Nether Faerie Dragon

Wild NFDs are plentiful around the entrance to Dire Maul in Feralas, so you can easily find many. However, because the NFD is available in so many breeds, you may spend a while searching for the S/S you definitely want, and then perhaps other breeds you might add.

The Sprite Darter Hatchling is another similar Dragonkin with identical moveset, and only one breed, S/S, which is a bit slower than the NFD. It can substitute for the NFD in many cases, but it is a very rare drop, and expensive on the Auction House. The NFD is an easier acquisition for a new battler!

Usually, use Moonfire to set up the weather that buffs Arcane Blast. You may use Evanescence to avoid damage for two rounds if you are faster OR use Life Exchange when there is max difference between your health and your opponent’s for a big heal and damage at the same time. For spammable damage, use Arcane Blast.

Discussion: As a Dragonkin, the NFD takes less damage from flying attacks, and with its own Magic attacks it deals extra damage to flyers. This makes it a “double counter” to flyers, and should be one of the first pets you think of when facing them.

The most common gameplay is to set up Moonlight with Moonfire, and repeat when it expires. Other than that, you can use Arcane Blast. This is straightforward. The middle slot is the tricky bit.

If you are faster, as you may be with an S/S NFD or an SDH, you will probably take Evanescence, which will provide two rounds of avoidance, which you should use to dodge big attacks. If you are slower, you will prefer Life Exchange. When slower and using Life Exchange, the trick is to wait until the next attack will reduce your health to a minimum without killing you, while your opponent is at high health, and then use it to destroy him while bringing yourself almost back to full. This may require some planning and mental arithmetic!

The Flying attacks Slicing Wind and Cyclone can be taken instead of Arcane Blast and Moonfire, either to set up a Clonedance in PvP with Cyclone, or against an Aquatic target, but against Aquatics there are usually better options than the NFD.

While the NFD is very strong against Flyers, its lack of a consistent powerful heal makes it less useful for wild battles.

See also the Sprite Darter Hatchling, which shares the same moveset, with different stats. You should get the pets with the stats you want. I suggest the priority is to capture an S/S NFD, and optionally a H/P or P/P NFD. The stats of the SDH are in-between these breeds. It’s a very rare drop from mobs in Feralas, but tradable; unless you want to spend a very long time killing things in Feralas, you will probably buy it on the Auction House.