New WoD tamers and how to beat them with only two pets

[Ryazan]

Ello, slowly back from my pet hiatus here and I have now spent several hours and days in the beta to figure out effective setups against the new pet tamers found in Draenor.

There are total of six new grand master tamers to be fought. Like before, they can be used to level up your lowbie pets, but they are also part of the new [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/achievement=9069]An Awfully Big Adventure[/url] achievement where you need to beat pretty much every tamer while having the new Tailoring-pet, [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=82464]Elekk Plushie[/url], in your team. The fun part of this pet is that is has huuuuge HP pool but not a single ability which deals damage making it basically a punching bag with four legs.

Anyhow, I've written a step-by-step instructions how to beat the following Draenor pet tamers using only two level 25 pets (links point to my comment for the respective tamer in Wowhead):

• [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=87124#comments:id=2008943]Ashlei[/url] (Shadowmoon Valley)
• [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=83837#comments:id=2008991]Cymre Brightblade[/url] (Gorgrond)
• [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=87122#comments:id=2010330]Gargra[/url] (Frostfire Ridge)
• [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=87125#comments:id=2009009]Taralune[/url] (Talador)
• [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=87110#comments:id=2009032]Tarr the Terrible[/url] (Nagrand)
• [url=http://wod.wowhead.com/npc=87123#comments:id=2010378]Vesharr[/url] (Spires of Arak)

Note: The elekk can just hang around in your team, you don't actually have to use it unlike a lowbie pet which needs to battle a round in order to gain XP. However, most of my tacts involve some soaking from the elekk/lowbie so this doesn't concern these tactics that much. You can shave off a round or two from Ashlei and Vesharr though.

And some comments/notes from the fights:

• None of my tactics require some super-rare pet (like Blizz Store or TCG pets); some battles require certain pet breed though but that's it.
• Most of the teams also work if you are carrying a lowbie pet for leveling purposes, though in some cases they might need to soak a hit or two. Cymre is the exception as she is the hardest of the tamers to two-pet and I haven't been able to find a way to win her while having a lowbie in my team.
• I tried to minimize the RNG-factor in the fights, but Lady Luck can sometimes still mess your plans - especially against Vesharr.
• My tactics might not be the most fastest or optimized ones, but they do their job nevertheless.
• I linked my Wowhead comments so I only have to maintain them on one site.
• Most importantly, I am keeping the comments to up to date with beta builds to make sure they are working. I might not check them on every build, but I will test them ~weekly.

[Ryazan]

You have become my favorite person today. Thank you so much for this! Now I know what I should be leveling :D

You're welcome. :) Do keep in mind though that there's still a good month left of beta, so things can still change. Though I can bet not all of them will change so drastically that they all would backfire. ^^

[Chibimage]

Oh I've done this, but for all 44

Only 3 left today to finish as the Celestial Tournament takes awhile to finish , waiting each week for new tamers, etc

[url=http://murlocharbor.com/an-awfully-big-adventure-elekk-plushie-achievement/]Murloc Harbor "An Awfully Big Adventure"[/url]

^^^ I wrote this on the request of Jonathan LeCraft the developer, who I've been bouncing feedback back and forth with via Twitter for a while. He's tweaked several of the Tamers since I've given feedback and it's been really fun!

I expect as long as the Celestial Tournament tamers are the correct final three, I'll be done with the write up today.

[Kpb321]

Oh I've done this, but for all 44

Only 3 left today to finish as the Celestial Tournament takes awhile to finish , waiting each week for new tamers, etc

[url=http://murlocharbor.com/2014/10/03/an-awfully-big-adventure-feedback-and-thoughts/]Murloc Harbor "An Awfully Big Adventure"[/url]

^^^ I wrote this on the request of Jonathan LeCraft the developer, who I've been bouncing feedback back and forth with via Twitter for a while. He's tweaked several of the Tamers since I've given feedback and it's been really fun!

I expect as long as the Celestial Tournament tamers are the correct final three, I'll be done with the write up today.

For Taran Zhu: I regularly carry a pet against him on live with Mr grubbs and Mr Wiggles. With the changes to hoof on beta it should make it even more reliable. Start with wiggles as he is immune to the stun being a critter. Swap to Mr Grubbs when the first pet is going to feign.

A more generic team from my guide that should be able to carry a pet:
Snail (2/2/1)
Grub (2/1/1)
Any backup pet. Another snail or grub is probably the best.

Keep Shell Shield up and beat on him with Absorb until Yen is below half health and will feign. Just remember he will heal from his racial so might not be below half health after that. On his feign turn swap to the grub. The snail is a critter and is immune to the stun and Absorb get the bonus for being strong against humans so with Shell Shield reducing the damage he deals you should easily get him to half health.
Your basic rotation with your grub is Consume, Acidic Goo, Consume, Leap. When you get blinded by Bolo use Leap. You won’t do any damage but you’ll still get the buff and can Consume first the next round. Same for after you finish Bolo and Yen swaps in because he’ll feign again. Against Li when you get stunned prioritize using Consume and keeping Acidic Goo up. Your grub should be able to finish the fight using this same rotation. If not you’ve got your snail to finish off Yen and what ever backup pet you brought with you.
Neither the Snail or the Grub will kill the opponent quickly but both end up being very durable against this team and either can go a long way and could come close to soloing the fight with a little luck. An Imperial Silkworm is a critter and immune to the stun like the snail and with Sticky Goo can keep Yen from swapping out if you want avoid having to kill him last because of Feign Death.

[Chibimage]

Taran Zhu has already been nerfed and a Maggot/Crow team easily beats him. Cymre Brightblade is headed for the bat with this build going in now (everyone that's been testing her with 2 pets is happy about that) and the last 3 Celestial Tamers that I was going to give feedback for are easily done with 2 so it looks like the achievement is absolutely doable without much of a fuss.

I think it's important that an achievement like this is really more about having a stable of 25s to be able to beat whatever comes your way and making the travel around the world -- not about undue difficulty. Thankfully the devs agree! I am super glad this remains a delightfully fun and wonderful addition to the main game <3

[Jerebear]

Ryazan,

Just a note you may or may not be aware of. For the achievement, you don't need to have the plushie participate. Sometimes it is beneficial to have it soak a hit (as you did in your Cymre), but you'll still get credit even if you never use it. I don't know if that helps optimize your strats much or if you already knew it, but just wanted to pass that along.

[Ryazan]

Ryazan,

Just a note you may or may not be aware of. For the achievement, you don't need to have the plushie participate. Sometimes it is beneficial to have it soak a hit (as you did in your Cymre), but you'll still get credit even if you never use it. I don't know if that helps optimize your strats much or if you already knew it, but just wanted to pass that along.

Yup, I suspected this as well. Though in my tactics, four out of six battles I'm using the elekk/lowbie to take an ability from the enemy pet. In Ashlei and Vesharr the swap is causing a lose of round(s). But I'll edit that information in, thanks. :)

[Ryazan]

Taran Zhu has already been nerfed and a Maggot/Crow team easily beats him. Cymre Brightblade is headed for the bat with this build going in now (everyone that's been testing her with 2 pets is happy about that) and the last 3 Celestial Tamers that I was going to give feedback for are easily done with 2 so it looks like the achievement is absolutely doable without much of a fuss.

I see Cymre nerfed a bit in this build but she is also broken: It's takes SIX rounds in order the Dark Rebirth to burn out Idol rather than the intended 5 rounds (20% each). Idol takes 353 damage each turn which leaves him up with 4 HP after the 5th tick which smells like a rounding-related bug (1 769 HP / 5 = 353,8 > 353 * 5 = 1 765).

Had to alter my tactic because a bit of this but I'm fairly sure that's not intended.

[Chibimage]

You can completely bypass the Dark Rebirth round by simply doing something else and not killing him when the buff is up!
(He will always cast it when he is less than 250 hps - so try and get him that low and let him cast Dark Rebirth - pop a buff or pass, it will go away, kill him!)

For the tougher fights on the Plushie achievements I may do videos. Most of the 44, however, are easy and some are so easy it doesn't matter what pets you use at all.

[Klaital]

You can completely bypass the Dark Rebirth round by simply doing something else and not killing him when the buff is up!
(He will always cast it when he is less than 250 hps - so try and get him that low and let him cast Dark Rebirth - pop a buff or pass, it will go away, kill him!)

For the tougher fights on the Plushie achievements I may do videos. Most of the 44, however, are easy and some are so easy it doesn't matter what pets you use at all.

Yeah I think the trickiest fights will be the celestial tournament ones. From the ones that were up this week I did Sully with p/p Fjord Worg Pup and p/p Baby Ape, and I also did Cho with two pets, just can't remember which two they were... didn't manage to do Goldbloom with two pets though.

[Jerebear]

didn't manage to do Goldbloom with two pets though.

If you have been doing CT for a while, then I would suggest using Xu-Fu against Ion:

Prowl + Moonfire will either kill the dactyl in two rounds or make him feign the next.
Spirit claws spam usually kills Chaos before moonfire comes back off cooldown. After that I usually get a hit in on the 3rd pet. There is a rare chance Choas can kill you, but it doesn't happen to me often. After that I bring in a robo chicken and use overtune to stay faster and then use wind up and batter as needed.

[Ryazan]

Quick update: I did some tweaking to my Cymre tactic, and I was able to create a way to also have a lowbie pet for leveling purposes in your team. The carry pet needs 420 HP in order to survive which I find acceptable as before I couldn't even use one. :P

[Merana]

I'm confused. You say a H/S Shadeling outspeeds Tarr's pets, but it only has higher speed stat than one of his pets, did that change recently or am I missing something?

[Ryazan]

I'm confused. You say a H/S Shadeling outspeeds Tarr's pets, but it only has higher speed stat than one of his pets, did that change recently or am I missing something?

Hmmm, that is interesting. They might have changed it but nevertheless, I tested my tactic last night and it worked out pretty much as I have written it. I could also swear that Shadeling outspeeded Deathy despite Wowhead states Deathy is in fact 3 speed faster... But I'll check again tonight just to be sure.

[Klaital]

Have you tried using Lil' Tarecgosa to aoe down Taralune's team with arcane explosion/Arcane Storm? I am not in the beta so can't try it myself but I would imagine that should work quite well since all her pets are fliers.

[Ryazan]

Have you tried using Lil' Tarecgosa to aoe down Taralune's team with arcane explosion/Arcane Storm? I am not in the beta so can't try it myself but I would imagine that should work quite well since all her pets are fliers.

I haven't, and the problem with Lil' T is that she isn't exactly a pet which is readily available to everyone. Chrominius however is so I might give him a shot but he might have problems with the first moth due to the interrupt, Cocoon Strike and the Feedback doing normal damage (Rascal gets reduced dmg from it). Not sure can he land enough hits before taking too much damage but I'll test this.

[Jerebear]

Have you tried using Lil' Tarecgosa to aoe down Taralune's team with arcane explosion/Arcane Storm? I am not in the beta so can't try it myself but I would imagine that should work quite well since all her pets are fliers.

I use Chrominius with Ancient Blessing and Arcane Explosion + a sweeper (No howl bomb setup? I must be crazy). Not the fastest team, but it works even after the changes.

[Ryazan]

Have you tried using Lil' Tarecgosa to aoe down Taralune's team with arcane explosion/Arcane Storm? I am not in the beta so can't try it myself but I would imagine that should work quite well since all her pets are fliers.

I use Chrominius with Ancient Blessing and Arcane Explosion + a sweeper (No howl bomb setup? I must be crazy). Not the fastest team, but it works even after the changes.

^ this works aye (used Nexus). I accidentally managed to finish off Taralune's pets today, so I'll update the step-by-step guide tomorrow/day after tomorrow when I can verify the course of the battle. :oops:

And to Merana, I checked Tarr, both Murkalot and Deathy actually have 260 speed in the beta. So Wowhead might have some outdated data in this case.

[Merana]

Brilliant, thanks! I went to look at Tarr's pets myself too, and you're right. Your team set up worked like a charm too.