Monday, July 8, 2013

Battle Pets: Level 1 to 25 in FOUR fights!


8.30.16 - Legion Update - this guide has not been updated since MoP, and I have not kept up with the pet battle side of things in Warlords of Draenor. That said, this guide will still work, as it doesn't take advantage of Howl Bomb, but at the same time there may be more efficient methods to level pets in Draenor that I am unaware of.

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I bet the bounce rate on this page is going to be ginormous since being able to level a pet from 1 to 25 in four fights has so many prerequisites that its usefulness is limited to veteran pet-battlers. Literally: in order to do this right, players must have access to the Beasts of Fable quests at minimum, and even then players aren't guaranteed to have two of the items that make this possible: Pet Treat and Lesser Pet Treat. Both of these items are a must-have; they have chance to drop from reward bags players acquire from the Beasts of Fable quests and the weekly PvP pet battle quest.

Yeah, so it's kind of cheating---the treats will stack with each other, meaning you can have one of each active at any time to provide +75% XP gain. Throw on a Safari Hat for good measure and you're four fights away from raising that noob pet to max level (note: you may be able to do this without the Safari Hat, but why would you?). The order of these fights doesn't matter---in fact, any four pandaren master tamers will do the trick.

Here's what it looks like:

Fight 1 - Aki in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms - Level 1 to 14 (+6706XP)


For easy-mode, use: Anubisath Idol

While it is entirely possible for your level 1 pet to survive Aki's grasshopper's first attack, it's not guaranteed. The Anubisath Idol can nearly solo the three on its own thanks to Sandstorm and Deflection. To be safe, start with the Idol, cast Sandstorm and swap your leveler in for a round---they won't take any damage. Swap the Idol in and kill the grasshopper. Use Deflection on Aki's next pet's first move, then use Sandstorm again to remove its weather effect. Finish off the second pet. The Idol may die facing the third pet---En-Bee-Dee---just finishing him off with your third pet. A flyer will work best for this.

If you do not have an Anubisath Idol: Get one. Otherwise, any pet with Sandstorm will make this fight considerably easier---just use it like you would were you using an Idol. If you don't have a pet with Sandstorm, your level 1 pet can often survive one round from the grasshopper, provided there are no crits. The key then is to start with your leveler, swap it out and counter Aki's three pets with two from your arsenal. At the end of the day, the Idol makes this fight downright trivial.

Fight 2 - Nishi in Valley of Four Winds - Level 14 to 20 (+8510XP)

Use a strong aquatic, as you're facing two elementals and a beast.

Nishi's no longer a pushover thanks to a change in patch 5.4. Siren, the pet she starts with, has been buffed. Solar Beam hurts, especially when you're also dealing with the pet's damage-increasing weather-effect. Avoiding Solar Beam will make this fight considerably easier. It should be the third ability Siren uses; I usually eat the Solar Beam, but reduce the damage it does by changing the weather before Siren casts it. Do what works for you.

I normally wait until Nishi's second pet dies to swap in the leveler, but this isn't necessary. I recommend finishing the battle with a mechanical pet.

Fight 3 - Yon in Kun-Lai - Level 20 to 24 (+6706XP)


For easy-mode, use: Emerald Proto-Whelp

Apply the Proto-Whelp's damage-reduction ability and you'll burn through Yon's first two pets before you know it. Otherwise, know that Yon starts with a flyer whose main ability is a multi-strike attack---if you have any damage-reduction buffs, just like when using the Anubisath Idol with Aki's grasshopper, these won't damage you. If you aren't using a Proto-Whelp, your first pet usually dies partway through facing Yon's second pet---here I'll bring out the leveler to hopefully finish it off---remember, your leveler is 20 now and thus can do decent damage as well as take some hits---then swap in a mechanical to finish the battle.

Fight 4 - Your Choosing/Burning Pandaren Spirit


For easy-mode, use: Pandaren Monk and Anubisath Idol

I went to the Burning Pandaren Spirit just because I have decent pets to counter the burning spirit's and it was closest. Really---if there is another tamer in Pandaria you're comfortable with, go for it. Any win will net you the remaining experience you need to get to max level.

For this fight, start the monk and use Jab. Then use Focus Chi---your opponent will use Lift Off here. Finish the pet with Fury of 1,000 Fists. Missing this attack can complicate the rest of this fight. Assuming you've killed Burning's first pet, continue to damage the next pet until your monk dies. Bring in your idol and finish the second pet using Crush while applying Stoneskin and using Deflection to counter the elemental's one devastating attack---once you time this right you'll be using Deflection the round after it comes off cooldown. The third pet here is a flyer with a multi-strike attack which gets completely negated by your idol's Stoneskin.  I usually drop the third pet low enough to where I can bring in my leveler for the last few hits of that fight.

Congrats! Now wasn't that easy?


17 comments:

  1. Oh wow, I live by your level to 25 in 1-9 fights guide. I can't wait to try this, once I get the treats. I've never even seen the 50% pet treat, only the 25%. Hmm time to step up doing the beasts of fable quests each day so hopefully one will drop.

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    1. Also, seems there might be room for a 1-25 powerleveling guide for when you only have Lesser Treats. ;)

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  2. Glad you're finding them useful---yeah, this one's kind of amazing...surprised myself even. I've also been given lots of Lesser Treats; maybe a regular Treat every other day if I'm diligent about doing all of the quests. Good luck. :)

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  3. I just finished skimming through all four guides and they are quite good! Thanks for all the work you put in here!

    One quick correction here. Under Nishi, you said "two elementals and an aquatic." It's actually a beast, which is probably what you meant since you suggest using a mechanical. :) Also, I prefer to start with my leveler on Nishi. The Sunflower starts with Sunlight every time, which hits all pets, then starts healing. So I start with the leveler since it's going to be hit anyway. Swapping pets while the Sunflower heals means I don't have to take an extra hits.

    Any idea why Aki gives less XP than Nishi? I've noticed this too. Perhaps because her pets are Legendary quality? Hmmm.

    Oh, another trick I saw somewhere. I forget where, perhaps it was a Wowhead comment? When a pet dies, swap in your leveler pet and immediately swap it out without taking an action. Despite the lack of an action, it will still get all the xp from the fight. Useful if you have a tough battle, but want to carry a pet.

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    1. Hey Skarn-

      Thanks, and NICE catch on the Nishi misinfo. It's been changed and amended the bit about where to swap in your leveler.

      As far as Nishi/Aki XP difference, I think it has something to do with the level differential---I don't know. I'm bad with math. If I remember correctly, you can fight ANY of these tamers 2nd (though some will be easier), and whichever one you fight 2nd will award the 8k+ XP.

      Thanks for the comments and the tips.

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  4. Added this post to our new subreddit on reddit.

    reddit.com/r/warcraftpetbattles

    Would also invite you to add any older and all new pet battle posts that you write up as well. Submit some and I'll add you as an approved poster for ease of posting.

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    1. Hey Scott-

      Thanks man. I've also some guides linked up top in the main nav for battlers of varied experience.

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  5. Levelling pets is certainly a lot easier these days with guides like these. I wasn't battling Yon as one of mine but after seeing him suggested now twice over the last few days, I tried him again yesterday.

    Great job!

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    1. Woot! Glad you found it useful. Happy battling/leveling!

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    2. Ross, I would also like to express my thanks for those guides. I was a battle pet noob about 2-3 weeks ago, and started with your noob guide. I found out about Anubisath Idol there, and since then has been trying out many various setups and methods for power leveling. Proud to say, I even managed to do the Celestial Tournament twice already. And all this would not be possible, if not for your guides. I tried battle pets a couple of months ago with no guide at all, and I was having a very hard time leveling anything. Therefore I must say your guide not only got me into battle pets, but also got me addicted XD. Cheers for the great work again!

      PS. if you plan to do a Celestial Tournament guide, I'll be glad to post loads of comments there on my experiences. I got a proven team for the four Celestials already, but only been able to fight one set of 3 initial tamers.

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  6. A great first fight with a level 1 is Hyuna of the Shrines. Her third pet is the turtle, which only attacks once every five rounds, giving ample opportunity for your level 1 to jump in, take an action, and jump back out without risk of being hit. None of her pets use anything that damages your back line.

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    1. And I know Hyuna can be difficult without the right team, as her second pet (snake) hits pretty hard. I've mentioned this pet on another pet post, but the Emerald Proto-Whelp solos this fight pretty easily; Hyuna's first pet is a flyer, which does reduced damage to Dragonkin, and two of its attacks are DoTs, which are neutralized by the whelp's shield, and the Emerald Dream heal ability (similar to the Hibernate heal used by Major Payne's bear, Grizzle), is OP and easily counters the high damage output of the snake.

      I can't recommend the Emerald Proto-Whelp (P/P, rare) highly enough as a must-have if you're serious about powerleveling lowbie pets. This pet makes short work of the Whispering Pandaren Spirit (which is a short flight from Hyuna, making an easy first two fights for leveling your lowbie). The Burning Pandaren Spirit usually falls to just the EPW with little difficulty as well.

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    2. Confirmed, my Emerald Proto-Whelp eats through first two pets of Hyuna everytime. I have even been able to solo Hyuna with it, but it's easier to switch to a moth on Dor the Wall (simply kills it much faster).

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    3. Sorry guys, been catching up on all of your comments, busy couple of weeks. These are AWESOME suggestions. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to leave these comments---you're helping to improve these guides for everyone who uses them (and by my metrics, we get quite a few users each day).

      ;)

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  7. Just one note. Courageous Yon can be completely soloed by Anubisath Idol (1,1,1) anytime. Never had it fail. I even had cases, when Anubisath Idol after the fight was at nearly full health!

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  8. Not sure if this is off topic, but I've been trying to defeat the Thundering Pandaren Spirit Tamer, and have had zero luck in doing so, do you know of any pets that would just dominate it?

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  9. Ive done this,it works flawlessly so thank you for that.One thing I will note,if you only have the safari hat and a lesser pet treat you can still do this, simply go kill the whispering pandaren spirit.All you have to do is bring a dragonkin or two.If you do it last it doesn't matter where you put the leveling pet in because it should be able to hold its own in case your two dragons die.Just my added input so people don't start freaking out that they need to spend celestial coins on the pet treats :) Good Luck:D
    ~Stacie Hudson.

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