Getting ready for the Celestial Tournament (Patch 5.4)

[Aegeus]

Changelog:
15/08/13
- Added Tactics for Thundering Pandaren Spirit.
- Added Waypoints for Pandaren Tamer order

Like a lot of people, I wasn't really interested in Battle Pets when Mists of Pandaria was released, but with the introduction of the Celestial Tournament in Patch 5.4 my interest was piqued so I went about building an effective and varied team of 30 Level 25 Battle Pets.

Now I'm not one for long boring grinds, so my first step was to find all the available information that would allow me to complete this task as quickly and efficiently as possible. A lot of what is contained within this guide is taken from a large pool of resources that are available to everyone, but I've tried it all and this is a compilation of the best and most effective, with a sprinkling of insight.

Not assuming anything, we're going to start from the very beginning. You may have a few vanity/companion pets in your journal but to even begin to think of participating in the Celestial Tournament you'll need to start with a basic team of at least 2 Level 25 pets and a few carefully selected carriers for the Tamer battles.

---

Building your first team:

You'll need to start with a pet, luckily the Pet Battle trainer in your captial city will supply you with one for a small amount of coin. For the levelling to really begin 3 Mechanical type pets are required so you'll need to head to Dun Morogh and battle to capture 3 Fluxfire Felines (Uncommon or Rare). The easiest way to capture these is to create Gnomes on dead servers to effectively farm rares (Pets are account-wide).

Level these three pets to Level 4 in your capital city whilst doing the intital Pet Battle quests leading up to fighting your first tamer. When you get the quest to do this, you should EASILY beat the Tamer with one pet, so do not swap out unnecessarily. After this fight, your pet should be level 5.

Go to the second tamer and do the same again to get your 'Main' to level 6. Go to Deadwind Pass and battle a level 17 Arcane Eye. Make sure the pet is Poor or Common quality, if not you may want to forfeit depending on your pets. With a Fluxfire Feline, you can generally beat these quite easily. If you fail, just use a bandage from one of your two pet reward sacks. Capture the Arcane Eye in any way possible, Mechanicals are resistant to Magic damage and the Arcane Eyes tend to Eyeblast spam mostly (nothing you can do when they Gaze, just suffer the lost turn). Capture 3 Uncommon or higher quality Arcane Eyes and you're ready to move on.

Go to the Dragonblight and find one of the huge dragon skeletons out in the waste areas. There are at least 6-8 Dragonblight Condors at each skeleton on a fast respawn timer. Engage the packs of level 22-23 Dragonblight Condors and back out immediately if you feel you can't take the adds. You want a group with 1-2 Poor or Common quality pets and preferably 2 Flying pets (your Arcane Eyes do bonus damage to Flying types). Capture at least 2 Uncommon or better Dragonblight Condors in this way before moving on to the next step (you can leave the third slot as an Arcane Eye to deal with Flying types if you wish). Remember you can use the nearby Stable Master at Wrymrest Temple for easy healing.

Go to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. You should have 3 Dragonblight Condors (moveset Slicing Winds, Adrenaline Rush and Lift-Off), fight the roaming bands of Eternal Striders that border and sometimes cover the lakes and rivers in the zone. Five out of seven of the pets in the zone are Aquatic (weak to your Flying type Condors) and the other two types of pets in the zone are Flying (weak to your Magic type Arcane Eyes), so most of the time you will fight 3x Aquatic packs or 2x Aquatic 1x Flying packs. You can grind from level 23 to level 25 here in 10 minutes, easily. As always, use the stable master nearby at the capital if you need it.

With the 3 level 25 Flying pets you now have an effective levelling team you can carry pets from 1 to 25 with. Just remember when levelling a pet, if it comes out first, you have to land an attack to get the XP, but if you switch in mid-fight you can switch back out without getting hit and get the XP.

Now, go build your Tamer team! This should consist of Anubisath Idol (Rare - Acquired from Emperor Vek'lor in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj), Emerald Proto-Whelp (Rare - Acquired in Sholazar Basin from Open World battles. Uncommon quality will suffice, but Rare is optimal. These are level 23+, so actually capturing one will have to wait until you have a complete team of level 25 pets), Tolai Hare Pup (Rare - Acquired in Kun-Lai Summit from Open World battles. Uncommon quality will suffice, but Rare is optimal. These are level 23+, so actually capturing one will have to wait until you have a complete team of level 25 pets) and Fluxfire Feline (Rare - You should already have one of these to level). All level 25 of course!

---

Power-levelling with Tamers:

To unlock the Pandarian Tamers, you'll need to go back and do all the other Tamers throughout Azeroth. They should be extremely easy as you'll now have a diverse set of pets at level 25. Once you've done them ALL (Including the Pandarian Tamers), you'll get your Safari Hat. NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!

The Tamers are listed in the fastest and most efficient kill order and only include those that give decent XP for completion.

These parameters are used: [Pet name] [(Skillset)]
The number 1 – 3 in front of the pet names signify which pet you start with and which pet gets switched in next.
Skillset: 1,1,1 means the first ability slot for all three abilities. 2,2,2 means the second ability slot for all three abilities. 1,2,2 means the first ability slot for the first ability, and the second ability slot for the second and third ability.
Concerning carry pets and XP: Usually, I switch in the carry pet when my first pet dies, then immediately switch the carry pet out for the last lvl 25 pet. This way, you will get XP without having to make an action or take a hit. In some battles, I let the carry pet switch in at a different time for tactical purposes.


Aki the Chosen
1: Carry pet
2: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)
3: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,1,1)

vs Chirrup
- Attack with your Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- Sandstorm > Crush until Chirrup dies
vs Stormlash
- Sandstorm > Crush until Stormlash dies
- If Stormlash cast Thunderstorm again immediately recast Sandstorm
vs Whiskers
- From here on, cast Deflection when Whiskers has dived, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
- Switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp when your Anubisath Idol dies
- Chain cast Emerald Bite, unless Whiskers has Dive off cooldown (then cast Proto-Strike)


Courageous Yon
1: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,1)
2: Carry pet
3: Anubisath Idol [-] (2,2,1)

vs Piqua
- Emerald Bite > Emerald Presence > Emerald Bite until Piqua dies
vs Lapin
- Emerald Presence > Proto-Strike > Emerald Bite until your Emerald Proto-Whelp dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- Stoneskin > Demolish until Lapin dies
vs Bleat
(- If your Emerald Proto-Whelp is still alive at this point, cast Emerald Bite until it dies > switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol)
- From here on, cast Deflection when Bleat has the Chew buff, recast Stoneskin when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Demolish as a filler


Burning Pandaren Spirit
1: Anubisath Idol (1,2,1)
2: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,1)
3: Carry pet (should have 500HP to survive)

vs Crimson
- Crush > Stoneskin > Crush until Crimson dies
vs Pandaren Fire Spirit
- Deflection
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp
- Emerald Presence > Proto-Strike > Emerald Bite until Pandaren Fire Spirit dies
vs Glowy
- Emerald Presence > Emerald Bite until the end

- Notes: If, at any point in the fight, your Emerald Proto-Whelp dies, then switch to Anubisath Idol, cast and maintain Stoneskin, and chain cast Crush (and cast Deflection when Pandaren Fire Spirit has Conflagrate off cooldown).


Seeker Zusshi
1: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)
2: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,1)
3: Carry pet

vs Diamond
- Sandstorm > Deflection
- From here on, cast Deflection when Diamond has Howling Blast off cooldown, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
vs Mollus
- Switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp
- Proto-Strike > Emerald Presence
- From here on, cast Proto-Strike when off cooldown, Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Bite as a filler
vs Skimmer
- Emerald Bite until your Emerald Proto-Whelp dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- From here on, cast Deflection when Skimmer has the Pump buff, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler


Wastewalker Shu
1: Carry pet
1: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)
2: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,2)

vs Crusher
- Attack with your Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- From here on, cast Deflection when there is 1-turn left on your Whirlpool debuff, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
vs Pounder
- From here on, cast Deflection when Pounder has Rupture off cooldown, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
- Switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp when your Anubisath Idol dies
- Emerald Presence
- From here on, cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream when you have less than half of your HP, Emerald Bite as a filler
vs Mutilator
- From here on, cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream when you have less than half of your HP, Emerald Bite as a filler


Flowing Pandaren Spirit
1: Carry pet (should have 500HP to survive)
2: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)
3: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,1,1)

vs Marley
- Attack with your Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- Deflection > Sandstorm
- From here on, cast Deflection when there is 1-turn left on your Whirlpool debuff or when Marley has dived, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
vs Tiptoe
- Chain cast Crush, unless your Sandstorm is off cooldown (then cast it)
- Switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp when your Anubisath Idol dies
- Emerald Bite until Tiptoe dies
vs Pandaren Water Spirit
(- If your Anubisath Idol is still alive at this point, cast Crush until it dies > switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp)
- Proto-Strike when there is 1-turn left on Whirlpool and Geyser
- Emerald Bite all the way


Mo'ruk
1: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,2)
2: Carry pet
3: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)

vs Woodcarver
- Start with an Emerald Bite on round 1
- Then, repeat this exact sequence until Woodcarver dies: [start] Emerald Presence > Emerald Dream > 2x Emerald bite [repeat]. If you do it right, you will cast Emerald Presence each time Woodcarver has burrowed.
vs Lightstalker
- Emerald Presence > Emerald Bite until Lightstalker dies
vs Needleback
- Emerald Bite until your Emerald Proto-Whelp dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- From here on, cast Deflection when Needleback has Headbutt off cooldown, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler


Farmer Nishi
1: Carry pet
2: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)
3: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,1)

vs Siren
- Attack with your Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- Sandstorm > Crush until Siren dies
- If Siren recast Sunlight, then recast Sandstorm
vs Toothbreaker
- Sandstorm > wait until Toothbreaker is back > Deflection
- From here on, cast Deflection when Toothbreaker has Leech Seed off cooldown, recast Sandstorm when it fades, Crush as a filler
vs Brood of Mothran
- Switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp
- Proto-Strike > Emerald Presence
- From here on, cast Proto-Strike when off cooldown, recast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Bite as a filler


Hyuna of the Shrines
1: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,1)
2: Carry pet
3: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)

vs Skyshaper
- Emerald Presence > Emerald Bite until Skyshaper dies
vs Fangor
- Emerald Bite > Proto-strike > Emerald Bite until your Emerald Proto Whelp dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- Sandstorm > Crush until Fangor dies
vs Dor the Wall
(- If your Emerald Proto-Whelp is still alive at this point, cast Emerald Bite until it dies > switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol)
- From here on, cast Deflection when Dor has Headbutt off cooldown, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler. Note that if Headbutt and Healing Wave are both on the same CD, he will casts Healing Wave first, so don't waste your Deflection.


Whispering Pandaren Spirit
1: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)
2: Carry pet
3: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,2)

vs Dusty
- Deflection > Sandstorm
- From here on, cast Deflection when off cooldown, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
vs Whispertail
- Crush until your Anubisath Idol dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp
- Emerald Presence > Emerald Bite until Whispertail dies
vs Pandaren Air Spirit
- From here on, cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream if you have less than half of your HP, Emerald Bite as a filler


Thundering Pandaren spirit
1. Carry Pet
2. Tolai Hare Pup (2,2,1)
3. Fluxfire Feline (1,1,1)

vs Pandaren Earth Spirit
- Use your Carry Pet to soak the opening two attacks > Switch to Tolai Hare Pup
- Burrow > Flurry > Flurry > Dodge > Flurry, then repeat from from Burrow until it dies.
vs Sludgy
- Switch to Fluxfire Feline
- Prowl > Claw until dead (Fluxfire Feline may die, it doesn't matter too much as long as your Tolai Hare Pup has enough health to kill it and survive for the next fight.)
vs Darnak the Tunneler
- Switch to Tolai Hare Pup and follow this EXACT sequence
- Flurry > Dodge > Flurry > Flurry > Burrow and then repeat from the beginning. If done correctly, your Tolai Hare Pup should take NO DAMAGE from Darnak!


Blood Knight Antari
1: Emerald Proto-Whelp (1,1,1)
2: Carry pet
3: Anubisath Idol (1,1,1)

vs Arcanus
- Proto-Strike > Breath until Arcanus dies
vs Jadefire
- Ancient Blessing > Breath until your Emerald Proto-Whelp dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Anubisath Idol
- From here on, cast Deflection when Jadefire has Conflagrate off cooldown, Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
vs Netherbite
- Cast Deflection when Netherbite is under Phase Shift, Sandstorm when Netherbite is under Sould Ward, Crush as a filler


Brok
1: Carry pet (should have 500 HP to survive)
2: Emerald Proto-Whelp (1,2,1)
3: Anubisath Idol (2,2,2)

vs Kali
- Attack with your Carry pet > switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp
- Breath > Proto-Strike > Breath until Kali dies
vs Ashtail
- Breath until your Emerald Proto-Whelp dies > switch to Anubisath Idol
- Stoneskin > Demolish until Ashtail dies
vs Incinderous
- Stoneskin > Demolish until Incinderous has less than 290 HP > Rupture
- Recast Stoneskin when you have 1-turn left on your buff


Goz Banefury
1: Anubisath Idol (1,1,2)
2: Carry pet
3: Emerald Proto-Whelp (1,2,2)

vs Twilight
- Sandstorm (recast it whenever it is off cooldown) > Crush until Twilight has less than 350 HP > Rupture
- At this point, if Twilight resurrects, then cast Sandstorm when off cooldown, Crush as a filler
vs Amythel
- Crush (or Sandstorm when off cooldown) until your Anubisath Idol dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Emerald Proto-Whelp
- Emerald Presence
- From here on, cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream when you have less than half of your HP, Breath as a filler
vs Helios
- From here on, cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream when you have less than half of your HP, Breath as a filler


Obalis
1: Anubisath Idol (2,2,1)
2: Carry pet
3: Emerald Proto-Whelp (2,2,2)

vs Pyth
- Stoneskin > Demolish until Pyth dies
vs Spring
- Demolish until your Anubisath Idol dies
- Switch to Carry pet > switch to Emerald Proto Whelp
- Emerald Presence
- From here on, cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream if you have less than half of your HP, Emerald Bite as a filler
vs Clatter
- Cast Emerald Presence when there is 1-turn left on your buff, Emerald Dream if you have less than half of your HP, Emerald Bite as a filler

/way Vale of Eternal Blossoms 67.6 40.8 Aki the Chosen
/way Kun-Lai Summit 35.8 73.6 Courageous Yon
/way Townlong Steppes 57.0 42.2 Burning Pandaren Spirit
/way Townlong Steppes 36.2 52.2 Seeker Zusshi
/way Dread Wastes 55.0 37.6 Wastewalker Shu
/way Dread Wastes 61.2 87.6 Flowing Pandaren Spirit
/way Krasarang Wilds 62.2 45.8 Mo'ruk
/way Valley of the Four Winds 46.0 43.6 Farmer Nishi
/way The Jade Forest 48.0 54.0 Hyuna of the Shrines
/way The Jade Forest 28.8 36.0 Whispering Pandaren Spirit 
/way Vale of Eternal Blossoms 67.4 14.8 Thundering Pandaren Spirit

---

The Beasts of Fable:

The Fabled Bags acquired from doing these dailies will generally give you the best rewards (Pets, Flawless Stones and +EXP pet food). Funnily enough though, these so called 'Fabled Beasts' can be easily dispatched.

Get yourself 3x Chrominius and level them to 25. Make sure their powerset contains; Bite, Howl and Surge of Power. On every boss, Howl right at the beginning then hit Surge of Power and swap out when you're able to and keep repeating this over and over till they die. Should be doable on most of them in 5-6 turns. For No-No, use your Condors to make life a little easier.

REMEMBER RNG RULES IN PET BATTLES! You may need to restart the fights every now and then, there is nothing you can do about it.

---

Good luck and happy Battling!


Also, once you've gotten into the swing of things http://www.ownedcore.com/forums/worl...t-battles.html ([PQR] CodeMyLife PokeRotation - Automated Pet Battles.) is an awesome piece of kit to use to gain XP from level's 1-10 with ease before taking them to the Tamers!

[Fureezing]

Very well written. Thanks for your time and effort

[Aegeus]

A pleasure, I hope it's of some use to you!

[Xanderish]

Very well written and actually got me interested in petbattles as the grind to 25 wont take days. Bummer to go to deadwind pass and find 0 arcane eyes though, guess they spawn certain times of the day =(

[Waffle]

Excellent guide man, +5.

[Aegeus]

Very well written and actually got me interested in petbattles as the grind to 25 wont take days. Bummer to go to deadwind pass and find 0 arcane eyes though, guess they spawn certain times of the day =(

They are actually on a 30-40 minute timer. The Shadelings in the area only spawn during the night.

Also, thank you for all the comments!

[CodeMyLife]

Thanks a lot for this mate, gives a lot of good ideas and precious informations!

I will put a link to it on my thread

Cheers!

[Eryx]

Wow. I have totally missed this guide. This is really amazing! I gave out all my rep today, but I'll come back tomorrow with 3 cookies for sure! Thanks for sharing

[saak]

Really nice guide A German can read+understand it too^^

[solshine2510]

The main part of this "guide", i.e. all tactics for specified Pet Tamers were copy/pasted from here: Guide to tamer daily pet battles (5.3) - For beginners - WarcraftPets Forum . Since there is no credit to original author this sh ould be considered as steal.

[Aegeus]

The main part of this "guide", i.e. all tactics for specified Pet Tamers were copy/pasted from here: Guide to tamer daily pet battles (5.3) - For beginners - WarcraftPets Forum . Since there is no credit to original author this sh ould be considered as steal.

As stated in the opening of this post " A lot of what is contained within this guide is taken from a large pool of resources that are available to everyone, but I've tried it all and this is a compilation of the best and most effective, with a sprinkling of insight.".

Go away Leecher.

[Agapyr]

The power of c'n'p is strong in you my friend. +rep cause I read something I didn't know.

What I like to add to your guide to powerleveling pets:
The carried pet should always be lower in level than your opponents
The carried pet should be at least 1/4 of the level of your opponents to ensure that it will survive a possible hit
With about lvl8 you can start powerleveling in Pandaria

Trying to capture a specific blue pet?
Have two sets of pets
1. Set: lvl doesn't matter, just start battles with the pet you want to have and have a look at the rarity, leave pet battle immediately, you will lose 10% of your current health = never reach 0
if Set 1 finds a blue pet switch to
2. Set: 3xlvl25 or 2xlvl25 + 1 carried pet, engage the same pet again, you can easily capture the pet and level your carried pet at the same time.

Advantage = faster way to capture specifc blue pets
Disadvantage = losing blue pets that might join a battle, if your 1. Set consists of lvl25 pets you can still try to capture it as even against lvl25 opponents about 50% health should be sufficient

Common sense, but I just wanted to add.

[Aegeus]

Thanks for the extra info, will include it in the main post!

You don't need to be level 8 to start Power Leveling in Pandaria though, it can be done easily with level 1's going first against the Aqua type pets in Vale of the Eternal Blossom. I know this as I do it to get them to 10 before engaging the Tamers.

[phantom325]

great guide, but all I can say is capturing the condors are extremely frustrating. If you have the basic trap, it will usually miss 4-5 times before you catch it. I'm at about 30 battles so far, haven't caught and kept one yet, due to the fact the other mobs that join in are too tough. I would say this part is 99% luck.

[Aegeus]

Indeed it is, RNG is a bitch mother. You'll fail endlessly, give up and walk away. But then when you come back, it'll probably be the complete opposite :P

You could also go back a little and get a few more levels on your Arcane eyes then wins are pretty much guaranteed*





*RNG Permitting :P