The New Op Combo

[Polynices]

Should also work with a Zandalari Anklerender (they still have Black Claw, just at 3 instead of 2) if that's the one you happen to have in P/P instead.

Looking into this I discovered that the pet breed ID mod isn't working for the new raptors, it shows them as coming in only 1 breed each, the one you happen to have.

[Delinda]

What's the best breed ID for those baby raptors? I have breeds 4,5 and 10.

[Arcanicus]

I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but...nope, not even going to come close in three turns.

Let's math it out. Assuming no pet switching by the opponent, level 25 pets, and perfect accuracy, first turn is Black Claw, doing no damage. Second turn is first round of Hunting Party, doing damage amplified by Black Claw. Third turn is second round of Hunting Party, doing damage amplified by both Black Claw and the double damage effect of Hunting Party (twice the damage done in the second turn).

Now, the upper limit of health in the game is about 1850 or so at level 25. So in order for this combo to be a three-turn KO, this means doing about 615 damage or so in the second round, or 205 or so per Hunting Party hit (which is basically a Beast version of Stampede, hitting three times a turn). Now subtract the effects of Black Claw, which I calculate to add roughly 83 damage at Level 25. So you have Hunting Party hitting baseline for about 120 damage for each hit, three hits pet turn. According to my calculations, in order to get that much damage, you'd have to have over 600 attack, which no pet has.

If I'm wrong about Hunting Party scaling differently than Stampede, let me know, but otherwise this isn't a surefire option for much of anything. Hunting Party is supposed to perform the same tactical function as Stampede, to set up for a bigger blow during or after the attack. The damage it deals is really secondary.

[Poofah]

Let's math it out.

Addition is handled before multiplication, and Hunting Party is broken into 3 hits (like Stampede), so for a breed 4 it's

turn 1: Black Claw (0 dmg)
turn 2: Hunting Party 3*(72+90) = 486
turn 3: Hunting Party with debuff up 2*3*(72+90) = 972
turn 4: Bloodfang with debuff up 2*(471+90) = 1122

Unlike Fluxfire, you can swap your pet out to avoid eating damage with Black Claw/Hunting Party debuff up, so it's not nearly as absurd in PvP. It's pretty remarkable damage against tamers though.

[Deepfriedegg]

Let's math it out.

Addition is handled before multiplication, and Hunting Party is broken into 3 hits (like Stampede), so for a breed 4 it's

turn 1: Black Claw (0 dmg)
turn 2: Hunting Party 3*(72+90) = 486
turn 3: Hunting Party with debuff up 2*3*(72+90) = 972
turn 4: Bloodfang with debuff up 2*(471+90) = 1122

Unlike Fluxfire, you can swap your pet out to avoid eating damage with Black Claw/Hunting Party debuff up, so it's not nearly as absurd in PvP. It's pretty remarkable damage against tamers though.

You forgot to factor in couple things (or combination of them):
1) Beast racial
2) Low HP
3) Speed

The S/S breed has insane speed (341) which is a big factor for such a low HP pet. If you take the P/P breed, it CAN happen, that you only get to 2 turns, which would only deal 607 damage (486 hunting party * 1.25 for beast racial). But most likely you would be allowed 3 turns (1822 damage - and the second pet kills you in 1st turn). You Would be dead before restoring 450 HP through Bloodfang.
On the other hand, with S/S breed you would have almost guaranteed at least 4 turns.... and you would deal 1701 in 3 turns.
- If you killed the pet now, fine, you will not take any damage in 3rd turn. In 4th you will do 463 damage with Bloodfang and will be close to death. Now you cannot do any damage so you can either sacrifice the pet for soaking or switch it.
- If you dont kill the opponent with 1701 damage, you will take some damage in 3rd turn, you will do massive overkill in 4th with Bloodfang (925 dmg) and heal yourself for 370. Again, you need to switch. Next time you switch the pet in you can choose between 2 rounds of Hunting Party (218 + 436) for total of 654 or Bloodfang (463) and 1 round of Hunting party (218) for total of 680 dmg or Black Claw and 1 round of Hunting party for 480 dmg and leaving 2 debuffs on target. It would all depend on opposing and you other pets.

Looks like P/P breed is only better than S/S only if you happen to survive 4 attacks of the 1st pet which you would then kill with Bloodfang. Or if you 276 speed pet is faster than opponent. This is too much to rely on, in my opinion.

[Yannock]

A new combo I've been trying uses an old loveable pet Mr Wiggles. His uncanny luck makes "high chance to miss" attacks "high chance to hit !" The best combo I've come up with is the robo cub's demolish, which you can spam it for guaranteed massive hits and a yellow moth's (p/p) mothballs. Once the uncanny luck is up you can expect 2000 dmg a pet in 3 rounds. Another one to try might be the idol, but I think the sandstorm may negate the benefit of the uncanny luck. What do you think guys ??

Edit: just found my answer ! Makominami put up a thread a while ago suggesting this as a high risk high reward strategy. Well I'm a convert and looking forward to seeing where it works well. Nice call Makominami

[Breehit]

Holy Anklebiter! I think its time for me to give up fishing for carp (which seems useless, anyway) and get to work leveling those Zandalari raptors!

[Deepfriedegg]

A new combo I've been trying uses an old loveable pet Mr Wiggles. His uncanny luck makes "high chance to miss" attacks "high chance to hit !" The best combo I've come up with is the robo cub's demolish, which you can spam it for guaranteed massive hits and a yellow moth's (p/p) mothballs. Once the uncanny luck is up you can expect 2000 dmg a pet in 3 rounds. Another one to try might be the idol, but I think the sandstorm may negate the benefit of the uncanny luck. What do you think guys ??

Edit: just found my answer ! Makominami put up a thread a while ago suggesting this as a high risk high reward strategy. Well I'm a convert and looking forward to seeing where it works well. Nice call Makominami

After having some experience with Uncanny Luck comps I can say following:

Yellow Moth´s disadvantage is that the Moth Balls dont hit 5 but only 4 times per one barrage. The fifth one only applies the debuff. This makes the moth do 350 dmg less.
You may want to take a look at Stunted Yeti. It seems to be better than the Moth with its spamable Haymaker. You will be doing 733 per hit. Also Yeti has much higher HP compared to the moth plus it has the racial self heal.
Robo-Cub will do 1391 with Supercharge d Demolish and then 618 by normal Demolish. It has 1081 heal that unfortunately kicks in after 3 rounds which may be too late even with mechanical racial because it is very slow pet.
The Idol will do 1776 damage with 3 Demolishes but after that it can still be an asset with either Deflection or 444 damage from Rupture (25% chance to stun). Big plus is its huge HP + racial self heal.

Yellow Moth has potential to do 1900 damage with Alpha Strike between Moth Balls or 1620 damage with Cocoon Strike between Moth Balls. Also has very limiting low HP compared to Robo-Cub and Yeti.

Personallly I would go with Yeti 2/2/2 and Idol 2/1/2

[Yannock]

Thanks for the math - I'm sure I have a stunted yeti lying around somewhere and i've got a battlestone with its name on it too. Time to make him a star pick !