Hey everyone,
Anyone have a recommendation on which BFA vendor battle pet to buy first? I wont be farming a lot but when I do manage to save up the first chunk for a battle pet, what should my first one be? I have a 120 horde and alliance so I should be able to get to any of the vendors without too much work. Thanks!
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I’m working my way back from highest cost pets to lowest, but the one I’ve used most in strats so far is the Ranishu Runt. On the other hand, I’m trying to not use the vendor pets in any current content strats if I can help it, because I know it might be some time before people get them.
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It sounds to me like the charms will be coming in pretty slowly, so it’s probably best to start small. The Zandalari Shinchomper is a solid investment for only 50 charms with the unique Aura of Gonk as well as Rip and Hunting Party to generate massive healing.
And unlike most vendor pets it doesn’t need to be unlocked with reputation or quest progress.
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I bought all the low cost pets first. I have three level 120s so have found the charms a little easier to get. Now, I am up to the 100 pet charm pets. I haven’t really leveled any of them yet. Need to work on Shinchomper soon though.
I’m working vendor by vendor – to get all pets, after finishing (Horde) quest lines, it’s approximately 750 PPC per vendor. I did Shoak in Nazmir first.
Next, I attempted to save 1000 PPC because I thought I was going to have to buy the 1500 pet cap expansion but it turns out, I had done the quest to expand my cap space way back when, so I promptly bought all of Happy Halua pets on the spot and had 250 PPC left (I then grabbed the Honorbound single with 200).
I’ve got about 100 saved up toward the Voldun vendor, so the end in is site for Horde side pets. Now I gotta figure out what to do about the Alliance side – I sure don’t want to have to level / quest / daily an alliance character since my highest level Ally is 81.
I’ve purchased the lil War Machine, child of Jani, azerite puddle, and lil’ Tika so far. I think that’s all of em. Mostly I use the PPCs for buying stones.
I buy whichever pet I feel like seeing running behind or standing next to me in game at that time.
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It all depends on what your personal goals are.
Are you working on collecting 1k battle pets to complete the achievement for Hearthy? If so, your best bet is to buy the cheapest BFA vendor pets first, especially if you’re not consistently grinding Polished Pet Charms.
Are you looking to buy the “best” battling vendor pet? There are different opinions on which one(s) are useful for battling, so maybe read up on a couple of threads discussing the vendor pets’ movesets and abilities.
Are you looking to buy BFA vendor pets to sell? How much each one is worth on the AH probably varies from server to server.
Do you want to simply collect the cutest? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Take your pick which one is most aesthetically appealing to you. ![:slight_smile:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")
Personally, I’m fond of the ones with more unique pet models (Accursed Hexxer, Carnivorous Lasher, Child of Jani, Lil’ Ben’fon, Ranishu Runt, Saurolisk Hatchling, Smoochums, etc.)
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I notice most of the players posting here are Horde. And some of the pets being discussed are “Horde-only” accessible.
It might be interesting to see what people might consider to be the best pets that are Alliance-accessible. I’ve got all of them and haven’t used many of them yet. But I’m not seeing a whole lot of A-listers among them.
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I have both Alliance and Horde at level 120 and will be collecting the pets from both sides.
I left a response in that thread, saying I’d be willing to purchase Alliance pets for someone in exchange for Horde pets of equal value. I’m sitting on over 2K PPCs now.
I got no response to that offer, so I assumed that I was too late to the party. And it sounds like you already have both factions of pets, so my only recourse is to continue leveling my Horde Warlock and get them myself.
whatever you do, dont buy the crimson frog. its a f**king wild pet basically for 100 charms. I feel ripped off
DISCLAIMER: These are all pretty hot takes, and I haven’t extensively tested out most of the pets listed here.
Going through the available vendor pets on Wowhead, sorted by ascending price:
50
-Zandalari Shinchomper (Raptor Containment Crate): As pointed out previously, Aura of Gonk works incredibly well with Hunting Party/Rake. Unfortunately it requires 8 turns to even use, so a pet with some degree of stalling ability is basically required for optimal use. The fact that it’s also basically free makes it an excellent choice.
-Barnacled Hermit Crab: This pet doesn’t really have anything interesting going for it. Pretty much everything it can do can be done as well or better by other pets.
-Sandstinger Wasp: This pet looks like a moth that sacrificed power for attack type variety. Honestly, I’d just go with moths here.
-Greatwing Macaw (Greatwing Macaw Feather): This pet actually gets a pretty neat combination of Sunlight and Tranquility. Weather counters are always welcome, and self-synergy is a good bonus. Granted, I’d prefer a self-heal rather than an active pet heal, and low attack doesn’t help at all, but it’s not awful.
75
-Tragg the Curious: I like this pet on paper. Having 3 different moves that benefit from its high speed is excellent. Unfortunately it lacks the durability to be a good stall pet, and lacks the firepower to be a good stallbreaker. So it’s kind of in that awkward middle ground. Definitely not the worst pet, though.
-Abyssal Eel: This is one of those “Everything this pet can do, other pets can do better” kind of deals. Would suggest skipping until later on.
-Mechanical Prairie Dog (Strange Looking Mechanical Squirrel): This pet gets a pretty nice moveset by mech standards. Adrenaline Rush is one of the best speed boosters in the game, and it syncs perfectly with Burrow and Batter. Unfortunately, it gets hard-walled by Anubisath Idol, specifically the Sandstorm + Deflection variety.
-Drustvar Piglet: There’s nothing terribly interesting about this pet, at least as far as I can tell. Moving along.
100
-Bilefang Skitterer (Wad of Spider Web): This pet gets some pretty decent synergy with Rabid Strike + Bone Barrage + Death & Decay. That’s about all I got here.
-Crimson Frog: This thing is a pretty decent undead counter, but that can be said for all frogs. Avoid unless you REALLY need that extra speed via Vicious Streak.
-Azeriti (Shard of Azerite): Crystal Overload + Azerite Spike can completely ruin a Mechanical pet’s day. That’s about all this pet really has going for it. CO is pretty bad outside of that specific use. Unfortunately it doesn’t have the speed to properly utilize blitz without support, but with it, Blitz + Frenzy + Spike is actually a pretty decent moveset.
-Tiny Direhorn: I generally prefer other direhorn sets, but stunning a pet, having the opponent switch, then tail smashing to force another switch does sound pretty amusing. Real shame there’s no entry hazards that remain after the first switch.
-Child of Jani: Huge, Sharp Teeth + Stampede or Mangle sounds okay, but not enough so to warrant actually using this thing. Real shame held items aren’t a thing, otherwise this pet would probably have some sort of stealing ability to make it worthwhile.
-Blue Flitter (Butterfly in a Jar): Basically a bootleg moth. Use a moth instead, unless you’re packing Cyclone support.
150
-Carnivorous Lasher (Violent Looking Flower Pot): This screams “Annoying in sunlight”. Unfortunately Feed + Leech Seed leads to a lot of filler rounds, where the third attack is really a coin toss. Still, might be fun in such teams.
200
-Bloodfeaster Larva: This is one of those strange instances where a pet starts with a non-attacking move. Aside from that, it doesn’t have much going for it. Low health + Critter Explode is pretty awful. Its other moves aren’t anything to write home about either.
-Azerite Puddle (Drop of Azerite): Counterspell is bad on this pet, but Slime + Psionic Shockwave + Forboding Curse is a pretty decent set. I’d still get Azeriti first, though.
-Swamp Toad (Toad in a Box): Basically a weaker Tragg for the most part. Frog Kiss can give it an edge, though.
-Saurolisk Hatchling: This pet gets a unique move in Toxic Bite, which increases DoT damage. Sadly, it has nothing to actually synergize with it, so the best you can do is set it up, feign death to a DoT-heavy pet, and go to town. It’s worth getting fairly early for that alone.
-Cou’pa: I was hoping this would get Shell Rush, but I guess you have to incentivize the Collector’s Edition somehow. Not really anything super interesting here.
-Corlain Falcon (Pristine Falcon Feather): All flying abilities this far in is not okay, doubly-so for a 200 token pet. Save this pet for near-last.
-Lil’ Tika: Basically a Shinchomper, but with none of the synergy. And it’s more expensive to boot. Save this pet for later.
-Lil’ Siege Tower/Lil’ War Machine: This thing can push out some beefy damage. It’s basically a competitor against the Ultratonk from Ulduar. This has Explode and an elemental attack going for it, though. Might be worth toying around with once you have the good pets already.
-Smoochums (Smoochums’ Bloody Heart): This thing is filled to the brim with health-restoring abilities, that fill basically every niche, no less. You have Nap Time for stallers, Bloodfang for near-dead pets, and Absorb as filler. This is another “Probably works well in sunlight” pet.
250
-Ranishu Runt: Humanoids with Mech abilities are pretty uncommon, and this thing gets access to 2 weather abilities, albeit on the same row. So it can realistically run either X-Focus-Sandstorm or X-Flies-Call Lightning. Pretty unique, but I’m not sure the 250 tokens make it worth getting early.
-Freshwater Pincher: Even at 250 tokens, this may be the easiest Spiked Skin aquatic pet to get, with its only competition being a TCG item and a very rare fishing item from Pandaria. Beyond that, it’s a glorified wild pet. Don’t bother till later.
-Seabreeze Bumblebee (Pair of Bee Wings): Nothing too interesting here. It’s the first Accuracy pet since WoD, but that doesn’t say much, given that it’s one of the weaker hit-boosting moves. This is a save-for-later pet.
300
-Lil’ Ben’fon: This is the only beast in the game with access to Crush, but it’s not the first with access to Humanoid attacks in general. The 300 token price tag makes it not really worth getting early, even if it IS cute.
-Frenzied Cottontail (Bloody Rabbit Fang): Against all odds, this rabbit does NOT carry Huge, Sharp Teeth. Instead, it gets a pretty boring move pool. And again, 300 tokens is steep.
500
-Accursed Hexxer: Finally, the crown jewel of the pet token collection. It gets a pretty excellent stall combo in Arcane Blast + Drain Blood + Weakness. It has pretty tough competition in the Weakness user department, though, but out of everything, it may be the strongest of them defensively. Is it worth the 500 tokens? Debateable, but it’s easily better than several of the other pets.
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^ The above post pretty much explains why I really don’t think of any of the pets as much usefulness in the battle department except maybe the Hexer.
I see most of the usefulness of the charm pets in their adorableness. Lil’ Ben’fon, Smoochums, Etc.
I picked up Lil’ Ben’fon as soon as I could, he’s just too cute.
I just have the toys left to go purchase now… once I actually remember to go purchase them. <.<
I got Smoochums first, I just had to. After that I’ve just been moving from zone to zone buying them all up. Using the 14th anniversary bonus xp/rep item I finally leveled another character from 110 to 120 (Horde) So my supply of Pet Charms should increase and Ill start working on the Horde exclusive ones.
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Yes, buy Smoochums. Because God knows we need more undead cat pets.
Cursed Birman, Widget the Departed, Mr. Bigglesworth, Risen Saber Kitten…come on, Blizzard! Let’s get with the program! Can’t you see we need more undead cat pets???
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+1 towards Hearthy though… so what can you do about it? ![:man_shrugging:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/man_shrugging.png?v=6" ":man_shrugging:")