Strongest most OP pet ability

[Rosqo]

Hi guys and girls,

I've been trying to decide for a while what the single most OP pet ability is currently in the game. I excluded righteous inspiration as it's really limited in game and has to be used in a combination anyway.

The shortlist I had reduced it down to are Haunt, Magma/Snap trap, Wish, Discharge, Nether Gate, Blinding Powder and Jar of Smelly Liquid.

I kinda think it's either Traps or Haunt but what are your guys/girls thoughts? And have I missed anything obvious?

[Drlambda]

Sunlight seems like a good inclusion, at least for what it does to the game.

[Wootzy]

Surge For Sure!

[Vakeetah]

Can't decide one...

[ability]Haunt[/ability] is up there. Always been, but the fact that it appeared on a fast pet has made it silly (free swap, DoT, immunity to AoE...). It's true that [ability]Consume Magic[/ability] owns it bad, but having a single hard-counter never made anything balanced.

Aside of that, I'd say some healing abilities are out of hand - which in turn makes [ability]Sunlight[/ability] and [ability]Call Darkness[/ability] more powerful than they should. Tuning those weather effects is in order, but also the major healing outliers.

Lastly, laugh if you will, but I'd also add...

Surge For Sure!

[Gráinne]

Yeah, I'm thinking [ability]Haunt[/ability] as well for Max OP ability.

Traps need some counterplay. They need to be dodgeable and/or cleanseable and/or removable. But they're not everywhere, like Haunt. And they can't be so easily planned for as part of a team.

I'd say [ability]Surge[/ability] is a good example of a beneficial move. It is powerful, but it doesn't overpower anything.

[ability]Jar of Smelly Liquid[/ability] is tough to play against unless you have the right pets, but it doesn't synergise so strongly with anything else as to be objectionable.

[ability]Wish[/ability], [ability]Nether Gate[/ability], [ability]Blinding Powder[/ability] are good but have their weaknesses that make them, like Surge, "good" powerful moves.

I've never seen [ability]Discharge[/ability] in the wild. It doesn't look crazy.

The moveset of Bone Serpent, and something around backline healing (maybe just Teroclaw?), are the two things that stick out to me. I'd take a hammer to the BS without a second thought, but I can't get my head around a good treatment of backline healing. Vakeetah is right that the issue extends beyond, into the whole Light and Darkness thing.

Having said all that, the meta is SO much better than it was in WoD that I can't complain!

[Digem]

It is clearly haunt as no other move adds that big of a dot and a FREE pet swap to the pet of ones choice.
If it was like other swap moves and randomly pulled in a new pet that would make it somewhat less OP.
But a hard hitting dot, that one can increase with lighting or say black claw , and a FREE swap make it the most OP move in the game

[Milotha]

The elekk plushie's cute as a button or itchin for a stichin. Who has the heart to attack after that? It melts me every time.

Though I am partial to the Fiendish Imp's Nether Gate.

[Gráinne]

In principle, Shieldstorm is great, but in practice I never could get Shieldstorm to be convincing in a team.

RI is just Howl, with the advantage of being usable on an AoE ability from another pet without losing a round on the swap. It made an OP slingshot for Graves back in the Dark Ages, but without boosting that nuke, it's not a match-winner.

Shieldstorm blocks 3 hits in 8 rounds, assuming you get all three pets out in time to use it. That rivals the Teroclaw's Dodge, with the advantage and disadvantage that it is one hit per pet.

Good abilities, but the problem - or avoidance of problem - is that Murkalot is not impressive once he has used whichever long cooldown you have chosen. If you put those abilities into a different moveset, they could be crazy, as Murkalot must have been before the slot swap, when they were side by side.

As an ability in the abstract, it is very strong, of course.

What team would make Shieldstorm shine?

[Paladance]

Shieldstorm and RI are in the same tier, sorta…
Also quite rare and what not, [ability]Nevermore[/ability] would be pretty dope if it wasn't so capricious.

I wonder if NM and (WORKING ) Bend Time properly negate each other… or there happens something such awkward that the universe is destroyed and replaced with a gigantic retcon.

Ah, and honourable mention to the [ability]Toxic Skin[/ability] that I believe is bugged.

[Milotha]

Two s/s rabbits with dodge and burrow and murkalot with shield storm couldbe fun.

[Rosqo]

Haunt is op strong now as it's on a fast pet which often means you get it off first. The other two haunt pets have relatively low speed that reduces the effectiveness imo. Yes you get the free swap and damage but it can bring a lot of head games and delaying. Think dah for how many problems being quicker can be against a haunter. Don't get me wrong it's still amazing on kid/valk but not at the same level as the soul.

I hadn't really thought about sunlight or darkness but they are most certainly contenders. Darkness is potentially the stronger as you would set up a team that synergizes well with it so your team isn't too badly effected but less healing can mess with a lot of teams strategies plus the ability hits relatively hard too. Sunlight whilst being very strong has the ability to buff your opponents team which might not work in your favour. An example of this is those never ending sunny day matches that occasionally occur due to both teams having increased healing.

Shieldstorm on paper looks strong but unless you can make use of the charges it does go to waste. You have to swap to use them so it's a free swap/cooldown mitigator of sorts but obviously by swapping you're not doing anything. Combining it with a haunt pet is obviously strong as brawler mentioned but is that strength due to shieldstorm or haunt?, probably haunt.

[Discodoggy]

I'm gonna go with the moves I've been crying about advocating against for years: traps.

You get so much bang for your buck: it is a priority interrupt, it stuns next turn, and it does damage. Anecdotally, I feel that I've never seen the outcome of so many battles decided by a single move as I have with traps.

RI is up there, but you don't see it very often.

[Rosqo]

I thought shieldstorm only lasted 8 rounds?

[Rosqo]

I'm gonna go with the moves I've been crying about advocating against for years: traps.

You get so much bang for your buck: it is a priority interrupt, it stuns next turn, and it does damage. Anecdotally, I feel that I've never seen the outcome of so many battles decided by a single move as I have with traps.

RI is up there, but you don't see it very often.

I agree that they decide soo many battles and frustratingly not through good play. With the traps although rng plays a big factor as they go off good and bad times there is also all those okay times it goes off that swings its performance too much. Couple it with all the current casters being p/p breeds means you can really be punished for a trap going off more often than not.

[Rosqo]

I thought shieldstorm only lasted 8 rounds?

Nope.
Works like Bubble.

Is the tooltip incorrect then? That does make it ridiculously strong if it's an indefinite duration.