, I’d like to find more.
Loss: Hopling, Terrible Turnip, Direhorn Runt
I was wondering when the Ape’s main attack being only 85% was gonna catch up to me. I can stop wondering, it was this game. Made me lose to a Turnip.
Loss: Direhorn Runt, Pygmy Direhorn, Son Of Animus
Annoying loss. Two 95% move misses by my Scourged Whelpling. The big miss was my Baby Ape missing the Direhorn while Shattered Defenses was up, possibly resulting in a win. Looking back at the wins and losses so far, every loss has been to a Direhorn.
Draw: Clockwork Gnome, Wild Jade Hatchling, Peddlefeet
Oh no, payback for me running a similarly annoying team (aptly named “Annoying”). The Ape finally hit a crucial Smash to kill Peddlefeet while Shattered, and a crit to boot. Unfortunately the Ape was gunned down by Turrets in Lightning for the draw. This has to be one of the few 85% moves I’ve relied on. I can’t say I’m really enjoying the experience of wondering if my main attack will hit each time I use it.
Win: Alpine Chipmunk, Kun-Lai Runt, Emerald Turtle
The Chipmunk was hurting my Undead dragon, so I swapped to the Ape, my opponent didn’t swap which led to a dead Critter. The Ape finally used Roar and hit the Turtle twice with the damage buff and Beast racial up, it hit for 600+ both times. Fly cam in to finish everything up.
Record: 5-4-1
Assessment: A 50% win rate is nothing to be proud of. The Ape’s main attack being 85% accuracy caused a few problems. I barely used Roar, if I continue with this team I may go for Clobber instead.
Team 8
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
H/P Wild Jade Hatchling (Tail Sweep, Call Lightning, Cyclone)
H/H Pebble (Stone Shot, Rupture, Rock Barrage)
Some new things for me, I usually go with the Wild Golden Hatchling for Lightning and I don’t know if I’ve ever ran Pebble before. I was just looking through my Elementals and saw Pebble. He’s done well a few times against me, his DoT will benefit from Lightning, I’ll give it a shot.
Win: Celestial Dragon, Anubisath Idol, Mini Mindslayer
One miss can turn things around so much! I took the Mindslayer out with my dragon, the Idol came out to cast Sandstorm so I cast Lightning. The Idol missed, I crit my Tail Sweep, dead Idol (who had already taken damage from Cyclone in the back). It was easy to take out the Celestial dragon with two pets.
Loss: Gregarious Grell, Scourged Whelpling, Alpine Foxling
Oh oh, I beat this team a lot, a loss to them is bad news. I got the Grell down to 28 hp at game’s end. A close one.
Win: Fiendish Imp, Fiendish Imp, Brilliant Kaliri
Couldn’t use my Lightning because of the two Immolations. Perhaps it’s a bad idea running a Lightning team with so many Imps running around the meta. How did I win this one? My opponent didn’t play particularly well. My opponent didn’t even backline one of the Imps.
Win: Corefire Imp, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling, Lil’ XT
This is what I don’t like about weather, again my opponent had a pet who would benefit greatly from Lightning so I held back. I won this simply because I won the rock-paper-scissors, my Elemental was strong against two Mechs.
Win: Darkmoon Monkey, Clockwork Gnome, Chuck
Gnome, looks like no Lightning for me. Chuck got my Elemental good by using Blood in The Water without putting up Bleeding first. His desperation caused some big damage. This was a close one, a killshot miss by the Gnome on my Jade Hathling may have been the deciding factor.
Loss: Feline Familiar, Pandaren Monk, Ghostly Skull
Cocooned the buffed Darkness…yay! Missed the cat three times after that…no! Chalk up another win for the rngers. Unholy Ascension added a lot of extra damage.
Win: Frigid Frostling, Kun-Lai Runt, Lil’ XT
Lightning + Cyclone + Rock Barrage really added up. After Lil XT didn’t make it out of a Repair my opponent ran.
Win: Magical Crawdad, Flayer Youngling, Fjord Worg Pup
The Crawdad miss-timed Wish, I killed it before it healed. The Flayer put a hurtin’ on my dragon, but Swarm + Lightning was too much for it. Any win against that annoying Crawdad is a good win.
Win: Grunty, Sprite Darter Hatchling, Wolpertinger
I thought I was going to lose to a Murloc, but the Lightning and DoTs were just too much for the opposing pets to handle.
Record: 7-2 (only 9 battle because I accidentally did 11 with Team 5)
Assessment: I’m a fairly inexperienced Lightninger, but this team did alright. The Fly provided some good synergy with the weather through its Swarm. Pebble also did really well with Lightning.
Team 9
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
P/P Warbot (Missle, Minefield, Extra Plating)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Shadow Slash, Immolation, Sear Magic)
Replace the Shrine Fly with a Spirit Crab and that’s one of my top flight teams at the moment. I want to see how the Warbot and Fetish do without the almighty Crab.
Loss: Amber Moth, Sporeling Sprout, Bandicoon
Moths can be problematic. This was a close one. Ended up with my Fly versus the humanoid, I couldn’t finish it off.
Win: Magical Crawdad, Sinister Squashling, Unborn Valk’yr
I face this team quite a bit. I really enjoy beating Crawdads, but even then, 33 rounds, yuck. It was fairly close, my Fetish had to take out his Shattered Squashling for the win.
Win: Fiendish Imp, Direhorn Runt, Stunted Direhorn
You would think I really messed this team up with my counters. I didn’t. I barely won and it was thanks to a missed Nether Gate.
Win: Phoenix Hatchling, Nordrassil Wisp, Jungle Grub
When choosing to swap in the Wisp or the Grub to eat a Minefield, my opponent chose the Grub. I hope they learned something.
Loss: Crow, Anubisath Idol, Direhorn Runt
I mentioned that I wanted to see how this team did without the Crab. I fought this exact same team as a part of 5 Battles: Sears and Robot. I won that game because I didn’t miss. I lost this game because I did. This person may be a bot. Either that or they are horrible, consistently making poor decisions. Either way it just shows that you don’t have to make good choices with Darkness and Sandstorm to win, you only need your opponent to miss.
Win: Dragonbone Hatchling, Pandaren Earth Spirit, Winter’s Little Helper
I’m starting to get tired of this Fly haha. This one was a fairly short 15 rounder. The only interesting thing was a missed killshot on my Warbot.
Loss: Pandaren Earth Spirit, Fetish Shaman, Garden Moth
“Don’t get cocky kid!” I wish I would have taken Han Solo’s advice. I saw this team and let my guard down. Made some poor decisions. It’s kind of funny because my Sen’Jin Fetish is the same pet as the Fetish Shaman, I should know better.
Win: Gilnean Raven, Direhorn Runt, Kun-Lai Runt
I see the Direhorn and Raven, two scary enemy pets and am fairly confident. The Warbot has done well against the Raven lately and people usually start with their Raven. As expected we start Warbot vs. Raven. I should be able to take it down, unless Darkness causes misses, which it does. Two Missles miss. The Raven kills the Warbot, the Fly kills the Raven and is now facing the Kun-Lai Runt. It was a tough call, swap and lose a turn for strong attacks, or take down the Runt with weak attacks. As long as I can Cocoon the Deep Freeze I should be fine, which I did. Fly kills Kun-Lai Runt, gets a Swarm on the Direhorn after getting interrupted. It all came down to whether the Horn Attack interrupt misses and I can land my Shadow Slash while the Direhorn is Shattered. It happened for the win.
Win: Rabid Nut Varmint 5000, Robo-Chick, Clockwork Gnome
A slow game, my opponent took a lot of time choosing their moves. I was able to get my strong DoT on all three opponents at some point.
Win: Crow, Crow, Feline Familiar
Warbot vs. first Crow, Nocturnal Strike does less than 300 damage thanks to Plating, but the Crow still won thanks to a Missle miss. Fly kills first Crow, Second Crow comes in to a Minefield and sees its Nocturnal Strike blocked by Cocoon, Fly finishes it off. The Familiar’s buffed Darkness gets blocked by Cocoon and the Familiar runs away.
Record: 7-3
Assessment: Replacing the Crab with the Fly definately brings my Sears and Robot team down a notch. The Fly and Warbot are both good support pets, but I would not consider either one top-tier. Same with the Fetish, as much as I like using it. I am always pleased to see the Warbot take down Crows and Ravens.
Team 10
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon Strike, Swarm)
P/P Warbot (Missle, Minefield, Extra Plating)
S/S Mulgore Hatchling (Peck, Shell Shield, Mulgore Hatchling)
Gonna try another Mulgore Hatchling team just because Feign Death is interesting.
Win: Restless Shadeling, Crawling Claw, Infinite Whelpling
The Mulgore Hatchling back to its Feigning shenanigans. I realized my team doesn’t have much synergy going for it, it might be a long ten battles. It was kind of cool at the end, an Undead with Strong Attacks against Fliers versus a Flier with strong attacks against Undead. They cancelled out but I still had an entire Mulgore Hatchling at the end.
Win: Crow, Toothy, Lil’ KT
A pretty good match up for me. Warbot didn’t kill the Crow thanks to the Crow’s crit, but it did get the crow down to 247 hp and get out a Minefield. In comes Mulgore Hatchling to kill Crow then Feign Death to my Fly, my opponent kept his Undead in against the Fly. My Critter Pecked the Crocolisk to death, hitting a Shattered Aquatic for 840 damage.
Loss: Stunted Direhorn, Fiendish Imp, Ghostly Skull
Oh oh, this team is pretty bad against Imps. I have to rely on the Mulgore Hatchling to kill an Imp, which can swap it out. I could use Feign Death to avoid the Nether Gate, but whichever pet comes in versus the Imp is worthless.
Win: Celestial Dragon, Lil’ Ragnaros, Voodoo Figurine
I thought my Warbot might have some trouble due to all the Elemental damage, but it wasn’t too bad. Extra Plating helps a lot. The Warbot ended up dying to the dragon, leaving it with 140 hp but getting out a Minefield. The 100% 
accuracy Peck took the dragon out. The Mulgore Hatchling shielded versus the DoTs, Rag held back Conflag until after I used Feign Death, but it didn’t matter, it missed. I had it wrapped up before the miss, I’m not letting rng take the credit for this one.
Loss: Gilnean Raven, Mini Thor, Giant Bone Spider
I thought the Raven would start, I was relishing beating another Raven down with my Warbot, but out came Thor. Thor and my Warbot cancelled out, it was 2v2. Still fairly close, the Raven had 382 hp in the end.
Win: Wild Jade Hatchling, Clockwork Gnome, Scooter The Snail
As usual, I saw Lightning and freaked, but remembered I had a Shell Shield and smiled. The Lightning dragon did its thing then swapped to the Gnome, my Warbot withstood it all, killing the Gnome. Two turrets were down when the Warbot expired, whatever shall I do? Oh yeah, the Shield. Nice job Mulgore Hatchling. Later the Mulgore Hatchling came in to finish off the Snail, with the 100% accuracy Peck the victory was certain.
Win: Sandy Petrel, Mirror Strider, Jumping Spider
After eating a Minefield the Mirror Strider missed a killshot that allowed me to get another Minefield out. I was already headed for a win, but any chance of my opponent having a miraculous comeback ended right there.
Win: Son of Animus, Pandaren Water Spirit, Netherspace Abyssal
I saw the Water Spirit and immediately thought Feign Death, I win. Ok, let’s not be too hasty. Warbot Plated and then threw a Minefield, while the Abyssal casted both types of Immolation. That’s gonna hurt. Wanting to save my Hatchling for the Water Spirit, I put in my Fly to duke it out with the Abyssal, who doesn’t want to swap because of the Mines. Cocoon blocks Nether Gate, three rounds of Swarm and a Scratch finish of the Abyssal. The Warbot eventually gets out another Minefield, the Hatchling Feigns when it’s supposed to and Pecks Animus for the finish.
Loss: Pandaren Fire Spirit, Snarly, Curious Wolvar Pup
Two things: A mistake by me forgetting that Magma Wave will clear Mines, and a killshot miss on the Spirit letting it get off an extra Conflag.
Loss: Fel Flame, Frigid Frostling, Spirit of Summer
I was gonna call it quits for the night, but I said “one more”. Then I lost to this team. Maybe there’s a self-help group for people who lose to Spirit of Summer I can join. My main source of damage, the Warbot, was obviously ineffective. My opponent took a risk by running three of the same family, it paid off.
Record: 6-4
Assessment: Another Mulgore Hatchling team with a winning record. Who’d have known?
Overall Record: 70-27-3
Overall assessment: The Shrine Fly is a very good support pet. In no way could it be considered a top-tier pet, but with its Swarm it can help some other pets DoTs and nukes. While I didn’t face a lot of Undead this time around, Scratch is a usually a handy move to dish out some strong Critter damage to the zombies. The Fly has a little bit of mitigation in Cocoon, but nothing too solid in that department.
Published July 2013, Patch 5.3
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