Pet of the Month - Stout Alemental

[Liopleurodon]

Be sure to check out this month's feature on the Stout Alemental!

How Do You Use Your Stout Alemental?
It's been kind of a common theme among our Pets of the Month since the beginning: cross-family abilities are amazing. Now that the Family Familiar series of "trick shot" achievements is here to stay, it's even more true. Add in some healing or avoidance to a pet with some off-family abilities and you've got a great starting point to your next winning strategy.

The [pet]Stout Alemental[/pet] is no different. It has a couple abilities which combo up well, too. Damage multipliers are particularly great with [ability]Explosive Brew[/ability], and to a lesser extent [ability]Barrel Toss[/ability].

I also like how the option of [ability]Dive[/ability] vs [ability]Bubble[/ability] adds a bit of versatility. Up against an opponent with lots of smaller hits? Go ahead and Dive. Want to avoid a couple big hits in a row? Try Bubble on for size!

There are several other options if you don't manage to nab a Stout Alemental during this year's Brewfest. Of course the biggest name on the list is the [pet]Pandaren Water Spirit[/pet]. The [pet]Skunky Alemental[/pet] is pretty easy to find now, with just a bit less avoidance than his Stout brother.

If you're really hard-pressed, the [pet]Water Waveling[/pet] is another elemental with lots of Aquatic damage, and it's super easy to tame and level. However, the Waveling has almost no sustain.

The Stout Alemental is only available in a P/P breed, which is great for its DPS blitz.

How do you use your Stout Alemental?

[Paladance]

As elementals with default toolkit seem to be ineffective against critters, any specimen with beast damage automatically gets a spotlight. Surely, Stout Alemental is not the only one and perhaps not the best considering the long setup, but is particularly interesting while facing the robotic trio (which uses mechanical attacks but receives damage as they were critters) of garrison menagerie. All of opponents have abilities that are scripted to trigger at low health ([ability]Armageddon[/ability] and [ability]Ion Cannon[/ability] x2 respectively), and [ability]Barrel Toss[/ability] leads to just that, allowing you to control and enjoy the free rounds as long as you monitor the health (which, however, can be tricky considering the low speed).
My team usually consists on Skunky Alemental, Stout Alemental and [pet]Jademist Dancer[/pet], with first one completely negating the Armageddon thanks to timed damage, and the other ones just doing some boozy mess… though the ending seems more like a remedy to the hangover!

[Gráinne]

So often I read these Pet of the Month discussions and scurry furtively away, conscious that I never use the pet. Hey, with over 800 to choose from, we can be forgiven for not using them all ... can't we?

But for once, I have an interesting niche for the Pet of the Month.

As I'm sure we all know, the [pet]Teroclaw Hatchling[/pet] can solo the Flowing Pandaren Spirit and carry a pet as well, provided it doesn't get unlucky with crits.

But that last leg, after swapping to the carry and back, seems to take forever, and is the point where a bit of bad luck can dampen the Teroclaw's feathers.

Enter the [pet]Stout Alemental[/pet]! When swapping out the carry, I bring in the Alemental. A couple of Brew Bolts later, and the Dive that avoids the Whirlpool and Geyser usually takes out the opposition - and if not, another Brew Bolt will finish the job. Fast and clean!