Saturday 1 June 2013

A Mini Guide to 5.3 Beasts of Fable: Book II

This part of the guide covers Book II, which requires to defeat Lucky Yi, Greyhoof and Skitterer Xi'a. As you will see, these three Elites are all very easy to kill. 


BEASTS OF FABLE BOOK II

LUCKY YI

Lucky Yi is a critter located at The Heartland, in the Valley of the Four Winds. She has 1883 health, 549 power and 329 speed. Her abilities are Quick Attack, Perk Up and Uncanny Luck. Namely, a move that always goes first, an healing spell and a critical-boost buff. However, despite her good arsenal, Lucky Yi is very easy to defeat.

From my experience, you can pretty much ignore her heal since she often casts it at the very beginning of the fight (essentially wasting it) or even forget to heal at all! Moreover, as she spends turns to buff or heal herself, very unlikely she will one or bi-shots you. So, despite hitting pretty hard, chances are that Lucky Yi will die before you even engage your third pet.


Here, Beasts are your obvious choice: go with hard-hitting ones, such as snakes (Elder Python with BiteHuge Fang and Slither), cats (Prowl and Pounce), bears or raptors. But really, any Beast will just work more than fine. 

There is not a special strategy to kill Lucky Yi, other than brute-force her to death.


GREYHOOF

Greyhoof is a kodo located in the Valley of the Four Winds; he has 2079 health, 600 power and 306 speed. His abilities are Trample, Hoof and Roar.

For this fight you can use the same line-up and tactic used against Kafi (see here). Very easy!


SKITTERER XI’A

Skitterer Xi’A is an aquatic pet located at the Krasarang Falls, in Krasarang Wilds. He has 1801 health, 563 power and 375 speed. His abilities are Skitter, Flurry and Water Jet. What we call a hard-hitter =)

The mechanics for this fight are very easy since Skitterer only does direct damage: no healing, no debuff, no DoTs. To defeat Skitterer Xi'a, you should use three Flying pets with multiple-hit spells (like Slicing Wind or Alpha Strike) and escape abilities (such as Lift-Off). Given the fact that Skittere hits very hard, you also want to apply Squawk or Shriek to reduce a little the damage taken

Wildhammer Gryphon Hatchling, Gryphon Hatchling and Wind Rider Cub all have the perfect set-up for this fight: Squawk, Slicing Wind and Lift-Off. Of course, you do not need to possess all three: one to apply the damage reduction is more than enough. 

Basically, start the fight by applying Squawk or Shriek, then hit Lift-Off after which spam Slicing Wind. Die, switch pet, rinse and repeat, win.

/Mizi

Tuesday 28 May 2013

A Mini Guide to 5.3 Beasts of Fable - Book I


5.3 Beasts of Fable are driving you crazy? Don't worry, Littlest Pet Shop has it covered for you!

In this guide, you will find some tips and strategies to defeat the Elites without going nuts. Although I cannot guarantee a 100% success rate, since RNG still plays a role against the Fables, these small tricks will make your life considerably easier. Of course, any suggestion, question or input is welcomed! 

The guide is divided into three parts, each one covering one daily quests, and each pet has his own section. This post will focus on the first book, aka on Nitun, Ka'wi, Dos-Ryga and Kafi. The other two books will be avaiable soon.


BEASTS OF FABLE BOOK I

NITUN

Nitun is a giant tanuki located just south of Sri-La Village, in the Jade Forest. He is a critter with 1840 health, 606 power and 329 speed (reduced to 230 when prowling). His abilities are Rake, Prowl and Ravage. Nitun hits very hard and he also heal for about 1/3 of his health, when his opponents die from Ravage. Because of this, there is one golden rule for this fight: your pets can never die.

As scary as it may sounds, defeating Nitun is in reality very easy once you use the appropriate pets and play relatively safe. Relatively safe means that you have to use wisely the switch option to swap off your active pet when you esteem that the next blow will kill him. Despite being a critter, Nitun only uses beasts' abilities, which means that you want to use Flying pets to profit from the 33% reduced damage. Keep in mind that Nitun hits for approximately 400 non-critical against Flying pets.

Choose Flying pets that have Thrash (and possibly Lift-Off) in their arsenals, so that you will have good survivability AND very good damage. This kind of pet is very common in the world, thus you should easily find one that suits your needs.

Concerning breeds, I personally favor pure stats (such as S/S, P/P or H/H) and to make this fight even easier, I usually take with me three S/S, but that's absolutely not mandatory. Pick pets with higher speed than Nitun (329) - even without the Flying racial boost - or that can cast Adrenaline Rush. Alternatively, if you don't really have any of these breeds and cannot be arsed to farm for them, make sure you chose a P or a H breed instead of a balanced breed (B/B). It goes without saying that your pets must be level 25 and of rare quality. If you don't know your pet's breed, download and install the addon Battle Pet BreedID.

Here a short list of pets that have Trash and can be S/S breed:
Now, about the fight itself, I sadly cannot provide a round per round recap, since Nitun don't use his abilities in a fixed order. As a rule of thumb, you should open with Lift-Off and then just Trash, but you can also stick to Trash.

In alternative, you can use Humanoids that have Triple Snap and Deflection (or similar offensive + defensive abilities) such as Flayer Youngling and Lil’Bad Wolf (Claw/Pounce and Dodge), but they will take regular damage from Nitun (around 600) since his abilities are beast-type and not critter.


KA’WI THE GORGER

Ka’wi the Gorger is a critter located in the Jade Forest. He has 2020 health, 615 power and 281 speed, which means that he hits very hard. His abilities are Moth Balls, Super Sticky Goo and Chew. Despite having a lot of power, Ka'wi does not have healing or defensive moves, therefore he is very very easy to defeat.

Moth Balls is the ability that he will use the most, so you need to counter it in order to win this fight. The best way to do so is to let Ka'wi suicide himself via Brittle Webbing. This means that your team will consist of three cute spiders (of any breed, but really: the more powerful, the better). Basically, Brittle Webbing deals strong damage every time Ka'wi hits you and since Moth Balls is a multiple-hit move, he will die pretty quickly. Brittle Webbing also has great sinergy with Spiderling Swarm, doubling its damage.

Long story short, 3x (Brittle Webbing + Spiderling Swarm) is your winning combo. Enjoy =)


DOS-RYGA

Dos-Ryga is the fish everyone hates. Not only because he looks like the fishing carps every collector still has nightmares about, but also because he heals SO MUCH. Dos-Ryga is located in Kun-Lai Summit, is an aquatic pet (no shit!) with 1942 health, 559 power and 296 speed. His abilities are Frost Breath, Whirlpool and Healing Wave. Just like every other Elite pet, he hits very hard and heal even more.

To defeat Dos-Ryga, you need to:

1.    Counter his healing ability: Call Darkness or Darkflame work wonder.
2.    Avoid Whirlpool's damage: Lift-Off is your new best friend.

Since Dos-Ryga is an aquatic pet, it makes perfectly sense to fight him with flying-type pets. Now, Crow is the only mandatory pet for this strategy. Besides him you can use whichever flying pet you prefer, just make sure those you pick have Lift-Off and are still faster than Dos-Ryga when the Flying-racial is off (aka, faster than 296). I personally use Crow, Imperial Eagle Chick and Pterrordax Hatchling (because of Flyby).

The fight goes something like this (again, I cannot give you the exact round per round recap): I open with Crow and cast Call Darkness followed by Nocturnal Strike. Then, I switch to Pterrordax Hatchling and immediately hit Lift-Off (there should be a Whirlpool up to avoid). At this point, Darkness is about to fade away, thus I switch back to Crow and recast it. I then use Nocturnal Strike and Alpha Strike until Crow is dead (he will soak up a Whirlpool damage before dying). Once that happens, I switch back to Pterrordax Hatchling, hit Flyby and use Lift-Off. Once Pterrordax dies, Imperial Eagle Chick will finish Dos-Ryga off. 

Unless RNG really bitches you, this strategy works just fine. However, it may take you some tries to get the hang of it. It is very important to time Call Darkness correctly: it must be up the entire fight.

Alternatively, you can also use Gilnean Raven for Call Darkness and Nevermore. If you can time Nevermore to block Frost Breath, Dos-Ryga will be forced to skip some rounds since Frost Breath is his only spammable ability. If you happen to be lucky enough to still have a S/S Gilnean Raven, pair him up with Crow and Imperial Eagle Chick (or any other fast Flying pet). Played properly, you will be able to use Nevermore twice and always have Call Darkness up. Dos-Ryga will hate you!


KAFI

Compared to the previous Elites, this pet is incredibly easy. Kafi is a beast with 1961 health, 596 power and 292 speed. His abilities are Gnaw, Headbutt and Leap. Headbutt can occasionally stun your pets, but given the diminishing return and the immunity buff changes, this is not really a problem. Kafi can also gain speed for one round, again: not a big deal.

The obvious choice here is to go with Mechanicals, preferably hard-hitting ones. I use Cogblade Raptor (S/S breed), Clockwork Gnome and Lil’XT. However, any other mechanical will work just fine.

If you don't have it yet, look for a fast Cogblade Raptor. Besides dealing very good damage; always going first (Overtune, just in case); with Exposed Wounds he can also debuff his enemies to take more damage .

To defeat Kafi, open with Cogblade Raptor, apply Exposed Wounds and then just Batter until Cogblade dies. Make sure you have reapplied Exposed Wounds before letting him die. Clockwork Gnome's turn: do a full Launch Rocket, then Metal Fist. At this point, Kafi should be nearly dead: finish him off with your last pet. 


I hope you have enjoyed this mini-guide, stay tuned for more! 
/Mizi

Monday 1 April 2013

Eggs Madness and Kinky Rabbits!

Happy Easter everyone!


Like every year, Noblegarden has arrived in Azeroth. Chocolate, colourful eggs and happy bunnies all over the place.

For us pets’ collectors, the holiday comes with an extra: a beautiful Spring Rabbit!

As you can see from the video posted below (credit goes to LostShard), this very special rabbit has a unique animation: when close to another Spring Rabbit, they make babies out of eggs! Which, by the way, reminds me of a picture I have recently seen on Facebook... but there was a chicken involved there ^^ Give them some time and you will take over the World of Warcraft with an army of bunnies. Who doesn’t want that?





Besides, bunnies are awesome for Pet-Battles: they always come with higher speed than your normal pet (at level 25, in rare quality, the Spring Rabbit will have 358 speed, not bad uh?). On top of that, they also have defensive and escape abilities, such as Dodge and Burrow. If played right, a bunny-type pet can kill an opponent and barely take damage. They are great for tamers’ fights and PvP battles.


So, how do you get one of these powerful, kinky and yet cute Spring Rabbits? There are three methods:

  • Loot the Brightly Colored Eggs from all around the low level towns (like Razor Hill, in Durotar). These eggs have a low chance to drop the pet. Unfortunately, due to the cross-realm-zone system, this year the hunt will be a little longer and annoying than in the past. 
  • Are you unlucky? Don’t worry; the colored eggs also contain one Noblegarden Chocolate per egg, which works like a token to buy rewards from the Noblegarden Merchants, the holiday’s vendors. The merchants will sell you a Spring Rabbit’s foot – kind of cruel, I know – for 100 Noblegarden Chocolates. Additionally, you can also buy a mount for 500 tokens and other vanity items, such as robes, spring flowers or *fake* bunny ears to wear on your character!
  • Don’t want to spend your time looking for stupid eggs? You are a monster, but you can always buy a Spring Rabbit on the Auction House. These lovely bunnies can in fact be caged and traded.

Wanna know more? Icy-Veins has posted an awesome guide with in-depth explanations of the quests and the achievements.

Have fun!

Mizix

Saturday 30 March 2013

Flawless Battle-Stones - Where to farm Flying stones


Having a fetish for rare pets, I usually spend a couple of hours a day farming Battle-stones to upgrade my uncommons. Now, from time to time I stumble upon a new great place: here is what I've found out last night!

I was looking for some Flawless Flying Battle-Stones in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, but clearly the odds were not with me. I need around 20 of them and not a single one was dropping. So, after countless Gilded Moths and Golden Civets' fights, I decided to look elsewhere. You know, just for a change of panorama. 


That's how I found a very nice spot in the Jade Forest, with many and fast respawning Shrine FliesThe only negative note is that they come with a mix of critter, beast and aquatic allies, which messes up a bit my team. Also, unlike the moths in the Vale that are max level, these flies are only level 23: lower chance to drop a stone.


Anyway, ten minutes later, a beautiful flying stone was in my pockets. Now, RNG is RNG, thus there is no guarantee on quick drops, but I really like the place. It's close enough to the other farming spots and the stable master; nearly no one around to compete against.


For completeness' sake, I'm adding the other known farming spots: Dragonblight, Krasarang Wilds and the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Obviously, all these zones, as well as the Jade Forest, have their pros and cons.


Krasarang WIlds:

Luyu Moths and Mei Li Sparklers are very common in Krasarang. Unfortunately they share the respawn with Jugle Grubs and Feverbite Hatchlings, which are even more common. In addition, it takes travel time to find the packs and hostile mobs roam around. Still a decent farming spot, especially if one needs Flawless Beast Battle-Stones too.



Dragonblight:


Tons of Dragonbone Hatchlings around, very fast respawn, definitely positive. Sadly, Dragonblight is cross-realm-zoned, which means some competition over the pets. Also, these lovely lvl 20-22 hatchlings have the lowest chance to drop of all the above-mentioned options.




Vale of Eternal Blossoms:


I usually tour the right side of the map. These pets are level 25, thus they should have the highest chance to drop a stone. 

On the other hand, there are relatively few packs of Gilded Moths and Effervescent Glowflies. And, on top of that, they are scattered around, which is a big downside. 




Hope it helps! Soon, tips on the other families too.

Miz

Friday 29 March 2013

5.3 News and Tweets


With the announcement of 5.3 and the opening of the PTR, every day brings us a lot of exciting news about upcoming pets. Luckily for us, Mumper has already answered on Twitter to some of the most impelling questions.


First, the achievement Brutal Pet Brawler will not be retroactive.  

       














Prepare to pvp if you want – and you will! – get your very own mini-greeny Stunted Direhorn (screenshots incoming soon!)




Be also ready to fly back to Northrend to catch a not-too-much-elusive Unborn Val’kyr. We have been reassured that her spawn rate will not be so harsh like the Minfernal. Let’s hope, because I'm sure that many of us still have nightmares on the subject.


Raiding with leashes II : Attunement Edition will take us once again down to the memories path. Ten brand-new pets from Karazhan, Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep await us! Check the comments on Wowhead to see who drops what and where. Tito will be the final reward of the achivement. A new puppy dog?




Additionally, Mumper also confirmed on Twitter that there will be new pets from Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau later on. Although, we will probably have to wait until 5.4 . Fair enough, I can wait forever for a mini Illidan!















New weekly quest What We’ve Been Training For, which rewards Brawler’s Pet Supplies. We don’t know yet what the satchel will contain, but two Pet Treats have been datamined on the PTR. 
  • Lesser Pet Treat: Battle pet experience gained is increased by 25% 
  • Pet Treat: Battle pet experience gained is increased by 50%.
They may also come from cooking (?) Anyway, I can’t wait for these buffs to go live!



Last but not least, some “quality of life” improvements are on the way too.
  • Battle pet abilities are saved when swapped in 5.3 
  • Also, it seems that the daily Beasts of Fable will be splitted in two: Beasts of Fable Book II and Beasts of Fable Book III, both requiring to defeat only three Elites instead of all ten.

And now, off to the PTR

/Mizix out


Thursday 28 March 2013

About Me


First things first, welcome to Littlest Pet Shop, a blog dedicated to collecting pets on World of Warcraft.

Who am I?


I am a long time player - my adventure began back in Vanilla - and, as far as I can remember, I have always been obsessed with pets. I just love those little cute creatures! My main is a resto/elemental shaman named Mizix, on Runetotem EU (soon to become Draenor).

Before Mists of Pandaria's launch, collecting pets was a hobby aside from raiding (not so much) with my lovely guild Borderland Legion. However, the new feature of Battle Pets has totally blown my mind, as you can imagine. During the last six months collecting and levelling wild pets has been all I have been doing and I still love it!

I have spent countless hours to camp and grind for the perfect pet, the sometimes-elusive rare-quality one. An army of alts at my disposal and tons and tons of dedication. My first goal has been to catch them all in rare quality, no exceptions! I am now focusing on levelling them, with the aid of the trainers scattered around Pandaria.

Why this blog?

“Littlest Pet Shop” is the name of the 150 pets’ achievement. Back when collect so many pets was still a huge accomplishment: I remember my joy when I finally hit that mark and the cutest of them all, a whirling Celestial Dragon, was mailed to me.

During my journey, I have developed strategies to farm and level pets and I think it would be nice to share them with my fellow pet collectors. As well as share my own experience, I like to talk about incoming pets, changes and news. I would want this blog to become a place where friends and other players can find tips, share their views and generally just spend the time to talk about the one thing we all love: Pets!

Disclaimer

A HUGE thank you to PetBattleArena for the header’s image – the Celestial Dragon – that I shamelessly used for my homepage. I have tried to make my own picture, but I suck at Photo Shop and you people have done such a great job! All credit goes to them, obviously. Take a moment to visit their website: it is a wonderful resource.


/love
Mizix