5.2 Battle Pets!

So I have read all this stuff about 5.2 on elite battle pets and raid drop pets and fishing pets, but I must have missed the part about new battle pets!  It became imperative for me to capture each of these guys.  I swear, I still did my new Kirin Tor Offensive dailies!  (See the rep in the screenshot above!?)  But there was some pet battling on the side…  No rares, but I found four, which all look awesome!  The MOST awesome part?  The new Thunder Isle has some blue theme going on, of which I strongly approve!

Electrified Razortooth – This guy is too awesome and probably my Shaman’s new sidekick.

Thundertail Flapper – An electric beaver??

Elder Python – A very nice updated snake look.

Swamp Croaker

On a strange aside, I know Navimie was talking the other day about how horrible and boxy frog pets are…  Well, apparently Blizzard was thinking the same and gave us a new frog model!  This lil guy looks great!  (And he comes in blue!)

~ Effy

Afterthought: I thought the dark blue/purple background inside the Shrine would be a good backdrop, but it seems too dark.  The lil Razortooth guy looks great, but I will probably have to take some better pics later…  After some sleep.  🙂  And they need names, which is not happening while I am this tired.  hehe  But they all look great with Effy’s T14 set!

Birfday Present

He’s pink!

On top of the awesome Happy Birthday video he left in my comments, my friend and guildie Amowrath also gave me this lil guy for a present.  So obviously, I had to name him Amo.  ❤

Thanks, Amo!  😀

~ Effy

Toxic Wasteling!

Woot!  No Spirit necklace yet, but a pet that in my 3 years I have yet to receive until today!  I thought Schmutz was an appropriate name.

Oh, and this is Ireenia’s work-in-progress outfit.  Still working on the shoulders.

~ Effy

Pet Battle Addons

Someone asked me about my pet battle addons, and at the time, I only used one: PetTracker.

Since I recently discovered the wonderfulness (and insanity) of Breed IDs, I have added a few.  I figured it was as good a time as any to showcase them real quick.

PetTracker

The skills of the pet I am battling appear above my own pet’s skills

PetTracker is where the UI for my pet battles comes from.  I like the setup a lot.  It is clean and easy to read.  The skills of the pet I am fighting show up right above my own pet bar.  There is a nice interface and system to view all pet skills through tooltips and the pet switching option – including whether the pet’s skill are strong or weak against the other active pet.

I like that pet upgrades are shown very prominently

When a pet/rarity I do not possess enters a battle, it gives me a very visible notification.  The rarity of the pets I am fighting are very easy to see, in the icon’s border, the pets’ names, and in the health bars of currently inactive pets.

PetTracker updates the journal, giving it search and filter options which are wonderful.

Pet Journal Filters

Pet Family filters – this is the filter I use the most

Sources Filter

Sort Options – Default is by Name. Sometimes I also sort by Level.

PetTracker also adds options to the map and quest tracker.  I can track pets I am missing and pets I do not have maxed in rarity on the map.

Map filter options – showing pets of which I do not have Rares

The quest tracker lists the current zone’s pets that I am missing, and has a progression bar showing the number of pets in the zone, how many I have, and the distribution of rarities.

Quest Tracker

The map and quest tracker options were priceless when I first started, and throughout my main leap through capturing pets.  It is still proving very helpful while I max out their rarities.

There is also an option to jump to a specific pet in the Pet Journal.  You can either do this from the map…

Right-click the pet’s dot to jump to it in the Pet Journal

Or from a pet battle…

Right-click the pet’s portrait

About the only thing I could ask for from PetTracker would be minimap tracking and some ability to track one specific pet.  Because pets I have a rare of, but I am trying to capture a better rare, do not show up on the map unless I show all, which makes finding the one I need difficult.

Better Battle Pet Tooltips

One thing I noticed was missing from PetTracker – although mousing over a battle pet showed me 0/3, 1/3, 2/3, 3/3 for each pet, it did not show me what rarity of that pet I had.  Some pets, I would like a rare, but I am not feeling particular about their Breed ID at the moment.

This tooltip addon shows me how many I have and the highest rarity.  The tooltip even works on the minimap, which I really like.

Pet Battle Teams

I have not gotten the full hang of this addon yet, and perhaps it is because I change my teams too much with pets I am leveling.  But this addon lets me form and save teams, including saving their skills, which is my big downfall.  I hate swapping in a pet, jumping into a pet battle and realizing they have the wrong skills.  The only worse thing is jumping in and realizing half my pets are dead.  heh

Still working with this one.  I will get to playing with it more.  I am already starting to add pet trainer teams, as my leveling of lowbies is slowing down.

Battle Pet BreedID

This.  This was the big addon that I was looking for when I added a few more to my pet battling arsenal.

The Breed ID addon shows the Breed ID of all of the pets in your journal, including all the possible Breed IDs for that pet in the tooltip.  It also, wonderfully, shows the Breed ID of the pets you are fighting.  This goes for wild battle pets as well as trainer pets.

Tooltip – A pet with only one possible Breed ID (Aqua Strider)

Tooltip – Pet with multiple possible Breed IDs (Desert Spider)

By default, it shows the letter versions of each Breed ID, which is my preference, but there are options to change it to the numerical system.

Stats “at 25” shown are for a Rare quality pet.  I believe this is the case no matter what the current quality of the pet.

This addon is proving invaluable to the fine tuning of my team!

~ Effy

Note: I use ElvUI for my UI, so some of the windows may look different for this reason.  I find it clean and easy to modify, with altaholic options that allow me to use the same UI setup over all my toons.  🙂

Filling the Ranks

For the past week, I had been pushing for some of the pets I really want, many from my BiS list of last week.

DW, AKA Lil’ Deathwing – BiS P/P Dragonkin

One of those pets, as you can see from above, was Lil’ Deathwing, AKA DW.  Yup.  Even though I did not break down and buy it when it was new and shiny, I did finally buy the Collector’s Edition of Cataclysm.  I have made quick glances at the other expansions’ Collector’s Editions and… unless I meet with an expected windfall… yah, this one is it.  No matter how much I would like a Frosty or a Netherwhelp to complement my other dragons, those are a bit too rich for my blood.

I also got a rare TCG card from the Collector’s Edition, and I went to go make a shady deal in Booty Bay with Landro.  Poor Xarzith, she could not watch her mum deal with Goblins.

Alas, it was only Path of Cenarius. No epic mount. heh

However, many of the pets on my BiS list were battle pets, and so when not raiding last week and then over the weekend, I went hunting all over Azeroth.

I picked up and leveled all kinds of lil friends…

Kasi, the Cheetah Cub – BiS S/S Beast

Veloc, the Cogblade Raptor – BiS S/S Mechanical

 

Rangoon, the Emperor Crab – BiS P/P Aquatic

Blades, the Flayer Youngling – BiS S/S Humanoid

George, the Kun-Lai Runt _ BiS P/P Humanoid

 

Lil Ranico, the Sapphire Cub – BiS S/S Elemental (named for the one who gifted him to me)

Luna, the Silky Moth – BiS S/S Flying

Cinereal, the Silver Dragonhawk Hatchling – BiS S/S Dragonkin

 

 

Phoebe, the Nordrassil Wisp – second BiS S/S Magic (under the Zergling)

 

Wieva, the Nether Faerie Dragon – second BiS S/S and second P/P Dragonkin (her P/P counterpart is Hysvear)

 

There were some non-BiS distractions…

Lloth, the Desert Spider – second BiS S/S Beast pet, and I like their skill combos.

And there were some frustrations to be found…

Why why why must you spawn in the basement where I cannot engage you?? And you are friendly, so I cannot even kill you to respawn elsewhere!

I also did some dailies…

Yah, yah… Not exalted with Cloud Serpents, because it did not equal raid gear. >< But my hatchling loves me!

And some holiday stuff…

I made sure to finish up my achievements for my Elder title… Finally!

Too bad it will still be a while before I see my Violet Proto-Drake.  I still need Noblegarden and the PvP achievements from Children’s Week and Winter’s Veil.

I also finally convinced myself to battle the Pandaren Spirits.  That went pretty well, even while playing around with some pets I was still leveling.

 

Zemlya, the Pandaren Earth Spirit

So I acquired the earth spirit, and named him Zemlya, which means “earth” in Russian.  My plan is to use the other elements as names for my future Pandaren Spirits.

Now that I have a good deal of the pets I want – and many of those to 25 now – I am going to shift my focus.  I will still be working on my pet trainer dailies, but my main focus is going back to my alts.  Most importantly, my Monk, Ireenia.

Effy’s lil ward is growing up, and she is overdue for some playtime and some storytime.  My my!  How quickly they grow!

~ Effy

All in all, there was much pet battling…

Lots and lots

And many pet dings!

The BiS Pet List

I use the title mostly tongue-in-cheek, because it amuses me endlessly to compare pet battles in anyway to raiding.  I spent my lunch doing just what the title suggests: identifying what the “best” pets are.  By “best” (and I use quotation marks because this is based on only ONE set of factors) I am speaking to pets with the most stat points.

I have spent far too much time over the past two days going over Breed IDs and what this means to my current team.

I want the fastest, most powerful, highest survival team I can have.  For that, one thing I need is high stats!  First of all, that means Rare quality pets, since this is the highest available to us at the moment.  But beyond the Rare quality, there is Breed ID.  Breed ID is what determines a battle pet’s stat points per level – and in which stats those points are most heavily distributed.

Not sure what Breed ID means?  Well, here is a good, quick rundown.

Basically, Breed ID means that “well-balanced” pets are actually at a disadvantage, because they gain the least number of stat points per level.  The highest number of stat points per level go to very specialized pets – pets with high Health, high Attack Power, or high Attack Speed.

So below, find a list of the battle pets with the type-best Health, Power, and Speed.

Which is best to your style and even your particular fight is up to you, as this is just one way to organize my thoughts on the “best” pets.  In no way am I saying these pets are definitely better than other pets.  Because, as we all know, I would rather just run all Dragonkin.  🙂

I realized that some of the “best” pets are pretty much definitely unavailable to me.  So for those (ie. Mini Diablo) find the next best alternative(s).

Oh, and sorry, no links or pictures.  I did this on lunch.  So maybe I will put them in when I get home.

~ Effy

BiS Pets By Type

Note: This list assumes pets are Rare quality of the Breed ID listed.

Aquatic:

• P/P – (358) Emperor Crab
• S/S – (374) Aqua Strider
• H/H – (1969) Emerald Turtle

Beast:

• P/P – (358) Stunted Shardhorn
• S/S – (390) Cheetah Cub
• H/H – (1888) Clefthoof Runt, Devouring Maggot, Festering Maggot, Maggot

Critter:

• P/P – (370) Red Cricket
• S/S – (358) Alpine Hare, Arctic Hare, Brown Rabbit, Darkmoon Rabbit, Hare, Mountain Cottontail, Rabbit, Snowshoe Hare, Snowshoe Rabbit, Spring Rabbit, Tolai Hare, Tolai Hare Pup
• H/H – (1969) Scooter the Snail, Shimmershell Snail

Dragonkin:

• P/P – (358) Lil’ Deathwing –OR NEXT DOWN– (341) Emerald Proto-Whelp, Infinite Whelpling, Nether Faerie Dragon, Nexus Whelpling, Spawn of Onyxia, Thundering Serpent Hatchling
• S/S – (358) Silver Dragonhawk Hatchling?
• H/H – (1806) Blue Dragonhawk Hatchling?

Elemental:

• P/P – (374) Lil’ Ragnaros
• S/S – (390) Sapphire Cub
• H/H – (1969) Pebble

Flying:

• P/P – (341) Imperial Eagle Chick, Nether Ray Fry, Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling, Yellow Moth
• S/S – (358) Polly, Silky Moth, White Tickbird Hatchling
• H/H – (1888) Tiny Sporebat

Humanoid:

• P/P – (341) Kun-Lai Runt
• S/S – (325) Flayer Youngling, Hopling, Peddlefeet, Sporeling Sprout
• H/H – (1725) Anubisath Idol, Flayer Youngling, Sporeling Sprout

Magic:

• P/P – (358) Mini Diablo –OR NEXT DOWN– (341) Twilight Fiendling
• S/S – (390) Zergling –OR NEXT DOWN– (358) Nordrassil Wisp
• H/H – (1806) Jade Oozeling

Mechanical:

• P/P – (325) Warbot –OR NEXT DOWN– (322) Fluxfire Feline, Landros Lil’ XT, Lil’ XT
• S/S – (341) Cogblade Raptor
• H/H – (1888) Anodized Robo Cub

Undead:

• P/P – (309) Sen’jin Fetish
• S/S – (325) Mr. Bigglesworth
• H/H – (1888) Infested Bear Cub, Spirit Crab

Final Note: I have to look into the Dragonhawk Hatchlings.  I am confused as to how there can be multiple Breed IDs, when they are purchased from a vendor?  Perhaps I will fly out and buy six of one to check?  I will get back to you on that one.

The Pet Battle Cheatsheet

I thought it might be a good reference for myself to have all this easily available.  I currently have much of this scribbled on a couple pages in a notebook, but that is proving cumbersome, since I write other stuff in that notebook and have to keep flipping back.  Maybe it will be useful to someone else too!

Strengths (50% Extra Damage)

• Aquatic >> Strong Against >> Elemental
• Beast >> Strong Against >> Critter
• Critter >> Strong Against >> Undead
• Dragonkin >> Strong Against >> Magic
• Elemental >> Strong Against >> Mechanical
• Flying >> Strong Against >> Aquatic
• Humanoid >> Strong Against >> Dragonkin
• Magic >> Strong Against >> Flying
• Mechanical >> Strong Against >> Beast
• Undead >> Strong Against >> Humanoid

Weaknesses (33% Less Damage)

• Aquatic — Weak Against — Magic
• Beast — Weak Against — Flying
• Critter — Weak Against — Humanoid
• Dragonkin — Weak Against — Undead
• Elemental — Weak Against — Critter
• Flying — Weak Against — Dragonkin
• Humanoid — Weak Against — Beast
• Magic — Weak Against — Mechanical
• Mechanical — Weak Against — Elemental
• Undead — Weak Against — Aquatic

Passive Abilities

• Aquatic – Harmful Damage Over Time is reduced by 25%
• Beast – Deal 25% additional damage while below 50% health
• Critter – Break out of CC quicker
• Dragonkin – Deal 50% additional damage the round after reducing an enemy below 25%
• Elemental – Ignore all weather effects
• Flying – Gain 50% additional speed above 50% health
• Humanoid – Recover 4% maximum health each round they deal damage
• Magic – Cannot be dealt more than 40% of their maximum health in one attack
• Mechanical – Come back once per battle at 20% health
• Undead – Return to life for one round when killed

Effects

I include this section, because my ultimate goal is take full advantage of buffs/debuffs/weather to create a stronger attacking team.  For example, using Call Blizzard paired with Howling Blast, Ice Lance, and/or Deep Freeze.  And in turn using Deep Freeze with Takedown.

Buffs/Debuffs

Blinded

• Caused By:
  • Call Darkness
  • Flash
• Benefits:
  • Fury of 1,000 Fists
  • Light
  • Nocturnal Strike
  • Spectral Strike

Bleeding – DoT

• Caused By:
  • Rip
  • Woodchipper
• Benefits:
  • Blood in the Water
  • Maul

Burning – DoT

• Caused By:
  • Flamethrower
  • Immolate
  • Scorched Earth
• Benefits:
  • Conflagrate

Chilled

• Caused By:
  • Call Blizzard
  • Frost Nova
  • Slippery Ice
• Benefits:
  • Deep Freeze
  • Howling Blast
  • Ice Lance

Poisoned – DoT

• Caused By:
  • Acidic Goo
  • Poison Fang

Sleep – Incapacitate

• Caused By:
  • Emerald Dream (self-cast)
  • Food Coma
  • Hibernate (self-cast)
  • Moth Dust
  • Sleeping Gas
  • Soothe

Stunned – Incapacitate

• Caused By:
  • Bash
  • Blackout Kick
  • Clobber
  • Crystal Prison
  • Headbutt
  • Holy Justice
• Benefits:
  • Takedown

Webbed

• Caused By:
  • Brittle Webbing
  • Sticky Web
• Benefits:
  • Leech Life
  • Spiderling Swarm

Weather Effects

Arcane Storm – Pets cannot be stunned or rooted

• Caused By:
  • Arcane Storm
• Benefits:
  • Mana Surge
  • Psychic Blast

Blizzard – All pets are considered “Chilled”

• Caused By:
  • Call Blizzard
• Benefits:
  • Belly Slide
  • Deep Freeze
  • Howling Blast
  • Ice Lance

Cleansing Rain – The duration of all Damage over Time effects are reduced by 1 round and Aquatic pets do 25% more damage

• Caused By:
  • Cleansing Rain
• Benefits:
  • Dreadful Breath

Darkness – All pets are considered “Blinded” and all healing received is reduced by 50%

• Caused By:
  • Call Darkness
• Benefits:
  • Fury of 1,000 Fists
  • Light
  • Nocturnal Strike
  • Spectral Strike
  • Surge of Light

Lightning Storm – All pets deal bonus Mechanical damage and Mechanical abilities do 10% additional damage

• Caused By:
  • Call Lightning

Moonlight – All pets receive 25% additional healing and Magic abilities do 10% additional damage

• Caused By:
  • Moonfire
  • Starfall
• Benefits:
  • Creeping Fungus

Muddy – Pets entering the battle are Rooted for 3 rounds

• Caused By:
  • Mudslide

Sandstorm – Pets take less damage and the accuracy of all abilities is reduced by 10%

• Caused By:
  • Sandstorm

Scorched Earth – All pets are considered “Burning” and take Dragonkin damage per round

• Caused By:
  • Scorched Earth
• Benefits:
  • Conflagrate

Sunny Day – Pets gain 100% additional maximum health and all healing done is increased by 25%

• Caused By:
  • Illuminate
  • Sunlight
• Benefits:
  • Solar Beam
  • Photosynthesis

~ Effy

Research done mostly on the Pet Battle System page on WoWpedia and WoWhead’s Battle Pets section.

This may be edited as needed.  So if I missed anything or you see something is incorrect, please let me know!

Mini-Post: OMGOMGOMG

 

Kaegro, the Scourged Whelpling

So my, err, patience? okie, persistence? sure! has finally paid off.  After weeks of camping the area, hours upon hours of Lazheward flapping around on his proto there (and logging there), and no less than four hours just today – I finally have my Scourged Whelpling!!

Everyone, meet Kaegro (it is Draconic for “undead”).  I expect as Xarzith, my Azure Whelpling is my Shaman’s constant companion, this lil guy will be forever paired with DK-Effy.

The very very best part?  Even though these lil guys are usually instantly snatched up – I was able to inform my guildies, and two others picked one up!  😀

So, how can you catch one of your own?

Well, you could wait until 5.2 and the fixing of their spawn timer…  OR…

NOTE: I am not 100% on this, so do not quote me, but this is what I read and I think it actually worked!

The best time to find these guys – heck the only time it seems, as they never randomly spawn from what I have witnessed – is right after a server reset.  This endless frustrated me, as I have a Monday-Friday, 8-5 job.    But from what I read, in the WoWhead comments in the above link even, is that the rumor is the Scourged Whelplings spawn at the same time of the server’s reset EVERYDAY.

So, I have been camping the area midday all weekend for several weeks now.

It finally seems to have paid off.

We had a strange midweek reset yesterday in the afternoon, and sure enough it was about 3pm Laz’s screen was filled with lil green pawprints today!

Hopefully, anyone who reads this might be able to make that work to their advantage too.  But even with a hint, it was still a very long wait.

A worthwhile one, though.  Off to level Kaegro!

~ Effy

Practice Makes for… Less Fail?

Do not underestimate the mini blue powerhouse…

To say “practice makes perfect” would be a wee bit too presumptuous here. So I will settle for feeling a tad less fail as a pet battler.  And actually, I cannot really take the credit here.  It is all due to Xarzith!

I have finally gotten back to leveling the poor lil thing… after far too long.  I think she was out to prove herself…

Last one standing…

Yup, I went for the gold, and decided I wanted a big ol’ fat chunk of XP.  No lowbie trainers.  I brought Xarzith along to fight Grand Master Aki.  I was not feeling too positive about how the fight might go, but I figured I had a lot of bandages and some time.

Xarzith is a lil spitfire!

Aki, dear, you already said that…

She was the only one to survive – at Level 20 – over both Long Wei my Celestial Dragon and Kit Kat my Fluxfire Feline!

Surge of Power may have a 2 round cooldown, but it sure packs a wallop!  Now I am not really sure about trading it out for Ice Tomb…

Oh, Xarzith!  I promise never to doubt you again, lil one!  I shall stop being so protective of you!  <hugs>

~ Effy

EDIT: Xarzith is Level 25!  Yay!

Looking Fierce!

Ding!

 

Monday Musings: DK Effy

Gotta look good while leveling

After my post about the Effy’s, I realized I missed DK-Effy and honestly she should be my main Death Knight.  So I have taken to leveling her!  Caeridwen may become a purely farming toon, or perhaps farming and PvP.  We shall see.

Leveling amongst distractions…

It is always fun tanking on a DK, especially when that DK is Effy.  The only downside?  I keep trying to hit Ghost Wolf.  ><

I did spend some time on Effy too.  I did my pet trainer dailies, and on a whim, I decided to see how my luck fared for something other than that effing Scourged Whelpling…  Apparently good, because it only took me about 20 minutes to find this lil guy…

Squee! Cute lil Emerald Whelpling!

The Noxious Whelplings in Feralas were much more accommodating.  And so my Dragon Army continues to grow!  Time to level some more dragons.

~ Effy