Super Auto Pets is a game where early advantages can lead to a snowball effect, so players should invest in the best early game pets when possible.
Super Auto Pets is a game that's simple to pick up but relies on heavy game knowledge to get to 10 wins; knowing what to buy, what to sell, what to reroll, etc, are all key factors in winning. Something that most players struggle with is figuring out which pets are effective, and which are not. Oftentimes it's easy enough to see what's better mathematically, but there's usually more than meets the eye when it comes to optimizing purchases.
Players in Super Auto Pets have several options at their disposal to go about their purchases. The first and most common is simply purchasing an item from the shop for 3 coins, but players can also reroll the shop's inventory for 1 coin, freeze an item to prevent it from being rerolled, and sell their pets for a fraction of the original price. Several pets play around these mechanics, such as the Cow replacing the food in the shop with free milk, the Cat doubling the effects of food, or the Dragon increasing the stats of all pets when a tier 1 pet is purchased.
In addition, players can level up their pets by acquiring experience for them purchasing duplicates or using chocolate on them; 2 experience points will bring a pet to level 2, and a further 3 experience points will bring a pet to level 3. As a bonus, duplicates also give +1 to both stats when used for experience. Most animals scale linearly with levels like the Ant getting +2/+1 to its effect per level, but others like the Hatching Chick have unique effects at each different level. Leveling up a pet also adds a random pet from 1 tier higher to the shop to purchase. This level system can complicate a tier list as many pets are effective because of their strength at a given point in the game.
Here's a list of the top-tier pets players can buy early on into the game. Note, some pets only work with specific teams; this list is going over the most generally useful pets that can improve any team on its own.
The Ant is simple to understand, and effective because of its numbers; it's available at tier 1, is a 2/1, and gives another pet +2/+1 when fainting. In the early game, attack is far more valuable than health, and the 2 attack that the Ant has often allows it to knock out an opponent animal in a single hit. In addition, once it has done its job, another pet will get +2/+1; this buff is often enough to make a pet survive an extra hit, as well as knock out enemy pets in one less hit. The Ant is not a long-term party member, but it can very easily carry players through the early game when supported. As a bonus, when the Ant has outlived its usefulness, the Sleeping Pill can be used to make its faint effect permanent.
The Mosquito is good for a lot of the same reasons as the Ant: It has good stats, and its effect often affects the number of hits to knock something out. The downside of the Mosquito, however, is that its ability is prone to flopping; frequently that 1 damage doesn't actually do anything important. On the other hand, the best-case scenario for the Mosquito is often better than the Ant; it can potentially knock out an enemy Ant, Horse, or similar while staying on the board itself. The difference between 1 health and 2 usually doesn't matter that much, but can be important against greedier early game teams using weak combat pets like the Duck, the Otter, other Mosquitos, and similar.
The Bat itself isn't all that strong; it's a 1/2 that applies weakness to a single random enemy pet (or more with levels), making it take 3 more damage from attacks. However, the important part of the Bat is that its weakness effects override any food effect that might be on the opponent. For example, if the Bat targets a pet that has Melon Armor active, that Melon Armor gets replaced by the weakness debuff. This effect can single-handedly decide the match, even in the late game, and the Bat is available from tier 2 onwards, making it a great investment.
The Swan is all about scaling into the late game; it's a weak fighter but gives the player extra coins every time they go to the shop. Those extra coins are often used for extra rerolls, meaning players can more easily find what they're looking for, but with enough Swans or higher level Swans, players can potentially outright purchase an extra item from the shop. Assuming the player can survive the matches they're being put into, having extra coins is a huge advantage, but the Swan is all but useless when playing at a disadvantage.
In a game where the number of hits a pet can take often determines how powerful they are, the Turtle is king. While the Turtle's combat stats are low, the effect given when it faints can result in the opponent losing a pet or two due to being unable to take out a buffed Dog, Hippo, or similar. In addition, the Turtle doesn't have to be in combat necessarily; the Sleeping Pill can be used on the Turtle to make its effect permanent.
The Snail is good for a different reason than most of the other pets on this list; it's an incredibly efficient stat-increaser. The best way to use the Snail is to freeze as many as possible when players have lives to spare; this ensures that when the player eventually loses, they can immediately increase the power of every pet on their team by as much as +12/+9 if they managed to fill every shop slot with a Snail. While this is very unlikely, even a single +2/+1 buff for the cost of 3 coins is better than any food item and most pets can provide. If players have a surplus of lives, they can even keep the upgraded Snail on their team to make future Snail buffs more effective!
Super Auto Pets is available on PC and mobile.
