Surviving the Meta
1. Introduction
In this part of the PvP section we want to prepare you for the current Meta game that you will face playing against random opponents. Further below is a simple list of some of the most popular and strongest team compositions. We explain their functionality and also name some abilities/pets that these teams are being played with, together with suggestions of how to counter stated strategies.
Furthermore this article serves as a platform to upload your favorite PvP teams for others to discuss about or to help people who find themselves troubled creating good teams on their own. On the left side you can see different categories in which spoken teams can be uploaded.
Please note that different Meta-gameplay can be expected depending on the region you are in. Therefor both lists -the written introduction and the categories of the strategy creation tool- are never considered to be finished and will evolve with the Meta and your suggestions of themes that this article is missing.
We hope that we can make PvP pet battling more attractive to you and we look forward to read your opinions and knowledge for sharing and improving.
-Shenk & Rosqo
Here we will go through the most common strategies and highlighted abilities you will face whilst in the PvP queue and how to set up your teams to counter them.
2. Call Darkness
Call Darkness is the strongest weather ability bar none. It also has several abilities which synergize extremely well with it: Nocturnal Strike, Spectral Strike, Sneak Attack, Surge of Light, Light and Fury of 1,000 Fists. Most Darkness teams will run at least one flying pet with Call Darkness and Nocturnal Strike and the rest with something else that gets buffed by darkness or blinding effects. They are difficult combinations to counter because of the burst nature of the teams.
Common pets: Bone Serpent, any Nocturnal Strike flier with 292+ speed or 300+ power like Dread Hatchling, Frostfur Rat, Nightshade Sproutling, Spectral Raven, Twilight, Shadow, Soul of the Aspects
Counters: Weather Changes (2+), Elementals, Blocks/Deflects/Dodges for the big combo hits, Surge of Light, Beasts with strong magic damage (take less damage from Call Darkness and counter the flier e.g. Thaumaturgical Piglet)
3. Traps
Traps are in theory depending on RNG but in the majority of fights they work pretty reliable. Quite often both Magma Trap and Snap Trap will trigger right away, dealing not few damage and also stunning the affected pet for an entire round. This gives you a huge advantage. Traps are also hard to counter due to their unpredictability and because they trigger when they get removed.
Common pets: Blazehound, Lil' Ragnaros, Magma Rageling, Tinder Pup, Curious Wolvar Pup, Gearspring Hopper
Counters: Critters, Arcane Winds (e.g. Arcane Storm), Dodge & Block abilities (can still fail) ->Note: dispelling or removing it will trigger the trap!
4. AoE/Cleave
This kind of teams is currently the most popular one for a number of reasons. AoE is easy to play, often very effective, can be tough to beat without a direct counter and you can play it even with very cheap pets. The strength of such a team lies within killing the whole enemy team simultaneously. This can also be used against it, as those players often spam nothing but cleaves, which will struggle against pets that are tanky or have a good self sustain.
Common pets: Blightbreath, Infernal Pyreclaw, Twilight Clutch-Sister, Lil' XT, Weebomination
Counters: Sandstorm, Team-Blocks (e.g. Smoke Bomb), Blinding Effects, Reflect/Thorns Effects (e.g. Brittle Webbing), Team Heal, Weakness/Jar of Smelly Liquid, High Hp Pets
5. Clone Dance
The Clone Dance strategy covers good single target and team-wide damage, which is what makes it so successful. The core idea is to summon a Cyclone and then boost it with a buff that increases your hit chance. In most of the cases that's a Rain Dance (hence the name 'Clone Dance).
Common Cyclone pets: Blighthawk, Infinite Hatchling, P/P Buzzards or Eagles (e.g. Fledgling Kingfeather), Shore Butterfly, Wild Golden Hatchling/Wild Jade Hatchling
Common buff pets: Jademist Dancer, Poda, P/P Toucans (e.g. Bloodbeak), Royal Peachick, Young Sand Sifter
Counters: Debuff Removals, Sandstorm, Dragons, Blocking or Blinding the Cyclone, Minefields (unless it's against a Jademist Dancer), any Wave Attacks (e.g. Magma Wave)
6. Leeching (Plagued Blood)
Instead of direct healing abilities this strategy relies on applying buffs or debuffs like Plagued Blood, which will heal the attacker whenever it hits the affected pet. That way a team of badly hurt pets can get back to full or high health in the middle of the match while still dealing damage. However, failing to hit debuffed pets however will negate the purpose of this strategy and lower the chance to win. Therefor often mind games will come into action.
Common pets: Son of Sethe, Ruby Droplet, Scourged Whelpling, Son of Animus, Ghost Maggot, Zandalari Shinchomper
Counters: Call Darkness, Sandstorm, Dodge/Block/Blinding for Touch of the Animus or other vampiric abilities with a Cooldown, Reflects (e.g. Toxic Skin)
7. Toxic Fumes
Toxic Fumes is the newest weather in patch 8.3. It has two effects; it extends the duration of any damage over time effect by 1 round (the opposite of cleansing rain) and all pets are considered poisoned. This makes it a versatile ability because there are multiple ways to gain value from it. Contagion Strike and Puncture Wound are the only two abilities that are stronger against a poisoned target, but since all pets with these can apply poisons themselve this combo isn't that powerful. The more impactful synergies come from DoTs that used to be balanced by lasting for a short duration and can be extremely potent having one extra round of effect under Toxic Fumes. Examples would be Poison Protocol, Great Sting or Corrosion.
Common pets: Anomalus, Wailing Lasher, Void-Scarred Locust, Rotbreath
Counters: Weather changes (2+, espacially Sandstorm), Aquatics against DoT teams, Team heals against DoT teams (e.g. Haunting Song), Shields (e.g. Ironskin)
Note that as of 8.3.0 the racial of elemental pets does not work properly for Toxic Fumes. For some abilities it works and for others it doesn't (e.g. Puncture Wound).
8. Heal & Stall
For the most part these are the kind of teams which require little to no skill and are unnecessarily lengthening the match. They are spamming a lot of healing and blocking abilities to either prevent you from dealing any damage or outheal that which you can deal. We really don't want to support this behaviour but since there is a high chance for you to encounter them we're listing them for the sake of coverage. Not every pet that falls in this category is negative for the Meta and on its own can be a good and reasonable pick, but focusing an entire team around that theme is toxic and should be avoided for fair sportsmanship.
Common abilities: Photosynthesis+Sunlight combinations (e.g. Blossoming Ancient), Decoy Spam, anything that uses Wish, Humanoids with Immolation, Drain Blood together with Sunlight
Counters: Call Darkness or other Healing Reduce, Root Effects (e.g.
Sticky Goo), Forced Swaps, strong Single Target Hits (e.g. Pump)
