As someone who has never done pet battles - how do I take full advantage of this weeks bonus xp?

Gameplay Pet Battles
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Hello!

So I want to start leveling my pets as I feel like I’m missing out on quite a lot of content / rep gains / achievements by skipping that part of the game. The bonus xp event is this week so I figured now would be a good time to just bite down and grind out some pet battles but even after reading some guides and skimming the forums I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed and don’t really know where to start.

For some reference, the highest level I have on a pet is 8, but a majority of them are level 1. I have a decent number of pets (200+) to get started with and given the limited time I have to taken advantage of the bonus xp, I really want to ensure I’m not wasting it on trivial tasks that may be better served elsewhere.

I did have enough pet charms to buy 2 training stones to get 2 pets to 25 instantly. I still have these in my possession but haven’t applied yet. I did some research and these all seem to be good picks (I have all of these below - all at level 1). Any recommendations on which pets to insta-level?

  1. Sunborne Val’kyr
  2. Lil Ragnaros
  3. Iron Starlette
  4. Ikky
  5. Anubisath Idol

Other pet recommendations I’ve seen more than once but don’t currently have and wondering if it’d be worth to buy/farm before the event starts:

  1. Terrible Turnip (for Weakening Blow)
  2. Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling
  3. Emerald Proto-Whelp
  4. Crominius

Regarding the actual pet battles, it’s my understanding that for my purposes it would be advantageous to have two level 25 pets with the 3rd slot taken up by the low level pet I want to level; after which I need to attack once with the low level pet then swap to a high level pet in order to finish off the enemy and gain max XP for the low level pet. Is that correct? Is there more to it, or a way to bypass attacking with the low level pets? In doing some research, I did see a video on Youtube where you could apply a buff to shoulders that would drop pet charms from mobs in Legion that you could then turn in for stones to insta-level to 25. It looks like the entire process has been revamped and this Is no longer an option? Not looking for cheap workarounds, again just want to be efficient with my time.

Also, is there a specific area I should be focusing on while leveling my pets? For example, do specific activities generate more xp than others (e.g., regular/daily quests chains, WQs, dungeons) or is it simply a matter of going out into the world and battling random critters? Similarly, I’m assuming killing enemies offers more XP than capturing them - is there ever a point where it would be more beneficial to capture the pet rather than powering through and killing everything in my path for max xp gains? I do want more pets, but would also like to make some headway on the leveling since I have approx 250 pets at level 1. Sounds to me like a personal choice, but want to be sure I don’t miss out on capturing some random rare pet that has a 1% spawn chance because I wanted a little bit of extra xp.

Likewise, are there any other oddities in the world that would give me an additional boost that I can take advantage of (similar to contracts/tabards, Darkmoon Top Hat, etc for bonus rep)?

Lastly, I noticed people recommend utilizing the menagerie in the Garrison. I do have a level 3 Garrison but don’t currently have the menagerie since I’ve never really been all that interested in the pet battles. Would it be useful to incorporate that this week or a waste of time?

This stuff all probably sounds pretty basic but I haven’t actually done a pet battle in 2-3 years so I’m pretty lost right now. Any info you guys can give me would be much appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to read/respond. :slight_smile:

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You don’t have to attack, necessarily. The lower level pet just needs to be the active pet for at least one round, or the last pet standing. If in the first slot, the low level needs to perform an action (any, can be a heal, a shield, etc.)

If the low level is in the first slot:
Round 1 - any action
Round 2 - swap out

If the low level is in the 2nd or 3rd slot (someone correct me if wrong):
Round X - swap out high lvl
Round Y - swap in low lvl
Round Z - swap out low lvl
Roung A - swap in high lvl

This still works, but I believe you need to use the enchant and then kill Legion-expansion creatures. The shoulder enchant will not work on BFA content.

Draenor Pet Battle dailies are great for leveling, although it’s just once per day. I think you can hop right into those without having to unlock them.

Certain Legion Pet Battle WQ trainers are great for leveling as well, but the WQ needs to be active for them to be repeatable. Here’s a list of Legion trainers that give good pet experience: Odrogg, Robert, Galveston, Bodhi, Tiffany, Xorvasc, Jarrun, Grixis, Andurs, Amalia , Aulier, Varenne, Merayl, Bredda

I don’t think this is true. You should get the same experience regardless if you defeat or capture a wild pet.

Safari Hat, from Taming the World (defeat 40 master pet tamers).

There’s also Pet Treats and Lesser Pet Treats that you can purchase from the Pet Battle vendor, or they sometimes drop from Pandaria Pet Battle dailies (need to unlock these dailies though).

Yup! The Menagerie unlocks a quest that rewards a battlestone that instantly levels your pet to 25.

Also, a specific trainer, Squirt, will also occasionally come by. She’s repeatable and offers an excellent amount of pet experience. The daily battle at the Menagerie is on a set rotation, so we can predict when she’ll show up. See this thread for dates:
https://www.warcraftpets.com/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16187

Dates highlighted and in bold are days when Squirt appears during the Pet Battle Bonus Week, which means even more pet experience from her battles.

I want to add, as a sidenote, save your battlestones that lvl instantly to 25 for non-wild pets. Using it on a pet that’s closer to lvl 25 (on a lvl 23 wild pet for example) is kind of a waste.

For instant leveling, going by your list, I’d go with (in no particular order) Iron Starlette, Ikky, Anubisath Idol, Chrominius, Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling for now. Definitely capture a rare Emerald Proto-Whelp, but level it normally (grinding on wild battles or using trainers). Nexus Whelpling & Infinite Whelpling (both wild) are good pick ups as well.

I recommend Xu-Fu’s for strategies if you’re struggling on any trainer battle:
https://www.wow-petguide.com/?m=Home

GL!

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ok here’s my basic advice on how to get started:

#1. before you grow your collection too much learn what pet breeds are and why there important. When you go about collecting pets don’t worry about getting rare(blue) pets. If you find them then that’s great but you will get upgrade stones as you move along with pet battles. On the other hand, you cannot change the breed of a pet; and these do matter a lot for some pets. (e.g. If your rabbit ain’t s/s it ain’t worth keeping)

#2. download an add on that reveals pet breeds so you know about them as u battle. maybe any other pet battle add ons you feel might be good.

#3. your going to have to get the first pet to level 25 before the game will let you apply the level 25 stones to any pet. you have to level the 1st one by yourself. you get far more xp by battling higher level pets and none for battling pets a few levels below you. Get that 1st pet to 25 and then try to get 1 form each pet family to 25 then try to get several of these pets people use commonly to 25. Once you have 1 from each family and 20-30 or so total you have something to work with.

Keep in mind that if you run 2 25s and a single low level pet, on pet battle weekends with any single bonus (safari hat or pet treat) it takes only 2 pet battles to level a pet to 25 when using the panda or WoD pet dailies… and this IS the way to level pets. You can look on the various pet guide sites to see strats for each particular daily/fight. (you need a few 25s before you can really get this going but you need to look to doing this (look at the strats) to see what pets you need to level so that you can raise these first.) with 11 of these dailies in pandaland and 6 of these in WoD you can get about 8 pets per day leveled in about 1-2 hours. you also get 10 +1 level stones 1/week for doing the WoD ones and often a few rare upgrade stones from doing the pandaland ones. (use the +1 level stones on level 23 and 24 pets)

#4.expand your collection and start getting all the captureable pets zone by zone. there are several places you can go to find where to find each of the wild pets but you will want to make sure you get the breed your looking for and you get them in the highest level zone possible. This will take a significant amount of time but this step is where you really build your collection.

other people will give you lists of pets to level first and the various strat guides you can see quickly some you want. I would add that any pet that has an attack that does more damage to a family that they are resistant to is especially valuable for your PvE fights. Such as the nexus whelping (p/p of course) which resists damage from flying attacks (since most flyers have flying attacks) and does a ton of damage to flyers as well.

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There’s already been a lot of good information stated here for you, so I’ll try keep to not repeat some of what’s been said.

When I first got involved in pet battles (mid-Draenor era) I was given some good advice. Level up a couple of raptors pets who have the devour ability. Some of these include the darting hatchling, leaping hatchling, obsidian hatchling (which you can buy in old Dalaran) and many others. You’ll have to level them up via regular pet battles around the world, but with the pet battle week it shouldn’t take too long.

Head over to the The Heartland in Valley of the Four Winds in Pandaria. Look for the grasshopper and others critters to fight.

Your raptor pets will be strong against them and they don’t hit you hard at all. The devour ability can be used to regain health so you don’t have to bandage after each battle. Sometimes there will be aquatic and other pets mixed in but most will be critters.

What I’ll often do is start with my level one and just do any move. On occasion the grasshopper will kill it and then you just forfeit and start over. But most of the time the grasshoppers will heal or hit for a small amount. Then you swap to your raptor pet and kill them. Or, you can wait for your raptor to die, then bring in the level one and immediately swap him out for your third pet - he doesn’t have to do any move if you do it this way and will still get full xp.

I did this to level up a ton of pets because during pet battle week you gain xp pretty quick with this method. I’d bring some bandages if you have them because eventually you’ll need to heal and I believe the button to heal your pets has an eight minute cooldown.

If you want to, look up strats for battling the trainers in Pandaria and Draenor so you’ll know which pets to level using that method once you have a good number of them at 25. There are many different strats for each trainer. Those you can do any time - each trainer once per day per account - for a good amount of xp. That way you don’t have to just wait for pet battle week to come to level yours up.

Good luck!

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You don’t need to chase after a turnip pet for weakening blow, there are pets you own that have a similar spell - look at your various corgis and superbark. Can use one of those for the same purpose instead.

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Aysus, first thing to do is get a Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling and use the stone you get from opening the menagerie to level it.

Next choose or create a character to park long-term at the tamer Ashlei in Draenor Shadowmoon Valley to do that battle each day using the following strat.
~https://www.wow-petguide.com/index.php?Strategy=34
This character will gradually level up from battles while it levels your pets.

You need to have a level 25 pet before you can learn other level 25 pets, so after using the menagerie stone you will be able to buy leveled pets on auction if you want a couple for today’s menagerie battle, which is Squirt, the only menagerie battle which can be used repeatedly for leveling.

BTW:
To level your carry pet you can

  • open with it, perform any action and swap it out turn 2,
  • swap it in immediately after another pet in your team dies, and swap it out next turn rather than attacking at all.
  • make sure any pet which is used in the battle dies in the battle, generally done by using explode, which leaves the pet XP distributed between remaining unleveled pets without them needing to ever make a move.

You’ll be wanting a Safari Hat to help with leveling, so get started on the Taming the World quest, picked up from Audrey Burnhep
~https://www.wowhead.com/npc=63596/audrey-burnhep

Pet treats are helpful. I have 15 characters parked at various tamers, and each have a supply of treats to keep their buffs up. Pet experience gains from Safari Hat, Pet Treat, Lesser Pet Treat and Pet Week stack.

Both pet treats are purchased with Polished Pet Charms, only available from BfA pet battle quests. Lesser Pet Treats can drop from the shoulder enchant you mentioned when fighting Legion mobs. Despite Quintessence’ generally good advice, they do not drop from Pandaren pet battles.

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For reference, I used my BfA boost to make a new lv110 Alliance chr since I’ve only ever played Horde since Vanilla.

The Alliance Garrison is right near the Ashlei fight, arguably one of the easiest in the game, and allows you to level TWO lv1 pets without even thinking (one of her pets is a Stuffed animal that doesn’t attack!).

I made that chr about 2 weeks after BfA launched, and pretty much started doing that ONE pet battle every day since. In all that time, I’ve probably only missed 4-5 days.

That chr is now lv117.

From just that ONE PET BATTLE per day. The fight takes just under 3 minutes.

As long as you’re patient, it’s basically a free lv120 chr. :stuck_out_tongue:

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also Ashlei is just slightly more XP than all the other dailies. Using a clockwork gnome and 2 level 1 pets works quite well. I think the 2 leveling pets get to 13 or 14 on pet battle weeks iirc, or so which is good enough to hit the next 2 dailies with to bring them up to 23 or so after that u can hit them with 2 leveling stones each bring 2 pets up to 25 in 3 battles + 4 stones.

for the other 2 battles i use a nexus whelping and a nether faerie dragon on taralune and vesharr

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Yes and that’s just with the hat. You could get a little more with burger and hot dog.

A quick way to level your pets wasn’t really the point though. My post was more about how just playing ONE pet battle for just THREE MINUTES a day, I effectively got a free lv120 chr. :wink:

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Deleted. I should have read through the responses before posting.