The Level 25 Grind

[Zeemonster424]

I guess this is okay in this forum, couldn't decide if it was more battle or collect. I guess I collect level 25 pets!

How to you grind your guys to 25? Do you have a special strat to make it easier, bearable? Where do you farm? How do you cope?

I use Winterspring Cub and Panther Cub so I don't have to watch health as much. I take a lowbie, plop myself by Kafi and grind a way! I have my pets separated in to a few groups... 5, 10, 15, and 20 (Of course 25s). For whatever reason in my head it makes it bearable to grind from the top down: I take the 20s make them 25s, then down to the 15s and make them 20s and so on.

I do have my "power hour" after finishing the weekly PvP quest because you can stack the two types of pet treats. There I just dig at the bottom of the lowbie pile!

... all while reading Game of Thrones. That's how I can do it. I have a young child so TV doesn't really interest me. Reading and grinding is the way to go!


How do YOU survive?

**Edit**... I've found that putting on Lady Gaga and belting it obnoxiously helps ease the pain. Hubby doesn't seem too fond of it though.

[Azrile]

I will be grinding them all from 1-15 soon ( using double treats etc). Once they are 15ish, it is easy to plug one of them into a daily tamer which boosts them quick. So getting them 1-15 is a grind.. getting them 15-25 will be just part of my normal day.

The big thing is to get your pet battle dailies to where every one of them can be 2-petted, so you can throw a lowbie into the final slot. My other advice is to realize that we probably will get maybe 20 pets in 5.4 but then have 6 months until the next expansion. Plenty of time to get them all to 25 using daily tamers

[Maizing]

I've been just sticking my lowest level pet into a team... whether it is a team I use against Tamers for a daily or one I just use to fight wild pets... and switch it out when it levels out of that position in my collection.

I used to work on getting pets to 25 before switching them, but I sometimes forget to switch, and this way, I don't have that "D'oh" moment when I realize that I just fought a Tamer with a team of all level 25s so the pet xp was wasted.

If I get a brand new pet, I run it against the Kalimdor/Eastern Kingdoms Tamers until it is high enough level to survive against level 25s. Since I have both horde and alliance, I can utilize all of the low level Tamer dailies.

[Opallena]

I use my son of animus, and battle the summit kids around Kafi. I keep my Baby Blizzard Bear as a backup, since kun'lai wild pets are mostly critter and beast secondaries, except that chicken whose name i will not attempt to spell.

Son of animus wipes the floor with all the beasts, and can take the others out fairly easily. its Siphon Anima ability heals for so much you don't usually need bandaids.

[Laraven]

I lvl from 1-20 in Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. Right outside the Temple there is a pile of bones with some birds flying around it. Battle the birds. Their teams include, flying, aqua, and sometimes critter. I use my Frosty pet to 1v2 them and then bring in my lowbie for one hit and finish them with frosty. It takes about 15 battles from lvl1-lvl20 with the tamer hat on. Also, best thing about this spot is the stable master right on the Temple steps for cheap band aids!

At lvl 20 I bring them to Panda land and battle trainers and stuff. Not hard at all, but boring of course. I just bore my friends on real ID, with my pet/mount complaints and stories, and take brakes.

[Worgenbait]

Key pets for me to have to level 25 for fast grinding are Anubisath Idol, Dancing Water Skimmer, and Brilliant Kaliri.

Using just those 3, you can level all pets easy.

Using Anu and Kaliri along with the pet you want leveled is best. Hit the Eternal Striders in the Vale. Put the one you want leveled first. By the way, this works with level ones as well, because the Striders rarely do an attack with the first move. Hit with your level 1 pet first then pull him out for one of the other 2. Wearing just the hat, a level one pet after one battle becomes level 6.

Next, you have two trainers to hit. Aki the Chosen is simple. Pet you leveled to level 6 first, then Anu and Kaliri. Hit once with the pet you want leveled, then use Anuisath set with Crush, Sandstorm (especially important) and Deflection. Use Sandstorm right off and Chirrup can't touch you. In fact, you should be at full life by the time he goes down. So long as you don't have terrible luck, Anubisath should solo this. If not, Kaliri is there for clean-up as the last pet is aquatic. This should bring your pet with just the hat to level 14.

Next is Farmer Nishi. Switch the Anubisath for the Dancing Water Skimmer set for Water Jet, Cleansing Rain, and Pump. Again, leveling pet first, hit once, then Dancing in. Charge Pump, hit rain, then just water jet first one down. Dancing will be faster then Toothbreaker so hit him with Pump and while he is underground, recharge Pump and Rain. Hit him with Water Jet when he surfaces and hit Mothran with Pump with your first move. Recharge while he's under and hit him when he comes up. Your Dancing should solo this fight as well, with Kaliri backing you up. This puts that pet to level 20 with the hat.

Using the bonus XP items of 25% and 50% with the hat at the same time guarentees that level one pet hits 25 with just those 3 fights in under 15 minutes. It's a great way to level a pet you REALLY want leveled quickly. Did that with my Darkmoon Rabbit when I got it.

[Domie]

I do all the pandaria trainers with 2 pets so i can level one up there, if i want to level up more one day, i go outside 2 moons/7 stars and mobs there, since its only aqua and flying pets, i just bring my P/P yellow moth, and what ever magic pet i have around (dont really have any impressive ones), I have to use a bandage every now and again, but its not any problem with the amount of them you get from the daily trainers bags.
I preffer the pets i level up to be about level 4 before i bring them, just so im sure they dont get killed (its so annoying having to resset the fight), i usualy just do that on some random pets at around level 13, just takes one battle for each pet.

[Rakrath]

I do all the pandaria trainers with 2 pets so i can level one up there, if i want to level up more one day, i go outside 2 moons/7 stars and mobs there, since its only aqua and flying pets, i just bring my P/P yellow moth, and what ever magic pet i have around (dont really have any impressive ones), I have to use a bandage every now and again, but its not any problem with the amount of them you get from the daily trainers bags.
I preffer the pets i level up to be about level 4 before i bring them, just so im sure they dont get killed (its so annoying having to resset the fight), i usualy just do that on some random pets at around level 13, just takes one battle for each pet.

Hi, i know what u mean but i prefer the following strategy to level L1 pets:

go pandaria and select a spot where most wild pets are of the same type(mostly either critter, aquatic, or wild) and take your pets as follow:
L1, L1 and L25

ur fight wil be like:
if L1 pet survive first round, bring L25 and finisch fight
if first L1 dies, swap in second L1 pet, and directly swap L25 pet and finisch fight

well i have to say that i mostly level my pets in "bulk", means after one or two weeks of every day pandaria tamer leveling, i then use my stones/catch new rares and go with them. this tactic avoids to travel to low level zones and bring pets to a level which is comfortable without being one shotted in pandaria.

Rakrath

[Mehetabel]

I'm a bit all over the place with my pet leveling. Still, getting there slowly.

I don't really have a fixed strat to do it. I've parked alts all over the world for pet dailies (I have two full accounts of chars) then I pick my lowest level rare pet for each battle and boost it. And so on and so forth. That way the overall level of my pets is slowly increasing day by day. It may not be the fastest way of leveling but it's steady. The higher level pets get boosted on the Pandaria dailies where possible.

Every now and again I get in a leveling mood, munch on some pet boost food and get a whole bunch of pets up to level 15 or so.

[Gurggulk]

Leveling battle pets is still fun for me, not a grind or chore. Thinking up names, combinations, sharing sightings of rares and extra pets from drops, is all part of leveling to me. The following is my overall focus when leveling.

Rare and uncommon pets get leveled rank1 to rank4 in towns and starter zones. A battle team is made up of all the same level mixing and matching for variety and fun. I don't have a single way of approach to leveling past rank4. the following depends on time and motivation.

Once rank4 is reached, they become low pet in a battle set of 2 higher ranking pets. For leveling purposes all zones and trainers are fair game. If luck intervenes and a rare of exceptional quality is found, retreating from battle, swapping pets and going in for the capture is SOP.

For uncommon pets this continues to Rank 14. Some rares continue to be leveled in pretty much the same way.
For fun and instruction, pets of the same level are matched up to "clear" a zone on their own.

Example, Nagrand is a level 18-19 zone. 3 rares are picked out to see how they work together. As many battles as time allows is devoted to clearing the zone. If one is wounded, another level appropriate pet is swapped in to continue the hunt. When all the pets appropriate to the zone are wounded, they are healed. This gives maximum battle time minimum down time.

What is most important is not to stack the deck with the best. Its to team pets for the fun of it. World leveling is all about imagination and flexibility. Learning the weakness of current team/pet is paramount. If a front line pet kicks ass, its moved back to allow another pet its turn in front. Leading off with a weak pet is much more instructive for me than a strong start. As long as the weak pet survives the battle all is well. Learning the battle set of each pet is the meat. Playing out the battles while leveling is what makes it fun.

I'm not so concerned with leveling every single pet to rank25. There are alot of battle pets with the same Battle set of moves. Leveling all rats to rank 25 is a misuse of my time. If a couple of identical pets get leveled to rank25 slip through, It can only be seen as a good thing.

Truthfully there are so many pets, a combination of methods to reach rank25 for that select number of battle pets has to be used. It can't be helped. Sometimes power leveling is on the menu, other times not.

Some pets are just battle junkies. They won't be power leveled. Fighting from the bottom up is not work for those few, its life as a virtual battle pet. Cinderkitty is a good example, along with the rest of "Team Kitty", Fluxfire Feline , Mr. Bigglesworth , Feline Familiar . They never wanted a handout.
The journey to rank25 is personal and can't be replayed. Team Kitty likes it that way.

However long it takes is the journey we are all on.
Enjoy it while it lasts, not all rank25 pets are created equal.

[Laraven]

Lvl'ing pets does feel grindy to me. And I dislike it for the most part. I'm not very good with the actual battle mechanics of don't quite understand it all. The fun thing for me was finding all rare wild pets. Which I did in 2 weeks flat. I guess I just like collecting. But I have had to do battles of course. I try to lvl up all my higher lvl pets first and go down the list to next highest. This feel rewarding for me.

[Slick]

At the moment I do 2 pets a day from 1-25. 5 of the trainer dailies in Pandaria are able to be soloed with the Anubisath Idol, which are:

Kun Lai, Vale of Eternal Blossoms, Burning Spirit Tamer, Jade Forest and Valley of the Four Winds. The others I can duo. But yeah about an hour for 1-25 without any treats. With treats I can usually bring in another lowbie for a few to get them up some levels. Good tips in this thread though I may go level a bunch of pets to 15-20 to help move this all pets to 25 task along.

[Slick]

I am personally having a problem getting past Major Payne to get into the other trainers. I guess I simply don't have the right pet combo in my team. This prevents me from getting the hat and also from the infamous treats that increase experience. One day, I'll get that team that makes him easy or sit there and pound my head until he misses a move and I win.

For leveling, I just put a low level pet in with my group of two 25s and then battle. If they can survive the hits from the three master trainers, that I have access to, I'll use them there. Otherwise, I just use them against as many pets as possible. Slow going and tends to get boring though. Only have 36 at max level so far and I only level rare pets. Anything less than a rare seems like a waste of time. After I get my Direhorn to 25, I am going to focus on getting all my dragonkin to 25. Then maybe my Mechanicals.

I had some trouble with him too at first. I forget what team I used but Anubisath Idol with Demolish makes quick work of the bear which I remember doing a lot of damage and healing a lot.

[Mizix]

When I still needed Flawless Aquatic-Stones, I used to level my lowbies in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms (upper part), battling civets, moths and skimmers. My team consisted of 1 low level (start first), Pterrordax Hatchling and Jade Oozeling (H/H breed). Hat and food-buff up, of course =)

It was very boring to do, because the fights are all the same, but quite efficient because there are large groups of pets and they always come as aquatic and/or flying. Pterrodax can heal, so less downtime and there is a stable master very close.

Now that I am done with aquatic stones, I grind in Kun-Lai Summit, just outside the door that leads to the Vale. Among the critters and the beasts, there still are flying pets too. The team consists of 1 lowbie, Direhorn Runt and Jade Oozeling. Not the funniest thing to do, but it seems to work okay =)

To keep it bearable, I only farm for 1-hour at time, until the food buff runs out, then take a small break and come back later.

Every day I also battle the tamers in Pandaria and the other grand masters to boost my low levels. Sometimes I take a break from that too, like a 2-3 days stop, or even a week if I am really really bored with grinding.

My suggestion: take it easy, don't burn yourself out, eventually everything will be max level and rare quality =)

[Zaxanna]

I do my pet lvling grind along with toon grind in the Heartlands in Valley of the Four Winds. With a lil help from guildy I took my lvl 36 warlock there and have been lvling her by pet battle. I can make armor for her later with my Mage tailor. She's currently lvl 49.Good way to lvl both quickly. All pet groups in the area are either aqua or critter so my 2 25's I run as back up are Dragonbone Hatchling and Panther Cub. Start lvl 1 fights with Marsh Fiddlers because they rarely attack first. Pets hit lvl 5 or 6 after first fight. Then gain usually 2 lvls til 10 or 11 then a lvl a fight til 19 or 20.
My warlock lvls around 6-7% per fight also.

[Dakaf]

I actually brought my level 58 Druid to halfhill to level around the tillers stuff. If you stay away from the vermin, you can keep leveling pets and yourself easily. He is level 76 now, plus I am also getting a ton of ore, as ghost iron is mineable by any skill level! I have leveled a ton of pets this way as well.

I started with spec porc, used barrier, switched in then out the level 1, then did the fight with whatever critter killer I had. Once all of my pets were level 6, it was easy mode for leveling any of them.

[Breehit]

I like the idea of leveling lower toons in Halfhill with pet battles. I have leveled two toons from 87-90 in the Vale using pets, and it was a lot of fun. How do you get a lowbie to Halfhill? Do I need a mage or warlock for porting?

[Skyquake]

I like the idea of leveling lower toons in Halfhill with pet battles. I have leveled two toons from 87-90 in the Vale using pets, and it was a lot of fun. How do you get a lowbie to Halfhill? Do I need a mage or warlock for porting?

Ideally, you'd get a mage port to the Vale and set your hearth at your Shrine for the portals to everywhere. Then someone with a passenger mount would take you to Halfhill. A CRZ issue, supposedly resolved now, often caused toons of low levels to fall off mounts when entering new zones. Even if it's still a problem, you can just rez and hop back on.

[Corah]

I am personally having a problem getting past Major Payne to get into the other trainers. I guess I simply don't have the right pet combo in my team. This prevents me from getting the hat and also from the infamous treats that increase experience. One day, I'll get that team that makes him easy or sit there and pound my head until he misses a move and I win.

I used Clockwork gnome, Water Waveling, and Legs (pets with dive work well too)