What will happen to Pet Battles in Warlords of Draenor?

As expected, there were not much said about pet battles at Blizzcon, but in the "ask about everything" panel someone asked the question that us pet battlers have been wondering. How will Pet Battling work in Warlords of Draenor. Will there be more levels to grind for all of our pets? And will we finally get a legendary quality?

The answers given were brief and not very detailed, but hopefully they mean that pet battles will continue to be exciting in WoD.
Cory Stockton said that they were not looking to increase the levels for battle pets and that makes me super happy. I don't know about you guys, but I have a ton of level 25 and the thought of having to level them to 30 does not sound like fun. So yay for not raising the level cap!

Instead of increasing the level cap, the developers are looking at expanding the collection aspect. This to me sounds like there will be a ton of new wild, quest reward and dropped pets in Draenor. They also want to add more trainers which will hopefully give us some new challenges.

The most interesting thing though was that in the new player made garrisons, it will be an option to have a Pet Stable. It didn't sound like they had really finalized the purpose of this building, but Cory did mention a unique trainer and epic pet battles so it could end up being really exciting.

All in all it sounds like pet battles haven't been forgotten for Warlords of Draenor, but unfortunately it doesn't sound like it is a big priority either. I would have loved to hear something more and for the devs to show us some unique and creative ideas of where to take pet battles, but hopefully we will see something once they start polishing the new expansion.

Lets say I am semi excited about the future of pet battles. What about you? 

Pet battle challenge of the month - November 2013

The challenge of November is all about themed pet battle teams.
Pet battling is not all about winning, it is about winning while looking cool and nothing says cool like an awesome themed oet battle team.

This month I challenge you to put together a pet battling team that has a clear theme to it.
It can be a theme based on the names you have given your pets, it can be a team that only uses a particular familie of pets or it can be another thematic focus.
The most important thing is that the theme is clear to the opponent.

Prizes
As last month there will be two different prizes one for people on the EU servers and one for people on all the other servers.
For the EU servers you can choose between a green level 25 Azure Crane Chick or a level 1 Phoenix Hawk Hatchling.
If you are not on the EU servers you can win a Medal of Honor Steam Key.

How it works
Create an awesome looking themed pet battle team, then test it out in battle. Make sure it can at least win once in a while. In the comment section below describe your team and the theme. If possible link to a screenshot of the team in action although this is not required to enter the competition.

How do I win?
The competition ends at midnight CEST on the 31st of October and once it has ended I will pick a random submission.

Once the competition is over the winning team will be announced here and provided I have access to the pets used in the winning team I will also make a video showcasing the team in action. If you enter the competition, please make sure you check back here so we can arrange handing over the price.

Top 3 Undead Battle Pets

Undead vanity pets are great for pet battling. Their racial is awesome and they usually have good abilities. Furthermore they are a great counter to the Anubisath Idol and the  Kun-Lai Runt, which seems to be a staple in 50% of all Pet Battle Teams.

Unborn Val'kyr

Pic © Blizzard

This undead pet is awesome because of its versitility. With shadowslash, curse of doom and unholy ascension it is great for killing off elites in PVE. And with the fix to Haunt in patch 5.4 it is now a stable in many PVP teams. Haunt + Curse of Doom allows you to do a lot of damage, while being untouchable  yourself.
The Unborn Val'kyr also gets extra points for one of the coolest idle animations. Kill off a normal critter and standby while your Val'kyr brings it back to life.

Mr. Bigglesworth

Pic © Blizzard

A pet with very high survivability in pet fights. With Ice Barrier it can block off two enemy attacks, while Ice Tomb will keep the anemy pet frozen and on top do a good amount of damage.
Also with a speed of 325, Mr. Bigglesworth is faster than most other pets which is both good for his pounce ability and gives you and overall advantage. Faster is almost always better. 



Giant Bone Spider

Pic © Blizzard

Even though the swapping spells were nerfed in patch 5.4 they are still a great way to control the fight. A lot of teams are dependant on set moves to work out and you can really mess up an opponents tactics by swapping out their pet. On top of that the combination of dotting up an enemy pet and then swapping it out so it can't retaliate is very powerful.




Worthy mention

Pic © Blizzard

The Creepy Crate is a great undead battle pet as well it has Cure of Doom and Agony which makes it a great dot pet. It also have Bonestorm, which is great for Taran Zhu in the Celestial Tournament, but also works great against other opponents as long as they have at least one humanoid in the team.
If Death Grip and Devour swapped place, this would be in the top three, but even as it is, it deserves a mention!

This is my top 3 of the best Undead Battle Pets. What is yours?

Pet battle challenge of the month - October 2013

When I finished the achievement "No Time To Heal" I was a bit sad. While I was thrilled to complete it, I was also aware that it was one of the only really challenging achievements for pet battlers in the game.
Since then I have tried to set myself challenges when doing pet battles and I have had a blast.
As I know I am not the only one liking a challenge I figured I would include you guys. And to make it more fun I will make it a monthly competition complete with prizes!

Prize
The idea for prizes was to give away different vanity pets, however since the servers are divided based on region it is only possible for me to offer vanity pets to people on the EU servers. For people in other regions I will instead try and come up with other prizes (although it may not always be possible.)

For this first challenge the prize I the EU server price is a shiny Azure Crane Chick leveled to 25. It is P/P and it is unfortunately green as I didn't have a stone, but at least you will only have to redo 2 levels at max.
If you are not on the EU servers you can win a Mirror's Edge Steam Key. (If you are on the EU servers and prefer the game key rather than the vanity pet, then we can talk about that as well. :))


The challenge:
Win 3 PVP matches in a row with an all Aquatic Team.

How it works
To enter the competition  take a screenshot of the all Aquatic Team that you have managed to win 3 pvp battles in a row with. Please make sure that the abilities you use are clearly visible. Once you have the screenshot upload it somewhere and throw a link in the comment section below or link it to me on Twitter. Also include a line or two about how you play the team to win. Alternatively, please write up the names and abilities of the pets in the comment section below along with a short description of how you play the team. You are also welcome to include breeds, but it is not a requirement.

Of course I have no way of knowing whether or not you actually managed to beat 3 enemies in a row with your all Aquatic pet, but I trust you guys and also, where is the fun in cheating? ;)

How do I win?
The competition ends at midnight CEST on the 31st of October and once it has ended I will pick a random submission.

Once the competition is over the winning team will be announced here and provided I have access to the pets used in the winning team I will also make a video showcasing the team in action. If you enter the competition, please make sure you check back here so we can arrange handing over the price.

Please share this blog with your friends and make sure you subscribe here and to my Youtube channel to participate in future competitions and to get more ideas for pet battle PVP and PVE strategies.

Is the Terrible Turnip any good?

Today I am going to have a look at the Terrible Turnip and discuss whether it is a good pet or not.

How to get the Terrible Turnip
The Terrible Turnip can potentially drop when you harvest your crops at the farm in Halfhill in Valley of the Four Winds. The drop chance seems fairly low, but if you have no luck with your drops, then you can always go to the auction house and see if you can not purchase it there.

Strenghts
Diverse and unique set of abilities. Great as a counter against pets that rely on object creation such as Clockwork Gnome.

Weaknesses
Low damage attacks, does not fare well against teams using sandstorm.

Works well with
Any pet that has call lightning to make extra use of Sons of Root. Can also be used in Sunlight teams as the pet that sorts out the weather effect.

Best uses for the Terrible Turnip
Even though the Terrible Turnip is a decent PVP pet, the best use of it is to tame new pets in PVE. Weaking blow and sunlight is a great combo to quickly get a pet to 25% health without being afraid of accidentally killing it. 

Why should I get it (conclusion)
You should get the Terrible Turnip as it is a fun pet to PVP with and it will save you a ton headaches when trying to capture wild vanity pets. Also it is super cute and who doesn't want to be followed around by an oversized vegetable?

Do you have the Terrible Turnip? What is your favourite aspect about it?

Pierre and Rascal-Bot cageable

In a recent hotfix Blizzard changed the vanity pets Pierre and Rascal-Bot from requiring a character on your account to have engineering. Now the two vanity pets can be caged and sold on the auction house.

Before patch 5.4 I was leveling engineering on one of my characters solely to get access to these two pets and to be able to more easily have a chance of Lil' Bling. When I saw the hotfixed I stopped my leveling. I have very limited playtime and I figured it would be faster short term to just farm gold and buy the two pets.

At first I was a bit sad that they changed it, as it is kinda nice that somethings are unique to each profession, but after thinking it through I actually like the change. I think it is neat for engineers to be able to earn a bit of money on their profession and for myself, it makes things so much easier as I don't have to farm all the materials to level yet another profession.

Now I am just waiting, checking the auction house from time to time to see if one of these pets will pop up. I've already seen multiple Lil' Blings on the AH for about 10k gold, but I think they will fall in price pretty quickly so currently I am saving my money for Pierre or Rascal Bot.

Also to those who are worried about the rarity of the engineering pets. With the required materials, I am pretty certain that these pets will stay rare for a long time. What are your thoughts on Blizzard making these two pets cageable?

Recommended pet list for Celestial Tournament stage 2

Following up on my list of pets you should farm for the first stage of the Celestial Tournament, here is a list of battle pets to collect for stage 2.
(Please note that this will be completed once I have refined strategies for all 4 Celestials)

You can also check out the fights on my Youtube channel MestMistel


Chi-Chi, Hatchling of Chi-Ji
Unborn Val'Kyr (or any pet with Curse of Doom)
Pandarian Water Spirit
Alpine Fox Kit

Yu'la, Broodling of Yu'lon
Unborn Val'Kyr
Chrominus
Lil' Deathwing

If you want to use the Val'Kyr for both fights then start with Chi-Chi as it will be undamaged afther that fight.

Zao, Calfling of Niuzao
Wild Jade Hatchling (use Lightning Storm)
Zandalari Footslasher
Clockwork Gnome
Xu-Fu, Cub of Xuen
Wild Jade Hatchling
Chicken (or any other high speed flying pet with Flock)
Darkmoon Zeppelin

Chen Stormstout Pet Battle Strategy

Chen Stormstout challenges us to pet battles in the Celestial Tournament. His team is not the hardest of the new opponents and with the right team you should get him down every time.

Here I will give you a quick guide to the fight as well as an idea of how to kill him as easily as possible.

Please keep in mind that the pets suggested here can often be swapped with other pets of the same family or with the same type of attacks so if you do not have the exact pets available to you, do not despair.

Opponents Team

Brewly
Brew Bolt- strong vs Elementals, weak vs Magic- Damage Ability
Barrel Toss - strong vs Critter, weak vs Flying- Reduces hit chance by 100% for 1 round
Inebriate - strong vs Mechanical weak vs Critter- Damage Ability that continues for 3 rounds

Chirps
Flank - strong vs Undead weak vs Humanoid - Damage Ability, hits 1-3 times
Lullaby - strong vs Undead weak vs Humanoid - Makes the target fall asleep for 2 rounds
Locust Swarm - strong vs Undead weak vs Humanoid - Damage Ability

Tonsa
Bite - strong vs Critter weak vs Flying - Damage Ability
Headbutt - strong vs Critter weak vs Flying - Damage Ability and 25% chance of stun
Chew  - strong vs Undead weak vs Humanoid - Deals damage the turn after used.

Your Team 

Clockwork Gnome 
Metal Fist, Repair, Turret 
Silkbead Snail
Absorb, Acidic Goo, Dive

Zandalari Anklerender

Hunting Party, Primal Cry, Devour

Strategy

Tonsa is Chens starting pet. Start out with Clockworm Gnome and pop his turret, depending on your health hit Metal fist or Repair. Proceed until you kill Tonsa.  Next up is Chirps. He will likely put your Gnome to sleep in the first round so go ahead and swap in the Anklerender. Use Primal Cry and then hunting party to finish off Chirps.
For Brewly you will use the Silkbead snail use Acidic Goo and follow by Dive. Spam Absorb until Brewly is dead.

To counter Inebriate you can also use a pet with Laser or With a buff to hit instead of the Silkbead Snail. Give it a try as one strategy might feel better than the other to you.
Good luck! :)

Below you can check out the whole fight and strategy in action.

Little Tommy Newcomer (Lil' Oondasta) Pet Battle FAQ and Strategy

In patch 5.4 you will find Little Tommy Newcomer on the Timeless Isle. He is located at The Celestial Court right next to Master Li. He offers a daily quest where you have to beat his Lil' Oondasta in pet battles in exchange for 500 Timeless Coins.
The pet hits crazy hard, however the fight is relatively simple with the right team.

Opponent Team

Lil' Oondasta 
Spiritfire Beam - strong vs Flying weak vs Mechanical - Damage ability, hits backline pets as well.

Frill Blast - strong vs Flying weak vs Mechanical - Damage ability, swaps in highest HP pet.
Crush - strong vs Dragonkin weak vs Beasts - Damage ability

Your Team

Wild Jade Hatchling
Tail Sweep, Call Lightning, Lift-Off
Clockwork Gnome 
Metal Fist, Repair, Turret
Clockwork Rocket Bot 
Batter, Toxic Smoke, Launch Rocket

Strategy 

Start with the Wild Jade Hatchling and use Call Lightning to change the weather into Lightning Storm. Lil' Oondasta will likely use Frill Blast here and your Rocket Bot will be swapped in. Use Batter until your bot dies. If your Wild Jade Hatchling survived the Frill Blast it has likely gotten killed by the Spiritfire Beam so use your Clockwork Gnome to finish off Oondasta. Start off with a Turret and then spam Metal Fist until you win. 

If you are unlucky you may have to redo the fight, but so far I have found that this strategy is a fairly easy way to beat Little Tommy Newcomer. 
A video will be up soon showing the fight (I accidentally handed it in today before recording. Duh! ;) )

Recommended pet list for Celestial Tournament stage 1

I was asked to provide a full list of all battle pets used to beat the Celestial Tournament. Hopefully this list will come in handy for people farming vanity pets for the tough fights in the tournament.

Before going on to the list I want to stress that if possible you should have 2 or even 3 of all the battle pets listed here as even with the best strategies you are bound to lose a fight in the CT once in a while and you want to make certain that loosing a fight doesn't mean you have to start over completely.

You can see all the strategies and fights on my Youtube channel MestMistel, but now on to the list. 

Also find a list of the pets for stage 2 here.

Taran Zhu

Creepy Crate
Maggot
Stitched Pup

Chen Stormstout

Clockwork Gnome
Silkbead Snail
Zandalari Anklerender

Wise Mari

Westfall Chicken
Mountain Panda
Hyjal Bear Cub

Wrathion

Brown Marmot
Porcupette
Little Fawn

Dr Ion Goldbloom

Fledgling Buzzard
Azure Drake
Lesser Voidcaller

Lorewalker Cho

Clockwork Gnome
Stitched Pub
Netherspace Abyssal

Sully McLeary

Frog
Fledgling Buzzard x2

Shademaster Kyrin

Giant Bone Spider
Clockwork Gnome
Crimson Lasher

Blingtron 4000

Pygmy Direhorn
Corehound Pup
Fridgid Frostling

Hopefully this list will come in handy when preparing for the tournament. Good Luck! :)

Taran Zhu Pet Battle FAQ and Strategy

Taran Zhu is probably the hardest fight in the first stage of the Celestial Tournament. The two other opponents for the week is Chen Stormstout and Wrathion, the black prince


Taran Zhu is Shado-Pan and has sworn to protect Pandaria and now he is doing that in Pet Battles as well with his team of deadly Mini Pandarian Monks. 
This is a team full of ninja moves and karate kicks.

Team

Bolo
Punch - strong vs Dragonkin, weak vs Beast - Damage Ability
Blinding Powder - strong vs Dragonkin, weak vs Beast - Reduces hit chance by 100% for 1 round
Rampage - strong vs Critter weak vs Flying - Damage Ability that continues for 3 rounds

Li
Triple Snap - strong vs Critter weak vs Flying - Damage Ability, hits 1-3 times
Bandage - strong vs Dragonkin, weak vs Beast - Healing Ability
Spin Kick - strong vs Dragonkin, weak vs Beast - Damage Ability that interrupts if user goes first

Yen
Comeback - strong vs Undead weak vs Humanoids - Damage Ability, deals more damage if user has lower health than target
Blackout Kick - strong vs Dragonkin, weak vs Beast- Stuns for 1 round
Feign Death - strong vs Critter weak vs Flying - Avoid enemy attack, then swap out with highest health pet

Strategy

Taran Zhu will start the fight with Yen. The key is to avoid taking too much damage from his comeback ability. 
Because the team has so many abilities that will prevent you from doing damage and due to the healing abilities (both from XXX bandage and from all 3 pets being humanoids) it is important to get a lot of damage in, preferably without Taran Zhu being able to retaliate.
That is why the best team for beating him looks like this:

Creepy Crate
Using Agony, Curse of Doom and Bonestorm.
All these are strong against humanoids and Bonestorm will be able to hurt the backline pets without them having the option to retaliate or more importantly heal up.
You should get at least 2 x Bonestorm in and COD + Agony will finish up Yen leaving you to deal with the 2 others.
The benefits of using Curse of Doom is that the ability deals a lot of damage in one go, meaning Yen will probably not benefit from his Comeback ability before it is too late. 
If you do not have the Creepy Crate then Fozziled Hatchling can also be used for the Bonestorm ability.

Maggot x2
The important ability here is Consume as it is an undead ability it will deal a lot of damage to Taran Zhus humanoid panda monks and because the Maggot is a beast, their attacks will not be strong against your pet.
Consume combined with burrow should get you through this fight. For the 3 ability I would take Acidic Goo. Even though it is week against humanoids, it still adds more damage to your following attacks.
If you do not have a Maggot you can use Larva, Mr. Grubbs, Jungle Grub, Imperial Silkworm, Festering Maggot, Devouring Maggot or Wild Silkworm instead. 

The Celestial Tournament FAQ

Become the Pet Battle Champion

In patch 5.4 the Celestial Tournament will be introduced. In this article I will have a look at the tournament, how to participate and how to beat it. 

 

What is the Celestial Tournament?

The Celestial Tournament is a challenge for advanced Pet Battle players. There are two stages of the Tournament.

• Stage 1 where you fight 3 different opponents with 3 pets each.
• Stage 2 where you fight each of the celestial pets. One legendary pet per battle

You can not heal your pets while you are doing a tournament which means you will need to win your fights the first time you try them and you will have to do 7 fights all in all before you are done with the tournament.

How do you get to the Celestial Tournament?

The tournament is located at the Timeless Isle. When patch 5.4 hits the live servers you will automatically get the quest A Flash of Bronze when you enter your factions shrine in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The quest chain will lead you to the isle and give you a flight path that can be used in the future. If you do not want to do the quest you can also fly from the south eastern point of The Jade Forest. You should be able to get there before you get fatiqued.
Once on the island you speak to Master Li who is located at the Celestial Court to get invited to a scenario that is the Celestial Tournament.

How do I win the Celestial Tournament?
In order to win the CT you will need to clear both stage 1 and stage 2 of the tournament. In stage one you will have to fight 3 different opponents. These opponents rotate on a regular (possibly weekly) basis.
In stage 2 you have to defeat all 4 legendary celestial battle pets. These fights are really tough and require good strategies and a great lineup for your teams.

Which Opponent are there at the Celestial Tournament?

This is a list of the opponents at the Celestial Tournament and strategies on how to defeat them.

Stage 1 Opponents: 
(Specific articles for each opponent is under construction, but for now click the link for a video walkthrough.)
Wrathion, The Black Prince
Chen Stormstout
Taran Zhu
Wise Mari
Dr. Ion Goldbloom
Loremaster Cho
Sully "The Pickle McLeary
Shademaster Kyrin
Blingtron 4000


The 4 Celestials:
(Guides will be up soon)

Chi-Chi, hatchling of Chi-Ji
Yu'la, broodling of Yu'Lon
Zao, Calfling of Niuzao
Xu-Fu, Cub of Xuen