Hello & Top 20

[Drgrafenberg]

Hello
I am pretty new to pet battles I was just wondering, you have a top 20 pets but it seems to be based on their looks (cute) rather than their battleability (I think I just made that word up ) so what are the best battle pets?
Also I see some pets change the weather & some do bonus damage in that weather. Is there a list somewhere of weather makers & pets that gain a benefit from that weather as it seems a good idea to team these symbiotic pets up.
Sorry if a am going over old ground or sounding like a noob!
Cheers!

p.s. Is there a way to capture/cage some npc's so you can sell them on the AH coz I am sure I saw some greens on AH that fall under this as I can't see any other way they are not bop

[Doobjanka]

Pet battle teams come down to two things in PvP. Cookie cutter builds (Fel Flame, Flayer Hatchling, Fluxflire Feline, Anubisath Idol) and counter teams. Based on the 100 battles I've won so far (And the 800 I've lost!), the most popular pets are as follows, in no particular order and not taking Breeds into account:
Fel Flame
Flayer Hatchling
Magical Crawdad
Lil' Ragnaros
Fluxfire Feline
Clockwork Gnome
Oily Slimeling
Anubisath Idol
Deathtalon Whelpguard
Kun Lai Runt
Netherwhelp
Ghostly Skull
Infinite Whelpling
Grunty
Crawling Claw


Feel free to add others you've experienced in large numbers.

[Gendou]

It depends on what you're planning to do with them.

For PVP, it largely comes down to speed and luck - if you end up against a team that counters your own, you can end up smashed before you get rolling. Like DJ said, there are some very popular builds out there - reflect/stun builds seem to be very popular in PVP right now (Flayer / Lil' Deathwing / Mana Wyrmling), for example. Countering those can be difficult, especially if they have fast backups.

For PVE, it's all about counters. What does the tamer have, and what do you have that works well against that? That having been said, a handful of pets are so grossly overpowered (pre-nerf Fluxfire Feline, for example) that they can be useful in almost any battle as a filler or backup.

If you're just looking for the "Petses with the Mostest," the [url=http://petsear.ch/Breeds/Ranking]Ranking List[/url] should be of some interest to you.

[Quintessence]

Also I see some pets change the weather & some do bonus damage in that weather. Is there a list somewhere of weather makers & pets that gain a benefit from that weather as it seems a good idea to team these symbiotic pets up.

You can use WarcraftPets ability filer [url=http://www.warcraftpets.com/abilities/filter/]here[/url]!

Simply use the drop down menu and scroll to the Stat-Based Effects & Bonuses and the Weather Effects & Bonuses section. It will bring up all the abilities affected by weather after you choose one and apply the filter.

Alternatively, [url=http://www.petbattlearena.com/index.php]this website[/url] shows which abilities are affected by weather too. Click on the red arrow next to the search field, select the drop down menu in the Tags section, and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list.