Pet of the Month - Unborn Val'kyr

[Quintessence]

Many thanks to [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile] for writing the battling portion of our newest feature, [url=http://www.warcraftpets.com/news/unborn-valkyr-pet-of-the-month-march-2015/]Pet of the Month[/url]. Here are some additional points on the [pet]Unborn Val'kyr[/pet] that she wanted to share!

How Do You Use Your Unborn Val'kyr?
I know that some of you have been reading this whole post with gritted teeth, because the Val'kyr really is SO light-blasted rare, that it's a bit of a stretch even for seasoned collectors. Don't worry. There are alternatives for both of its signature moves.

If your aim is the [ability]Unholy Ascension[/ability] ability, another good option is the [pet]Ghostly Skull[/pet], which can be purchased from a vendor in Dalaran for 40g before rep bonuses. You will have to use a quality upgrade stone on it, but it's a very strong undead pet with a far less hair-pulling-out method of acquisition.

For [ability]Haunt[/ability], your only other option is the [pet]Ghastly Kid[/pet], which is available both from the level 3 Menagerie or from your local Auction House (provided you've got deep pockets). It's considerably less strong offensively than the Val'kyr, but it has better heals, dodges, etc, making it a decent choice for harassing your opponent with Haunt.

The most deadly aspect of the Val'kyr is that it can do so much devastating damage via unavoidable, uninterruptable DoTs. You can murder most PVP opponent pets solely by putting up a [ability]Curse of Doom[/ability] and then Haunting them. The only real way to come out alive is with an ability like [ability]Crouch[/ability]... but once that Curse of Doom does its thing and Haunt is over, your Val'kyr comes back to life, chipper and ready for its next victim.

Since its most deadly moves are of the set and forget variety, the Val'kyr makes a good match with most other pets in PVP. If you have a decent two-pet synergy comp, like a [pet]Gilnean Raven[/pet] with [ability]Darkness[/ability] and a Ghostly Skull with [ability]Spectral Strike[/ability], you can stick that Val'kyr in the 3rd slot to great effect. Or, if you have two pets you like which are strong all on their own, like a [pet]Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling[/pet] and a [pet]Magical Crawdad[/pet], the Val'kyr can fit in there well, too. It's an excellent, high-DPS filler for nearly any team you can create.

The one really good synergy move with Haunt that I don't want to mention because it seems a bit... cheaty... is that when your Val'kyr is 'dead' while Haunting, it counts as a dead body for [ability]Consume Corpse[/ability]. Because it doesn't have a dead body to be consumed (it's 'inside' the opposing pet while it's Haunted) you can spam Consume Corpse. Not that I'd suggest you do such a thing.

In PVE, it's mostly prized for its Unholy Ascension ability, which kills the Val'kyr permanently. No res turn mulligan. It can be dodged by moves like [ability]Cocoon Strike[/ability], so play it smart, because it's a team-wide 25% damage booster for 9 turns. It will really buff up those big moves, like the Curse of Doom this pet also has. It saw a bit of a renaissance before 5.4 when you could pair up that 25% buff & Curse of Doom with a standard Howl Bomb, making that strategy even more of a lock.

Because of the relative ease of building combos in PVE, Unholy Ascension can edge out Haunt for throughput, but it's not a hard and fast rule. I like to use my Val'kyr with Haunt for the Tarr The Terrible fight in Draenor's Nagrand. Tarr has a pet that stuns itself, so in typical tamer scripted fashion, that gets sent to the back row... only now it has a Val'kyr riding along. I can usually get that first pet to half by the time it enters the fight again.

The Unborn Val'kyr comes in two breeds: H/H & B/B. I prefer B/B because it gives you a slight power boost at the cost of 250 or so base health, but please don't knock yourself out trying for a specific breed on this one. The difference isn't a huge deal, and your family loves you and would probably like to see you sometime in the next six months, which so isn't happening if you get too picky here.

What lengths did you have to go to in order to nab this utilitarian beauty? How do you use your Val'kyr, if you have one?


Written by: [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile]
Check out [url=http://battlepetroundup.com/]battlepetroundup.com[/url] for more of Liopleurodon's Pet Battle strategies and pet analyses!

[Luciandk]

You forgot an important tidbit regarding Haunt. That it was nerfed to be not useable in the undead round. I keep seeing so many people confused to why it misses on the undead round.

[Exeftw]

Oh I love mine. All three of them =D Caught my first one by camping close to 10 alts in different spawn locations, checking in just about every hour. Finally caught her in Borean Tundra with my Tauren Paladin sentry. One day I got bore and decided I wanted more than one and ended up getting the other 2 on the same day. I even helped one of my friends catch one in Storm Peaks that I ran into and kept in battle until they arrived. Twas a good day for pet battling.

For those who are curious enough to test it for themselves I have had a few instances where the Valk can continue fighting after using UA. If I remember correctly this happens when you select UA as your move but die before it gets cast. Valk dies, comes back, casts UA, but doesn't 'die' again and will get her Undead turn as normal. It could be that since she has the Undead buff during UA cast, she can't die. Not very exploitable or practical as far as I can tell, although I guess you can set up one last strong hit before she goes out if you time things properly. (Attack -> UA -> Die vs. UA -> Attack -> Die)

[Erdinger]

but isn't it funny
this highly sought-after
morbidly beautiful
pet battling
powerhouse
is left
chanceless
if faced with an
adorably innocent
cuddly
little bunny

<3

[Drudatz]

Its should be added that shes NOT a power house as claimed in the articel if she goes up against an aquatic.

[Exeftw]

Its should be added that shes NOT a power house as claimed in the articel if she goes up against an aquatic.

Any pet becomes bad when they have a trainer making terrible decisions like that

[Amgesan]

Curse of doom can be avoided by using Ethereal or having Decoy effects up on the round it will go off. Seems it is not a dot but a delayed attack.

Came across someone in pvp with a team of 3 Val'Kyrs and won all 4 games I played against them, with the last two being won due to Haunt mechanic working in my favour as my haunter was faster. If two battle pets use Haunt on the same turn, the one that goes last will die permanently. The one that survives will resurrect instantly as their target is dead and Haunt will show as being off cooldown but it will miss if used, then show the 4 round cooldown.

[Crucia_moonglade]

I had no idea it was still so sought after even today! I was lucky enough to get mine within a week or so of it being released. What took longer is definitely the Minfernal!

[Skavenged]

Its should be added that shes NOT a power house as claimed in the articel if she goes up against an aquatic.

Actually, I team her up a pet running Black Claw, which makes her a hard hitter even when used against aquatics