Grubbles, Scrags, Stings - Carry Strategy

[Valianya]

First off, this works best for higher level carry pets that you're trying to finish off getting to 25. I haven't really tested it much with lower level pets.

Secondly, there is quite a bit of RNG to this, but I've so far found it a nearly consistent win with the two main pets despite some misses and crits. Anubisath is your superstar and can take down both Grubbles and Scrags on his own if things work out right. Because of RNG and the variable damage of Crush and Breath, this strategy does not use a hard set number of turns.

One thing you might want to watch out for is what seems to be a bug where Deflect and Decoy do not work for some reason. The cooldown triggers, but the effect of blocking/dodging does not happen. I still managed to win the two times this happened to me, but it was finicky, and a close thing.

You will need, in this order:

[pet]Anubisath Idol[/pet] (1, 1, 1,)
Carry pet (Best if it can soak at least 1-2 hits and do some damage)
[pet]Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling[/pet] (rare) (1, 1, 2)


Battle:

Grubbles:
Start with Anubisath.
- Turn 1: Sandstorm (Refresh if needed.)
- Crush until Grubbles is below 370 health. (Sandstorm should just be coming off cooldown if RNG is good, otherwise refresh before and finish with Crush.)
- Finish off with Sandstorm (Or just Crush to death if Sandstorm will still be running for at least 2 turns when Scrags comes out.)


Scrags:
Make sure Sandstorm is the weather when Scrags switches in. (You can still win if it's not, but its harder, and the carry pet has to do more damage.)
- Turn 1: Deflection (Use every single time Clobber comes off cooldown for Scrags. Has priority over Sandstorm.)
- Sandstorm whenever it is available. (Except if Clobber is off cooldown.)
- Crush until Scrags is very low health.

- Two options: Finish Scrags with Anubisath if the carry is low level, or switch to Carry to finish him off with an attack if the carry is mid-level or higher. It's easier if the Carry is higher level and can do some damage. RNG has to work out for a no damage carry. If RNG is really bad and Scrags is about to kill Anubisath, switch out for Carry (if it can soak a hit) or Dragonling - you do not want to let Scrags heal from killing Anubisath. Scrags should already be nearly dead by then anyway (if not, RNG really hates you and you should probably start over.)


Stings:
Option 1: Anubisath killed Scrags.
- Turn 1: Use Deflection
- Turn 2: Switch to Carry
- Turn 4: Switch to Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling

Option 2: Carry finished off Scrags.
- Turn 1: Switch to Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling

Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling:
- Turn 1: Decoy
- Turn 2: Bombing Run
- Breath until Stings dies. (If RNG is bad you may need to switch back to Anubisath or the Carry to finish Stings off with one more attack.)

If RNG is really bad and Dragonling will die (first time) while Stings still has 350+ health
- Bombing Run one last time on the turn Dragonling will die.
- Dragonling dies and resurrects, casts Bombing Run
- Breath (Dragonling dies again)
- Switch to Anubisath
- Deflection
- Any attack (Anubisath may die here)
- Bomb should fall and finish off Stings



It is a bit messy, but this strategy fairly consistently works for me as long as the carry isn't too low level. Low level carry relies much more heavily on good RNG so is trickier to pull off. As a bonus, though, Anubisath and the Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling are not difficult to add to your pet collection.

[Vetteranger]

Check the bottom of the other thread. Flayer Youngling + Iron Starlette is an easier, faster fight with no risk and no decisions.

[Rendigar]

Check the bottom of the other thread. Flayer Youngling + Iron Starlette is an easier, faster fight with no risk and no decisions.

You need a very specific breed of Flayer Youngling (which is hard to come by), whereas the Lil' Bad Wolf you can use all but one breed, and in the Anub strat there is only 1 breed. I definitely prefer the strat I copied from Wowhead vs the Anub one, though, because just like the Flayer Youngling one, it's consistent, almost immune to RNG, and fast (always 10 or 11 turns).

Edit: changed it to almost immune to RNG because multiple crits in a row can nuke your starlette before it can do the 2nd wind-up.

[Valianya]

Check the bottom of the other thread. Flayer Youngling + Iron Starlette is an easier, faster fight with no risk and no decisions.

I had only read the first part of that thread, which required Xu-Fu - which not everyone has. And yes, the Flayer Youngling + Iron Starlette would be an easier fight - assuming everyone has that breed of Flayer as a rare, and both are already leveled up to 25 (neither of which I have right now). Lil' Bad Wolf works too - but again, not everyone has that pet leveled up fully.

This strat works for me because I don't have a ton of max level pets yet. I've mostly been collecting rather than battling. While it is messy, and requires decisions, it is simply a challenging alternate strategy that can be used by someone who doesn't already have a massive selection of max level rare pets to choose from. Instead it uses two pets that are fairly easy to come by, and are good fighters already so are likely to be already ready to go for this fight.

Most people who are into pet battling know that Anubisath is a top pet so are likely to have it leveled up already. And beginners who ask 'what's a good pet for battles' are usually told Anubisath. Also, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling is half of a two-pet strategy from over on wowhead for all of the daily trainer quests across Draenor, so I already had it maxed up for that when I tried it on these guys.

After all, a fast and easy carry strategy is useless if you don't have any of the pets leveled up that are used in the strategy. But now, with this messy and challenging strat, I can level those pets up.

[Rendigar]

Absolutely, the more viable strats that are out there, the better the chance is for someone who has a limited stable to find one that works for them.

[Jerebear]

You need a very specific breed of Flayer Youngling (which is hard to come by), whereas the Lil' Bad Wolf you can use all but one breed, and in the Anub strat there is only 1 breed.

I *think* the flayer breed doesn't matter as much because you aren't leveraging the speed. Deflection goes first and after that the worm uses leap anyways and triple snap doesn't have a speed bonus. I don't have other breeds of Flayer Youngling to try though.

[Vetteranger]

That's why I really appreciate that people post strategies with various pet combinations, as sometimes I don't have the breed, or level 25 in a certain pet, specified in one.

Just as a note, in doing last week's Celestial Tournament with a Plushie, there was a strategy published using a S/S Flayer Youngling for Wration. The only Flayer I've ever had was balance, and it definitely did not work. The next day I was doing the Outland trainers (plushie), so I dropped in on the Flayer peak and captured a few until I at least had a Power/Speed. It took about a half hour to level it up to about 17 in the Vale aquatic battles, then I dropped training stones on it to get to 25. I'm very happy to now have a flayer with some speed since his kick ability leading off is a valuable tool.

And absolutely, any pet that can solo the Grubbles works great. If you also have the Iron Starlette to solo the last two you have a great leveling team. In about an hour I leveled up 5 pets from level 6 to level 20 ... it's a two minute fight if you have those pets to use.

I'm not bothering to level up past 20 in battles anymore. I take them to 20 and then use leveling stones to top them off. I have five alts doing the garrison daily at this time, so my capacity to buy the leveling stones is pretty high.

[Vetteranger]

You need a very specific breed of Flayer Youngling (which is hard to come by), whereas the Lil' Bad Wolf you can use all but one breed, and in the Anub strat there is only 1 breed.

I *think* the flayer breed doesn't matter as much because you aren't leveraging the speed. Deflection goes first and after that the worm uses leap anyways and triple snap doesn't have a speed bonus. I don't have other breeds of Flayer Youngling to try though.

I just tried the fight with my Balance Flayer, so I can confirm that you supposed correctly. He beat Grubbles just the same as the P/S flayer.

[Rendigar]

Thanks for that, I am so used to thinking of the flayer as a kick-machine that I forgot this fight doesn't need it (or want it, since you're using rampage). Definitely makes that strat just as good (and maybe even easier for some people who have bad RNG luck with RWL pets).

[Abbotta]

Chrominius + Iron Starlette = last pet at 276 for your carry pet to kill.

Chrommy starts off with Howl then ravage (2 rounds) then bite - Grubble dies.
Next up is Scrags. Here's the thing Chrommy's soul purpose is to take the really big hit and die so hit whatever button you want because first Scrags will stun Chrommy then do a double hit against Chrommy and kill him. Who cares. Chrommy did his job by offing the first pet and starting the cooldown on that big hit for the 2nd one.

In comes the Starlette. Simple - Windup-Super Charge-Windup. Scrags is dead and Starlette still has about half the life left. This is the tricky part. Doing enough damage to Sting without killing in and safely bringing in your carry pet.

Simple

Windup-Windup (no supercharge in between else Stings will die) - that gets Stings to about halfway.
Then a Toxic Smoke. Only do Toxic Smoke once else you'll kill stings. If for some reason your Starlette is still alive just keep passing until it does. Better to pass else Stings gets a free hit against your carry pet - not good.

After the Starlette is dead bring in the carry pet.

Carry pet needs to have about 600HP to survive at least one hit (around level 12-13) and have at least one power punch to off about 276 on Stings. Helps if the pet isn't weak against flying but I survived Baby Ape against Sting and he was weak.

Have fun

BTW my Starlette is P/P so she's all power but slow as can be.

[Vetteranger]

Abotta:

Use wind up, toxic smoke, wind up to kill Scraggs - then wind up, super charge, wind up to kill Stings.

Let a trainee pet take the stun from Scraggs, then swap in the Starlette.