Budget Weaponry

My name is Jaetho, and I want you to know that it's not all about training, especially early on in your combat career. Having the right weapons can easily mean the difference between defeat and dominance in the arena. So how do you know what to pick?

That's easy, you've got eight slots for your "set" and you want to have at least the following:

1. A reusable attack weapon
2. Another reusable attack weapon, preferably one that does different types of icon damage from the first
3. A healing item
4. A shield

That's half your set, and it's only the beginning. Other types of items you may include are:

1. A weapon that do two things at once – for example, a weapon that freezes your opponent as well as attacks, or one that shields you and does something else at the same time
2. An extra shield, depending upon the opponents you are fighting
3. A single-use attack weapon that does high damage
4. A once-per-battle attack weapon that does high damage
5. A specialty item that steals your opponents weapon, freezes them, or has another interesting effect
6. Any combination of the above

But Jaetho, you say, how do I know which weapons fit those criteria? Which ones should I buy? What are these icons you speak of? Good questions, all, so let's get to answering them.

"Icons" refer to the seven types of damage that a weapon can do to your opponent. They include: Physical, Water, Fire, Light, Dark, Earth, and Air. You do damage based on how many of these icons your weapon has as well as how high your strength is.

What's that you say? You're bored and just want to know which weapons to buy for some easy wins in the war? Well, fine then, let's talk about some good choices for various budgets.

The 'Cheap' Set Options: These are some cheap options for those of you who don't want to spend many neopoints and only intend to fight in the 1-player arena.

Reusable Attack Weapons: Pick two of these. You want to be looking for at least 8-icons in your regular attack weapons these days, and most of them can be had very cheaply! There are plenty of other great options here, some of them better than these, but I'm focusing on the cheapest 'good' options.

• Ridiculously Heavy Battle Hammer: 9-icons total of Air, Earth, and Physical damage icons.
• Quill Sword: 8-icons total of Air, Earth, Light, and Physical damage, with the possibility of an extra 2 physical.
• Throwing Cutlass: 9-icons total of Air, Water, and Earth damage.
• Carved Qasalan Blowgun: 9-icons total of Fire, Earth, and Light damage. Sometimes slightly more expensive than comparable options.
• Rainbow Scroll: 9-icons total of Air, Water, and Light damage. Can also run more expensive than the others, but I still consider it to be a solid, cheap option.
• Pumpkin Launcher: 9-icons total of Earth, Light, and Physical damage.

Snowager Sword, Oversized Maractite Rune Sword, and Festive Scrolls (one-use) are other less-effective options if the above proved too costly.

Healing: Pick up one of these.

• Magical Healing Potion: This will heal 15 HP when you use it, and it will work once per battle.
• Bronze Scorchstone: A bit more expensive, and also only heals 15 HP per battle, but this also offers "overheal." That means if you have 20 HP, and lose 10 (putting you at 10 HP), you can use this to heal and be at 25/20 HP.

Defense: Ideally you want a permanent shield, but most of those don't fit into the super-budget friendly basis I'm trying to provide here. Remember that single-use item costs add up though, so if you find yourself using them a lot you want to invest in a permanent option!

• Downsize: Blocks 50% of all icons once-per-battle.
• Slippery Floor Potion: Single-use. Blocks all fire and water icons as well as doing 2-icons each of Air, Water, and Physical Damage
• Potion of Concealment: Single-use. Blocks all Earth, 2 Light, and 2 Physical while doing 3 Earth damage and 1-3 Physical damage.
• Steam Jug: Single-use. Blocks all light icons and 2 water icons while doing 3 water, 2 dark, and 2 air icons of damage.

Multi-use options include Leaf Shield, Parasol of Unfortunate Demise, Parchment Cloak (requires 150 Intellect), Virtupets X-514 Super Shield, and Patched Magic Hat, but they lean a bit out of the "cheap" criteria. It is worth it to get one though as they can be used more than once per battle!

High Damage, Single-Use: If you are up against a tough opponent, you'll want to use these; just remember they're gone once you use them!

• Dark Nova: 4 Fire and 5 Dark Icons, plus 3-24 HP healing!
• Ultranova: 4 Air, 4 Fire, 3 Light Icons, plus 3-24 HP healing! Slightly more expensive, but 11 icons and a heal is fantastic.
• Stone Muffin: 5 Earth, 5 Dark, and 5 Physical Icons
• Brain Muffin: 5 Earth, 5 Light, and 5 Physical Icons
• Darigan Muffin: 5 Fire, 5 Dark, and 5 Physical Icons
• Icy Muffin: 5 Air, 5 Water, 5 Physical Icons
• Water Muffin: 5 Earth, 5 Water, and 5 Physical Icons

Other: Looking for something to fill out your set? Look no further!

• Green Frost Cannon: Has a small chance to freeze your opponent. Also does 3 water and 1-2 physical damage. It won't work often but when it does you'll be glad!
• Red Sticky Hand: Has a chance to steal your opponents weapon! Once you steal something you lose the hand for the rest of the battle but get the use of a shiny new weapon (for the battle only).

So that's it! If you are battling on a budget and find yourself overwhelmed by all the options out there, I hope this has helped you. Pick up some constant damage weapons, grab some defense and healing, and get into the battledome!

Let me take a moment to point out the best, "cheap" way to get your hands on some more awesome weapons: Neoquest II. You get a weapon the first time you win on each difficulty (normal, evil, and insane), and it doesn't cost you a single neopoint! In fact, you'll win some neopoints when you play.

The options on Normal mode don't stack up to our listed weapons above, so we'll skip talking about.

Evil, however, is where you start to get competitive weapons. Scuzzys Comb and Ramtors Spellbook both do a solid 10 icons of damage. The Halo of Devilpuss does 5-10. Tooth of Terask does 6 icons of damage plus blocks 3 dark icons. The first two are a bit better than anything on our cheap list, so keep that in mind!

If you manage to beat Neoquest II on Insane mode, then you are in for a treat. Two of the possible rewards do a whopping 13 icons of damage!

If you want awesome weapons now, though, and don't have time to play through Neoquest II, I can offer some suggestions. I'll leave out anything that is likely to cost you a fortune though, because by the time you're willing to drop nearly a million on a weapon you already know what you want (I hope!)

Reusable Attack Weapons: Ramtors Spellbook, Altadorian Halberd, Scuzzys Comb, Energy Blaster, Barbat Throwing Star

Healing: Greater Healing Scroll, Blue Scorchstone, Helm of Recovery

Defense: Leaf Shield, Patched Magic Hat, Parasol of Unfortunate Demise, Sophies Magic Hat, Blue Draping Cloak (requires 400 Intellect), Devious Top Hat and Cane, Thick Smoke Bomb

High-Damage, Single-Use: Swift Darkfire Negg Bomb, Shooting Star Muffin

Other: Golden Compass, Altadorian Swordbreaker, Jhudoras Cursed Sword, Randomly Firing Freeze Ray, Snowglobe Staff, Scroll of Freezing

...and that's all, folks! Now, let's rumble! Onwards to the battledome! I can't wait to see you there.