Pets worth leveling?

[Xaromir]

I'm currently trying to decide what pets to level which isn't so easy. At some point I thought "just go by the numbers", but that usually doesn't make a lot of sense. Got myself a Unborn Valkyr, which I absolutely love, despite it not making either of the top lists. That DOT attack is simply sweet. So I was wondering: What do I have to level? Which pets actually stand out from a practical standpoint? I'm going to level my Lil' Ragnaros and maybe a moth, but then I'm basically out of ideas.

[Genome]

I guess it depends on what it is that you want to do. If you are strictly going for PvE, I would say the following pets are "must have":

Anubisath Idol
Some sort of moth
Pandaren Water Spirit
Chrominus/Alpine Foxling (basically, anything with [ability]Howl[/ability])
A fast rabbit
Kun-Lai Runt
Nether Ray Fry (jack-of-all trades)
Lil' Bling
Menagerie Custodian

There are lots more, but these pets will get you through just about everything that the PvE game will throw at you, and all of them have uses in the Celestial Tournament as well. As for the Tourney, I would suggest taking Chi-Chi as your first Celestial Pet as I find him the most versatile of the four (for PvE and PvP), with Xu-Fu slightly below him (debate-able here as he can be a powerhouse when used correctly).

Now, PvP is a whole new can of worms, and would require tons-o-text to go through it all. There are several good threads on this site about a good stable of pets for PvP. Here is a recent topic regarding getting set up:

[url]http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10830[/url]

One more thing. I am not sure what lists you are reading, but the Valk is the most (or tied for most) broken pet currently in the game. Haunt needs to be addressed in a SERIOUS way...

[Echinacea]

I guess it depends on what it is that you want to do. If you are strictly going for PvE, I would say the following pets are "must have":

Anubisath Idol
Some sort of moth
Pandaren Water Spirit
Chrominus/Alpine Foxling (basically, anything with [ability]Howl[/ability])
A fast rabbit
Kun-Lai Runt
Nether Ray Fry (jack-of-all trades)
Lil' Bling
Menagerie Custodian

There are lots more, but these pets will get you through just about everything that the PvE game will throw at you, and all of them have uses in the Celestial Tournament as well. As for the Tourney, I would suggest taking Chi-Chi as your first Celestial Pet as I find him the most versatile of the four (for PvE and PvP), with Xu-Fu slightly below him (debate-able here as he can be a powerhouse when used correctly).

Now, PvP is a whole new can of worms, and would require tons-o-text to go through it all. There are several good threads on this site about a good stable of pets for PvP. Here is a recent topic regarding getting set up:

[url]http://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10830[/url]

One more thing. I am not sure what lists you are reading, but the Valk is the most (or tied for most) broken pet currently in the game. Haunt needs to be addressed in a SERIOUS way...

i would add clockwork gnome or pocket reaver

[Xaromir]

Howl is a really good idea actually. Never considered it before. Actually I do mean specifically for PVP - I'm mainly through with PVE I guess, though I still have to do the timeless isle nonsense. (Don't even know where to start that). Currently I'm trying to find good competitive pets from every category.

As for howl: I do LOVE Chrominus, but I already have Onyxian Whelpling as a dragon kin, though I think Fjord Worg Pup or Stitched Pup may actually be better choices.

[Genome]

Currently I'm trying to find good competitive pets from every category.

Some examples of strong PvP pets from each family (with specific breed where applicable and nothing too hard to get or expensive to buy) would be:

Aquatic - Emperor Crab (p/p) / Leopard Tree Frog (s/s) / Pengu
Beast - Xu-Fu (takes 2-3 weeks to get, but he is essentially free) / Cat (s/s) / Direhorns
Critter - Spring Rabbit (s/s) / Squirrel (s/s) / Mr. Wiggles
Dragonkin - Spawn of Onyxia (p/p) / Infinite Whelpling (p/p) / Emerald Proto-Drake/Nether Fairy Dragon (s/s for NFD)
Elemental - Fel Flame (h/s) / Terrible Turnip / Tiny Snowman
Flyer - Crow/Raven / Moth / Imperial Eagle Chick
Humanoid - Sporeling Sprout (p/p) / Harbinger of Flame/Kun-Lai Runt (p/p) / Fiendish Imp (s/s)
Magic - Jade Oozeling (p/p) / Twilight Fiendling (h/h) / Oily Slimeling (h/h)
Mechanical - Lil' Bling / Warbot / Blue Clockwork Rocketbot/Cogblade Raptor (s/s for both)
Undead - Scourged Whelpling (h/h) / Fossilized Hatchling / Ghostly Skull (h/h)

Of course, these only represent some strong examples from each family, not broken stuff

[Awq]

Fjord Worg Pup or Stitched Pup

I find these pets stronger than Chrominius.
Both the Moth and Ragnaros are good ideas.

Do you mind to upgrade pets or catch the same pets with different breeds?

You seem happy with your Unborn Val'Kyr. I assume that you want to build a PvP team around this pet.
You are in luck. The Unborn Val'Kyr is a strong pet that can do well! It will go well with a lot of pets. Some ability combinations work really well together with Curse of Doom, Haunt and Unholy Ascension.

Potential synergy with Unborn Val'Kyr:
Fast pets that can control the opponent (Dodge/Stun/Clobber/Blinding Poison/Decoy)
Pet that increase the damage of Haunt/Curse of Doom (Howl/Stampede/Corrosion)
Pets with strong heals (Consume Corpse/Wish)

You can, of course, pair the Val'Kyr with any strong pet. Synergy with other pets make the Val'Kyr shine in my opinion.

Ideas:
Unborn Val'Kyr (Attack / Curse Of doom / Haunt) + speedy Death Adder Hatchling (Poison, Blinding Poison, Puncture Wound) + Arctic Hare (Flurry / Dodge / Burrow) or Moth (Attack / Cocoon / Dust) or Emperor Crab (Surge / Shield/ Healing Wave)
You do not own a Death Adder Hatchling, but this pet has strong synergy with the Val'Kyr through its avoidance and speed. You basically avoid a lot of attack, while Haunt does its damage.

Unborn Val'Kyr + Arctic Hare (Flurry / Dodge / Burrow) + Lil Bad Wolf (Claw+Dodge+Howl)/ Deathy (Attack / Call Darkness / Stun)
The idea behind this team is similar to the heal team (below), it however does not have heals. It rather uses avoidance to get maximum efficiency from haunt. You use Haunt (+ optional Curse of Doom) and swap in the most favorable match-up. Arctic Hare is a super fast pet that can dodge for 3 turns in a row while haunt ticks. Lil Bad Wolf can use its avoidance for two rounds AND buff the damage from Haunt+Curse of Doom by 100%.
You can use Deathy as a replacement for Lil Bad Wolf, to have a better chance versus healing/aquatic teams.
Note. Deathy has 289 speed, which is mediocre. Its stun only works when you are faster. Lil bad Wolf would be better overall, but both teams can work.
You can replace these avoidance pet with other pets that have avoidance + decent speed.

Unborn Val'Kyr (Attack / Curse Of doom / Haunt) + Singing Sunflower (Solar Beam / Photosynthesis/ Sunlight) + Magical Crawdad (Attack / Shield / Wish)
This is a very slow team. You basically slowly stall your enemies to dead. A match usually goes: (optional Curse of Doom) Haunt -> Photosynthesis -> Sunlight -> Swap Crawdad -> (optional attack) Wish. All three team members must stay alive for as long as possible.
As you have noticed, Haunt is really strong. This team kills pets through Haunt, while the Singing Sunflower and Magical Crawdad survive.
There will be teams that will be a stalemate. It will take some time for you how to play this team, the wins an hour will be quite low even when you win a lot. You might find the playstyle very boring, it however is a decent team.
Note. When I replace the Unborn Val'Kyr with another pet that has Photosynthesis it becomes a very useful team for the Celestial Tournament. It is terribly slow, but it has killed 4 trainers for me (it might be able to kill more).

Unborn Val'Kyr + Stitched Pup (Bite / Howl / Consume Corpse) or Blighthawk (Bite / Consume Corpse / Lift-Off) + Moth (Attack / Cocoon / Dust)
You can use consume every Haunt! This makes the Blighthawk a very durable pet with avoidance (Lift Off). You can add a strong Flyer to counter the aquatics.

Unborn Val'Kyr + Blighthawk (Bite / Consume Corpse / Cyclone) + Lurky (Punch / Lucky Dance / Stun)
This team is build around two setups. Unborn Val'Kyr has synergy with Consume Corpse and Clobber (when Lurky is faster). Cyclone has synergy with Lucky Dance. This will be a difficult team to pull off. It isn't that strong, but it has a Murloc!

Unborn Val'Kyr (Attack/Curse of Doom, Unholy Ascension), Toothy (Rip, Surge, Blood in the Water), Infested Bear Cub (Undead attack, Stun, Maul)
Buffed damage from Ascension, combined with two pets that work really well together (Rip/Blood in the Water/Maul).

These are just a few random suggestions. I am not sure if these teams will work for you. I have not tested the Murloc teams, but they seem fun!
Note: Emperor Crab/Spirebound Crab will counter around 20% of the teams by itself.

Twilight Fiendling (h/h)

I never used this pet. I'm intersted in getting one. How do you use it? ^^

[Genome]

I never used this pet. I'm intersted in getting one. How do you use it? ^^

I like using him vs. Jademists and Anubs. With [ability]Adrenal Glands[/ability], both [ability]Creepy Chomp[/ability] and [ability]Creeping Ooze[/ability] wind up hitting fairly hard, and the Magic racial works decently vs, the buffed Jademist. He also makes a fairly strong finisher, though there are obviously better choices. I like pairing him with something with [ability]Dazzling Dance[/ability] to give him great speed, which goes with his great (buffed) strength and health, and a Howl debuff to set him up. Also, a Jade Oozeling that applies Acidic Goo or something with a stampede to debuff works very well. He isn't top-tier or anything, but I find him one of the more useful Magic family pets.

[Corah]

I love my [pet]clockwork gnome[/pet]! Another good one that I use all the time is [pet]water waveling[/pet]. [pet]Scourged whelpling[/pet] or [pet]spawn of onyxia[/pet] are useful as well, make sure they're slow but powerful. I also suggest some sort of crab.

[Vek]

Here are a couple of pets per family that I find very useful in PvP at the moment.
Aquatic: Toothy/Snarly, Swamp Croaker
Beast: Vengeful Porcupette(my absolute favourite right now), H/H Elder Python, P/P Baby Ape, Kovok
Critter: S/S Praire Mouse, Mr. Wiggles
Dragonkin: Death Talon Whelpguard
Elemental: H/S Tiny Bog Beast, H/S Tiny Twister
Flying: P/P Azure Crane Chick, P/S Highlands Turkey
Humanoid: S/S Qiraji Guardling(only be caught in summer so if you don't have it yet get your ass to silithus)
Magic: Spectral Porcupette
Mechanical: Mechanical Chicken, Mechanopeep, Warbot(no brainer)
Undead: Spirit Crab, Voodoo Figurine, H/S Restless Shadeling

[Kendrah]

Got myself a Unborn Valkyr, which I absolutely love, despite it not making either of the top lists. That DOT attack is simply sweet.

What lists are you looking at? It's number one on battle list and number two on the appearance list. =P

[Skavenged]

Here are a couple of pets per family that I find very useful in PvP at the moment.
Aquatic: Toothy/Snarly, Swamp Croaker
Beast: Vengeful Porcupette(my absolute favourite right now), H/H Elder Python, P/P Baby Ape, Kovok
Critter: S/S Praire Mouse, Mr. Wiggles
Dragonkin: Death Talon Whelpguard
Elemental: H/S Tiny Bog Beast, H/S Tiny Twister
Flying: P/P Azure Crane Chick, P/S Highlands Turkey
Humanoid: S/S Qiraji Guardling(only be caught in summer so if you don't have it yet get your ass to silithus)
Magic: Spectral Porcupette
Mechanical: Mechanical Chicken, Mechanopeep, Warbot(no brainer)
Undead: Spirit Crab, Voodoo Figurine, H/S Restless Shadeling

Vek, I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts. You always come up with the most creative teams that most people would never think of. Even your list of useful pets is intriguing. Other than the Guardling, pretty much all of them are rare in PvP, even though they can be very successful. I've come to dread facing that dang mechanical chicken, and I personally love the vengeful and spectral porcupettes. I can't even imagine how many times you must win, simply from the "Didn't see that coming" factor. Kudos on the creativity

[Vek]

Thanks for your kind words Skavenged, inspires me to keep it up.

I have for sure won lots of games just because my opponent was not all that familiar with the pet/pets I was using. Sometimes you can almost feel them(mostly by the suddenly longer wait time) thinking "what just happened?" or "this is not the pet I expected".

I always feel a bit sad running into the same old pets over and over. There are so many to chose from already, will be even more when WoD arrives, but a lot of them never or very rarely see the battlefield. I get it with certain pets that there are dozen of pets with the same ability sets for example. But with a little patience you can find a good breed amongst those that make that pet just a little bit better.

[Awq]

The Vengeful Porcupette seems very interesting, I won't deny that. It can be faster than the Death Adder Hatchling after two powerballs. It can lock down any Multi attack and inflict heavy self damage (when faster).

I however can't get it to work for me. I tried it on two different days (when it came out and a few weeks ago) with different movesets. It seems fragile and weak against people with burst. I find it too slow (give me 289s) and powerball requires too much ramp-up.
I am however pretty sure that I am playing it wrong. I hope that you are willing to answer some questions regarding this pet! ^^

What kind of match-ups are you looking for (except Death Adder/Fel Flame etc)?
Do you use Powerball, Spirit Spikes and Flank (has my preference) or Powerball, Spirit Spikes and Vengeance (or something else)?
Is this pet mainly a finisher?
Does this pet require support from Yu'La/Harmonious Porcupette to shine (to give it the ramp up time it needs)?
Is this pet a stand-alone (as in, it does not require synergy from teammates) pet?

I love the Spectral Porcupette. I knew I would like the Vengeful alternative, and it quite frustrates me that I can not get it to work.

[Vek]

Awq I use the Vengeful Porcupette against pretty much any pet, even against some mechanicals to a lesser degree when Spirit Spikes is available. The absolutely worst match-up I can think of is against a pet with Shell Shield and Surge, just no use unless you manage to get a wild magic debuff on them and even then it is almost a loss anyway.

I always run it with Powerball, Spirit Spikes, Flank. I see not much point in bite, it is better to get speed and use spirit spikes against any critter you face. Survival does have uses but for me Spirit Spikes is superior move on the Vengeful Porcupette. Vengeance might seem interesting but to get the most out of it you have to be hit really hard and after you have used Vengeance you are stuck with Powerball until the cooldown is over.

With only critter attacks, and the magic spirit spikes, you will not do that much damage against humanoids. But you will be faster(unless you run into Sporeling Sprout with Charge or an Imp with Rush) so Flank will still do decent enough damage(especially while beast racial is up) and Spirit Spikes is not weak. Idol and Guardling are possibly the worst with Sandstorm, but it is not an auto loss if you can use spirit spikes and the gap in sandstorm to your advantage.

Mechancial will of course hurt you bad, as they do all beast pets, but I have had much luck especially against the Clockwork Gnome since Spirit Spikes will protect you for two turns worth of Turret damage.

Other than these I feel the Porcupette preforms very well. Things that it can really take down quickly is Death Adder Hatchling, Undead(exception is Spirit Crab with Shell+Surge) and Birds. Spirit Spikes does really huge damage against birds(seen it crit for 800), and you can either use it first to get a safer powerball going or just powerball a couple of times and then spirit spikes.

You mention the speed and sometimes I also wish it could be faster, but in return it has no wasted points in speed. Powerball to me is the best speed buff spell since it does not drop off. More often than not you will only require one or two powerballs to control the speed game. Rarely do I need to do more powerballs, only if I suffer from a speed debuff or want to prepare for a flying pet that is not below 50%.

Not sure if you have read discodoggys blog. Two of the most recent entries uses the vengeful and there is some discussion in the comment section:
[url]http://pvppetbattles.com/daily-battle/august-9-2014/[/url]
[url]http://pvppetbattles.com/daily-battle/august-12-2014/[/url]

Flank(while faster) will destroy undead pets. When beast racial is active you will do 600-900 damage in one turn.
Spirit Spikes really destroys birds. Important is that for the damage to be applied the opponents attacks need to be strong enough to punch through the shield, if it is blocked they won't be hurt in return. Chi-Chi is a nice example, each of it's Fire Quill attacks is strong enough and this means it will take about 500 damage in return per hit. A weak rabbit flurry for example will just be blocked and the rabbit won't take any damage. And often on Alpha Strike the first hit is strong enough while the second is not. One nice thing is of course that the shield applies to each hit you take, so it's not that bad being hit by a Conflagrate or Puncture Wound since your opponent will probably take more damage in return than it did to you.

To make this post even longer I want to give you a couple of scenarios against a Death Adder.

vs average player or someone not familiar with the Vengeful Porcupette.
1. Blind Poison / Powerball
2. Poison Fang / Powerball
3. Now you are faster and do Spirit Spikes. DAH player goes through the motions that always work and do a Puncture Wound and will be hit doubly in return. You are protected from poison tick.
4. Flank(hits 2-3 times) while the DAH can only do a Poison Fang, you are still protected by Spirit Spikes so it will take damage again. You are protected from poison tick.
5. Flank = dead DAH. Porcupette well alive and ready for next pet and already with above 341 speed.

vs more experienced DAH user
1. Poison Fang / Powerball
2. Puncture Wound / Powerball
3. Now the DAH user thinks you will do Spirit Spikes since thats what you usually do so instead of attacking they do Blind Poison. But since they already used Puncture Wound you do Flank(2-3 times) instead.
4. Now you do Spirit Spikes, since it is not affected by blind. They do Poison Fang and get hurt.
5. Flank(2-3) times again and the DAH is still stuck with Poison Fang and will get hurt from Spirit Spikes.
6. Flank = dead DAH.

If I were to give advice the best thing for a DAH to use is:
1. Blind Poison / Powerball
2. Puncture Wound / Powerball
3. Switch to another pet. / Spirit Spikes

And the best solution for the Vengeful use is then to either switch and save the now faster Porcupette, or do a Flank during the Spirit Spikes turn and then switch.

[Awq]

Thank you very much for this amazing post.

I assumed that Flank would be the way to go, but I was not sure.
I finally understand this pet thanks to your post! It seems like Vengeful is a more reliable version of the Spectral Porcupette.

I do not read disco's blog, but those posts have been useful.
Yesterday I leveled 20's pets through PvP with Porcupette + X. I personally wanted to try Kovok/Ch-Chi, Gnome, Vengeful as a more serious team and work from there

My biggest problem is probably that I used the Spectral Porcupette way too much. These two pets have very different match-ups/roles/ Yesterday I swapped in the Vengeful Porcupette when i anticipated an Ion Cannon >< Beasts sadly do not take 35% health from Ion Cannon.

[Ravnhawk]

Awesome this helps me a lot. I am as you call the PvP challenged even though guildies are constantly trying to help me out.