synergy | BattlePetRoundup.com

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.

Look at this majestic little gnome. So pensive. So brooding.

My clockwork gnome Prufrock was one of the very first pets I chose to level, and I chose well. He is still one of the first pets I choose for world battles. Being mechanical, he’s very strong against beasts. I use him when I need to take down three of the harder battles in the game right now: Major Payne, Aki, and Jeremy Feasel are all mowed down summarily by his turret.

The turret is one of the strongest moves I’ve come across thus far. It deals 3 bursts of 50+ damage for 4 rounds, on a 2 round cooldown, so you can occasionally get out 2 at once, and it persists through the death of the gnome. There are 2 counters to this. One is a removal-type ability, like Tidal Wave. Prufrock is rather weak against the Flowing Pandaren Spirit as a result. The other is a shield-type ability. Of these, Spiked Skin is especially deadly. Not only will it negate your turret, but you’ll take the damage intended for your victim. Brittle Webbing acts similarly, so watch out if you’re fighting spiders.

Being mechanical, he also has Failsafe, so you can get off an extra round or two of abilities with him. You can use his strong, 2-round heal ability Repair through Failsafe, too.

My personal favorite though, is how he interacts with his Wild Golden Hatchling buddy, WasteLand. I typically only use WasteLand’s Call Lightning ability and then swap immediately back to Prufrock. Call Lightning increases the amount of damage done by mechanical abilities, and adds an additional hit to every shot of Prufrock’s turrets. I started doing this after Prufrock chewed through most of Aki’s team like it ain’t no thang, thanks to Stormlash using this ability.

So, how do you find your own version of this dapper little middle-aged fatalist robot? Archaeology. Sigh, I know. He’s a rare combine from Dwarven digs, making him kind of a hassle to farm. But just look at that little face. He’s tradeable though, so if you have a couple thou to drop on your friendly local AH, he can be yours without all that hassle.