Gone Wildin’
Wild pets unite!
Battle 1: The Suggested
Spirit Crab, Tiny Bog Beast, Alpine Hare
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Dread hatchling, Murkalot
Ouch. I could write a paragraph about my opinions on Consume Corpse/Haunt and RI/Haunt but that would be feeding this troll. I’ll let it go by saying that I got absolutely stomped by these broken interactions and leave it at that.
Record: 0-1
Battle 2: Unfortunate Yeti
Stunted Yeti, Fel Flame, Scourged Whelpling
vs. Scourged Whelpling, Scourged Whelpling, Vampiric Batling
For a long time the Vampiric Batling was the pet I coveted the most. Power creep has made it less of a factor in the meta but I would still love the chance to build a team around it. Clone it please. Even with power creep three undead pets can be hard to take down. I thought I had this battle all wrapped up at but a Nocturnal Strike crit for 1k + damage. That made it very close so I had to rely on the stun from the yeti to win. I’ve earned another cookie.
Record: 1-1
Battle 3: Kun-Lai Ropers
Kun-Lai Runt, Prairie Mouse, Tolai Hare
vs. Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling, Death Adder Hatchling, Death Adder Hatchling
This was a battle of ups and downs. I saw the two adders and thought I was done for with my two slower critters (322 and 325 speed). Then I realized that both death adders were 276 speed so I had a decent chance. Unfortunately, it got very frustrating when I just couldn’t hit a third Flurry. In the end I thought my rabbit was doomed to a death by adder. The rng finally evened out and I hit two triple Flurries in a row for the win.
Record: 2-1
Battle 4: For The Gorge
Fire Beetle, Molten Hatchling, Lava Crab
vs. Frigid Frostling, Kun-Lai Runt, Lil’ Bling
This was another battle where I thought I was done for. The match-ups weren’t particularly bad for me, but some Slippery Ice misses caused me to fall behind. I couldn’t get the double hit Conflagrate on the opposing elemental because I only had the the weather for the burning effect, which it was of course immune to. My opponent seemed to be doing a good job forcing the beast versus mech match-up at the end. You would think that’s a good plan. Brittle Webbing thought differently. Lil’ Bling absolutely destroyed himself on it with Make It Rain and Inflation. The Molten Hatchling had enough heals to survive the strong damage and watch the mech kill itself. I should mention that the KLR missed a Deep Freeze. I’m afraid of a 100% accuracy Deep Freeze in WoD.
Record: 3-1
Battle 5: Ghostlands Gladiators
Spirit Crab, Toad, Black Rat
vs. Kun-Lai Runt, Swamp Croaker, Zandalari Anklerender
I KNEW I WAS DOOMED WHEN CROAK WAS CAST! That’s a sentence that you’ll never hear. I made a pretty big mistake in this battle by thinking that my 341 speed rat would still be faster after the Frost Shock. I was wrong so I had to swap rather than cast Survival like I planned. This made the battle closer, but it’s hard to lose when someone casts Croak… twice.
Record: 4-1
Battle 6: Darkshore Deathsquad
Shimmershell Snail, Darkshore Cub, Squirrel
vs. Anubisath Idol, Dark Whelpling, Unborn Val’kyr
I refuse to let rng make me rage. Two 100% moves missed in a sandstorm. I was making a good comeback against a mistake I made early on; I assumed that I had Nut Barrage but I had Stampede instead. Getting unnecessarily locked into a three round move with no DoTs was a massive setback. Still, I put myself in a situation to win (or perhaps draw depending on the damage of CoD) with the bear versus the idol. Back to back Bite misses ensured that didn’t happen. I will embarrassingly admit that the valk was uncommon quality. Dang.
Record: 4-2
Battle 7: Hillsbraddies
Infested Bear Cub, Huge Toad, Squirrel
vs. Dread Hatching, Mini Tyrael, Death Adder Hatchling
The OP adder couldn’t make up for having Mini Tyrael on the team. Still, I think the opposing team should have won. It turned out to be a draw instead. It was interesting seeing Mini Tyrael in the queue.
Record: 4-2-1
Battle 8: Croak And Thrash
Spirit Crab, Swamp Croaker, Imperial Eagle Chick
vs. Dark Whelpling, Emerald Proto-Whelp, Core Hound Pup
I said I wasn’t going to rage. I won’t. I will lose peacefully to a mediocre team that has no business winning a PvP battle, ever. Some people have said that the whole point of rng is to give teams like this a chance. A 95% Snap miss, a Darkness miss and every Thrash hitting twice meant I couldn’t take out the dragon while it was healing. The two dragonkin enhanced crits for 900+ damage didn’t help, either. I know that I also benefit from rng sometimes, so I shouldn’t complain so much. Even when restricting myself to wild caught pets it’s a sad day when I lose to two Dark Whelplings in one write-up.
Record: 4-3-1
Battle 9: Amazing Larry’s Revenge
Crystal Spider, Mountain Skunk, Swamp Croaker
vs. Unborn Val’kyr, Stitched Pup, Blighthawk
I was tentative about running my team because I feel that it’s not too great. The queue gods must have felt bad about me missing earlier because they gifted me with this triple undead team. This Consume Corpse abusing team is normally one to be feared, but with all of my critter damage and heals I was able to handle it easily. I keep a triple bunny team around for the times when I encounter Consume Corpse abusers; next time I think I’ll run the skunk and frog instead. Even though I was spanking them it was still going to be a long one. Thankfully the abuser fled after seventeen rounds.
Record: 5-3-1
Hey Disco, I have had an exciting idea. Nothing to do with today’s post I’m afraid but I posted here as you’re more likely to see it.
I got to thinking last night about the power of the ability Hawk Eye. It puts people off because you have to use a turn to cast it and this gives your opponent a free hit and most of your flying pet’s health (above 50%) disappears and your speed advantage with it.
I just tried one of your classic ideas – a Celestial Blessing leading into Hawk Eye and then Thrash is INSANE!
I tried it with Yu’la and a P/P Imperial Eagle Chick. The usual move set with Yu’la, then switch to Eagle, receive buff, cast Hawk Eye and then kill a DAH in two turns (DAH cast blind on swap so I cast Hawk Eye whilst blinded)! Three hits all critting gives about 750 dmg.
I won’t lie to you, I did end up losing the battle, but this has got me excited. Maybe I got too greedy with the low hp P/P Imperial Eagle Chick. Perhaps an H/H Dragonbone Hatchling would be better. Let’s face it, it would still hit like a truck. Perhaps a Harmonious Porcupette would be better than Yu’la. And as for a sweeper, that spot’s open for another hard-hitting pet who might benefit from a second helping of Celestial Blessing.
Main drawback – Hawk Eye often shares a spot with Lift Off, which is a decent avoid if nothing else.
Still, you can see why I’m excited, right? I’ll leave these bare bones of an idea in your more than capable hands! Just name the eventually uber team after me please
I tried it a few times. While I did find myself missing Lift-Off, when all three thrashes hit and crit it was crazy damage. I called it “Josh Pit” lol.
I’ll take it!
Might do a mini-case study myself.
I’ll run it some more, too.