March 3, 2015

Seeking a Third: Jademist Dancer & Slitherscale Elver
S/S Jademist Dancer (Steam Vent, Rain Dance, Acid Rain)
S/S Slitherscale Elver (Deep Bite, Clobber, Pump)

I didn’t do much theory crafting or preparation when it came to the 6.1 pets, so little in fact that I didn’t even know that the Sliverscale Elver existed. I saw it once on the auction house and wasn’t too impressed by it (especially not at the ridiculous price being asked). Yesterday after defeating the traveling battler I got the Slitherscale Elver as a drop. I still wasn’t excited. Then I noticed that it was an S/S, hmmm, that caught my eye. Finally the excitement came when I noticed that this pet has a choice between Clobber and Dodge in the second slot. A stun or avoid on a fast pet? Awesome!

I paired it with the Jademist Dancer and haven’t looked back. I’ve been using Deep Bite, Clobber and Pump. I’ve been tempted to use Grasp for the root, but it only does 210 damage. Deep Bite is a ramp-up move so it has a drawback; it’s this first slot that prevents the elver from being great. Despite this I’ve been winning a decent amount with this pair. The elver’s moves get a buff from cleansing rain when the Jademist Dancer gets it going. I’ve usually been starting with the elver to Clobber then Pump, then either back line it to get the buffed Pump off later or stay in to start the ramping of Deep Bite. My biggest concern is magic pets since I have so much aquatic damage.

Pet 1: H/P Ancient Nest Guardian
I’m hoping to counter any magic damage with the mech. There’s plenty of coverage for the mech with all of the elemental damage that I have.

Team 1: Slithernest
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Stitched Pup, Blossoming Ancient
030315EWhat a crappy start. When the Stitched Pup replaced the valk after the CoD and Haunt I knew a Howl was coming. I was thinking swap, but my mouse clicked Pump instead. Oops. Now Shattered Defenses was up so I had to stay in and let the elver die since it would just die on the back line if I swapped. After it died I brought the Jademist Dancer. My mistake was bad but my opponent’s mistake was much worse: the Blossoming Ancient came in to face the Jademist Dancer. Bad idea. This allowed me to make up some ground and set up a showdown with the low health Blossoming Ancient versus my full health mech. I needed to take it out fast before the heals got going. The mech prevailed with a Metal Fist then an unleashed Wind-Up in this battle of mistakes.

Pet 2: S/S Albino Chimaeraling
The fast dragon provides a way to take out magic pets. My main concern is that its main attack is weak against undead pets.

Team 2: Slitherino
vs. Fiendish Imp, Corefire Imp, Singing Sunflower
030315BWhat is this? National “I have no respect for the power of the Jademist Dancer” day? It must be, because for the second battle in a row someone swapped an elemental in to face my elemental. Maybe they think it’s a better option than facing the elver.

Whatever the reason, the flower was a non-factor as it got two-shot without casting anything. After that you would think it was a faceroll; it wasn’t, the battle was much closer than I thought it would be. I still won but it was close. The dragonkin racial was a necessary part of my win at the end of the battle. Damn those imps when they’re not on my team.

Pet 3: B/B Willy
Sometimes you just gotta use Willy for some fun times. Hopefully I’ll run into an undead pet to punish.

Battle 3: Slithereye
vs. Effervescent Glowfly, Stitched Pup, Untamed Hatchling
030315DI got owned by Slicing Winds. It’s nice to see that it hit can hit eight times in three attacks for someone. Some people love Willy, but I don’t win too often with him. Something about the play style just doesn’t work for me. Plus I didn’t play this one too well; I kept Willy in against the Stitched Pup while Shattered Defenses was up because I had a plan that would lead to victory. It revolved around the Jademist Dancer taking away the flying racial with Acid Rain. Before that could happen the Untamed Hatchling surprised me with a deadly crit. Bad dragon.

Pet 4: S/S Ore Eater
No really, Shell Armor is not overpowered. Really.

Battle 4: Slitherarmor
vs. Teroclaw Hatchling, Pandaren Earth Spirit, Electrified Razortooth
030315CThis was an elemental smorgasbord for my aquatic damage to feast on. As if there wasn’t already enough strong damage going around the Teroclaw Hatchling used Nature’s Ward to take damage as if it were an elemental. Three pets with aquatic attacks against three elementals. It was a massacre as it should have been. Note to self: when facing aquatic damage with the Teroclaw Hatchling avoid Nature’s Ward if possible. Actually, I’ve already made that mistake at least once.

That’s it for now, but just look at all the fun I’ve been having with this combo:
030315A

10 Responses to March 3, 2015

  1. Vek says:

    MPD seems obvious…

    I have also not checked the three Travellers pet supplies pets yet and have not been lucky to get any of them. But they seem to come an annoying amount of breeds.

    That S/S Slithershock Elver seems like an excellent pet.

    I am also quite interested in the Young Talbuk beast.

    • Discodoggy says:

      Tried the MPD this morning, went 3-0 with it.

      I haven’t looked at the Young Talbuk either, what’s interesting about it?

      • Vek says:

        What I like about it is that it has Flurry and Tough n Cuddly(same as crouch), while this is not very different from Wolves/Foxes in general. But instead of speed increase it actually has a beast attack in last slot, Horn Gore(seems like smash). So you got flurry to kill decoys and undeads while still having a strong hitter.

  2. Aeth says:

    Just out of curiosity, why Clobber over Dodge? Given his speed I would have thought the (likely) two turn avoidance would trump the one turn stun.

    • Discodoggy says:

      Both have their pros and cons depending on the situation. Clobber is more dynamic imo because it not only prevents your pet from taking damage, it prevents anything from happening. As far as the rounds go, in most situations they both prevent damage for two rounds, the round they’re cast and the next.

      If you want to prevent rag from laying a trap then you can stun him, whereas an avoid wouldn’t help you on that round. If you want to make sure a crab doesn’t get off a heal then a stun is better than an avoid. If you want to make sure Mr. Bigglesworth doesn’t launch an Ice Tomb on its immortal round then a stun is better. Against a mine layer a stun would be better since an avoid wouldn’t prevent the mines from going down.

      On the flipside, if Mr. Bigglesworth already put the Ice Tomb up then you want an avoid. Of course a stun is useless against a critter so you would want an avoid. Also avoids make pets waste CDs, where stuns do not. If I cast Dodge on the turn of an incoming Ghostly Bite the CD is wasted, but if I stun then the Ghostly Bite is still available as soon as the stun wears off. Against a Pandaren Water Spirit and the double end of turn nuke combo an avoid is much better.

      I’m glad you brought this up, it’s an interesting topic. I wonder against which top tier pets a stun would be more useful than an avoid, or vice versa.

      • Aeth says:

        That’s a fantastic explanation. Thank you for breaking it down. I’m actually leveling an S/S Nightshade Sproutling as we speak so your response got me thinking about the best time to use Blinding Poison. I’m actively avoiding studying for an accounting exam but theory crafting pet strategies is pretty much the same thing, right?

  3. Tekulve says:

    I’ll re-post a note here

    The Droplet of Y is a great addition to this pair of s/s pets- dreadful breath and acid rain. All to help the aquatic pet’s power and assist the jademist’s interest in keeping rain up.. I use a p/s but a p/p might be interesting too

  4. Tekulve says:

    I tried around 10 matches with that trio- the elver is an amazing sweeper ..i used dodge and dive and the ramping atk in slot 1

    the Droplet may not be as effective as MPD but i like a fast battle and the aoe damage through dreadful breath is potent

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