For the sake of newcomers to pet battles, I thought we should talk about the many valuable pets that are wild caught. The reason being is that there seems to be a misconception that captured pets are somehow less valuable or useful. Someone recently described a wild caught pet (Electrified Razortooth) as a good pet, despite being a “generic” wild-caught pet.
It would be pointless to deny that there are many valuable pets that can be traded (like Ikky, Anubisath Idol, MPD, etc.), but to dismiss wild-caught pets as “generic” and suggest they are less valuable than tradeable pets is a huge mistake.
So, I’m trying to compile a list of all the best pets that can only be captured in the wild. So, if anyone wants to help and make recommendations to add to this list, please jump in. I don’t claim to know everything about pet collecting, and I might have missed some good ones.
1. Unborn Val’kyr: This is without a doubt, the most valuable wild-caught pet. She is the only pet in the game that has both Curse of Doom and Haunt on separate slots so you can use both.
Haunt is great because it’s essentially a free swap. Ordinarily, when you swap pets, your opponent gets a free shot at you, because swapping is a turn. But because Haunt effectively kills the pet, your opponent doesn’t get the free shot.
2. Nexus Whelpling: Like Mechanical Pandaren Dragonling is the bane of Magical pets, Nexus Whelpling is the bane of Flying pets. Since he’s a dragon, he takes less damage from Flying attacks, and since he has a devastating Magical attack combo, he does extra damage against Flying pets. But make no mistake. His combo is effective against lots of things besides just Flying pets.
3. Emperor Crab: Because of this pet’s ability to heal itself, mitigate damage, and with an attack that always goes first, this pet could take down just about anything that can’t heal itself. However, because you need to maintain the heals and the Shell Shield, it might take a while, but it will get the job done.
This pet comes in two breeds: P/P and H/H. I know from experience that there are fanatic pet collectors who will insist that you must, must, must use P/P. And they’re rather vehement about this. Think Faye Dunaway in “Mommy Dearest.” It’s that level of vehemence.
"NOOOO! H/H! EMPEROR CRAB! EVERRRRRR!"
I will admit that 19 times out of 20, P/P is the more useful choice. However, I did once have a situation in which H/H was the better option. I was fighting a boss that did extensive backline damage. I wanted to try to do it myself before resorting to look up strats on Xu-Fu. I picked my champion to take this guy down, and held two Emperor Crabs in reserve, because I knew they could take down just about anything.
While neither Crab died, by the time I was able to bring one of them in, I knew P/P would not survive. Both crabs are slow. There was no way I could have gotten my shield up, and started the healing before the boss killed P/P. So, H/H it was.
So, I would say, if you collect three, at least two, if not all three, should be P/P.
4. Snails: Snails, in general, are giant bags of health that can protect themselves, and can unleash a devastating attack upon Elemental pets. In addition, they are a viable strat to use against Chi-Chi in the Celestial Tournament.
Although technically, they are not just wild caught, since Scooter the Snail is tradable.
5. Rabbits: Rabbits/Hares are awesome pets, particularly against the Undead. With the right combination of abilities, Rabbits can spend the bulk of their time being unattackable.
Although, like the Snails above, they are not technically just wild-caught, as Spring Rabbit (the definitive generic rabbit) is tradable. Noblegarden Bunny, too, but that’s not a generic rabbit.
So, anyone else want to add some wild-caught pets that you would consider indispensable?
