Category Archives: pet profile

Scourged Whelpling

I know I’ve often waxed lyrical on my love affair with my crab Ishmael, but I may be cheating on him just a little with my Scourged Whelpling, Radley. Come on, who wouldn’t want to rub up on this?

Couldn’t you just kiss that little toothy, rotting, plague-infested… um, forget I asked.

Right now, the Scourged Whelpling might be my very favorite pet of all pets. The only thing he kinda stinks at is taming… he has mostly damage over time abilities, and his single nukes all hit really hard, so he’s reserved for straightup killing, and whoa boy does he deliver. He’s been one of my favorites for PVE stuff for a while. Radley has been featured in my Aki strat and my Burning Pandaren Spirit Tamer strat already. He’s so hardy he can decimate any wild pet he runs across, even the critters he’s vulnerable to.

PVP is where he is suddenly scintillating for me. Mostly because, yanno, I only just started to PVP. He’s key in nearly any damage over time team. He was featured in the clockwork gnome/wild golden hatchling synergy combo I started PVPing with (discussed briefly in my post about the clockwork gnome). My current team, making heavy use of Black Claw (which I’ll be discussing in a future post, really soon!) also uses the Whelpling.

Really, nearly any team which is heavy on the DoTs will benefit greatly from using him, because of his high health, undead type (which helps to beat up those damnable Kun-Lai Runts) but mostly because of his Plagued Blood ability. This ability has no cooldown and debuffs the current pet. It heals you each time you strike the pet with the debuff, for roughly 50. This means that each time a DoT ticks or turret fires or death & decay ticks, you get a heal.

This can end up being tricky to manage, since all they have to do is swap out and you have to reapply the Plagued Blood for the new pet. With a heavy swap team, or going against a force swap team, this can be a huge pain. It can also be problematic with the turret, because unlike something like a Shrine Fly‘s DoTs directly on the opponent pet, when your opponent swaps, you lose that healing until you re-apply Plagued Blood.

So, how do you find one of these elusive little guys? Honestly, this is a really tough tame, even now. Your best bet is to just park an alt the area in Icecrown where they spawn, and check every so often, especially just after a cross-realm server restart. This is one of the pets I see people saying they created a DK on one of the rp-pvp servers for less competition, too.

I know I’m kind of a jerk for spotlighting such a difficult tame, and it probably reads more like ‘haha look what I got suckaaaa.’ A Restless Shadeling is an alright substitute in some DoT teams, but is kind of a pain to tame too. Luckily, you only have to do it once, and this guy will be yours for long walks on the beach, or glamour shots in the sun.

Just dreamy.

Kun-Lai Runt

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With 5.3 coming, I figured it was a good idea to start profiling some of the better PVP pets. Max level pet PVP is going to see a lot of action very soon, so you can tame this guy to help you succeed.

The preferred breed for the Kun-Lai Runt is 4, or P/P. Right now, but getting fixed with 5.3, his stun Deep Freeze is broken in your favor. It ignores the resilience buff and stuns anyway. Even without benefit of a bug, that stun plus his humanoid ability Takedown, which hits for over 300 damage, and twice if a pet is stunned, are crazy, crazy deadly.

Before 5.2 you had to team him with a pet with a chill like Blizzard, because the runt’s Frost Shock was broken and didn’t apply a chill effect. This can still be a beneficial synergy, as you can then sub out Mangle for the low-ish damage Frost Shock and not have to worry about your opponent swapping pets in the round after you frost shock. Watch out though, because if your opponent has a Runt in their lineup as well (and they will) Blizzard also buffs theirs.

My Blizzarding pet of choice to pair with my runt, Hyde, was a Winter’s Little Helper named Jekyll (I mean, obviously). This is still also good synergy because she has her own delayed stun in the form of Ice Tomb. Double stuns to complement an awesome ability which hits twice when your opponent is stunned? I don’t think I need to spell this out here.

Another good, possibly better, choice for Blizzard synergy is the Tiny Snowman, which has an AOE attack and is elemental. This gives you protection against counters, since both Jekyll and Hyde are humanoids. Better than that, because Elementals aren’t affected by weather effects, opposing Runts won’t be able to use your own Blizzard as a chill effect against you.

If you come up against the Runt in PVP, and you’re going to come up against the Runt in PVP, your best counter is to use a pet with a lot of Undead attacks and hopefully some healing over time spells (so you get heals while you’re stunned, or in the back row). A Restless Shadeling, Ghostly Skull or Giant Bone Spider are popular picks. The Scourged Whelpling is another choice I’ve seen a bit of, but I haven’t had much success with him as a counter.

In PVE he can also pack quite a punch. He’s a good pick to beat that jerk in the Dragonblight, Okrut Dragonwaste.

He’s not all killing machine, though. Sometimes, he just wants to quietly sit and contemplate the fleeting beauty of the wildflower.

As the wildflower begins to die the moment it is picked, so does he, because if he’s picked we’re going to go PVP. Nice knowing you, Hyde.

Diemetradon Hatchling

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I admittedly have a soft spot for these guys. Dinosaurs gotta stick together, amirite?

There’s a very special thing about these dinosaurs in particular that makes them heartwarming. It has nothing to do with how they fight. It’s how they spawn: almost literally.

The Elder Diemetradon mobs in the area have a chance to spawn as a ‘mother’ diemetradon. This won’t change the mob itself in any way, but after a couple minutes, it will spawn a baby diemetradon hatchling!

If you fight that diemetradon hatchling and kill it, the mommy will make a new baby diemetradon in a few minutes which is actually really screwed up if you think about it. Once the elder diemetradon mobs are spawned they won’t spontaneously become mommies, so if you’re hunting hatchlings you’ll have to put them down, preferably via a moonfire to the face.

To farm these guys for a rare, I set raid markers on the diemetradons I knew were mommies. After around 10 minutes of circling to make sure I’d marked all the momma dinos, the carnage began. Eventually, enough non-momma diemetradon respawned as moms for me to farm up a rare, hooray!

A few other animals share this unique, adorable pattern. Cheetah Cubs and Infested Bear Cubs do, and I’ve heard Tiny Twisters do too, though I haven’t tried this out myself. Flayer Younglings do too, though that’s even more disturbing as they’re humanoid type pets.

As a fighter the diemetradon is a fairly standard Beast, with a mix of critter and beast attacks. He has one of those handy two-turn abilities where, if you kill something with it you gain health, and a mix of critter and beast abilities otherwise. But the novelty of his relationship with his mom is enough to make him a fun choice to seek out for a tame.

Maybe today you should give your own mother a call. She worries, you know.

Frog

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After 8 years of World of Warcraft, there is a certain amount of nostalgia people have for the game. Now that we’ve returned from Outland, now that we’ve crushed the Lich King, now that we’ve lived through the Cataclysm and Deathwing’s fall, there are very few things which have remained constant through the years and continue on as a touchstone of what the game once was.

For some people, that constant is their character. This is not the case for me. I started off as a priest, then made my way to a badass pvp hunter, turned over a new leaf as a mage, and then rerolled as a druid, with lots of alts peppered in between. Even now Blizzard is making a concerted effort even to change these characters with upgraded models and graphics. It is definitely time for an upgrade to these graphics, but it just adds to the growing feeling of impermanence.

For some people, the constant is their guild. I’m in a guild right now which actually is several iterations removed from my very first guild in vanilla. There were so many stops, schisms and gquits the guild today is barely recognizable as the one I joined in November of 2004. There are very, very few guilds left today with a charter that old.

Even the world we knew has changed with the Cataclysm. Mankrik’s Wife has received a loving, proper burial, and the bridge in Redridge has reached its completion. NPCs have moved, rep grinds have changed, items have been removed. I still have the tea with sugar given to me by poor little Pamela Redpath. Though she remains trapped in the same long, tragic unlife as when I first visited her in early 2005, my tea with sugar has changed to sweet tea. I haven’t lived in the American South for terribly long but dude, those are not even close to the same thing.

But, there is one thing that has remained the same. One thing that binds us all, regardless of faction. One constant through the turmoil that has been our lives, in-game and out.

Low texture frogs.

Low texture frogs accompanied us to the alien landscape of Outland and frozen tundra of Northrend.

Low texture frogs survived the Cataclysm. Even now low texture frogs live in our very cities.

When we landed on Pandaria’s rocky, inhospitable shores, low texture frogs were there to greet us, and low texture frogs entered the Vale of Eternal Summer before we did too.

There are currently 18 pets in-game that use the low texture frog model. Some are hard to get, like Mojo. Some aren’t tradeable or trappable, like the Jubling. The Lifelike Toad is a mechanical. They all share a moveset, so I have to also mention the Horny Toad, which has the same moves but looks like a lizard and isn’t really low texture. The tooltip reflects this too.

Low texture frogs have a unique move called Frog Kiss, which has a chance on hit to turn your victim into a frog, taking them out of action for a turn. It also increases your damage done with each hit, much like Arcane Blast, and can ramp up into a powerful nuke. Frogs also have the option for a good single-turn self heal, or a weak AOE heal with a weather component. Their abilities are rounded out with a DoT that persists through pet swaps and the no-frills aquatic ability Water Jet.

The one variant is that the Lifelike Toad replaces the DoT with the mechanical heal Repair, giving him a whole lot of healing power.

I’ve really enjoyed using them in low-level pvp. The large heal plus Frog Kiss makes them a force to be reckoned with, even up against one of those teams where they try to cheese the level gap to win. They don’t really translate well into higher-level PVP though. I’ve also been using one as a workhorse while I tame new pets and level old ones (I really like AOE heals for that).

But more than that, low texture frogs are a touchstone. Low texture frogs are a reminder of what once was. In this time of faster, smarter, brighter, prettier, low texture frogs remain as Blizzard’s embodiment of the Pandaren mantra, “slow down.” They continue to be–

OH FOR THE LOVE OF—

Scooter

1 Reply

This guy and his snaily brethren are some of the better PVE tanks, depending on the rock, paper, scissors of it all.

Or, rock, paper, scissors, slime as the case may be.

So, what makes snails so appealing? They generally can’t die. Not only do they have a shell shield ability, they also have Dive and the damage with return heals ability Absorb. Scooter is only available in the H/H or 6 breed, which means that his health pool at level 25 with a rare upgrade is a whopping 1960, making him one of the very few pets available with over 1900 health.

The only other snail available with the H/H breed is the Shimmershell Snail. The other breeds or other snails are also amazing tanks for sure… ‘get a snail’ is largely interchangeable in the pet community for ‘get a Rapana Whelk’ after all. But health that high even as a novelty is pretty sick in a tank.

An additional strategy would be to combine his Acidic Goo ability, which has a 25% additional damage taken debuff, with his Dive. It’s also possibly a synergy buff to a glass cannon pet like a Fel Flame. This obviously sacrifices a good amount of the snail’s survivability, though. To round out his abilities there’s the 25% chance to stun beast ability Headbutt and Ooze Touch, a no-frills magic nuke.

I personally am not as in lurve with him as some other tamers are. The Undead absorb move he uses to deal damage plus his Critter type makes him take forever to kill Critters and vulnerable to Beasts. That absorb move also deals minimal damage period, so fights with him take forever regardless. But there are certain fights where snails are integral, like my thrilling strategy for the Burning Spirit Tamer. As long as you’re not fighting beasts he’s a pretty good pick.

Some tamers doodle their name with the snail’s the same way I doodle “Ms. Liopleurodon Crab.” I prefer a tank that can’t be felled by an ill-placed salt shaker in favor of one that goes well with butter, I guess. Different strokes!

You get Scooter The Snail from the original Childrens’ Week quest, from either Orphan Matron Nightingale in the Cathedral District of Stormwind or Orphan Matron Battlewail in the Drag (lower level, beneath the inscription trainers) in Orgrimmar. He was added to the original complement of pets in 2011.

Legs

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Legs is one of the newest kids on the Childrens’ Week block, so he’s likely the one you’re missing, if you’re missing any. He was added to the Shattrath orphan roundup in 2011.

He’s quite unique, in that he’s a Magic pet with a mix of Magic and Aquatic abilities. The very new Tiny Blue Carp from fishing (mandatory uuuugh) is the only other pet I’ve run across which has a mix of magic and aquatic. The Carp is aquatic though, so it’s vulnerable to the flying pets which would be hurt more by the magic damage.

The aquatic abilities used by Legs are the very strong nuke Pump and the CC ability Whirlpool. He has a similar magic CC ability in Gravity. Surge of Power is a huge magic nuke, but a risky one as you have to ‘recharge’ after using it. Laser and Focused Beams are his bread & butter damage abilities. He doesn’t have avoidance abilities, so he’s pretty much a glass cannon.

Even though he was the last to be added, to me he’s the one that makes me reminisce the most about the Burning Crusade expansion. Sure, Peanut kinda looks like an elekk, and there were those beholder mobs in that one Tempest Keep dungeon. Zangarmarsh was one of the most unique environments Blizzard has designed thus far though, and Legs looks like he was directly lifted out of the swamp.

WTB 4 Fertile Spores PST. Ah, memories.

Legs is obtained by doing the Outland Childrens’ Week quest given by Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City.

Peanut

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Peanut is a cute, unassuming little fellow from Outland. He’ll occasionally stand on his hind legs and let out a little elephant tootle. In function, he’s similar to his Beast type Clefthoof Runt brethren, only just to make things interesting, he’s a critter. Even though he’s just clearly an elephant, the biggest currently living land animal on Earth.

Kay, critter.

Survival is all he has in the way of mitigation, though he does have a stun move. He has a couple buffs moves as well. Combining one of these with the percent damage ability Trample makes him a decent choice against the critter-type Beasts of Fable. A 10% health strike does a proportionally larger amount of damage to their huge health pools (you know, if you don’t want to cheese it like I do with a Nether Faerie Dragon or Cockroach).

Peanut is obtained by doing the Outland Childrens’ Week quest given by Orphan Matron Mercy in Shattrath City.

Curious Oracle Hatchling

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Much like the Wolvar hatchling, only much more tongue & teeth in the bargain.

urgh.

He has the same Humanoid benefits as the Wolvar pup, but his abilities are quite a bit different. A couple of his abilities go back to the Wrath rep he’s associated with, namely the really gross Aged Yolk. Between the teeth and the yolk, this apparently gives him Dreadful Breath.

urrrrrrgh.

The dreadful breath ability is a fun one to mess around with, especially when paired with a frog or strider who can make it rain (not in the way that involves strippers). Backflip can be strong in PVP depending on how fast the other pet is. Super Sticky Goo is a decent choice for pvp too, though in general this isn’t a very strong pet in pvp. He doesn’t pack a strong enough punch before he’s completely annihilated, depending of course on the rock paper scissors of it all. There’s always the gross out factor, I guess.

I guess he’s cute from far away. Maybe.

The Curious Oracle Hatchling is obtained by doing the Northrend Childrens’ Week quest given by Orphan Matron Aria in Dalaran.

Curious Wolvar Pup

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If you were around during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the Curious Wolvar Pup is no mystery to you. He’s a relatively new addition to the Childrens’ Week fold, but is still several years old.

The Curious Wolvar Pup is modeled off the Wrath Frenzyheart wolvar rep you can still grind, even though at this point that would be super silly, since with the Oracles you have a chance for a mount. You’re only going to get gross eggs though, trust. What the Frenzyheart lack in good rewards, they make up for with this little guy. He is one of the best fighters of the week, with a unique set of moves across a few different families.

He’s a humanoid pet, which by itself makes him fairly unique, but he also has beast abilities making him strong against the super populated Critter family if you so choose. The thing that makes him especially nice though, especially for lower level pvp, is the combo of Frenzyheart Brew and Whirlwind. The first buffs his damage, and the second is a really nice full team AOE in Whirlwind.

Also in the pvp vein is Snap Trap, which is a quirky and slightly unpredictable stun. He’s an excellent choice for a novice battler. He’s a humanoid, so he heals every turn he does damage, making him more robust than most.

The Curious Wolvar Pup is obtained by doing the Northrend Childrens’ Week quest given by Orphan Matron Aria in Dalaran.

Mr. Wiggles

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Mr. Wiggles has always been a favorite of mine. Back in the day, he’d stay by my side and eat schmutz he found on the floor in Scholomance despite my strident caution that he knock it off because it was probably tainted by the plague. Wiggles don’t care. He just eats what he wants.

Big, bad boss pulls in years were typically accompanied by /say Let’s do this, Wiggles. He was my lucky charm in raiding back when it was only pets, no battles. He also took up a space in my inventory. Uphill in the show! You whippersnapper.

So it’s really oddly fitting for me that he is currently the only attainable pet on US servers with the ability Uncanny Luck. If you’ve been fighting Lucky Yi, the Beast of Fable a stone’s throw from Nishi, you’ll have seen this in action. Because of the nature of this ability, I predict that pet PVP in 5.3 is going to see a bunch of matching up Wiggles with other pets with lower chance to hit abilities, like Moth Balls. Maybe not, I’m pretty terrible at pet pvp.

Beyond that, he’s a fairly standard critter. He has either a critter or undead dps in the first slot, a heal or 50% reduction ability in the second, and Uncanny Luck or a chance to stun with damage in the third. The key though, is going to be using his Luck in synergy with other pets. This will become more evident in 5.3, when chance to hit stuff becomes a part of the standard UI.

You get Mr. WIggles from the original Childrens’ Week quest from either Orphan Matron Nightingale in the Cathedral District of Stormwind or Orphan Matron Battlewail in the Drag (lower level, beneath the inscription trainers) in Orgrimmar.