Instead of a cliff in the middle of nowhere,
we get to visit a cliff right on the edge of nowhere!
Actually, it’s kind of a nice place to visit. You got lots of water, and the ocean, and some more water, and a few rocks to look at. Not sure I’d want to live there though.
Meet the Tamer
Why so blue, Flowing Pandaren Spirit Tamer?
So yeah, this guy is a big blue mystery, wrapped in an enigma. Why does he hang out on this cliff giving big bags of goodies to people? Does anyone else get thirsty looking at this big walking, talking water feature? At least he occasionally drops a cool pet!
The Abilities
Meet Marley. Everyone’s favorite giant goldfish…
of DEATH!
Marley has three big Aquatic damage abilities. He opens with Whirlpool which hits your pet after 3 turns with a snare and a fairly large amount of Aquatic damage. Then he Dives below your pet and hits it with another large Aquatic hit. Finally, he pumps and shoots a huge amount of Aquatic damage right after his Whirlpool goes off.
This can quickly kill most pets. While it’s often best to pick a Flying damage pet and burn down Aquatic pets, in this case you’re much better off with a Magic pet. Preferably one with an avoidance ability or else a heavy hitter. Some good options include: Nordrassil Wisp (or any of the Lanterns), Enchanted Broom, or Arcane Eye. While I’m sure you can pick a Flying pet that will work, especially one with Lift-Off, there’s a relatively small window where you can hit the pet without avoidance, and a little bad RNG can sink you.
Meet Tiptoe.
He’s a little odd.
Yet another “experimental” pet, Tiptoe is a Critter that does pretty strong Aquatic damage. But nothing too heavy, just the usual Heal + Water attacks. Tiptoe does have Tidal Wave and he uses it often enough that you generally can’t get away with casting Cyclone or other attacks that can be swept away.
Your best bet, again, is a Magic pet, though only a few Magic pets, like Jade Owl, do Beast damage. Tiptoe doesn’t have any avoidance abilities so any hard hitting pet also works well, especially one of the Oozes. Avoid Elementals even more than you normally would with an Aquatic damaging pet.
Pandaren Water Spirit:
Hits like a Boss!
This Elemental pet drops both a Whirlpool and a Geyser and they’re timed to go off at the end of the same turn. Use either a strong Magic damage pet, or a pet with very good avoidance otherwise you won’t be able to survive. This pet uses Tidal Wave too so watch out if you have any low health pets in the back row, especially Elementals.
In summary, a mix of Magic pets with healing or absorb abilities and pets with good avoidance is important to winning this battle. The burst damage these pets do make it very difficult to try and just burn them down with Flying damage. But if you have the right pets and use their abilities to counter that burst, it’s not very difficult.
Fear the Gnome!
Take Two
This fight can be very easy to do for leveling purposes as long as your pet can survive 5-7 hits with Tidal Wave, and most pets 10+ can. My usual choices are a Festival Lantern or similar pet with Flash and Blind, and an Oozeling.
I usually open with my leveling pet, as the Tamer’s Aquatic pet does no damage its first turn. I then swap to my Lantern pet, and Blind it when it comes out of its Dive. Then I use Flash and my other ability and keep the rotation up until the Aquatic is finished.
Blinding You with Science!
My first pet is nearly dead by the time the Critter pet comes in, so I just keep up my rotation and then swap in the Oozeling. The Oozeling’s dots take out large chunks of health and its absorb also gets buffed so I rarely go below 80-90% health before the Critter pet is dead. That’s a good thing because the Elemental hits for a Ton with it’s two delayed abilities. You usually have time to get your pet up to 100% before your pet is stunned and gets hit with 900+ damage.
Before…
and After!
But by that point, the DoTs have nearly killed the Elemental as well, and you’ve just got to hit it a couple times and you’ll win. Collect your shinies, take in the scenery a bit, and enjoy the extra fast leveling!
