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

[Yamum]

Thanks for the feedback. I have a feeling that any snail should more-or-less get the job done.

[Rendigar]

I don't have a 25 snail, oddly enough

Don't forget the Rapana Whelk.

Heh, levelled my [pet]Rusty Snail[/pet] to 25 last night, but the Whelk's another one I should do since he's 21 already.

[Yamum]

Very reliable. 15 rounds is an estimate, it may take more ore less depending on RNG.

Wastewalker Shu
15 rounds
RNG tolerance: ~2
1: Spawn of Onyxia [P/P] (2,1,1)
2: Darkmoon Zeppelin [-] (1,2,2)
3: Carry pet

vs Crusher
- Tail Sweep > Tail Sweep > Tail Sweep > Lift-Off (charge) > Lift-Off (release) - Crusher should die
- If Lift Off missed use Healing Flame > Tail Sweep until Crusher dies
vs Pounder
- Healing Flame when available (except when Dragonkin racial is active, then use Tail Sweep)
- Use Lift-Off to avoid the second Rupture (see notes below on timing)
- Otherwise Tail Sweep until Pounder dies
vs Mutilator
- Tail Sweep until Spawn of Onyxia dies (don't kill Mutilator, pass the turn if you have to until Spawn of Onyxia dies)
- Switch in Darkmoon Zeppelin
- Missile until Mutilator has 618 health or less, then use Explode - Mutilator dies - Darkmoon Zeppelin dies
- Carry pet will be the only pet standing and will receive XP without having to enter the battle

Notes: There is a fair bit of RNG to this fight due to Sandstorm and Rupture. Pounder's attack sequence goes: Sandstorm, Rupture, Quake, Quake, Quake, <pass>, Rupture. Use Lift-Off on the "pass" round to avoid the second Rupture.

Any feedback on this would be welcomed.

Updated Flowing Pandaren Spirit guide coming soon.

[Axordil]

Seconding requests for a separate guide for Celestial Tourney pets...and for a revised version with 5.4 pet changes in taken into account. This guide was and is such a great idea it deserves to be presented in as optimal a way as possible.

[Tulsplat]

What about a page for each tamer/celestial pet on the main site? People could post/comment on each page about fastest/optimal/duo teams and keep it up to date.

[Rendigar]

I just posted an updated version of this guide last night INCLUDING the Beasts of Fable (as opposed to separated) because you pass by them on your way to all the master tamers. So rather than having to make 2 different passes around, or switching between pages/posts, you can just follow the circuit and get it all done. Note: this was after I checked with the site administrator and the site team that they would be OK with me posting it.

IMHO guides should not be posted under as the conversations muddle the whole thing - BUT I think there should be separate discussions for the different sections - But the forums don't work that way, so I'll take what I can get.

[Rendigar]

put the guide in the wrong spot - should stayed under community guides and instead you moved it to pet battle

No, I actually posted it where I was told to put it by Quintessence. They will move it to the guides section when they are satisfied with it.

[Yamum]

Please read the (lengthy) notes before attempting. This is a very "RNG" fight. Because of this it is not possible to adhere to an exact ability sequence, you will have to adjust your actions according to what happens.

16 rounds is an estimate, your mileage may vary depending on RNG. I'm loving the Skywisp Moth as an Aquatic nuker!

Flowing Pandaren Spirit
16 rounds
RNG tolerance: ~2
1: Skywisp Moth [H/S] (2,1,1)
2: Carry pet (will take some Aquatic damage so bring a pet of appropriate level/family)
3: Spawn of G'nathus [-] (1,1,2)

vs Marley
- Moth Dust > Reckless Strike - if either of these attacks miss you can forfeit here and start again without having to heal
- Cocoon Strike > Reckless Strike - Marley should die, if not repeat the above sequence
vs Tiptoe
- Moth Dust > Reckless Strike > Cocoon Strike > Reckless Strike - repeat this sequence until either pet dies
- Switch in Carry pet > Switch to Spawn of G'nathus
- if Tiptoe is still alive use Paralyzing Shock > Swallow You Whole until Tiptoe dies
vs Pandaren Water Spirit
- Swallow You Whole until there is 1 turn left on Geyser/Whirlpool > Dive
- Swallow You Whole until Pandaren Water Spirit dies

Notes:
* Any breed of Skywisp Moth should be fine as long as it's faster than Marley, this was tested using the H/S breed.
* As all of the Skywisp Moth's abilities have a cooldown you may find yourself in a situation without an ability to use. This can be avoided by sticking to the rotation: Moth Dust > Reckless Strike > Cocoon Strike > Reckless Strike. If you follow this rotation you will always have an available ability.
* Tiptoe does not have a set ability rotation. Your Moth may die early if Tiptoe sticks to using Water Jet, or if it sticks to Tidal Wave your Moth should make short work of it. Either way is fine, it is not a problem if your Moth doesn't kill Tiptoe.
* Moth Dust procs will cause the Tamer to switch between Marley and Tiptoe. This should not be a problem.
* The carry pet will generally be brought in in either of two situations: immediately after your Moth kills Tiptoe or immediately after Tiptoe kills your Moth. There is a third, rarer option: your Moth kills Marley then Moth Dust sleeps Tiptoe, causing the tamer to switch to Pandaren Water Spirit. If this happens, bring the carry pet in as Pandaren Water Spirit is brought in, then switch to Spawn of G'nathus.

I have tested this a lot already but further testing is always helpful. Any feedback on this would be welcomed.

[Stencil]

Flowing Pandaren Spirit
16 rounds
1: Skywisp Moth [H/S] (2,1,1)
3: Spawn of G'nathus [-] (1,1,2)

Pets with Cocoon Strike, like Moths, are a natural choice against pets that cast Whirlpool because the short cooldown lets you block every Whirlpool. But its not needed here. A P/P Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling only need 3 Pecks to kill Marley; that means Marley dies before they can cast a second Whirlpool, and without doing any damage to the bird, even if Lift-Off misses. Chi-Chi only needs 3 Alpha Strikes to do the same thing and can use Ethereal to dodge Marley's turn 3 damage. Both will handle Tiptoe easily and get you to the Water Spirit where you can swap in your carry pet and then a 3rd pet that specialized to kill the Water Spirit.

The advantage is that both will do it smoothly and consistently. No need to ever forfeit, no random pet swaps from a moth dust stun, etc.

I did look at using the Spawn of G'Nathus as the closer, this was a couple of weeks before patch 5.4, but I got really annoyed at how Swallow You Whole was working. I remember Impale and Predatory Strike working in such a way that if the target was above 25% before being hit and was lowered under 25% by the Impale, then the double damage would trigger and there would be a second hit on the target. With Swallow You Whole I was only getting double damage if the target was already below 25% when attacked - which was totally worthless. I'd hit them with it, push them down to like 200 health but it didn't trigger. Next turn I'd do it again and it would hit for like 900 because of the damage doubling, but it was all overkill.

Maybe in your testing you can see if they fixed it and if the double damage part is useful now. If so, then I might reconsider the G'nathus, but otherwise I think I'd rather stick with the Pandaren Water Spirit as the last pet, murdering his kin.

[Stencil]

I'm loving the Skywisp Moth as an Aquatic nuker!

I've been trying him out lately as possible replacement for the yellow moth for the end of Hyruna.

The problem is that Dor's shield reduces damage from the attacks *before* you factor in the multiplier for a Flying attack being strong against Aquatic. So, instead of reducing 75 per attack, its more like 112.5. And since that reduction is applied to each part of the alpha strike attack, we lose a lot of damage compared to what's shown in the tooltip. Tooltip for Alpha Strike versus and Aquatic says we're going to do 405 + 270. But Dor's shield means that when we hit him its more like 292 + 157.

Best way to counter a damage shield is to hit fewer times but with bigger hits. And so, I've been trying the Skywisp with the rotation of (assuming Headbut kills my Emerald Proto-Whelp and we did the death swap with the carry pet) Reckless Strike > Moth Dust > Reckless Strike > Cocoon Strike.

Remains to be seen if its any better or not, but at least its keeping me interested

[Rendigar]

Maybe in your testing you can see if they fixed it and if the double damage part is useful now. If so, then I might reconsider the G'nathus, but otherwise I think I'd rather stick with the Pandaren Water Spirit as the last pet, murdering his kin.

Actually you should try (if you have it) the [pet]Tiny White Carp[/pet] instead, as it has the same abilities as the water spirit, does not suffer the 50% increased damage from aquatic attacks, and actually has a higher power (barely) than the water spirit. When I update the guide again (this weekend) I'll be making it the top team for this fight (with the water spirit as an alternate alongside the spawn of onyxia).

[Stencil]

Actually you should try (if you have it) the [pet]Tiny White Carp[/pet] instead, as it has the same abilities as the water spirit, does not suffer the 50% increased damage from aquatic attacks, and actually has a higher power (barely) than the water spirit. When I update the guide again (this weekend) I'll be making it the top team for this fight (with the water spirit as an alternate alongside the spawn of onyxia).

I don't have a White Carp ... yet. Rather than grind for those, my plan was to just hope to catch them in the pools of the daily spot while fishing for the Nat Pagle quest fish. I only caught the Blue Carp before hitting exalted. Then I started doing that on an alt but stopped when I *finally* got the Turtle mount. I'll have to go and start doing some fishing again seeing as how some of my alts wouldn't mind having raft to use when chasing Evermaw around the island

Dives can miss but Whirlpool never does; I like having that guaranteed big chunk of damage to speed the fight to conclusion. I'm not worried about the extra damage taken because I think all he'll ever eat are a few Tidal Waves. That's especially true now that Tiptoe is Aquatic and I've got a P/P Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling; Peck is 100% hit chance and not reliant on a speed advantage for its damage like an Alpha Strike or Quills (or the Thrash my Imperial Eagle Chick used in 5.3), so I don't expect to ever have to use the closer against Tiptoe.

I suppose the White Carp, or Spawn of G'nathus, is a better call since some folks won't have a strong bird and may have to finish off Tiptoe with the closer. /shrug

[Rendigar]

Dives can miss but Whirlpool never does; I like having that guaranteed big chunk of damage to speed the fight to conclusion. I'm not worried about the extra damage taken because I think all he'll ever eat are a few Tidal Waves. That's especially true now that Tiptoe is Aquatic and I've got a P/P Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling; Peck is 100% hit chance and not reliant on a speed advantage for its damage like an Alpha Strike or Quills (or the Thrash my Imperial Eagle Chick used in 5.3), so I don't expect to ever have to use the closer against Tiptoe.

Well, whirlpool can miss if you have an accuracy debuff on you - but that can't happen in this case. :p

It really is a difference of no more than 1 turn either way, and everyone has a Pandaren Water Spirit at one point or another (if they are following these guides, at least). But "technically" the white carp is the better choice in the case you mentioned - I have lost my eagle/gryphon to crits/chain-casts of water jet, so having the "tougher" closer is less risk (and I'm all about less risk).

Because there is no achievement for fishing up the 4 carp I was lazy and bought my white one (only fished up the green or blue, I think, still need 2 others). Of course I still don't have the turtle mount yet, either *jealous*.

[Yamum]

A P/P Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling only need 3 Pecks to kill Marley; that means Marley dies before they can cast a second Whirlpool, and without doing any damage to the bird, even if Lift-Off misses.

That's certainly a good choice for this fight, however I don't think its necessarily a better one. Really you're trading the Moth's raw nuking power and free hits for the Gryphon's reliability. And I still think that the Moth would be faster on net. Regardless I would still suggest for people to use the Moth simply because it is a lot easier to obtain any breed of rare Moth than it is a P/P rare Gryphon.

Chi-Chi only needs 3 Alpha Strikes to do the same thing and can use Ethereal to dodge Marley's turn 3 damage.

Again, while Chi-Chi is certainly a good choice not everyone has it yet and I'm trying to exclude as few people as possible, which I think is in the spirit of this thread. Also, I think that the CT is for people who have already mastered the tamers. That is, people are doing the tamer dailies to work their way towards beating the CT, not the other way around.

The advantage is that both will do it smoothly and consistently. No need to ever forfeit, no random pet swaps from a moth dust stun, etc.

As mentioned previously its really a matter of reliability vs nuking power. I still think the Moth is faster on net. I haven't tested the P/S Moth but that can only be faster still. Also, forfeiting is not needed. It is an option that gives people more control over their RNG experience should they choose to exercise it. Also, the pet swaps are not random - they are certain, people just need to be aware that that's what will happen in the event of a Moth Dust proc. They are also never negative, it's a free hit.

With Swallow You Whole I was only getting double damage if the target was already below 25% when attacked - which was totally worthless.

Disregard the damage bonus and just think of it as a weaker version of Water Jet.

I think I'd rather stick with the Pandaren Water Spirit as the last pet

I have tested this out. If Tiptoe uses Water Jet your Grpyhon/Moth is going to die early. Your Pandaren Water Spirit is then at the mercy of Water Jet. Not the best choice.

[Yamum]

I've been trying him out lately as possible replacement for the yellow moth for the end of Hyruna.

I'm still using the P/P Nexus Whelpling and Yellow Moth. I don't think its failed on me yet. Give it a shot!