High Priority Pets to lvl (please add to this if you want)

[Arwyn3]

So a friend of mine is just starting out leveling pets for celestial tourney so I put together a list of "must haves" for him to lvl to get started. Since it helpe him out I figured Id share:


Amber moth (other moths work)
Anubiseth Idol **
Chrominus ** (howl + surge of power)
*edit* Clockwork Gnome (turrets for use w a pet w call lightning)
Cogblade Raptor
Emerald Proto Whelp **
Flayer Youngling
Fossilized Hatchling (bone storm)
*edit* Gilnean Raven / Crow ( call darkness/nevermore )
*edit* grasslands cottontail (or another fast rabbit)
*edit* Kun Lai Runt (chill/stun combo)
Lava Crab ( magma wave )
*edit* Magical Crawdad (easiest to obtain wish pet)
Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling ** (decoy)
Menagerie Custodian (ion cannon)
Minfernal
Darkmoon Tonk
Darkmoon Zepp ( only pet w decoy + explode)
Nexus Whelp** (arcane storm/mana surge combo)
Nordrassil Wisp
Pandaren Water Spirit ** (whirlpool, geyser)
Peddlefeet (starts uncommon, well worth a stone)
Rapana Whelk **
*Edit* Red Cricket or other group heal
Scourged Whelp (undead w call darkness, dark whelp can sub)
Snarly (any of the crocs will do he's just the best) ** (rip/blood in the water combo)
Snowy Owl ** (nocturnal strike when paired w a call darkness pet)
Spirit Crab (undead w shell, and rot can be handy)
*Edit* Terrible Turnip (for catching wild pets)
Unborn Valkyr ( curse of doom, haunt/unholy ascension depending on fight)
Wild Golden/Jade hatchling (call lightning)
Zandalari Kneebiter** (any of the set, worth lvling more than 1 of the 4) ( blackclaw/hunting party combo)

For the tourney you also want at least 5 mechanical pets, and at least 3 very strong humanoid. Having at least 3 strong of every pet type helps a lot.

Valk/pandaren water spirit/chrominus combo team can kill pretty much literally any single legendary pet (not the tiger).

Anodized robo cub is hard to farm but worth it if you need more mechs, rabid nut varmint is pretty good (surprisingly) also. Mechanical chicken is apparently pretty kick ass too. Menagerie custodian is a nice substitute for the darkmoon Tonk/Zepp.

Lvling a backup snail, a backup moth, and a couple random beasts that start high level (snakes and spiders are good) will help round you out. Skywisp moth has call lightning and as such is amazing. Having a frog around is also helpful.

[Likebigbuttz]

Seems a very complete list.

The only one I would add that I use a lot in the Tourney and against Lil Tommy is a Clockwork Gnome. A little hard to get but well worth it.

The Turret > Black Claw > Shattered Defense from Hunting Party combo is devastating.

Also, there might be one in the list already but something with the ability to heal others (Wish is one otherwise the one most Hoppers seem to have). You can use the Dragon Celestial to heal up other pets as the first two attacks don't do damage.

Nice Work though

[Arwyn3]

Do you have a good suggestion for that? I'm missing a reliable heal other pet from my own collection.

[Likebigbuttz]

Team Heals-

Inspiring Song - Grassland Hopper, Marsh Fiddler, Red Cricket, Singing Cricket, Singing Sunflower, Terrible Turnip
Bleat - Lambs, Fawns, Giraffe, Skunks
Autumn Breeze - Blossoming Ancient
Cleansing Rain - Frogs, Toads, Turtles, Striders, Fish - 29 Pets have this

There are others but they are not as strong or are family dependent.

Bleat looks to be the strongest, but I don't have any levels 25's with Bleat so I use a Red Cricket (rewarded when Sho becomes your BFF at the farm) which has one of the highest Attack Powers in the game which increases the size of the heal - not sure of the final number though.

Wish heals the active pet in the next round 50% of its max HP so will be bigger but only heals one pet. Only a Magic Lamp, Magical Crawdad and Zao have this.

[Arwyn3]

Yeah I have multiple pets that can do cleansing rain, it just doesn't seem to be powerful enough to be worth it, although I use it to combo my feral vermling. I've only got 1 cricket at max, and I don't have a bleat at max...that does look like the best one. I never really looked at the crawdad...adding that to my leveling queue. Zao is the next tourney pet I'm buying. I'm a sucker for dragonkin so I had to have Yu'la first. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Bretonas]

I like the list, most pets on it are indeed almost a "must have".
Like Likebigbuttz said, I'd definitely add the [pet]Clockwork Gnome[/pet]. Has been proven extremely helpful on many occasions, especially in the new tournament.

I would probably recommend to have at least 1 fast rabbit as well (the dodge / burrow combination is also very helpful to avoid a lot of incomming dmg), for example a [pet]Tolai Hare Pup[/pet]

[Mummymermaid]

that is a lovely list ^^ and i used most of them for the tourney, aye humanoids are important. i went and farmed 2 more runts and flayers for the tourney. i still need to level some on that list as well but iam managing on what i have..the zandy raptors from the isle of giants are awesome i use them against the ox and the tiger and they win all the time ^^ nice job x

[Ridgebj]

I would add terrible turnip and feline familiar for assistance with levelling from wild pet battles and capture.

[Pugnatwo]

I would add:

Yellow Moth (highest Power Moth in the game)
Gilnean Raven (Great for both Darkness Setup and slaughters Wise Mari's first pet in the tournament)

[Tekulve2012]

Hey guys
Great idea to get a list going ..would have dearly loved one before the tourney and I hinted at asking in posts here but alas

Lil Bling is a treasure and though it might cost some gold its worth it !
---------------
I used the unborn valkyr/ lil bling combo and with those 2 pets alone beat Zoa and XuFu
(i went against zoa 1st and was shocked at how quick it went! - Literally it was the Valk to start and CoDoom and Haunt
then switched to lil bling and used Inflation....done 2 turns later!) Maybe it was rng but seriously efficient and worth a repeat

so I noticed the 2 pets had lots of health and the Valk is undead so I went ahead and threw them in vs XuFu and again the setup worked...for a 3rd pet I used a Zandy raptor and it mopped up the tiny bit of health xufu had -
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Hope this works for some of you who want to level fewer pets

[Dragonwizard]

This is a great list, thanks for putting it together.

I would recommend this post for a sticky.

[Anasa]

I confirmed last night that [pet]Bonkers[/pet] can solo Yu'la. I was dang lucky that my Bonkers was P/S, ymmv with other breeds.

I would agree with most of the list, but there are quite a few there that I never use.

It might be easier to obtain a [pet]Netherspace Abyssal[/pet] than a Minfernal, and they're quite comparable.

For instance, I've never used any of the moths, The Mech Pandaren Dragonling (but he's on my list to level soon), or a Spirit Crab.

In place of Gilnean Raven, [pet]Crow[/pet] (from Darkmoon island) might be easier if you don't want to spend a few hours working through the Worgen starting zone.

My top ten pets, if I were starting from scratch (so few wild at high levels), would be:

Anubisath Idol/Blossoming Ancient (this slot is your tank)
Menagerie Custodian/Darkmoon Tonk
Onyxian Whelp/Spawn of Onyxia
Terrible Turnip (can't be beat for catching wild pets)
Red Cricket
Zandalari Kneebiter
Chrominius
Pandaren Water Spirit
Emerald Proto-Whelp
Flayer Youngling

Bold are what I would level absolutely first. Many of the pets on that list are strong, with good mitigation or self-heals. Almost every "it's super effective!" ability type is represented. (Missing Undead, but you don't encounter many wild or tamer Humanoids)

[Tiggindy]

Look at the strategies for the tourney, pick which ones you want to use, and then level them.

[Sellys]

Clock'em might be quite useful for Yu'la. He's faster (barely), has [ability]Dodge[/ability] to avoid the Lift off and following breath, and has humanoid attacks.

[Synergy6]

Certain breeds are more beneficial then others as well.

Such as a S/S Flayer Youngling etc

[Ligament]

Might I add Kun-Lai Runt? The combo is SOO very handy in certain fights. And I absolutely LOVE having Brilliant Kalliri for the Kill Shot ability.

[Anasa]

Might I add Kun-Lai Runt? The combo is SOO very handy in certain fights. And I absolutely LOVE having Brilliant Kalliri for the Kill Shot ability.

They're both good, but keep in mind that list was meant for someone just starting out. They're not likely to have pets high enough level to catch a Runt, or have collected enough to have a Kaliri.

[Ligament]

Might I add Kun-Lai Runt? The combo is SOO very handy in certain fights. And I absolutely LOVE having Brilliant Kalliri for the Kill Shot ability.

They're both good, but keep in mind that list was meant for someone just starting out. They're not likely to have pets high enough level to catch a Runt, or have collected enough to have a Kaliri.

The OP has a few from Pandaria zones as well.

[Arwyn3]

Yeah. The friend this was originally drafted for has 12 lvl 25s, only 3-5 of them particularly good, the last few we're high lvl pandaria captures. He only had a couple that are particularly useful in the tourney strats I've seen and doesn't have a ton of time to mess around lvling pets but he likes the tourney rewards. This list was originally designed to give him an idea of where his major holes were that he needed to level. I'm loving all the additions people are throwing out there. Thanks for all the feedback!

[Sanzul]

[pet]Tranquil Mechanical Yeti[/pet] (lightning/ion cannon) is quite useful for mechanical burst teams, as is the [pet]Rabid Nut Varmint 5000[/pet], being one of very few mechanicals who comes with a damage taken debuff. Those two together can kill most of the beast-type fables in 4-5 rounds.