Starting PvP

Discuss pet battles, strategy and theorycrafting.
Post Reply
User avatar
Dakaf
MVP
Posts:379
Joined:September 26th, 2012
Pet Score:6003
BattleTag®:Dakaf#1332
Realm:Dawnbringer-us
Contact:
Starting PvP

Post by Dakaf » May 28th, 2013, 10:39 am

I'm going to be starting PvP this week. I have yet to do it other than random duels. I could really use some help with some teams that I should expect to face, and what teams I might want to think about putting together.

Thanks guys!
Image
<Kings and Queens> Alliance on Dawnbringer
-pet collecting OCD

User avatar
Catalytic
Posts:146
Joined:December 18th, 2011
Pet Score:4337
BattleTag®:Lyrics#1788
Realm:Greymane-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Catalytic » May 28th, 2013, 12:02 pm

I am just trying to get the quest done (win 10 PvP battles) and it makes me want to beat my head into the wall. I play at night a lot, so there aren't as many people doing them. Ran into a guy the other night using a Roach for Apocalype on the first turn, then a sub-25 Crystal Spider with a stun, a heal, and a web. By the time you recover from the stun and the healing and start doing dmg to his spider, he's swapping the Roach back in for the Apoc hitting. Very annoying fight.

So, I left my two dragonkin in for the 2nd and 3rd slot, loaded up XT with Tymp. Tantrum in slot 1, and that was the first thing I went with. Needless to say, it threw him off, because one of his little tricks in the back row was getting destroyed (the spider). We went maybe 5 rounds before he forfeited.

I don't know if I only hit levelers, but I find it so random, I can't prepare a team to win with. I'm focusing on something with a heal (Ony Whelpling usually), and maybe a mech and undead for the rezzes. But, quite frankly, I suck at PvP battles and wish they weren't the focus of achievements, because I feel the need to get all the pet achievements /sigh.

User avatar
Tekulve2012
Posts:800
Joined:December 27th, 2012
Pet Score:4376
BattleTag®:kingsfoiler#1479
Realm:Sisters of Elune-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Tekulve2012 » May 28th, 2013, 3:23 pm

I am also a newbie at pvp and I have had luck
running combos of undead mixed with the gilnean raven

Anub and the crawdad can be throw into most
any mix too

User avatar
Poofah
Posts:820
Joined:October 5th, 2012
Pet Score:4206
Realm:Llane-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Poofah » May 28th, 2013, 7:34 pm

I'm seeing a lot of variety, which is great. Darkness teams seem popular, Kun-Lai Runt is everywhere, but there's probably 20+ pets that I see routinely and many more that I've seen sporadically. So you can't expect to counter everything. The ones I see a lot are something like: Kun-Lai Runt, Anubisath Idol, Crow/Raven, Ghostly Skull, Unborn Valkyr, Crawling Claw, oozes, spiders, snails, Enchanted Broom, Onyxian Whelpling/Spawn of Onyxia, Clockwork Gnome, Tiny Snowman, direhorns, Son of Animus, Giant Bone Spider, Curious Wolvar Pup, Darkmoon Tonk, Lil Ragnaros, Lil Deathwing, and probably a few others I forgot. I would pack some UD damage, and have a plan for Darkness teams, and otherwise experiment a bit.

Also, one important point: the achievement is just for total wins, not win percentage, and the queue is pretty fast now. It's more efficient to win 50% and have fast games than to win 100% with a slow team. A team like Anubisath Idol/Magical Crawdad/X will grind out some wins, but it's not worth it.

User avatar
Yellowlab
Top Rater
Posts:61
Joined:March 20th, 2012
Pet Score:5566
BattleTag®:Yellowlab#1493
Realm:Ner'zhul-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Yellowlab » May 29th, 2013, 8:37 am

Poofah wrote:I'm seeing a lot of variety, which is great. Darkness teams seem popular, Kun-Lai Runt is everywhere, but there's probably 20+ pets that I see routinely and many more that I've seen sporadically. So you can't expect to counter everything. The ones I see a lot are something like: Kun-Lai Runt, Anubisath Idol, Crow/Raven, Ghostly Skull, Unborn Valkyr, Crawling Claw, oozes, spiders, snails, Enchanted Broom, Onyxian Whelpling/Spawn of Onyxia, Clockwork Gnome, Tiny Snowman, direhorns, Son of Animus, Giant Bone Spider, Curious Wolvar Pup, Darkmoon Tonk, Lil Ragnaros, Lil Deathwing, and probably a few others I forgot. I would pack some UD damage, and have a plan for Darkness teams, and otherwise experiment a bit.

Also, one important point: the achievement is just for total wins, not win percentage, and the queue is pretty fast now. It's more efficient to win 50% and have fast games than to win 100% with a slow team. A team like Anubisath Idol/Magical Crawdad/X will grind out some wins, but it's not worth it.
You bring up a very good point. If you are looking for lots of wins, a stall team just isn't the way to go. It's going to take waaaaay to long. Go with a solid offensive team that can counter one of the popular builds. Then just grind your wins. Don't forfeit against the stall teams though. The matches can seem utterly hopeless, but one miss or crit can easily turn the battle in your favor. Plus you don't want a stall team to have a quick match due to a forfeit. This is exactly what they want, they hate how much time it takes too :)

User avatar
Tiggindy
MVP
Posts:251
Joined:December 19th, 2007
Pet Score:10765
BattleTag®:Mersenne#1798
Realm:Lothar-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Tiggindy » May 29th, 2013, 9:52 am

One thing for darkness is elementals, just because so many peeps forget that elemental doesn't get affected by weather, so their followup nocturnal strike misses you. :lol:

Alternately, just have a pet that can change the weather. If you see a darkness pet, put your weather pet in first and change it the first round if they put their darkness pet in.

User avatar
Tekulve2012
Posts:800
Joined:December 27th, 2012
Pet Score:4376
BattleTag®:kingsfoiler#1479
Realm:Sisters of Elune-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Tekulve2012 » May 29th, 2013, 10:12 am

I agree with posted comments here about stall teams, I tried out the crawdad and he is boring and long to run with.

The Idol is not so much a staller for me .. I dont use deflection..i like the chance to stun and most players immediately swap out after a stun which is definitely to your advantage

Other PVP observations:
I've done only about 50 pvp battles since the patch but I have yet to face one snail... the fel flame is insanely popular
--------
I fully agree with the pets listed in a post above as pets you often face. The other pet you'll often see is the celestial dragon and other whelplings which is all the more reason to carry an undead
-------
lil rags always kills 1 opponent in my experience and when he was on sale for 5$ I'm sure many people snapped him up
again his chance to stun ability is very worthy
----
Havent faced many rabbits yet but the hopling impressed me as an opponent in a couple of matches
Oddly, I havent seen one call blizzard team
----
Have fun experimenting with team makeups is my advice ... personally I'm loving the pvp play ..just to see pets in action that I dont have.. the murlocs,frosty, baby blizzard bear etc .. it's been a blast .. esp. if you don't take it too seriously

User avatar
Poofah
Posts:820
Joined:October 5th, 2012
Pet Score:4206
Realm:Llane-us
Contact:

Re: Starting PvP

Post by Poofah » May 29th, 2013, 1:02 pm

Yep, I'm seeing Fel Flames too, and Hoplings, and multiple Celestial Dragons (but I'm not sure why, he seems weak, despite looking very pretty). And I have not seen one single rabbit yet. I've seen a ton of snails, I think it's because it's excellent versus both elementals and humanoids, and especially against Kun-Lai Runt.

I'm not seeing a lot of Call Blizzard teams, it seems like people are just using Kun-Lai Runt (or sometimes Tiny Snowman) as a standalone. Same for Fel Flame/Lil Rag--I tend to see these without other conflag or scorched earth pets in the team. In contrast, when I see a Darkness pet, it's often the whole team.

There's a few pets that are especially interesting because they're popular, but they have multiple good movesets. So if you see Anubisath, it might be Stoneskin/Rupture, or it might be Sandstorm/Deflection, and it plays differently depending on that choice. I even saw one that took Demolish (partnered with Mr Wiggles for Uncanny Luck). Lil Rag is sometimes a conflag pet, sometimes he's got Magma Trap/Sons of the flame. On the other end, there's some pretty boring pets: Kun-Lai Runt is *always* Frost Shock/Deep Freeze; Crows are always Darkness/Nocturnal Strike.

Post Reply