Guide to tamer daily pet battles (5.3) - For veterans

[Stencil]

by the way, there are lots of mentions of the cottontail rabbit (S/S). does it have to be a cottontail, or can it be any S/S rabbit/hare/cottontail? last i checked, all stats are exactly the same.

All rabbits are the same but the cottontail which trades speed for power.

Yeah, its just an optimization to get the most damage out of your rabbit while still being faster than those bosses. Most of the S/S Rabbits are over 350 speed which is overkill for a boss like Major Payne where you only need to get above 311. 3 hits of flurry from an S/S Grasslands Cottontail would do on average 54 points of damage than another S/S breed of a different rabbit type. Note that the Elfin Rabbit also deviates from the standard rabbit stats, but is not as interesting or useful.

Health/Power/Speed Flurry/Burrow
1400/260/325 140/490 S/S Grasslands Cottontail
1481/227/325 123/432 B/B Elfin Rabbit
1465/224/338 122/427 S/B Elfin Rabbit
1465/240/322 130/455 S/B all other rabbits and hares
1400/227/357 123/432 S/S all other rabbits and hares

I'm not aware of any rabbits or hares with a P/S breed.

[Ril]

excellent, thanks Kring and Stencil! i probably looked at the wrong rabbits to compare, which gave me the impression that all rabbits are similar. i once checked for P/S rabbits too, there are none i'm aware of.

[Fenril]

This is an awesome guide, thank you very much!!!

[Lolfixheal]

You state the addon Pet Battle Teams have 14 teams, the short description on curse client says the same. Fact is, you can have as many teams as you want nowadays

Also, could we have the breed selection done in letter system rather than number. I think more and more people use the letter system now to save themselves a website check, also the breed addon uses the letter system.

[Moritsume]

I'd like to second using the letter system of breeds as well, either in addition to or instead of the number system. It's a bit weird to go from P/P etc in game to looking and seeing I want a breed 11 or some such here. Otherwise, this is my favorite topic on the site, love cutting through tamer dailies with ease

[Sci]

I posted the beginnings of this strategy in a thread posted back early this patch and was pretty much ignored for some reason (which hurt my pride a bit but I survived) but I rewrote this out to post in another topic here but then decided not to post it there since the op already picked a team s/he liked from other existing strategies in this thread so there wasn't much point in throwing in another strategy in a dying topic. I figure I may as well post it here (this looked like the right place, please correct me if I was wrong) since I went to the effort of typing it out and I've refined the strategy a bit since the first time I posted it in that first dead topic back then.

My favorite team for the BoF (mostly because I cam up with it without any help) that works well for almost all the pets (lucky yi is chancy with this exact team but works every time if the zeppelin is replaced with a higher health exploder) is Singing Sunflower, Pet Bombling, and Darkmoon Zeppelin. My strategy is pretty basic for most of the pets, taking 4-5 turns depending on the BoF's health. It takes minor strategy changes for Dos-Ryga, No-No, Ka'wi and Lucky Yi.

The strategy is based around the fact explode is unaffected by any damage modifiers including type advantages and the BoF's 50% DR but is affected by changes to the exploding pet's maximum health like the 50% increase from sunlight weather.

Round 1:
Open with Singing sunflower using sunlight
Next round:*
Swap to pet bombing
Next round:
explode
Next round:
Put out zeppelin, explode
Next round:
Many BoF will be dead by now. If not then smack them with Solar Beam

A few indivdual BoF notes
Dos-Ryga: If it doesn't open with its heal, flee an restart until it does (healing between restarts shouldn't be needed). DO NOT use any extra moves or he will heal again and ruin everything. If sunflower is killed before Dos cooperates and opens with the heal an alternative sun caster (terrible turnip comes to mind) be ok to use if you're not able to heal but this scenario (death of the sunflower) hasn't happened to me yet.
Ka'wi the gorger: if it opens with sticky goo flee and restart till it opens with something else.
No-No: You need to wait to explode until it uses up its avoidance moves, zeppelin first is good for this since it has its own avoidance move and No-No can be annoyingly random.
Lucky yi: For this team to work every time the zeppelin needs to be upgraded to a higher health exploder like another Bombling or a H/H Netherspace Abyssal/Minfernal. The strategy is the same as dos-ryga but lucky yi doesn't always use it's heal as soon as it is off cool down so a weaker team can work but not reliably. If you can't/don't want to upgrade the zeppelin skip the team and use an arctic fox (or pet with a similar move set and power) for it since the fox can usually solo it with dance > howl > bite > bite > bite

Team variations/improvements:
I replace the zeppelin this morning with a H/H Nether Abyssal because it has more health so gives a stronger explosion but the zeppelin worked well, I only replaced it because I finally got lucky at karazhan. Most bang for your buck (pun intended) comes from H/H Minfernals and Netherspace Abyssals (mix or match) for a total of 2070 damage but as I've said the bombling and zeppelin work fine. I considered two bombs instead of bomb and zeppelin but decided stoning a second bomb would be a waste of a stone, if you're more faithful with your battle dailies than I am using an extra stone shouldn't be a problem.

An alternate sunny day caster suggested by Nytemarerulez is one of the lantern pets (Enchanted, Lunar, Festival) with illuminate. Illuminate inflicts more initial damage than Sunlight reducing the likelihood your sun caster will need to make a reappearance to finish off the BoF.

*Optional:
If after sunlight hits, the BoF has more health left than your explosions will hit (first exploding pet's base health * 0.6 + second exploding pets base health * 0.6, 1930 for this team) and it hit sunflower hard you might want to use photosynthesis before swapping to be sure the flower is healthy for a final attack, I never bother with this step anymore.

I fully expect to be ignored again since I assume most people already have a team that works for them by now and my pride won't be hurt this time.

Edit: I keep tweaking this trying to make it clearer, bear with me.

[Kring]

I posted the beginnings of this strategy in a thread posted back early this patch and was pretty much ignored for some reason (which hurt my pride a bit but I survived) but I rewrote this out to post in another topic here but then decided not to post it there since the op already picked a team s/he liked from other existing strategies in this thread so there wasn't much point in throwing in another strategy in a dying topic. I figure I may as well post it here (this looked like the right place, please correct me if I was wrong) since I went to the effort of typing it out and I've refined the strategy a bit since the first time I posted it in that first dead topic back then.

I think it would be awesome if this page had a wiki or something where we could collect the tamer strategies and offer alternatives for every tamer. Ideally people could rate their favorite which would sort the best strategies to the top.

The current guide has some strategies which don't work reliable enough for me where the thread offered alternatives that work better for me (Burning Pandaren Spirit, Wastewalker Shu, Whispering Pandaren Spirit, Major Payne).

Singing Sunflower, Pet Bombling, and Darkmoon Zeppelin

I remember seeing your team back then but I assumed that this is just a bug and will soon be fixed. Looks like it's still working.

I'm going to add this to my BoF teams because it uses different pets which means I can use two teams within 8 minutes without using a bandage. :-)

[Ril]

for the BoF critters (especially the worm with its annoying debuff), i suggest using a P/P zandalari raptor. black claw + hunting party are enough to kill them in 3 rounds. nitun should be done with the standard bomb comp though, since it can onehit anything but a valkyr the undead buff.

[Stencil]

I fully expect to be ignored again since I assume most people already have a team that works for them by now and my pride won't be hurt this time.

Ignored and unnoticed are not the same thing ... And you should have some pride slash want people to notice this; any strat which can kill (at least some of) the Fable bosses in 4 turns is ridiculously fast and very cool.

I tried it first, with an H/H Minfernal and a Pet Bombling, against Ti'un and it worked quite well. I have been using the Valk/Water Spirit/Chrom bomb, but there's enough moving parts in that to make me worry about a pet getting one shot by Pump before they complete their tasks. That shouldn't be an issue for kamikaze mechanicals and magicals. I did have to follow up the Explodes with a Solar Beam, so there is some worry that after the second Explode that the sunflower could walk right into a Pump and get blown up, but it seems like a small concern.

After daily quests reset I then went out and tried it on Nitun. I'd been using three undead so that he would never get heals from Ravage; Ravage shouldn't be a problem for this strat. I saw that Explode's damage was not reduced by the damage debuff from Rake and Nitun died in 4 rounds. Sweeeeeeet.

I think I'll end up using this start for about half the fights. I have some weird quirk in my personality about trying to heal pets as infrequently as possible, so one of Skitter/Greyhoof will be a Water Spirit/Howl type bomb. For the fights you special cased, I'll just use specific teams I know handle those bosses well.

For Lucky and Ka'wii I'd recommend just using a Zandalari Kneebiter with Black Claw > Hunting Party. That combo is often enough to kill either of those guys and, if not, a follow up Bloodfang or a Hunting Party from another Zandalari dino should seal the deal. If you don't have a Kneebiter, the Anklerender also has Black Claw and Hunting Party, but is missing Bloodfang. Footslashers are good for the backup role as they have Hunting Party and Bloodfang (don't have Black Claw).

For Dos-Ryga I'll keep using the Valk/Water Spirit/Howl bomb. As long as I wait for him to cast the first Whirlpool before starting the sequence, it seems to work perfectly.

No-No is so random that I don't think I'd want any kind of combination based strategy. The Yellow Moth can often solo him and if not, my back up flyers can finish the job.

[Sci]

hmm I will try this team - but the fact that 2 of them require a reset if they do or don't do something little turn off

Sorry about that, in my explanation I said reset instead of restart but I meant restart. I'll go back and correct & clarify more. The fights should only require a reset (that means heal right?) if it takes a lot of restarts to get the right move to go off first and sunflower is damaged to the point it won't survive another fight. It doesn't usually take more than 3 or 4 restarts to get the right opening unless Dos is being quite stubborn that day and for ka'wii sticky goo does little enough damage that it's not usually enough to add up much before it cooperates.

@Stencil: Thank you for the compliment and I'm glad to have reduced the frequency you need to heal up. If you're concerned on ti'un you could try throwing out a couple crushes before exploding to maybe get him low enough to not need to stick out the flower again.
I have all the Zandalaris but they're level one and I don't know what breed they are. I kinda developed a dislike for them after seeing them in PvP so often after they were released and I've not yet manage to get over it but I should try to get over it as they sound useful.

@Kring: Again, glad to have reduced the need to heal up

I was looking and if you got an Soul of the Aspects it is stronger, but slower and less HP but not elemental so doesn't take extra damage from pump, I don't have a singing flower up to 25 but I check it out, for now I have to setting for Soul of the Aspects as that only other pet with Sunlight/Illuminate combo that has the Solar Beam. I also thinking since Illuminate does more damage then Sunlight maybe don't need as strong as a Solar Beam attack instead you could use Beam or Light from an lantern (if this works and can kill in on the turn Solar Beam would, then you have protecting against Pump) since the lantern can't be 1 shoted and take 50% less damage from water anyways

Slow is fine. I don't think the sunflower outspeeds any of the BoF. A lantern sounds promising as an alternative to the sunflower, I somehow went all this time without knowing it could cause sunny day. I'll have to train one up and try it out The higher health the "bombs" have the less power the clean up move will need to be if it is needed at all. I went with bomb and zeppelin at first because they were the easiest available to me and availability is why I decided to keep them as the basic team in my explanation.

[Niktheheratik]

I've been tackling these on my pet blog though most of the advanced strats are geared towards less-RNG rather speed. I still manage to do all of the Spirit + Tamers in an hour, though I have to go back and get the BoFs.

I don't expect you all to read the whole thing, so I'll just post a few of my strats here (where they're different).

1) Thundering Pandaren Spirit

1: Armadillo Pup (Can also use Prairie Dog, Rabbit or Snail pet).
2: Carry Pet
3: Mechanical Squirrel

vs. Earth Spirit:

Armadillo has Thrash + Roar + Powerball. You do powerball 2x to get your Speed up above the 2nd pet. Then Roar, then Thrash the Pandaren Spirit which takes from 3-5 rounds depending on RNG. You then Thrash again to open on the 2nd pet. Some of the time its first attack misses and you get a few extra attacks in, it's good but not required to win.

vs. Sludgy

Assuming your pet is around 12-15 you should be able to take the DoT. Otherwise, you'll just have a slightly weaker normal attack and no DoT. Just swap in and swap out for the Mechanical Squirrel.

Squirrel has Thrash + Overtune + Windup. You open with Windup, then Overtune, then Thrash Sludgy. You need to make sure you have your speed buff from Overtune up for the first round against Darnak.

vs. Darnak

You immediately use Windup to hit him for 1-2K before his stone shield is up. Then you windup again after he burrows. At that point, you will be slower than him and can hit him after he comes up out of the ground. The Burrow will kill your Squirrel but your failsafe will kick in and hit him for another 1-2k. His stone rush will kill your Squirrel for good, but also do enough damage that he should be dead. If not, you have a turn to finish off the last few hundred while he puts his stone shield back up.

This is probably slower to start with on the first two pets, but finishes the third one off in 4 turns.

[Niktheheratik]

Blood Knight Antari:

I'm not sure if this is faster (again haven't timed it), but it seems to be less of a bother as far as collecting goes.

1: Carry pet.
2: Clockwork Gnome with 1,2,2.
3: Water Waveling, Chuck, or other strong aquatic damage pet.

vs. Arcanus

Start with your carry pet. Assuming he opens with Arcanus, swap to your Clockwork Gnome. Build a rocket. Use Blitz if you are faster or Metal Fist to kill Arcanus. You should have something like 25-30% health at the end of killing Arcanus.

vs. Jadefire

Swap to your Elemental killing pet and burn down Jadefire. It doesn't matter too much if you survive, just kill Jadefire.

vs. Netherbite

Swap back to your clockwork gnome. You should be faster than Netherbite so launch your rocket immediately. If he Phase Shifts, build another. If he does the shield, Blitz. You should have Netherbite finished in 3-4 turns.

[Kring]

I've been tackling these on my pet blog

Do you have a URL for that blog?

Otherwise, you'll just have a slightly weaker normal attack and no DoT. Just swap in and swap out for the Mechanical Squirrel.

What does that mean? What do you do if your pet can't take the DoT?

[Darklynx]

Just a heads up:
Dos-Ryga problem can be easily solved by going without the Val'kyr, you start with the Pandaren SPirit and go: Geyser -> Whirlspool -> Water Jet (You'll die to Dos-Ryga Whirlspool). Swap to Chrominius and go Howl -> Surge of Power (if needed).

Easy fast kill

[Axordil]

I'm going to add this to my BoF teams because it uses different pets which means I can use two teams within 8 minutes without using a bandage.

This! Eventually I want to standardize a route that requires no bandages or healing stops at all, because, you know, efficiency.

[Dkz]

Thanks for the awesome guide.

Goz Banefury
12 rounds
1: Snarly [-] (1,1,2)
2: Carry pet
3: Darkmoon Tonk [-] (1,1,2)

vs Twilight
- Rip > Blood in the Water > Surge
vs Amythel
- Rip > Rip > Blood in the Water > Rip until your Snarly dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Darkmoon Tonk
- Missile until Amythel dies
vs Helios
- Shock and Awe > Ion Canon

This one not really working.

[Axordil]

Payne is still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too RNG dependent. One miss with a missile or the strider decides to hold off off on its big attack until your rabbit burrows and it's gacked.