Yearly Archives: 2014

Menagerie Roundup

The Menagerie is located in your garrison, and is relatively central to your pet battling experience for the Warlords of Draenor expansion. I’ve written an overview of the Menagerie feature, as well as several posts outlining the strategies therein.

To unlock your Menagerie, you must beat 3 different single-pet fights during the quest Pets vs Pests. This quest opens up once you have a level 3 Garrison. I’ve outlined the strategies to beat these Pests in 3 different posts:

Gnawface
Gorefu
Carrotus Maximus

After your Menagerie is unlocked, you will then be given a daily quest (Scrappin for Horde or Battle Pet Roundup for Alliance) to defeat the current challenge in your Menagerie’s pen, off to the lefthand side of the quest NPC. There are 15 fights in total. Here’s the list in order, and the links to the strategy guides I’ve written for them as well:

Manos, Hanos & Fatos
Squirt’s Deebs, Tyri & Puzzle
Rukus & Brutus
Mr. Terrible, Carroteye & Sloppus
The Beakinator
King Floret & Queen Floret
Gromli & Kromli
Grubbles, Scrags & Stings
Jahan, Archimedes & Samm
Eleanor
Fiero & Tirs
Rockbiter, Stonechewer & Acidtooth
Quintessence of Light
Blingtron 4999b, Protectron 022481 & Protectron 011803
Stitches Jr

To see which pet battle is being featured at the Menagerie today, click here for the pet calendar.

After you win 150 (down from 500 as of a hotfix on 12/3/2014) battles in Draenor & get the Draenor Pet Battler achievement, you can upgrade your Menagerie to level 3, which unlocks a different daily challenge. This challenge also requires you to defeat the opponent in your Menagerie’s ring, but will award an additional bag, the Big Bag Of Pet Suppies, which can contain a variety of new battle pets representative of some of the Menagerie fights.

An Awfully Big Adventure

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It’s dangerous to go alone, so for the Warlords of Draenor, we’re being given a brand new companion involved in a lengthy achievement called An Awfully Big Adventure. To complete it, you just need to bring your tailor-crafted Elekk Plushie along on Forty-No-That-Is-Not-A-Typo-Freaking-FOUR different tamer battles. Adding insult to injury, your squishy little friend does absolutely no damage or healing. All its attacks are powered by imagination and stuffing. You essentially have to complete all 44 of these pet battles with just 2 pets.

Here’s the list of all the battles you’ll have to complete for the Awfully Big Adventure in alphabetical order with links to either full entries, or just a video guide for simpler fights. The video-only entries will be denoted with (v). Most normal XP carry strategies will work as an Elekk Carry Strategy, so many of these videos & entries will just outline a standard leveling carry. The one difference from a typical carry is that, in order to get credit for this achievement, you do not have to swap your Elekk Plushie into the fight. Just being on the team is enough. But, it’s occasionally quite preferable to let the Elekk soak a big hit, stun, etc.

A warning: several of the more difficult carries listed here use pets I would never suggest in most normal strategies due to rarity, cost, etc. and many of them are excessively fussy in a style I don’t typically adopt. I apologize for this to a certain extent, but this achievement is by leaps & bounds the most difficult challenge handed to us thus far. These strats use any means necessary.

Aki The Chosen

Ashlei

Beegle Blastfuse

Blingtron 4000

Bloodknight Antari

Bordin Steadyfist

Brok

Burning Pandaren Spirit

Chen Stormstout

Christoph Von Feasel

Courageous Yon

Cymre Brightblade

Dr. Ion Goldbloom (v)

Farmer Nishi

Flowing Pandaren Spirit

Gargra

Goz Banefury

Gutretch

Hyuna

Jeremy Feasel

Lorewalker Cho (v)

Lydia Accoste (v)

Major Payne

Mo’ruk

Morulu

Narrok

Nearly Headless Jacob

Obalis

Las’an

Kiryn

Sully (v)

Taran Zhu

Thundering Pandaren Spirit

Vesharr

Wastewalker Shu

Whispering Pandaren Spirit

Wise Mari

Wrathion

Tarr The Terrible

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Tarr is an ogre after my own heart. He’s hanging out in New Nagrand by the Ring Of Blood, which features a whole bunch of Ogres thirsty for each others’ blood. They’re all locked in gladiatorial combat, vying for Best PVP Ogre NA 2014, while Tarr is busy training up his battle pets.

I can relate, Tarr honey, but I’m still going to ruin your day.

Here’s the team:

As a constant for tamer fights, Cecil The Elekk Plushie is on the team. For this fight, dealing Undead damage is the way to do it. Because of the swaps Tarr makes, and because I just gotta do me, I enjoy a DoT-heavy moveset, specifically involving Curse of Doom. The real MVP on this team is the Bone Spider. The force swap mechanic and DoT moveset on this spider combine with deadly results. You can do something similar with a pet with a dodge, like the Restless Shadeling.

A Crawling Claw is probably preferable to the Lost Of Lordaeron, but the latter is found in the Undercity and the former is just… don’t even talk to me about Tol’vir archaeology combines. I do like to make sure the Curse of Doom pet has a straightforward Undead damage dealing ability, like the Lost Of Lordaeron’s Shadow Slash, so keep that in mind if you’re swapping for, say, the Creepy Crate. For the purposes of an Elekk Carry it doesn’t matter too terribly much because your Elekk can just run out the clock while you wait for DoTs to tick, but not so much for a typical two-pet carry.

Tarr’s team in general is a little gimmick-laden. He’s one of the few tamers who makes a lot of swaps, and that’s largely because of his first pet’s Falling Murloc ability, which causes damage and a self-stun.

Tarr will always swap to a different pet when Gladiator Murkalot is stunned, so I like to lead off with that Lost of Lordaeron & a Curse of Doom, then swap off to the Bone Spider.

The Bone Spider is excellent here because it’s extremely speedy. Gladiator Deathy uses a stun and then will charge up his Deep Breath during the stunned turn. As a result, the Bone Spider is un-stunned by the round Deathy unleashes that Deep Breath, but will go first on that next turn. By using your Force Swap, it essentially interrupts Deathy so you don’t take that rather considerable damage.

An alternate tactic is to use a pet like the Restless Shadeling with a dodge (Phase Shift), though in this case you want your pet to be faster than Deathy to ensure you get your dodge off before Deep Breath pops.

The other super annoying thing is that Murkalot will occasionally cast Shieldstorm, which puts up a shield on all the pets on the team to absorb the next hit they take. Just be cognizant enough of this to not waste your Curse of Doom on that nonsense.

When Murkimus finally enters the fight, our speed puts us at a bit of a disadvantage because of Counterstrike. Murkimus also has Heroic Leap, which functions like Lift-Off, Dive, etc.

I like to swap to my carry pet during the first Heroic Leap, to eat that 500 or so damage. As such, I like to keep these carries to level 10 or higher. If possible, get a Curse Of Doom up before the first Heroic Leap to run out the clock more quickly. Alternately, this is another good place to use that Restless Shadeling’s dodge, if that’s the route you chose.

We’re kind of pet battling compadres & all, but having all those rare Blizzcon pets made me kind of excited to beat him.

I guess this kind of makes me Best PVP Ogre NA 2014, right?

Stitches Junior

1 Reply

Alright, ALRIGHT. I confess! I was the one who helped some creepy old hermit in the backwoods of Duskwood, which is beyond clearly haunted, several years ago. I was a bright-eyed young recruit, and the subsequent betrayal cost me, cost all of Stormwind, dearly. It continues to cost me dearly, apparently.

Stitches Jr is another of the many battle pets running amok (amok! amok!) in your garrison’s Menagerie. He has a unique twist which you’ll find just scintillating, I’m sure.

Here’s the team:

The team I used for the video was a little more exotic, using the Sea Pony instead of the Striders, so don’t panic if you’re here from the video. The Mud Jumper is another alternate pet which is a very common tame in new Nagrand, but again, mostly the same movesets as those old Striders.

The thing we’re looking for here is Aquatic battle pets, to blunt the amount of damage Stitches Jr does. We’re definitely well-served using Pump. Cleansing Rain is also extremely useful in more ways than one. For the anchor pet, Spawn of G’nathus’s Swallow You Whole is an execute-style spammable move. All the pets with that move are relatively rare though, so instead you could opt for something like Howl + Surge Of Power from Chrominius. Just something to completely destroy that opposing pet in short order.

So, why the emphasis on big damage? Iron Thread.

Every attack has to count, and count big. To be clear, this means that if you deal 499 damage you’ll get a (Blocked) message, but if you do 501 damage you’ll deal the whole 501 damage with no additional absorb.

Iron Thread is also why Cleansing Rain is so nice. The 25% increase to Aquatic attacks makes those big attacks just that much bigger. It’s also helpful, because it does a (relatively weak) AOE heal, and one of Stitches Jr’s offensive moves is Cleave, which splits the damage done among the pets still living.

With all Aquatic pets, Cleave is kind of laughable, which is why that cleansing rain heal is a good idea.

One last thing: watch out for that Undead res turn. This is the second reason I really like the Spawn of G’nathus as my anchor. I can just Dive to ride that out.

Manos, Hanos, Fatos

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This Magical trio is another of the many fights that await you in your Garrison’s Menagerie. I’m not quite sure what this is supposed to reference. Maybe nothing. It seems like something though, doesn’t it?

In any case, reference or not, they will meet their match with the following team:

I used a slightly different team for the video, but my explanation should bear out either (and this one is slightly easier to obtain).

The first dragon has a weather change ability. Another thing to note is that, because our opponents are Magic battle pets, using a big move like Deep Breath would just be a waste since most of the damage will be absorbed by that Magic family racial. I find it the most useful to pick just a full team of dragons with dragon moves, but a case can be made for the Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling, as the only strong-defending Mechanical battle pet with the strong-offense Dragonkin moves.

The first thing Manos does is change the weather to Arcane Winds, and then he’ll attempt to combo that with Mana Surge for additional damage. The first thing you have to do then, is change the weather in return.

The Wild Golden Hatchling’s Call Lightning is fantastic, as is the Spawn of Onyxia’s Scorched Earth as used in the video. Another option is the myriad of Dragonkin pets with Moonfire. You want to avoid Darkness here though. The rest is relatively straightforward. Just beat him up until it’s Hanos’s turn to rumble.

Hanos is annoying because he has a dodge move. I like to use my Emerald Whelpling or Emerald Proto-Drake here. The style of dodge Hanos uses counts down, so I can use those dodge turns as a natural stopping point to cast a heal with either of those two. This can also be a good spot for the Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling to use Decoy.

The reason we avoided Darkness to counter the previous pet is because Hanos’ main attack, Sneak Attack, deals additional damage to blinded targets. He will also cast a Blind effect occasionally with Flash, so if you have an avoid to use, the turns where you’re blinded is the time to use it.

Fatos is the last battle pet you’ll encounter in this particular Menagerie fight. It uses Forboding Curse which is an additive debuff, but will make your pet slower, so this is a good spot to add a battle pet with Tail Sweep. This has some pretty good synergy with Arcane Slash, which deals additional damage when it’s faster. Its last damage move, Seethe, has a relatively wide range of damages as well, but is relatively straightforward. Just keep on using your Dragonkin moves to beat him up. I especially like the Infinite Whelpling here because that luck-based Sleep can put you at an advantage, but that’s up to you.

Then you can retire to your fishing shack, or whatever else it is you crazy kids are doing in your Garrisons these days.

Get off my lawn.

Tirs & Fiero

7 Replies

Tirs and Fiero are two more pets that show up daily at your Garrison’s Menagerie daily, for either the Scrappin or Battle Pet Roundup dailies. This fight is pretty challenging, but I think I found a fun, unique way to beat it.

Here’s the team:

The Scourged Whelpling in particular has a few tricks up his sleeve. The rest of the pets do big Aquatic damage, which will eviscerate those Elemental battle pets. The best choice for these last slots are going to be magic pets with big Aquatic damage as well as dodges, but those are relatively quite rare. If you have a Syd The Squid hanging around after 6.0 that’s definitely a great alternate choice. Gnathus’s main move as the anchor is Swallow You Whole, and there are several other options which use that move as well. I would definitely try to pick one of those up, though.

So, firstly, that whelp has an odd moveset, and is kind of a weird choice in general, but the very first thing Tirs does when he steps up to the plate is cast Cleansing Rain. This means that this is probably the only time we’re ever going to want to use Dreadful Breath with our Scourged Whelpling, and here it really pays off.

tirsfierobreath

Each round of Dreadful Breath will do nearly 200 damage to both Tirs and Fiero. I can typically get both down to just about half health by the time the Whelp dies permanently.

After that, it’s all about the burst. Both Tirs and Fiero have incredible burst. Tirs will cast Pump, which you can deflect a few times with your Croaker’s Bubble. However, when Fiero comes out, all bets are off.

Not only does Fiero have a lot of burst, including the 50% accuracy RNG darling pictured above, but his regular abilities hurt pretty bad as well. The solution I chose is to out-burst the burst. Because of the mechanics of Swallow You Whole, once you can get Fiero to 25%, you win. And he already starts off at just over half health, so as long as you can get just a couple abilities to hit, you’re going to beat this fight.

Jahar, Samm & Archimedes

1 Reply

This is the most fight this expansion. Hell, it’s the most fun fight to date.

I’m not being sarcastic for once. This fight is so, SO fun.

Here’s the team:

Since the pets we’re facing are all flying battle pets, those dragons with magic abilities are getting some serious airtime. Yep, again. Dragonkin pets with the Arcane Storm/Mana Surge combo are pretty nice here too, if you’d prefer. The first pet, Jahan, will even cast Arcane Winds on your behalf if you’re lacking on the combo. If you don’t have any Dragonkin with Magic damage, try pets with just magic offense. Pets with a Barrier, like the Coilfang Stalker, even make it so you could carry a lowbie here, though the first pet has some serious AOE so I like to err on the side of lvl 10+.

This fight is completely straightforward, except for one thing.

And this is what makes this fight SO fun. Because of the interaction of my magic-damage dealing Dragonkin pets with their Flying targets, even if they crit every attack the Flying pets won’t prevail here. In the meantime, your pets get to deal out incredible, ridiculous damage. It is absolutely staggering, even when you’re not critting.

If you don’t have the dragonkin pets with magic damage here, I’d swap for heavy-hitting Magic battle pets before just Dragonkin. The increased crit will be absorbed by a Magic battle pet’s family ability to a certain extent.

When watching the video, please know that I tried to contain my glee. I honestly did.

Since this fight is in your Menagerie, it’s like Santa comes once every couple of weeks.

The Beakinator

5 Replies

Winner Most Ridiculous Name NA 2014

The Beakinator is one of the many rotating challenges you can face in your garrison’s Menagerie. He is a Flying battle pet, with his attacks split between Flying and Mechanical damage. But that Mechanical stuff is a doozy.

Here’s the team:

Because Beakinator uses a good amount of flying damage and is a flying battle pet, yet again we’re using our magic damaging dragons. In terms of swaps, the best option not shown here is the Emerald Proto. The dragons with the Arcane Storm + Mana Surge combo, like the Nexus Whelpling, are poor choices here. The most important thing in the Infinite Whelpling’s moveset is the Darkflame ability, which is shared by a few other battle pets. I’d pick dragonkin here if at all possible but the Dark Phoenix may be OK in a pinch.

I would definitely recommend sticking with either the Nether Faerie or Sprite Darter in the 2nd slot, because Life Exchange is so extremely useful against single-pet fights.

beakinatorstats

The scariest bit to avoid, just looking at Beakinator’s moveset, seems to be Wind-up. While it is a LOT of damage to take at once, our pets all have heals and due to the nature of Wind Up and our reduction from the Dragonkin racial for Alpha Strike, we’ll be alright with that.

Actually, no. The main threat here is Touch Of The Animus.

It’s a per-hit reflexive heal debuff. This is why the heal-preventing Darkflame on our last pet alive is so important. Before we get down to that battle pet, we can just swap out whichever pet gets that debuff. Because Alpha Strike is 2 hits, and due to the Boss buff, each round we stay in with that debuff will heal Beakinator for the equivalent of 500+ damage we’ll have to do to take those heals back off.

This is also why those multi-turn magic abilities, fairly common among the magic-damaging Dragonkin battle pets, are out. You need to be able to swap out ASAP, and though those abilities do excellent damage they lock you into the attack for far too long.

Beakinator is the objective of the first-tier Menagerie quests, Scrappin’ for Horde or Battle Pet Roundup for Alliance. I believe he may also be hungry for Froot Loops.

They’re Grrrreat? I may be stretching here.

Frogs on Draenor!

Vesharr

2 Replies

Like all of the denizens of the Spires of Arak, Vesharr’s story is a tragic one. He holds some artifacts you’ll recognize while questing through the area. A construct used by the Arakkoa for defense, now useless. A black bird used for relaying important messages, quickly and quietly. The tiny avatar of their god; a god which no longer answers them.

At least maybe you’ll bring Vesharr a little bit of entertainment. He needs it, now that his life was shattered along with his wings.

These Draenor tamers are dark, y’all.

The team:

This is a level 1 2-pet carry, so this strategy also works quite well for an Elekk Carry. The Nether Faerie is my Flying killer glass cannon of choice, but there are a couple others that will work too. The Emerald Proto-Whelp is fairly key because of that Lift-Off avoidance move, though there are a couple other dragonkin in this boat. You are going to be taking a lot of damage here, so Dragonkin are definitely preferable.

Vesharr’s 1st & 3rd battle pets are Flying with flying damage, so we’re real heavy on the Dragonkin pets. The name of the game is the blitz. The one big issue is that Vesharr’s 3rd pet is Mechanical. However, it casts this weird buff:

So that magic damage will still be a good pick. The one big thing to watch out for with that 2nd pet is Root, which just deals a lot of damage after a turn to charge up. It will be cast more frequently than the Emerald Proto can Proto-Strike to avoid it, but with that & the heals you should be able to make quick work of the first 2 pets.

The 3rd pet self-buffs on its first turn, so that’s your chance to put in your level 1 carry pet. After that, he will unleash a huge set of attacks, which is why I like to use the Nether Faerie Dragon. Life Exchange works as a great equalizer after you’ve withstood a barrage of attacks. Once Darkwing gets below half health & loses that Flying speed boost, you’ve pretty much won.

Vesharr is also a vendor, so make sure to take the last few birds they have left, trained by one of his friends who was stabbed in cold blood.