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Picking a third pet

Posted: November 10th, 2012, 6:48 pm
by Bindibear
aka: Looking for a non-dragonkin, acquired-in-game pet that has a non-undead-heal or doesn't crumple under two hits

I know you all must get tired of suggesting pets, so instead of asking you to recommend pets, I'm going to ask you how you pick pets instead. Maybe this way I can recommend my own pet. lol

How do you decide what pets compliment each other? Or what abilities do you look for when picking pets? Or do you look for something other than abilities? Are pets without heals as useless as they seem currently?

Everyone I've asked has suggested pet-store pets (or CE pets, or Grunty) and while I occasionally splurge when something is on sale, I find the whole idea of a pet store obnoxious and ALWAYS feel guilty about buying pets there. (I'm also on a pretty tight gaming budget. So even if I WANTED to pay more to win, I couldn't.) Aren't there any good pets that don't require spending extra money?

I'm currently still addicted to my Onyxian Whelpling and my Infected Squirrel, but I can't settle on a third pet. They both hit hard and have good heals. I've occasionally used the Strand Crawler, he can live through anything, but he's kind of ... wimpy. My Crystal Spider in THEORY is good, but he can be kind of squishy but his heal is undead. I do have the Panderan Monk, and people also suggest him frequently, but he's just a touch squishy. Crimson Lasher is good, and I love the pet-swap-proof-ness of his heal, but ... I dunno. Squishy. Am I too addicted to healing? Should I just bite the bullet and use something glass-cannon-y for a round or two and mop up with a more solid pet?

Any thoughts on group-make-up would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Picking a third pet

Posted: November 10th, 2012, 7:17 pm
by Hellomynameis
I would recommend reading this post: http://stormspire.net/speculation/6336-pokemop-training-strategy-guide.html
Scroll down to "TERMINOLOGY AND TEAMS" and you might learn a lot about how to pick a team. It's written by a pokemon expert with pet battles in mind.

When it comes to your two current pets, the Infected Squirrel's spell named "Creeping Fungus" does more damage if you pair it up with a pet who can do a spell called "Moonfire" or "Starfall". If you are addicted to healing, then Celestial Dragon might be the way to go among the pets who know that spell.

Good luck :)

Re: Picking a third pet

Posted: November 11th, 2012, 7:03 pm
by Sesamee
The general rule I go for when making teams is:

*a hard hitter
*a hard counter for what hard counters my hard hitter
*a healer, dodger, staller, something that can survive against a wide variety of pets

I do this by first looking at familes and what does more damage to what or takes more from what. Then I look at skills and look for synergies.

For example, my top three hardest hitters are Lil Rag, Stunted Shardhorn, and Spawn of Onyxia. Now this is going purely by raw attack power not taking moveset into account. There are plenty of other pets who hit hard, like a Fel Flame, monk etc.

If I were to use my Stunted Shardhorn he is a beast, can hit hard, but has no defensive or evasive cd's. He is hard countered by a mechanical and soft countered by a flyer. You want to make sure you have an elemental since they are unique in that they do more damage to and take less damage from mechanicals, the family that does more damage to beasts. Then I would use a crab, turtle, or the Magical Crawdad as the tank/healer/staller. This would leave your team weak against flyers but just make sure not to put an aquatic against the flyer. Or you can use a turtle to make them unswappable and use one of your heavy hitters to bring them down fast. The crawdad can really hold his own most of the time even against most flyers. Pterrordax Hatcling would work too since as a flyer she has an attack that's good against aquatics (which your elemental would be weak against), a heal, and a dodge/damage move.

There are really unlimited combos you can do. Just make sure to take into account the family, their counters, as well as the skills each pet has. :)

Re: Picking a third pet

Posted: November 11th, 2012, 8:09 pm
by Hydramith
Great post by Sesamee I'd say, and I haven't got a lot more to add except for stating it's a post worth reading properly.