Endangered crabs

[Wolfson]

Just curious if I'm simply getting a skewed sample, but based on my experiences with my P/P Emperor Crab, I'm wondering why I don't see more of them. My crab has been one of the bedrock pets on my pvp team almost since I got it. I've had a ton of success with it, and it makes a very balanced team with my Stunted Direhorn and Anubisath Idol. It wrecks dot teams, it wrecks (or at least stalls) mass heal teams, it hard counters two of the current fotm pets (Valk and DAH), and it's a very solid pet against most other opponents. The only thing it's weak against is a Call Darkness/Nocturnal Strike crow or raven (it can even handle a lot of other flying pets because most of their attacks are multi-hit). I know it's always been considered a strong pet, but I very rarely see anyone else using it, and I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts as to why.

[Tekulve2012]

I have long promoted this pet ..I agree there are few users ...maybe some pvpers are oblivious to breeds they have or could use

Short answer: ton of PvP flying pets out there ...people like speed

[Klaital]

I would imagine main reason is that its really slow to kill stuff with it, and most people want fast pvp wins for their quest/achievement.

[Poofah]

Just curious if I'm simply getting a skewed sample, but based on my experiences with my P/P Emperor Crab, I'm wondering why I don't see more of them.

I see them constantly. I'm sure there's tons of variability queue-to-queue, but I perceive this guy as one of the most popular pets. People are even using it as a sweeper in clonedance and other AoE teams.

I would imagine main reason is that its really slow to kill stuff with it, and most people want fast pvp wins for their quest/achievement.

I've seen them in Sunflower-type comps, but not often--usually those teams pick Crawdad instead. Most of the crab teams I see are actually pretty fast, the crab is just there as a spoiler/finisher type pet, always with Surge.

[Tekulve2012]

BTW
Poofah ... I've seen your posts on another site suggesting that the Grommloc is now 'lame'

Do you think its a pet that could be of interest in pet pvp in WoD at all? I'm on the fence about getting it, it may just sit in the stable so not worth the bother
,.......

Also..folks ..always take surge..for this pet its a difference maker!

[Wolfson]

Also..folks ..always take surge..for this pet its a difference maker!

I've learned that lesson. I originally used Snap in that first slot (ironically, I did see several other crabs back then, and using Snap against their Surge always let me win crab vs. crab), but I switched to Surge a couple months back with speed-based pets becoming so much more common. Go figure, the day after I switched, I ran into a triple-elemental heal team and wrecked them with Surge.

But ya, Surge is definitely the better move these days. It entirely negates the Crab's low speed, and makes it a great sweeper.

[Klaital]

I have never really been a huge fan of surge because it does so puny damage. Like I am pretty sure if you end up in a crab vs crab fight using surge it would never end as shell shield + healing wave would negate all the damage you do to each other...

[Jazeel]

i have an H/H breed one of these and ever since i added him into my basic pvp team my win rate catapulted, i really must try and get a P/P breed some time.

[Wolfson]

I have never really been a huge fan of surge because it does so puny damage. Like I am pretty sure if you end up in a crab vs crab fight using surge it would never end as shell shield + healing wave would negate all the damage you do to each other...

A battle between two crabs with Surge will, in fact, be a never-ending standoff (I've run into that once or twice). If one crab has Snap and the other has Surge, the Snap crab will win. That low damage issue is the main reason I originally used Snap on my crab, but Surge still does decent damage (it IS still 357 power), and its utility is so good. Especially with the prevalence of Poison Spit-type attacks which rely on S/S pets hitting first for their maximum effectiveness, I've found an always-goes-first attack to be very useful. Plus, Surge allows a crab to act as a late-match sweeper, a role which its 211 speed would normally lock it out of.

[Poofah]

I have never really been a huge fan of surge because it does so puny damage. Like I am pretty sure if you end up in a crab vs crab fight using surge it would never end as shell shield + healing wave would negate all the damage you do to each other...

Absolutely true. But crab's job is almost never to dish out damage. He's there to ruin DoT/multi-hit strategies and to punish teams that over-commit to speed at the expense of damage output. Surge has become a damage prevention tool: it stops the extra hit from Alpha Strike/Flurry/etc, it sneaks in extra damage when the opponent uses a force-swap/stun/avoidance. In 5.0-5.2 teams focused way more on big damage (Darkness/Ghostly Bite/Conflag/FFF). Now we focus much more on fast tricky pets, and the best ability in the game is an UD DoT -- it's the best possible environment for crabs.

Especially with the prevalence of Poison Spit-type attacks which rely on S/S pets hitting first for their maximum effectiveness, I've found an always-goes-first attack to be very useful.

This effect is really extreme. Flyers are supposed to counter crabs, but most flyers have Alpha Strike instead of a single-hit spammable attack.

Alpha Strike with 289 power vs 'normal' aquatic: 580 dmg
Alpha Strike with 289 power vs a surging, shielded Emp Crab: 206 dmg

[Klaital]

I always prefer Peck over alpha strike whenever possible, the extra damage you get from alpha strike in ideal situation is not enough to make up for the downside of when your not going first or the opponent has a shield.