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Comment by pokakap

I did this fight with all level 1 pets with the following team:
-Shadowbarb Hatchling,
-Lil' Bad Wolf
-Zanj'ir Poker.

Lil' Bad wolf does Beast attacks as it's level 1 slot (the only one I had). I went as far as I could with the shadowbarb hatchling, then switched to Lil' Bad Wolf. I didn't need the Zanj'ir Poker (was planning on using it as back up).

Any level 1 pet that has a Beast attack for it's first move should be able to do this same strategy.

Video guide: https://youtu.be/HaPubCdQ-fM

Comment by Artemise

I did this with 2 lvl 25 pets, Ikky and Flayer Youngling, but just barely so I might have gotten lucky?

Ikky - Black claw > Flock > Black claw > Flock (dies)
Flayer - Triple snap > Triple snap > Focus > Rampage (enemy dies)

Comment by grafspe806

If you are like me and have no lvl 1 pets u need to find a 2 pet combo.

I used Ban-FU Cub of Ban-Lu 1 2 1

And Lord Woofington 1 1 1

Ban Fu 1 Prowl then Feed and i got lucky and got a cpl of spirit claws off

Lord Woof used Howl then Super Bark then won with Bark .

First pet could be something else i would wager but my plan was do enough damage in order to use the Howl / Super Bark combo

So good luck and post up what else may work on this one

Comment by Oceandust

I used the following:

-Unborn Val'kyr: 1, 2, 1
-Ikky: 2, 1, 1
-Shadowbarb Hatchling: Doesn't matter as you won't need to use it.

Round 1: Curse of Doom
Round 2: Haunt (Val'kyr dies)
Round 3: Black Claw
Round 4: Flock

Aqir Sandcrawler will die after 3rd flock.

Edit: There is some RNG with this strat but it worked perfect for me on the first try. Hopefully this works well for you too! :D

Comment by Nexbasia

This guy is a critter so: All level one: Captain Nibbs & Cursed Birman who do increased damage to critters
.

Comment by InsanityXero

I used two lvl 1 dinos for this: Razermaw Hatchling and Zandalari Toenibbler as they each have a 31 Beast damage attack.

Comment by pikamaster

borgs

I CANOT BELIEVE ANYONE MADE A REFERENCE TO THIS YET!

I'm pretty sure the name of the quest is a reference to the Saban Show: Big Bad Beetleborgs, which is an adaptation from the Japanese TV show: Juukou B-Fighter(重甲ビーファイター) for the first season & B-Fighter Kabuto(ビーファイターカブト) for the second season.

3 teenagers enter in a haunted house that accidentally free(along the way some villains) a ghost that grant them one wish, which they choose to become the metal hero from their comic book

Season 1 Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeiXE60prpY

Season 2 Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCNFM5A-mJ8

Comment by Twixee

I used below and sent them in this order:
- Shadowbarb Hatchling
- Lil' Bad Wolf
- Leaping hatchling

All level 2 and only used their level 1 ability. :)

Comment by Krynabis

On my experience, the best way to do this is to take advantage of the world quest. If you have the world quest and you go with 3 pets on lvl 1 (prefereably Beasts - for extra damage) you can easily beat it. Today his world quest is active, go finish it :)

Comment by Kammu

I hate that this quest exists.
I don't want to play Pokemon, I wish to play World of Warcraft.

I have almost no knowledge of how pet battles work.
(I will state that I dabbled with pet battles a year or so ago. I decided It was not how I wanted to spend my time in game.)

I attempted to complete the quest with my highest level pets (11, 13, 14), I was trounced by a level 25 Badass Bug.
So I put off doing this quest for 3 days hoping it would cycle out to a different quest. But, it would not go away.

Today I gave in. I guess it has to be completed to continue with the pet/mount quest series.
So I came back here to read all the advice of the posts before me.
Great tips! Completed quest!
Thank you Pokemon masters of WoW.

Comment by Grundlesmoo

Leapling Hatchling (level 1) + Worg Pup (level 1) + Shadowbarg Hatchling (level 1) and just worked though their rotations.

Comment by shadey81

i used bonkers, shadowbarb hatching and winterspring cub, i never do pet battles so they are basic pets. winter spring cub died fast though so you should be able to swap it with another humanoid pet, they took reduced damage verse the beetle

Comment by Freeboski

Well I'd hoped this quest would cycle to something else but it hasn't. I have no interest in pet battles so looks like my quest line stops here. Oh well.

Comment by Bilcifer

Have tried a million different comps to kill this stupid bug with no success. Pokemon was easier than this. #$%^ pet battles, why are we all being gated with this trash?

Comment by LordSkunk

I completed it with Level 1's. I picked 2 random pets, both green quality, with BITE. Easy Peasey.

Comment by mrbryo

Here is what I used to defeat him since I didn't have any combinations listed above. Sharptalon is pretty similar though.

Unborn Val'kyr (2,2,1)
Sharptalon Hatchling (1,2,1)
Shadowbarb Hatchling (of course)

I barely won. I didn't write down the exact spell order for the whole fight but this is close.

Unborn Val'kyr
Curse of Doom
Haunt

Sharptalon Hatchling

Rip
Falcosaur Swarm!
Predatory Strike (if alive)

Comment by ajmhornet

I've levelled my Shadowbarb to 25, so all the level 1 cheeses are no use to me. I tried lots of combos and the one that worked for me was:

Adder 1.1.1
Sharptalon hatchling 1.2.1
Shadowbarb 1.1.1

Adder Hiss, burrow, then bite until it dies.
Sharptalon rip, falcosaur swarm, predatory strike
Shadowbarb void tremors, shadowmeld when the Aqir bug burrows, then finish it off with Shadow talon

Comment by kuska

If you already have a 25 Shadowbarb Hatchling, try my strategy:

Chrominius 1 1 1
Proto Drake Whelp 1 2 1
Shadowbarb 1 1 2

Comment by TriTouch

I found out that if you use Trample and have two pets with that ability. The Trample basically hits the Aqir Sandcrawler 40 damage out of its 196 hp it has. Also all your pets must be level 1 including the Shadowbarb Hacthling pet you can easy win andmake sure to take out the bug to get the final blow.

Comment by Stardweller

If you did the same mistake as I and levelled your hatchling to 25, use this strat (should work 100%):

1. Elder Python: Bite, Sting, Burrow
(or similar snake with Sting and Burrow)

2. Snowfeather Hatchling: Falcosaur Swarm!, Crouch, Predatory Strike
(Or similar Hatchling with Falcosaur Swarm! and Predatory Strike, but the -50% dmg were really helpful for me)

3. Shadowbarb Hatchling: Shadow Talon, Shadowmeld, Void Tremors

With Python: 2, 3 (Python will die now)
Then, with Snowfeather Hatchling: 2, 1, 3, 1 (Hatchling dies)
The Aqir should now be very low.
Use Shadowbarb Hatchling: 3, (if Aqir burrows) 2, 1

I tried it several times with different snakes, but the Sting really helped. My Shadowbarb Hatchling was still at 90% when the battle finished.

Good luck!

Comment by Muttie

I succeeded with lvl 25

1 False Knucklebump
2 Captain Nips
3 Shadowbarb Hatchling

Comment by Morwo

A friend of mine had no battle pets so i designed a RematchTeam with 2 tradeables:
Boneshard on 25
Ikky on 25
and of course questpet Shadowbarb Hatchling.
sadly this team is tight, so getting a crit hit will make you restart it.

Boneshard starting:
Chop
Blistering Cold, getting a crit hit here will make you have to restart!
change to Ikky
pass
Black Claw
Flock, Ikky dies
change to Boneshard
2x anything or pass

Rematch String

Aqir Sandcrawler:4UL1:11231TB:222415R:12102PO:N:Chop\nBlistering Cold, getting a crit hit here will make you have to restart! survive with 83 life.\n\n-> Ikky\npass\nBlack Claw\nFlock, Ikky dies\n\n->Boneshard\n2x anything or pass

Comment by Fondlebox

Unfortunately I didn't look up this quest first, so my Shadowbarb Hatchling was already lvl 20.
Managed to complete this today with this setup:

Lil'Bad Wolf: Howl, Dodge, Claw, Claw (depending how far you get)
Kun-Lai Runt: Rampage (this continues for 3 rounds), Trash (if you get one in)
Shadowbarb Hatchling: didn't even use this one on the kill, otherwise I'd go Paralyzing Venom + Shadow Talon

All pets lvl 20.
Don't assume you will get this on the 1st attempt. But this was a good alternative setup if you don't have the other pets listed in these comments.

Comment by JCanary

Gotta say, this is one of the worst quests ever. I have several pets at level 25, and none of them have even close to the amount of health that this bug has. 2 tries, no where close to succeeding.

Comment by Idespair

Finally got it using all lvl 8s Blacksnake first, Hiss, burrow, then bite, hiss again if it popped up, (that got down the beetle to half health) then Leaping Hatchling, Leap, then bite, leap then bite, (enemy had about 200 something left), then shadowbard finished him off with shadowmeld then shadowtalon 2x.

Comment by vfaulkon

I went with a more defensive approach, using mostly Humanoid pets with defensive abilities to nullify Burrow and mitigate Locust Swarm.

Flayer Hatchling (2, 2, 2) did most of the battle for me by itself. Use Rampage at the start, then Deflection to counter Burrow. You'll do a nice chunk of damage right out the gate and take minimal damage overall.

Anubisath Idol also works (1, 1, 1). Sandstorm cuts both ways, but the natural Humanoid defense against Locust Swarm, combined with the damage reduction of Sandstorm and the Humanoid healing ability for landing hits cuts it down significantly, and Deflection to counter Burrow means it can barely hurt you.

Comment by Rylesh

Today I finished this quest by using those three pets, ALL LVL1! It's much easier to do this with level 1 pets, boss is scaling down with you!

1) Scabby (Beast)
2) Spawn of Garalon (Beast)
3) Shadowbarb Hatchling (Flying)

Remember, Shadowbarb Hatchling MUST be in the party to complete this quest.

You can switch first two pets just fine to finish, Beasts do nice damage to him. I got it on my first try and I am not a battle pets fan.

Comment by DuskVictoria

After frustration on figuring out which pets to use. Since I didn't know we could beat both pet battles with Lv 1s. I got my Shadowbarb Hatchling to 25 anyways.

I went ahead and go with Lil' Bad Wolf, Spawn of Garalon, then of course Shadowbarb Hatchling as a requirement for the quest related to the Shadowbarb Drone mount.

Lil Bad Wolf (1, 2, 1) Dodge first, Howl next, and your claw is likely to be missed since he would be burrowed. you should get 2 claws in, dodge to get your last claw in before Lil Bad Wolf dies.
Spawn of Garalon (1, 1, 2) As soon as he is summoned, use Shell Armor, Lumbering Charge before you do Trample. It's likely Aqir Sandcrawler will burrow so your trample with charge is missed, but there is a chance. I manage to get Aqir Sandcrawler down to 88HP before Garalon dies.
Shadowbarb Hatchling (1, 2, 2) All I needed to do is apply paralyzing venom to finish him off.

Good luck! He is a little rough little bugger.

Comment by jaysprick1

I did not know this until now, but Pet Battles SCALE with your battle pets. So using level 1 pets makes this so much easier as the boss has less health, obviously, but also only uses one basic ability which takes out all the strategy work. Use Beasts as they are strong against critters. easy kill.

Comment by Kupotek

This worked for me just now:

Unborn Val'kyr: 2, 2, 1
Shadowbarb Hatchling: na
Zandalari Kneebiter: 2, 2, 2

Round 1: Curse of Doom
Round 2: Haunt
Round 3: Bring in Hatchling
Round 4: Immediately bring in Kneebiter
Round 5: Black Claw on his burrow
Round 6: Hunting Party til Kneebiter dies
Round 7: Bring back in Unborn and Shadow Shock

Comment by Lakrymosa

This quest was a headache. I don't do pet battles, so I didn't have any of the pets recommended in the comments, aside from a level 1 Ikky. I followed all of the recommendations with level 1 pets and still couldn't survive. I went out to Northrend and found an Unborn Val'kyr in Crystalsong Forest, - Forlorn Woods. Thankfully I was able to catch her after damaging her low enough with my one level 25 Dragonhawk Hatchling and killing the other two critters. I then hearthed to my Draenor Garrison and purchased two (60 coins each) Ultimate Battle Training Stones, five (3 coins each) Flawless Battles Training Stones, and two (15 coins each) Marked Flawless Battle Stones with (165) Polished Pet Coins (that I didn't know I had) from Serr'ah. This allowed me to make my Unborn Val'kyr rare and raise her to level 25 (with 5 flawless stones/ultimate stone), raise Ikky to rare status/level 25, and raise my rare Shadowbarb Hatchling to level 25.

There are probably easier ways to do this, but this worked for me.

Comment by culinund

As someone that hasn't look at pet battles in years ... I came here and saw people using level 1's with beast damage, well apparently I had done pet battles in the past (completely forgot) and had level 5 Dark Whelpling. Thought I would be slick with level 5 and crush this guy, but nope, immediately got stomped. I learned that pet battle opponents health and power scale based on the level of your own pets in the party.

I then switched to all level 1's with beast damage like top comments suggest and beat it very easily.

Comment by Vesuvius79

I used all level 1 pets against Aqir Sandcrawler as it made it scale down to a lvl 1 fight and everyone had only 1 ability.

I used Cinder Pup and Cinder Kitten along with the Shadowbarb Hatching in the 3rd slot. The Cinder pets are good against critters so choose anything with a good 1st ability against critters and you should complete it first go. My first pet died but Aqir Sandcrawler died to my 2nd pet.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Comment by Merrein

My hatchling reached level 2. I've never really done pet battling - so I just levelled up to 2 any pets with 'critter' attach for both slots. I just completed this quest and it was super-easy, with Molten corgi - superbark, then bark, repeat - and then shadowbarb hatchling finished him off. Mechnical scorpid was also in the group but didn't get a look in. All at level 2.

Comment by Mearilyns

This is a two pet strategy which works even if you haven't lvled your Shadowbarb Hatchling yet :)

Pet	Abilities
Anubisath Idol	Crush, Sandstorm, Deflection
Void-Scarred Anubisath	Spiritfire Bolt, Sandstorm, Deflection

Keep Sandstorm on CD (Use the ability after the switch to your 2nd pet, even if Sandstorm is already up)
Use Deflection only when the Aqir Sandcrawler dive (aka Burrow). Deflection is always used first so you don't have to worry about it until the Sandcrawler is hiding under the sand.

If you don't have a third pet it's important that Sandstorm hits, I lost when Sandstorm matched up with Dive.

:)

Comment by Jackyltv

I just used all Level 1 pets:

Aqir Hatchling
Level 1 humanoid with humanoid attack
Level 1 humanoid with humanoid attack

Comment by Zintarian

Super simple strategy, guaranteed fail proof, no pet battle experience needed:

Get any 2 level one humanoid pets that are green quality at least (I bought 2 lvl 1 Bonkers from AH for 5 gold). Humanoid pets take less critter damage and heal a bit if they attack. Then just spam the only ability you have till your pet dies, switch in the other humanoid, spam -> die, then switch to your hatchling if needed.

Comment by fractalwave

Chrominius 1,1,1
Ikky 2,1,1
Shadowbarb Hatchling 1,1,2

Comment by 3verstorm

I didn't take note of the order of abilities, but I defeated him with Hogs and Lil' Bad Wolf, both level 25. They are both humanoids so they take less damage from him, and defeat him pretty easily using their beast abilities.

Comment by tf2rules

STOP! Don't try to think this through with your pet family's or levels.... just use TWO level One Beast, one with Rip and one with Blazing Yip start with Rip switch to other beast then after 5 rounds back to first beast then finish with your Shadowbarb Hatchling because it must be in your party

Comment by Beerster

If you are like me and you thought, "Oh I need to level up my pet for battle." before you read the comments to find out you can do this with level 1 pets I have some help for you. I raised my Shadowbarb Hatchling to level 7 and it was a mistake. I had to raise other pets to level 7 to beat the elite battle pets. I had no idea how pet battle work and due to my lack of knowledge my frustrating mounted.

It was a frustrating nightmare and so I'm passing this onto wowhead to hopefully help those out that do the mistake I did. So don't worry, it is worth it, you'll get the mount.

To train your pets up to whatever level you need just run around and do pet battles in the wild and take the time to get them there. I did this with the two snakes listed below. I choose the snakes because they can burrow which is amazing in this battle due to the fact that when the beetle dork swarm rushes you, you will not take over 250+ damage.

The beetle dork will always do his swarm rush first thing in the battle. So burrow and them attack. The beetle dork will then due two sometimes three moves till he does the swarm rush again. I planned on always the rush being after two moves.

It took me four tries however I finally beat him and got the mount! Yeah! You can do it also!

I used the following:
-Cobra Hatchling
-Crimson Snake
-Shadowbarb Hatchling

Comment by CedricDur

What legendary ^&*!tier quests these. As someone who never had an interest in this pokemon clone &*!@ all my pets are level one. The first pet battle I squeaked by. But this &*!@#$ed barb pet leveled to 2 and I can't get past this &*!@ty waste of time. I bit the bullet and traveled to the &*!@ ass of nowwhere to find level 1 pets to level a pet to 5 to unlock the third slot and STILL can't get past this monumental waste of time.

I suppose I'll have to travel to the %^&* ass of nowhere AGAIN to level my other pets to 2 so I can do this pile of manure.

Edit. Even with level 2 pets I gave up. Read a bit below about using Rip and Blazing Yip. The pet Grumpy had an analogue to Blazing Yip and I bought Dart off the AH to have Rip. Leveled both to 2 and tried again. Squeaked a win. Ffs at last. I could have done both assaults in the time it took to do this.

Comment by Billyta

If you have played BFA you sure own Snort , I just used the 2 I had together with Shadowbarb and it was a really easy kill, they smashed it

Comment by ralyc

used 2 Humanoids with Deflection and always used it when he dives (hit him one time, then use ist on cd). maybe takes a while but worked fine for me.
used Lightless Tormentor and Gilded Darknight with the Hatchling.

Comment by shellyfish

https://www.wow-petguide.com/Strategy/7987/Dune_Buggy&Substitutes=2:1180

Boneshard (1, 1, 2)
Zandalari Kneebiter (2,2,2)
Shadowbard Hatchling (whatever)

Use Blistering Cold
Then Chop
Then Bonestorm
Then Chop till Boneshard dies

Pick Zandalari Kneebiter
Use Black Claw
Then Hunting Party
My Zandalari Kneebiter died but the debuffs of Boneshard finished the job.

Links

Big Bad Beetle

Defeat the Aqir Sandcrawler in a pet battle with your Shadowbarb Hatchling in your party.

	Aqir Sandcrawler defeated (1)

Description

It could do our hatchling some good to face off against another aqir, to learn what his kind are capable of. I have found an opponent who could provide a challenging fight.

Completion

Rewards

You will receive:

Gains

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

900 reputation with Aqir Hatchling

See if you've already completed this by typing:

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(58860))

Guides

Raising the Shadowbarb Drone - Mount, Pet and Toy Information