Best of Each Type

[Eliza05]

I am looking to lvl one of each type of pet to 25 and need opinions of which are your overall favorite of each type. So i you had to choose a favorite aquadic pet to lvl what would that be. Ones you can get mainly in game would be great, but a list of any availiblity would be good too. Thank you for any help.

*Edited for clarification

Thank you everyone for the help and information so far, it's a great starting point when not sure which to choose
Here is what we have so far

AQUATIC: Purple Puffer, Emperor Crab, Snarly

BEAST: Ravager Hatchling, Fjord Worg Pup, Baby Blizzard Bear, Darkshore Cub, Hyjal Bear Cub, Jungle Grub

CRITTER: Shimmershell Snail, Mountain Cottontail, Rapana Whelk, Grasslands Cottontail

DRAGONKIN: Nexus Whelping, Nether Faerie Dragon, Emerald Proto-Whelp, Celestial Dragon, Lil'Tarecgosa, Infinite Whelping

ELEMENTAL: Fel Flame, Lil'Ragnaros, Cinder Kitten, Searing Scorchling

FLYING: Effervecent Glowfly, Imperial Eagle Chick, Yellow Moth, Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling

HUMANOID: Anubisath Idol, Kun-lai Runt, Flayer Youngling, Curious Wolvar Pup

MAGIC: Jade Oozeling, Viscidus Globule, Jade Owl, Nordrassil Wisp, Enchanted Broom

MECHANICAL: Darkmoon Zeppelin, Clockwork Gnome, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling, Darkmoon Tonl, Lil'XT, Tiny Harvester

UNDEAD: Spirit Crab, Voodoo Figurine, Scourged Whelping

[Gendou]

I am looking to lvl one of each type of pet to 25 and need opinions of which are the overall best of each type. Ones you can get mainly in game would be great, but a list of any availiblity would be great for everyone. Thank you for any help.

That's pretty much what this Battling sub-forum is about.
We spend a lot of time discussing the relative merits of each breed in relation to the abilities available to each pet.
It's highly subjective, and varies depending on what you're doing with each pet and how you're doing it.

There's no ONE right answer, unless it's 4/14. 4/14 is always the right answer.

[Eliza05]

Thank you and though I understand what you mean what I am trying to do is more condense some of the information. There are "favoriites" that alot like in each class more then the other pets. As in if you had to choose what critter you would have and lvl first over the other critter family members what would that be. Each battle and each situtation is different I guess should have titled and stated more favorites then best.

[Gendou]

Each battle and each situtation is different I guess should have titled and stated more favorites then best.

That really depends on what's available to you. What is it that you have access to immediately?
Vendor pets? Racial pets? Raid pets? TCG pets? Darkmoon pets? Argent Tournament pets? Collector's Edition pets?
Or do you just mean wild pets? And if so, in what level range?

With 500+ pets in the game, and a significant number of them unavailable to newer players, it's hard to say what's 'best.'

What I can say is that some pets are Tamer-battle favorites, such as the Anubisath Idol and the Darkmoon Zeppelin.
And some pets, such as the Terrible Turnip and Plump Turkey, are favored for catching other pets.

If you're looking for the Strongest or Fastest pets, [url=http://petsear.ch/Breeds/Ranking]the Petsear.ch Breed Ranking[/url] should help.
It's a good place to start, especially when you need to figure out which pets have the most of your favored stat.

[Eliza05]

Each battle and each situtation is different I guess should have titled and stated more favorites then best.

That really depends on what's available to you. What is it that you have access to immediately?
Vendor pets? Racial pets? Raid pets? TCG pets? Darkmoon pets? Argent Tournament pets? Collector's Edition pets?
Or do you just mean wild pets? And if so, in what level range?

With 500+ pets in the game, and a significant number of them unavailable to newer players, it's hard to say what's 'best.'

What I can say is that some pets are Tamer-battle favorites, such as the Anubisath Idol and the Darkmoon Zeppelin.
And some pets, such as the Terrible Turnip and Plump Turkey, are favored for catching other pets.

If you're looking for the Strongest or Fastest pets, should help.
It's a good place to start, especially when you need to figure out which pets have the most of your favored stat.

Thank you for the site it is very useful. Personally any pet you can get somewhere in-game is great, if don't have yet I'll go get by doing this or that in game(ah, capturing, killing raid/world boss, wait for world event, ect.). Overall its if I came to you and ask What is the first flying pet you would lvl? The first pet that would come to mind is.....

[Gendou]

Overall its if I came to you and ask What is the first flying pet you would lvl? The first pet that would come to mind is.....

Well, let's see...

Aquatic: Purple Puffer* (4/14 P/P) or Emperor Crab (4/14 P/P)
Beast: Ravager Hatchling (4/14 P/P) or Fjord Worg Pup (4/14 P/P)
Critter: Shimmershell Snail (7/17 H/P) or Mountain Cottontail (3/13 B/B)
Dragonkin: Nexus Whelpling (4/14 P/P) or Nether Faerie Dragon (4/14 P/P)
Elemental: Fel Flame (7/17 H/P) or [pet]Lil' Ragnaros[/pet]** (4/14 P/P)
Flying: Effervescent Glowfly (10/?? P/B) or Imperial Eagle Chick (4/14 P/P)
Humanoid: Anubisath Idol (6/?? H/H) or Kun-Lai Runt (4/14 P/P)
Magic: Jade Oozeling (4/14 P/P) or Viscidus Globule (9/19 H/S)
Mechanical: Darkmoon Zeppelin or Clockwork Gnome
Undead: Spirit Crab or Voodoo Figurine

* TCG Pet
** Pet Store Pet

I've tried to stick to obtainable pets. No CE pets, or pets that require a stone to upgrade them.
Naturally, these should all be rare quality. No uncommons.

There are lots of other choices, of course. It''s very subjective.
These are just the ones I would personally choose, if I were starting out.

[Lilhottie]

I would add a few pets to your list Gendou:
an Emerald Proto Whelp P/P, Flayer Youngling, P/P,
and two that only come in uncommon - Yellow Moth P/P that you upgrade to rare, and a Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling that you upgrade to rare.

Emerald Proto Whelp is awesome versus flyers and anything that does small dotlike damage (rabbits)
Flayer Youngling is awesome versus critters.
Yellow Moth - wrecks aquatics, and does an excellent job on beasts as well.
MPD is awesome versus any magic pet and any pet that hits with magic damage (Antari's pets)

[Makominami]

I like darkmoon tonk as my mechanical

[Deepfriedegg]

Also if you want a critter, consider Rapana Whelk. It is THE pet for Pandaria Spirits. It has strong Aquatic attack combined with 1 round dodge, it has a self heal that can be buffed and it takes lower damage from elementals.

[Ysabell]

The Shimmershell Snail has better stats on the H/P breed, the Rapana seems to be more popular simply because you can catch it over level 20 instead of level 5-6. I like my Shimmershell so much that after weeks of using one for tamers I went and got another in a different color skin that I like better.

It requires a stone for rare, but the Jade Owl is fantastic against aquatics.

[Formerruling]

For mechanical I submit LilXT as being equal to gnome, i actually prefer him in all but one fight where I use a mech.

[Slambert]

I agree with some of the others already posted

Dragonkin: faerie dragon
Elemental: I still just don't like the elemental racial, so I don't paly many elementals ever
Flying: griffon (I have the breed that hits like a truck and is still super fast because of the racial)
Humanoid: flayer youngling (reflection, healing, countering, win )
Magic: Magical Cat (stoneskin and devour)
Mechanical: Lil'XT (the lawnmower)

[Spyone1]

Well, I must admit this has confused the heck out of me.

For Dragonkin, I thought from what I had read that the Celestial Dragon was the best, yet nobody on this thread has mentioned it.

I guess I too have my favourites though. Not mentioned above that I use constantly:
Beast: Baby Blizzard Bear
(I think the Darkshore Cub or Hyjal Bear Cub are approximately the same).
Elemental: Cinder Kitten
Magic: Nordrassil Wisp
Undead: Scourged Whelpling

Of course my choices are somewhat limited because I have so many pets not anywhere near 25 yet.
My usual team for Pandaren dailies is Nordrassil Wisp, Celestial Dragon and Anubisath Idol

Edit: and as mentioned above, Terrible Turnip is a must for anyone who is still catching pets in battles.

[Gendou]

Well, I must admit this has confused the heck out of me.

We're not talking about "Absolute Best."
We're talking about "Obtainable Best."
In this case, specifically, those that are good for someone who is just starting out.

Pets like Celestial Dragon or Baby Blizzard Bear may be good (personally, I don't use either one in my main lineup), but they don't fit that bill, unfortunately. All we were trying to do is compile a list that someone who is just starting out in Pet Battles can use as a general guide or reference for what they might want to try and shoot for.

[Bonhomous]

It's a fun thread. It has been mentioned that this list is subjective and I realize Gendou has mentioned that he was focusing on obtainable pets. Personally, Celestial Dragon is obtainable. If you have to go out and quickly capture a poor quality pet of every kind you can find just to reach 150 pets so that you can get the celestial dragon, he's worth it.

Stone may be hard to find until later, so I can see why you might not include these in your list, but imo the jade owl is the best magical pet and the mechanical pandaren dragon is great in certain circumstances. But both only come originally in uncommon quality and for big-boy battles, you'll want them to be rare.

For my list of best type of pet
Aquatic: Snarly - ok, this pet comes from the Shattrath fishing daily. Still, easier to get that magical crawdad.
Beast: Jungle Grub - don't use a beast against critters, use a humanoid with beast attacks. In this case, the jungle grub is used against humanoids. (if you ever find one to battle - i only ever see them in pvp fights)
Critter: Grasslands Cottontail (has to be breed 5 S/S) - others have mentioned the various snails and I agree with them that snails are awesome against elementals. The rabbit I mention here is the hardest hitting rabbit. If you get the fastest breed, then you will hit hard while still having two rounds of dodge.
Dragon: [pet]Lil' Tarecgosa[/pet] This pet requires your guild to have reached an achievement. (acquiring each legendary weapon) If you need this pet, let me know. My guild on Wildhammer has it.
Elemental: Fel Flame - most elementals are all the same. It's always good to have one available.
Flying: Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling I still say the best flying pet is a magical pet.
Humanoid: Kun-Lai Runt Flayer Youngling is great, Curious wolvar pup is great once you stone him. I went with the Kun-Lai Runt just to be different.
Magic: Enchanted Broom Since I've already mentioned the Jade Owl over and over again, let's go with a different magical pet here. This requires some of a daily grind at the tournament grounds in Icecrown. If you don't have it, it'll take you approximately two weeks to get it.
Mechanical: Bah, they're all the same. You have to get one - they're essential in pve fights, but it doesn't matter which one. Try a Tiny Harvester that you can get in westfall. They seem to have a high rate of rares.
Undead: Voodoo Figurine. If you can get a scourged whelping then great, but they may be the hardest pet to get in the game. This pet is pretty easy to get via archeology. If you don't want to bother with archeology, I usually see one in the AH for anywhere from 20-200g.

I like making list. I like making list of pets. This forum thread allowed me to do that.

[Yalina]

My Darkshore Cub was my first to 25, and he's still a staple in my pet battles. As a beast, his attacks are strong against critters, and there's a ton of critters out there in the world. He hits everyone hard. He's also the only bear available in P/P, so he'll hit even harder.

For Elementals, I love my Searing Scorchling. Tamer battles with mechanicals make this guy look incredible. Set the wild pet on fire with Immolate, then hit Conflagrate. It hits twice. For mechanicals, if the first hit of Conflagrate kills the mechanical, the Scorchling will wait for the rez, and then cast the second hit of Conflagrate. The mechanical won't get to perform an action but will die twice.

For dragonkin, pick up an Infinite Whelpling. Their ability, Sleeping Gas, has a chance to put the wild pet to sleep, and in a close battle, getting that to proc can be the difference between winning and losing. They also have Early Advantage, which can hit for double damage if your whelpling has lower health than the opposing pet. This can come in very handy when you knock off one pet of a team and are facing the fresh replacement.

My favorite aquatic is the Purple Puffer, but he's a TCG pet. They can be found on the AH, but it'll be expensive.

[Iconyx]

Some quick suggestions for breeds:

Flying: P/P since the flying racial adds a ton of speed above 50% health and most Flying pets have a speed buff for below 50%.
Dragonkin: Most Dragonkin have Tail Sweep which gets an additional swipe if the user goes last, so avoid speed (exceptions exist, like Nether Faerie Dragon with Evanescence who you would want to have the most speed).
Critter: If the Critter has a dodge/evade ability, you want lots of speed so you can avoid attacks.
Undead: This one's a toss-up, as Undead usually have heal abilities, high-damage attacks, and are slow (exceptions exist, e.g. Mr. Bigglesworth). H/H for tanky pets and P/P to 2-shot stuff.
Beast: Who uses Beasts?
Aquatic: P/P since Aquatics usually heal. The more power they have the more damage they deal AND the more they can heal for.
Mechanical: Very few options since most Mechanical pets have only 1 breed. Mostly situational.
Elemental: There are only a handful of Elemental pets with multiple breeds. Mostly situational.
Magic: Magic pets are strange. They're like the wildcard of battling. Mostly situational.

[Formerruling]

I think Celestial Dragon is good but overrated. For magic I submit the Oozes. There are bunches of them but as long as they use Absorb/Corrosion/Acidic Goo then they are good. I use for many of the tamer battles.

[Cloud]

Double counter pets:

First few will be hard to get and/or take stones (but are awesome)
Magic: Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling
Aquatic: Jade Owl (Enchanted broom can also work)
Dragonkin: Scourged Whelpling
Beast: Dragon Kite (not exacly readily available)

These should be easier to get/have more options
Flying: Lil' Tarecgosa (but any dragon with a magic ability works)
Critter: Stunted Yeti / Flayer Younling / Kun-Lai Runt
Humanoid: Jungle Grub/most Spiders/Maggots and related breeds
Mechanical: Most elementals just pick the one with best abilities/breed you have
Undead: Yellow Bellied Bullfrog (most frogs do well)
Elemental: Snails with dive (Repana Whelk being common choice)

Get your best available option of most of those you can.

After that try to have a good rabbit, moth, I like Celestial Dragon, Stinker (any skunk), Lil' Deathwing (hits like a truck and great vs healing pets), Terrible Turnip (for catching pets), Mechanical Gnome, Snarly, Sporeling Sprout, Brilliant Kaliri, Feral Vermling

[Lordblacknail]

I have seen the yellow moth mentioned before on other posts. Why the yellow moth as opposed to any of the others?

I would add a few pets to your list Gendou:
an Emerald Proto Whelp P/P, Flayer Youngling, P/P,
and two that only come in uncommon - Yellow Moth P/P that you upgrade to rare, and a Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling that you upgrade to rare.

Emerald Proto Whelp is awesome versus flyers and anything that does small dotlike damage (rabbits)
Flayer Youngling is awesome versus critters.
Yellow Moth - wrecks aquatics, and does an excellent job on beasts as well.
MPD is awesome versus any magic pet and any pet that hits with magic damage (Antari's pets)