Help Me with the Celestial Tournament

[Skavenged]

Not to be rude, but the Tournament is supposed to be very difficult. It is designed that way. This is endgame content for pet battles up to this point. It is designed to get people to experiment, share strategies, and use forethought before walking in. There is a ton of information out here on how to beat it. The only thing that should be keeping anyone from completing it at this point is lack of the correct pets, and that is easily solved by working to get those pets and leveling them. Complaining about the difficulty, when you aren't properly prepared, is sort of like walking into SOO in greens and then wondering why you can't beat it.

[Tuatha]

why not use Thundering Serpent Hatchling which has the highest power on Call Lightning ingame?

Secondly instead of using Flock, why not use Inflation from Lil' Bling? Its first flock type abilty as mechanical, thats gotta hurt, double buffed from the 341ATK Call Lightning.

That's a great idea for using the Thundering Serpent Hatchling. I think I'm going to try that next week.

As for Lil' Bling, I personally use a flying type so that Feed hits for 1/3 less, healing for that much less. I'm not sure it'd make a huge difference, but putting confusing sting up and having two flockers during a lightning storm is usually enough to trivialize the fight (the first one dies, the second finishes Xu-Fu). Maybe I'll try Lil' Bling instead of the 2nd flocker... depending on the undercard--I use Lil' Bling on Kiryn.

[Sweetdr0ps]

here are some pets I use since I was missing certain particular pets maxed while I did my attempts, which teams/boss's are you having the most trouble?

Yula

H/s or S/S bonkers
(he can solo her) use the dodge when yula flies up and other than that just keep hitting! (tornado punch, jab, dodge)
back up
anubisath idol use shield before yula flies down on ya
Sporeling sprout just in case but you wont use it

Chi-chi
Snails! can use all snails if you dont have slot one
slot one: unborn valk h/h, throw up curse of doom, then continue to hit till your almost dead and be sure not to use when chi dodges throw up ascension for the dps boost 1-2 turns before valk dies
Raphana Whelk acidic touch followed by ooze touch over and over till it dies if it dies
Silkbead snail or some other snail with same set: acidic touch followed by ooze touch until chi is dead

Xu-fu
Dragon kite if you have, throw up volcano then lightning, let die, bring in lil bling cast make it rain and then inflation, continue to hit inflation, should die before 3rd guy and ideally still live to use on Zao. Back up use a anklerender, black claw, hunting party

Zao
Any pet with lightning (I use thundering serpent), throw up lightning then swap to next pet, one that can take a hit, lil bling works best
throw up make it rain and then inflation
third pet can either be clockwork gnome use turret or anklerender p/s or s/s, black claw then hunting party

[Sweetdr0ps]

Not to be rude, but the Tournament is supposed to be very difficult. It is designed that way. This is endgame content for pet battles up to this point. It is designed to get people to experiment, share strategies, and use forethought before walking in. There is a ton of information out here on how to beat it. The only thing that should be keeping anyone from completing it at this point is lack of the correct pets, and that is easily solved by working to get those pets and leveling them. Complaining about the difficulty, when you aren't properly prepared, is sort of like walking into SOO in greens and then wondering why you can't beat it.

while I agree with this to some extent I think he is not complaining so much about the difficulty but rather about how you need particular pets to "unlock" completing it, if you went in to Soo but were missing a PARTICULAR neck piece and pants but still had good gear, you could still beat it, but that is not the case here. You can go in with an arsenal of 75 max level pets as i did my first few attempts and not be able to beat it just because your missing 3-5 particular pets.

[Jerebear]

I'm not sure there are 3-5 particular pets that are needed though. There are a wide (I mean a really wide) variety of pet teams for each tamer and celestial in the tournament. And there are still many more that likely aren't documented as well. There's strategies out there for using only cageable pets, or using only wild pets, or using only very common pets, and a lot of strategies based off of individual pet collections. I could see coming in with less than 30-40 pets to be extremely difficult for a beginner to novice player, but I think that is part of the target for the tournament. Coming in with the required 15 is probably doable by some of the best (don't know...just conjecture on my part), but if people come in with just normal time spent, the difficulty can be very sharp.

[Flopsyhunt]

The format encourages finding the decoder ring set that will win and then just repeating that. Experimenting requires a full restart and going through it once is painful enough.

I managed to beat it for the second time this week, just under the wire. I seem to the magic set of pets now or at least a magic set I can use. I even messed up the haunt/geyser/etc. and still beat one of them. I should have taken notes, but I was trying to get in under the wire. I used the ideas from Wowhead for each person this time, not their guide since I still don't have several of the pets on that list. I will keep leveling additional ones, but hopefully I can get my 8 more coins to buy the other pets so I can be done with this.

[Tiggindy]

My thread has what I was using for the tourney. Though it's a little sparse on details, the lineups and moves are there.

Also, I ended up going with the Mr. Bigglesworth strat for Yu'la, but I'm not sure I posted that.

[Jerebear]

For what it is worth Flopsyhunt, I compared our collections and aside from Chi-Chi (which I only use on Taran Zhu for fun), you don't appear to be missing any pets I use for the tournament (and there are many strats for Taran Zhu). I didn't go through your collection to see what was levelled to 25 (I'm not sure how to filter all that in warcraftpets collection UI), but you at least have a baseline "enough" pets to do this. It's just a matter of levelling up pets that aren't 25. Most all tamers encourage a decoder ring type style of fighting as that is inherent in the pet battle system itself, so the Celestial Tournament isn't unique in that respect. I'm not saying this to be argumentative, and I really do understand the daunting task of levelling up so many pets to 25, but I was hoping maybe to encourage you in that you do have the makings of that decoder ring already. You just have to put some more time into it if you don't have the right pets at 25 yet.

[Flopsyhunt]

That is one of the frustrating things. I should have enough to do this, but it is more of a pain than something enjoyable. I will tolerate it (at some point) to get the other 3 pets, but not because I like it.

I firmly believe that things in the game should be enjoyable. Pet battles have some compelling elements, but the frustrations really seem to try to overwhelm them however.

[Luciandk]

Methinks a problem is that most people simply doesnt have a decent amount of lvl 25 pets from each family to draw on, and needing to aquire and level up more of them.

I have 165 pets at 25 and that have served me well for completing the tournament for all the celestials, as well doing it enough to gain a full stack of 50% treats. Plus having the 1000 wins ach for the Trainer title. Then theres really no more motivation left for toying with pets, no pets left I find interesting enough to bother leveling up. Having over 100 assorted battle stones and 425 pet bandages in the bank, so im well set for WoD.

Ill briefly revisit pve pet battles when the Treasure Goblin and Dread Hatchling are released, as those are interesting pets I want to toy with.

[Digem]

That is one of the frustrating things. I should have enough to do this, but it is more of a pain than something enjoyable. I will tolerate it (at some point) to get the other 3 pets, but not because I like it.

I firmly believe that things in the game should be enjoyable. Pet battles have some compelling elements, but the frustrations really seem to try to overwhelm them however.

if you do not put the time in to have the right pets leveled up then, yes it will be tough.
it is END GAME material and one should be prepared as such.
people complaining about this want the quick short cut to win this.
then they would complain how easy it was.
get and level the right pets and it is easy.
also, expect some fights to not go as planned all the time and have some backups.
raids go like this too.
you need the right classes for certain fights all the time and the time put in to have the gear.
this isn't lfr which one can cheese.

[Elfuego]

Saw your post and wanted to see if I could help abit. If your like me, reading forums is one thing, SEEING the ideas in motion are something else entirely! I wrote a guide to help a few people out, and I do instructional videos, you can find the entire series here :http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=8050

Keep in mind that the tournament isn't neccissarly about what pets you have as much as its knowing what your opponent is about to do, so some add-ons are pretty useful. In particular ones that show when their abilities are about to come off CD, so you can time evasions and such. Just as Jerebear said, there are many avenues to defeating the tournament, I know how frustrating it can be, so take some time and explore your options. Theres plenty of good advice in this thread already, but if you need further help, feel free to check out the site : www.wowpetbattle.com

I hope it helps!
[profile]Elfuego[/profile]
GET OWNED!

[Liopleurodon]

Experimenting requires a full restart and going through it once is painful enough.

The best thing I did in writing strats for the Tournament was to go on the PTR. There's a system there which gives you random level 25 pets as you're screwing around, so you can accumulate a whole lot of options outside your usual roster (as well as duplicates of your current roster so you can keep at it for a few attempts more than usual). I'm not recommending it, per se, because while I had fun doing it, I'm pretty clearly an outlier. But I never would've come up with, eg, my Senjin Fetish + Disgusting Oozeling strat for Chi-chi if I didn't mess around on PTR. Also, it can help build your confidence if you know that you *can* beat it, even if not necessarily with your existing pets.

If you do happen to hit up PTR and want to play around, 3x dragon kites makes xufu absolutely trivial. lolol.

Here's a link to my walkthroughs (which includes videos and all that good stuff too): http://battlepetroundup.com/2013/09/09/celestial-tournament-roundup/

[Flopsyhunt]

That is one of the frustrating things. I should have enough to do this, but it is more of a pain than something enjoyable. I will tolerate it (at some point) to get the other 3 pets, but not because I like it.

I firmly believe that things in the game should be enjoyable. Pet battles have some compelling elements, but the frustrations really seem to try to overwhelm them however.

if you do not put the time in to have the right pets leveled up then, yes it will be tough.
it is END GAME material and one should be prepared as such.
people complaining about this want the quick short cut to win this.
then they would complain how easy it was.
get and level the right pets and it is easy.
also, expect some fights to not go as planned all the time and have some backups.
raids go like this too.
you need the right classes for certain fights all the time and the time put in to have the gear.
this isn't lfr which one can cheese.

BS. This is trotted out a lot but is bunk. Yes, you have to have the right set of magical decoder ring pets leveled and know the magic decoder ring attacks to use and exactly when to use them. You may get by with a bit of slackness in the latter part, but it is not "be better" but rather "know the magical decoder ring." The former might have some value if true, but the latter is not good game design. This isn't supposed to be a big puzzle game, it is supposed to be something we can play at and have fun with. Poorly designed end game content that is not compelling for long (for most) is just that, poorly designed.

some add-ons are pretty useful.

Which addon shows the enemy's abilities? I could not find that. I have a bunch of pet addons already and they almost conflict with each other at this point.

[Taizzaa]

I started out doing the celestial tournament without many of the pets named in the strategies leveled to 25. I thought about the families and abilities and tried substituting what I had to use. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Since I wanted to make it easier I leveled up some of the suggested pets and started using the easy guide on wowhead. I find that pretty decent to follow, and again substituted where I didn't have the specified pet. There is no decoder ring. There are a variety of strategies and approaches out there and many possible substitutions. I found the celestial tournament easier than say, the brawler's guild. It just took time and patience and I have to pay attention to what I'm doing, no autopilot pet battles like with the tamers there, not for me anyway.

[Kendrah]

I faced Chen, Wrathion and Taran Zhu this week, though I wiped repeatedly on Chen and never got to Taran Zhu. The trainers this week are likely to be different though.

This guide is great for the current trainers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8pAVB0dvE4

My only change is to the Wrathion battle. I use a s/s grasslands rabbit instead of the one he uses and I use a clockwork gnome instead of the sporelap pet.

For the final four pets: Xu-fu (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e30-Mf2W1s), Zao (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axMuyBAs-bs) On Zao, I use a mech with Ion Cannon to finish Zao, and Chi-chi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1pwCwwjq4)

This is my own team for Yu'la: I use a firefly (yes, I do) with the cocoon block and glowing toxin, Anub Idol (with 1/2/1), and gregorious ghell. It doesn't generally matter the third pet as long as it has a block and a crush. Start with the firefly and spam glowing toxin until she lifts off then cocoon block. After that's resolved, keep spaming glowing as much as possible. Don't attack Yu'la with your firefly. Glowing Toxin takes 6% and that can't be mediated by her shield. The toxin will take her to 50% or less HP. When the firefly dies, use Anub. Shield when she lifts off and block when she dives, then spam smash. She'll always cast shield then liftoff before she spams her attack. When the shield is over, she'll reshield and liftoff again. It's very predictable.

I'd fight these in this order: Xu-fu, Zao, Yu'la, then Chi-Chi (from hardest to easiest.) Xu-fu will cast moonlight. If it takes your fox under 750-ish HP, then cast howl. You don't want him to die before you can cast howl. I have several foxes and beasts in case I misjudge (so I don't have to start all over.)

[Kendrah]

Which addon shows the enemy's abilities? I could not find that. I have a bunch of pet addons already and they almost conflict with each other at this point.

Pet tracker tells you what talents they pets have. http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/pettracker

[Kpb321]

There is no Magic decoder ring of pets you have to have leveled or exact sequence of attacks you have to use to beat the tournament. Yes you have to have a plan and use a strategy to beat it but there many different strategies for each fight and for many of those a large number of options for pets you can use for that strategy. Some strategies might be faster or more reliable but that doesn't mean that there is one right strategy you have to use.

Can you beat it with the 15 pets that are the minimum to try? Probably not with out very carefully choosing your 15 pets. I almost wish that during the beta instead of decreasing it from 30 to 15 that they would have increased it to 45 or 60 which might have set a more realistic expectation on what your collection needed to look like to be successful.

Is there even a single pet that is required? Nope. There isn't a single fight in there that requires a specific pet or even pet with a specific move set.

Is it challenging with a more limited selection of pets? Definitely but not unbeatable. In another one of these types of threads I posted a couple teams for someone based on the pets they happened to have at level 25. I had worked out teams for 2 of the three under card fights and posted them. I also figured out teams I'd use for the last 4 celestials so I only needed to put together one more team to be able to beat the tournament with their random selection of pets and they only had ~50 lvl 25 pets.

[Genome]

Elfuego has made some great Youtube videos for the entire tourney. I suggest giving them a try. Of course, some pets are interchangeable. For instance, here are the teams (and the order that I do them in) for the Celestial Bosses:

Special note: [pet]Chrominius[/pet] is on three of my teams, but really only gets utilized in two and a third as a Just In Case pet(JiCP). I would say that he is a great addition for the tourney to say the least

Chi-Chi - [pet]Pandaren Water Spirit[/pet] / [pet]Chrominius[/pet] / [pet]Nexus Whelpling[/pet]. The most valuable fight to have [pet]Chrominius[/pet] for, and the only one where will take any dmg at all, but he will be pretty close to death by the end of the fight. Whelpling is really only on there as a JiCP. Start with Water Spirit, just pass first round as Chi-Chi will just heal anyway. Round two, [ability]Geyser[/ability]. Round three (evasion round) [ability]Whirlpool[/ability]. Switch [pet]Chrominius[/pet] in. [ability]Howl[/ability]. Traps both go off onto debuffed Chi-Chi, dealing big dmg and stunning him for one round. Debuff is still up, so [ability]Surge of Power[/ability] to finish him off.

Zao - [pet]Alpine Foxling[/pet] / [pet]Crystal Spider[/pet] / [pet]Chrominius[/pet]. Like the Elfuego vids, start with Fox, and go with [ability]Dazzling Dance[/ability], [ability]Bite[/ability], then [ability]Howl[/ability]. Fox dies and spider is up. [ability]Brittle Webbing[/ability], [ability]Spiderling Swarm[/ability], [ability]Crystal Prison[/ability]. Switch to [pet]Chrominius[/pet]. [ability]Howl[/ability], then [ability]Surge of Power[/ability]. Zao dies. I used to run a dual spider setup like in the videos, but too often for my liking, the second [ability]Spiderling Swarm[/ability] would leave Zao with 100-200ish health, which means game over. [pet]Chrominius[/pet] makes sure he dies due to the predicatable nature of [ability]Surge of Power[/ability]. Another issue to be aware of is Zao critting your fox before he can get [ability]Howl[/ability] off. While not common, this has happened to me the last two weeks in a row. Luckily, I had a few other Fox's (lvl 22 and 23). With the lower level ones, I learned the hard way that you cannot use bite as he is going to die, so simply use [ability]Dazzling Dance[/ability] followed directly by [ability]Howl[/ability] and go through the fight as before. [pet]Chrominius[/pet] makes up the difference of the lost [ability]Bite[/ability], and then some.

Xu-Fu - [pet]Lil Bling[/pet] / [pet]Menagerie Custodian[/pet] / [pet]Chrominius[/pet] - [pet]Chrominius[/pet] is simply a JiCP and has never been needed. Basically, just watch Elfuego's Youtube video. Sometimes, Bling can nearly take Xu-Fu out on his own.

Yu-La - [pet]Alpine Hare[/pet] / [pet]Spring Rabbit[/pet] / [pet]Sporeling Sprout[/pet]. [pet]Sporeling Sprout[/pet] is a JiCP here. With luck, one rabbit can nearly take Yu-La down. This is a slow fight, but completely safe and you don't need any special pet to do it (i.e. Grell), just a rabbit with 300+speed. Round one [ability]Scratch[/ability] (Do NOT use Flurry as his shield will totally negate multi hit attacks). Round two [ability]Scratch[/ability]. Round three [ability]Dodge[/ability] which will negate his divebomb. Round four [ability]Scratch[/ability] (Dodge still up). Round five [ability]Burrow[/ability]. Now just rinse and repeat. You will take one Breath attack every "cycle" this way, which hits you for around 400 per. Second pet normally only takes one hit before Yu-La goes down.

All of the pets that I use are either catchable, farmable, or bought fairly cheaply on the AH. I got lucky with Bling and got him out of a gift package, but he is still on the AH from time to time, and killing the Panadaren Spirit Tamers daily will net you plenty of Pandaren Spirits, which are also very cheap on the AH. In all, I lose three pets total on the four bosses.

[Superdmason]

As long as we're tossing out walkthroughs for the tournament, I'll throw mine into the ring that I have on my blog - [url]http://petcharge.wordpress.com/guides-and-strategies/celestial-tournament/[/url]

As many have stated the tournament does take some focused preparation, but once you learn the dance you'll be dancing on their heads in no time. The hardest part is in the beginning finding what works for you.