Pet of the Month - Unborn Val'kyr
Posted: March 18th, 2015, 12:26 pm
Many thanks to [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile] for writing the battling portion of our newest feature, [url=http://www.warcraftpets.com/news/unborn-valkyr-pet-of-the-month-march-2015/]Pet of the Month[/url]. Here are some additional points on the [pet]Unborn Val'kyr[/pet] that she wanted to share!
How Do You Use Your Unborn Val'kyr?
I know that some of you have been reading this whole post with gritted teeth, because the Val'kyr really is SO light-blasted rare, that it's a bit of a stretch even for seasoned collectors. Don't worry. There are alternatives for both of its signature moves.
If your aim is the [ability]Unholy Ascension[/ability] ability, another good option is the [pet]Ghostly Skull[/pet], which can be purchased from a vendor in Dalaran for 40g before rep bonuses. You will have to use a quality upgrade stone on it, but it's a very strong undead pet with a far less hair-pulling-out method of acquisition.
For [ability]Haunt[/ability], your only other option is the [pet]Ghastly Kid[/pet], which is available both from the level 3 Menagerie or from your local Auction House (provided you've got deep pockets). It's considerably less strong offensively than the Val'kyr, but it has better heals, dodges, etc, making it a decent choice for harassing your opponent with Haunt.
The most deadly aspect of the Val'kyr is that it can do so much devastating damage via unavoidable, uninterruptable DoTs. You can murder most PVP opponent pets solely by putting up a [ability]Curse of Doom[/ability] and then Haunting them. The only real way to come out alive is with an ability like [ability]Crouch[/ability]... but once that Curse of Doom does its thing and Haunt is over, your Val'kyr comes back to life, chipper and ready for its next victim.
Since its most deadly moves are of the set and forget variety, the Val'kyr makes a good match with most other pets in PVP. If you have a decent two-pet synergy comp, like a [pet]Gilnean Raven[/pet] with [ability]Darkness[/ability] and a Ghostly Skull with [ability]Spectral Strike[/ability], you can stick that Val'kyr in the 3rd slot to great effect. Or, if you have two pets you like which are strong all on their own, like a [pet]Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling[/pet] and a [pet]Magical Crawdad[/pet], the Val'kyr can fit in there well, too. It's an excellent, high-DPS filler for nearly any team you can create.
The one really good synergy move with Haunt that I don't want to mention because it seems a bit... cheaty... is that when your Val'kyr is 'dead' while Haunting, it counts as a dead body for [ability]Consume Corpse[/ability]. Because it doesn't have a dead body to be consumed (it's 'inside' the opposing pet while it's Haunted) you can spam Consume Corpse. Not that I'd suggest you do such a thing.
In PVE, it's mostly prized for its Unholy Ascension ability, which kills the Val'kyr permanently. No res turn mulligan. It can be dodged by moves like [ability]Cocoon Strike[/ability], so play it smart, because it's a team-wide 25% damage booster for 9 turns. It will really buff up those big moves, like the Curse of Doom this pet also has. It saw a bit of a renaissance before 5.4 when you could pair up that 25% buff & Curse of Doom with a standard Howl Bomb, making that strategy even more of a lock.
Because of the relative ease of building combos in PVE, Unholy Ascension can edge out Haunt for throughput, but it's not a hard and fast rule. I like to use my Val'kyr with Haunt for the Tarr The Terrible fight in Draenor's Nagrand. Tarr has a pet that stuns itself, so in typical tamer scripted fashion, that gets sent to the back row... only now it has a Val'kyr riding along. I can usually get that first pet to half by the time it enters the fight again.
The Unborn Val'kyr comes in two breeds: H/H & B/B. I prefer B/B because it gives you a slight power boost at the cost of 250 or so base health, but please don't knock yourself out trying for a specific breed on this one. The difference isn't a huge deal, and your family loves you and would probably like to see you sometime in the next six months, which so isn't happening if you get too picky here.
What lengths did you have to go to in order to nab this utilitarian beauty? How do you use your Val'kyr, if you have one?
Written by: [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile]
Check out [url=http://battlepetroundup.com/]battlepetroundup.com[/url] for more of Liopleurodon's Pet Battle strategies and pet analyses!
How Do You Use Your Unborn Val'kyr?
I know that some of you have been reading this whole post with gritted teeth, because the Val'kyr really is SO light-blasted rare, that it's a bit of a stretch even for seasoned collectors. Don't worry. There are alternatives for both of its signature moves.
If your aim is the [ability]Unholy Ascension[/ability] ability, another good option is the [pet]Ghostly Skull[/pet], which can be purchased from a vendor in Dalaran for 40g before rep bonuses. You will have to use a quality upgrade stone on it, but it's a very strong undead pet with a far less hair-pulling-out method of acquisition.
For [ability]Haunt[/ability], your only other option is the [pet]Ghastly Kid[/pet], which is available both from the level 3 Menagerie or from your local Auction House (provided you've got deep pockets). It's considerably less strong offensively than the Val'kyr, but it has better heals, dodges, etc, making it a decent choice for harassing your opponent with Haunt.
The most deadly aspect of the Val'kyr is that it can do so much devastating damage via unavoidable, uninterruptable DoTs. You can murder most PVP opponent pets solely by putting up a [ability]Curse of Doom[/ability] and then Haunting them. The only real way to come out alive is with an ability like [ability]Crouch[/ability]... but once that Curse of Doom does its thing and Haunt is over, your Val'kyr comes back to life, chipper and ready for its next victim.
Since its most deadly moves are of the set and forget variety, the Val'kyr makes a good match with most other pets in PVP. If you have a decent two-pet synergy comp, like a [pet]Gilnean Raven[/pet] with [ability]Darkness[/ability] and a Ghostly Skull with [ability]Spectral Strike[/ability], you can stick that Val'kyr in the 3rd slot to great effect. Or, if you have two pets you like which are strong all on their own, like a [pet]Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling[/pet] and a [pet]Magical Crawdad[/pet], the Val'kyr can fit in there well, too. It's an excellent, high-DPS filler for nearly any team you can create.
The one really good synergy move with Haunt that I don't want to mention because it seems a bit... cheaty... is that when your Val'kyr is 'dead' while Haunting, it counts as a dead body for [ability]Consume Corpse[/ability]. Because it doesn't have a dead body to be consumed (it's 'inside' the opposing pet while it's Haunted) you can spam Consume Corpse. Not that I'd suggest you do such a thing.
In PVE, it's mostly prized for its Unholy Ascension ability, which kills the Val'kyr permanently. No res turn mulligan. It can be dodged by moves like [ability]Cocoon Strike[/ability], so play it smart, because it's a team-wide 25% damage booster for 9 turns. It will really buff up those big moves, like the Curse of Doom this pet also has. It saw a bit of a renaissance before 5.4 when you could pair up that 25% buff & Curse of Doom with a standard Howl Bomb, making that strategy even more of a lock.
Because of the relative ease of building combos in PVE, Unholy Ascension can edge out Haunt for throughput, but it's not a hard and fast rule. I like to use my Val'kyr with Haunt for the Tarr The Terrible fight in Draenor's Nagrand. Tarr has a pet that stuns itself, so in typical tamer scripted fashion, that gets sent to the back row... only now it has a Val'kyr riding along. I can usually get that first pet to half by the time it enters the fight again.
The Unborn Val'kyr comes in two breeds: H/H & B/B. I prefer B/B because it gives you a slight power boost at the cost of 250 or so base health, but please don't knock yourself out trying for a specific breed on this one. The difference isn't a huge deal, and your family loves you and would probably like to see you sometime in the next six months, which so isn't happening if you get too picky here.
What lengths did you have to go to in order to nab this utilitarian beauty? How do you use your Val'kyr, if you have one?
Written by: [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile]
Check out [url=http://battlepetroundup.com/]battlepetroundup.com[/url] for more of Liopleurodon's Pet Battle strategies and pet analyses!
