In this segment I’m going to see how well my Spirit Crab does, again. The reason I say again is because I already did 100 battles with my Spirit Crab. It was the reason I made this blog/website, so I could post the results from endeavors like that. Unfortunately, my record keeping was not as good as I would have liked it to be, all I really kept track of was the wins and losses, which isn’t all that interesting (for the record the Spirit Crab went 77-19-4 the first time around, but I ran a less diverse group of teams).
So I decided to to it again, more in the style that I want the 50 Battles segment to be: a lot of batlles with minimal commentary. I’m going to use some of the teams I discovered in the first hundred Spirit Crab battles, along with some new ones. Let’s do it!
Team 1 (Crabby Smacker)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
P/P Crimson Geode (Feedback, Crystal Overload, Stone Rush)
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling (Crystal Prison, Feign Death, Thrash)
Let’s throw in a Crimson geode with the Crab and one of my favorite pets, the Basilisk.
Win: Clockwork Gnome, Scourged Whelpling, Wild Golden Hatchling
His attempt at Lightning was thwarted by my shield. Didn’t even get to use the Geode.
Win: Kirin Tor Familiar, Arcane Eye, Nexus Whelpling
Crab beats Eye, Geode beats Dragon, Basilisk beats Familiar. Pretty straightforward.
Win: Pandaren Earth Spirit, Amber Moth, Red Panda
The Geode did insane damage to the Spirit, 1259 to be exact. It died in the process. The Moth hit with Sleep as my Crab hit 0 hp, skipped my Undead turn. I took it out on the Red Panda.
Win: Pandaren Air Spirit, Arctic Fox Kit, Arctic Fox Kit
The Geode is really good at taking down pets fast (duh!). I was having trouble with one of the Foxes after he Danced: my Basilisk was too slow, the Crab didn’t want to take strong attacks. So I brought the Geode in and smacked him. The second Fox I just had to take the strong attacks, which I was able to withstand while shielded. The last Fox only got one third attack from Flurry, that helped.
Win: Netherwhelp, Frosty, Scourged Whelpling
Guess they like dragon models. I waited for the Ice Tomb with my Basilisk so I could Feign Death, but it never came. I ended up keeping the Basilisk in until it brought Frosty to 0 hp, then used Prison on the Undead turn. I took my Basilisk out with 23 hp, only to realize he had Dreadful Breath, doh! The Crab threw a Whirlpool and shielded for the AoE, the Geode came in and smacked the Scourged Whelpling down to 36 hp, the Crab came in to finish it off and then the Netherwhelp.
Record: 5-0
Assessment: The Geode is far from a top tier pet, but it has found its place on this team. I really wish they would change the name of Stone Rush to Smack! The Basilisk and Crab are both awesome, not a surprise this team went undefeated.
Team 2 (Crybunny)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
P/P Crimson Geode (Feedback, Crystal Overload, Stone Rush)
S/S Arctic Hare (Flurry, Dodge, Burrow)
The same team as above, but the bunny adds some extra speed.
Draw: Clockwork Gnome, Scourged Whelpling, Wild Golden Hatchling
I started out with the bunny when I should have started with the crab. Lightning/turret was stopped by shield but I ended up with Geode vs. Scourged Whelp and his Undead racial forced the draw.
Win: Scourged Whelpling, Crawling Claw, Corefire Imp
Two big yummy Undead targets for the bunny to Flurry. I find it interesting when people Cauterize under their own Darkness.
Win: Chrominius, Enchanted Broom, Harbringer of Flame
Started off bunny versus Broom, the speed helped me control the match. My opponent swapped to Chrominius to take my Burrow, Howled so I swapped to Crab, opponent swapped to Flame guy. The Crab put a beating on the Harbinger, later I juked the Undead negating Sweep, Geode kills Broom. Crominius ran away.
Loss: Direhorn Runt, Netherspace Abyssal, Toothy
I needed the rabbit against the Abyssal, but I couldn’t make it happen well enough. Still had a chance at the end but the Direhorn interrupted the Crab, it happens.
Win: Nether Fairie Dragon, Elfin Rabbit, Little Fawn
It’s amazing how well the Spirit Crab can take down its counters. My rabbit was faster than all of em’. The Geode never had to come out.
Record: 3-1-1
Assessment: Did okay. I like all three of these pets a lot for the different roles that they perform, but this team seems to be lacking a certain something. Not necessarily in its performance, but aesthetically. Perhaps I’ve just played too many rabbits and am tired of them. Still, a solid team.
Team 3
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
S/S Bandicoon (Tongue Lash, Survival, Poison Fang)
H/S Corefire Imp (Burn, Immolation, Wild Magic)
Why a Bandicoon? It’s fun to try to use lower tier pets. I was looking for some sort of synergy with the Bandicoon, maybe Wild Magic + Poison Fang will work.
Win: Spirit of Competition, Death, Clockwork Gnome
Last pets were Bandicoon and Spirit with Wild Magic up. All it took was one DoT, and Tongue Lash and Survival just for kicks while the DoT finished it off.
Win: Pandaren Earth Spirit, Fetish Shaman, Garden Moth
I don’t think my Wild Magic caused any extra damage. Because my opponent kept swapping once I applied it. Forfeit when all my pets were alive and the Earth Spirit was their only pet.
Win: Ji-Kun Hatchling, Stunted Diehorn, Darkmoon Rabbit
Going into this I was worried because my Bandicoon is somewhat ineffective against all three pets. I start with the Imp, my opponent goes with the bird and Stampedes. After Immolation and Wild Magic I switch to the Bandicoon and Poison the Ji-Kun Hatchling, which loses its Flying bonus. My Bandicoon is not so useless now. Knowing this, the bird is swapped for the Darkmoon Rabbit. My Crab blocks its DoT, Claws it down, a little more swapping goes on then my opponent runs away. Why forfeit so easily? The battle still could’ve gone either way.
Loss: Anubisath Idol, Lil’ Deathwing, Lil’ XT
I just beat this team with Team 5 below, they missed six times. This time I missed five times to their one miss. I really don’t see the attraction of Sandstorm and Darkness. Win or lose, it’s heavily influenced by rng.
Loss: Emerald Proto-Whelp, Electrified Razortooth, Fledgling Nether Ray
I played bad, no better description for what happened. I took the Blood In The Water instead of swapping, I got surprised by Proto Strike avoiding my Whirlpool since people usually take Emerald Dream. Oh well, I’m bound to make mistakes every now and then.
Record: 3-2
Assessment: Not bad for a Bandicoon, but I could have done better. I’m still looking for a permanent home for my Bandicoon, this might be it, I’ll play with it some more and see how it goes.
Team 4 (Sears and Robot)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Shadow Slash, Immolate, Sear Magic)
P/P Warbot (Missle, Minefield, Extra Plating)
Minefields for the Direhorns.
Win: Stunted Direhorn, Giant Bone Spider, Gusting Grimoire
The Direhorn was his last remaining pet and was forced to walk into a minefield. It’s great when things work out as planned.
Win: Infinite Whelpling, Clockwork Gnome, Kun-Lai Runt
My opponent hit two sleeps in a row to negate the Fetish’s racial. The sleeps were not so lucky agains the Crab, still a very close battle.
Win: Pygmy Direhorn, Living Sandling, Kun-Lai Runt
I kept running into this Direhorn team so I went back to my Warbot. Worked like a charm. Funny thing is I never faced the Direhorn with the Warbot, I just used the fear of it to control the battle.
Win: Tiny Snowman, Fel Flame, Magical Crawdad
Once again I was trying to snipe a pesky Direhorn, didn’t happen. The two elementals worried my Warbot. So I threw a minefield and let the Undead do the work, which they did. Any victory against one of my most hated (Crawdad) is sweet.
Win: Scourged Whelpling, Crawling Claw, Corefire Imp
Extra Plating mitigated some of the Curse of Doom, the only real threat. The Imp Cauterized the Minefield damage, that was smart. The Crab was the big damager this time.
Record: 5-0
Assessment: Quickly becoming one of my go-to teams when I want a quick win. Great team. If you want to see more of this team in action it is featured in 5 Battles: Sears and Robot
Team 5 (Spudboy’s Pleasure)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Shadow Slash, Immolate, Sear Magic)
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling (Crystal Prison, Feign Death, Thrash)
Named after my Horde mage, who is a Devo fan.
Win: Tiny Snowman, Kun-Lai Runt, Kun-Lai Runt
I Feign Deathed the Snowman’s Deep Freeze, then both Kun-Lai Runts missed theirs. My opponent didn’t have the stomach to continue and ran away.
Win: Lil’ Deathwing, Lil’ XT, Anubisath Idol
My opponent missed six times due to their own Sandstorm and Darkness, to my one miss. Serves em’ right!
Win: Crimson Whelpling, Fel Flame, Shore Crab
The Crimson Whelpling looks so great, it was my first level 25 Dragonkin. Too bad it’s not that great at PvP. Basilisk versus Shore Crab, then Spirt Crab versus Shore Crab. For some reason my opponent thought the Fel Flame liked Whirlpools. It crit for 1036. I only brought the Fetish out so it could feel useful.
Win: Lesser Voidcaller, Darkmoon Tonk, Leopard Tree Frog
Not a very interesting fight, except the Voidcaller put up Prismatic Barrier while Curse of Doom was on my Crab. I just spammed shield waiting for them to break the barrier, they eventually broke the Barrier, in time for me to take the damage from Curse. In the end it was obvious I was gonna win so they ran.
Loss: Fiendish Imp, Enchanted Broom, Celestial Dragon
I was glad at the opportunity to take out a Fiendish Imp, I was confident about this one. I missed a Shadow Slash, but I was still in a good position to win, until the Dragon crit a Moonfire for 1086 with its Dragonkin bonus. Probably some sort of Karma for often referring to the Celestial Dragon as the “free-win dragon”.
Record: 4-1
Assessment: This is another great team to come out of my first round of Spirit Crab testing, I’m a bit disappointed that it didn’t go undefeated. Stupid pretty dragon. I didn’t get to Sear anything, yet again.
Team 6
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
H/H Lava Crab (Burn, Cauterize, Conflagrate)
P/P Emperor Crab (Snap, Healing Wave, Whirlpool)
I used to run this themed team in the very early days of pet battles, but it didn’t do very well. Let me try again now that I have some more experience under my belt. The Lava Crab isn’t all that hot, but the other two are pretty good, maybe the themed team can do well. Used to be named “I’ve Got Crabs”.
Win: Restless Shadeling, Toothy, Fel Flame
Spirit Crab took out Shadeling with 800 hp remaining, took half of Toothy’s hp before dying. The others just finished everything off.
Win: Phoenix Hatchling, Onyxian Whelpling, Lil’ Bad Wolf
Had to swap a bit because of getting Howled, but besides that fairly straight forward battle. Yay for the themed team winning!
Loss: Stunted Direhorn, Fiendish Imp, Crawling Claw
What an original team I’m facing. I was doing well, thought I could pull it off against the current Uber Team, but my three misses to their one didn’t help, especially at crucial times. The big one was missing a killshot on the rooted Imp, which allowed him to back line DoT/heal while his Nether Gate reset.
Loss: Stunted Direhorn, Anubisath Idol, Fiendish Imp
What can I say about this team? It’s a hard team to beat even if the rng is in your favor. The Direhorn hit its interrupts, the Sandstorm caused me to miss numerous times, the rng was not in my favor.
Win: Emerald Proto-Whelp, Direhorn Runt, Infinite Whelpling
Ugly battle. Many misses for both sides. I started with my Emperor this time, then went to the Spirit. Somehow I managed to win without even bringing in the Lava Crab.
Record: 3-2
Assessment: Not bad for a themed team, but that Lava Crab really is a liability. I may keep this team around just for a once in awhile deal, but I don’t see it getting a lot of plays.
Team 7
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon, Swarm)
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling (Crystal Prison, Feign Death, Thrash)
I wanted to try a Shrine Fly out for awhile, any Critter moves on non critters are welcome. I couldn’t help noticing my lack of mitigation and multi-attacks. Time to bring in Toni (my overused Basilisk).
Win: Direhorn Runt, Tundra Penguin, Kun-Lai Runt
An interesting battle. I Whirlpool + Swarm + crit the Direhorn for 1395 damage. Then I proceed to miss FOUR Snaps and a Whirlpool thanks to Slippery Ice. Oh Dice Gods what have I done to offend you (apparently I already forgot about my crit)? It ends up with my Basilisk vs. the Runt. I Feign Death the Deep Freeze, pull out the win.
Draw: Nexus Whelpling, Arcane Eye, Ghostly Skull
This one was a bummer because I thought I had the win. In the end I went for the kill on the Ghostly Skull, only hit 2 out 3 of my Thrashes, both were on the low side so I only took the Skull down to 51 hp, who killed me with a crit. The Fly came in to kill the Skull with Cocoon, but then die on its Undead turn. That’s the way it goes.
Win: Stunted Direhorn, Hopling, Terrible Turnip
Took out the Direhorn with the Crab. It’s not up there with my most hated, but the stupid Turnip is climbing the list fast. Annoying. I played it so I end up Basilisk vs. Turnip. Basilisk food.
Win: Pygmy Direhorn, Fiendish Imp, Giant Bone Spider
This one was a nail-biter. Came down to wether or not my (slower) Basilisk could hit two out of two Thrashes against the Imp. It did, surviving the battle with 80 hp. I’ve been beaten by enough Imps and Direhorns lately to relish this one. I started of Feigning Death at the wrong time, but ended up juking all of the swaps to try and negate my Undead turn. The Direhorn hit an interrupt on my Fly, but then I came right back and crit with my Scratch. So there was rng on both sides.
Win: Fiendish Imp, Stunted Direhorn, Crawling Claw
This opponent usually plays better. I started with the Basilisk which he immediately Gated out. The Crab came in, rather than swapping the Imp out my opponent kepy it in. The Crab rooted it and killed it. It was still close, the Direhorn hit some interrupts, the most important one keeping me from getting out my Whirlpool on my Undead turn. Only having the Fly to rely on, I swarmed, which was weak without anything to synergize with. The Direhorn missed its last interrupt, which allowed me to Scratch with the damage debuff up, it hit for 711 damage, leaving me the winner with 28 hp.
Record: 4-0-1
Assessment: I got Direhorns as opponents in 4 out of 5 games, which surprisingly turned out all right. The Fly is a soft counter, but the Basilisk is worthless against them with their Trihorn Charge. The Fly has an interesting move set. This was a fun team, I’ll definitely keep it.
Team 8
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
H/P Shrine Fly (Scratch, Cocoon, Swarm)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Plagued Blood)
Let’s give that Fly another try, but this time with a Scourged Whelpling with some basic family coverage against Magic.
Win: Mini Mindslayer, Grunty, Scourged Whelpling
The Mindslayer had to skip a turn due to his move set at the end. Was a close battle.
Win: Wild Golden Hatchling, Lil’ Tarecgosa, Pebble
The Wild Golden Hatchling did a decent job against the Crab, partially because I assumed since it had Lightning it also had Cyclone, but it had Lift-Off. This allowed it to avoid my Whirlpool. Then rather than kill my Crab with the Golden Hatchling, my opponent swapped to Pebble. I got a Whirlpool down with the Crab, timed it so it went off after my Swarm with the fly. It hit Pebble for 1382 damage. Swarm was still going for Lil’ Tarecgosa, it put up the debuff and my Scourged Whelpling came in and finished it off.
Loss: Frosty, Nexus Whelpling, Crow
I used the Swarm at the wrong time, wasting a lot of it on Frosty. Frosty basically took out the Fly and three-quarters of the Crab. Poorly played by me. I still thought I was in it, I Whirlpooled the Crow, had it down to 680 hp, but then missed a Snap and two Tail Swipes in a row thanks to Darkness.
Win: Emerald-Proto Whelp, Unborn Valk’yr, Qiraji Guardling
My opponent did a lot of swapping, I just dug in my Crab legs and stuck it out. The Whelp was dead and the Valk had 0 hp by the time the Crab exited.
Win: Blighthawk, Rapana Whelk, Tolai Hare
Hare vs. Crab, Crab survives with 841 hp. Counter, yeah right. Whirlpool + Swarm does some big damage to the Whelk, but it has Ooze Touch and now I’m locked into my Swarm. The Fly barely kills the Whelk, dies immediatley to the Blighthawk, but the Crab and Scourged Whelpling finish off the Blighthawk no problem.
Record: 4-1
Assessment: I chose some coverage synergy for the Fly with the Scourged Whelpling, but there really wasn’t much else going on here. Not very interesting to play. Got some wins against some mediocre opponents, but I don’t think it would have fared well against top tier pets. I don’t think I’ll be using this again.
Team 9
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
S/S Mulgore Hatchling (Peck, Shell Shield, Feign Death)
I was originally gonna run Imp + Direhorn but the idea of facerolling everyone seemed boring. So I threw in a random pet that I’ve used occasionally because of its Feign Death. I’ve never done well with it, perhaps the Imp and the Crab can carry it.
Win: Kun-Lai Runt, Fel Flame, Lil’ Deathwing
The Mulgore Hatchling will be useful against any of these pets, so I start with it rather than the Imp, probably to the confusion of my opponent. Deathwing never cast Elementium Bolt, I’m assuming because of the Feign Death.
Win: Crow, Briliant Kaliri, Cinder Kitten
If I only had a dollar for every time I missed a Nether Gate under Darkness. Add in another Nether Gate miss and it was a close battle. The Mulgore Hatchling killed he Kaliri with 12 hp remaining. Any battle that ends so close is fun.
Win: Soul of The Aspects, Terrible Turnip, Blossoming Ancient.
I killed the Blossoming Ancient and my opponent forfeit. C’mon now people, so many forfeits, have some gumption.
Loss: Anibisath Idol, Lil’ Deathwing, Lil XT
I managed to avoid the XT damage buffed AoE spam the first time with Nether Gate, not the second time. The buff was triggered due to having Immolate up. It crit my Crab for 300+ in the back line. His Darkness from DW kept my back line healing at a minimum. Ended up with the half-health bird-critter-thing vs. the full-health Stoneskinned Idol. Not gonna happen.
Win: Snarly, Spirit Crab, Pandaren Fire Spirit
Mulgore Hatchling useful once again. Shielded a strong Bleed to take only 15 damage per turn. Feigned two CDs, Blood In The Water and Conflagrate. Surprised Snarly with its Peck. That silly looking bird did well again.
Record: 4-1
Assessment: It did have two top tier pets to carry it, but the Mulgore Hatchling proved its usefulness many times. Perhaps its role could’ve been filled by another pet better, but I like using underused pets. I will definitely keep this team.
Team 10
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Whirlpool, Shell Shield)
S/S Leopard Tree Frog (Tongue Lash, Cleansing Rain, Frog Kiss)
H/H Scourged Whelpling (Tail Sweep, Death and Decay, Dreadful Breath)
And finally, just to be goofy, I’ll use Dreadful Breath and along with Cleansing Rain, something I’ve never tried. Cleansing Rain will also buff the Whirlpool. I’ll even throw in Frog Kiss, which I’ve always hated so much I’ve never tried it.
Win: Hopling, Infinite Whelpling, Giant Bone Spider
I started with the Frog to get Cleansing Rain up. I swapped to my Scourged Whelpling to try out Dreadful Breath against his Infinite Whelpling. I’m afraid to pull the trigger on it since it’ll lock me into a 3 round move, his Hopling could come out and wreck me with Tongue Lash. I throw caution to the wind and use it. With the Rain the damage really adds up. After three rounds he finally brings his Hopling out, I use my Dreadful breath again since I wanna try to kill the spider on the back line. It doesn’t happen. The Hopling takes out Scourged Whelpling then the Crab (usually shields can mitigate the damage from Tongue Lash well, but he crits and gets all his third attacks in). The Crab dies along with the hopling, the Frog just needs to clean up. The battle is actually heading for a draw when Frog Kiss Polys the Spider on its Undead turn. My lucky night. Dang, 5o battles is supposed to have short commentary.
Win: Kirin Tor Familiar, Nexus Whelpling, Arcane Eye
Sure am glad I had the weather change, Arcane Storm + Mana Surge is tough. Opponent didn’t play it very well either. He kept the Familiar in versus my Frog and its strong attacks.
Win: Direhorn Runt, Kun-Lai Runt, Curious Wolvar Pup
I hate those traps. Last pets were 1200 hp Direhorn vs 900 hp Crab. The Direhorn never attempted to interrupt and just spammed Charge, which missed once. /shrug
Loss: Stunted Direhorn, Terrible Turnip, Hopling
In the battle above the player took the best pet in the game and had no idea how to use it. This was an experienced player. It didn’t go well for me.
Win: Direhorn Runt, Gilnean Raven, Anubisath Idol
This is a person who I face regularly. And sometimes I feel like they they let their three year old bang on buttons. They’re that bad. They don’t play well and hope Sandstorm and Darkness can save them. It didn’t this time. Unfortunately, sometimes it does. To be fair I did get two Polys in.
Record: 4-1
Assessment: For my first time playing a Dreadful Breath comp seriously it went well. Perhaps I will change the Frog to another pet with Cleansing Rain. I always talk smack about Sandstorm and Darkness, but how is using Frog Kiss any different?
Overall Record: 39-9-2
Overall Assessment: Having a Strong attack versus its counter is a big plus for the Spirit Crab. Add to that the most common Critter attack is Flurry, which the Shell Shield absorbs a big portion of and its in good shape versus its counter. Give it 1887 hp and the Undead racial and you’ve got quite a little tank here. It has 292 attack, which is very respectable for a tank pet. It can take down most other pets 1v1.
Its such a strong pet that it doesn’t take a huge amount of synergy with its team mates to be successful. I really think you can add the Crab to any two pets with decent synergy and be successful. A top tier pet in my opinion.
Published July 2013, Patch 5.3
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