Category Archives: strategy

Blingtron 4999b & The Protectrons

I suppose it was natural that someone so thoughtful and so giving would snap, eventually. They tried to upgrade him! What choice did he have?! His 2 bodyguards will ensure that nothing stops his philanthropic mission.

Why, it’s the Blingtron 4999b, Protectron 022481 & Protectron 011803 pet battle! This couldn’t possibly end in far-reaching apocalyptic destruction.

The team starts with my Pandaren Water Spirit. This is backed up by the relatively easily tamed Electrified Razortooth (you’ll still have to do the very first Isle Of Thunder unlock scenario) and the Molten Corgi, which was automatically obtained for the very recent 10th anniversary but is now no longer obtainable.

The weirdest, most irritating thing about this fight is Roboflauge, which for some reason makes all these pets take damage as though they were critters. Critters take less damage from elemental moves, while Mechanicals usually take extra damage, so this is a serious wrench in the works. Since they still all deal Mechanical damage, this is doubly a problem, since Elementals still defend strongly against this, and Beasts still take additional damage from everything they’ll dish out. To build this team, I simply combed through my list of Elementals for some that deal Beast damage.

The Pet Journal Enhanced addon makes this sort of team building far, far easier, as you can use the enclosed ticky boxes to narrow down your selection to only elementals with beast abilities. If you don’t have very many of these, you can sub out for some elementals that deal off-family damage, like the Water Spirit with its Aquatic damage, but you don’t want to grab too many of those. The Sapphire Cub from Mists Of Pandaria Jewelcrafting is a good pick, and there are a couple Timeless Isle drops that’ll work well too.

The Blingtron leg of this fight comes first. He hits somewhat hard with Club and Batter, and his AoE Armageddon does a bit of damage, but with an all-elemental team it’s not a huge deal.

The one caveat to your selection process is that you need to select something that has either a full dodge or a good couple of heals. Both Protectrons have an identical moveset which includes Ion Cannon. The Molten Corgi’s Puppies Of The Flame or moves similar to it makes this extremely easy to dodge, but you do need to avoid these Ion Cannons if at all possible, because even with the family defenses of Dodge it will hit very, very hard. This is why Miss Gloria is in that anchor leg. She can all but solo the 2 protectrons.

The real insult here is that, even with Roboflauge, these fakey fake critters still use their Mechanical resurrected turns. How rude is that?

Cymre Brightblade

4 Replies

Cymre Brightblade is an archaeologist investigating a ruin in southern Gorgrond. Her battle pets are a sentient artifact, a magical lantern, and a dapper little mechanical who helps run the operation. Cymre’s name is a tribute to Cymre Jones, a battle pet and archaeology blogger over at Bubbles Of Mischief.

This fight is the most challenging of all the independent Tamers on Draenor. So much so that, between design iteration, RNG & being strapped for time, I’ve sadly only managed to formulate a non-carry strategy.

The Gazelle Fawn has a specific move which is fairly crucial to defeating this tamer. The only other pet I’d recommend (other than the other fawns, sheep, etc with this moveset) is the Teroclaw Hatchling, which is brand new for Draenor and easily obtained, but starts Uncommon and at level 1. The Dark Whelpling is pretty much the ideal pet for this situation (given the difficulty of this fight, that’s what I’d recommend here if you’re trying for a 2-pet carry). The Scourged Whelpling is your next best bet. The Infinite Whelpling (don’t use the Sleep ability!) or the Death Talon Whelpguard are decent choices, but require more thorough cooldown monitoring.

To be completely frank, I can pull off a 2-pet strategy roughly half the time with this ideal setup. Rather than beat my head against it and get needlessly frustrated, unless I’m trying for something specific like the Awfully Big Adventure, I opt to put in the Pandaren Fire Spirit over trying a leveling carry. Molten Wave makes Cymre’s last battle pet relatively trivial, and the Cauterize heal is really nice too. The Lava Crab is similar and easier for a novice to obtain, but I just happened to pull the Fire Spirit first.

Whether or not I can pull off a carry depends extremely heavily on what Cymre’s first pet does. It is a doozy.

The only offense Idol of Decay has to speak of is Swarm Of Flies, which is going to be trivial against our critter. Or is it, lololol.

Idol of Decay is a huge troll, and will cast Rot, making your pet suddenly vulnerable. This is why that Gazelle Fawn is so crucial. It can use Nature’s Ward and bust that Swarm Of Flies damage back down to size again, while healing itself back up.

It’s a pretty neat trick, but Idol of Decay still has one more of its own up its sleeve. It uses Dark Rebirth which means you basically have to beat him a second time, but ONLY IF it dies (permanently, as it is also Undead). This ability, whether it’s used at a time when I can wait, whether I wait through several turns and he doesn’t use it, etc, makes or breaks whether or not the carry is viable. If he succeeds in getting off the Rebirth and I’m attempting a carry, I just abandon it and restart because my outcome is not going to be positive.

Cymre’s second pet uses Sunlight and Wish, which is why I favor the Dark Whelpling. Switching that Sunlight to Darkness helps matters immensely. The heal-halving power of Darkflame does quite a bit, but won’t reverse the additional heal that Sunlight brings to the table. Of course, the Wishbright Lantern also uses Arcane Blast, which hurts more each time it’s cast. Even with the change to Tail Sweep which now causes you to usually bottom out on the Wishbright’s Magic family ability, it’s still advantageous to pick it anyway. It will still have more throughput on your third pet.

Gyrexle’s main offense is Build Rocket, which is why I like using Magma Wave. He has Railgun, but doesn’t use it all too frequently. Between Magma Waves and Cauterize, once you can get your Fire Spirit in this fight is over. Gyrexle will occasionally Repair, which can be an issue if you left Sunlight active, but your Fire Spirit (or Lava Crab) will benefit from that, too.

Like I said, it’s definitely a doozy of a fight. You can still use those pet charms to gain a level or 2, at least.

Gargra

2 Replies

In the snowy wastes of Frostfire Ridge, you’re going to see many adorable little Frostwolf pups. While their older counterparts are seen as companions by the Frostwolf, there aren’t many people who want to snuggle these tiny balls of fluff so hard their bitty eyes pop like I do.

But, there is one Orc.

Gargra, the pet tamer in Frostfire Ridge, has 3 of the cutest pups to enter WoW to date by her side. Because I can’t get one myself until I unlock a rep and grind a ton of crystals, let’s take her down a peg, shall we?

The first battle pet I’m using is a bit of a rare one. I like the Yeti specifically because it pairs Call Lightning with Ion Cannon, which is an incredibly powerful match ender. There is no other battle pet with these 2 moves, unfortunately. I’ve had success with a few other pets with Call Lightning, though you may want to use a higher-level carry here just to ensure a win. The Skywisp Moth in particular is an excellent partner here because almost all the offensive damage here is Beast, but it’s a bit dependent on RNG. If you hit Slicing Wind 1 time a lot, you’re going to be in trouble. Lil Bling has a powerful Mechanical DoT and the damage reducer Extra Plating, plus Inflation which both applies Shattered Defenses and is a strong DoT. I’m finding Lil Bling to be indispensable as we go through Draenor. I’d really suggest you grab one if at all possible. On most Auction Houses they’re under 2K gold just now, though you will have to stone & level it from scratch. An alternate is maybe the Clockwork Gnome, but the turret lacks a lot when weighed against the power of Inflation.

This specific strat is a two-pet Elekk Carry, but it can also be a level One carry.

The first of Gargra’s itty bitty frostwolves has the damage buffer Prowl, which it usually uses as a lead-in for Call The Pack. I usually try to leave in the Yeti at that point, even after I cast Call Lightning, and then swap to Lil Bling after Call The Pack. If I’m using a higher level carry pet or for the Elekk Carry I’ll sometimes try to soak this damage since it’s a pretty big hit but in any case, after that Prowl turn it’s Lil Bling’s turn to enter.

The interaction between Call Lightning and Lil Bling’s Inflation is our workhorse this fight. Inflation does several hits, meaning that Call Lightning’s sort-of DoT hits many times, but then after Shattered Defenses is applied each hit of Call Lightning will also double. It’s pretty sweet, and will make this fight pretty trivial. Except for one thing.

Gargra’s second wolf, Fangra, is an evasion machine.

She’ll boost everyone’s speed with Dazzling Dance & then immediately use Dodge to avoid your attacks for 2 turns, meaning that, if you use your Inflation through it, Shattered Defenses will fall off before you can attack her again. You should use these turns on Extra Plating & re-applying the Make It Rain DoT.

The very first thing Gargra’s last frostwolf pup does is cast Howl. Because of the huge damage the target battle pet will take henceforth, and the fact that Howl deals zero damage, this is the turn we’re going to put the carry pet into the fight, then swap it back out before the next turn. If we don’t, well, this:

Even if you’re not carrying a pet, you want to swap whatever pet took Shattered Defenses out if at all possible. Luckily at this point, if you’re using the Yeti the fight is a lock. Ion Cannon will absolutely destroy that last pet, though to make sure it’s a lock, you’ll want to make sure that last pet is within 900 HP or so. I usually sneak in one last Call Lightning here & then, bam.

If you’re using a different pet you obviously need to be a lot less careless than that, plan your moves & avoids & whatnot, but dang those big numbers are just so, so pretty aren’t they.

Tarr The Terrible

3 Replies

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?

Manos, Hanos, Fatos

8 Replies

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.

Ashlei

3 Replies

This is going to be the most intuitive, fool proof level one carry strat I’ve ever written, as well as the most tragically depressing.

The team I’m using to beat up on a defenseless draenei child is as follows:

The first battle pet on my team has a decent heal. The second pet has some good offense and, preferably, a per-hit shield ability like Stoneskin. The middle pet is our level 1 carry. That’s really all there is to it. Note that I didn’t even specify the families involved, though you’ll generally want to steer clear of Flying and (especially) Critter type battle pets.

The reason this strategy is so simplistic and so sad is because of Ashlei’s middle pet, Doodle. It is similar to the new pet obtained through tailoring, the Elekk Plushie. The Elekk Plushie is a stuffed animal. All its attacks are fueled by the power of imagination, which means all Elekk Plushies do literally zero damage, including Doodle. However, the ability Nap Time will put Doodle to sleep for one turn and typical Tamer AI swaps pets which are stunned or slept, so you’re not quite safe to put in that level one for the carry when she first pops up.

What I recommend is, after demolishing Pixiebell, taking a bit of time to heal up and refresh buffs, maybe get in a couple hits on Doodle. Then, when Tally enters you’ll be ready to go.

The only thing to watch out for with Pixiebell is Life Exchange. I don’t really bother healing a lot before Pixie uses it, but I do keep up my defensive abilities, if possible. The longer this section of the fight goes the harder Pixiebell will hit with Arcane Blast, so the quicker you can kill her the better.

Tally has Stampede and will usually follow that up with the hard-hitting ability Headbutt.

This is why it’s preferable that at least one of your battle pets have that per-hit shield. Without the Shattered Defenses buff, Headbutt hits for 500 damage or so. If Tally gets Stampede off, its Headbutt will hit for 900 or more, which means curtains for most pets.

After Tally dies, Ashlei will swap her plushie back in. At this point, as long as you have one living pet capable of doing any damage at all you win. This is also how a level 1 carry is accomplished easily: I wait until this second appearance of the plush, then swap in my level 1 for as many turns as I’d like before finishing the job.

I’ve been able to solo this fight fairly handily with both my usual standby Emperor Crab and the Moonshell Crab I tamed on the eastern coast of Shadowmoon Valley. Many typically recommended utility pets like the Anubisath Idol or the Emerald Proto-Whelp do well here, too. The real challenge is crushing a little kid’s dream.

I hope you’re proud of yourself, monster.

Gnawface

7 Replies

New for 8/24/14: Good News, Everyone! In the latest beta build, Gnawface has been significantly nerfed to be more forgiving. As a result, I changed the screenshot featuring his stats (click here to see Gnawface’s old stats). I also re-tested the teams below and they all still work like a charm. Oddly, I’ve found that now the weird cats team at the bottom seems to be the most straightforward. Who would think, right?

———

Gnawface is the first pet I’m going to write about that you must defeat in your garrison in order to open the Menagerie. The Menagerie is available to anyone as soon as your garrison reaches level 3. These battles are a part of the quest Pets vs Pests.

I know that everybody is going to want to open up their Menagerie, because who wants an uncompleted question mark on their record? The thing is, these fights are hard, and though I obviously can’t be sure, from the nature of the other battles I’ve seen it seems that the intent here is to show that the fights to come are no joke. If you can’t get these guys down first go, that is absolutely OK. Don’t be discouraged.

There are many teams you could use to beat Gnawface, and I’m going to highlight a couple, just because, as I said, this is going to be attempted by tamers who are not all that hardcore. Hopefully you can cobble together a team to defeat him.

Team 1: Humanoids A Go-Go.

The Kun-Lai Runt is tamed from Kun-Lai Summit & starts at level 23 or so. Bonkers is from gambling with Timeless Coins in Kukuru’s cave on the Timeless Isle. The Little Bad Wolf is the trickiest. It’s tradeable and obtained from the Big Bad Wolf in Karazhan. Both Little Bad & Bonkers start at level 1. All 3 are Humanoid, which means Gnawface’s critter abilities hit them weakly, and all 3 have a good complement of Beast abilities, meaning they hit Gnawface harder than normal. Lil Bad & Bonkers both have Dodge moves, making them last a very long time against Gnawface. If possible, use those dodges just as Gnawface’s Darkness wears off, because Call Darkness will hit your Humanoid pets for a lot of damage.

This team is the most straightforward for newbie tamers to use. No tricks or gimmicks. Just use your offensive moves, your defensive moves when needed, and this team will clean up.

Team 2: Moar DoTs

The Crunchy Scorpion is tamed in the Dread Wastes. The Obsidian Hatchling is sold for 50g in Dalaran. The Summit Kid is tamed in Kun-Lai Summit. There are some good substitutions for all 3 pets, because we’re really focusing on 1 ability for each. From the Scorpion, Sting is a long DoT which deals Beast damage. There are other scorpions and a couple snakes which fit this bill. From the Hatchling, Expose Wound increases each hit of that DoT by 74, so a DoT that ticked for 100 will now tick for 174. There are a number of other raptors that do this, including the tamed Cogblade Raptor in Blade’s Edge. The Summit Kid uses Stampede, which hits 3 times for 120 total damage on its own but applies Shattered Defenses, which doubles the damage done at the end of the Kid’s turn. Expose Wounds alone makes each tick of Stampede far more powerful, but with Shattered Defenses each tick of Stampede does over 200 damage. Add in that Sting and you’ve got yourself one dead rat.

This strategy is a bit more suited to experienced battlers, though the pets are easier to obtain. You have to swap each pet after it uses its designated ability or else the combos won’t line up properly.

An important point: Because Gnawface is a critter, both immobilize and stun effects will not work here. This means that some popular pets are ineffective. Namely, Spiders cannot web him & then use Spiderling Swarm for double damage.

Team 3: Like, Cats Or Whatever.

IDK, just a whole bunch of cats, or whatever. Pounce generally has better throughput than Claw, as long as your battle pet is faster than Gnawface. This is why I put Claw in the 2nd slot… if your cat is slower than Gnawface, Claw can help give you that edge regardless. You’ll have to experiment with your various cats to see whether you can pull off Prowl and still be quick enough to get it to hit. This team is by far the most susceptible to failure due to various RNG happenings & breed can be a huge consideration, so I’d consider this my last-ditch attempt. But hey, how often can I talk about just like, dozens of cats?

If you’re struggling here or have any questions, feel free to leave a comment to this entry, or ask me about it on Twitter (@Liopleurodonic). It’s a tough fight. If you can’t get it first go, have some boxed wine and come back later. Unless you’re underage, in which case don’t you dare let your parents know that Auntie Lio is the coolest ever.

———-

Here’s the video walkthrough:

Christoph Von Feasel

7 Replies

Everybody (yee-eah)
Rock Your Body (yee-ah)
Feasel’s Back, alright!

Oh my god, he’s back again. Warlords of Draenor is adding an additional Feasel, and this one is far more insufferable than his relation directly to the left.

Gross.

Like Jeremy, Christoph Von Feasel is located in the Darkmoon Faire, and will fight you in exchange for one of their Darkmoon-branded tokens. Or, at least, his battle pets will fight yours. Here’s the team I used:

Feasel’s first pet, Syd, is a Magic pet with a lot of Aquatic offense. There isn’t a good Magic pet to defend against Syd’s onslaught with enough firepower to beat Syd, so I opted for the Emerald Proto-Whelp. It combines both heals and an avoid with a decent Dragonkin offense. Syd uses Whirlpool on every cooldown now, so I find both heals and avoid to be rather key. The Spawn of Onyxia or Wild Jade Hatchling moveset dragons are a good pick here too.

As said before, Syd will use Whirlpool on every cooldown, so it’s important to use your avoid and your heal when necessary. He will also cast a full-block on hit bubble, so you just need the longevity to burn him down.

Feasel’s next 2 pets are both beasts, but their abilities make each unique. The reason I went with the Tonk is simple: Lock-On. Because of the Direhorn’s incredibly annoying shield, many normal abilities are fully blocked by it, so you can’t just pick whatever mechanicals willy-nilly. Lock-On is an activated ability which hits extremely hard after being primed, so I use those down turns to begin Lock-On and cast a couple of his other abilities, then blast Mr Pointy’s face off in full when his shield wears. There are a few other pets with this ability, or similar ones. Launch Rocket is fairly similar. I also like having Minefield available to make a big dent in the next pet without a ton of effort on my part, but that’s just gravy.

I’m not sure about other battlers, but Mr. Pointy was by far the source of the most cursing on my part.

Christoph’s 3rd pet, Otto the Cow, has a combination of hard-hitting abilities and Feed, which means you want to blitz him down and quick.

Lil Bling, my favorite battle pet of the expansion apparently, is up to the task. Make It Rain and Inflation go together like peanut butter, chocolate, and dessert wine. He also has Extra Plating for extra longevity, which I typically use so that I’m ‘safe’ through the Inflation turns.

After you beat Feasel The Fireworksier, you get a new Darkmoon pet bag. Mine contained the same old standard battle pet & Darkmoon gunk as that other Feasel’s. The new pet Syd The Squid also has a chance to drop, much like the Darkmoon Eye.

But, Christoph Von Feasel isn’t all bad. He may have just given me a new motto:

Doopy

1 Reply

Doopy is a legendary battle pet located in Icecrown. The roughest part of this fight is stumbling across him. He’s in an out of the way location, and there’s really nothing to point you to the fact that he’s there.

Well, except me.

The fight itself is relatively straightforward. Doopy is an aquatic penguin with Slippery Ice, Ice Lance & Ice Tomb. He also has the standard 50% damage reduction buff given to many pets nowadays. Each component is able to be countered relatively easily. Here’s 1 team I’ve chosen to highlight.

The key here is strong Flying attacks. Since Doopy is Aquatic, as long as you have a lot of Flying firepower you should be able to take out this solo battle pet relatively easily. The Nether Faerie Dragon‘s main trick here, other than its off-family flying damage, is Life Exchange. Life Exchange is fun for single-pet fights though it’s fairly unnecessary.

The Phoenix Hawk Hatchling is well suited to this fight. It has both Lift-Off to dodge Doopy’s Ice Tomb, and Fly By, which increases damage dealt by 25%. Ice Tomb is going to annihilate your pets with both big damage and a stun, so dodging it is a good thing, and it’s relatively easy. When the counter says there’s 1 round to go on Ice Tomb, use your Lift Off and your pet will dodge both. Same for any other dodges or absorbs on other pets. Of course, increasing damage dealt always a plus.

The Feline Familiar is in there, perhaps a bit oddly, because Doopy’s bread & butter move is Ice Lance, which uses multiple relatively smaller hits. As a result Stoneskin is good to use on an anchor. The old standby the Anubisath Idol or Emperor Crab make decent anchors too.

I’ve beaten Doopy handily with a bunch of owls, a trio of moths, a fistful of chickens, etc. Ravens & Crows are extremely useful in this fight, if you have one available. In general I’d really recommend to just use a bunch of pets with Flying damage, but I’m putting out as many options as possible, because this is a pet a lot of non-pet battlers are going to want to beat. Actual pet battlers? Funnily enough, not so much.

Each time you beat Doopy, you get a special egg item. It goes directly into your bags & is mailed to you if they’re full. This egg unlocks a new boss at the Brawler’s Guild, and it’s your only reward for besting Doopy besides the satisfaction of a job well done. The boss itself combines the earlier Dippy fight from rank 1 with Doopy, and in my case the result is kind of a mess.

A gory, gory mess. Nice knowing you.

Kafi

6 Replies

Hello, welcome to Kafi Talk. I’m your host, Lio Richman.

Today we’re going to talk about strategy for the beast of fable from book one Kafi, New York, daughters, dogs, you know no big whoop.

Kafi has 3 attacks, and they all have twists to them. His first, Leap, is a smallish hit, but gives him a 100% speed boost for the next turn. His second is Gnaw, which hits fairly hard, but tacks on an additional hit if he’s faster than your battle pets. Because most Mechanicals are fairly slow it’s really likely your pets will be slower than his 292 speed even before he starts tacking on Leap. His last ability is Headbutt, which is on a relatively lengthy timer but hits hard, and has a small chance to stun.

With all that in mind, here’s the team.

As long as you have 3 capped level mechanical battle pets with decent offense, you’ll probably be able to beat this fight pretty handily, though the stun can be a gamechanger. The real star of this fight is going to be the Darkmoon Zeppelin, and we’ll see why in just a bit. The other 2 battle pets I chose here (Clockwork Gnome and the Darkmoon Tonk) just have fairly strong, Mechanical offenses.

I’ll start the fight by pulling out the Zeppelin, and using Decoy and Missile until it’s within a turn of being dead. With Kafi’s relative speed, we’ll be using the res turn to Explode, so we have to hit it on the turn before he’ll kill the Zep. Remember that dual attack on the Gnaw here, too! Explode hitting is crucial to this strategy.

After that big a hit I’m feeling a little verkempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic. The Phoenix Hawk Hatchling is neither a Phoenix nor a Hawk. Discuss.

Explode is another of those odd percentage-based attacks which, although it isn’t buffed by most other moves, and isn’t affected by family weaknesses, it goes straight through that halfed damage buff the Beasts of Fable have, too. While in many cases this doesn’t make a huge difference, with such a big nuke being able to bypass the shield, Explode makes for an amazing tool to mow down any Beast of Fable. The Family weaknesses of the rest of the Zeppelin’s moves and its large healthpool in specific just make it a really good pet all around to beat up Kafi.

At this point the fight is mostly over. I just construct a turret to provide filler damage, then swap to the tonk and continue to nuke, and I win this one handily. I’ve beaten him before with just a Zeppelin and a Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling, just nuking a bit and then Exploding. The Dragonling does worse at this than the zeppelin, just because the zeppelin has more health to start, and its Decoy doesn’t share a slot with its Explode, giving it a really good bit of longevity. There are a handful of non-mechanicals with Explode as well, if you’re in a pinch. Just remember that if you use Explode with the last pet alive on your team, you’ll lose the fight because it doesn’t activate Failsafes.

Another good alternate strategy would be to use the clockwork gnome, a pet with Thunderstorm and the Cogblade Raptor. Like I said though, most teams with 3 mechanicals are like buttah for this fight.