BfA Wild Pet discussion

[Vakeetah]

While we are busy with out achievements and Polished Charm farming, I wanted to have a look at Wild Pets, those that we can get right now, in any amount, AND actually be picky about breeds!

• KUL'TIRAS

[pet]Coastal Scuttler[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Stampede, Elemental damage, Blizzard
- Available breeds: HH, HB, BB
Pets with Stampede are known to be super useful in boss encounters, and this one will become a more available alternative to Gulp Froglet for the task. In addition, it has some "icy" attacks that cover a niche where Aquatic is lacking, so might be useful for family-related achievements as well. I've had a lot of trouble finding this as a Primary pet, luckily it's a common Secondary in Drustvar.

[pet]River Otter[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Forced swap.
- Available breeds: HB, BB
A pet that would be amazing with a speedy breed thanks to its avoidance and forceswap. However, it is innately slow even down to its base stats; so it's good that it has Surge and Powerball to offset it. Out of the two breed alternatives, the H/B is probably better even if just for pure stat value.

[pet]Freshwater Crawler[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Pump+Cleansing Rain, two heals.
- Available breeds: PP, SS, HB, PB, BB
The combination of Pump and Cleansing Rain isn't anything new, but the previous users weren't really hard-hitters (Striders/Sea Pony) so a P/P breed may prove devastating. Also can pick two heals (Rain Dance/Healing Wave) so it can keep going while stacking Pinch.

[pet]Honey Bee[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Sunlight. Also adorable.
- Available breeds: HH, PP, HP, PS, HS, PB, HB, BB
Other Sunlight fliers are Firewing and Golden Dawnfeather. Just like those, it can also combine it with a heal, although it can pick Lift-Off as an alternative. Most of its damage sources aren't exactly reliable (Slicing Wind, Barbed Stinger, and Confusing Sting) but the P/P is still the better option, if anything, to do some decent damage/healing when RNG isn't in your favor.

[pet]River Frog[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Not much.
- Available breeds: PP, HP, PS, HS, PB, HB, SB, BB
Another pet that could be great if it had access to speedy breeds. The Bubble+Dive combo is bound to be useful but at its speed it'll be hard to pull off. Besides, other pets were added that have Bubble+Dive and are fast, so might as well ignore Speed completely and go for P/P.

[pet]Sandyback Crawler[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Sandstorm!
- Available breeds: PP, HH, SS, PB, SB, BB
Pets with Sandstorm are always interesting, but as an Aquatic it has the added value of double-dipping on DoT resistance and helping with the usual multi-hit attacks from their Flying nemeses. For breeds, I'd say P/P is probably best; S/S also has its utility but 305 Speed (relatively fast, but going first is not guaranteed). Probably worth getting on both breeds due to the uniqueness and of its skillset.

[pet]Shadowback Crawler[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Darkness, Undead damage, Stun
- Available breeds: PP, HH, SS, HP, PS, HS, PB, HB, SB, BB
Now this is an amazing addition to the roster of Aquatics! Not only it has Darkness, it also has two stuns and a source of Undead damage (which is rare on Aquatics). Likely to make its way into PvP and PvE. Definitely most interesting as S/S, although with its breed range it'll be hard to find the right one. Luckily it can appear as a secondary, so keep an eye out for it!

[pet]Vale Marmot[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Infamous Leap+Burrow combo.
- Available breeds: PP, HH, HP, HB, SB, BB
Again, a pet that would be great with high speed (Dodge, Burrow, Blitz/Flurry) but has no real access to it. S/B, at 289, might outspeed some pets, but still slow by most standards. Leap helps offset it, but the pet remains sort of disfunctional. I'd say the P/P is interesting because it can do Leap and Burrow, avoiding two attacks while underground. Useful? Probably not. But it's fun!

[pet]Valley Chicken[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Not much.
- Available breeds: PP, HH, SS, HS, PB, HB, BB
There are no other flyers with Headbutt (closest is Soulrush from Sentinel's Companion) but that's about it. As P/P it happens to hit extra hard, but it's a fairly generic pet for the most part.

[pet]Giant Woodworm[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Humanoid damage, good defensives.
- Available breeds: HH, HP, PS, SB, BB
Critters with Humanoid damage are hard to come by. However, this one is Blitz, so it relies on Speed (just like its other avoidance/shield moves). At 289, it isn't really super fast, but if it happens to be enough to outspeed the target, a P/S can get the both of both worlds and block and reflect damage while dishing its own. Failing that, H/P should be second best.

[pet]Inland Croaker[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Elemental damage, stun, freeze synergy
- Available breeds: PP, HH, HP, PS, BB
Can deal good Elemental damage, and has a root and a stun. The only move that benefits from Speed is Tongue Lash, and the PS is still slow; so might as well stick to a pure HH or PP. Also, Sticky Goo is currently bugged (refers to the debuff instead of the ability) so using it has no effect and just skips your turn.

[pet]Parasitic Boarfly[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Self-healing, Flurry.
- Available breeds: PP, HP, PS, HS, PB, HB, BB
Flurry is a great move, and having it on a flier is amazing; as you can have all the power and health you need without having to worry about the Speed. It also has Feed/Drain Blood to keep its HP high enough to retain the Speed bonus. Probably best to aim for Power-heavy breeds due to speed being sort of irrelevant.

[pet]Shack Crab[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Nothing special.
- Available breeds: HH, HB
BfA added a lot of crabs, they can't all be unique! This one is an Aqua pet with only Aqua damage, with a limited breed selection. Just grab an HH for value.

• ZANDALAR

[pet]Hermit Crab[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Bubble, Dive, Shell Armor
- Available breeds: SS
Has access to several strong defensive moves AND it's also very fast, clocking in at 349. Since it's single-breed, just need to find a Rare.

[pet]Barrier Hermit[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Critter damage, Mudslide
- Available breeds: SS, PS, HS, SB
It can work as a reliable anti-undead, with a few hard-hitting Aquatic alternatives mixed in. All of its breeds are Speed centric, so SS should be the obvious choice. Failing that, 289 Speed is still plenty against most Undeads and Elementals.

[pet]Golden Beetle[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Strong defensives
- Available breeds: PP, HP, HS, SB, BB
With Shell Armor, Crouch, Burrow, this beetle promises to be very durable. Its maximum speed is 289, which limits its value somewhat. As usual, if it's enough it'll be great; otherwise I'd say PP or HP are reasonable (even though PP Shell Shield might be a bit overkill)

[pet]Leafy Flutterwing[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Mostly what you'd expect from a Moth.
- Available breeds: SS, HS, HB, BB
Has the usual Moth abilities (Cocoon, Moth Dust, etc). The highlights are that its "reliable" damage source is Critter type, and that it can run Moth Balls and Moth Dust at the same time. Nothing too spectacular, overall. Also, it is very fast, so will go full overkill and get an S/S.

[pet]Shore Butterfly[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Sandstorm, Force Swap.
- Available breeds: PP, SS, PB, SB
Why the hell does it have Peck...? Eeeh... well, this one offers varied tools for every situation (swap, block, sandstorm, AoE) so while it doesn't have any clear role, it's likely to be an useful addition to most teams. For breeds, both "pure" ones can work well, with SS being able to outspeed most foes even below 50% HP.

[pet]Bloodfever Tarantula[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Odd speed values, Critter damage.
- Available breeds: SS, PS, HS, SB
The most interesting thing about this spider is the Speed, with some strange values that might actually be useful against those Boss pets that keep outspeeding your team by 1 point. That aside, it's like a mix of a Lizard and a Spider; although it lacks Leech Life and Brittle Webbing.

[pet]Boghopper[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Very fast frog
- Available breeds: SS
Its high speed increases the effectiveness of its other moves: Frog Kiss, Poison Skin, and Croak (which may be useful to mitigate RNG on specific encounters). Lacks type coverage though.

[pet]Coastal Bounder[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Healing, Critter damage. And it can be pink.
- Available breeds: SS, HS, PB, BB
Like most frogs, it excels at Undead countering. I'd say this one has the most value at SS, sort of like a fast version of Mud Jumper with guaranteed Tongue Lash boost.

[pet]Elusive Skimmer[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Stampede, Critter damage, double weather.
- Available breeds: SS, HP, PS, HS, PB
Stampede is a staple move vs. boss pets, and this one will help in Aquatic "family" achievements. Will also make short work of Undeads. Alternatively, it can trigger Cleansing Rain with two separate moves. Unsure about breeds, no particular reason to run SS, but still seems like the best option.

[pet]Glutted Bleeder[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: A critter with Explode!
- Available breeds: PP, HP, PS, PB
Exploding is also a common tactic for boss pets, so having a critter with it (besides the Baneling) is certainly interesting. Doesn't have a lot of health by itself, so the obvious choice is HP. Thanks to Powerball, it can also ignore Speed completely and gain a speed advantage that will be useful for burrowing and squeezing the most out of your pet before bursting.

[pet]Returned Hatchling[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Nothing special.
- Available breeds: HB, PB, SB, BB
Besides looks, doesn't seem to offer anything particularly interesting to the Undead roster. Leap on an Undead is new, but that's about it.

[pet]Spectral Raven[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Darkness, Humanoid damage. Fast undead.
- Available breeds: PP, SS, PS, HS, SB, HB, BB
As SS, this one breaks the previous max speed mark set by Wicked Soul. Also has the ability to deal consistent Humanoid damage, so it's going to be a great Dragonkin counter.

[pet]Sticky Oozeling[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Moonlight, Avoidance, Delayed damage.
- Available breeds: HH, HP, HS, HB
It's a Magic pet with only Magic abilities, which isn't particularly interesting. It has a new spell, Sewage Eruption, which is a Magic-type whirlpool. The only move that benefits from Speed is Phase Shift, but its 273 top speed is unlikely to be enough; so H/P it is.

[pet]Young Sand Sifter[/pet]
- Remarkable traits: Carpnado, Odd speed values.
- Available breeds: HH, SS, HP, HS, SB, BB
And yet another crab! This one has weird base stats, resulting in some unseen Speed values that may prove useful. Other than that, has a very basic skillset. H/P and S/S both have their benefits, although none will be game-changing.

Overall, while the roster feels heavy on Aquatics, I'd say most of them are a welcome addition for "Family" achievements; and that may also be the case for Critters.
Which are, in your opinion, the best Wild Pets added in BfA?

[Uduwudu]

Hi,

One just has to be careful since the PetBreedID is not always updated, and you will find one Pet that only lists one of these qualities. I will copy this and make a PRINTED copy, so that I have this on hand, and when doing the Battles I can easily/quickly check the need and what I have or don't have, and swap out for the nice/better one.

(I normally will take the one I want in either quality, and mark it favorite and will swap it out for the better quality when it comes along ... and all my 23's are the 3rd pet which I bring up to 25. That means on each day, I bring 2 or 3 pets to 25 at least and swap out 2 or 3 or the poor/greens and so on. So right now all my pets are 25, and only two of them are not rare (need stones and no polished bs!). But their quality is the one you and I would want.

Valley Chicken ... I like the SS better. It's speed gives the Dragonkin a nice run since they would go first many times. The likes of the Nexus Whelpling, Stormborne Whelpling, for example (2 I tend to use the most) are slow, and them chickens .... can get nasty!

Of some of the aquatic's a couple of them have about 2 preventative measures and they are sneaky ... I like the one that keeps giving you a kiss for 4 rounds continuously, and in between does damage, and you can not swap and your healthy just keeps going down until the pet is down. That's fairly good strategy and we should know about it, so we can find ways to mitigate that.

All in all the Pets are nearly the same as the Broken Isles, with a bit better developed/thought out code, for some of the Pet Battles. I am already figuring out that the Trainer's Battles will not be easy at all, and will require a lot of switching and design on our part. Better code and response from the pets means you gotta do better than that with your favorite pet!

[Peanutty]

One just has to be careful since the PetBreedID is not always updated, and you will find one Pet that only lists one of these qualities. I will copy this and make a PRINTED copy, so that I have this on hand, and when doing the Battles I can easily/quickly check the need and what I have or don't have, and swap out for the nice/better one.

Valley Chicken ... I like the SS better. It's speed gives the Dragonkin a nice run since they would go first many times. The likes of the Nexus Whelpling, Stormborne Whelpling, for example (2 I tend to use the most) are slow, and them chickens .... can get nasty!

Battle Pet BreedID works fine even if slightly out of date, as it can calculate the breed based on the stats it sees (provided the pet isn't lvl 1 or 2 in some cases), since there's only so many variants.

Don't take someone's list as "the only breeds to have." This should be treated as open discussion about what to choose and why. Though I am glad someone took the initiative to start, because I'm so far behind (I pretty much tamed enough to get safari achieve and then stopped wild pet battling).

Also as some pets come in multiple colors (Valley Chicken has 5!) so for those who collect that sort of thing, it's a good excuse to get 3 different breeds. I so far have a HH and PP chicken, planning on HB I think for the 3rd (PB would've been 4th choice). I personally don't like stacking speed on fliers due to racial, so stacking health is a way of making up for that. Not that I see myself using Valley Chicken as an integral part of anything.

[Harpooha]

I really like the Hermit Crab. Haven't been able to find great partners for it. But it shows promise.

I can't remember where I caught all the Zandalar pets, but I can say that all the Kul Tiras pets were caught in and around outposts that we set up for the war campaign. Low stress battling if you are worried about that. Many were secondary pets So if you don't see what you need, fight what is there.

[Lolfixheal]

Yeah wild pets this expansion so far is heavily on aquatic, followed by critter/flyver, that is pretty much it. Not much to rest of it. Most pets locked behind gated Charm vendors, including factionvendors who have turned currency from gold to charms now as well and on top of the horrible nightmare, Island Expedtion low random droprates. Oh boy, do they want our sub-money.

@TS Excellent overview, I was wondering when a wild pet breed thread would pop up, or if I would make one when I got around to to pets, but you beat us to it. Single-breeds are limited and I've also noted a good handful of abilities that could use speed, but the options in breed-selection aren't there. I don't think I've seen multi breeds available on vendor bought pets, correct me if I'm wrong.

Have you during your write up of this thread, encountered any of the new wild pets having same moveset as each other and/or with existing pets? Or are they all new unique movesets each and everyone? Haven't had time to cross-check yet myself. Will also toss my input in nearest future with another reply.

EDIT:

Seems like I got around to pets after all with todays WQ batch being utterly horrendus. To answer my own question it seems Wild Pets don't share same move set with each other nor anything prior. For BFA it seems they have shaken up everything we have know before, such as certain families of battlepets sharing same moveset with few having 1 or perhaps 2 abilities changed out only, or switched slots (which didnt matter). The same can be said for the new speed/power values we are seeing, which doesn't necessarily adhere to a fixed 260/273/289/305 plateau, even though some of the pets do exercise this.

Again, big thanks to topic starter, it is a nicely written format, good observations on how the pets might fit a role and the comments. I started my list in excel but found it easier to copy paste default frame from wowhead Battle Safari and the order is almost the same. There is indeed 27 wild pets and disclaimer; I have not cross-referenced with vendor/drop pets' movesets, also their breed data isn't in yet with addon. But a quick run-through in journal suggests the same treatment of unique movesets for most pets if not all.

I think its a nice pace of change not to have 5 critters of the same type with same moveset and having to cross-reference breeds to cover your bases in collection broadest. This time around you look at the as a unique entry with the moveset it has and decide "what breed is best for me, the way I'm going to use the pet". The breed options have been challenging for the 27 wild pets, alot of purebreed and semipure breed availability. Only 2 pets seemed to come as single-breed. Few could go either way as PP or SS really.

As I said earlier before the edit, the list topicstarter has made is pretty much it, I agree with 95% of it, and as such very helpful to newer people who might not be that much into breeds, just to use the list as reference when hunting the new wild pets. You can't go wrong with a plan like that.

Alas, here is my pointers I wrote down in my excel sheet going through them, not as in depth as topicstarter though:

- Coastal Scuttler HH, they all slow breeds, get value purebreed for more health to get that elemental-combo off

- River Otter HB>BB, a bit value going semi-balance breed, but both tomato, tomato.

- Freshwater Crawler PP-SS, can go fast but doesn't have to, so pick can go either way on purebreed options for whatever you like.

- Honey Bee PP, slot1 bad filler attacks, alternative HH perhaps?? for Sunlight and more rounds to make use of said bad filler attacks, health difference between PP to HH jumps from around 300 to 450 ish

- River Frog PP, PS being indeed a compromise against undead, still being faster than most undeads but no guarantee

- Sandyback Crawler PP-SS, like the freshwater crawler can go either way depending on what you want.

- Shadowback Crawler SS, Call Darkness and 2 stuns on slot3, you would want to go first to get your stuff off.

- Vale Marmot PP, perhaps HH as alternative??, no real fast options for slot1 abilities, so powerhouse it. Notice how its a beast and not a critter, hitting even harder as PP when low health.

- Valley Chicken PP-SS, can go either way really if you want fast chicken at 333, but default approach would be PP powerhouse due to racial

- Giant Woodworm HP, If you want to Blitz you have to go PS compromise, HH not worthless either, but I'd prefer HP over HH in these cases.

- Inland Croaker PP, no fast breeds so powerhouse that for big hitting abilties/elemental combo

- Parasitic Boarfly PP, although I gotta mention PS as well landing on 305, they are not that far apart, its a 10% dmg loss vs landing on speed plateau. Drainblood ignores your stats, Feed does not.

- Shack Crab HH, purebreed not much to say

- Barrier Hermit SS, might as well go fast with single pure option available, PS alternative compromise.

- Golden Beetle PP, cba with Flurry with those speeds so powerhouse it, HP alternative, there are defensive options on slot2+3.

- Leafy Flutterwing SS, 150hp drop for the massive speed increase? nothanks, I'll stay SS..

- Shore Butterfly SS, has Wind Buffet (not Wing Buffet) which is found on Drafty SS but he is elemental which isn't quite popular against aquatic I've heard. PP could be used as well, its quite some extra damage, but do know you fall short of 289 plateau. Wind Buffet+Cocoon Strike is two attacks you get off before enemy can even hurt you.

- Bloodfever Tarantula SS, might as well go fast now that we can, 301 falls short off 305.

- Coastal Bounder SS, another 325 tongue lasher in collection, most older toads are 273-289

- Elusive Skimmer SS, nothing that really prefers speed, but going first gives you that extra ability off, no PP or HH.

- Glutted Bleeder PP, 60dmg on burst by HP over PP, one burrow makes that damage equal out pretty much, so any damage from slot1 will add to net value. You do have that slight health decrease over HP though.

- Returned Hatchling SB, pretty much any of the semi balance breeds SB-PB-HB will do for extra value, I've opted for S/B to bypass 273 plateau. Who has ever heard about a slow raptor, have some dignity!

- Spectral Raven SS, another one of those "do I go PP or SS" where both have its merits, either you wanna try to guarantee yourself going first vs stacking as much damage as possible. 349 speed is a lot for an undead, but the power loss is huge. 284 speed on PP falls short of 289 and since its undead one could say those point in speed are 'wasted' if they dont guarantee going first. Pick what you prefer or like I think.

- Sticky Oozeling HP, a classic HH/HP selection ooze. I tend to prefer the extra power due to the racial as with lower health, you cut off more potential damage you could have taken from an attack. Also magic pets tend to posses some heavy-hitter abilities in general. If you find a rare HH, peace be with that, not bad choice either.

- Young Sand Sifter SS, 345 speed, we can go fast on this one. Moveset isn't interesting in particular, HP could be alternative, but a speedy gonzales choice, why not, lets try it.

That was my points, feel free to agree or disagree, or come with your own input, so we all can learn. There is always that one guy who saw something clever that everyone else missed

[Gráinne]

I'm very far behind in everything at the moment, so I have nothing interesting to contribute, but thank you, Vakeetah, for the great post!

[Lordy]

Great review Vakeetah!

I agree with most of your Breed choices with a couple of notes.

[pet]Honey Bee[/pet]
Although the P/P looks ok I think the H/P would provide more flexibility in choosing the moves for each battle. The P/P is low on health kind of forcing you to use the sunlight preen combo and without a decent 1st tier move I think the H/P just edges it for me. The H/P still boasts a pretty decent 301 power but has enough health to consider [ability]Lift-Off[/ability] and/or [ability]Barbed Stinger[/ability] as possible alternative moves.

[pet]River Frog[/pet]
For me the P/S Breed is much better for this guy. He has moves in each Tier that benefit from going first and 289 speed can usually do the job against at least one of the pets in your opponents line up.

[pet]Sandyback Crawler[/pet]
I would just about favour the S/S in this pretty average pet as the 240 Speed of the P/P is truly terrible with no priority move to assist.

[pet]Vale Marmot[/pet]
With [ability]Leap[/ability] you can take advantage of the first Tier moves for this guy and also try to time a dive for two turns of avoidance. Stringing together these combo moves requires a bit of extra health though so I would go for the H/P

[pet]Valley Chicken[/pet]
In my mind not a bad pet to take in the H/H breed. You still get to hit pretty hard with the over-tuned [ability]Savage Talon[/ability] but the high health also allows the possibility of the [ability]Flock[/ability] + [ability]Headbutt[/ability] combo.

[Peanutty]

Here I go, using the same list Vakeetah was kind enough to start us off with. Some of my picks aren't always necessarily what's "best" but more of what I think would fit my collection.

KUL'TIRAS

Coastal Scuttler: H/P would've been nice, but of the available breeds, I agree with H/H as durability is favored in crabs.

River Otter: I agree, might as well go H/B for pure stat value.

Freshwater Crawler: Agree with P/P here for all reasons above.

Honey Bee: So many breeds! The P/P does pack a nice punch, so I went with that.

River Frog: Ugh, needs speed options. I guess I'll go with P/P due to lack of power based frogs.

Sandyback Crawler: Going with P/P on this one. The S/S is novel but doesn't really fit how I'd play.

Shadowback Crawler: I'll bite, the S/S is a pretty unique option to play with.

Vale Marmot: A bit tough as I'd want a speedier option. With 2 unique skins I'll aim for a S/B and... H/H? P/P? Whichever of those I come across first in the right skin.

Valley Chicken: With 3 unique skins you can legitimately grab 3 breeds. I went with HH, PP, HB as I don't favor stacking speed on fliers due to racial.

Giant Woodworm: I'll take what speed I can with this, so P/S with S/B as the runner up.

Inland Croaker: Given the lack of speedy options, I'll go with P/P and 333 power, not too shabby.

Parasitic Boarfly: Definitely aiming for power on this, so I'd go with P/P with H/P as runner up (due to racial).

Shack Crab: I'd almost choose H/H by default but it's not impressive healthwise. So H/B, just because.

ZANDALAR

Hermit Crab: Only one breed option! S/S it is.

Barrier Hermit: With 2 unique colors, I'll pick 2 options. S/S is 325 speed, not bad, and all the other possible breeds are 289. I'll actually go with S/B for a little extra health and little extra power.

Golden Beetle: Wish there was a better speed option. I'll go with S/B for those cases where that's fast enough.

Leafy Flutterwing: Since I passed on S/S Shore Butterfly just below, I'll take an S/S here because of the extremely high speed quotient. With 2 unique skins, my second would be H/B probably, for a tiny bit more power and health.

Shore Butterfly: S/S is definitely speedy but there's nothing about the abilities that really make me want to favor speed. Kind of a headscratcher overall. I currently have a P/B, thinking I might just keep that.

Bloodfever Tarantula: The speed rating really is weird. I think I'd favor P/S but S/S is intriging enough that I'd almost consider it as well.

Boghopper: Only one breed option! S/S it is. And it comes in a lovely purple skin!

Coastal Bounder: Agreed S/S is probably the best option, fast frogs with Tongue Lash are always good to have.

Elusive Skimmer: S/S feels too squishy so I went with H/P. Although the moveset is unique, there's also no other waterstriders with a H/P breed.

Glutted Bleeder: I agree with H/P due to the Burst ability.

Returned Hatchling: Either H/B or P/B could be ok. The power variant isn't very powerful so I could see myself going with a little extra health instead. Another "whichever I tame first" sort of breed choice.

Spectral Raven: Insane speed on S/S makes it desirable, even if none of the abilities are outright speed based.

Sticky Oozeling: H/H has an impressive amount of health (though with magic pets you always have to think in percentages) but H/P isn't shabby either. I think defaulting to H/P makes sense.

Young Sand Sifter: Going with H/P as I don't find as much value in speed with only Dive really favoring it.

[Lordy]

With his move-set I really wish the [pet]Golden Beetle[/pet] came in a P/S Breed. Still with his slightly enhanced Power Rating it gets close in the S/B Breed. 289 isn't the fastest of pets but this could still well be the best EVER PvP beetle!

[Jerebear]

With his move-set I really wish the [pet]Golden Beetle[/pet] came in a P/S Breed. Still with his slightly enhanced Power Rating it gets close in the S/B Breed. 289 isn't the fastest of pets but this could still well be the best EVER PvP beetle!

You could always put him on a dazzling dance team.

otherwise, it still makes a really good undead killer (should be faster than most of them).

[Gráinne]

Disco on choosing the S/B [pet]Golden Beetle[/pet]:
https://youtu.be/H9cbbmo_KmE?t=419

[Lolfixheal]

Sorry if this is considering necro'ing a bit, but I couldn't find much information on Needleback Pup, it isn't a wild pet either, but I know and value your breed opinions here on warcraft pets. It seems to be only IE pet with multi-breed, HP and PP.

I'm leaning HP myself, sub-1400 HP just seems a tad too small although PP has that pure-breed stat-value to it. Agree/Disagree ?

Noticed by mistake when I found cheap one on AH and didn't look breed as I thought all were singlebreed from IE, whoops

[Vakeetah]

Not sure the Needleback Pup has anything to offer on either breed. I'm torn between both options though - the thing is squishy, has low speed, but high power. So the options are either compensating its squishiness somewhat with an H/P or going all-in for Power; which is, after all, its most unique trait.

Looking at its skillset, the first slot will have to be Adrenaline Rush (because Triple Snap is awful), which at the same time forces the 2nd slot to be Thrash, and the third is most likely best with Spiked Skin. Soooooooo blast it, if given the choice, go P/P!

[Rosqo]

Needleback Pup is ok, I've used it to some success. It's likely to trade with about one pet. I combined it with Celestial Blessing with reasonable results.

[Lolfixheal]

What do you guys think of the breed choices for the Crimson Octopode, available from the dubloon vendor? Granted it also isn't a wild pet, but might as well keep discussions here rather than make a new topic every time there's new additions.

SS, PP and HH. Dive+Whirlpool+Bubble+Squeeze option for slots 2+3, slot1 fillers not impressive. Dunno where to begin with that one.

And at the same time, what about the Baby Zandalari Raptor introduced a little while back? Both PP and SS options, where the SS reaches the 341, and attack does not if one was to draw parallels to the original Zandalari raptor SS/PP breeds. I went with an SS, because I got all the originals in PP for some reason, so if I need a fast apply option I got one. I think that was the reasoning for not going PP as well, as 341 attack on the originals would beat this one. Shame, did find a rare PP, but its been released, perhaps one of you will adopt it

[Gráinne]

Crimson Octopode? I don't have it yet, but I just took a look. The 313 of the S/S doesn't feel fast enough for a Dive/Bubble avoidance build in PvP. And if you're doing that, why wouldn't you use a Slithershock? In fact, why bother with that either when you can slot a Hermit?

Just on a first look, P/P with Squeeze/Whirlpool or maybe Squeeze and Bubble when faster while ramping up seems the most likely possible use I can see for this, though I'm not convinced even of that, at least as far as PvP goes.

Maybe there's some use for it in PvE, but I can't place it.

[Peanutty]

I don't have the Crimson Octopode yet either, but I'd probably aim for a PP on it. Speed version isn't very fast, and you're losing around 100 damage per hit/max hit each round compared to power version. Or I suppose if you're going for some sort of durability build, then HH would also work, but frankly... I don't see this pet being a star on any team, PvE or PvP.

[Mezmaron]

8.2 added some wild pets and has been out awhile, any past contributors feel like updating this post? I always have found it informative and appreciated it.

[Lolfixheal]

I couldn't find any other topics discussing the 'optimal' breeds for the pets added in 8.2 so that was a bit sad to see. I spend 2-3 hours the other day going through all the new pets, cross-check their movesets if possible, and put my thoughts into what breeds I'm eyeing to get. In general I've observed that the way Blizzard has gone around the point of being stale with new pets is to give them random abilities so they differ that way. Some pets, being the same zone, same type of animal might have wildly varying movesets. So most pets are almost unique in that regard. This also causes some pets just to have bad movesets, but as a collector who doesn't want to keep duplicates of pets, I need to find the most optimal breed for each given pet for a variety of situations or very specific use-case.

This post doesn't contain singlebreeds, but can be used as a guidance point if you want to spread your breeds out a bit so Crab A singlebreed might be a powerful one, so you pick Crab B to be a tanky one, similar to previous expansions. I'd like to hear your comments, own observations and most importantly your own breed option - and why. I've written some short key notes down myself next to each pet on my list which I'm gonna share here to spark some discussion hopefully. Some I'm still undecided about, so haven't removed say ? from them, and also formatting is a bit thereafter since its from .txt file.

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Twilight Highlands:
Wild
Twilight Whelpling HP (not fast breeds, so traditional HP approach)


Slimy Pets:
Slimy Darkhunter HP? (only humanoid, higher health and power to make use of racial)
Slimy Eel PP? (same stats as Octopode, can reach 363 power)
Slimy Fangtooth SS? (fastest one at 325 speed contrary 315 and 313 on others)
Slimy Hermit Crab SS?>PP?
Slimy Octopode PP? (see Eel)
Slimy Otter HP?>HS?
Slimy Sea Slug PB (all breeds slow, prolly PB)

In general the Slimy pets are interesting, they share same race Aquatic except Darkhunter. They share moveset with Phase one being nice with speed, yet only Fangtooth can reach 325. My own thoughts were to get 2 "fast" ones, and 2 powerhouses and two health/power ones as more balanced ones. Cover all bases and use the best breed stats allocations for the power and speed ones.


Eternal Palace:
Wild
Trench Slug HB (slightly more stat value than default BB)
Chitterspine PS>HP (both have such low life, might try and get a chance of going first with PS)

Bossdrop
Mindlost Bloodfrenzy SS (PP covered by Daggertooth Frenzy*)

* these two pets share similar moveset except tier 2 slot with Swarm and Ravage, the Mindlost has a 'fast' breed available, the Daggertooth Frenzy does not, but has a PP. My idea was to split half-half here, get best of both worlds. Swarm benefits from speed in a way, Ravage heals more with power.


Nazjatar Zone:
Wild
Deeptide Fingerling SS (sacrifice a bit of power to be fastest to go first potentially, has bubble)
Chitterspine Skitterling SS (despite different movesets among "chitter" pets, most seem not to have a fast breed)
Hissing Chitterspine PP-PS (UNDEDICED, low health, bad moveset with Hiss and Black Claw on same tier)
Abyssal Slitherling PP>SS (PP as the SS isn't fast enough)
Sandclaw Sunshell HP (slow speeds, default HP option approach)
Glimmershell Scuttler HP (slow speeds, go H/P)
Sandclaw Pincher HP>PS (another crab, another HP, PS was thought about due to frost shock slow)
Great Sea Albatross SB>PB (another X/B breed selection, normally I'd go power cause racial but thought SB with that tad extra over 300 speed)
Spireshell Snail HH>HP (no other 8.2 snail with a tanky HH breed, most are singlebreeds with HP like stats)
Muck Slug HP (slow speeds, stack power+health)

Rare drop
Scalebrood Hydra HB>HS (both very slow, slight damage edge on HB but more statvalue in HS)
Daggertooth frenzy PP (SS covered by Mindlost - see further up)
Skittering Eel SS (a fast breed with CDs in moveset and a PB, ill take the SS)
Glittering Diamondshell HH-HP (has an HH option if you want to split up the Crab HP selections, with stoneskin+heal this might be preferable)

Scrying chest
Sandclaw Nestseeker SB (292speed at a x/B selection foundation because two heals)


Operation Mechagon:
Wild
Clanking Scrapsorter SS (I think there was 4 mech hands, this is the only fast one, rest of breeds roughly same stats with not enough speed, low power and ~1500 health)
Alloyed Alleyrat HP-SB?? (Smoke Cloud is nice if you go first but SB only hits that old 289 mark, so perhaps just HP it for semipure breed)
Copper Hopper SS (fast mech frog vs X/B breeds, *Motorized Croaker while not exact same pet can act more HP orientated solution)


Mechagon Zone:
Wild
Rustbolt Clucker HS>SB (keep 289 speed, semipure over X/B)
Fleeting Frog SS (333 speed, Tongue Lash, *Yellow Junkhopper comes in HP)
Scrapyard Tunneler SS (3 abilties speed, batter, smoke cloud, burrow)
Mechagon Marmot SS (fast and only pure breed, same moveset as older marmot except has survival)
Motorized Croaker HP>PS (slow, gains most from HP and *Copper Hopper was fast one)
Rustyroot Snooter PB (generally slow misses both 273 and 289 breakpoints)
Experimental Roach HH>HP? (HH perhaps with glands, spit and swarm, extra life in purebreed)
Junkheap Roach HP>HS-HH? (little speed synergy with speed debuff HS perhaps?)
Malfunctioning Microbot SB-HB? (speed slow for jolt, health for explode)



That was what I had written down in my native language, quickly translated to english, so you don't have to look at mumbo jumbo. This was posted as a single new thread in the other subforum Pet Collecting 1 day ago, no replies yet, but reading my own goddarn comment from april, yeah, I deleted it and copied it into this thread.