MGTTDPB 5.2: My guide to tamer daily pet battles for 5.2

[Rellyne]

Looks like the tamers don't choose one of the 2 pets anymore. Always starting with the same ones, even after 20 atempts to change it on Mo'ruk.

[Gendou]

So what is a reliable post-5.2 two-pet team for Obalis?
Everything else seems to work fine. One shot everything.

But Obalis is tearing me apart - I tried the usual Infinite/Anubisath; Emerald Proto/Anubisath; Clockwork/Proto; etc.
It took 30 minutes of trying different teams to finally get lucky against him with a Tonk/Chrominius team.

I thought he and Payne were supposed to be nerfed - if anything, they've both been buffed.

[Delinda]

I take out Obalis with DMF tank and Spawn of Onyxia + the pet I level.

[Lilhottie]

So what is a reliable post-5.2 two-pet team for Obalis?
Everything else seems to work fine. One shot everything.

But Obalis is tearing me apart - I tried the usual Infinite/Anubisath; Emerald Proto/Anubisath; Clockwork/Proto; etc.
It took 30 minutes of trying different teams to finally get lucky against him with a Tonk/Chrominius team.

I thought he and Payne were supposed to be nerfed - if anything, they've both been buffed.

lil' XT and emerald proto drake. Heartbreak + Tympanic tantrum, destroys pyth and takes 1/2 health of other two.
molten hatchling + enchanted broom always beat Payne, but it's slow.

[Syrrie]

So what is a reliable post-5.2 two-pet team for Obalis?
Everything else seems to work fine. One shot everything.

But Obalis is tearing me apart - I tried the usual Infinite/Anubisath; Emerald Proto/Anubisath; Clockwork/Proto; etc.
It took 30 minutes of trying different teams to finally get lucky against him with a Tonk/Chrominius team.

I thought he and Payne were supposed to be nerfed - if anything, they've both been buffed.

I've been trying out a P/P Jade Ooze/ P/P Emerald Protowhelp combo on Obalis. Seems to be working pretty well so far. :s
And Payne I've been doing the slow but guaranteed method of Molten Hatchling to kill the back-line then a mech to nuke Grizzle.

[Stencil]

So what is a reliable post-5.2 two-pet team for Obalis? Obalis is tearing me apart

Same, he's still nasty. My last kill was Darkmoon Tonk and Emerald Proto-Drake. The Emerald Proto-Drake looks very promising with the strong attack versus spring and the strong shield versus clatter's flank. Been unhappy with how the turn that cocoon strike is deployed (1st or 2nd) seems to always match up with when I try to Ion Cannon. I'm thinking of going with the zeppelin and just self destructing when I get to Spring.

And Payne I've been doing the slow but guaranteed method of Molten Hatchling to kill the back-line then a mech to nuke Grizzle.

My S/S Grasslands Cottontail once soloed the entire Major Payne team. I was talking to a friend at the time and being flakey and was a little annoyed at myself for forgetting to level a pet. I only had one wipe with my double rabbit team, but now that Grizzle is always first I'm going with Clockwork Gnome / Grasslands Cottontail just to make things a little more predictable.

I'm actually starting to play with using my Grasslands Cottontail as my first pet on Seeker. I've tried both a P/P Jade Oozeling and Snarly there and with both it seems like I need one of frost nova, howling blast or Dive to miss for it to go smoothly. The frost shock is annoying in that reduces the effective duration of your second dodge and means Scratch is probably better than Flurry, but I love having multiple avoids to counter the big hits and Burrow should hit nice and hard on Mollus.

[Stencil]

I've found that Untamed Hatchling is the perfect first pet versus Courageous Yon. You cast Spiked Skin and Healing Flame on the second and third turns of both Piqua and Lapin when they use Lift-off and Burrow; at all other times you just Tail Sweep (its okay if Spiked Skin falls off a turn or two). During Flock, Piqua actually does more damage to himself than to you. Lapin generally does just enough damage to let Bleat finish off the Hatchling (after eating a couple of Sweeps) letting you do your lowbie swap and then the Tonk to clean it up.

For Obalis, I think I've settled on the first pet of the team being the Darkmoon Tonk with Missile, Minefield and Ion Cannon. Normally with Pyth and the way he ramps up damage, a turn like Minefield would just put you further in the hole but Ion Cannon will more than make up for that. It does mean the Tonk's a sitting duck for Spring, but that's fine because if we can kill Pyth, damage Spring with mines and eat the damage from the first Moth Dust then that's a solid outcome IMO.

With the Cottontail on Seeker, I learned the hard way that you can still be hit by Dive when Burrowed, but things seem to work well when I use (IIRC) this sequence:
1) dodge (frost nova dodged)
2) flurry (howling blast dodged)
3) flurry (frost shock hits and slows you)
4) (frost shock hits) burrow
5) (frost nova misses - your burrow hopefully hits)
6) (howling blast hits you) flurry
7) (speed debuff gone) dodge (frost shock dodged)
8) flurry (frost shock dodged)
9) flurry (diamond usually dies this turn)

As a critter the elemental damage is reduced; if you have to go an extra turn or two on Diamond you'd eat a Frost Nova and Howling Blast, but it shouldn't kill you. Killing Diamond a round early would be worse, since Dodge wouldn't come back off cooldown in time to avoid Dive. This approach is slower than a croc or Jade Ooze *can* be (usually when Dive misses) but I've had bad attempts/luck with those pets before and wiped and I think this might be more consistent.

[Ril]

so what breed of molten hatchling are you guys using on payne? S/S or P/S i guess?

[Lilhottie]

so what breed of molten hatchling are you guys using on payne? S/S or P/S i guess?

all 4 are faster than him. I am currently using an S/B, but I have a P/S (the highest power one) waiting for a beast stone.

The only difference should be how many rounds the fight goes.

[Ril]

all 4 are faster than him. I am currently using an S/B, but I have a P/S (the highest power one) waiting for a beast stone.

The only difference should be how many rounds the fight goes.

yeah that's what i went for too. got lucky with a stone from bags (the only stone to drop today was beast) and breed of a hatchling today. i definetely wouldn't try to shoot for a rare P/S hatchling, they are too rare.

i guess you are going for 2 1 1? (leech life, sticky web, magma wave)

[Lilhottie]

i guess you are going for 2 1 1? (leech life, sticky web, magma wave)

Nope, [2,2,1] leech, cauterize, magma wave. Keep yourself topped off while he's hitting you with ravage, and magma wave all the rest of the time. You get 3 rounds with him napping, so you have plenty of chance to heal back up and magma wave. I managed the whole fight in 48 rounds tonight.

The Molten Hatchling is the only pet with two heals and an AOE in the third slot AND all 4 breeds are faster than Grizzle, making Cauterize work very well.

If you are adventurous - Terrible Turnip has Sons of the Root and Leech Seed to go with its Tidal Wave, but lower Attack Power than a P/S Molten Hatchling, so you'd probably have to couple it with Magic Lantern to provide Wish, and so that the Lantern can kill Grizzle after you down the other two. (Magical Crawdad does not have enough damage to out DPS Grizzle's Hibernate whereas Magic Lantern has Arcane Blast, which will do the job.)

I managed it with a rare Sea Pony [2,2,2] keeping Cleansing Rain and Pump up while I Tidal Waved, and swapping in a Magical Crawdad to Wish and Renewing Mist, to heal him back up, but it took 75 rounds.

I want to try it with a Lil' Ragnaros [2,2,2] Using Sons of the Flame to dodge every other Ravage Round, and having a Crawdad to throw WIshes and Healing Rains on him, but I don't have one. (Rag has much higher Power, so the fight _should_ go faster, but he also has no self heal and he's slower than Grizzle...)

[Ril]

i guess you are going for 2 1 1? (leech life, sticky web, magma wave)

Nope, [2,2,1] leech, cauterize, magma wave. Keep yourself topped off while he's hitting you with ravage, and magma wave all the rest of the time. You get 3 rounds with him napping, so you have plenty of chance to heal back up and magma wave. I managed the whole fight in 48 rounds tonight.

heh, i tried it out today, it was strangely relaxing for payne, very clean. i'll definately keep this strat for a while, since i lost too much time on rng with a classic "nuke" strat.

honestly i wouldn't use a strat where pet swapping is involved, because normally it also means a huge loss of time. this is rarely worth it imho.

[Amethice]

First, slight feedback on the Wastewalker Shu - the Spawn of Onyxia first pet only seems to work reliably if you have a P/P breed (4 or 14) - if you don't, your lift-off will always barely fail to kill Crusher unless you've been lucky enough to crit with either it or one of the tail slaps, meaning that before you kill him Crusher will put up a second whirlpool which you can't avoid.

Also, people asking for reliable Obalis teams: I've had some luck with this setup but it's not as reliable as I'd like:

Slot 1: Carry pet - will take some damage from the snake, especially if it uses the poison, so might not be suitable for a lvl 1 but good for giving xp to a higher level.
Slot 2: Darkmoon Tonk (122)
Slot 3: Chrominius (112)

Starting out against the snake, do one attack with your Carry to "tag" is as taking part in the battle. If it does a little damage, it helps. Swap in the Tonk.

Put a minefield down, hit 1-2 missiles (depending on luck with damage and if your Carry did any damage, take him down to around 1k or less) and finish off Pyth with Ion Cannon. Moth will come in, and if the stars align, the coccoon strike won't be enough to kill (as in, not counting repair) your Tonk, meaning the Moth Dust will finish the tonk off. Chrominius in.

Since the Moth took some damage from the minefield, Surge of Power should be enough to bring it down in one hit. Once you recover, hit Howl and two bites should finish the job. Here is the biggest possible fail point sadly, since Clatter will have time to hit 2-3 Flank before dying, and if all of them are 3-hit wonders (tamer luck, don't you know), then you won't bring him down in time. If even one of them is a 2-hit, Chrominius should finish the job.

[Stencil]

First, slight feedback on the Wastewalker Shu - the Spawn of Onyxia first pet only seems to work reliably if you have a P/P breed (4 or 14) - if you don't, your lift-off will always barely fail to kill Crusher unless you've been lucky enough to crit with either it or one of the tail slaps, meaning that before you kill him Crusher will put up a second whirlpool which you can't avoid.

I've had the same issues on Wastewalker; its a real problem when your dragon dies early because the DMF Tonk vs. Pounder is a very bad matchup. I don't have a leveled Spawn; I use an Onyxian Whelpling instead and while I prefer its stats it has a little bit less power than the P/P Spawn meaning I hit this a little more often. The extra miss chance that Lift-Off has compared to other attacks, though, means even with a P/P Spawn there are times you will get second whirlpools and things could get sucky.

SOLUTION: replace the Spawn of Onyxia with a Red Cricket (121). Its a critter so it takes less damage from elemental attacks and Rupture will never stun it. Its slow and has low health, but RIDICULOUS power (1197-370-249). Cocoon Strike lets you counter every Whirlpool and you have a huge self heal (high 500, low 600 point non-crit heals).

Also, people asking for reliable Obalis teams: I've had some luck with this setup but it's not as reliable as I'd like:
Slot 1: Carry pet - will take some damage from the snake, especially if it uses the poison, so might not be suitable for a lvl 1 but good for giving xp to a higher level.
Slot 2: Darkmoon Tonk (122)
Slot 3: Chrominius (112)

I lead with a Tonk configured the same way but back it up with an Emerald Proto-Whelp (222). Emerald Bite rips Spring up and Emerald Presence makes Clatter's Flank a joke. I just use the death swap thing to switch the lowbie through without exposing it to any peril.

[Amethice]

First, slight feedback on the Wastewalker Shu - the Spawn of Onyxia first pet only seems to work reliably if you have a P/P breed (4 or 14) - if you don't, your lift-off will always barely fail to kill Crusher unless you've been lucky enough to crit with either it or one of the tail slaps, meaning that before you kill him Crusher will put up a second whirlpool which you can't avoid.

I've had the same issues on Wastewalker; its a real problem when your dragon dies early because the DMF Tonk vs. Pounder is a very bad matchup. I don't have a leveled Spawn; I use an Onyxian Whelpling instead and while I prefer its stats it has a little bit less power than the P/P Spawn meaning I hit this a little more often. The extra miss chance that Lift-Off has compared to other attacks, though, means even with a P/P Spawn there are times you will get second whirlpools and things could get sucky.

SOLUTION: replace the Spawn of Onyxia with a Red Cricket (121). Its a critter so it takes less damage from elemental attacks and Rupture will never stun it. Its slow and has low health, but RIDICULOUS power (1197-370-249). Cocoon Strike lets you counter every Whirlpool and you have a huge self heal (high 500, low 600 point non-crit heals).

I haven't levelled either of my red crickets so far, but I'll have to do that now to test this out... thanks for the tip.

Also, people asking for reliable Obalis teams: I've had some luck with this setup but it's not as reliable as I'd like:
Slot 1: Carry pet - will take some damage from the snake, especially if it uses the poison, so might not be suitable for a lvl 1 but good for giving xp to a higher level.
Slot 2: Darkmoon Tonk (122)
Slot 3: Chrominius (112)

I lead with a Tonk configured the same way but back it up with an Emerald Proto-Whelp (222). Emerald Bite rips Spring up and Emerald Presence makes Clatter's Flank a joke. I just use the death swap thing to switch the lowbie through without exposing it to any peril.

I'd completely missed the death swap thing - I had figured it would work the same as starting with a pet and switch it out immediately (which gives no xp). That'll make things easier for me, certainly.
Might try this with the Emerald instead of Chrominius tomorrow (Obalis is already down as I'm writing this, half-way through Pandaria), see how it pans out.

[Stencil]

I've posted a few times in this thread but I've been remiss in not offering my thanks for such an awesome guide. I'll blame it on the fact that I was missing many of the pets used and therefore assimilated the guide in bits and pieces over time. Here's some boss by boss feedback.

FLAWLESS VICTORIES

Aki vs. Spirit Crab/Yellow Moth - Excellent! This replaced my Anubisath Idol/Pterrodax combo since Snap's Beast type damage kills off Chirrup so much more quickly than grinding with Sandstorm mitigated Crushes.

Thundering Spirit vs. Fast Rabbit/Robo Cub - Magnificent; especially the sequencing versus Darnak. Taking 0 damage in a carefully coordinated dance of cooldowns? I LOVE that kind of stuff. The Robo Cub is a great call as well; I didn't have a rare one for a long time and had a lot of troubles with that part of the fight; a Rampaging Kun-Lai Runt was the most successful of the many things I tried but even that could go wrong. I finally got a rare Robo Cub and its made SUCH a big difference. Mine is an H/H (1887-260-227). The guide called for H/P, but he's still awesome as that bigger health pool lets him soak those big Expunge hits without difficulty. My Fast Rabbit is an S/S Grasslands Cottontail (1400-260-325).

Hyuna vs. Emerald Proto Whelp/Yellow Moth - Excellent. Cocoon Strike is a better counter against Dor than the Lift-Off/Heal I was using with my Pterrodax. Now that Skyshaper is always first I find I get the best results if I heal before the bite that kills him (so, Emerald Bite x2, heal, Emerald Bite kills); I carry a little more health into Fangor that way and it also ensures, if I had a crit or something, that I won't waste the dragonkin buff finishing off Skyshaper.

Farmer Nishi vs. Eternal Strider/Darkmoon Tonk - Perfect. I had been aoe tidal waving these down but this is *so* much faster.

Flowing Spirit vs. Vampiric Batling/Spawn of Onyxia - Fortunately, I do have a Vampiric Batling so I'm able to make full use of this. I use an Onyxian Whelpling instead of a P/P Spawn since I think its the better version.

Burning Spirit vs. Anubisath Idol/Emerald Proto-Whelp - No complaints.


NEEDED CHANGES

My Emerald Proto-Whelp as Leadoff Problem, or EPWALP, occurs whenever a strat leads off with an EPW who is then supposed to die at a somewhat specific time. If it dies too soon, then the closer pet gets put in a bad position. If I overcompensate to prevent that, I waste turns and turn it into a slow grind. The mechanics of Emerald Dream are a big factor here; I don't execute these strats particular well. I'm much more comfortable with the EPW batting cleanup where its toughness can help you recover from bad RNG (like an early pet first pet death, eating a big crit or two, or a string of misses that means you'll take more damage than normal).

Courageous Yon vs. Emerald Proto-Whelp/Darkmoon Tonk - My EPWALP is in full effect here. I like the Tonk configuration but I've since replaced the EPW with an Untamed Hatchling (222) which I think works perfectly against the first two pets. Piqua and Lapin use the same attack structure and against both you do the following:
-round 1: Tail Sweep - they applied debuff attack
-round 2: Spiked Skin - they lifted-off/burrowed and were unattackable
-round 3: Healing Flame - they hit you with lift-off, that damage increases size of heal
-round 4+: Tail Sweep til dead

Whispering Spirit vs. Emerald Proto-Whelp/Chrominus - I've never actually tried this one as I only just recently got Chrominus and I knew that my EPWALP would be an issue. My current team of choice is Proto-Drake Whelp (222) / Emerald Proto-Whelp (222).
vs Dusty
-round 1: Ancient Blessing (hopefully Moth Dust did not induce sleep)
-round 2: Roar
-round 3-5: Bite
-if Dusty is still alive, start from the top and do those actions again
-we're using Roar which is weaker than Bite to break cocoon and set up a series of strong Bites; if slept by Moth Dust adjust accordingly around that most likely by skipping Ancestral Roar

vs Whispertail
-do as much damage as you can before killed, then swap to carry pet
-swap from carry pet to EPW
-put up Emerald Dream unless you'll kill him in 2 rounds or less
-I don't worry about trying to carry the Dragonkin racial buff through for a first round attack on the spirit, because ...

vs Spirit
-round 1: Emerald Presence - synching this up to the Spirits Tranquility is a good thing
-round 2-4: Emerald Dream
-round 5: Emerald Bite
-round 6: Emerald Presence
-round 7+: Emerald Bite
-Casting Emerald Presence on the same rounds as Tranquility safely gets you an extra attack per cycle. Since the Spirit is going to be healing itself when you would inevitably need to heal, you might as well do it immediately and let him be at 100% those 4 rounds. At that point both are probably at 100% and you should probably be able to bite him down first.


Mo'ruk vs. Emerald Proto-Whelp/Gilnean Raven - I tend to have a lot of issues with my EPWALP on this fight. This is especially true when I try to get too cute with carrying over the dragonkin buff for Lightstalker. Woodcarvers self heal has thrown that off several times. That transition is also nasty Lightstalkers damage is a little bit frontloaded and you can still have the goo that increases damage taken.
I've found that a Darkmoon Zeppelin can own Woodcarver quite hard; dropping decoy on turn 2 counters the big goo buffed burrow hit and the follow up consume that would also heal Woodcarver. But even though my Zep has over 1000 health left after killing Woodcarver, Lightstalker seems to destroy it ridiculous fast. So, lately I've been playing with a team where I start with the zeppelin, hard switch as soon as Woodcarver is dead to the EPW, use a death swap for the lowbie when Needleback kills the EPW and then have the Zep finish off Needleback.
This tamer is still kind of a work in progress as far as I'm concerned.


Wastewalker Shu vs. Spawn of Onyxia/Darkmoon Tonk - If your first Lift-Off kills Crusher then the strat executes perfectly and quickly. But anytime that doesn't happen, and Lift-Off misses more than regular attacks, it can get ugly. Its especially a problem since the Tonk is at a strong disadvantage against Crusher. I've recently switched to using a Red Cricket (121) as the first pet and the results have been fantastic. Cocoon Strike comes off cooldown faster than Lift-Off and so can counter a second whirlpool. Also, Rupture does less damage versus Critters (Sandstorm actually hits harder) making Pounder less of a threat as well. You will have to heal, but with so much Power the Red Cricket hits hard enough (crits for 600 damage) that Crusher and Pounder go down fast enough.


Seeker Zusshi vs. Jade Oozeling/Infinte Whelpling - I didn't realize it until now but I've never actually tried this; it took me a long time to get a P/P Infinite Whelpling but I guess I thought I was just farming one for Obalis. I used a Pterrodax Hatchling there instead for ages ... Anyway, I sometimes have issues with the Jade Oozeling dying to Dive before it can do any appreciable damage to Mollus and at least one other in this thread had similar issues. I'm also fed up with Lift-Offs missing Skimmer. My team for this is now Snarly (112) / Vampiric Batling (121) Its a fast kill, usually finishes on round 13. Its also just as, if not more, effective when Snarly dies to Mollus' Dive. If you don't have a Vampiric Batling, a regular Bat should work just fine with the P/P breed being the best bet.
vs. Diamond Rip, Blood in the Water, Surge til dead
vs. Mollus Rip, Surge, Blood in the Water, Rip/Surge
if Mollus kills Snarly select carry pet, swap to Batling, Bite Mollus til dead, Reckless Strike Skimmer til dead
if Snarly survives Mollus Rip, swap to carry pet, swap to Batling, Reckless Strike Skimmer til dead
NOTE: The main advantage to the Vampiric Batling would be to get an extra attack or two from the Undead passive to finish off Skimmer if we died to Pump


Bloodknight Antari vs. Peddlefeet/Pandaren Water Spirit - This was a fun strat to play with, but it worked much better on the occasions when Jadefire would go first which can't happen anymore. I've had Arcanus kill Peddlefeet and if that happens you're just screwed totally. Even when Peddlefeet kills Arcanus I've had attempts spoiled because of too much damage taken. My current team is Jade Oozeling/Flayer Youngling.

Obalis vs. Infinite Whelpling/Anubisath Idol - I don't think the Infinite Whelpling has ever killed Pyth for me; if it did, then Spring killed it before it could use Early Advantage. Current team Darkmoon Tonk (122)/Emerald Proto-Whelp (222). Tonk lays down Mines then Missiles (once if crit, otherwise twice to be safe) then Ion Cannon Pyth dead.


edit 1 - revised Seeker Zusshi section
edit 2 - added Bat alternative to Zusshi

[Ravnhawk]

For Farmer Nishi - I found 2 dancing Water Skimmers and any other leveling pet works great. I usually only need 1 Skimmer unless RNG is bad.

[Dreamwater]

I don't have a Darkmoon tank so this has been my set up for Farmer Nishi.
Mirror Strider (1,2,2)
Carry pet
Nexus Whelpling (1,1,1)
Vs. Siren: Pump, Cleansing Rain, Pump, Water Jet
Toothbreaker: Water Jet, Pump, Cleansing Rain, Pump
Brood: Water Jet, Pump, Pump, from here just be careful not to kill him then let him kill the Strider.
Put out the carry pet, swich for the Whelping then just Tail Sweep till done.

[Amethice]

I think the bottom line with Nishi is to have a strider of some kind, which will devastate both elementals and put a nice dent in the last pet. After that, virtually any lvl 25 will be able to finish the job if the skimmer didn't.

[Tahsfenz]

An emperor crab totally destroys Nishi. I have a yellow moth as my back up for it, but rarely, if ever, use him. If I'm totally distracted and keep using the wrong abilities at the wrong time, then maybe, but RNG really needs to hate me.