Pet of the Month - Emerald Proto-Whelp

[Liopleurodon]

Be sure to check out this month's [url=http://www.warcraftpets.com/news/emerald-proto-whelp-pet-of-the-month-march-2017/]feature on the Emerald Proto-Whelp[/url]!

How Do You Use Your Emerald Proto-Whelp?
The [pet]Emerald Proto-Whelp[/pet] is an excellent choice for bulking up the stable of a beginner. Starting above level 20 it’s a relatively painless grind to take it to cap, though taming it may prove tough if your smaller stable doesn’t have a lot of healing on its side. However, the headaches making it a tougher tame are what make it such an asset on your side of the battling ring. The heals alone make it a personal favorite for wild grinding. There are very few wild pets with Humanoid abilities, while Flying abilities are a dime a dozen, which gives the Proto-Whelp an edge right out of the gate.

I’ve used the Emerald Proto-Whelp very frequently in my Dragonkin [url=http://www.wowhead.com/achievement=9696/family-familiar]Family Familiar[/url] achievements. All those heals, shielding, and the [ability]Proto-Strike[/ability] dodge for big hits, means it can muscle through bad cross-family matchups with ease. Its versatility with its moves can also help compensate, though it’s not quite as crucial since there are a lot of Dragonkin which can swing to Magic if need be. It’s also a really good pet to use against Draenor tamers, due to the prevalence of Flying there.

The Emerald Proto-Whelp has three breeds, with the most desirable being P/P. This not only increases DPS done, but the size of heals and its shielding ability too. Surprisingly, in this instance I’d rank P/B before P/S. With 273 versus 257 speed, it’s probably not making a difference whether you go first, and I feel the small gain to HP is a better trade, but that’s definitely up for debate.

If you can’t find an Emerald Proto-Whelp, you may want to try an [pet]Emerald Whelpling[/pet]. The Whelpling is very expensive, but on very populated realms it may be worth it to play the Auction House game of chance, rather than the spawn one. Another option for high level players is the [pet]Dream Whelpling[/pet], which spawns at the very end of the Emerald Nightmare raid (or after the last wing in LFR). Its stats are identical, and it still has [ability]Emerald Presence[/ability], plus a few healing options. Its main Dragonkin DPS is [ability]Sleeping Dust[/ability], though, so you’ll have to be careful with your timing, or be ready to pass a few rounds.

How do you use your Emerald Proto-Whelp?

[Aeonesti]

One of the best PvE pets out there. The heavyweight P/P breed is in over 20 of my PvE teams. Doesn't always get things done fast, but almost always gets the job done and lets me level a pet or 2.

It is an absolute beast against Flyers with Emerald Bite and not too shabby against magic with Breath.

Emerald Presence blocks all the annoying flock/stampede type attacks and Emerald Dream keeps it healthy through multiple enemy pets.

If you don't have one, especially the P/P breed, consider camping Sholazar Basin until you do

[Paladance]

Welcome back Lio

It was a pain to catch it due to that constant health shifting. More than 35 rounds for sure! And I've done that twice because the first time I captured a rare I didn't pay attention to stats.

A WiP Xu-Fu's Wailing Critters main statistics have already contained Emerald Proto-Whelp 9 (nine) times. I guess it tells something, if it hasn't before.

I'd call Emerald Proto-Whelp + [pet]Anubisath Idol[/pet] + [pet]Teroclaw Hatchling[/pet] a Rule of Three in terms of the defensive means, even though the last one was a late addition. Of course, beware the [ability]Darkness[/ability]. Especially as a Whelp.

[Gráinne]

A cornerstone of any battling roster!

I agree with Lio on everything, including the relative value of breeds; if you don't have a P/P yet, a P/B will probably tide you over until you do.

While the EPW can be used in a few configurations, the most common is:

Slot 1: Choose attack depending on which family you expect to fight.
Slot 2: Emerald Presence
Slot 3: Emerald Dream

Now, your rules for combat are:

1. If Emerald Presence is not up, or if you are slower and it will expire this round, use Emerald Presence. That is, keep Emerald Presence up at all times. Emerald Presence is nearly always a complete defence against Stampede type attacks, and is good mitigation in all cases.

2. When your EPW is at half-health, or almost down to half-health, use Emerald Dream. You will sleep three rounds, and likely be back to full health.

3. Otherwise, use your attack.

This leads to a slow fight, in which your EPW spends most of its time shielding and sleeping, but is very very hard to kill. Since Emerald Dream is such a big heal, an EPW can go pretty much forever without needing an external heal when farming wild pets.

As Remte says, the Idol is another tanky pet, that, together with the EPW, can stand up to anything. My standard Taming Team consists of two of: EPW, Idol, P/P Emperor Crab, together with one pet that has an ability guaranteed not to kill, like [pet]Terrible Turnip[/pet] or [pet]Grumpy[/pet] or [pet]Molten Corgi[/pet].

I especially associate the EPW with the Tanaan Terrors, where its ability to take damage, heal, and come back to outlast the backline pets makes it invaluable.

[Vakeetah]

Things don't get much better than a P/P [pet]Emerald Proto Whelp[/pet]. Just through sheer durability and sustain, it can beat a wide number of pet encounters, as well as being one of the strongest hard-counters to Flying pets.

Tanking and healing is certainly not the fastest method, but it's fairly universal, making the [pet]Emerald Proto Whelp[/pet] an excellent addition to any tamer's roster, and a priority catch for anyone who is just starting - it can carry fights on his own (so it helps level others) while also being a decent fit against most PvE tamers while you lack more "specialized" pets.