Good setup for a returning player?

[Jin]

I've been away from wow for a while, but is gonna reopen my account, and I would love some advice on a good setup for pet battles (pvp). I absolutely don't need the best of all cookie cutter omfg team, but at least something decent so I don't end up losing all the time.

What are people using nowadays?

[Tekulve2012]

What seems like a simple enough question is actually a tricky one. This is because in pvp people get different opponents depending on their 'meta'. I think its quite safe to say that the 3 most common pet pvp foes are:

1) Unborn Valkyr 2) Death Adder hatchling and 3) Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling
Obviously there would be a million different opinions on this so I'll add 7 more that I have regularly faced in my 2000+ pet pvp matchups:

* Fossilized Hatchling * Clockwork Gnome * Moths (take your pick) * Lil Ragnaros * Anubisath Idol * Gilnean Raven * any Direhorn
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Some will say the Kun Lai Runt / Fel Flame / Jademist Dancer and Scourged whelpling should be on the list but those are my 10 picks.

So the dominant 'races' are : Undead / Flying / Mech / Beast .. with a smattering of the rest .. I meet up with very few critters or magic foes. The Elemental are getting more popular to avoid weather as well
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There are no sure-fire counters to those top ten pets ... they are popular (IMO) because they are relatively easy to get(exclude Valkyr and 5 or 10$ for Rags) and play. Obviously some counter them by using those same pets.

I recommend some form of avoidance (dodge/shield) and/or a speedy pet or one that can debuff the opp. speed (Dazzling dancers)

Area of effect damage is popular now too with a lot of Call Lightning or Foss.Hatch/ Creepy Crate (Bonestorm) teams

The only way to deal with these guys (seemingly) is with Sandstorm. (thus the popularity of Anubisath Idol (avoidance + weather changer + tanky type with self heal racial)
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So to sum up .. I'll propose an Anub Idol as a starter pet .. then either make a theme team for synergy (the s/s breed qiraji guardling is terrific ) or for pets 2 and 3 add good counters to the popular pets (Fjord worg pup/Vengeful Porc./ Imp.Eagle chick-p/p ~with thrash for the MPD)

Good luck

[Vek]

Those 10 that Tekulve mentioned are also some of the most popular pets on my meta. Though, not sure if it is because of summer vacations, last two weeks people have been running a lot of fun and different teams. I'm seeing a lot less Unborn Val'kyrs and Death Adders lately, which I gladly take since I'm seriously running out of new counters to try against these pets.

I'll give you a solid team, that I know Drudatz favours. This team will probably do well enough in less experienced hands but is a very tough nut to crack with a good player at the helm.

S/S Death Adder Hatchling(Poison Fang,Puncture Wound,Blinding Poison) - 341 speed is important here.
Anubisath Idol(Crush,Sandstorm,Deflection(safer option) or Rupture(if you want to bring the pain and a shot at a stun).
Magical Crawdad(Surge,Renewing Mists,Wish)

Do damage.. switch to Idol for Sandstorm protection... switch to Crawdad for Renewing Mists and Wish to heal up the damage pets.

I truly hate this team.

[Luciandk]

An alternative to anubby is Qiraji Guardling, S/S breed. I think you can still cap them in silithus.

It packs sandstorm and a stun.

[Trece]

Have at least one Emperor Crab PP on your team he is a great counter for the popular pets right now.

[Tekulve2012]

I didn't want to mention the Emporer Crab .. I don't want to see any more of him in pet pvp But I didn't cheat in my top 10 list ... I don't see that one as often as the others (to date) tbh

[Genome]

Here are some nice, all-around PvP pets. Most of these are very easy to get, or are cheap on the AH. I will put the breeds that I prefer in () after the name. For brevity, I will only list 10. I won't list the FotM/OP stuff as there are enough of them saturating the queues as it is:

1. Emperor Crab(p/p) - Needed to help cancel out the FotM stuff. Really, about any crab will do but I think the P/P version of the emperor is the most useful. He's great against Undead (i.e. Valks), decent against the Death Adders (if running with Surge), and is very durable. He also has the added perk of being able to solo the occasional Sunlight Stall team that you will run into. My most satisfying wins are out-stalling the stall teams with one pet and watching them eventually flee .

2. Blue Clockwork Rocket Bot(s/s) - This guy is for strategy lovers, and he packs a punch when used correctly.

3. Lil' Bling (s/s) - I have been battling for a while now, and I still find new uses for this guy. Not a prime dmg dealer, but very fast and durable, and another highly strategic pet.

4. Scourged Whelpling (h/h) - This guy can fill myriad gaps on myriad different teams. I currently love using him in a DoT-Regen team.

5. Gilnean Raven/Crow - I didn't list a breed because the flyer racial can overlook speed deficiencies for a few hits. This guy's speed and raw dmg capability make him a very common sight.

6. Spring Rabbit/Tolai Hare (s/s) - Faster that pretty much anything in the game by default other than above 50% health flyers and a cheetah that nobody uses. Great evasion moves and strong vs. undead as well.

7. Fiendish Imp(s/s) - Very usefull force-swapper and backling dmg dealer (with the bonus of backline heals from human racial!).

8. Moths - Racial being the same as other flyers, makes breeds a bit more flexible. I don't use them, but they can be highly effective against many things.

9. Nether Fairy Dragon (s/s) - Another guy that can fill many gaps on a team. He can be used as a setup for a Moonlight team, a Cyclone team, is pretty fast, and is a pretty good anti-flyer in his own right.

10. Fossilized Hatchling - He does very decent dmg against pretty much anything, has a heal, the Undead racial, and is a backline killer.

There are loads more, but some combination of the above should net positive results if played well. Of the above pets, my strongest team is likely the Emperor Crab/Fiendish Imp/Fossilized hatchling. This team is good against so many different things. For example, the crab is good against Undead and Elementals (when running with Surge which I almost always do), and can handle Sunlight and DoT teams no problem. The Imp is great against Mechs, and a good option against birds (Nether Gate being strong against flyers), and generally gets a decent amount of the health that he lost getting set up returned from his backline dmg. Finally, the Hatchling is great vs. Humanoids, and can decimate backline pets if he is not taken out quickly. So many combos out there. Half the fun is creating new teams to see what works well!

[Opteron]

Wonderful thread!
Thanks for the well written and elaborated answers.
I really needed these advices as well.

[Jin]

Thanks for the info, it helped much

I tried some games with an Emperor Crab, Scorged Whelpling, and spider with the web/leech combo and I did fairly ok. I'm thinking of replacing the spider though, since there's many mechanicals.

Would love to try the Death Adder but there's no S/S to get at my realm atm :p

[Tekulve2012]

Jin
I have a freebee s/s DAH for you (level 25) ..or if you prefer to level your own I can set you up there too. Just as long as I don't get too much grief from the community here for spreading Death Adder's evil ways...let it be noted that I never use the nasty speedy beast in pet pvp ... I do recommend it for pve type wild pet battle leveling though since the blind would protect your lvl 1 on a switch-in.

Kingsfoiler#1479

Tekulve is my WCP handle btw

[Jin]

Wow I can't belive how nice you guys are!

[Drudatz]

I'll give you a solid team, that I know Drudatz favours. This team will probably do well enough in less experienced hands but is a very tough nut to crack with a good player at the helm.

Thank you - Im feeling honored to have been mentioned on my birthday !

S/S Death Adder Hatchling(Poison Fang,Puncture Wound,Blinding Poison) - 341 speed is important here.
Anubisath Idol(Crush,Sandstorm,Deflection(safer option) or Rupture(if you want to bring the pain and a shot at a stun).
Magical Crawdad(Surge,Renewing Mists,Wish)

Sometimes I wish I could slap my Anubis for real when I see how "often" my rupture just flat out misses - like its the first turn my Anub goes first and rupture just misses.....

I truly hate this team.

then youll be glad that my winning rate is only around 93%

But honestly no team is unbeatable in the end it comes down to luck thanks to the hitrating-system.

[Undimere]

Have at least one Emperor Crab PP on your team he is a great counter for the popular pets right now.

LOVE my Emperor Crab (Rare H/H Guardian)

[Tekulve2012]

Hey Jin

I still have that DAH for you but havent found you in game .. maybe you already made a friend req. but I dont know what your in game name is .. no Jin asked for a friend req.

if you list your battleetag i can find you or whisper me in game if ive already added you

kingsfoiler#1479