Budget Celestials
Posted: October 16th, 2013, 8:47 pm
Occasionally it's mentioned on various forums that the Celestial Tournament is "pay to win" or requires a menagerie of high end pets. Certainly, during the first several weeks most of my teams consisted in some part of pets that would be considered top-end. I decided to start on a personal challenge of beating the tournament with only wild-caught pets. Nothing from quests, drops, the store, professions, achievements, or the trading-card game are allowed.
Total cost: $0.
Not all of these ideas are my own. I read many forums, mixed in my own plans, performed a lot of capturing and leveling of pets that I've never used before, and went through much trial-and-error.
I made it through my first week with the following line-ups. Assume that if any pet is listed on multiple teams that means that I used multiple copies of the pet. I've noted breeds where I think they are important. I'll update in future weeks when I have access to the other trainers.
[Caveat: Some of these are heavily dependent on the random number generator. A miss in the wrong spot or an unfortunate critical hit against you could mean starting the tournament over.]
=== Xu-Fu (speed 296)
* Wild Golden Hatchling
* Turkey (S/S)
* Luyu Moth
The entire point of the Hatchling is to cast Call Lightning and then die, so sub in whatever pet you want in this slot. Tranquil Mechanical Yeti with his Ion Cannon would probably be better, if I was allowing myself crafted pets. The Turkey bangs away with Flock until either Xu-Fu or the Turkey are dead. If there's a bit to finish off, hit Xu-Fu with something fast. He'll still have the Flock double-damage debuff on him. I went with a Luyu Moth, because that's my level-up workhorse and I figured I'd give him a chance in a real fight.
The Turkey, Chicken, or whatever flying pet you're using with Flock has to be S/S, so that it's faster than Xu-Fu when the flying buff is removed.
=== Zao (speed 276)
* Skywisp Moth
* Cogblade Raptor
* (anything)
This fight is nearly identical to Xu-Fu. Skywisp sets up Call Lightning and dies quickly. Any Cogblade breed is faster than Zao, so pick whatever you can find. Cogblade uses Exposed Wounds and Batter until Zao vaporizes. If something goes terribly wrong, you might need a 3rd pet. I threw a Robo-Chick in for another Batter or possibly Wind-Up if Zao is trying to use Wish and needs to die in one shot.
=== Yu'la (speed 287)
* Your most favorite Rabbit
* Your second favorite Rabbit
* Your third favorite Rabbit
I already had a Tolai Hare team leveled up for PvP, and they are all S/S. This breed works against Yu'la, but the fight is crazy long. You're gumming Yu'la to death a few points at a time. If you have the choice, any rabbit that I'm aware of is already faster than 287 so bring something that hits harder than an S/S.
If you've completed Raiding With Leashes, throw Mr. Bigglesworth at her and just solo it.
=== Chi-Chi
* Unborn Valkyrie
* Alpine Foxling
* Rapana Whelk
-or-
* 3 Snails
Apparently I'm a sucker for stupid combos against Chi-Chi. My normal team uses Nuts and Sen'jin Fetish (Wild Magic + Rot + Stampede / Nut Barrage). Those two dink around with her, and then the Whelk comes in and kills Chi-Chi. Same thing with this team. The Valk + Foxling is a cute combo, but the Whelk still does most of the work.
My advice: Throw three snails at her and auto-win.
== Blingtron 4000
* Dancing Water Skimmer 1,2,2
* Flayer Youngling (S/S, P/S, H/S, or S/B) 2,2,2
* Lava Crab 1,2,1
The Skimmer and Youngling make short work of Au and Banks. Lil' B is the only challenging pet in this fight. Normally I would use a Blossoming Ancient and grind out a slow, automatic win. In this case I used a Lava Crab which hits hard enough and has just enough healing to pull through. This fight is more reliant on good luck than most. You mainly want Lil' B's Gift Package to hit you, because the healing it does on a miss is worse than the damage it does on a hit.
== Shademaster Kiryn
* Feverbite Hatchling 1,2,2
* Lava Crab 1,1,1
* Skywisp Moth 1,1,2
This is a straight-forward fight. The Hatchling's Brittle Webbing causes a massive amount of damage to Nairn when he casts Blizzard. I was trying Leech Life at first, but it doesn't hit hard enough to justify even with its healing factored in. Just go with Spiderling Swarm and pound away. This Lava Crab uses Spell Shield, instead of the heal used in the Blingtron fight, because the shield completely neutralizes Stormoen's turrets. Shield and pound; the mechanical cat won't live long. The Lava Crab should live long enough into the fight with Summer to soak up most or all of the turrets, at which point the Skywisp comes in for a Call Lightning and maybe one more hit for the win.
== Wise Mari
* Crow 2,2,2
* Infinite Whelpling 1,2,2
* Oily Slimling 2,2,2
This entire fight revolves around Wise Mari's pet Spirus. Carpe Diem and River are not going to challenge you at all, unless they pull off some amazing critical hits. Spirus combines heals, dodge, and a large offense. The Crow will still be alive when Spirus comes in, letting you refresh Darkness and hopefully get in a couple big hits. The Infinite Whelpling needs to finish off Spirus or you've lost. Weakness and Darkflame play against Spirus's strengths, while Tail Sweep provides the damage. Watch for Spirus's cooldowns closely and don't run one of your powerful effects into his Soul Ward.
Good luck and have fun.
Total cost: $0.
Not all of these ideas are my own. I read many forums, mixed in my own plans, performed a lot of capturing and leveling of pets that I've never used before, and went through much trial-and-error.
I made it through my first week with the following line-ups. Assume that if any pet is listed on multiple teams that means that I used multiple copies of the pet. I've noted breeds where I think they are important. I'll update in future weeks when I have access to the other trainers.
[Caveat: Some of these are heavily dependent on the random number generator. A miss in the wrong spot or an unfortunate critical hit against you could mean starting the tournament over.]
=== Xu-Fu (speed 296)
* Wild Golden Hatchling
* Turkey (S/S)
* Luyu Moth
The entire point of the Hatchling is to cast Call Lightning and then die, so sub in whatever pet you want in this slot. Tranquil Mechanical Yeti with his Ion Cannon would probably be better, if I was allowing myself crafted pets. The Turkey bangs away with Flock until either Xu-Fu or the Turkey are dead. If there's a bit to finish off, hit Xu-Fu with something fast. He'll still have the Flock double-damage debuff on him. I went with a Luyu Moth, because that's my level-up workhorse and I figured I'd give him a chance in a real fight.
The Turkey, Chicken, or whatever flying pet you're using with Flock has to be S/S, so that it's faster than Xu-Fu when the flying buff is removed.
=== Zao (speed 276)
* Skywisp Moth
* Cogblade Raptor
* (anything)
This fight is nearly identical to Xu-Fu. Skywisp sets up Call Lightning and dies quickly. Any Cogblade breed is faster than Zao, so pick whatever you can find. Cogblade uses Exposed Wounds and Batter until Zao vaporizes. If something goes terribly wrong, you might need a 3rd pet. I threw a Robo-Chick in for another Batter or possibly Wind-Up if Zao is trying to use Wish and needs to die in one shot.
=== Yu'la (speed 287)
* Your most favorite Rabbit
* Your second favorite Rabbit
* Your third favorite Rabbit
I already had a Tolai Hare team leveled up for PvP, and they are all S/S. This breed works against Yu'la, but the fight is crazy long. You're gumming Yu'la to death a few points at a time. If you have the choice, any rabbit that I'm aware of is already faster than 287 so bring something that hits harder than an S/S.
If you've completed Raiding With Leashes, throw Mr. Bigglesworth at her and just solo it.
=== Chi-Chi
* Unborn Valkyrie
* Alpine Foxling
* Rapana Whelk
-or-
* 3 Snails
Apparently I'm a sucker for stupid combos against Chi-Chi. My normal team uses Nuts and Sen'jin Fetish (Wild Magic + Rot + Stampede / Nut Barrage). Those two dink around with her, and then the Whelk comes in and kills Chi-Chi. Same thing with this team. The Valk + Foxling is a cute combo, but the Whelk still does most of the work.
My advice: Throw three snails at her and auto-win.
== Blingtron 4000
* Dancing Water Skimmer 1,2,2
* Flayer Youngling (S/S, P/S, H/S, or S/B) 2,2,2
* Lava Crab 1,2,1
The Skimmer and Youngling make short work of Au and Banks. Lil' B is the only challenging pet in this fight. Normally I would use a Blossoming Ancient and grind out a slow, automatic win. In this case I used a Lava Crab which hits hard enough and has just enough healing to pull through. This fight is more reliant on good luck than most. You mainly want Lil' B's Gift Package to hit you, because the healing it does on a miss is worse than the damage it does on a hit.
== Shademaster Kiryn
* Feverbite Hatchling 1,2,2
* Lava Crab 1,1,1
* Skywisp Moth 1,1,2
This is a straight-forward fight. The Hatchling's Brittle Webbing causes a massive amount of damage to Nairn when he casts Blizzard. I was trying Leech Life at first, but it doesn't hit hard enough to justify even with its healing factored in. Just go with Spiderling Swarm and pound away. This Lava Crab uses Spell Shield, instead of the heal used in the Blingtron fight, because the shield completely neutralizes Stormoen's turrets. Shield and pound; the mechanical cat won't live long. The Lava Crab should live long enough into the fight with Summer to soak up most or all of the turrets, at which point the Skywisp comes in for a Call Lightning and maybe one more hit for the win.
== Wise Mari
* Crow 2,2,2
* Infinite Whelpling 1,2,2
* Oily Slimling 2,2,2
This entire fight revolves around Wise Mari's pet Spirus. Carpe Diem and River are not going to challenge you at all, unless they pull off some amazing critical hits. Spirus combines heals, dodge, and a large offense. The Crow will still be alive when Spirus comes in, letting you refresh Darkness and hopefully get in a couple big hits. The Infinite Whelpling needs to finish off Spirus or you've lost. Weakness and Darkflame play against Spirus's strengths, while Tail Sweep provides the damage. Watch for Spirus's cooldowns closely and don't run one of your powerful effects into his Soul Ward.
Good luck and have fun.