January 30, 2014

Today’s Team: Instant Heroes
H/P Amethyst Shale Hatchling (Burn, Poison Spit, Stoneskin)
P/P Sen’Jin Fetish (Shadow Shock, Immolate, Sear Magic)
P/P Stunted Direhorn (Trihorn Charge, Stampede, Trihorn Shield)

Strategy:
I have a confession to make. I suck at Shale Hatchlings. I’ve never been able to make any good teams with the elemental spider. Tonight I thought I’d give it another shot and this is the first thing I came up with. Guess what I had to face? An Idol, a Crawdad and a Tonk. Unbelievably I won! This team now forever has a special place in my heart. Since then I’ve moved on to an H/P Crimson Shale Hatchling because of better base stats but I just couldn’t break up the team that beat two of my most hated pets. I figured I’d give it another whirl in the queue. The strategy is a simple one: put up the DoTs then Stampede to amplify the damage. I really want to take Wild Magic instead of Immolate but I just love DoTing then Searing Val’kyrs so I’m sticking with the DoT.

Concerns:
Even with Trihorn Shield the Direhorn always seems a bit fragile to me.
(edited, thanks Kring)

The Opposing Team:
H/H Emperor Crab
B/B Ruby Droplet
P/P Harbinger Of Flame

The Battle:
Sometimes you have to stray away from your whole strategy because of one pet. That Emperor Crab was going to be impossible to take down with Sen’Jin Fetish or the Direhorn (because of the chosen move set). I guess it’s up to the Shale Hatchling. Luckily I started with it and my opponent with the Emperor Crab. Let me see what it can do here. Since the DoT was worthless I put up Stoneskin and spammed Burn. The Crab shielded, healed and Surged. The Crab won the head to head but was left shieldless and within kill range for the Direhorn. I could have Stampeded for the sure kill but that would have left my Direhorn exposed for the next enemy pet so I took a chance. Rather than go for the sure thing the Direhorn cast Trihorn Shield first and let the Emperor Crab also shield, all while it was getting heals from Renewing Mists. I had one chance at Trihorn Charge before the Crab healed out of kill range… the 85% move hit.

The Ruby Droplet replaced the Crab to find that Absorb was completely blocked by Trihorn Shield. After the Stampede had run its course the Droplet swapped to the Harbinger to avoid the double damage from the Trihorn Charge. I brought out the Fetish to deal with the Harbinger, then my opponent went back to the Droplet. AFter a few rounds using the Fetish I went to the Direhorn again then the two pets went through a similar sequence, excpet this time the Droplet didn’t swap out for the double damage Charge. Over 1k damage took out the Droplet. Another Stampede set up the Harbinger for the Fetish, a Shadow Shock crit for 1.7k to end it.