Pet Focus: Tiny Bog Beast
This elemental is currently one of my favorite pets to use. It’s not a top pet in my opinion, but it’s good enough to complement top pets well enough to make some great teams. Let me get right into the moves because that’s what makes it so attractive.
Slot 1: Crush or Clobber
I’ll take the stun move Clobber every time. The fastest breed of the Tiny Bog Beast has 289 speed. I would consider this the upper end of medium speeds. 289 is faster than a lot of pets you will encounter out there. Why is being faster important on a stun move? The stun move gives you a round to attack while your opponent is stunned (on the turn after you used Clobber), which boils down to a free attack.
Slot 2: Lash or Leap
I like having a multi-attack on a reasonably fast pet so I choose Lash. Leap is also a reasonable choice since the speed boost will ensure that Clobber goes first, but that means your bread and butter attack move will have to come from the third slot.
Slot 3: Poison Lash or Rampage
I like Rampage for two reasons: it diversifies my family attacks since I already have an elemental attack and it also gives me a harder hitting attack in case Lash is shut down by shields or a sandstorm. The drawback is that Rampage locks you in for three rounds which can be really dangerous in PvP.
The Tiny Bog Beast comes in three breeds:
H/H 1725/260/260
H/P 1546/289/260
H/S 1546/260/289
For the move set that I have chosen I really want the extra speed of the H/S breed. It wasn’t until I replaced my H/P with an H/S that I really started enjoying this pet; that extra speed makes Clobber more useful without giving up too much power. This may seem a bit contradictory to a previous pet focus I did with the Darkshore Cub(5/26/14). In that case I chose to go with the 260 speed over the 276 because 260 is faster than so many commonly seen pets. Well, in that case the bear would have given up 49 power for only 16 speed. In this case the beast only gives up 29 power in exchange for 29 speed. Since there are two speed moves on the Tiny Bog Beast I think the trade off is worth it.
I occasionally use the move load out of Crush, Leap and Poison Lash. In that case I use the H/P breed since you’ll get enough speed from Leap. For these battles I’ll probably stick to the Clobber Lash and Rampage.
Team 1: AK 6
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
H/H Unborn Val’kyr (Shadow Slash, Curse Of Doom, Haunt)
H/H Magical Crawdad (Snap, Shell Shield, Wish)
I thought it would be funny to start it off with this Anti-Kovok team that I used in the days before Kovok got nerfed. Back then it was really difficult to win against Kovok and Murkalot. I had to fight cheese with cheese by bringing out one of my most hated enemies, the crawdad.
Battle 1
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Death Adder Hatchling, Crawling Claw
I brought out the evil crawdad against the valk, which cast CoD and Haunt. The snake came in to face the now shielded aquatic. The DoTs were somewhat useless, then I cast Wish so that it healed right after the CoD did it’s damage. After six rounds I had only damaged the snake with a Snap and my Magical Crawdad was almost back to full health. I don’t know if my opponent fled because it was going to be a long battle or because the crawdad would shut down two of their pets, but 6 rounds was enough for them. As evil and annoying as the crawdad can be, it’s damn good against valks and snakes.
Record: 1-0
Team 2: Bog Bastards
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Flame Breath, Wild Magic, Sear Magic)
This is the team that I will forever brag about going on a 27 battle win streak. Of course the stars had to align perfectly for both the queue and rng to make that possible, but it’s still impressive. I always feel obligated to mention that it was Rhonstifor (who I have recently started calling “The Voodoo Master” lol) who finally beat me 
Battle 2
vs. Death Adder Hatchling, Infected Fawn, Son Of Animus
Cool, it’s an older team of mine called Fawndjango (10/20/13). It’s not the greatest team in the world but Touch Of The Animus can be an amazing asset if used properly. Of course Touch Of The Animus needs to hit, which it didn’t in this battle. I was already winning due to poor use of Blinding Poison so the miss pretty much sealed the deal. There was a late-battle chance for my opponent to pull the adder out to let its CDs reset but they kept it in. Don’t blame Fawndjango!
Record: 2-0
Team 3: The Suggested
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
S/S Alpine Hare (Flurry, Dodge, Burrow or Stampede)
H/H Spirit Crab (Snap, Surge, Shell Shield)
I suggested this team to someone on the forums without even trying it. When I did try it the results were good. I haven’t been battling much so I haven’t done a lot of battles with it but I expect it will continue to do well. For the rabbit I choose Burrow or Stampede based on what I’m seeing in the queue, both have their pros and cons.
Battle 3
vs. Gilnean Raven, Harbinger Of Flame, Bandicoon
One of the most annoying moments in pet battles has to be when you swap in a pet to lower the accuracy of an incoming move then get hit anyways. You know, against Blood In The Water and Nocturnal Strike. In This battle I swapped in my Tiny Bog Beast to reduce the accuracy of Nocturnal Strike but got nailed anyways. Rng was against me again later when I missed a 95% Snap kill shot against the Bandicoon then had to take another triple Tongue Lash because of it. The battle came down to whether or not Burrow would hit the harbinger. I guess rng felt it had screwed with me enough because the 80% move hit for the win, leaving my rabbit sole survivor with a measly 128 hp.
Record: 3-0
Team 4: Bronies Before Ponies
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Flame Breath, Wild Magic, Sear Magic)
H/P Vengeful Porcupette (Powerball, Spirit Spikes, Flank)
When I made this team it was more of a case of using the Tiny Bog Beast because I like it rather than because there’s great synergy. Lash can benefit from Wild Magic.
Battle 4
vs. Anubisath Idol, Blighthawk, Scourged Whelpling
I’ve often imagined this scenario: I meet someone on the street and strike up a conversation. We both play WoW, cool. Oh you pet battle too? So do I, what a coincidence! What pets do you use? Anubisath Idol… (fisticuffs ensue) Ok, I would never really get in a fight over pet battles, but it’s no secret how much I hate the idol. If there’s one pet I could remove from pet battles it would be the smelly dog face. It shuts so many strategies down and is generally not fun to play against. If you can’t tell by now I lost. Whenever I tried to use the Vengeful Porcupette against the undead pets my opponent brought in the idol. Stupid idol.
Record: 3-1
Team 5: Rebel Scum
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
H/P Blighted Squirrel (Woodchipper, Crouch, Stampede)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Flame Breath, Wild Magic, Sear Magic)
This is yet another case of just throwing some favorite pets together and having reasonable success. As I’ve mentioned before, I attribute some of my success to my relatively easy meta. At least it seems easy compared to accounts of other people’s metas where every battle is against adders, valks, idols and rags. Apparently some of these metas are so difficult there’s even 4v3 battles against H/H/H/H Anubisath Idols and Unborn Val’kyrs which get 3 undead rounds. Not on my easy street meta.
Battle 5
vs. Amber Moth, Corefire Imp, Grasslands Hopper
I’ve faced this player quite a bit lately and I think one of two things is happening: a) someone has let their three year old on to their WoW account or b) its a bot that isn’t functioning properly. The choices they make are that bad. Moves like swapping in a pet, doing nothing, then swapping out to a different pet. It makes for an easy victory but a boring experience.
Record: 4-1
Battle 6: Valentine Dancers
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
P/P Diemetradon Hatchling (Quick Attack, Triple Snap, Ravage)
H/P Blighted Squirrel (Woodchipper, Crouch, Stampede)
Whenever I use the Diemetradon Hatchling I know I’ve strayed off the competitive path into the realm of fun. This is another team with pets that probably won’t do well against the majority of competitive teams. Hey, why not?
Battle 6
vs. Amber Moth, Hyjal Bear Cub, Onyxian Whelpling
Nice, my fun team gets someone else’s fun team. The Blighted Squirrel was able to easily handle the Hyjal Bear Cub. The Onyxian Whelpling came in so I decided to bring in the Diemetradon Hatchling. The dragon was doing well enough but a couple of double Triple Snaps made my opponent leave. I was clearly winning but the battle wasn’t completely decided in my opinion. The moth could have worked some Moth Dust magic, but my opponent didn’t even let it try.
Record: 5-1
Team 7: Ganymean
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
S/S Fiendish Imp (Burn, Immolation, Nether Gate)
P/P Warbot (Missile, Minefield, Extra Plating)
The once incredible Warbot has been taken down a notch since the nerf to direhorns and their subsequent drop in frequency. Even so, the powerful mech is still good against valks and when combined with imp can be incredible. The Tiny Bog Beast is a good enough pet to keep this uber combo competitive.
Battle 7
vs. Ghostly Skull, Menagerie Custodian, Menagerie Custodian
With all of my elemental damage against the two mechs this was a good match-up for a team that doesn’t need good match-ups to win. It was an easy victory.
Record: 6-1
Team 8: Rainbow Hoppers
H/S Tiny Bog Beast (Clobber, Lash, Rampage)
B/B Lifelike Toad (Tongue Lash, Cleansing Rain, Frog Kiss)
P/P Azure Crane Chick (Quills, Cleansing Rain, Surge)
I included the Lifelike Toad for a strong attack against undead pets, then I added the flyer for some coverage against elementals and aquatics. I’m not too excited about this team but it may do well. Frog Kiss in cleansing rain can do some mighty damage if it gets a chance to ramp up.
Battle 8
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Effervescent Glowfly, Coilfang Stalker
The valk cast CoD then Haunt on my Lifelike Toad while taking two triple Tongue Lashes. Ouch, it was down to about 200 hp as it Haunted. I really should have switched out from the incoming Swarm but didn’t so the Haunt ticks were doing double damage. I must be getting complacent after all of these battles. The mech toad died fast. I brought my Azure Crane Chick in, it finished off the returning valk and the remainder of the glowfly. After the Coilfang Stalker killed my bird the battle was down to a one on one against my elemental. It had Surge Of Power but I had a faster Clobber. I waited until I thought the nuke was going to come, then stunned and cast a few Lashes for the win. A pretty good showing for the Tiny Bog Beast, although as usual a few of the wins were against, um… not exactly the cream of the crop.
Record: 7-1
Latest Tweets
Yesterday, before reading this post, I actually also ran around 10 battles with the Tiny Bog Beast.
My team was
H/S Bog Beast(Clobber,Lash,Poison Lash)
Kovok(Poison Fang,Digest Brains,Black Claw)
Macabre Marionette(Macabre Maraca,Death and Decay,Bone Barrage)
Only lost once when I played badly against a DAH. Took lots of Idols to the grave though. I have never tried Rampage on the Bog Beast, I always go with Poison Lash to leave a present for any Mechs trying to switch out of the mech-elemental match-up. But I can see what you mean about diversifying attacks. Also it’s a bit annoying that Poison Fang and Poison Lash leaves the same DoT, would have been better if they were two separate ones.
I know you are a fan of the Sporeling Sprout. Have you tried the H/H Sporeling? One thing that makes the damn Idol so annoying is that it’s human racial heals for a lot. The H/H Sporeling has the same health but with a slight potential to be more Imp+Immolation like with Creeping Fungus and Spore Shrooms. I just wanted to try this out, so coupled it with Restless Shadeling for Plagued Blood and a Kovok with Black Claw if I ran into any Sandstorm/Shells. First fight went well, but my opponent had a moonlight casting dragon which was kind of a perfect opposing pet to face. Have not had time to test it more yet.
I never have tried the H/H Sporeling Sprout but it sounds like a really good idea. I have an S/S, a P/P and a P/S so I could drop the unused P/S for an H/H.
It’s good to see the Tiny Bog Beast winning for you too. My opinion of it goes up almost every time I use it.
Sounded like a decent theory and a fun thing to try out. It has not really worked that well for me, but it does require a different playstyle from what I am used to. I’ll give it a few more tries.
Disco – Out of interest do the majority of Idols on your meta use Rupture or Deflection in their third spot? My meta is fairly Idol-heavy (but there are far more Valks, DAHs, MPDs etc.) but fortunately about 75% of them use Rupture, which I see as the ‘greedy’ move. Why greedy? Because they already have decent damage output with Crush and Deflection makes them almost unbeatable one-on-one with most pets, including some undead ones, but they sacrifice the safety of this awesome and rare move for some burst damage and a small chance of stun. Rupture quite often misses in their own Sandstorm and leaves Idols open to nukes, something Deflection, if used wisely, prevents.
The best Idol to face? Definitely one that didn’t get the Demolish memo so is still spamming that, Stoneskin so your accuracy isn’t affected, and a Rupture that they use as soon as it’s off cooldown so that you can neatly avoid it.
An Idol played well is annoying, but fortunately a lot of them aren’t. Stay strong, Disco, stay strong!
I would say that more use Rupture than Deflection. I think describing this as greedy is really accurate. As annoying as the 25% chance stun it I think that Deflection idols are harder to beat.