Pet of the Month - Zandalari Kneebiter
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Quintessence
- Posts:2784
- Joined:June 4th, 2008
- Pet Score:14816
- Realm:Proudmoore-us
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Many thanks to [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile] for writing the battling portion of our newest feature, [url=http://www.warcraftpets.com/news/zandalari-kneebiter-pet-of-the-month-january-2016/]Pet of the Month[/url]. Here are some additional points on the [pet]Zandalari Kneebiter[/pet] that she wanted to share!
How Do You Use Your Zandalari Kneebiter?
The classic additive debuff plus multiplicative buff combo is a powerful one in general, even if you get a bit clunky in its execution with, say, a regular raptor with [ability]Exposed Wounds[/ability] and maybe a chicken with [ability]Flock[/ability]. However, the Zandalari Kneebiter’s version of this is turned up to eleven with the power of math.
The damage each of its abilities does at baseline is much stronger than the others, and even though the team synergy is a bit wrecked due to the buff duration, the Kneebiter does so much damage by its lonesome it barely even matters.
There are two big caveats with the Kneebiter. The first is that the trade-off for its powerful moveset is fragility. It’s so vulnerable it may as well be made of single ply toilet paper and wishes. Glass cannon doesn’t even come close. This little dino would probably fall over dead if you said something particularly scathing about its mother. The ‘locked in’ nature of [ability]Hunting Party[/ability] across several turns can make for a risky choice in PVP in particular. It’s still fun to play around with, but I’ve found that it makes for very swift games, whether you win or lose.
The second issue is that it can be easy to take the teeth out of this particular offense. Against certain bosses, Stitches Jr for an easy example, Hunting Party won’t hit, and if it doesn’t hit the party is off. Without the benefit of [ability]Black Claw[/ability], Hunting Party only hits for 71 and so won’t punch through certain shell shielding abilities, which can be a problem on certain big boss pets.
If Hunting Party doesn’t hit, it doesn’t apply that [url=http://www.wowhead.com/petability=542/shattered-defenses]Shattered Defenses[/url] debuff we’ve all come to know and love. As such, your opponent swapping pets between Black Claw and Hunting Party can wreck synergy pretty hard. Of course, for PVP, forcing your opponent to swap pets can throw off their game enough to bring a win all by itself, so this may not be too big an issue.
Personally I prefer the P/P breed for bigger hits and a slightly bigger modifier on Black Claw. Other battlers may prefer the speed breed, but if speed is a concern a swap to [ability]Leap[/ability] could help. Conversely, so could swap to the [pet]Zandalari Anklerender[/pet], which retains the Black Claw and Hunting Party combo, but swaps out the [ability]Bloodfang[/ability] finisher of the Kneebiter for [ability]Primal Cry[/ability], which reduces your opponents’ speed. The [pet]Zandalari Footslasher[/pet] is the third runner up, swapping Black Claw for Exposed Wounds as its additive buff, which may actually work out to your advantage due to the length of the buff being extended. Pulling up the rear is the [pet]Zandalari Toenibbler[/pet], which has Black Claw but swaps the multiplicative power of Hunting Party for [ability]Flank[/ability]. The Toenibbler and Footslasher really won’t work for this particular combo. There really aren’t any others that will, either.
Written by: [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile]
Check out [url=http://battlepetroundup.com/]battlepetroundup.com[/url] or [url=http://blizzardwatch.com/tag/pet-battles/]Blizzard Watch[/url] for more of Liopleurodon's Pet Battle strategies and pet analyses.
How Do You Use Your Zandalari Kneebiter?
The classic additive debuff plus multiplicative buff combo is a powerful one in general, even if you get a bit clunky in its execution with, say, a regular raptor with [ability]Exposed Wounds[/ability] and maybe a chicken with [ability]Flock[/ability]. However, the Zandalari Kneebiter’s version of this is turned up to eleven with the power of math.
The damage each of its abilities does at baseline is much stronger than the others, and even though the team synergy is a bit wrecked due to the buff duration, the Kneebiter does so much damage by its lonesome it barely even matters.
There are two big caveats with the Kneebiter. The first is that the trade-off for its powerful moveset is fragility. It’s so vulnerable it may as well be made of single ply toilet paper and wishes. Glass cannon doesn’t even come close. This little dino would probably fall over dead if you said something particularly scathing about its mother. The ‘locked in’ nature of [ability]Hunting Party[/ability] across several turns can make for a risky choice in PVP in particular. It’s still fun to play around with, but I’ve found that it makes for very swift games, whether you win or lose.
The second issue is that it can be easy to take the teeth out of this particular offense. Against certain bosses, Stitches Jr for an easy example, Hunting Party won’t hit, and if it doesn’t hit the party is off. Without the benefit of [ability]Black Claw[/ability], Hunting Party only hits for 71 and so won’t punch through certain shell shielding abilities, which can be a problem on certain big boss pets.
If Hunting Party doesn’t hit, it doesn’t apply that [url=http://www.wowhead.com/petability=542/shattered-defenses]Shattered Defenses[/url] debuff we’ve all come to know and love. As such, your opponent swapping pets between Black Claw and Hunting Party can wreck synergy pretty hard. Of course, for PVP, forcing your opponent to swap pets can throw off their game enough to bring a win all by itself, so this may not be too big an issue.
Personally I prefer the P/P breed for bigger hits and a slightly bigger modifier on Black Claw. Other battlers may prefer the speed breed, but if speed is a concern a swap to [ability]Leap[/ability] could help. Conversely, so could swap to the [pet]Zandalari Anklerender[/pet], which retains the Black Claw and Hunting Party combo, but swaps out the [ability]Bloodfang[/ability] finisher of the Kneebiter for [ability]Primal Cry[/ability], which reduces your opponents’ speed. The [pet]Zandalari Footslasher[/pet] is the third runner up, swapping Black Claw for Exposed Wounds as its additive buff, which may actually work out to your advantage due to the length of the buff being extended. Pulling up the rear is the [pet]Zandalari Toenibbler[/pet], which has Black Claw but swaps the multiplicative power of Hunting Party for [ability]Flank[/ability]. The Toenibbler and Footslasher really won’t work for this particular combo. There really aren’t any others that will, either.
Written by: [profile]Liopleurodon[/profile]
Check out [url=http://battlepetroundup.com/]battlepetroundup.com[/url] or [url=http://blizzardwatch.com/tag/pet-battles/]Blizzard Watch[/url] for more of Liopleurodon's Pet Battle strategies and pet analyses.
Feel free to browse through my pet collecting blog: http://wowpetaddiction.blogspot.com