WarcraftPets Forum

Please explain this ability to me, like I'm 4 years old..

9 out of 10 times, my UV stays dead, but that last rare time, it resurrect and actually gain XP from the battle...

I am no expert but in my experience Haunt applies a dot that kills the Val'k until the dot expires on its own. At that point the UV comes back to life in exactly the same state it was in when it cast Haunt (if dots are ticking on it then they resume ticking) That also means if the target dies before the last tick of Haunt the UV stays dead.

It is a good ability to use on pets with a large health pool or on pets that you will force to swap out with a switcher pet. It's also great against other undead and mechanicals because they have the extra turn and are not considered dead until that turn finishes.

The key is that it is a powerful, but risky, move. If your opponent keeps his haunted pet in battle and you continue to attack it, then chances are you'll lose your Val'k with little damage done to show for it.

Mwebly wrote:That also means if the target dies before the last tick of Haunt the UV stays dead.

This just plain sucks...

There is only a handfull (wild) pets that survives for 4 rounds, so basically, it's a suicide spell...

True that.

But in pvp battles the ability to cast a strong dot, then immediately switch to another pet without penalty is pretty powerful at both the beginning and mid-game of a battle. Another great use of Haunt is on the UV's undead turn. Haunt will tick for it's full duration even though the Val'k is dead since it cannot completely die, even on its last "single extra turn" until Haunt finishes. Used creatively this suicide spell can be difficult to counter.

FuxieDK wrote:There is only a handfull (wild) pets that survives for 4 rounds, so basically, it's a suicide spell...

I wouldn't recommend using Haunt while trying to level the Unborn Val'kyr. It's great once the valk is max level, though. Very fun

Yeah, the Valkyr is one of those pets you want to powerlevel from Pandaria tamers asap, as its slot 3 abilities are bad for getting XP.
Just like the upcomming Blackfuse Bombling, both its slot 3 attacks are suicides.

FuxieDK wrote:There is only a handfull (wild) pets that survives for 4 rounds, so basically, it's a suicide spell...

Against wild pets, sure, but wild pet battles are usually very easy anyway. There are plenty of other spells that also have little use against wild pets (like Explode and Death Grip). That doesn't mean those spells are useless. Pets will frequently stay alive for more than four rounds during trainer battles and in PvP, and most of the beasts of fable can't be killed in four turns.

I use Haunt errday on Nitun - works great. Curse - haunt, next pet. Next pet usually dies when Haunt is up, but I don't need to recast. I find Undead pets very hard to level on 'wild' pets on the whole

Just Shadow Slash first round then bring in the level 25 rare to do the rest of the work. That's all you need to get XP.

Another thing to remember is that if haunt is dodged, blocked or avoided, your val'kyr just dies for good

I saw one smart Haunt yesterday in a PvP battle: As we all knows, undead self-ressurrect for one round, when it dies. My opponent played Haunt, during this one round. Since the UV would die at the end of the round, it was no loss, even it it failed. However, it did hit, haunted be for 4 rounds, came back and died immediately after that.. WELL,PLAYED!

Katzbalger wrote:Another thing to remember is that if haunt is dodged, blocked or avoided, your val'kyr just dies for good

Yeah.. Noticed that.. Also, you can't see the hit-rate.. Tooltip gives an error..

Personally I would use Unholy Ascension on the immortal turn as a final insult to the killer, as I find Haunt too unreliable to use and you might not even get the payoff if it misses.

Luciandk wrote:Personally I would use Unholy Ascension on the immortal turn as a final insult to the killer, as I find Haunt too unreliable to use and you might not even get the payoff if it misses.

Unholy Ascension can be more useful, but it'll depend on the pets involved. Haunt provides unavoidable damage. UA gives a minor damage buff that has a fairly long duration but relies on you actually landing hits. If you or your enemy is using a defensive pet, Haunt may result in more damage.

It's great once the valk is max level. Very fun