Now that pet battles have been in World of Warcraft for a while and players have had a chance to get used to them, it is time to point out some tips about pet matchups and how they will help the average pet battle player. 

While many players know the basics of how Pet Battles work, meaning they know all about attacking, abilities, and healing after battle, many players do not understand the importance of selecting their pets and creating battle teams.  Many players also do not understand how critical it is to match up the proper pets against their enemies.

NOTE:  If you are still fairly new to pet battles, you can find all the basics in our Introductory Guide to Pet Battles in Mists of Pandaria.

Understanding Strong and Weak

All pet abilities have a note saying that they are “strong against” a certain type of attack and “weak against” another. A lot is really misunderstood about the strong against and weak against notes though.  It is a bit confusing because it is listed in several places.  Many players then over simplify it by trying to only match up the strong against or avoid the weak against based on just your pet’s family, or the pets abilities.

Really it isn’t as simple as a 1 to 1 relationship, due to the fact that you’re strong against isn’t necessarily that other pet families weak against family.  This means there are really 4 interactions to consider.

• Strong Against – You deal 50% more damage against opponents of this type.
• Weak Against – You deal 33% less damage against opponents of this type.

Therefore you could in theory also keep a pet out against a pet that is weak against you since you would be suffering 33% less damage.  The reverse applies as well, that you should not fight a pet type that is strong against you since they would inflict an additional 50% damage to you.  Neither of these situations are covered if you only consider which families you are strong or weak against.

There are two places  to check for these numbers.  The first is based on  your pet’s family type and the second is based on your pets’s abilities.

INSERT IMAGES

The Importance of Pet Family and Ability Family

As was made clear above when participating in pet battles which pet you send to fight is critically important.  Instead of just considering your strengths and weaknesses, make sure you consider the opponents strengths and weaknesses as well.  This table will help you better consider the impact of pet choice, you will want to fight enemies that you are strong against or that are weak against you.

Family - Pet Type and Attack Type

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/247279" alt="pet battle attacks"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 250px;">

Just to add further items to consider, it is important too note that the family type of the pet and the family type of the pet’s abilities are not always identical. 

Example: A Bile Toad is Aquatic so should be strong against elemental and weak against magic. However, it has several abilities that are actually strong against undead and weak against flying. 

This means that while it is best to start by considering the table above, you may have to adjust based on individual pets and abilities.

Pet Battle Team Composition Basics       

Early on when you are first getting started with pet battles the best pets are mechanical and beast pets as they are great against the opponents that you are most likely to face.  That is because early on you are most likely to face beasts or critters.  Mechanical will shred beasts and beast are good against critters.

Later on once you have levelled several pets to level 10 or higher then the makeup of a group shifts a little.  You will want to ensure that you have pets of several different families on your team of three pets.  You will also want to make sure you have a fast flying pet as your starter so that you will get to go first, a heavy hitter that can deal a lot of damage that you can switch to, and a tank type pet with defensive abilities to last through your opponents heavy hitters.

It is also important to ensure that you have a variety of pet families so that you have a variety of strengths and weaknesses. You should try to ensure that each pet is strong and weak against different types of opponents and that they have several attacks that are different than each other so that you cover even more options.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/247280" alt="lil tarecgosa"
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 200px;">

Best Pet Battle Pets

There are several pets that are viewed as being more powerful than others and that should be sought out.

One of the best pets to try to get is the Celestial Dragon, which can be earned by collecting 150 different pets.  At this point you will each the “Littlest Pet Shop” achievement and the Celestial Dragon.

Another great pet, but this one is extremely hard to get, is Lil’ Tarecgosa.  To get this pet you must be in a guild that has earned every single legendary weapon in the game, and then anyone in the guild can purchase this pet.

Last there are two pets that make up the last of the best pets out there and they are the Phoenix Hatchling and the Dark Phoenix Hatchling, both of which are found by defeating Kael’thas Sunstrider in the Magister’ Terrace instance.