Official 2x3 Tamer Guide

[Iconyx]

With so many people leveling 2x3 (2 max level pets and 1 lowbie) against pet tamers, it makes sense to have a place to go for ideal/maximized pet rosters. Against some tamers, the roster doesn't seem to matter much, but against others every move is critical. Below are listed the most challenging battles I've encountered and the best lineup for each. If you wish to add your own rosters, use the following guidelines:

- If possible, avoid using ultra rare pets, pets people can't get, or pets people may not be willing to spend money/gold on, i.e. TCG, Pet Store, professions, promotions, etc.
- Avoid forcing the order of the tamer's pets, i.e. your roster only works if Pet A is first to battle (feel free to mention an optimal order if there is one)
- Avoid RNG strategies, i.e. "high chance to miss" attacks, % chance to stun, % chance to miss, assuming that you will crit, etc.
- Allow for a few unfortunate misses and dodges, i.e. optimize a strategy so that null rounds don't swing the entire fight
- Assume max-level pets are rare quality
- Assume the lowbie pet is at least level 10, as this affords enough HP to "soak" most hits if needed without dying
- Specify which pet killing blows or openers must be performed on if they are integral to your strategy
- Specify pet breed and ability sets
- Provide basic instructions on how your strategy works and when to cycle in the lowbie pet

Major Payne
Fel Flame, H/H: Flame Breath, Scorched Earth,Conflagrate
Snarly, H/P: Rip, Surge, Blood in the Water
Very difficult fight, timing is important. Bring out Fel Flame first, Scorched Earth => Conflagrate against Beakmaster, Scorched Earth => Flame Breath => Conflagrate against Grizzle. Most effective strategy is to Conflagrate Beakmaster when it has 500HP or less so that the 2nd strike kills it after resurrection, but stuns from both of Payne's pets make this hard to control. An early Conflagrate against Grizzle will engage its racial, causing it to do 25% more damage. Snarly (or any of the baby crocs) cleans up remaining pet if needed. Substitute lowbie against Bloom on any turn where Entangling Roots does not activate, as it prevents pet swapping. Rip => Blood in the Water => Surge to finish Bloom.

Aki the Chosen
Anubisath Idol, H/H: Crush, Stoneskin, Sandstorm
Snarly, H/P: Rip, Surge, Blood in the Water
Open with Anubisath's Sandstorm on either of Aki's first two pets. Stoneskin => Crush Stormlash until dead, or switch to Snarly for Chirrup. Sandstorm mitigates all of Chirrup's damage and negates Stormlash's Lightning Storm. Snarly (or any of the baby crocs) can finish up Whiskers with lowbie soaking a Dive if needed.

Nearly Headless Jacob
Spring Rabbit, S/S: Flurry, Dodge, Burrow
Grizzly Squirrel, S/S: Scratch, Crouch, Nut Barrage
Open with Rabbit. Use Dodge and Burrow to avoid hard-hitting attacks. Switch/get Death Gripped to Squirrel after ~3 rounds. Nut Barrage on cooldown, Crouch when needed. Squirrel will die. Swap to lowbie to soak a Curse of Doom or Ghostly Strike. Do not swap against Stitch. Finish with Rabbit against Mort.

Pandaren Earth Spirit
Spring Rabbit, S/S: Flurry, Dodge, Burrow
Darkmoon Tonk, H/P: Missile, Shock and Awe, Ion Cannon
Open with Rabbit. Against Sludgy, use Burrow => Dodge on cooldown, Flurry to kill. Against Earth Spirit, Critter racial voids Crystal Prison, don't waste cooldowns on it. Rabbit will die, clean up with Tonk if needed. Shock and Awe first on Darnak, easy finish if stunned, switch to lowbie to soak a Burrow or Stone Rush.

Okrut Dragonwaste
Emperor Crab, P/P: Snap, Healing Wave, Shell Shield
Spring Rabbit, S/S: Flurry, Dodge, Burrow
Crab will Shell Shield => Snap Drogar to death, Healing Wave when needed. Snap => Healing Wave then switch to Rabbit if Frosty is first, using Dodge or Burrow to avoid Ice Tomb. Rabbit Flurries Frosty down. Swap in lowbie against Rot for Plagued Blood or Shadowflame, finish with Rabbit or Crab (this fight has some leeway).

Pandaren Water Spirit
Snarly, H/P: Rip, Surge, Blood in the Water
Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling, P/P: Peck, Adrenaline Rush, Lift-Off
Snarly (or any of the baby crocs) can handle Tiptoe easily using Rip => Blood in the Water => Rip => Surge. Gryphon annihilates Marley with Peck, Lift-Off on the round when Submerge and Whirlpool activate. Keep Snarly alive to finish off Pandaren Water Spirit, letting Gryphon die on the round Whirlpool and Geyser activate or Lift-Off to avoid. Substitute lowbie in for Tidal Wave.

Brok
Darkmoon Tonk, H/P: Missile, Minefield, Ion Cannon
Infinite Whelpling, P/P: Tail Sweep, Healing Flame, Early Advantage
The idea of this fight is to soak Kali's Flash with Tonk and place a Minefield in advance for each of final two pets, no matter the order. Tail Sweep Kali until dead, Healing Flame when needed (NOTE: Healing Flame CAN miss if Whelpling is affected by Flash). Missile => Ion Cannon Ashtail for a 2-shot, or 2 Missiles first then Ion Cannon to be safe. Soak a Scratch or two with lowbie from Incenderous, clean up with remaining pets.

EDIT: Removed Fluxfire Feline, changed strategies.

[Stabya]

Thanks for starting this.

Nearly headless jacob I use two S/S frogs with tongue lash, Heal & Swarm

Aki seems to go well with a spirit Crab and firefly

[Eeekk]

Pandaren Water Spirit
Ony Whelp or Spawn of Ony or something with tail swipe + lift
-tail swipe•heal•lift off

•fish seems to come out first most of the time. It will cast WP, submerge, then pump
-tail, lift, tail should kill it unless you miss with lift. If you miss with lift or tail, i suggest swaping ur second pet with lift to avoid the pump that's about to hit you. You can also just tough it out but you have to kill it right away as it will cast another WP and your lift CD will not make it this time.
-You will either soak the first submerge or a WP. Can't avoid both.
•strider likes to heal on first attack so use ur heal also unless it was the first opponent then spam tail, but try to get your lowbie round in during this point.
-Your lowbie should be close to L15 or it will die from multiple waves specially if it is an elemental
-Try to get your lowbie in early, swapping in the mid lets the strider heal more. Once you start tail swiping it, do not stop to let it heal
•water ele will cast wp + geyser + spam wave
-spam tail till it dies. You can use lift when WP and geyser has 1 rnd left to avoid death but tail should kill off water ele before they hit. If you miss any of the tail swipes before WP and geyser goes off then use lift to survive.

I recomment another L25 with lift as a back up incase your luck is running horrible
Your lowbie should be close to L15 or it will die from multiple waves specially if it is an elemental. Might need to be higher if it is an elemental specially if you are missing a lot

[Klunketh]

Pandaren Water Spirit
Ony Whelp or Spawn of Ony or something with tail swipe + lift
-tail swipe•heal•lift off

•fish seems to come out first most of the time. It will cast WP, submerge, then pump
-tail, lift, tail should kill it unless you miss with lift. If you miss with lift or tail, i suggest swaping ur second pet with lift to avoid the pump that's about to hit you. You can also just tough it out but you have to kill it right away as it will cast another WP and your lift CD will not make it this time.
-You will either soak the first submerge or a WP. Can't avoid both.
•strider likes to heal on first attack so use ur heal also unless it was the first opponent then spam tail, but try to get your lowbie round in during this point.
-Your lowbie should be close to L15 or it will die from multiple waves specially if it is an elemental
-Try to get your lowbie in early, swapping in the mid lets the strider heal more. Once you start tail swiping it, do not stop to let it heal
•water ele will cast wp + geyser + spam wave
-spam tail till it dies. You can use lift when WP and geyser has 1 rnd left to avoid death but tail should kill off water ele before they hit. If you miss any of the tail swipes before WP and geyser goes off then use lift to survive.

I recomment another L25 with lift as a back up incase your luck is running horrible
Your lowbie should be close to L15 or it will die from multiple waves specially if it is an elemental. Might need to be higher if it is an elemental specially if you are missing a lot

I usually use a Flayer Youngling on this one with reflect/rampage, can sometimes take out all 3

[Drudatz]

Or you just use Anubisan Idol (from AQ40) and FluxFire Feline for ALL Tamers and you dont have to switch teams all the time.
At the start I used different Pets for Tamers but these 2 get all Tamers down easy and quick.

[Dazer]

Aki the Chosen (soloable)
Setup: Anubisath Idol (Crush - Reflection - Sandstorm) | can bring lvl1
Strat (order doesn't matter):
-Stormlash: reflect the first ability and crush to death; alternatively use sandstorm to change weather.
-Chirrup: sandstorm and crush to death (the idol won't take any damage); swap pets in with sandstorm active.
-Whiskers: use sandstorm; reflect after he dives.

Burning Pandaren Spirit (soloable)
Setup: Anubisath Idol (Crush - Reflection - Sandstorm) | can bring lvl1
Strat (order doesn't matter):
-Pandaren Fire Spirit: reflect right away and on any non-healing turn. Use sandstorm
-Crimson: reflect on lift-off. Use sandstorm
-Glowy: reflect any of the two stings (first two turns); use sandstorm. Swap lowie during swarm.

Courageous Yon (soloable)
Setup: Anubisath Idol (Crush - Reflection - Sandstorm) | can bring lvl1
Strat (order doesn't matter):
Piqua: reflect on lift-off; use sandstorm
Lapin: reflect on burrow; use sandstorm
Bleat: reflect on chew; swap lowie during stampede

Whispering Pandaren Spirit (soloable)
Setup: Emerald Proto-Whelp (Emerald Bite - Emerald Presence - Emerald Dream) | optional snail | can bring lvl1
Strat: (order doesn't matter)
-Keep presence up (refresh when on 1); use dream as necesary (when presence is on 5 or 4). Bite everything to death. Slow (particularly the last one) but effective.
-Alternatively, use a snail to burst down the elemental.
-Lowie: if you bring a lvl1, it might be a good idea to let your front pet die to get the free swap. Otherwise, swap during elemental while it uses the heal.

Farmer Nishi (soloable)
Setup: Eternal Strider (Pump) or any pump pet | can bring lvl1 if hp>170.
Strat: (order doesn't matter)
-Spam pump and heal when needed.
-Siren: swap lowie(s) when it starts healing
-Toothbreaker: will use sons of the root on the first turn, time to heal up and prime a pump.
-Brood: it's a good idea to have a primed pump before engaging. Heal on second turn (he burrows).

Thundering Pandaren Spirit
Setup: Any rabbit (Flurry - Dodge - Burrow) speed > 300 | Fluxfire Feline, Darkmoon Zeppelin or similar | can bring lvl1
Strat (order only matter deppending on the level of the lowie):
-start with lowie and eat the first ability, a cc from the elemental (does no damage) or a dot from the ooze. Swap to appropiate pet.
-Pandaren Earth Spirit: use rabbit. Try and dodge/burrow the ruptures; they come in the second turn and every 4 after that.
-Sludgy: use mech. Burst it down. Mech will likely die.
-Darnak: use rabbit again. Flurry>flurry>dodge>flurry>flurry>burrow>burrow(out)>flurry>dodge. The rabbit won't take any damage.

Hyuna of the Shrines
Setup: Celestial Dragon(default) | Darkmoon Zeppelin (Decoy)
Strat: (good order offers reliability)
-Skyshaper: easy kill with celestial
-Fangor: if it comes second, keep celestial, then free lowie swap and finish with Zep. It will burrow on its second turn
-Dor the Wall: zep won't take damage if keeping the decoy up.

[Iconyx]

Or you just use Anubisan Idol (from AQ40) and FluxFire Feline for ALL Tamers and you dont have to switch teams all the time.
At the start I used different Pets for Tamers but these 2 get all Tamers down easy and quick.

Anubisath Idol is literally the only pet from Raiding with Leashes I haven't farmed, check my collection. Once I get it, I'll try what you said and report back (others seem to agree with you).

[Morlis]

Farmer Nishi:

I have used this every day for a few weeks now.
Takes a bit longer but has never failed me.

My team:
1st: Lowbie being leveled.
2nd: Sea Pony (can solo all 3 opponents) Skills needed Tidal Wave, Cleansing Rain, Pump.
3rd: any one who can stun, or force her to swap. (bears, Pandaren Water Spirit, etc)

most often Nishi starts with Siren this makes the plan work the best. Sometimes she starts with Toothbreaker, this is when a stunner is used. When Toothbreaker is stunned she swaps in Siren, missing the stun is bad, means 5 rounds before you can try again.

Round 1: I start with the Lowbie out first for one round doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't die. Siren will do her Sunlight spell that does damage to all 3 of your pets and makes the weather a sunny day.
Round 2: swap in Sea Pony, Siren starts Healing.
Round 3: Cleansing Rain is cast to heal your 3 and take away Sirens Sunny Day, Siren healing still.
Round 4: Tidal Wave is cast to hit all 3 for 100-150 damage, Siren heals
Round 5 and on: repeat round 4 till Siren does Sunlight, on the following round redo Cleansing Rain.

Toothbreaker is weak to the Tital Wave and dies pretty fast, takes a while for Brood of Mothran to die but usually will before Siren does, if it looks like it might not happen I have used the Pass to not do anything and let Siren heal up a bit before continuing. If you kill Siren to fast the worm can dish out some damage which is why she always saves it for last. Once the back 2 are dead use pump to finish off Siren.

One other piece of advice the lowbie could easily die if you only have it at level 1 or 2, get a few levels on it so it has 300+ hitpoints. Sirens Group Damage is a bit better than your Group Heal so you need a bit of a buffer on your lowbie.

P.S. I have just obtained Anubisath Idol so have yet to start trying to use him in fights.

Morlis.

[Piece]

i do nishi with a h/h emperor crab and clockgnome as backup, but never use him since the crab kills all 3 pets alone. it is really easy with the crab. you can totally fuck up the fight and can still win. it doesnt really matter what you click.

here's my current list:

air spirit: start with emerald proto-whelp, after death switch to leveling pet, and finish with emerald whelpling

jade forest: fluxfire feline kills the beast and the bird, switch to lowbie and finish with something that has a single big hit and lift-off or proto-strike (eg emerald proto-whelp)

nishi: lowbie -> emperor crab -> done

krasarang: have most problems here .... i try emerald proto-whelp and start with the bird. usually he kills the bird and the beast and dies shortly after. switch to lowbie and catch the stun, switch to magical crawdad and finish him

water spirit: start with critter and use fluxfire feline. it kill first two pets. switch to lowbie and directly to anub idol and reflect the two debuffs.

dread wastes: use jade owl for the aquatic, after death switch to lowbie and then to magical crawdad. finish him. this need a better team. doesnt work always.

townlong steppes: magical crawdead against the elemental. sometimes it even kills the critter. switch to lowbie and then to pandaren dragonling or darkmoon zeppelin. use decoy for the big hit. easy going.

fire spirit: emperor crab for the elemental, dies fast on the dragon. switch to anub idol, kill the dragon and use sandstorm on the bird. during the sandstorm switch once to the lowbie.

kun-lai summit: emerald proto-whlep for the chicken, dies on the rabbit, switch to lowbie, switch to darkmoon zeppelin and finish him. use decoy after the beast chews.

more tomorrow ....

[Drudatz]

Anubisath Idol is literally the only pet from Raiding with Leashes I haven't farmed, check my collection. Once I get it, I'll try what you said and report back (others seem to agree with you).

You seriously should get that pet!
before it I was like all the guides posting up using different teams for the tamers but now after 3k pve fights and
with Idol & Feline you kill everything fast and easy - apart from Icecrown where you start with the fluxfire
I allways start with the Idol cause Reflect/Sandstorm (opponent has high chance to miss and does less dmg and every swarm ability is zeroed/Crush comined with his selfheal I say the Idol is the most powerfull pet for pve...

cant talk about pvp as apart from the 5k archi i see no reason why would anyone pvp?

[Baldulf]

Nishi is also soloable with a Leopard Tree Frog (or Mojo, whom I'm still leveling).

[Guest]

Just wanted to post a quick thank you for pointing out the awesomeness that is Anubisath Idol, I just blindly level pets at this point not really taking that much to get to know them. I just tried to let him solo all my MoP trainers, he got all but 2 on his own. Nicest part was not having to white flag and get the right pet out, because he could take them no matter who started. Some fights do take a bit of time, but since I know most of these fights knew when I should use reflect, was a fun morning ... thanks again!

[Contesa]

dread wastes: use jade owl for the aquatic, after death switch to lowbie and then to magical crawdad. finish him. this need a better team. doesnt work always.

Since you asked (sort of) ... I use Spawn of Onyxia with Darkmoon Zep as backup for the last one if necessary (today it wasn't, sometimes it is). "My Little Ony" is breed 4, so she's powerful but slow, and today I went thru my list of dragonkin to see if I had anybody with the set of skills I use (tailsweep, healing flames, lift-off) but speed over 280, since all three of Seeker Zuushi's pets have the same speed. I have a Crimson Whelpling at level 5, at level 25 she'll have 289 speed. Less health and power than what I've been using but she'd get to go first. So that's on my list to get leveled and I'll see if I like that better.

[Morlis]

I hear that Reflect is being changed to Deflect (blocks attack but doesn't return it) in 5.2, which makes Anubisath Idol not as powerful as he is now, though sandstorm is still a very nice skill for reducing damage especially those skills that have 2 or 3 hits rather than 1 big hit. Keep that in mind when putting together your teams. My advice is have a back up plan. This is a good thread to explore different options. Like I should have a 25 rare rabbit with 300+ speed, which I don't.

Morlis

[Talmar]

Here is another endorsement for the Idol. He is totally awesome, which means he'll be nerfed soon enough.

I can also solo Aki the Chosen with the Idol. I actually don't use Reflect on my Idol. He's stoneskin blocks quite a bit, and when coupled with the misses from sandstorm it's quite awesome.

[Khema]

[quote="Iconyx"]

Major Payne
optimal roster not known

feline flux against the bear.. if your lucky it can pretty much take out the mecno as well. lowbie pet in first to get hit by bear then using the corefire imp.. make sure you have cauterize on to finish off the flower

[Tahsfenz]

Not sure if this is still going on, but

Pandarian Air Spirit

2 dragons + lowbie. I used spirit of competition & celestial dragon but any 2 should do. All their attacks are flying so the dragons can almost completely solo these.

[Dash]

My strat for Brok (in Hyjal) is this :

Wild Crimson hatchling s/s
(could be spawn of Onyxia, Onyxian whelp,crismon whelpling etc .. even without the speed bonus, the fight is fairly predictable)
using tail sweep, healing flame lift-off

Darkmoon zeppelin (the pandaren mecha dragonling is the same)
using missile, decoy, bombing run

The fight very often starts with the enchanted lantern, which uses its ability flash everytime it's up, so I start the fight with the lowbie pet to catch that, then switch to the hatchling. Since I've lost a turn, I've taken some damage, but not healed yet. Right before flash is up, I lift off to escape it, then heal, and finish off the lantern.

Then enters the lizard, which I try to beat on as much as possible before switching to the zep which will quickly finish him.

Finally, the roach will use swarm first (3 rounds), which doesn't hit hard at all, so you need to wait it out, and then place your decoy to absorb the painful scratch ability that comes next.

Hope this helped.

[Baldulf]

Pandaren Water Spirit
Ony Whelp or Spawn of Ony or something with tail swipe + lift
-tail swipe•heal•lift off

•fish seems to come out first most of the time. It will cast WP, submerge, then pump
-tail, lift, tail should kill it unless you miss with lift. If you miss with lift or tail, i suggest swaping ur second pet with lift to avoid the pump that's about to hit you. You can also just tough it out but you have to kill it right away as it will cast another WP and your lift CD will not make it this time.
-You will either soak the first submerge or a WP. Can't avoid both.
•strider likes to heal on first attack so use ur heal also unless it was the first opponent then spam tail, but try to get your lowbie round in during this point.
-Your lowbie should be close to L15 or it will die from multiple waves specially if it is an elemental
-Try to get your lowbie in early, swapping in the mid lets the strider heal more. Once you start tail swiping it, do not stop to let it heal
•water ele will cast wp + geyser + spam wave
-spam tail till it dies. You can use lift when WP and geyser has 1 rnd left to avoid death but tail should kill off water ele before they hit. If you miss any of the tail swipes before WP and geyser goes off then use lift to survive.

I recomment another L25 with lift as a back up incase your luck is running horrible
Your lowbie should be close to L15 or it will die from multiple waves specially if it is an elemental. Might need to be higher if it is an elemental specially if you are missing a lot

I've found that the Scourged Whelpling works nicely as the second Tail Sweep pet. You don't get the Lift-Off, but you get Darkness to reduce the Strider's healing a bit, and you get a little healing from Plagued Blood.

[Tahsfenz]

I've found a jade owl is amazing for the water spirit. It has lift off, a speed booth, stong vs aquatic and stong defense vs aquatic attacks. Usually I don't get touched by the fish.