WarcraftPets Forum

Many thanks to [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile] for writing the battling portion of our newest feature, Pet of the Month. Here are some additional points on the [pet]Spring Rabbit[/pet] that she wanted to share!

How Do You Use Your Spring Rabbit?
Hi again! This is the forum post to accompany the second edition of Warcraftpets Pet of the Month, all about the [pet]Spring Rabbit[/pet]. We're going to talk a bit more about strategy in using the Rabbit. If you have any other tips or pointers, please share!

One of the best examples to demonstrate the Spring Rabbit's prowess in battling is against the Thundering Pandaren Spirit Tamer. For many players this fight was the roughest tamer battle, and remained such until the Celestial Tournament.

Using a speedy rabbit in either the first or last slot makes this fight completely trivial, though the last slot requires a good bit of counting to make sure your rabbit's avoidance moves line up. That's not really my cup of tea so I use mine in the first slot, using his [ability]Dodge[/ability] to avoid the Thundering Pandaren Spirit's [ability]Rupture[/ability], which deals huge amounts of damage.

I also use the Spring Rabbit when there's a large hit to avoid. The much-touted Howl Bomb strategy featuring the [pet]Pandaren Water Spirit[/pet] is laughable to a rabbit of any breed. As long as you're counting down the turns until those moves detonate, you can [ability]Burrow[/ability] or [ability]Dodge[/ability] to shrug them off. Make sure to Dodge or Burrow when this effect is supposed to hit and you'll be right as rain.

For PVP, it's kind of a mixed bag. The Rabbit is very vulnerable to Beasts, and many Beasts are in vogue right now. However, so are a number of Undead pets, and your Spring Rabbit can make them into a bunny snack pretty handily, regardless of how many carrots they may contain.

My personal favorite trick is using it against an [pet]Unborn Val'kyr[/pet]. If you can manage to Dodge or Burrow against [ability]Haunt[/ability], it's positively marvelous. Not quite as marvelous as it once was, when a dodged Haunt meant that the Val'kyr was dead forever, but it's still nice to avoid a deadly move with a long cooldown.

It's a critter, so it can't be held down for long, but if you face a rabbit, it's best to time your big moves for when its avoidance abilities are on cooldown. A self-buffer with a lot of burst, like a cat with [ability]Prowl[/ability], will still be able to beat a rabbit quite quickly. A pet like the [pet]Death Adder Hatchling[/pet] will have a slightly more difficult time, because its big damage is created by debuffing its opponent, and unless both debuff and damage are timed properly, they can just glance right off that bunny too.

The reason I frequently default to the Spring Rabbit over other battle pets with similar movesets is because of its blazing speed. That speed means that it is almost always guaranteed a third round of immunity, where a slower pet may only get 2. There are other rabbits with the S/S breed, and all the rabbits having this breed have the same stats, so you can sub a different one with similar results. Just be warned that the other rabbits out there come in a myriad of breeds, and the faster your rabbit is the easier this strategy will be to complete.

So, how do you use your Spring Rabbit?

-Tamer Liopleurodon

Excellent post again.

My favourite pet to eat rabbits with is P/P Imperial Eagle Chick with Thrash. Also had a good time with a Sunfur Panda, crouch and hibernate was just more than the little rabbit could chew. Of course Direhors will also make for a tough match-up for the poor critter.

Quintessence wrote:My personal favorite trick is using it against an [pet]Unborn Val'kyr[/pet]. If you can manage to Dodge or Burrow against [ability]Haunt[/ability], it's positively marvelous. Not quite as marvelous as it once was, when a dodged Haunt meant that the Val'kyr was dead forever, but it's still nice to avoid a deadly move with a long cooldown.

Haunt does not have a cooldown, only CoD has.

Quintessence wrote: and all the rabbits having this breed have the same stats

Besides the [pet]Grasslands Cottontail[/pet].

I love rabbits. The fact that they're very, very useful in a pet PvP environment just makes me happier. But I particularly enjoy coming up against this sort of critter with my own furry terror, a [pet]Darkmoon Rabbit[/pet]. They're not used to speed-tying, and the DMR is far less hindered by loosing a speed tie than a bunny whose main offensive move is speed-based. Add in the beast damage versus critters and these are good tense matchups.

I'm just sad that the spring rabbit no longer mates with the [pet]plump turkey[/pet]

The spring rabbit actually does pretty well against the death addler.
Being faster with dodge and burrow it can avoid it blinding poison and big hit based off that.
It is overall one of the better pets for pvp.

I love using the Spring Rabbit against the Thundering Pandaren Spirit (earth). He resists the stun, can use Burrow to avoid an attack, and Dodge to extend the fight and give CDs more time to reset.

I can usually finish off the Earth Spirit with ~800 HP to spare, and typically get Sludgy to about half health before dying. This gives me plenty of room to swap in a carry pet and then a Darkmoon Tonk to mop up.

Fast rabbits are undoubtedly fierce and have carved out a real niche for themselves in both pvp and pve. I'd like to second/third/fourth the comments regarding the thundering spirit (A rabbit+an exploding zeppelin has been my team of choice for levelling other pets against the thundering elemental for awhile).

I'd like to note that rabbits do however face hard counters in pvp outside of the beast pool. Stall pets and priority moves can go a long way toward crippling the poor bunny. Pets that have heals/defensive abilities that they can use while the rabbit is dodging/burrowing prevent those turns from being wasted and can allow tanky pets to beat down a bunny while soaking/healing much of her damage. Priority moves are dangerous because they axe the advantage the rabbit gains with her blistering speed -- they cut out an extra flurry hit, and allow an attacking pet to avoid dealing with being dodged two turns in a row. My Crawdad strongly counters rabbits-- I can switch in my Crawdad on a rabbit without fear and poke the bunny to death with little to no danger. This brings up another point...

Tips for bunny players in pvp: Be aware that most experienced pvpers know the standard rabbit's game plan. Dodge, flurry, dig when dodge runs out (for effective 3-turn immunity). The three-turn immunity is very strong and can be a huge tactical boon, whether or not your opponent knows it's coming. That said, the predictability of this cycle can be dangerous. A smart player can guess when you'll use your defensive abilities and make use of those moments to time switches or set up attacks. Ironically, the rabbit is most vulnerable when she's underground. This is the only moment where your enemy knows for sure how things are going to play out. Prior to the turn during which the rabbit is underground, the dig could come at any second, and potentially the dodge if it isn't already on cooldown. As long as the enemy pet can survive the dig, they are guaranteed to get a hit off on the same turn as dig lands. Depending on the enemy pet in question, this can be set up to be a devastating blow. In short? If you're running a standard bunny, be aware that your enemy knows your tricks. It may not always be possible, but try to mess with their expectations when you can.

Nonetheless...Choosing any pet involves risk and as far as pets go, Rabbits are pretty great. They can be tremendous fun (or a huge nuisance, depending upon your vantage point). It's absolutely worth having one on your bench, even if it isn't one of your first string pets. There really is nothing like seeing a bunny eviscerate a poor undead pet. Youch.

-Audi

I love rabbits. They are easily my favorite PvP pets of all time, simply because they have good synergy with so many different teams. I tend to use them more for avoidance, which means that I rarely Burrow. A Valk/DAH/ rabbit team can be a big problem for a lot of teams. Valk haunts, DAH comes in to blind, swap to rabbit, followed by dodge and flurry. Switch back to the valk that just popped up in the back row, and start the process over again. Another favorite for me is to swap out the DAH, and use Chi chi instead. Valk haunts, chi chi comes in to tack on damage buff and then feigns. Rabbit comes in with dodge and then flurry at 200+ per hit. If they swap pets, you go back to the valk. If not, one free free round of flurry should do the job, and then rinse and repeat

I't awsome this pet for battles

My 'go to' team is three undeads.

I run a mile at the first sign of a rabbit