The Celestial Tournament

Pet Battles... I wasn't convinced at Blizzcon. About four months after launch I had a month of frenzied "collect all of them". I've beaten all trainers and all legendary pets. Heck, I even did them all in one day for [The Longest Day]. I haven't been doing a lot of pet battles (in my opinion), but I've done a fair share of them, now and then. When Timeless Isle arrived in patch 5.4, I fairly quickly beat Little Tommy Newcomer's Lil' Oondasta. But when I entered The Celestial Tournament all my pets died miserably... :'( I tried last week, and after a lot of work I beat all the three trainers. I gave one of the celestials one try, got wiped out SO FAST, and just left and logged out. I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to "start all over"... I've read a couple of blogs and Wowhead-comments since then, and leveled some core pets up while leveling my alt. I want to especially mention Cymre's Celestial Knock Out for motivating me to try again. :)

I wasn't done leveling the pets I had decided on, but last night I couldn't get on the server that my current leveling alt, Shunbi, is on. So I logged my main, which conveniently was on Timeless Isle, and I entered The Celestial Tournament... This week was three new trainers to beat. I spent HOURS deciding on strategies for the fights. I wanted to give up several times, especially after having some bad RNG on one of the trainers after I had beaten him once. (I left to heal my pets while making strategies for the first three trainers.) But finally I managed to be last woman standing in the tournament. I was so happy! :) And then the quest giver gave me two extra coins, so that I could buy little Zao! I didn't know about that in beforehand, and I was really happy that my hard work had paid off with a pet! The cutest of them all. :)

You have no idea how long I had to wait for my cloak to proc for this picture

Niuzao is slightly bigger than Zao

I will list what pets I've used here, but if you are looking for guides, I would recommend visiting other sites, for example Cymre's Celestial Knock Out.

Trainers

See all the trainers and pets in this article at Wowhead.

Both weeks I've entered the tournament I've met one trainer that I really struggled with. Last week it was Taran Zhu and this week it was Dr. Ion Goldbloom. If you too find one you struggle with, I suggest you start with that fight, so all your other work isn't destroyed if you need to leave between tries to heal your pets.

Taran Zhu - setup that is not 100 % win chance

Unborn Val'kyr: Shadow Slash - Curse of Doom - Unholy Ascension

Jungle Grub: Consume - Sticky Goo - Leap

Amethyst Spiderling: Poison Spit - Brittle Webbing - Leech Life

Chen Stormstout

Clockwork Gnome: Metal Fist - Repair - Built Turret

Emperor Crab: Snap - Renewing Mists - Shell Shield (this is my most used pet ever)

Dancing Water Skimmer: Water Jet - Healing Wave - Pump

Wrathion

Silkbead Snail: Absorb - Acidic Goo - Dive

Tolai Hare: Flurry - Dodge - Burrow

Bandicoon Kit: Tongue Lash - Counterstrike - Poison Fang

Dr. Ion Goldbloom - setup that is not 100 % win chance

Silkbead Snail: Ooze Touch - Shell Shield - Acidic Goo - Dive

Wild Golden Hatchling: Tail Sweep - Call Lightning - Lift-Off

Mechanopeep: Peck - Batter - Wind-Up

Lorewalker Cho

Emerald Proto-Whelp: Emerald Bite - Ancient Blessing - Proto-Strike

Apline Foxling: Flurry - Howl - Dazzling Dance

Clock'em: Jab - Counterstrike - Kick

Sully "The Pickle" McLeary

Effervescent Glowfly: Scratch - Confusing Sting - Swarm

Imperial Eagle Chick: Thrash - Cyclone - Lift-Off

Fungal Moth: Alpha Strike - Cocoon Strike - Moth Dust

Wise Mari

Wind Rider Cub: Squawk - Flock
Wild Crimson Hatchling: Breath - Scorched Earth - Lift-Off
Emperor Crab: Surge - Renewing Mists - Whirlpool

Blingtron 4000

Dancing Water Skimmer: Water Jet - Healing Wave - Pump
Electrified Razortooth: Rip - Blood in the Water - Devour
Grinder: Stone Shot - Rupture - Rock Barrage

Shademaster Kiryn

Amethyst Spiderling: Poison Spit - Brittle Webbing - Leech Life (keep web up, use Leech Life on cd, and use Poison Spit when nothing else + on Stormoen)

Lava Crab: Burn - Cauterize - Magma Wave (use Magma Wave on every turret)

Rabid Nut Varmint 5000: Metal Fist - Extra Plating

Xu-Fu: Call Lightning + many small attacks

Wild Jade Hatchling: Breath - Call Lightning - Cyclone

Clockwork Gnome: Metal Fist - Repair - Build Turret

Shrine Fly: Scratch - Confusing Sting - Swarm

Turn 1: Call Lightning
Turn 2: Switch to Clockwork Gnome
Turn 3: Build Turret
Turn 4: Switch to Shrine Fly
Turn 5: Swarm
Turn 6: He's done for :)

Chi-Chi

Unborn Val'kyr: Shadow Slash - Curse of Doom - Unholy Ascension

Silkbead Snail: Ooze Touch - Acidic Goo - Dive
Disgusting Oozeling: Ooze Touch - Corrosion - Expunge

Turn 1: Curse of Doom (Chi-Chi uses Tranquility)
Turn 2: Shadow Slash (Chi-Chi uses Fire Quills)
Turn 3: Shadow Slash (Chi-Chi uses Ethereal)
Turn 4: Shadow Slash (Chi-Chi uses Fire Quills)
Turn 5: Shadow Slash (Chi-Chi uses Fire Quills)
Turn 6: Unholy Ascension (Chi-Chi uses Fire Quills)
Turn 7: Dive (Chi-Chi uses Ethereal)
Turn 8: Acidic Goo (Chi-Chi uses Fire Quills)
Turn 9: Ooze Touch (Chi-Chi uses Fire Quills)

(Turn 10: Fire Quills
Turn 11: Ethereal
Turn 12: Tranquility)

Zao: Call Lightning + many small attacks

Wild Jade Hatchling: Breath - Call Lightning - Cyclone

Landro's Lil' XT: Zap - Repair - XE-321 Boombot

Clockwork Gnome: Metal Fist - Repair - Build Turret

Turn 1: Call Lightning (Zao charges up)
Turn 2: Switch to Landro's Lil' XT (Zao uses Niuzao's Charge)
Turn 3: XE-321 Boombot (Zao uses Trample)
Turn 4: Switch to Clockwork Gnome (Zao uses Trample)
Turn 5: Build Turret (Zao uses Trample)
Turn 6: Metal Fist (Zao uses Trample)
Turn 7: Switch to Golden Hatchling (Zao uses Wish, which will heal him for 50 % at the end of next round)
Turn 8: Call Lightning

Yu-La

Mr. Bigglesworth: Claw - Ice Barrier - Ice Tomb

This is a strategy I found on Wowhead which lets Mr. Bigglesworth solo her. The very strict rotation is:

Turn 1: Claw
Turn 2: Ice tomb
Turn 3: Ice Barrier
Turn 4: PASS TURN
Turn 5: Claw
Turn 6: Claw
REPEAT.

I wish I could come up with these clever things myself, but I guess I'm not very strategical.

In retrospect I should only have listed the abilities I actually used on the fights. I might edit this later. Good luck all!

/bow