I’ve spent much of the past two weeks leveling pets and taming up a storm. It started as a whim, and it turned out to be really fun, so I’ve pretty much been focusing on it entirely for the past couple of weeks.
I started with a random pet and just kind of went through the zones picking up every pet I could. I leveled many pets from 1-5 before I knew it. I started in Stormwind and just followed the pet levels as I went. Elwynn Forest was first, and then I hit Westfall, and the Redridge Mountains. I not only attempted to get one of each pet, I attempted to get a rare for each pet. This had me in each zone for a very long time.
I realize now that this was not the most efficient way to go.
What I should have done was collect as I go, while leveling a battle team. That seems to be the smart way to do it. I didn’t even settle on a single team of three pets to level until pretty deep into my venture. I created multiple teams using an addon, Pet Battle Teams, or something like that. And I just put together teams that I thought were fun.
The team I wound up leveling to 25 though, was my “All Druid Team” It consists of my Moonkin Hatchling, a Ruby Sapling, and Panther Cub. While, it’s a great team, It’s not the best for high level fighting. So I started leveling other pets at random, not sure what to level to get me past some of the higher level Master Pet Tamers.
I’ve leveled the Terrible Turnip to aid in capturing pets without killing them. I leveled Withers before I though t to switch to the Ruby Sapling. He’s not 25, but he’s close. I have leveled multiple other pets partway up to 25 before abandoning them or moving on to other pets.
Needless to say, I’ve not been very efficient. What I need is to learn what I’ll need to compete at the 25 level, and focus there. I’ve started leveling my Fluxfre Feline in an attempt to start a true battle team. And as I level through Pandaria, I am picking up pets as I go to try to fill out my roster.
What pets are you using at the top levels? What resources do you use to learn about the pet battle system? Which pet do you think I should level next? What pet do you think I should capture next?
Leave your answers in the comments and hopefully we can all have fun battling pets together!
The most efficient way to level a pet is to team up one lowbie with a pair of 25s, and rampage through the Valley of the 4 Winds, which is full of critters and aquatics (so ideally you’ll want a pet doing lots of beast damage and one doing lots of flying damage). Let the lowbie take one hit, and then swap him out – all of the XP from the fight will go to him. You can use this method with pets as low as level 3, with minimal chance that they’ll be killed. If you build up a roster of 25 beasts and flyers, this becomes even more efficient since you can rotate among teams and not need to go repair at the stable master.
For fighting the NPC tamers, the best pet depends on what they have. Pick pets that are strong against their roster, and these fights become routine (and can be done daily for a chance at a battle-stone on your bag). You can also use them to power-level one pet a day – Navi had a good write-up about this.
If you plan to pvp, the “best” pet is hard to define. Currently the FFF is the flavor-of-the-month (before that it was the Flayer youngling, and before that the Fel Flame), but every pet has weaknesses and as soon one becomes popular, then teams designed to beat start to appear. Level a variety, and see what you have fun with is my suggestion.
This is why we keep you around, Ratters!
I read Navi’s blog but haven’t really had the chance to try it. My team can’t kill most of the battle tamers. I’m leveling the FFF to try to add to the arsenal.
I think I’m just going to be sure to get a good pet of each type (magic, water, elemental, humanoid…) leveled up and go from there.
Leveling one of each is a good plan – make sure they are all rares. Some pets work better than others, but generally they’re fairly well balanced.