Pet Battle Challenge: Gnomeregan

This gauntlet of 12 pet battles is more challenging than the first two pet dungeons. It leans heavily on mechanical and elemental pets, and 8 of the 12 fights have random backline pets, so you'll want a deep roster of elemental and aquatic pets to succeed.

Completing the normal mode unlocks a teleport to Gnomer from Manapoof (outside your faction's BFA pet shop), and also unlocks the heroic mode (no bandaging allowed), which can be completed weekly for a Pristine Gizmo, used to purchase various pets and other rewards from Micro Zoox (outside the instance entrance).

Because of the random battles, it's hard to make an exact shopping list, but here's the crew I use (mostly easily-accessible pets), followed by some quick strategies:

- Singing Sunflower + Nether Faerie Dragon
- Emperor Crab, Eternal Strider, Mirror Strider
- 4x Zandalari pets with Black Claw / Hunting Party (at least one S/S breed)
- 4-6 Rabbits with Dodge / Stampede / Flurry
- Benax + another Frog with Tongue Lash / Swarm of Flies
- Ikky
- lots of elementals, preferably with the Immolate / Conflagrate / Burn moveset (i.e. Fel Flame, Pandaren Fire Spirit, Phoenix Hatchling, Searing Scorchling, Spirit of Summer)

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STAGE 1: AUTOMATED DEFENSES
vs: Annoy-O-Tron (mechanical boss)

The aptly named Annoy-O-Tron ("AOT") uses “Annoying Shield” two out of every five turns and blocks half your damage otherwise, so it can take a while to chop down.

It's possible for a Singing Sunflower to solo this with Lash / Photosynthesis / Sunlight, but it isn't 100% reliable and takes forever. I speed up the process (slightly) with a Nether Faerie Dragon:

- Sunflower: Sunlight (AOT shields), Photosynthesis
- Swap in Nether Faerie Dragon
- pass one turn (to take extra damage)
- Life Exchange
- Swap back to Sunflower (AOT shields), Photosynthesis
- Sunlight, Lash, Lash
- Photosynthesis

From here, solo the rest of the fight with Lash, refresh Photosynthesis when AOT shields, and don't let Sunlight expire.

(Alternate strategy: Crazy Carrot + Ikky. Start with Blistering Cold, spam Ironbark and refresh Blistering Cold on cooldown. When Carrot dies, use Ikky's Black Claw + Flock to finish the fight.)

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STAGE 2: OUT-OF-CONTROL ELEMENTALS
These three fights aren't hard -- use aquatics for the lead pets, then see below for suggestions against the backline pets:

vs LIVING SLUDGE (elemental + 2 backline pets)
Emperor Crab: Whirlpool, Surge, Healing Wave, Surge, Surge
Swap out the crab after Sludge is dead, save him for the next fight. (see below for backline pets).

vs LIVING PERMAFROST (elemental + 2 backline pets)
Same Emperor Crab as above – Whirlpool, Healing Wave, Surge, Surge
Swap out the crab after Permafrost dies, which will remove the DOTs from Blistering Cold, then bring in the rest of your team for the backline pets.

vs LIVING NAPALM (elemental + 2 backline pets)
Eternal Strider: Pump, Water Jet, Pump (Napalm dies)
Use Cleansing Rain to counter Blizzard if needed; the backline pets shouldn't be a problem.

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FOR RANDOM BACKLINE PETS:

- vs mechanicals, any elementals with Immolate + Conflagrate + Burn work great.
- vs Cockroaches, use any Zandalari pet with Black Claw + Hunting Party.
- vs Leper Rats, use any Rabbit(/Hare) with Dodge → Stampede → Flurry.

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STAGE 3: PULL THE CORRECT LEVERS
These three pets “dispose” of the elementals you just defeated. As elites, they block 50% of incoming damage, so it's a tougher fight.

- S/S Zandalari pet: Black Claw, Hunting Party (enemy Napalm Carrier dies)
- Black Claw (your Zandalari pet dies)
- bring in rabbit: Stampede (enemy Freeze Ray Prototype dies)
- Stampede, Flurry (your rabbit dies)
- Mirror Strider: spam Water Jet (enemy Sludge Disposal Unit dies)

You have many options for the last pet, including any Strider with Pump / Water Jet / Cleansing Rain.

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STAGE 4: BYPASS THE MINE FIELD
Yes, you can die if you don't use the Bomb Shredder (like I did ... for science!), so ... use it!

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STAGE 5: RESILIENT CRITTERS
This is just two filler battles, nothing hard.

vs Cockroach – any Zandalari pet with Black Claw / Hunting Party (+ appropriate pets for the backline enemies).

vs Leper Rat – any Rabbit with Dodge / Stampede / Flurry (+ appropriate pets for backline enemies).

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STAGE 6: YOU DIRTY RAT
This Bloated Leper Rat has 3200 health, blocks half your damage, and has “Leprosy”, which kills your active pet when it dies. So you need to leave another pet alive to successfully complete this fight.

My team here is a generic rabbit, generic frog, and Benax.

Rabbit: Dodge, Stampede, Flurry, Dodge, Stampede (rabbit dies)
Frog: Tongue Lash x2, Swarm of Flies, Tongue Lash x2, Swarm of Flies, Heal, swap
Benax: Bubble, Mudslide, Tongue Lash until dead

As long as you can get off a second Dodge and Stampede with your rabbit, which allows your frog to use Tongue Lash x2 with Shattered Defenses up, this fight is relatively easy.

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STAGE 7: GNOMEREGAN DEFENSE FORCE, ACTIVATE
These are not tough fights – just three filler battles meant to drain your roster further. The lead pets are mechanicals, teamed with more backline pets, so scout each fight ahead of time to build your teams appropriately.

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STAGE 8: SHADOWY FIGURE
You'll get stunned for a bit while some RP plays out.

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STAGE 9: PULVERIZER BOT MK 6001
This boss mechanical heals to full health after you “defeat” him once, so you essentially have to beat him twice. I use an Ikky and two Fel Flames, but any elementals with the Immolate / Conflagrate / Burn moveset (as mentioned above) will work fine.

- Ikky: Flock (PBot 6001 swaps in Fel Flame)
- Fel Flame #1: Immolate, Conflagrate, spam Burn (PBot 6001 dies, respawns)
- Reapply Immolate (your pet dies)
- Bring Ikky back in: Black Claw, Flock until Ikky dies
- If PBot 6001 is still alive, bring in Fel Flame #2
- Immolate, Conflagrate, Burn until PBot is dead
- profit!

There are certainly many other strategies you can use for these fights -- hopefully this guide helps anyone who might be stuck. Happy pet battling!

- Sluggo

If you're horde, the ideal, death-free way of getting to Micro Zoox is the following:
- go to Grom'gol Base Camp in Nothern Stranglethorn
- take the teleport into Gnomegeran
- create a costum group and instantly leave it (or join an existing group)
- wait a minute to get teleported out of the dungeon
You'll spawn right before the NPC! No deaths, no repair costs!

Here's my suggestions to changes for Sluggo's Comment Here. I originally posted these as a comment to his comment, but I realized I didn't have enough room to explain the changes.

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STAGE 1: VS [npc=146001]

[npc=79039]: 2/X/1
[npc=139622]: 2/1/2 OR [npc=143193]: X/1/2

Use Blistering Cold on Cooldown, otherwise use Ironbark. When Crazy Carrot dies, bring in Lil' Tika/Shinchomper and use Black Claw, then Aura of Gonk. Use your other attack until you need to refresh Black Claw. Aura of Gonk will keep the raptor pretty much fully healed while Blistering Cold kills the boss thanks to Black Claw.

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STAGE 6: VS Bloated Leper Rat

[npc=71163]: X/2/1
[npc=143564]: X/2/1 or [npc=86447]: X/1/1

The tried the true method, with a twist! Since Ikky is used in Sluggo's strategy for the final boss, we're substituting Foulfeather for him! If you're like me and only collect one of each pet, then this will be great. If you have two ikkys, you can use Ikky instead for this. You can even use a Zandalari pet for this if you have extras, but again, they're also used in Sluggo's strategies for his other pets. EDIT: Now that I suggest an alternate strategy for the final boss, I also suggest Ikky as a substitute.

Simple, usual strategy. Curse of Doom > Haunt > Swap to Foulfeather/Ikky > Black Claw > Flock. Foulfeather/Ikky is usually killed by the rat, but Haunt will kill it, then it resurrects. Bring in your Val'kyr, who resurrects due to Haunt killing it, and use Shadow Slash. The Leper Rat will die again, killing your Val'kyr and ending the fight.

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STAGE 9: VS [npc=145988]

First Slot: ANY Pet with [petability=163]/[petability=581]/[petability=1002]/[petability=870]/[petability=706] with Speed HIGHER than 276. (Keep in mind of the Flying Racial's Speed Bonus) [npc=73011] is a good choice, if you need an example.
Second Slot: [npc=127850]: 2/1/2
Third Slot: One of the following (Yes, H/H matters, they must have more health than Tinytron, and these are currently the only pets capable of that.). You may also simply put a deceased pet in the final slot.
H/H [npc=82464]
H/H [npc=62994]
H/H [npc=117341]
H/H [npc=45247]
H/H [npc=51635]
H/H [npc=62246]
H/H [npc=149376]
H/H [npc=107206]

**IMPORTANT: Tinytron Must Not Be in the First Slot**

Simple. Use your Stampede-ish ability with your first pet, and Tinytron will be forced in. Use Fire Shield, then Lightning Shield, then use Flamethrower until the boss kills itself. Congratulations. You win. :)

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For Backline Pets:

[npc=68850]: 1/2/2
[npc=84853]: 2/2/2

These two can handle EVERY backline pet in the dungeon on their own. It may go a bit slow, but if you don't want to worry about swapping for different backline pets, just use these two. Keep in mind if you get a Cockroach as a backline pet, you need to make sure you kill as fast as possible to avoid the Super Apocalypse. However, if you see a Cockroach as the 1st Backline Pet, it might be worth forfeiting (and taking the 10% damage) to swap one of them out for a hard-hitter to deal with things faster. If it's the 2nd backline pet, you're fine. We opt for the Dragon Breath on Emerald Proto Whelp over Emerald Bite, as magic is resisted by Mechanical, the most prominent backline pets in the dungeon. Whereas Dragon is only resisted by Undead, which is rather rare in this dungeon, and undead pets can be handled by Soul of the Forge rather easily.

Two other extremely good backline pets (though not AS good as the above mentioned are:

[npc=71488]
[npc=98463]

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BONUS!

I have found that for Stage 7, there's two pets that really comes in handy in the backline. And that is...

[npc=68846]: 1/2/2
[npc=113527]: 2/1/1

In particular, against [npc=146003], Mischief can handle him with Foreboding Curse and Fel Immolate. When it feigns death to retreat, it will die in the backline to Fel Immolate. Mischief can even handle Cockroaches with Pounce. However, I ONLY suggest using Mischief in this fight in particular, as being a Beast, it is Vulnerable to Mechanical moves.

These 3 fights are mostly going to be mechanical pets, but occasionally you will end up with some cockroaches in there. That's where the Kun-Lai runt comes in handy. It's able to dispatch of Mechanical pets with its Frost Shock/Deep Freeze Combo, but it's also able to handle cockroaches really well with Frost Shock > Thrash. If you think your other 2 pets can handle the mechanicals, you can even swap Deep Freeze for Rampage just in case.