Grand Master Pet Tamer: Courageous Yon

NOTE: This was written pre-Patch 5.2. Some elements of this write-up may no longer apply, and my team choice(s) have changed.

Next up in the line of Pandaria Tamers is Courageous Yon. When the ability Chew was way overpowered (before the nerf) I struggled so much in the battle against his team. This was the only Pandaria Tamer that I had problems with, until I figured out his team's quirks (and Chew was nerfed, of course XD).


Courageous Yon can be found in Kun-Lai Summit in an obscure cave in the snowcovered mountains in the lower left area of the zone. West of Kota Basecamp if you're looking at the map.

Pet Team: Piqua (flying), Lapin (critter), Bleat (beast)

Team quality and level: Epic (purple), level 25

Notable pets and attacks: Piqua's Lift-Off, Lapin's Burrow, Bleat's Chew

All of the pets on this team have hard-hitting abilities, two of which also include avoidance. There are a few ways you can handle this unique set up: out damage them, out last them, or avoid specific attacks. For me, I've found that avoidance abilities work best. It gives me extra time to work on defeating each pet, without having to resort to wasting a round on healing or hoping a large burst doesn't miss or is dodged.

The most common order in which Yon's pets come out are: Piqua, Lapin, and Bleat or Lapin, Piqua, and Bleat. I've only very rarely come across Bleat as the first combatant when challenging Yon to a Pet Battle.

I go with strong pets for my team on this fight. Undead (with a magic attack) to combat flying, humanoid (with beast attacks) to combat critter, and mehcanical to combat beast.

The key to this battle is timing. You'll want to time your abilities and cooldowns just right so you don't waste them. If you can figure out the quirks and patterns of Yon's team, defeating him will be no problem for you!

Piqua


I use a Restless Shadeling for Yon's flying pet (but I used to use the Wild Crimson Hatchling). Usually Piqua will follow a specific order of attacks, and the one you need to watch out for is normally used during the second round but keep in mind it takes a total of 2 rounds to resolve.

Since Piqua uses Lift-Off as its second attack, I can use any ramp up ability first. This is usually a dot or some other damage increase. During the round where Piqua flies up into the air is when I have my shadeling pop its avoidance move, Phase Shift. If your goal is to prevent any damage from Piqua's Lift-Off attack, any avoidance ability will work, so long as you can time it right.

Phase Shift will last through the damage portion of Lift-Off, leaving my shadeling unharmed. From there, it's just a matter of defeating Piqua before it can get another Lift-Off out. In most cases, a second one doesn't occur, but if it does, Phase Shift will be off cooldown by then. An avoidance move with a short cooldown comes in very handy for this particular match up, just in case Piqua manages to dodge a lot of your basic attacks.

Lapin


The next companion that is sent out to battle is Lapin, the rabbit. Again, the second attack that it uses is most likely the one you need to be aware of, Burrow. Much like Piqua, this move also takes 2 rounds to finally hit.

That being said, I save my Flayer Youngling's avoidance move, Reflect, for the round where Lapin comes out of the ground. This negates any burst and from there my pet can continue to work on defeating this bunny.

Lapin normally doesn't last to get another Burrow off, which is a good thing since Reflect is on a fairly long cooldown. Thankfully, my youngling has quite a bit of burst, and unless Lapin dodges a lot or my pet misses too often, I normally don't have to worry about blocking another round of large incoming damage.

Bleat


This is the pet that gave me the most trouble when the ability Chew was overpowered. The damage this attack did was insane! It was eventually nerfed, but that doesn't mean you should ignore this move completely. Chew can still cause quite a bit of damage to your pet, especially if it's used before Stampede.

Stampede places a debuff on your pet which increases the damage it takes. Combine that with Chew, which already hits for a large amount, and your pet's health could take a nosedive fairly quickly.

Whenever I'm up against Bleat, I find that he will use Chew first, which means Stampede will be second. To try and reduce how much damage my pet will take, I use the Darkmoon Zeppelin's Decoy ability first. This won't block the initial Stampede, but it will prevent Chew from landing. Since Stampede hits multiple times and Decoy only blocks two attacks, my zeppelin can't avoid 100% of the damage during the second round of Stampede.

After Decoy has been deployed, I send out my "ramp up" (Bombing Run) and proceed to knock down Bleat's health as best as I can. Because Stampede is a three round ability and Bleat usually likes to heal himself after casting it, I normally have about 2-3 more rounds where I can just pump out damage on him.

If I don't miss and Yon's pet doesn't dodge, I'll usually defeat Bleat just as he's performing a second Chew (it never has a chance to hit, though). Bombing Run ends up being the killing blow most of the time.

I've tried to use my ramp up ability first, but it never ends very well. It's important to control how much damage Bleat does to your pet, not just how much you can do to it. If your pet can survive the first few rounds of burst, it will have a higher chance of consistently putting out damage later.

As always, the pets and tactics mentioned above aren't mandatory. This is just what I've found to be most effective for me. You can definitely beat Corageous Yon's team with an assortment of other pets and methods; find what works best for you!

Grand Master Pet Tamer: Hyuna

NOTE: This was written pre-Patch 5.2. Some elements of this write-up may no longer apply, and my team choice(s) have changed.

I'll finally be covering the Pandaria Grand Masters! I'm not sure if you're supposed to do these battles in a specific order (per zone level?), so I'll be reviewing each one in the order that I complete them each day.

First up, Hyuna!


Hyuna can be found in The Jade Forest, next to the crossroads of the eastern road coming out of the Temple of the Jade Serpent.

Pet Team: Skyshaper (flying), Fangor (beast), Dor the Wall (aquatic)

Team quality and level: Epic (purple), level 25

Notable pets and attacks: Fangor's Burrow, and Dor the Wall's... everything lol.

I find this pet team is pretty straight forward, except for Dor the Wall. The first two pets can be defeated in any fashion, however dealing with Hyuna's turtle is all about endurance. I have yet to find a way to burst this "wall" down.

I go with mechanical to combat beast, ?? to combat flying (I'm still in the process of finding a magical pet or a pet with magical abilities that I feel comfortable using), and humanoid to combat aquatic. If you've been following my other write ups on other Grand Master Tamer battles, I bet you can guess which mechanical and humanoid pets I use. :P

Skyshaper


Skyshaper has two dots and then a main attack. There won't be much burst damage to contend with when up against this companion. That being said, I think any pet that's strong against flying should be able to go head to head with Skyshaper. Of course, self healing abilities will help.

Since I haven't really found a pet that I'm comfortable using against flying, I've been trying out different ones. Normally I use the Wild Crimson Hatchling since it can not only heal itself, but also has an ability that allows it to avoid some damage. Plus flying attacks are weak against it. If I find a pet that I like that's strong against flying, I may update this later. (I'm trying out Shimmering Wyrmling and Sprite Darter Hatchling next!)

Fangor


Unlike Skyshaper, this sly snake does have some burst. Specifically Burrow and Vicious Fang. Although the latter attack may not seem like it, if allowed to ramp up, it can do significant damage. The best thing to do here is defeat Fangor as quickly as possible while avoiding most of its larger hits.

I use the Darkmoon Zeppelin to deal with Fangor. You need to be aware of each round and the possible attacks though, because you don't want to waste any cooldown ability just as the snake burrows. When it does this, any damage will usually miss, and that means an ineffective attack that's now on a cooldown. That dip in damage on Fangor can make or break the battle.

Since Fangor will usually use Hiss first, my zeppelin can use its ramp up ability without fear of wasting the cooldown since it will most likely hit. I deploy Bombing Run during this round.

The next turn is normally when Burrow will happen, and a great time for my zeppelin to set up Decoy. There's a cooldown on it, but it's not a wasted ability since it can't miss. It also provides a way for my pet to avoid the incoming high damage from Burrow in the next round.

After that, it's just a matter of getting constant damage out on the snake before it can Burrow again. In some cases, Bombing Run won't even have time to resolve and hit since Fangor will hopefully be defeated before then. But I still use the bomb just for safe measure, and in case any of my other attacks miss or get dodged. You never know with RNG!

Dor the Wall


Last but not least is Dor the Wall, and let me tell you, his name isn't just for show!

The name of the game is endurance when up against Dor. He can heal, shield himself to reduce a significant amount of damage done to him, and he has a high burst ability that has the potential to stun.

Luckily, he's usually very predictable and will use each ability once it's off cooldown, so you just have to keep track of each turn. You can use an addon that will show you when an ability will be available for use.

As soon as Dor the Wall comes out, depending if my current pet on the battlefield has enough health to withstand the initial Headbutt, I switch to my Flayer Youngling. Any companion that has an avoidance ability will work here, though. The youngling's especially effective, though, since it can avoid the Headbutt and perform back at Dor.

After the first Headbutt, Dor has two options, heal himself or use his Shell Shield. Once he heals himself, though, he'll just spam Shell Shield. All his other abilities will be on cooldown, which means Shell Shield will have 100% up-time. This is pretty annoying since he'll constantly be taking reduced damage, and will be healing himself up periodically. Your only choice is to just chip away at his health, while enduring the Headbutt burst.

My youngling combats this pretty well. I always have Reflect up for every other Headbutt, and my pet has two attacks to choose from to whittle down Dor's health. After using Reflect, I normally go with Rampage since it's higher burst than the main attack. On top of all of that, the Flayer Youngling's family passive allows it to heal itself a little bit each successful attack. It's not much, but considering how long the fight against Dor can take, it's enough!

Once you learn how to deal with Headbutt, it's just outlasting the turtle from then on out. Bursting him down isn't really an option because of his effective defensive abilities... which he has to spam repeatedly since he doesn't have any other attacks!

As always, the pets and tactics mentioned above aren't mandatory. This is just what I've found to be most effective for me. You can definitely beat Hyuna's team with an assortment of other pets and methods; find what works best for you!

Grand Master Pet Tamer: Obalis

NOTE: This was written pre-Patch 5.2. Some elements of this write-up may no longer apply, and my team choice(s) have changed.

Today I'll be covering one of the "easier" Grand Masters, Obalis. Even cat people can appreciate the awesomeness of pets! :)


Obalis is Kalimdor's Grand Master and can be found in Uldum, on top of the dam just south of the main city.

Pet Team: Pyth (beast), Spring (flying), Clatter (critter)

Team quality and level: Epic (purple), level 25

Notable pets and attacks: Spring's Moth Dust and Cocoon Strike, and Clatter's Apocalypse

I find Obalis' team to be pretty tame compared to some other master pet teams, and if you have companions that are strong against his, you should be able to make quick work of his pets. His encounter isn't much of a burst or longevity battle, but like with any battle, don't underestimate your opponent!

For this particular team I go with mechanical to combat beast, dragonkin to combat flying, and humanoid to combat critter. There are other families that would work well against Obalis' crew; this is just what worked best for me.

Pyth


Out of all the pets, I think the snake is one of the "easiest". It doesn't have a large burst ability (like Burrow), so you don't have to worry about avoiding massive amounts of damage.

That isn't to say you can just eat all its attacks, though. If your pet has an ability that blocks or allows you to avoid any of Pyth's attacks, I would still use it.

I use my trusty Darkmoon Zeppelin to battle Pyth, and unless it gets a string of unlucky misses or my opponent dodges too many attacks, the zeppelin is very effective.

Unlike other snakes that have Burrow, I start out with the Decoy ability first. This will block a lot of the initial damage, so I can "ramp up" in relative safety. To maximize damage though, Bombing Run should be used first, as it has a 3 round timer before it resolves.

After that I do the usual, which is Bombing Run and then barrage after barrage of Missile. In most situations, Pyth will be dead before I have to set up another Decoy, leaving my companion with health to spare for the next pet.

If my zeppelin isn't too low, I usually can toss out another Bombing Run or Decoy at the next opponent in line before switching it out.

Spring


I don't know about everyone else, but Moths are one of the pets that annoy me to no end. Especially if they have the abilities Cocoon Strike and Moth Dust.

Since I haven't found a pet that I like that's strong against flying, I go with the Wild Crimson Hatchling on this fight. Flying is weak to Dragonkin, my hatchling can heal itself, and it has an ability that allows it to avoid (ground) damage for one round.

Spring will usually start off with Moth Dust. It hits pretty hard and has a chance to put your pet to sleep. Since it (normally) uses Moth Dust as its first attack, I just eat the damage. If I'm lucky, though, the Decoy set up by my zeppelin in the previous round might still be there and will take the damage for me. This is situational and depends on which opponent I'm up against first, though, so I don't count this scenario always being the case. If/when Moth Dust does it, I can always heal up after.

Moth Dust has a pretty short cooldown, so whenever I see that it's about to be up after the initial use (I use an addon that shows me), I use my Wild Crimson Hatchling's Lift-Off to avoid the sleepy-time attack.

The next ability that you should be aware of is Cocoon Strike. It's not necessarily a dangerous one, but if you don't pay attention, you could lose ground in this one turn. It will block the first incoming attack for one round, so be sure not to waste any hard-hitting ability (with a cooldown) while Spring is hiding in its cocoon.

If you're using a pet that has an attack that allows it to strike more than once (Triple Snap and Slicing Wind are two examples), use that ability after Spring performs its Cocoon Strike. The first hit will be blocked, but any additional hits will land (provided Spring doesn't dodge and you don't miss). In my Wild Crimson Hatchling's case, Tail Sweep will miss the first hit, but since my pet has less speed than Spring, the ability will hit a second time and that one will land.

Clatter


Much like Pyth, I don't consider this beautiful beetle much of a threat. That is, however, only if it goes last. If it goes first, then there might be some danger. I have to say, though, that I have yet to see this pet be the first opponent during Obalis' encounter.

Clatter's abilities are basic, and nothing too hard-hitting. The only ability that you need to keep an eye on is Apocalypse. It's very situational, and will only really matter if this pet is first in line to battle your team. The longer the encounter draws out, the higher the chance Apocalypse will hit. If Clatter is last to be battled, though, the fight against it usually doesn't take 15+ rounds, so it's negligible.

I use the Flayer Youngling for this one. It has strong attacks while my opponent has weak attacks against it. It's the ideal situation.

Since Clatter isn't all that dangerous, there's no special order of attacks that I use. Normally I just go with the hardest hitting abilities first to burst down the beetle. If ever I feel my youngling's in danger, I always have Reflect to fall back on.

As always, the pets and tactics mentioned above aren't mandatory. This is just what I've found to be most effective for me. You can definitely beat Obalis' team with an assortment of other pets and methods; find what works best for you!

Grand Master Pet Tamer: Bloodknight Antari

NOTE: This was written pre-Patch 5.2. Some elements of this write-up may no longer apply, and my team choice(s) have changed.

For this Grand Master post, I'll be covering Bloodknight Antari. And yes, he's almost always crowded by his own pets as shown in the screenshot below. He must really love his companions! :P


Bloodknight Antari is Outland's Grand Master and is located in Shadowmoon Valley.

Pet team: Jadefire (elemental), Arcanus (magical), Netherbite (dragonkin)

Team quality and level: Rare (blue), level 24

Notable pets and attacks: Arcanus' Feedback combined with Drain Power and Amplify Magic, and Netherbite's Phase Shift and Soul Ward

Unlike Major Payne's team, where it was more efficient to burst down his pets as quickly as possible, for this team, I recommend a balance of damage and endurance. Antari's pets hit quite hard but they also have staying power and damage avoiding abilities.

Aquatic to combat elemental, dragonkin to combat magical, and humanoid to combat dragonkin. Again, this isn't mandatory, but I've found that using strong pets against this team is effective.

Jadefire
Out of the three pets, I think the Fel Flame is the weakest in terms of damage and resilience. For this pet, I usually go with my Mirror Strider (pets with the same abilities are Aqua Strider and Dancing Water Skimmer). It can do large burst using Pump and heal itself if necessary. Under most circumstances, though, the battle against Jadefire doesn't last more than 3 rounds, and my pet usually only needs to heal once.

Arcanus
This pet is trickier and has abilities, when combined together, pack a powerful punch. I put my trusty Wild Crimson Hatchling up to the task of defeating the wyrmling (similar pets include Crimson Whelpling, Spawn of Onyxia, and Onyxian Whelpling).

What you need to watch out for is Amplify Magic and Drain Power. When both are used one after another, Acranus' damage is increased 75% AND your pet will take 25% extra damage. When it has both these buffs and your pet has that debuff, Feedback can be a killer.

Because Arcanus has the potential to hit very hard in just a few rounds, I chose a pet that could heal itself for quite a bit on a relatively short cooldown. Plus being dragonkin, its attacks are strong against this magical pet, so it's possible to burst it down while enduring blast after blast. It's essential to continue damaging Arcanus while surviving, because it's difficult to last longer than a few rounds with that kind of incoming damage.

If you have a pet that has dragonkin abilities, but isn't of that pet family, that's fine. As long as your pet does decent damage and has a way to heal or avoid the large burst, it will do ok.

Netherbite
The last pet on Antari's team is a dragonkin with two damage avoiding abilities, Phase Shift and Soul Ward. For this pet, I pick my favorite Flayer Youngling, who also has a damage avoiding move.

Netherbite is one of those pets that has the potential to outlast your own. It's damage isn't too bad, but don't let that fool you. If you let the fight go on for too long, it's possible that it will get the better of your team.

The two abilities to be aware of here are its damage avoiding ones. Phase Shift will last 1 turn, while Soul Ward will last indefinitely so long as Netherbite doesn't receive an attack. This is important to note because you'll want to save your hardest hitting attack for when these two abilities are on cooldown, so as to not waste it.

What I normally do is use my youngling's Reflection on cooldown, and its main attack (that doesn't have a cooldown on it) for Phase Shift and Soul Ward. Using this ability will help get rid of Soul Ward and "pass" a turn so that Phase Shift can wear off (without having to actually pass a turn).

Why not save Reflection for when Netherbite does an actual attack? I figure that this pet can outlast mine so long as it keeps avoiding my pet's attacks. If my pet can replicate that by stealing a damage reduction ability, it will give my Flayer Youngling more of a chance and put it on equal footing. Whether my pet copies Phase Shift or Soul Ward, it doesn't matter. Either way, that's one round where it doesn't take damage, and one more chance to get the upper hand on Netherbite.

The pets and tactics mentioned above aren't mandatory. This is just what I've found to be most effective for me. You can definitely beat Bloodknight Antari's team with an assortment of other pets and methods; find what works best for you!

Grand Master Pet Tamer: Major Payne

NOTE: This was written pre-Patch 5.2. Some elements of this write-up may no longer apply, and my team choice(s) have changed.

This is the first in a series of posts where I cover each Grand Master, which pets to watch out for, and how I handle their team.


First up is Major Payne in Icecrown. He was the first Grand Master that I struggled with in the very beginning.

Pet team: Beakmaster X-225 (mechanical), Grizzle (beast), and Bloom (elemental)

Team quality and level: Rare (blue), level 25

Notable pets and attacks: Beakmaster's Wind-Up and Bloom's Entangling Roots

The trick here is to find pets that are strong against each of Major Payne's companions. Instead of trying to outlast his team, defeating it quickly is a more efficient plan of action.

Elemental to combat mechanical, mechanical to combat beast, and aquatic to combat elemental. This isn't mandatory, but for the hard-hitters, it does help defeat them faster.

Beakmaster


For Beakmaster, my pet of choice is the Fel Flame, but any similar elemental pet with dots will work (Searing Scorchling and Spirit of Summer share the same abilities). The key here is to defeat his mechanical pet as quickly as possible. It's attacks are so strong that it's generally unlikely that you'll be able to outlast it, so might as well beat it asap!

I prefer dots for this pet because mechanical companions have a family passive that allows it to come back to life (once) after it dies. With dots continuing to tick on Beakmaster even after revival, it means less time spent getting its health down further.

Bloom


Instead of using an aquatic pet for Bloom, I normally use the Flayer Youngling. As soon as Bloom steps onto the field, I switch to my youngling and prepare for the Entangling Roots attack by using Reflect. It not only blocks the incoming damage, prevents my youngling from being snared, but it also duplicates any other incoming attack and reflects it back onto Bloom (it's usually the Lash ability).

Reflect won't always be up to prevent the damage and snare from Entangling Roots, but my goal isn't to outlast Bloom. By the second root (which does hit), Major Payne's flowery friend should be nearly dead.

Grizzle


I don't really consider Grizzle as one of the pets you should watch out for since it spends most of its time sleeping (ie: regenerating health). Its stun is somewhat annoying, but manageable.

Since this beast has the potential to outlast most pets because it can heal itself for quite a bit, I go with a mechanical pet that's strong against it. My favorite is definitely the Darkmoon Zeppelin.

I normally try to get out the Decoy ability first, so it can absorb some of the incoming damage while I "ramp up". By that I mean using Bombing Run which takes 3 rounds to hit.

During this time, though, Grizzle will usually go into his sleeping phase. This is a great opportunity to bombard it with any main attack, even if he's regenerating health at a very fast pace.

Normally by the end of his hibernation ability, Bombing Run will be up and do a significant amount of burst. The rest of the rounds are spent setting up another Decoy and finishing him off using the zeppelin's main attack.

If by chance, Grizzle gets the upper hand and my zeppelin has a string of terrible luck, at the very least it can come back to life should it die. That's the awesomeness of mechanical pets!

General Tips
If you decide to use pets that are strong against Major Payne's team, you can increase your chance of winning by pairing up your strong companion against the corresponding weaker one.

To do this you'll have to utilize the forfeit ability. Enter battle and see which pet he sends out first. If your pet is not strong against that one, forfeit the match and try again. Keep doing this until you're up against a weak opponent. I find that swapping the pets on my team around in the journal sometimes affects which pet the Grand Master sends out first. Other times it seems random.

As I mentioned earlier, the pets and tactics mentioned above aren't mandatory. This is just what I've found to be most effective for me. You can definitely beat Major Payne's team with an assortment of other pets and methods; find what works best for you!