Verified pvp pet battle teams
Posted: April 19th, 2014, 12:11 pm
Since I'm nearing my 1000 wins (at 920 at the moment), I thought it might be a good idea to share my experiences with a couple of my favorite teams, and if the moderators want to pin this topic -- to make it a topic to share your teams as well.
Here are my teams in order of preference and experience.
1. Whirly whirly AoE
- Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling (Breath, Thunderbolt, Decoy)
- Fossilized Hatchling (Bone Bite, Death and Decay, BONESTORM)
- Creepy Crate (Creepy Chomp, Curse of Doom, BONESTORM)
This is by far my favorite and best win-to-loss ratio team, however, the fight takes quite a while due to multi-switches, and long animations (bonestorm in particular). It's very versatile, as not many opponents use critters or frogs. However, I was almost totally nuked once by a single squirrel, so there are cases, when this team is a sure-loss team.
My strategy is to usually open up with MPD, set up Decoy, Thunderbolt, then switch to Crate, put up doom, then Bonestorm -> Hatchling: bonestorm, D&D, back to Crate, bonestorm, back to hatchling, bonestorm, back to MPD, Decoy, Thunderbolt, etc. Rotation varies depending on the opponent, however. If I see a humanoid that's likely to come up first (eg. one of the imps), I start with crate, and doom the opponent immediately. If I see pets with damage reduction, D&D makes no sense. If I see that the opponent may finish with an undead, I make sure to leave one of my undeads alive (since Breath is weak against undead). If the opponent is left with 3 low health pets, Breath is an excellent finisher, since MPD is quite fast (usually faster than most enemies), so it kills off the remaining pets one by one. This team has even proven successful against anti-swap teams, as usually I swap after 2 moves anyhow (so roots don't work much), haven't seen people use Mudslide in pvp more than once or twice, and even tonks with their explosions are not much of a problem. It's not too good however, if your pets get dotted one by one, since they tend to die off quickly then. This team needs some practice to master, but I can recommend it to everyone, as I'd say more than 500 of my battles were won using this one.
2. Let the darkness fall
- Gilnean Raven (balance) (Alpha Strike, Call Darkness, Nocturnal Strike)
- Crow (speed) (Alpha Strike, Call Darkness, Nocturnal Strike)
- Dread Hatchling (Shadow Talon, Call Darkness, Nocturnal Strike)
This team would be way better, if all the pets were of the speed breed, but I never bothered to catch more crows during DMF (if I did, the team would be even stronger). The strategy is obvious: use Darkness to counter any other weather effects, lower opponent hit rate, and guarantee your Nocturnal Strike (strong hit). Sometimes it requires swapping (to kill something dangerous fast with 2 nocturnal strikes in a row), sometimes you can just use it with no swapping at all. You have to learn to predict opponent moves with pets which can block attacks, so that you don't waste your nocturnal strikes. Takes some practice, but easier, and much, much faster than my first team. Extra bonus: such popular death adders are helpless, since their blinding spell is useless against nocturnal strike (it still hits, even if you're blinded), and they're weak against flying. I've had one opponent with 2 death adders forfit dozens of times just after seeing my team (after he got beaten badly many times). Obviously this team is bad if you get an opponent with elementals! Elementals ignore darkness, therefore your nocturnal strike has only a 40 percent chance against them! Dragonkin are not much of a problem, since darkness is strong against them (hit with darkness, swap, another darkness, finish off the poor dragon).
3. Stun you round
- Stunted Direhorn
- Pygmy Direhorn
- Direhorn Runt
(all 3: Trihorn Charge, Horn Attack, Primal Cry)
Another quite fast and easy team, but lots depends on RNG here, since it's mostly based on stuns. Not too good if the opponent has flying pets, too (since beasts are weak against them). Mechanicals may cause problems but I've beaten quite a few using stuns. The strategy again is simple. Use Primal Cry to slow down the enemy, so that your Horn Attack hits first and has a 50 percent chance to stun the opponent. Speed and stun are key here. You have to predict opponent moves, so that you don't waste your primal cry if the opponent blocks (e.g. anubisath idols). Worst opponent: three moths, then you're pretty much dead on arrival.
4. Let there be light
- Enchanted Lantern
- Festival Lantern
- Lunar Lantern
(all 3: Beam, Flash, Light)
This is one of my newest additions, especially strong against all-moth teams. Not too good against mechanicals however, then you're pretty much dead on arrival as well. You can swap (Flash -> Light, swap, Flash -> Light, swap etc.) or stay with a single lantern until it dies. Obviously, the strategy is to blind the opponent, hoping they miss their attacks, and finish them off with Light. This team is not good against experienced players who know how and when to swap their pets (if they get blinded, they swap out). Most players however don't do that I noticed (at least here in Europe). The win rate here is not as good as with the other teams, but it's fast and fun to play.
As you noticed, I've mostly used uniform teams with similar/same spells/composition. I prefer them to the approach most players have (3 totally different pets, complex combinations etc.), since it's simply much faster to play with such a team, and it requires less thinking. Sure, the success rate may not be as high, but I'd rather lose a fight or two than win at the cost of healing myself all the time and trying to survive (then the fight lasts three times longer, so it's a waste of time). My approach has been: fast win or fast lose (except for the first team, due to its high success rate), and it seems to have paid off so far, as I only have 80 wins for my title left (I've made it a chore to win 10 fights daily and kept a calendar, so that I knew when I can expect my title to arrive XD).
Would love to hear your experiences with different teams, especially those highly successful (and quick!). Maybe I'll try and fit in some of them before I finish pvp battling (after I get the title), to make this finishing off less boring XD.
Here are my teams in order of preference and experience.
1. Whirly whirly AoE
- Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling (Breath, Thunderbolt, Decoy)
- Fossilized Hatchling (Bone Bite, Death and Decay, BONESTORM)
- Creepy Crate (Creepy Chomp, Curse of Doom, BONESTORM)
This is by far my favorite and best win-to-loss ratio team, however, the fight takes quite a while due to multi-switches, and long animations (bonestorm in particular). It's very versatile, as not many opponents use critters or frogs. However, I was almost totally nuked once by a single squirrel, so there are cases, when this team is a sure-loss team.
My strategy is to usually open up with MPD, set up Decoy, Thunderbolt, then switch to Crate, put up doom, then Bonestorm -> Hatchling: bonestorm, D&D, back to Crate, bonestorm, back to hatchling, bonestorm, back to MPD, Decoy, Thunderbolt, etc. Rotation varies depending on the opponent, however. If I see a humanoid that's likely to come up first (eg. one of the imps), I start with crate, and doom the opponent immediately. If I see pets with damage reduction, D&D makes no sense. If I see that the opponent may finish with an undead, I make sure to leave one of my undeads alive (since Breath is weak against undead). If the opponent is left with 3 low health pets, Breath is an excellent finisher, since MPD is quite fast (usually faster than most enemies), so it kills off the remaining pets one by one. This team has even proven successful against anti-swap teams, as usually I swap after 2 moves anyhow (so roots don't work much), haven't seen people use Mudslide in pvp more than once or twice, and even tonks with their explosions are not much of a problem. It's not too good however, if your pets get dotted one by one, since they tend to die off quickly then. This team needs some practice to master, but I can recommend it to everyone, as I'd say more than 500 of my battles were won using this one.
2. Let the darkness fall
- Gilnean Raven (balance) (Alpha Strike, Call Darkness, Nocturnal Strike)
- Crow (speed) (Alpha Strike, Call Darkness, Nocturnal Strike)
- Dread Hatchling (Shadow Talon, Call Darkness, Nocturnal Strike)
This team would be way better, if all the pets were of the speed breed, but I never bothered to catch more crows during DMF (if I did, the team would be even stronger). The strategy is obvious: use Darkness to counter any other weather effects, lower opponent hit rate, and guarantee your Nocturnal Strike (strong hit). Sometimes it requires swapping (to kill something dangerous fast with 2 nocturnal strikes in a row), sometimes you can just use it with no swapping at all. You have to learn to predict opponent moves with pets which can block attacks, so that you don't waste your nocturnal strikes. Takes some practice, but easier, and much, much faster than my first team. Extra bonus: such popular death adders are helpless, since their blinding spell is useless against nocturnal strike (it still hits, even if you're blinded), and they're weak against flying. I've had one opponent with 2 death adders forfit dozens of times just after seeing my team (after he got beaten badly many times). Obviously this team is bad if you get an opponent with elementals! Elementals ignore darkness, therefore your nocturnal strike has only a 40 percent chance against them! Dragonkin are not much of a problem, since darkness is strong against them (hit with darkness, swap, another darkness, finish off the poor dragon).
3. Stun you round
- Stunted Direhorn
- Pygmy Direhorn
- Direhorn Runt
(all 3: Trihorn Charge, Horn Attack, Primal Cry)
Another quite fast and easy team, but lots depends on RNG here, since it's mostly based on stuns. Not too good if the opponent has flying pets, too (since beasts are weak against them). Mechanicals may cause problems but I've beaten quite a few using stuns. The strategy again is simple. Use Primal Cry to slow down the enemy, so that your Horn Attack hits first and has a 50 percent chance to stun the opponent. Speed and stun are key here. You have to predict opponent moves, so that you don't waste your primal cry if the opponent blocks (e.g. anubisath idols). Worst opponent: three moths, then you're pretty much dead on arrival.
4. Let there be light
- Enchanted Lantern
- Festival Lantern
- Lunar Lantern
(all 3: Beam, Flash, Light)
This is one of my newest additions, especially strong against all-moth teams. Not too good against mechanicals however, then you're pretty much dead on arrival as well. You can swap (Flash -> Light, swap, Flash -> Light, swap etc.) or stay with a single lantern until it dies. Obviously, the strategy is to blind the opponent, hoping they miss their attacks, and finish them off with Light. This team is not good against experienced players who know how and when to swap their pets (if they get blinded, they swap out). Most players however don't do that I noticed (at least here in Europe). The win rate here is not as good as with the other teams, but it's fast and fun to play.
As you noticed, I've mostly used uniform teams with similar/same spells/composition. I prefer them to the approach most players have (3 totally different pets, complex combinations etc.), since it's simply much faster to play with such a team, and it requires less thinking. Sure, the success rate may not be as high, but I'd rather lose a fight or two than win at the cost of healing myself all the time and trying to survive (then the fight lasts three times longer, so it's a waste of time). My approach has been: fast win or fast lose (except for the first team, due to its high success rate), and it seems to have paid off so far, as I only have 80 wins for my title left (I've made it a chore to win 10 fights daily and kept a calendar, so that I knew when I can expect my title to arrive XD).
Would love to hear your experiences with different teams, especially those highly successful (and quick!). Maybe I'll try and fit in some of them before I finish pvp battling (after I get the title), to make this finishing off less boring XD.