Ah, the Battledome....It is definitely a place that all pets (not to mention
their owners) think about at least once a week. The Battledome shouldn't discourage
NeoPets whose owners aren't exactly financially well-off. There are plenty of
suitable weapons for the new, the weak, and the poor, not to mention strategies
for each. The following will outline a few of what I think are good ideas for
Battledome sets for both the rich and the poor, and will give very helpful Battledome
advice to the new and weak.
NOTE: To those people who are poor or have weak pets, please don't take offense
when I refer to you with those words. I mean, everyone has to start somewhere.
Training - This is by far the most important aspect to think about before
you even set foot in the Battledome. If you are familiar with the all-mighty
HynFaerie, then you might already know of a good strategy: Kitchen Quests. Sometimes
the Maraquan Chef will raise your active pet's stats upon completing a quest.
However, it doesn't happen a lot, and often you will get stats raised that you
didn't really want to, such as Agility. You should only do quests that will
cost you below 1,500 NP because if you do too many expensive ones your bank
account will slowly wither away. However, if you've got money to spare, go buy
some Dubloons or Codestones. If you actually care about how fast your pet will
become stronger, go with Codestones. The extra NP will definitely be worth it.
However, if you don't really care about how long it takes, go with Dubloons.
It takes 6 hours for the weakest of pets to get trained in the Krawk Island
Swashbuckling Academy, and 2 hours for the Mystery Island Training School. The
only difference between the two is the time.
Sets - Training alone isn't enough: often what determines the outcome
of a battle is the items you and your opponent have equipped. I myself have
beaten opponents with 70+ hp (compare to my 30) but only because they have bad
items. Now is the time to get a set of Battledome items for you to use. Here's
a list of the optimal sets for each class of NeoPet:
Poor/Weak (50,000 NP or less/15 HP or less):
Million Degree Sword
2 Pale Elixirs/Bronze Scorchstone
Large Metal Shield
Silver Scorchstone
Improved Lightning Beam
Notice how this set isn't even 8 items. This is done purposefully: Your opponent
(whom I assume is just as weak or poor as you) won't have any better items.
The Improved Lightning Beam (less then 1,000 NP) does 5 icons of damage. For
you that should be around 4 HP of actual damage, which is extremely helpful
in these types of fights. The Bronze Scorchstone (around 15k) heals 15 HP. Only
get this is if you feel you can afford it. If you can't, just go with 2 Pale
Elixirs: one-time use, but they heal 9 HP each (most of the time). The Silver
Scorchstone (cheap) is a Defence item, not another healing Scorchstone. It will
defend against air, light and water attacks. Large Metal Shield (really cheap)
is there to defend against the rest of the elements. Once you begin to learn
what items your opponent has, you should be able to determine which you want
to use, the Scorchstone or the Shield. Million Degree Sword (cheap) should be
used in conjunction with the Improved Lightning Beam, but only in the beginning
of a fight. Those two, plus a Fierce Attack, will be around 10 icons of damage,
which is about 8 HP off your opponent right there. Extremely effective.
Middle Class (< 300k NP/< 25 HP):
Red Scorchstone
Brain Tree Splinters
Improved Lightning Beam
Fire Snow
Radioactive Snow
Dirty Snow
Silver Scorchstone
Black Frost Cannon
Now you're starting to climb the ladder. You're still not quite so rich, but
now some slightly better items are open to you. Red Scorchstone will heal 20
HP, which is just what a growing pet needs. Brain Tree Splinters are one-time
use, but they do 6 icons of damage, which now translates to around 6 damage.
Black Frost Cannon is nice: if it does 4 or more damage, it will freeze your
opponent. Freezing is critical at this point, as every hit counts. Getting around
15 HP off of your opponent without him (or her) doing anything to you is very,
very wonderful. While your opponent is frozen, use Brain Tree Splinters, Improved
Lightning Beam, and Fierce Attack. You should do around 17 icons of damage,
which will almost nearly destroy your opponent. The 3 Snows are also useful:
They do 4 icons of damage and the also defend against a max of 4 icons. Silver
Scorchstone is there again for the same reason as before.
High Class (< 500k NP/< 40 HP)
Hypno Helmet
2 Brain Tree Splinters
Wand of the Air Faerie
Attack Fork
Grand Lightning Beam
Purple Scorchstone
Puce Elixir
By now you should be used to the Battledome and the basic strategies. You should
know the drill here, but I'll go through it anyway: Hypno Helmet is auto-freeze,
one-time use. Use it at the beginning of a battle with GLB and Defend, then
open up double Brain Tree Splinters and a Fierce Attack while they're frozen
for 18 icons (assuming your opponent doesn't freeze you too). This will help
eliminate some (or all) of his/her healing items. Keep pounding them with WAF,
GLB, and Attack Fork combos, using healing items along the way to sustain you.
Pretty simple, and very effective.
Ultimate Champions (from 500k to infinity/> 50 HP)
Ancient Manchu Bow
Attack Fork OR Grand Lightning Beam
Snow Flame
Legendary Earth Sceptre
Wand of the Air Faerie
Scorchstone to suit your pet
Thyora's Tear
Hypno Helmet (if under 75 HP)
Ultranova (if above 75 HP)
Right here is where good strategies become rather blurry; it's hard to determine
a good set for a really strong pet. The idea here is the pretty much the same
as before: attack and heal. Freezing isn't as important at this point because
if your pet is strong then 18 icons of damage is something easy to bounce back
from. These items try to get the best out of the best: attack with and defend
against as many elements as possible. If you feel that any of these items aren't
good or you can't afford them, simply replace them with an item from the High
Class set and you'll be fine. Why? Because this set has to cover a broad range
of pets: the strong ones and the really strong ones. Strategies vary from pet
to pet depending on stats and their owner's bank account.
Remember, these sets are only suggestions. By no means must you buy every
single item in a set. What you actually use is completely up to you.
Advice - 1. Practice makes perfect. Play the 1-Player challengers to
get used to your set and get an idea of some good combos to use.
2. Get to know your opponent. Become friends with him/her and get to know their
set. By knowing their set the optimal items to use against them will become
more clear.
3. Be a good sport. Nobody likes a sore loser or an arrogant winner.
Betting - The Battledome can have extremely nice advantages, even though
they're not apparent. One such example is betting. Challenge a friend to a battle.
Ask if you'd like to wager a certain amount of NP or an item or two. If you
win, you clean up the pot, if you lose you lose. I've done this several times;
once I got a Circlet of the Air Faerie for winning against someone. It's a pretty
effective way of making NP, and they can't really bust you for it because it's
virtual commerce (it's not real so it's not illegal!!). Go ahead and try it
sometime.
That's pretty much all I have to say. These are the basic steps to becoming
a champion of the Battledome. Just remember this: Even the smallest Kacheek
can take down the biggest Grarrl. :P | 
