Battledoming in a Budget - Best Bang for the Buck

Without further ado, here’s the list.

Scarab Ring- “This remarkable ring can both attack an opponent and provide great defence for the wearer. This is a prize from a Lost Desert Scratchcard.”

As the title says, you can go and buy a scratchcard and try your luck with it, or simply have the assurance you’re getting one by buying from an user. What makes a little ring so good you ask? Not only does this ring give your opponent 6 icons of damage, but you also defend yourself from 3 fire and 3 physical icons! There really is no comparison when it comes to weapons that attack and defend simultaneously at this price! It also is excellent for when you get two of them and go against enemies like the Flaming Meerca or the Lava Ghoul, since fire is their main damage.

Pumpkin Launcher- “Just stand back about thirty feet with a pie crust. Mmm...”

While the idea of having a delicious pie in your stomach may sound good, this launcher tosses it with such power that it can actually cause quite some harm to you! By sacrificing the defense of the scarab ring and replacing it with an extra two icons of damage, this may allow you to cause more damage to your enemy at once! The problem is, without that little defense bonus, what are you going to use in the second weapon slot? Increase the damage more, or get a shield? We’ll go over shields later, but think this question over for a while before you get there.

Jittery Jipple Potion- “Watch out you don't get any of this potion on yourself.”

At first glance, this is a mere six-iconer without the defense, like a downgraded scarab ring. However, if you use this against another player whose pet has 10 or more intelligence, this will deal a fresh ten icons right in their face! The icon variation is not that easy to get blocked either! You can go and combine two of these and deal twenty icons at once! If you don’t want your opponent to use this on you, there’s a quick and easy way to lower your intelligence. Find someone with an item called scroll potion, and let them use it on you. You’ll lose five intelligence points, which your opponent will now have from you. If you want to use weapons that require intelligence later on or have read your pet several books, I suggest you don’t do this unless you can find a way around the potion’s power, especially since there are upgrades later on for it. Also note this is an optional weapon for two-player only.

Downsize!- “Temporarily shrink. You may be able to avoid attack. Limited Use. (Only one can be equipped and it can only be used once per battle)”

So we go from your attacking weapons to your defending shields. Let’s begin with this one; it shrinks you to half your size and makes half of all the damage you take from your opponent’s attacks just pass you by! This is such a great weapon that you will need a very long time outgrowing, since it can block anywhere from one to one hundred icons at once, even if there’s variation too! Now I know what you’re thinking- get two at once to block all the damage at once- That’s not really fair, so you’re only allowed to equip one at a time. Plus, since it’s so powerful, you can only use it once a battle, but once the battle’s over you’re going to have it back on your pet, ready for the next fight or for you to sell.

At this point, we must look into all the seven icons of damage differently- fire, water, earth, air, darkness, physical, and light. If you’re into one-player, most of the opponents focus on one or two kinds of damage, which if you use the proper shields, they won’t stand a chance.

Fire- Fire’s one of the easiest to deal on a low budget- you can just stick to your trusty pair of scarab rings, or get a bit more defensive and get flaming oven gloves. These gloves not only block more fire, but they also block light, which most fire-dealing enemies tend to have a slight bias towards.

Earth and water- These go hand-in-hand, thanks to the leaf shield. Cheap and effective, it wards off five of earth and water, plus a bonus three physical icons. It’s simply perfect for highland Chia and Koi warrior, amongst others. If you’re willing to take a risk, see how you fare against Jelly Chia with it!

Dark and air- Sidney’s favorite icons, until you get an earthen scorchstone that is! This stone defends you only a bit below five icons of each of those two, but it’s enough to make Sidney’s attacks much weaker.

Physical- Ah, physical. Almost all fights will have that icon dealt, especially with Vira and Spider Grundo. It’s easy to block and even easier to deal. As I said above, the Leaf Shield blocks a part of it, but when we’re talking pure physical, what you really need is an enchanted cobweb- it blocks five physical icons and also gives a few to your opponent.

Light- Light is a bit hard to block at the low-budget level, so if you don’t really need it blocked that much, just get your flaming oven gloves out. Otherwise, save up a bit more cash for a thief dagger- it blocks three light, three physical, and even deals a little damage. It’s a spin on the scarab ring, in other words.

Now that we've gone over attack and defense, it’s time to go over the last few aspects of battling when you don’t have that much money to spare fighting- stealing, healing, and freezing.

Purple sticky hand- “Purple? Never seen that before! This was a prize given out by the advent calendar in year 6.”

Now, you may be wondering, “Why should I steal my opponent’s item?” Well, whatever your opponent has on their first equipped slot will be yours for the fight! If it’s a one-use item, they’ll still have it back by the end of the fight, however. Basically, this can work very much for your advantage, taking their shield or one of their jipple potions. However, there are three things to keep in mind- One, they can just get a cheap item in their first slot to make you less likely to use it, like a Coltzan's gem- completely useless. Second, the hand won’t always reach and grab the item they have, and finally; by using a sticky hand, you’re giving it to them for the fight, making them able to steal whatever you have in your first weapon slot, so keep that gem in hand!

Lesser Healing Scroll- “Slightly more powerful than the minor healing scroll. Limited Use. You can only have one healing item equipped to a pet!”

Up to the point where you have more than 26 HP, this item can fully heal you. Problem is, it heals you before the damage calculation of the turn it’s used on. What I mean is, if you have five HP left out of twenty, you’ll be healed fifteen, but you’re still going to lose however much damage you take that round. The alternative is go for the slightly higher priced Scorchstones, which will heal a set amount even with the calculation (without granting you HP over your max, though).

Snowglobe Staff- “The powerful Snowglobe Staff can attack with the power of a blizzard, or defend against the icy snowball! This is a temperamental item though and doesn't always work for the whole battle...”

This item may be more expensive than most items you got combined, but it’s worth it to have one. It has the power to freeze an opponent, making them lose a turn. In that turn, you can go all-out without fear of being countered. Problem is, this item only works about one out of five times, so it’s all about luck...

To sum it up, these items are great for starting off, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself looking for upgrades to them after a week or so- it’s made for those who want to test out the Battledome waters, see if it’s what they really want. Eventually, you may find yourself spending millions on that fancy new weapon!

Finally, one last note- these items are not breakable, meaning you’ll always have them with you when the battle ends. I decided to exclude weapons that cannot be re-used because this is, after all, low-budget battling.

Thank you for reading,

Yorble

Also read my other article, top 10 advent calendar items if you have the chance!