Cockatrice - The Ultimate Fairy Event Pet

Cockatrice is the rarest pet in Grow a Garden's Fairy Event and currently the most overpowered pet in the game. This legendary pet combines the skills of more than three different pets, making it incredibly versatile and valuable for any garden setup.

What makes Cockatrice special is its dual ability system that covers mutations, egg hatching, and pet XP farming all in one package. It's one of only two pets (alongside Dragonfly) that can trigger the coveted gold mutation with a 25x multiplier.

In this comprehensive guide, we'll explore both abilities, weight scaling mechanics, and optimal strategies to maximize your Cockatrice's potential.

Understanding Cockatrice's Dual Abilities

Cockatrice comes with two incredibly powerful abilities that make it stand out from other pets. Each ability serves a different purpose and scales with the pet's weight, making leveling crucial for optimal performance.

Skill 1: Precious Metal Mutations

Cooldown: 16 minutes

Base Effect: All fruits in range have:

20% chance to turn silver mutation
1-3% chance to turn gold mutation (25x multiplier)

This is Cockatrice's signature ability and what makes it so valuable. The gold mutation provides a massive 25 times multiplier, making it one of the most profitable mutations in the game. Currently, only Cockatrice and Dragonfly can trigger gold mutations, making this pet extremely sought after.

The ability affects all fruits within range simultaneously, making it perfect for large garden setups. The silver mutation also provides decent value, ensuring you'll benefit from every activation.

Skill 2: Multi-Target Enhancement

Cooldown: 10 minutes

Base Effect: Targets 5 random objects:

Fruits: Receive 15x toxic mutation
Eggs: Advanced by 80 seconds in hatching time
Pets: Gain 800 XP

This versatile ability adapts to your garden's current state. When you have fruits planted, it prioritizes applying toxic mutations. If you're focusing on egg hatching, it significantly speeds up the process. For pet training, it provides substantial XP boosts.

The toxic mutation appears as green water dripping down the fruit, and while the multiplier isn't as high as gold, it's still valuable for consistent income.

Weight Scaling and Maximum Level Performance

Both Cockatrice abilities scale dramatically with weight, making leveling your pet a top priority. The scaling affects cooldowns, range, targets, and effectiveness of all abilities.

Weight Scaling Results:

Testing showed that a 2.59 kg Cockatrice leveled to maximum increased its weight by 10 times, resulting in:

Skill 1 Improvements:

Cooldown reduced by 2 minutes (16 → 14 minutes)
Range increased by 6 additional tiles

Skill 2 Improvements:

Cooldown reduced by 1 minute 21 seconds (10 → 8:39 minutes)
Targets increased from 5 to 7.59 objects
Egg advancement improved from 80 to 92 seconds
Pet XP boost increased from 800 to 864 XP

While the scaling improvements are significant, they're not as dramatic as some other pets. However, the reduced cooldowns and increased targets make a noticeable difference in overall performance.

Optimization Strategies and Limitations

Understanding how to optimize Cockatrice performance and work around its limitations is crucial for getting the most value from this rare pet.

Cooldown Reduction Limitations

Important Discovery: Testing revealed that Huge Peacocks can only reduce the cooldown of Cockatrice's first skill (mutation ability). The second skill remains unaffected by cooldown reduction effects.

Additionally, the Mimic Octopus cannot copy Cockatrice's second skill, limiting replication strategies.

Strategy Implications:

Focus on positioning for maximum first skill coverage
Don't rely on cooldown reduction for skill 2
Plan garden layouts around the 8-10 minute skill 2 cycle

Egg Hatching Optimization

Cockatrice excels at egg hatching when used strategically. Testing with three Cockatrices and eight eggs showed impressive results:

Egg Hatching Performance:

One max-level Cockatrice reduced 92 seconds from 7 eggs simultaneously
Multiple Cockatrices can target the same eggs for cumulative effects
Very reliable egg boost activation rate
Works best in plant-free garden areas

Key Strategy: Clear your garden of plants when focusing on egg hatching, as Cockatrice prioritizes toxic mutations on fruits over egg advancement. While not as powerful as the now-unobtainable Bald Eagle, Cockatrice is currently the best available option for egg hatching.

XP Farming Effectiveness

The XP boost ability has specific mechanics and limitations:

XP Boost Mechanics:

Provides 800+ XP to random pets in range
Does not stack unlike Dilophosaurus effects
More effective for early-game pet leveling
Limited impact on high-level pets

Testing showed that even with only two pets in range (Glimmering Sprite and Cockatrice), the effect only targeted one pet, confirming the non-stacking nature.

Recommendation: Use XP boost for newly acquired pets or mid-level training, but don't rely on it for end-game pet progression.

Is Cockatrice Worth It? - Complete Analysis

Overall Assessment: Cockatrice is versatile but somewhat messy in execution. Here's the breakdown:

Mutation Performance:

Can create three different mutation types (silver, gold, toxic)
Low activation rates and long cooldowns limit consistency
Dragonfly still superior with guaranteed 3-minute gold mutations

Egg Hatching Performance:

Really solid performance when garden is clear of plants
Best available option since Bald Eagle is no longer obtainable
Reliable and effective for multiple eggs simultaneously

XP Farming Performance:

Useful early game for pet leveling
Limited late-game value due to scaling

Final Recommendation: Cockatrice is a fun and rare pet that's definitely worth having, especially if you missed out on Bald Eagle. While it may not be the absolute best in any single category, its versatility makes it valuable for players who want one pet that can handle multiple tasks.

It's particularly valuable for players who focus on egg hatching or need consistent mutation generation across different types.