First use this strat worked. Then there were times when 3rd enemy pet didn't use Survival when swap to lv 1 pet. Someone said around 30% it will. I think it could be higher than 30%. It used survival with 557 hp, so around 35%.

Yeah static carry swapping is usually a bad idea and I've had problems on this fight because of it so I modified the script somewhat:

change(#3) [enemy(#3).hpp<=35 & !self(#3).played]
use(1223) [round=1]
use(376) [round=5]
use(1223) [enemy.aura(542).exists]
use(163)
use(170) [enemy(#3).active]
use(168) [enemy(#3).active]
use(122)
change(#2)

So far this has completely eliminated my carry pet getting RNG killed

I've had this happen too, so I tried the above script , Whiskers was at ~598 health after the first Lift-Off & Tail Swipe, Spawn of Onixia did a second Tail Swipe but had the dragonkin buff and killed Whiskers. Level pet never got to switch in. Still a great strategy, just a heads up that either of the scripts have a slight chance at failing. Thanks to you all for scripts and strat!

2:34

Still a great strat after all these years!!!

Works great, thanks! Just one thing if you want to make it faster: Turn 1 Vicious Slice seems unnecessary from my testing. Headbutt after Stampede always killed Chirrup for me.

Whiskers was killed before I could swap in my level pet.

TD script for this

change(Spawn of Onyxia:489) [self(Hogs:1384).dead]
change(Spawn of Onyxia:489) [self(#3).played]
change(#3) [enemy(#3).active & enemy.round = 5]
ability(Vicious Slice:1223) [round=1]
ability(Headbutt:376) [round=5]
ability(Vicious Slice:1223) [enemy.aura(Shattered Defenses:542).exists]
ability(Stampede:163)
ability(Tail Sweep:122) [enemy(#2).active]
ability(Lift-Off:170)
ability(Healing Flame:168)
ability(Tail Sweep:122)

Perfect. Thanks

Thank you for this strategy! However, Whiskers hit for at least 265 damage (non-critical hit) on Turn 5 (Swap to your Level Pet). This makes it impossible for a level 1 pet to survive. I would recommend a minimum of pet level 5 or 6 just to be on the safe side. I personally don't feel comfortable with anything less than 450 health just because RNG can randomly give Whiskers a critical hit. The strategy is excellent; I just suggest using a level 5 pet minimum (moderate risk) to level 10 pet minimum (no risk).

Thanks for the feedback :) I think I can explain what happened.

The basic idea is to switch in the Level Pet after Whiskers drops to ~30% HP or lower because that's where the AI will use Survival: It is supposed to be a "safe turn" for level 1 pets.

IF the damage from Lift-Off and Tail Sweep fail to hit this threshold, Whiskers will continue with Surge and hit the Level Pet. Reasons for this can be the RNG involved in Lift-Off and the attack stat/breed of your dragon. As for Spawn of Onyxia: P/P has yet to fail me, and both P/B and P/S should work most of the time (bear in mind we are talking about blue quality pets).

My guess is that your whelpling is one of the latter two breeds. One solution would be to extend the above sequence with a second Tail Sweep in case Whiskers' HP are too high. This will expose your whelpling to Whiskers' Dive after switching though, so you might have to start over if Dive kills it. Starting over would be the second solution anyway. The long term solution would be training a P/P Spawn of Onyxia.

I hope this helps understanding the strategy. If you still have questions, feel free to ask away!

This strat should be #1 on the list. TY for this one

Love this strat - ty.

With Stormlash I switch positions of Turn 4 w Turn 1-3 bc the odds of getting killed before getting that spell off after Stampede are not good. This way, you get Vicious Slice in bf Hogs dies. Otherwise this technique is flawless. :)

It's actually impossible to survive Turn 4 with Stormlash being all buffed up. Hogs is meant to die so you can bring in Spawn of Onyxia, hitting with Vicious Slice is not mandatory (you could also pass on that turn). Stampede synergizes so well with Lightning Storm that three rounds of it are enough to gnaw away his hitpoints, and even without the debuff Spawn of Onyxia would have no problem finishing him off at this point.

But yes, putting Vicious Slice before Stampede is an alternative. Even 2x Vicious Slice plus one round of Stampede could work; same goes for 3x Vicious Slice iirc (but you want the debuff up after Turn 2 in case Hogs dies in Turn 3 due to crits). My sole reason for submitting it like this is because you can go afk on Turn 2 and 3. ;)

This works exactly as described! Aki gave me fits during Pandaria, so getting a level 1 pet in on her felt very good, indeed.