Today’s Team: Axe Me Later
P/P Mechanical Axebeak (Peck, Haywire, Decoy)
S/B Ore Eater (Acid Touch, Shell Armor, Body Slam)
H/H Ghastly Kid (Hoof, Ethereal, Haunt)
Rationale:
When I got an S/B Ore Eater from an egg I was initially disappointed. Of course I really wanted the S/S. Then I realized that at 305 speed the S/B isn’t all that bad. Sure I would like to be faster than all of the 325 speeds and the S/S Fiendish Imp, but 305 out speeds an awful lot of pets. That means an extra round of the possibly overbudgeted Shell Shield. The Ghastly Kid provides some cover for the Ore Eater with Hoof, the Mechanical Axebeak provides some cover for the Ghastly Kid against both aquatics and critters. I’ll most likely start with Haunt then I can either bring in the bird for a Decoy or the Ore Eater for some shielding.
Concerns:
Nothing comes to mind, which means that either this is the uncounterable team of the century or my brain is not working properly. I’m going with the latter.
The Opposing Team:
P/P Iron Starlette (level 24)
P/P Lil’ Ragnaros
P/P Harbinger Of Flame
The Battle:
This was an easy affair. The Harbinger Of Flame started off against the Ghastly Kid. The humanoid won the coin toss so it got off an Immolate before taking the Haunt. In came the Ore Eater. Shell Armor went up immediately which helped it easily take out the Harbinger Of Flame (along with Haunt). The Iron Starlette was the next pet I had to face. After it charged Wind-Up I brought the Ghastly Kid back in. Luckily my opponent went for the big nuke so my Ghastly Kid didn’t take a Wind-Up on the swap. The Iron Starlette tried to Supercharge and then unleash Wind-Up; Ethereal avoided it no damage was done. The Ghastly Kid cast Haunt a last time then the Mechanical Axebeak came in to kill off the Iron Starlette and most of Lil’ Ragnaros. The Ore Eater finished off Lil’ Ragnaros.
Latest Tweets
Interesting team, something I need to try out. Ore Eater is quite an underrated pet at the moment. It is also quite good vs AoE teams in that it can Acid touch -> Shell Armor and then go back line and take no damage.
I wish I had counted the wins because this team went on an incredible run. I don’t think it was more than the mighty 27-0 streak with Bog Bastards but it was getting close. I don’t want to pull out those two controversial letters too early, so I’ll say again that Shell Armor seems over budgeted. It has the same CD and function as Trihorn Shield but is much more powerful. Is there any good reason for this?
The team that finally beat me was an Anubisath Idol, Lil’ Ragnaros and Weebomination. I tried to take out the Weebomination with Hoof but had two low hits. That resulted in not taking it out fast enough so the back line damage to the Ore Eater was too much to come back from. I should have used Haunt then Shell Armor or Decoy. The trap didn’t help either. Oh well, it was a nice run.
I have a feeling they may have accidentally overbudgeted shell armor and actually intended for it to be a copy of Trihorn shield.
I guess we’ll see when they get around to doing their next set of balance passes. In the meantime I think I’m going to have to raise my Hydraling to use as my new lightning weather setter.
I just wanted to say that I finally got a S/S and a P/P version of Ore Eater the other day and tried this team out with the speed variety. I won 14 times in a row before I sat in the queue for 45mins without a match … presumably I scared everyone off whom I was facing.
In fact for the vast majority of fights the Axebeak never even participated.
@Disco
Curious if you think an S/S Bronze Whelp (1/2/1) would also be an effective third pet.
After I read this I used this team three times, it went 3-0. The Bronze Whelpling sounds like a good idea, I’m gonna give it a shot now.
I also gave the S/S Bronze Whelping a shot (actually am still playing games atm) and so far I have managed to go 11-1. My streak with the Axebeak ended at 17-1 when I restarted the next day.
So far I can’t decide which is better between the two – they both fill a nice sweeper niche, but since the team relies heavily on the great combination between the Kid and OE, I am beginning to suspect that any reasonable sweeper will suffice (P/P Emp Crab, MPD, etc).
The reality is that anyone who has a S/S OE might as well take advantage of your meta if you want consistent wins.