High Priority Pets to lvl (please add to this if you want)

[Shakesbeard]

Wish heals the active pet in the next round 50% of its max HP so will be bigger but only heals one pet. Only a Magic Lamp, Magical Crawdad and Zao have this.

didn't see this mentioned - since you can forfeit tournament battles with no hp penalty, you can use wish to heal up pets that are low on hp. with celestials i save dragon for last, it has no attacks first 2 rounds. so put wish pet in first and cast wish, then switch in pet that needs heal, heal hits, forfeit. repeat as needed.

they only ways they could really nerf this trick would be to have pets lose hp% on tournament battle forfeit like in wild pet battles, or disallow forfeits completely for tournament. i predict they will do one of these at some point. but for now wish/forfeit works.


i have 3 unborn, breeds i don't care (since all they do is doom and suicide). they are much much easier to get now, my 3rd was at the first spot i checked in crystalsong. with 2 water spirits and 2 chromins, i have 3 beasts of fable teams (since spirit and chromin usually won't die and can be healed back up btwn celestial fights).

[Shakesbeard]

also - if someone is just starting out, i would say leveling pets for tourney is not the biggest priority. level pets for pandaria tamers first, to get going on doing those every day with 2 25's and a carry pet to level, and also to get a chance at rare stones for the vendor pets (and hard-to-farm-for-rares like val'kir)

tournament is great- but in 10 weeks you'll have everything you need from it, which is only 4 pets. it will take a lot more than 10 weeks of pandaria tamer dailies to get the stones needed to rarify all your non-wild uncommons, and level carry pets to 25.

[Arwyn3]

Agreed, although a lot of the pets on this list/mentioned in subsequent posts are also pets used in several off the carry pet strats for each of the pandarian tamers. The end up being useful for multiple purposes. Plus every 3 weeks you can get a battlestone form the tourney (after you've got w/e pets you want), and the pet exp food is nice also.

[Tracktastic]

also - if someone is just starting out, i would say leveling pets for tourney is not the biggest priority. level pets for pandaria tamers first, to get going on doing those every day with 2 25's and a carry pet to level, and also to get a chance at rare stones for the vendor pets (and hard-to-farm-for-rares like val'kir)

tournament is great- but in 10 weeks you'll have everything you need from it, which is only 4 pets. it will take a lot more than 10 weeks of pandaria tamer dailies to get the stones needed to rarify all your non-wild uncommons, and level carry pets to 25.

While I see your point and mostly agree with your sentiment, I must add that the pandaria trainers can be completed with what? 5 pets? (Anubisath, Emerald Proto Drake, S/S rabbit of your choice, Son of Animus(Or any exceptional mechanical with blocks or heals really) and a strong flyer) Really it's POSSIBLE to do them with anubisath and emerald proto drake + leveling pet if you're extremely patient and know the rotations dead on.

The tournament will basically guarantee you 1 universal pet upgrade stone per week after you have your 4 celestial pets. This alone is worth the trouble in my eyes. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a tourney strat that worked until week 2 when I went bananas getting pets just to counter the tourney because I won't be getting my second celestial pet till next week instead of this tuesday....

So, based on this I would say my most used pets for bag reward trainers and general PVE pet battling are:


Anubisath Idol (easily the most used pet in my PVE team compositions)
Emerald proto drake
Son of Animus/Darkmoon Zeplin/Lil Bling (Stoned).
Pandaren Water Spirit.
Chrominimus
Rapana Whelk
Aqua Strider
Lil Ragnaros
Zandalari Kneebiter (P/P) (2 of these with any leveling pet in VOTFW are simply ridiculously good, literally 5 rounds to kill all 3 enemies sometimes, 8-9 rounds if you catch an unlucky aquatic or two)

[Amatheiya]

Snails were an amazing help in defeating chi-ji. Scooter (stoned) was crazy good. I found the combination of pandaren water spirit sporting geyser and whirlpool, swapped out with chrominimus for howl, (sometimes bite here) and surge of power would knock out two of the remaining celestials, with mr. bigglesworth soloing the dragon guy. (yula? yulon? whatever.)

while most of this list is amazing, a secondary list describing abilities needed for the entire tourney would better help those of us unable to obtain pets like the unborn val'kyr or blossoming ancient.

after spending a week seeking out and obtaining all the needed pets, you then get another week of straight leveling. So I'm adding a small announcement. I will be offering my services to level tradeable pets for others. please feel free to add my battletag for more information. Amatheiya#1482

but seriously, snails. I used them in like four fights.

[Anasa]

Anubisath Idol (easily the most used pet in my PVE team compositions)
Emerald proto drake
Son of Animus/Darkmoon Zeplin/Lil Bling (Stoned).
Pandaren Water Spirit.
Chrominimus
Rapana Whelk
Aqua Strider
Lil Ragnaros
Zandalari Kneebiter (P/P) (2 of these with any leveling pet in VOTFW are simply ridiculously good, literally 5 rounds to kill all 3 enemies sometimes, 8-9 rounds if you catch an unlucky aquatic or two)

This is a pretty good list. I'd like to confirm that Lil' Bling is amazing.

My most used are (now)

Anubisath Idol
Emerald Proto-Drake
Lil' Bling
Crow

Really any 2 of those + a carry can destroy just about anything. Honorable mention to Eternal Strider and Red Cricket.

Does anyone else wish we had individual pet stats/achievements? Like "Anubisath Idol: participated in 354/600 battles." type stuff. I know intuitively what my MVP pets are, but it'd be cool to see some numbers to back it up.

[Domie]

I personaly have 2 Clockwork gnome on my party for celestial tournament, he is pretty strong on both of the 2 beast celestials.
Pandaren monk - good for beating down Yu'la if you dont mind buying one in the store.
Son of Animus - always good for a fight vs beasts or magic, specialy since you need many of your other mechs for the celestials.
Gilnean Raven - Probaly my favorite flying pet.
Zandalari Anklerender/kneebiter (P/P)- Been good for me vs magic, they can 3 turn a magic pet, it cant be done without multi hit attacks.

[Strumpet101]

I know it's rare, but I would add the
Dragon Kite as it has Call Lightning and is a Flying pet, not a mechanical.

[Rendigar]

I know it's rare, but I would add the
Dragon Kite as it has Call Lightning and is a Flying pet, not a mechanical.

As it is a TCG pet it is more than just rare - probably not something most starting pet battlers are even going to think about spending their hard earned gold on (unless they get it for a steal). But it is a nice option for a flyer with Call Lightning, if the Skywisp moth isn't good enough for you.

Wish heals the active pet in the next round 50% of its max HP so will be bigger but only heals one pet. Only a Magic Lamp, Magical Crawdad and Zao have this.

didn't see this mentioned - since you can forfeit tournament battles with no hp penalty, you can use wish to heal up pets that are low on hp. with celestials i save dragon for last, it has no attacks first 2 rounds. so put wish pet in first and cast wish, then switch in pet that needs heal, heal hits, forfeit. repeat as needed.

For those looking for tourney information regarding healing the full conversation is here: [url=http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6472]Healing[/url]

[Arwyn3]

while most of this list is amazing, a secondary list describing abilities needed for the entire tourney would better help those of us unable to obtain pets like the unborn val'kyr or blossoming ancient.

I actually started trying, I'll post when I have something. In the meantime, ghostly skull can fill in for the valkyr fairly well. Although they made it much easier to get and there aren't a million people camping the spawn spots anymore. Save a battlestone for it. Only issue w the skull is it starts uncommon. Withers (also starts uncommon) takes maybe an hr tops to get on a level 90 and can fill in for blossoming ancient. Lava crab is also really nice in situations where the ancient is also useful. Magma wave is great, clears all structures (turrets). Works great on the turret team that was in in the US tourney last week.

[url]http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3871[/url] Tiggindy's Advice for pet leveling. Great resource also, has 2 pet strats for all the tamers and a lot of discussion including tourney teams. There are other threads with similar info but this one is all in one place. Check it out.

[Arwyn3]

I added sought after abilities for most of the pets in the original post to try and help people looking for substitutes for some of the harder to find pets. Happy hunting.

*corrected mistake

[Anasa]

Snowy Owl ** (call darkness / nocturnal strike combo)

Snowy Owl doesn't have Call Darkness. The Raven and Crow have them.

[Truweildude]

Missing from your list is a P breed toad/frog. The low lvl 1's are toad and huge toad, but might want to get the hh huge toad as its a unique breed. Then higher lvl, you have the biletoad which comes in PS, and yellow bull frog which has a pp. Also a tiny harvester and PS blue rocket Bot (usually cheap on ah).

[Anasa]

Missing from your list is a P breed toad/frog. The low lvl 1's are toad and huge toad, but might want to get the hh huge toad as its a unique breed. Then higher lvl, you have the biletoad which comes in PS, and yellow bull frog which has a pp. Also a tiny harvester and PS blue rocket Bot (usually cheap on ah).

Why are those "missing?" I don't mean to call your choices into question, but why do you think these pets are essential?

Aquatic types are covered in the list, as well as several strong mechanicals.

Why would someone need to level a toad over, say, a Rapana Whelk/Spirit Crab/Water Spirit? Likewise, why would someone need a Tiny Harvester in addition to Darkmoon Tonk/Zepp/Custodian/etc that are already on the list?

I don't think your choices are so much "missing" as "not as essential"

[Arwyn3]

I actually find frogs (or at least a frog) useful to have around. I use one on sully's undead critter eating raccoon. I do mention in the OP that any frog at 25 is good to have. Since its not hard to do at all, and it really doesn't matter much which frog you level, I left a specific name off the list.

While extra mechs are never bad the OP has the "best" ones for these fights based on strats out there I've seen. I always end up needing extra, but I usually am not picky about what those are.

[Abashera]

Well here is my list of pets I would like to have two of for the tournament, so I still have a fresh pet if I lose a battle, or if I just want to use the same pet in another battle. I have two of every one you can catch. I'm working on the ones you have to quest for, get as drops, or buy of AH. This list is mostly based on power-player lists other players have recommended. There are several other pets it's good to have two of as well, but a lot of pets have the same abilities.

And there are several others I have two of that aren't on the must have list. I have two Nether Faerie Dragons because they have Life Exchange [and] good dodge. I'm leveling a few Turquoise Turtles, they make good tanks. And as Arwyn3 said above, I'm leveling a few frogs. The Yellow-Bellied Bullfrog is the only frog that comes in a P/P; and the Swamp Croaker has probably the best dodge of any frog (with "Bubble"), equal to the mechanical "Decoy" ability. Pair a Swamp Croaker up with the Darkmoon Zeppelin and a Rabbit, and you can dodge, evade, and block most anything that comes at you. VERY annoying in PVP. ;^)


33 PETS TO GET TWO OF:
(Power players for the tournament)

- Amethyst Shale Hatchling (P/P) = Emerald Shale Hatchling (P/P, Have)
- Anodized Robo Cub (H/P, Have)
Anubisath Idol (H/H only)
- Arcane Eye (P/S only; You can substitute one Arcane Eye with a Darkmoon Eye, which does more damage.)
- Bat (P/P, Have)
Bone Spider (P/S only)
- Cats: Cat (P/S), Cornish Rex Cat (P/P only), Feline Familiar (P/B only)
Darkmoon Tonk (H/P, only)
Darkmoon Zeppelin (H/B only)
- Emerald Proto Whelp (P/P, Have)
- Emperor Crab (P/P, Have)
- Eternal Strider (P/S, Have - Level an Aqua Strider too for the speed.)
- Flayer Youngling (P/P, P/S, and S/S, Have)
- Fluxfire Feline (P/S, Have)
- Grasslands Cottontail (H/P, Have)
- Infested Bear Cub (H/P, Have)
- Infinite Whelpling (P/P, Have)
- Jade Oozeling (P/P, Have)
- Kun-Lai Runt (P/P, Have)
- Minfernal (H/H; Get two H/H Minfernals, unless you have a Blackfuse Bombling, Have)
- Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling (S/S, Have)
Pterrodax Hatchling (P/S only)
Red Cricket (P/S only)
- Ruby Sapling (B/B, Have)
- Sunreaver Micro-Sentry (P/P only, Have)
Pandaren Spirits - One of each; Two fire and two water is preferable)
- Spirit Crab (H/H is preferred, but one of each will do nicely. Have)
- Twilight Spider = Widow Spiderling (P/P, Have); Also one Feverbite Hatchling P/P)
- Unborn Val'kyr (Either breed will do; though I prefer the B/B Unborn because you can pull out more damage before using life exchange. Have)
- Yellow Moth (P/P, Have)
- Shimmershell Snail (H/P, Have)
Zandalari Kneebiter (P/P)

[Undeadgoat]

If you have any Alliance-side characters at all, Magic Lamp is the way to go for Wish. Or even if you don't, pet-trading cross-faction is pretty easy nowadays.

I'd also tell your friend to look at lists like this for the first 15 pets, but after that they should start heading into the tournament themselves and think about it one boss at a time--i.e., to create their own priorities about what to capture and level--for example, I almost never group heal at the Tournament unless I'm using Cleansing Rain to buff my aquatic attacks. They should also be working on all the level 25 PvE pet content out there so they get better at thinking about pet battles like a puzzle.

Also you should have at least 3 level 25 moths. Because moths are OP. And a couple snails.

And anyone who's fairly new to pet battles should ignore strats that require more than 2 of the exact same pet to be 25, especially if that pet is an expensive auction-house drop or rare wild spawn. COMPLETELY. These forums are full of people with collections so big they've forgotten which pets are actually essential for battling and which are just convenient, and at the end of the day there is more than one strategy for every PvE fight in the game, and which one you pick depends on your personality as much as your collection.

[Undeadgoat]

Also Electrified Razortooth is great for Rip/Blood in the Water and has the advantage of being caught at level 23.

[Likebigbuttz]

A [pet]Tiny Harvester[/pet] was a massive part of my Pet journey (hence it is my avatar).

I got it very early (Level 3-4 from Westfall) and it was one if, if not the first one to get to 25.

I wouldn't advise anyone to buy any pet worth more than 100g or so until they are really into it. See if they really like it before they over invest. Stick with pets that you have accumulated over your WoW journey or ones that you pick up in battles along the way. It's probably good for ones overall pet battle ability to learn to do it without the "must have" OP pets. Learn how to be creative with moves and learn how important family strengths and weaknesses can be. Understand how synergies work rather than just following someone else's strat and have no idea why your Turret is hitting Lil Oondasta for 370 per shot instead of 30.

I went into Pet Battling pretty blind (didn't even discover this site until I had completed all Pandaria BoF on my own) and I think it has helped me. I can be flexible following other peoples strats when RNG doesn't go my way. I can look at Tamers in the tournament and more often than not pick a team that can beat them 1st or second attempt.

Although I waffled a bit there, I also think [pet]Tiny Harvester[/pet] should be added to the list (maybe not for the tourney, but definitely for someone new to Pet Battles

I think someone else has mentioned that when you get the right experience and knowledge, you can look at tamers battles like a puzzle and work out what pieces are needed. If you're missing the correct piece, then go and find it , level it and win.

[Darkrice]

No mention of Pierre against Newcomer? Food Coma > Stench > Chop, Tommy swaps your Anodized robo cub in for you and with the bleed effect from chop you get bonus damage!!!