how many "types" of teams can you think of?

[Echinacea]

i see people reference types of teams as if it were common knowledge but others are new to the concept.

I guess its kind of simple...pets that work well together.

for example, my "wrecking crew" team to take down beasts of fable creatures is a unborn valk, pandaren water spirit and chrominus.

I have seen people reference other team types and I am curious what others may have found....for example barrage teams, darkness teams, bleed teams, stall teams and of course levelling teams.

my guess is the concept is best for PVP

[Melfice]

I have not heard of barrage teams before. What setup do they use btw?

All the others that you listed I know of. You can add Moonlight teams to the list, and maybe sandstorm and clonedance too

[Rendigar]

Well the team you call your wrecking crew is commonly referred to as the "Howl Bomb" team (though the 5.4 Guide refers to them as the "Burst Team" my name never caught on *lol*) because it's all about the howl before the other abilities trigger followed by the big hit if needed at the end.

I do agree that most of the terms for teams seem to be aimed at PvP though, since PvE is either easy face-smashing of wild pets for XP/capture or the very specific builds for specific tamer fights (which often have no linking features between team members). Unfortunately I'm not much into PvP (I don't even have 50 wins even at this late date), so I'm not much use...

[Echinacea]

I have not heard of barrage teams before. What setup do they use btw?

All the others that you listed I know of. You can add Moonlight teams to the list, and maybe sandstorm and clonedance too

i dont know what they use....people use the terms as if its common knowledge.

like a darkness team. ok, a raven uses darkness and has a strike that relies on darkness. i assume thats it....if there were other mechanics involved, people dont say what they are

[Morlis]

I have what I call my "Sploder" team. Any lantern that can cast [ability]Illuminate[/ability] I think sunlight ability works as well if you have something with that ability, and 2 with a self destruct attack like [ability]Explode[/ability]. Higher HP the better = more damage.

Not great for normal situations, but works well on a few of the Fabled type battles.

*Edit* Sploder is a pet of Tamer Nicki Tinytech in Hellfire Peninsula. That is where I got the name from.

[Helbrecht]

A barrage team would use moves like Rock Barrage, Nut Barrage, Make it Rain, etc, usually in combination with something like Wild Magic to boost the damage of each damage tick. You can also combine them with moves like Plagued Blood for backline healing, or Stampede and its kin for bonus damage.

There's no single list of pets for most teams, as long as they synergize. For example, my current darkness team features Dread Hatchling, Ghostly Skull, and Widget the Departed, but you could easily substitute in other pets and it'd still be a darkness team.

You're right that these teams are for pvp. Here are some examples:

Clonedance: Jademist Dancer, a pet that has Cyclone, and a strong third. Lay down a Cycline, then swap to the Jademist and cast Rain Dance for big backline damage and buffed Steam Vents. There's a new pet in Draenor with Rain Dance and Nocturnal Strike, so the Jademist can now be replaced with that if you prefer.

AoE: Three pets with backline damage abilities, e.g. Mech. Pandaren Dragonling, Fossilized Hatchling, Spawn of G'nathus, Alterac Brew-Pup, etc. Severely weaken your opponent's benched pets so that they're easy pickings by the time they come out.

Weather based teams: These are very common, and just have pets that synergize with a given weather. I mentioned Darkness above, but others include Moonlight (something like Nether Faerie Dragon, Infected Squirrel, Xu-fu), Blizzard (Tiny Snowman, Tundra Penguin, Kun-Lai Runt, Rotten Little Helper), Arcane Storm (Nexus Whelpling and other pets with Mana Surge) and so on. These teams tend to build themselves rather easily, since their synergy is obvious.

Dot/Heal teams use field effects like Death and Decay, Immolation and Scorched Earth in combination with Plagued Blood and Touch of the Animus for big backline healing.

Stall teams use heals and defense to slowly, slowly wear down an opponent and crush their will to live. E.g. Blossoming Ancient, Singing Sunflower, Magical Crawdad, Ruby Droplet.

There are many other team genres out there; if you want to know about any in particular, just ask.

[Echinacea]

I have what I call my "Sploder" team. Any lantern that can cast [ability]Illuminate[/ability] I think sunlight ability works as well if you have something with that ability, and 2 with a self destruct attack like [ability]Explode[/ability]. Higher HP the better = more damage.

Not great for normal situations, but works well on a few of the Fabled type battles.

*Edit* Sploder is a pet of Tamer Nicki Tinytech in Hellfire Peninsula. That is where I got the name from.

i have a singing sunflower and a couple iron starlettes that ill test that with. Sounds cool, thanks!

[Echinacea]

A barrage team would use moves like Rock Barrage, Nut Barrage, Make it Rain, etc, usually in combination with something like Wild Magic to boost the damage of each damage tick. You can also combine them with moves like Plagued Blood for backline healing, or Stampede and its kin for bonus damage.

There's no single list of pets for most teams, as long as they synergize. For example, my current darkness team features Dread Hatchling, Ghostly Skull, and Widget the Departed, but you could easily substitute in other pets and it'd still be a darkness team.

You're right that these teams are for pvp. Here are some examples:

Clonedance: Jademist Dancer, a pet that has Cyclone, and a strong third. Lay down a Cycline, then swap to the Jademist and cast Rain Dance for big backline damage and buffed Steam Vents. There's a new pet in Draenor with Rain Dance and Nocturnal Strike, so the Jademist can now be replaced with that if you prefer.

AoE: Three pets with backline damage abilities, e.g. Mech. Pandaren Dragonling, Fossilized Hatchling, Spawn of G'nathus, Alterac Brew-Pup, etc. Severely weaken your opponent's benched pets so that they're easy pickings by the time they come out.

Weather based teams: These are very common, and just have pets that synergize with a given weather. I mentioned Darkness above, but others include Moonlight (something like Nether Faerie Dragon, Infected Squirrel, Xu-fu), Blizzard (Tiny Snowman, Tundra Penguin, Kun-Lai Runt, Rotten Little Helper), Arcane Storm (Nexus Whelpling and other pets with Mana Surge) and so on. These teams tend to build themselves rather easily, since their synergy is obvious.

Dot/Heal teams use field effects like Death and Decay, Immolation and Scorched Earth in combination with Plagued Blood and Touch of the Animus for big backline healing.

Stall teams use heals and defense to slowly, slowly wear down an opponent and crush their will to live. E.g. Blossoming Ancient, Singing Sunflower, Magical Crawdad, Ruby Droplet.

There are many other team genres out there; if you want to know about any in particular, just ask.

thanks...thats some good info.

i bet barrage teams would work pretty good with an ability that adds damage to each hit so they cant be shrugged off by stoneskin

since i havent done any PVP, i pretty much only know strategy for tamers...which i have down pat with the wrecking crew (the only other team i would need are 3 crows)

on my other account i have a blossoming ancient and used it to quite effect when battling but youre right....he could shrug off damage but couldnt do much

[Skavenged]

Echinacea, the different teams work based on synergy or, in rare cases, a lack thereof. What you call a barrage team is certainly effective in some situations, but it can be countered. The trick is to find the teams that work for you. It should be a team that you enjoy playing, and you should have more than one. That way, you have a few choices based on which teams you are facing on any given day. if you want to see what really works in PvP, queue for a few battles on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That's when you'll find most of the hardcore battlers grabbing their ten wins for the week. If you're just breaking in to PvP, you may want to queue later in the week. On those days, you'll be more likely to face easier fights, whether it's newer players looking for their ten wins, or veteran players trying out new teams while counting wins towards achieves. At this moment in time, AOE teams seem to be the powerhouse group on the three servers I personally run on. You can either join the crowd and duplicate teams you see, or go the opposite direction and try to counter those teams. If you find a good counter, you can really rack up some wins until people start to counter YOU. If you do find a team you really like, I highly recommend not sharing it publicly, since people will copy it and you'll be facing mirror matches. Hope this helps, and hope you join the ranks of PvPers soon

[Baldulf]

Great thread!

Also, Echinacea, I wanted to add to Skavenger's point by saying that you'll generally get softer PvP battles during the day than in the evenings. I generally do all ten of mine midday on Tuesday, and they are MUCH easier then than if I wait until "prime time."

[Liopleurodon]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Force Swap teams yet! They've lost their popularity a bit, but I've found that if your opponent isn't ready for it, you can win just because you throw them off their game. Though of course, that means you're probably beating up on newbies, which always makes me sad, but hey a win is a win right?

[Kel]

Yea, I had a Force-Swap team that I loved playing, but sadly it loses more than it wins. I want it to be good, but I can't seem to get there with it.

[Echinacea]

i have 2 pets with clobber...which stuns.

is there a "stun" team? i cant think of how it can win

[Liopleurodon]

There was, but it was nerfed with the Resilience buff. Thank Triple Turkeys.