March 10, 2014

Mini-Troutys: More Valks Please
H/H Unborn Val’kyr (Shadow Shock, Siphon Life, Haunt)
P/P Dread Hatchling (Shadow Talon, Consume Corpse, Anzu’s Blessing)
P/S Treasure Goblin (Magic Sword, Wild Magic, Portal)

Here an excerpt from a recent important Blizzard meeting that I uncovered.

Employee 1: Have you seen the numbers? Unborn Val’kyrs are only being used in about 20% of PvP pet battles.
Employee 2: (slams fist on table) Disastrous! We need them to be used in as many pet battles as possible. We need to get those numbers up!
Employee 1: (stroking goatee) I think I may have a solution to our problem… let’s make both our new CE pets have great synergy with Haunt! Then they’ll be forced to use the Val’kyr more.
Employee 2: Brilliant! (high fives and champagne all around)

Seriously, it went down like that. Here I am using the flavor of the month Unborn Val’kyr again. Haunt has some great synergy with my shiny new Dread Hatchling’s Consume Corpse, which allows the bird to heal for 900+ health whenever the Unborn Val’kyr is “dead”. Wild Magic from the Treasure Goblin will make the Haunt ticks hit harder. Anzu’s Blessing will also make Haunt hit harder with it’s 25% accuracy and damage buff. If I can get Anzu’s Blessing up then then Magic Sword will hit at 100% rather than 75%, so there are multiple synergies at play here. I was getting more creative with my Dread Hatchling teams but I kept coming back to this one because it’s just darned fun to play. The plan is to Haunt then bring in the Treasure Goblin to apply Wild Magic before casting Portal to swap out to the bird, who’ll then cast Anzu’s Blessing and Consume Corpse. It’s not the smoothest flow, I’m still working out the kinks. As I said before, it’s been fun. I’ve actually been winning most of my battles with this team but I haven’t come across and real competition yet. I’m expecting to get beaten at least once or twice.

Battle 1
vs. Bandicoon, Rapana Whelk, Terrible Turnip
The Terrible Turnip started off by immediately going under with Sons of the Root against my Unborn Val’kyr. I swapped to my new bird to cast Anzu’s Blessing then stayed in to do some nice damage to the Terrible Turnip before my opponent swapped. This setback in the beginning didn’t keep my from using my strategy, I was able to use Consume Corpse twice and the Treasure Goblin finished the battle with a blessed Magic Sword.
Record: 1-0

Battle 2
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Desert Spider, Kovok
I’m not too afraid of Unborn Val’kyrs on their own without a swapper. If they Haunt me I’ll just Haunt the next pet right afterward, no biggie. It’s when they Haunt me then swap my Val’kyr out that I’m worried about. In this battle that wasn’t a problem. We both didn’t want to Haunt so we socked each other with Shadow Slash and Shadow Shock. I ended up winning by one round so I was able to Haunt the Desert Spider. In came my Treasure Goblin to cast Wild Magic then Portal out of the Spiderling Swarm. The Dread Hatchling then finished off both beasts.
Record: 2-0

Battle 3
vs. Unborn, Val’kyr, Bonkers, Lil’ Bling
In a moment of spontaneity I decided to Haunt on the first round. So did my opponent. I Haunted first, the opposing Val’kyr died. Now it’s 2v3 and I basically stopped paying attention. Bonkers hit some stuns and I didn’t Haunt when I had the chance before Bonkers used Dodge. The stuns, my mistakes and an important coin flip loss (both Bonkers and my goblin were 289 speed) meant a lost battle. I already found Bonkers annoying (as is any pet that relies on 25% stuns to win) but after this battle my hatred has risen a level. Really the truth is that I’m tired and should call it a night. I see a lot more silly mistakes in my future if I continue battling. Tonight I’m really putting the “mini” in mini-tryouts.
Record: 2-1