December 15, 2013

Today’s Team: Die Die My Hatchling
P/P Diemetradon Hatchling (Quick Attack, Triple Snap, Ravage)
H/P Infected Squirrel (Stampede, Creeping Fungus, Consume)
S/S Jademist Dancer (Steam Vent, Rain Dance, Geyser)

Strategy:
I’ve always been interested in the Diemetradon Hatchling. At 341 power and a “surge” attack (Quick Attack) it seems like it has some potential. Unfortunately if you take Quick Attack you lose Claw as the spammable attack and are stuck with Triple Snap which is a 100/66/33 move. I’ve never been a fan of those. In the last spot you have a choice of Comeback or Ravage, I chose Ravage for the possible heal but Comeback is just as viable. Sometimes I run with a completely different load out: Claw, Screech, and Comeback. The other pets were chosen based on coverage. The Squirrel was picked because I have some coverage against critters with the Diemetradon. The Dancer was chosen as a weak counter against mechs, which are strong against the Diemetradon. I’m not sure how Rain Dance works with 100/66/33 moves but it would be great if it gave the 50% hit buff to all three attacks making it a 150/116/83 attack.

I never got around to the strategy. I’ll most likely start with the Squirrel to Fungus and Stampede. If I’m still alive I’ll Consume or swap. If I can time it right I can get the Diemetradon in against a pet with Shattered Defenses to cause some serious damage.

Concerns:
The days of being able to make a viable team based on coverage may be past. Adders are all over my meta and may be problematic.

The Opposing Team:
H/H Unborn Val’kyr
H/S Scalded Basilisk Hatchling
P/S Chi-Chi
Two Feigns, lovely.

The Battle:
Someone on my meta runs Chi-Chi and the Basilisk a lot. While I can beat it pretty regularly (sorry Basilisk, you’re still my favorite) it can be annoying dealing with two Feigns. I didn’t fancy my chances going into this one but I thought it would be interesting. It started as Infected Squirrel against the Val’kyr. The first round saw Fungus and Curse of Doom. Both undead were 227 speed and the coin flip was going to be important… and I won it, the Squirrel was able to Stampede before it got Haunted. Now the Val’kyr was going to res with a DoT and Shattered Defenses. The downside was that I was stuck in a three round move. The Basilisk came in and helped me out by using Crystal Prison. Now I was able to swap to my Dancer. It took a Thrash on the swap then the next turn cast Rain Dance while the Basilisk Feigned. How dare you play poorly with my favorite pet! Chi-Chi came in on the Feign. Next turn it cast Fire Quills and took a 429 damage Steam Vent. The Curse had hit and the Haunt ended but my Squirrel was still alive, although barely. Chi-Chi Feigned to the Basilisk. I took a chance with an unbuffed, 80% Steam Vent which hit the Basilisk for 434 damage. The Basilisk used Crystal Prison again but since it was slower than my Dancer I wasn’t too worried. The Fungus and Shattered Defenses was doing some nice damage to the Val’kyr on the back line. My opponent used the Prison turn to swap to the Val’kyr which had around 600 hp now. The Dancer cast Rain Dance again then pow! The next Steam Vent took the Val’kyr down to 0 with a crit. I brought the Diemetradon in on the Val’kyrs undead round.

The end of the battle was sort of funny. Both Chi-Chi and the Basilisk relied on speed attacks so I just spammed Quick Attack for the next eight rounds. I saw Feigns, Thrashes, Quills and Tranquility but in the end the Diemetradon was able to take out the Basilisk and get Chi-Chi down to 100 hp. Quick Attack turned out to be a good choice in this case. Chi-Chi tried to heal with Tranquility when the Dancer came back but a Rain Dance then Steam Vent finished off Chi-Chi for the win. That was a fun one.