Today’s Team: Hatebreakers One
P/P Qiraji Guardling (Crush, Sandstorm, Blackout Kick)
H/P Living Sandling (Sand Bolt, Sandstorm, Quicksand)
P/P Emperor Crab (Snap, Healing Wave, Shell Shield)
Strategy:
While trying to come up with a good counter team for the Magical Crawdad, Fiendish Imp and Unborn Val’kyr combo (see comments at 3/22/14) I came up with this team. I took it for a whirl in the queue and so far it’s been doing very well. It gives me a good excuse to use the P/P Emperor Crab that I’m always saying needs more love. I chose the P/P Qiraji Guardling to counter the specific team mentioned above, but if I was coming up with this team from scratch I would use an S/S. However, I can’t say that I’m disappointed with the P/P so far. It hits hard. If I work it right I can out speed some faster pets due to the slows of the Living Sandling, which will allow me to fully utilize Blackout Kick. The plan is to get Sandstorm up right away then bring the crab in for some double shielding. Along with the powerful Healing Wave that’ll make the crab extremely hard to take out.
Concerns:
As with any Snadstorm team rng can decide to screw you over. If I can’t pit the Qiraji Guardling against a slower pet or utilize the Living Sandling well then Blackout Kick on a 260 speed pet might be wasted.
The Battle:
H/H Unborn Val’kyr
S/S Alpine Hare
H/S Skywisp Moth
The Opposing Team:
I started with the Qiraji Guardling against the Unborn Val’kyr. I think this makes people think they are off to a good start with their undead against a humanoid. I almost always use Blackout Kick and Sandstorm then swap when starting against a Val’kyr, which is what I did here. The Emperor Crab swapped into a Haunt so the Val’kry’s main move was shut down. The Skywisp Moth replaced the Unborn Val’kyr so I got my crab out of there. The Living Sandling walked into a 177 damage Call Lightning (thanks to Sandstorm and weak mechanical damage) and next round changed the weather right back to Sandstorm. The rabbit came in next against the Living Sandling. It allowed me to slow it before it used the avoidance moves so I was able to hit it again before it cast Burrow. I swapped to the Emperor Crab to take the hit then saw the rabbit’s Flurry do minimal damage. At this point in the battle I think my opponent saw that the only advantage that they had was the moth against the crab so they tried to force that match-up. I wasn’t having it, when the Skywisp Moth came in to face the crab I brought in the Living Sandling. Sure I was taking hits on the swap but we’re talikg about Slicing Winds, Cocoon Strike or a weak Call Lightning in a Sandstorm. The last straw was when my elemental slowed the rabbit then smacked it with a Sandstorm. My opponent fled.
Latest Tweets
Wouldn’t an *cough* Idol *cough* suit this team better?
I tried this out for a few games. That’s a damn good team with the idol on it.
This might be obvious to you but which pet did you swap out for the Idol? The Guardling Humanoid?
Yes, that is correct.
You need to get yourself an S/S Qiraji Guardling. I ran into a team that was :
S/S Death Adder Hatchling
S/S Qiraji Guardling
B/B Unborn Val’kyr
This team made me want to punch babies. Even with my minefield swap team using Valk, I couldn’t take him. He’s CoD me, then haunt. In comes Death Adder, blinded and can’t hit for 2 rounds due to speed. Swaps to Guardling after blind, just as it wears off he kicks me, and since it’s the S/S gaurdling I’m effectively stunned 2 rounds.
He basically had me stunned until curse of doom could expire, and then haunt finished. He brought in the Valk and rinsed and repeated. It was the most frustrating thing ever, totally immobilized :S
I have one, the S/S is my preferred breed but this specific counter team doesn’t need all that speed. I’ve heard about the team you mention at Warcraft Pets where there’s a really long thread on it. There’s someone on my meta who runs it with a 289 speed Qiraji Guardling and that’s hard enough to deal with. A Mongoose and Sen’Jin Fetish do well against it, but of course I have to be careful about the Sandstorm and the Mongoose.