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Obelisk Boons: A Guide


by jellyftw

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Another week, another skirmish at the Battleground of the Obelisk. By now, you know the drill – choose your side, fight your battles, and hope that, come Monday morning, your faction is victorious. If you're lucky enough to have fought for the winning side, you'll be presented with a slew of boons on the obelisk homepage. Unfortunately, you can only pick one. So, which option is the best? It all depends on what your goals are as a Neopian. This guide is designed to help you sort out which boon will benefit you most.

Bank Bribery: Raises your interest rate at the National Neopian Bank by three percent. The impact of this boon really varies from user to user. This is because it depends entirely on two things: the amount of neopoints you have in the bank, and your current interest rate (determined by your account level). If you've got an Ultimate Riches account with several millions in it, Bank Bribery is a very good choice. If your Junior Saver account holds your three neopoints, I'd skip this boon.

Black Market Goods: A restocker's dream, this boon highlights items of rarities of 88+ in Neopian shops such as the pharmacy and bookstore (not to be confused with user owned shops, where the boon does not apply). In fast moving shops where every second counts, this advantage makes it much easier to find and purchase a rare item quickly. I'd especially recommend it for those pursuing the Chocolate! avatar. With Black Market Goods activated, you'll be able to identify these items immediately upon refresh.

Cartogriphication: If you enjoy trekking through the caverns of Faerieland but usually get hopelessly lost, Cartogriphication could be just what you need. This hard to pronounce boon is quite beneficial for users fond of the Faerie Caverns game. It gives hints as you explore the caverns, and if you follow them, you're guaranteed to find the treasure every time. Cartogriphication is a decent choice for the adventurer questing after a Faerie Caverns Stamp.

Cheaper by the Dozen: This boon allows the user to purchase stocks at ten neopoints per share, which is a whole five neopoints lower than the normal minimum purchase price of fifteen neopoints per share. Whoop-dee-doo, five whole neopoints, right? Not so fast! The average stockholder should be purchasing one thousand shares a day, so this boon actually saves you a maximum of five thousand neopoints every day you buy stocks. And, since you purchase at a lower price, you'll make even greater profits when those stocks rise. I'd consider this boon to be a good option for anyone building up a Neopian stock portfolio (and if you're not, you should really give it a try).

Doctor Who?: Did your neopet come down with a case of Sneezles? This boon has got you covered. It cures your neopets when they contract a disease. While it's rather nice to put an immediate end to your pet's suffering, there are much more useful boons out there. Most medicines from the Neopian Pharmacy are worth less than ten thousand neopoints, and even if your pet comes down with a disease requiring a more expensive cure, a few visits to the healing springs will usually clear it right up for free. Furthermore, cases of disease are few and far between for the average Neopian. As a result, this boon is recommended for extreme germaphobes only.

Doppelganger: Choose this boon and you'll soon be seeing double. Double the amount of uses for your one-use Battledome items, that is. With the Doppelganger boon active, you'll have a chance of being able to re-use these one-use items in the Battledome. This boon is a solid choice for any battledomers who tend rely on a hard-hitting (or strong healing) one-use item in their fights.

Equip All the Things: This boon is pretty self-explanatory: it allows you to equip all the things. Well, not all of them, but nine things. Usually, only eight Battledome items can be equipped to one neopet. If your best Battledome weapon is a scarab ring, I would suggest you pass on this one. On the other hand, if you have a variety of weapons worth millions, this boon might be worth looking into.

LOL Avies: Here's a boon for all of you pranksters out there. LOL Avies allows you to steal another avatar for the week. Your borrowed avatar will be labeled as 'pilfered' on your userlookup (and on the neoboards for other members of the winning faction). You can switch it out for another stolen avatar at any time. This boon is an excellent choice for those avatar chatters who want to live out their fantasies of being lent MSPP, or for those who pine after long-retired or highly expensive avatars. You can show off that shiny new stamp avatar you're using – you totally earned it! Just don't let anyone check your userlookup. Warning: the Obelisk is not responsible for sudden bouts of depression arising once the boon ends and the stolen avatar is lost.

Refreshed Quest Refresh: This boon enables you to "refresh" each faerie quest you receive. Refreshing a quest changes the quest type. For example, you could get a fire faerie quest, refresh it, and end up with a dark faerie quest instead. Unfortunately for those of you hatching plans to hit F5 until the fountain faerie shows up, you can only refresh each quest you receive once. However, it's still a decent choice for anyone training their neopets, and also for faerie fountain quest seekers looking for anything to up their chances.

Right Round Round Round: This boon boon boon allows the user to spin each Neopian wheel (excitement, extravagance, knowledge mediocrity, and monotony) twice in its allotted time period. For example, the Wheel of Excitement can be spun twice every two hours instead of just once. This is great for all of you avatar collectors pining for those cursedly random wheel avatars. It's not so great for those of you who just can't resist blowing all of your neopoints on the Wheel of Extravagance every day. Choose at your own risk.

Scratch Master: In the same vein as Right Round Round Round, this boon allows you to circumvent the one scratchcard per two hours limit when purchasing cards at the scratchcard kiosks scattered across Neopia. When Scratch Master is chosen, two scratchcards can be purchased every two hours. This would be rather exciting, if only user shops did not exist. Since they do, the benefit from this boon is rather minimal, and I would not recommend it.

Strength of Mind: Finally, a boon that proves that knowledge really is power. Strength of Mind allows you to use the Mind Blast ability in the Battledome, once per fight. Mind Blast uses your pet's intelligence points as if they were strength points – the smarter your pet is, the stronger this ability will be. If your pet is an ultimate genius but you have been slacking on your strength training, this boon could really help you out.

That Millionaire Feeling: Raises the neopoint trade limit at the Mystery Island Trading post to well, one million. The limit without the boon is a mere eight hundred thousand neopoints. I'm sure That Millionaire Feeling is incredibly useful to those Neopians unaware of the auction house's existence. To whom I say: The Auction House exists, use it!

4 Finger Discount: Like buying things? Like buying them cheap? Then 4 Finger Discount could be the boon for you. It grants a 10% discount in the Neopian shops. If you usually restock at shops with low prices, such as the Neopian Pharmacy, it might not make a huge impact. However, if you prefer to restock those expensive potions at the Magic Shop, 4 Finger Discount could really help your wallet.

I should also mention that there are two boons exclusive to Premium users: Full Pockets and Premium Dreamium. Full pockets awards additional neopoints each time you use Space Faerie Scratchcard. Premium Dreamium allows you to send six scores on the Premium Featured Game. Lucky Premium users are permitted to select one of these boons in addition to one of the normal boons!

Well, there you have it. All of the boons above have their distinct advantages and disadvantages, and only you can determine which are the best choices for you. Unfortunately, only five are available at one time (seven if you have premium), so you'll just have to hope that the Obelisk awards at least one of your preferences. Good luck with your decisions, and I'll see you at the battleground!

 
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