With new pets and updates coming out each week, or every other, this is where we'll be compiling that information!
This is in an effort to keep all the pet information in a single place, instead of stretched out across multiple articles, due to the fact that we have a few months, and likely many updates, ahead of us until Shadowlands releases.
With that, let's get to it!
1. There will be NO Currency changes in Shadowlands
First, we have no plans to make a new pet charm currency this expansion. Polished Pet Charms will remain the standard currency to buy new pets, toys, consumables, and all of the other normally-available vendor purchases.
2. Scaling Active on the Beta
Scaling for pet battles is currently active on the beta, so it looks like a feature that will continue into Shadowlands.
3. What the Future Holds for Pet Battles in Pre-Patch & Shadowlands
3.1 From Kaivax on 16 November 19:
What the Future HoldsIn a future update, we’re targeting a number of balance changes we want to make, which will amount to lowering the effectiveness of some pets and strategies. Again, these changes will not be happening in Visions of N’Zoth, but we wanted to give you ample warning time that changes are coming. While we don’t have specific numbers or details to share right now, here are some examples of abilities that we’re going to take a close look at:
- Black Claw and similar abilities that increase damage taken by a flat amount.
- Hunting Party and similar abilities such as Flock.
- The Shattered Defenses debuff effect from abilities such as Hunting Party or Flock.
- Any large percent-damage-taken or percent-damage-dealt buffs or debuffs.
- Twilight Meteorite and similar long-cooldown damage-splitting abilities.
- The Jar of Smelly Liquid ability.
- Hermit Crab
Of course that last one isn’t an ability, but Hermit Crab incorrectly has a higher stat budget than it should, and it will have its stats reduced to bring it in line with other similar pets.
A goal we have when making many new pet battle World Quests or encounters is to create puzzles that players can counter and “solve”-- ideally with the option to use a variety of pets and tools to do so. When a few pets have such strong synergies that they can deal massive damage in just a few rounds and almost trivially beat these enemies, it becomes problematic. Do we make new challenges only beatable by the highest damage combos, or do we make them generally solveable and therefore immediately smashed by massive damage?
We don’t want to ruin the feel of combination abilities, so we aren’t going to make Black Claw no longer interact with Hunting Party or Flock, but we want to make sure these abilities are dealing appropriate damage. And we want to make sure that secondary effects such as Shattered Defenses are being accounted for with regards to balance.
When we have further specifics, we will be sure to let you know.
In addition to the post above, Kaivax also responded to concerns regarding old content, and the potential ability nerfs:
19 November 19: We’ll do our best to make sure older Achievements are still able to be completed after the changes, even if that means we need to change some of the Tanaan Jungle, Argus, and Battle for Azeroth pet battle challenges to make them somewhat easier.I think it’s also worth noting that the sample future changes I listed in the OP were the most-impactful examples we’ve thought of. I’m sure we’ll also take this opportunity to find pets/abilities/combos that we can buff at the same time.
3.2 From Kaivax, 22 July 20:
An updated post from Blizzard can be found on our site here.
3.3 What Xu-Fu's is Doing in Response to These Changes
At the moment, we have a banner-type notification to let people know when a strategy has been tested for the Shadowlands changes:
We also have a tag system currently in place to help with testing prior to Shadowlands, and for when the changes release. More details can be found here.
3.4 Pet Battle Dungeons on Hold & Pet Battle PvP Power
In Hazelnutty's interview with John Hight, she asked about the future of pet battle dungeons, given the conclusion to the storyline we experienced in BRD. Here was his response:
[Pet battle] dungeons are a lot of fun, I'm also a pet collector. We have a group of players that really are into it, but it hasn't had as much broad appeal as some of the other features of the game. So, I think we're kind of taking a pass to see what's the reception like, [and] if we get a lot of demand for pet battle dungeons [it's something] we'll look at later in the expansion. But nothing new for the release of Shadowlands.
Also in Hazel's interview, she asked about the pet battle pvp power, and if there was anything he could tell us about it. John Hight responded; "No, I'm sorry."
Hazelnutty's full interview can be found here, with the pet battle portion happening at timestamp 15:23.
3.5 A Look at the Numbers: Flock & Black Claw
Our article detailing what the numbers for Flock-type abilities and Black Claw will look like can be found here.
The tooltip changes you'll see in game can be found here.
3.6 Changes to Other Abilities
Change to Aquatic Racial Passive
3.7 Changes to Player Battle Pet Stats
Thank you to Remte & Rosqo for providing the information on the stat changes!
The old stats are on the left, and the new stats are on right. Stats are in HP / Power / Speed
- Boghopper -- 1400 / 284 / 349 ~~to~~ 1339 / 248 / 349
- Hermit Crab -- 1400 / 284 / 349 ~~to~~ 1278 / 272 / 337
- Slimy Darkhunter--
H/P -- 1810 / 261 / 284 ~~to~~ 1810 / 261 / 236
P/S -- 1664 / 261 / 314 ~~to~~ 1664 / 261 / 265
P/B -- 1729 / 261 / 297 ~~to~~ 1729 / 261 / 249
- Cinder Kitten -- 1400 / 292 / 292 ~~to~~ 1400 / 284 / 284
- Crypt Fiend -- 1197 / 349 / 292 ~~to~~ 1197 / 349 / 276
- Mechanical Prairie Dog -- 1587 / 297 / 260 ~~to~~ 1506 / 297 / 260
- Tiny Blue Carp -- 1465 / 289 / 289 ~~to~~ 1465 / 281 / 281
- Mechanical Cockroach -- 1587 / 260 / 293 ~~to~~ 1587 / 248 / 293
3.8 Changes to NPC Pets
Fras Siabi
- Smokey:
Health -- 1277 // Power -- 350 // Speed -- 280 ~~changed to~~ Health -- 1102 // Power -- 315 // Speed -- 245
- Pyro:
Health -- 1439 // Power -- 311 // Speed -- 236 ~~changed to~~ Health -- 1176 // Power -- 250 // Speed -- 236
- Infectus:
Health -- 2139 // Power -- 311 // Speed -- 294 ~~changed to~~ Health -- 1789 // Power -- 259 // Speed -- 241
4. Currency Count needed for Shadowlands Pets/Items So Far
Keep in mind, this does not include any of the necessary reputations, unlocks, quest chains, sanctum upgrades, and so on. It is just the amount needed for the currencies found on the Beta.
There will also be some overlap on some of the currencies. There are 8 Covenant Feature pets that overlap all the Covenants and will cost you Reservoir Anima -or- Polished Pet Charms
4,750 Polished Pet Charms (Potentially 5,500)
Grateful Offering: 130
Necrolords: 30 Malleable Flesh
Kyrians: 14,000 Reservoir Anima (Potentially 17,000)
Venthyr / Revendreth: 234 Infused Rubies
Revendreth Vendor: 1,000 Sinstone Fragments
Argent Commendation (Pre-Patch Event): 20
40 silver
5. New Player Pets
All the new player pets can be found in our article here.
6. Pet Battle NPCs & Their Teams
6.1 Zone Maps for all Enemy Pet Battle NPCs
Maps with coordinates and location indicators can be found here.
6.2 Abhorrent Adversaries of the Afterlife
Crystalsnap -- Bastion -- /way #1533 52.72, 74.29
Type: Aquatic
Stats: Health -- 2192 // Power -- 330 // Speed -- 225
Abilities: Sunshell, Healing Crash, Deep Snap
Kostos -- Bastion -- /way #1533 46.53 49.31
Type: Humanoid
Stats: Health -- 2270 // Power -- 420 // Speed -- 356
Abilities: Reboot, Metal Shield, Ion Cannon
Digallo -- Bastion -- /way #1533 25.90 30.79
Type: Humanoid
Stats: Health -- 2348 // Power -- 360 // Speed -- 338
Abilities: Rapid Turret, Call Lightning, Cyclone
Gelatinous -- Maldraxxus -- /way #1536 61.90 78.80
Type: Magic
Stats: Health -- 2504 // Power -- 435 // Speed -- 263
Abilities: Slime Time, Slime, Aged Yolk
Glurp -- Maldraxxus -- /way #1536 26.49 26.75 (Caution! Next to an Elite!)
Type: Undead
Stats: Health -- 2582 // Power -- 405 // Speed -- 281
Abilities: Hateful Strike, Great Cleave, Meat Hook
The Countess -- Revendreth -- /way #1525 53 41.5
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 2036 // Power -- 405 // Speed -- 492 (Buffed) & (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Blood Revenge, Lift-Off, Furious Flapping
Sewer Creeper -- Revendreth -- /way #1525 25.67 23.62
Type: Elemental
Stats: Health -- 2192 // Power -- 375 // Speed -- 309
Abilities: Rapid Consumption, Swamp Mud, Slow Digestion
Briarpaw -- Ardenweald -- /way #1565 34.22 44.52
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 2036 // Power -- 375 // Speed -- 319
Abilities: Glade Prowl, Hungry Bite, Quick Dodge
Mistwing -- Ardenweald -- /way #1565 50.30 40.43 (cave)
Type: Dragonkin
Stats: Health -- 2426 // Power -- 345 // Speed -- 319
Abilities: Needle Claw, Scorched Earth, Exposing Claw
Chittermaw -- Ardenweald -- /way #1565 25.86 62.80 (go left in cave)
Type: Critter
Stats: Health -- 2114 // Power -- 360 // Speed -- 300
Abilities: Gorm Chitin, Reckless Strike, Super Acidic Goo
6.3 Stratios - Bastion
- World Quest: Cliffs of Bastion
Straitos' Team: Glitterwing, Tinyhoof, Shelby
- Shelby
Type: Aquatic
Stats: Health -- 1684 // Power -- 289 // Speed -- 249
Abilities: Water Jet, Sludge Claw, Toxic Fumes
- Tinyhoof
Type: Beast
Stats: Health--1197 // Power -- 406 // Speed -- 333
Abilities: Horn Gore, Horn Attack, Impale
- Glitterwing
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1847 // Power -- 333 // Speed -- 414 (Buffed) & 276 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Arcane Explosion, Amplify Magic, Moonfire
6.4 Zolla - Bastion
- World Quest: Micro Defense Force
Zolla's Team: Pounder, Slasher, Battery
- Pounder
Type: Mechanical
Stats: Health -- 2237 // Power -- 357 // Speed -- 249
Abilities: Batter, Unstable Engineering, Explode
- Slasher
Type: Mechanical
Stats: Health -- 1400 // Power -- 289 // Speed -- 370
Abilities: Metal Fist, Prowl, Extra Plating
- Battery
Type: Mechanical
Stats: Health -- 2172 // Power -- 333 // Speed -- 236
Abilities: Mega Jolt, Overcharge, Rebuild
6.5 Thenia - Bastion
- World Quest: Thenia's Loyal Companions
Thenia's Team: Golden Grazer, Plains Peachick, Sunset Glimmerfly
- Golden Grazer
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 2253 // Power -- 284 // Speed -- 219
Abilities: Trample, Feed, Surge of Power
- Plains Peachick
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1766 // Power -- 349 // Speed -- 427 (Buffed) & 284 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Slicing Wind, Rain Dance, Shadowmeld
- Sunset Glimmerfly
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1766 // Power -- 223 // Speed -- 670 (Buffed) & 447 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Moth Dust, Wind Buffet, Confusing Sting
6.6 Jawbone - Bastion
- World Quest: Mega Bite
**NOTE** This WQ is currently bugged and cannot be engaged.
Type: Aquatic
Stats:
Abilities: Deep Bite, Spiked Shell, Whirlpool
6.7 Dundley Stickyfingers - Maldraxxus
- World Quest: Uncomfortably Undercover
Dundley's Team: Whirly, Stinkdust, Trailblazer
- Whirly
Type: Undead
Stats: Health -- 2034 // Power -- 357 // Speed -- 249
Abilities: BONESTORM, BONESTORM, BONESTORM
- Stinkdust
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1806 // Power -- 357 // Speed -- 658 (Buffed) & 439 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Lash, Creeping Fungus, Spore Shrooms
- Trailblazer
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 1583 // Power -- 341 // Speed -- 309
Abilities: Spirit Claws, Leap, Dust Cloud
6.8 Rotgut - Maldraxxus
- World Quest: Extra Pieces
Rotgut's Team: Leftovers, Leftovers, Leftovers
- Leftovers (Spine)
Type: Undead
Stats: Health -- 1729 // Power -- 317 // Speed -- 318
Abilities: Bone Bite, Bone Prison, Bone Barrage
- Leftovers (Hand)
Type: Undead
Stats: Health -- 2355 // Power -- 382 // Speed -- 289
Abilities: Punch, Corpse Explosion, Curse of Doom
- Leftovers (Beholder)
Type: Undead
Stats: Health -- 1684 // Power -- 512 // Speed -- 219
Abilities: Eyeblast, Mana Surge, Psionic storm
6.9 Gorgemouth - Maldraxxus
- World Quest: Failed Experiment
Type: Undead
Stats: Heath -- 3488 // Power -- 338 // Speed --249
Abilities: Infected Claw, Impale, Feed
This enemy also has a permanent Spiked Skin buff:
6.10 Caregiver Maximillian - Maldraxxus
- World Quest: Mighty Minions of Maldraxxus
Caregiver Maximillian's Team: Bloog, Bone Crusher, Chipper
- Bloog
Type: Humanoid
Stats: Health -- 1989 // Power -- 292 // Speed -- 325
Abilities: Powerball, Burrow, Mudslide
- Bone Crusher
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 2416 // Power -- 528 // Speed -- 219
Abilities: Horn Gore, Headbutt, Devour
- Chipper
Type: Flying
Stats: Health --1969 // Power -- 422 // Speed -- 682 (Buffed) & 455 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Glowing Toxin, Wind Buffet, Lift-Off
6.11 Nightfang - Ardenweald
- World Quest: Lurking in the Shadows
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 2791 // Power -- 273 // Speed -- 314
Abilities: Thrash, Ravage, Huge, Sharp Teeth!
**Note** This pet also has a buff called Shadowy Lurker
6.12 Rascal - Ardenweald
- World Quest: Ardenweald's Tricksters
**NOTE** This WQ is currently bugged. Could not engage while another person was fighting them, and then Rascal just despawned. I don’t know how long this person sat in the battle not doing anything, but I could see their pets before Rascal despawned, they were at full HP, and the player went afk.
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 2858 // Power -- 283 // Speed -- 341
Abilities: Thrash, Thunderbolt, Uncanny Luck
6.13 Faryl - Ardenweald
- World Quest: Airborne Defense Force
Faryl's Team: Needlenose, Star Tail, Brite
- Star Tail
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1952 // Power -- 333 // Speed -- 495 (Buffed) & 330 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Peck, Moth Balls, Moth Dust
- Brite
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 2113 // Power -- 403 // Speed -- 604 (Buffed) & 403 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Savage Talon, Cyclone, Rain Dance
- Needlenose
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1671 // Power -- 361 // Speed -- 498 (Buffed) & 332 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Contagion Strike, Toxic Fumes, Sting
6.14 Glitterdust - Ardenweald
- World Quest: Natural Defenders
- Coordinates: /way #1565 58.25, 56.89
Glitterdust's Team: Slugger, Runehoof, Duster
- Slugger
Type: Critter
Stats: Health -- 1684 // Power -- 387 // Speed -- 411
Abilities: Scratch, Toxic Skin, Burrow
- Runehoof
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 2196 // Power -- 330 // Speed -- 354
Abilities: Horn Gore, Horn Attack, Headbutt
- Duster
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1928 // Power -- 362 // Speed -- 475 (Buffed) & 317 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Peck, Moth Balls, Predatory Strike
6.15 Eyegor - Revendreth
World Quest: Eyegor's Special Friends
Eyegor's Team: Rocko, Spindler, Boneclaw
- Rocko
Type: Humanoid
Stats: Health -- 2741 // Power -- 317 // Speed -- 219
Abilities: Stone Shot, Body Slam, Stone Form
- Spindler
Type: Critter
Stats: Health -- 2356 // Power -- 280 // Speed -- 333
Abilities: Brittle Webbing, Leech Life, Spiderling Swarm
- Boneclaw
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 1887 // Power -- 366 // Speed -- 317
Abilities: Thrash, Toxic Bite, Rip
6.16 Addius the Tormentor - Revendreth
World Quest: The Mind Games of Addius
Addius' Team: Wretch
Type: Beast
Stats: Health -- 3025 // Power -- 325 // Speed -- 219
Abilities: Bite, Feed, Grave Destruction Replaced with Mind Games
Mind Games - Addius
**Note** In the current iteration, if my pet is faster than Wretch and uses an ability with a CD, it keeps that CD once Wretch uses Mind Games. So, if I use something in slot #2 that has a 4 round CD, that CD carries over into the Mind Game choice for slot #2, and makes it unavailable.
Addius has cursed your pet team. Choose which detriment you want your team to suffer!
Your choices are:
- Mind Games: Health -- Damage all your team for 25% of their current health.
- Mind Games: Stun -- Stun your current active pet for 5 rounds.
- Mind Games: Ability Lockout -- Lock out ability slots 1 and 2 for 9 turns.
6.17 Sylla - Revendreth
World Quest: Resilient Survivors
Sylla's Team: Swarm, Fang, Ash
- Swarm
Type: Critter
Stats: Health -- 1400 // Power -- 484 // Speed -- 219
Abilities: Sting, Swarm of Flies, Blinding Poison
- Fang
Type: Flying
Stats: Health -- 1766 // Power -- 333 // Speed -- 500 (Buffed) & 333 (Unbuffed)
Abilities: Slicing Wind, Screech, Flyby
- Ash
Type: Elemental
Stats: Health -- 1928 // Power -- 362 // Speed -- 260
Abilities: Deep Burn, Immolate, Scorched Earth
6.18 Scorch
World Quest: Ashes Will Fall
Type: Elemental
Stats: Health -- 2879 // Power -- 361 // Speed -- 366
Abilities: Holy strike, Holy Nova, Sunlight
7. New Abilities for Player Pets
New abilities include anything not currently available to pre-Shadowlands pets.
8. Achievements
Not 100% Pet Battle related, but kind of: