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Training Goals

350

3 away 350

Accomplished! 350

3 away

Quests since July 26 '06

A BATTLEDOME SET FOR EVERY BUDGET

I recommend that you start with the basic set, then upgrade one component at a time to the next higher set.
These guidelines should give you a good start, but don't neglect to do your own research about weapons, icons, etc.
Additionally, there may be species-specific items that would be well worth looking into, but I don't have them listed here.

*****First, a note about training*****
Even a very basic set will be formidable if you have a well-trained pet.
Conversely, a poorly trained pet will not have good success with the best of weapons.
Therefore, training should always be your first priority.
Building your battledome set is secondary.

How to use this guide:
I'm not a big fan of items which don't work for their intended purpose, 100% of the time, without breaking. However, if I didn't include any of those such items in this guide, there would be several blank spaces in lineups in the lower price ranges. So, if the item only has a chance to perform the action in its category, I'll note that with an asterisk(*), and recommend that you upgrade to something that works all the time as soon as possible.
I am also not recommending any items that have a chance of breaking permanently.
Some items may only be used once per battle, those items are in italics.
Freezers always disappear from the battle after freezing.
Stealers also disappear from the battle after stealing.
You may equip a total of 8 items, but only one healer, freezer, and stealer.
The only exception to that rule is in the first listed set - caustic potion and mud mixture, while performing healing actions, can be equipped with another healing item.
Numbers listed are number of icons, NOT damage.
A range of numbers means that the result is variable.
If more than 8 items are listed in a price range, my recommendation is that you own all of them, and choose the 8 you want to use based on your opponent.
Underlined items are repeated from previous categories, if no upgrade is recommended in that price range.
The prices listed are always subject to change, given the fluctuations in the neopian economy. The prices you see here are the latest NON-WAR prices that I have found. It's a good idea to plan ahead and buy your BD items long before any rumours of a war, as inflation can be quite dramatic.

Boots & Waders Set - so you can get your feet wet!
All components under 4k apiece! Entire Set costs less than 12k!

HEALER Slime Potion (heals 10) 1300np

FREEZER Nothing in this price range *****

STEALER Purple Sticky Hand* 500np

BOMB Illusens Earth Potion (7-9 attack) 3100np

BOMB Caustic Potion (5 attack, heals 1-5hp) 250np

BOMB Mud Mixture (5 attack, heals 1-5hp) 60np

WEAPON Scarab Ring (6 attack, 6 defense) 2000np

WEAPON Obsidian Dagger (6-8 attack) 800np

DEFENSE Earthen Scorchstone (10 defense) 3500np

Punchbag Set - defeat Punchbag Bob in less than a day!
All components under 100k apiece! Entire Set costs less than 270k!

HEALER Red Scorchstone (heals 20) 62k

FREEZER Snowglobe Staff* 20k

STEALER Green Sticky Hand* 95k

BOMB Illusens Earth Potion (7-9 attack) 3100np

WEAPON Scarab Ring (6 attack, 6 defense) 2000np

WEAPON Tooth of Terask (6 attack, 3 defense) 40k

DEFENSE Leaf Shield (defends 13) 10k

DEFENSE Patched Magic Hat (defends 13) 25k

DEFENSE Downsize! (blocks half of all icons) 10k

Trophy Set - improve your DoN and war trophies!
All components under 300k apiece! Entire Set costs less than 1.1 mil!

HEALER Blue Scorchstone (heals 30) 175k

FREEZER Black Frost Cannon (3-5 attack)* 300k

STEALER Heavy Robe of Thievery (please note that this item requires a certain level of both agility and intelligence to work as a stealer) 300k

BOMB Blood Grub (7-11 attack) 150k

WEAPON Halo of Devilpuss (6-10 attack) 215k

WEAPON Brain Tree Mace (7 attack) 100k

DEFENSE Leaf Shield (defends 13) 10k

DEFENSE Patched Magic Hat (defends 13) 25k

DEFENSE Downsize! (blocks half of all icons) 10k

Avatar Set - get those battledome avvies!
All components under 1.1 mil apiece! Entire Set costs less than 5 mil!

HEALER Green Scorchstone (heals 40) 450k

FREEZER Black Frost Cannon (3-5 attack)* 300k

STEALER Heavy Robe of Thievery (please note that this item requires a certain level of both agility and intelligence to work as a stealer) 300k

BOMB Honey Potion (13-16 attack) 710k

WEAPON Scuzzys Comb (10 attack) 600k

WEAPON Ramtors Spellbook (10 attack) 800k

DEFENSE Leaf Shield (defends 13) 10k

DEFENSE Downsize! (blocks half of all icons) 10k

DEFENSE Clawed Shield (defends 3, reflects most fire) 1.1 mil

Dream Set - make your opponents cry!
All components under 11 mil apiece! Entire Set costs around 40 million!

HEALER At this point, you need to either consider morphing your pet to use a species healer, look into one of the new robes which require high intelligence stats, or start saving for a Jade SS (approximately 50 mil). Until then, keep using the Green SS. *****

FREEZER H4000 Helmet 5 mil

STEALER Heavy Robe of Thievery (please note that this item requires a certain level of both agility and intelligence to work as a stealer) 300k

BOMB Ghostkerbomb (21-30 attack) 7.5 mil

BOMB Honey Potion (13-16 attack) 710k

WEAPON Sword of Skarsden (16 - 24 attack) 11 mil

WEAPON Wand of Reality (13 attack) 3.75 mil

WEAPON Portable Kiln (11 attack) 3 mil

DEFENSE Ghostkershield (defends all dark & 13 additional icons) 8 mil

DEFENSE Clawed Shield (defends 3, reflects most fire) 1.1 mil

THE END

Well, almost. I don't intend to list any more BD sets, because if you own the last set on the list, you know more than me.
Also, if you're throwing around 40 million on a set, you ought to be doing your own research.

However, I do intend to list a small guide soon on how to train.
I've seen so many questions about it on various boards, and have had many neomail questions about it -
I think a training guide could be useful.

A NOTE OF APPRECIATION
I'd like to say a few thank you's.
Thank you to the first person who challenged me with a weaker pet - an elephante, and I accepted thinking the battle would be a piece of cake. Right up until the point where you used an Elephante Unguent. You were my introduction to species healers.
Thank you to the person in my first guild who battled me with a friendly challenge, and made my eyes pop out when you used a scorchstone. I'd never seen them before. You offered to sell me yours. I bought it, then discovered later I had overpaid by 15k. You were my introduction to good healers, and to checking prices before buying.
Thank you to the person who used a Jar of Spiders in a quickfight against me. I sat behind my computer screen snickering when you opened the jar on your first move and it didn't do anything. Then I got walloped when you kept sending spiders my way on subsequent turns. You were my introduction to unbuyable weapons and the fact that I wanted one.
Thank you to the first person who told me about boosts. I was training as much as I could afford during the HATIC war, and was noticing that even though I was doing an attack and defense class here and there, it didn't seem to be making a difference. You helped me to learn how to train effectively.
Thank you to my very dear friends on the Charter Battledome & Training threads (especially to a certain someone who has all the avvies that I salivate over) - you are my constant source of encouragement and knowledge. I value your friendship, advice, and cheerleading more than I could ever express.

HOW TO TRAIN

INFORMATION ON PET STATS

STAT (pet lookup) STAT (training school) USEFULNESS HOW TO IMPROVE (r=random result)

Level Level Allows pet to be trained in other stats at schools, unlocks certain stances in the BD (including the coveted berserk attack at 50), enables your pet to be blessed with certain faerie abilities. Training schools, Light Faerie quest, Space Faerie quest, Faerie Queen quest, Kitchen quest(r), Terror Trove Scratchcard (r), Random Event (r), certain neggs (r?), Lab ray can raise or lower(r), Coltzan's Shrine (r)

Strength Attack Causes your weapons to become more effective by improving the amount of damage per icon done to your opponent. For an in-depth look at how strength modifiers work in neopia, see the petpage of beatmetoapulp. Training schools, Fire Faerie quest, Faerie Queen quest, Kitchen quest(r), Ferocious Negg, Lab ray can raise or lower(r), Random Event, Turmaculus (r), Coltzan's Shrine (r)

Defence Defence Causes your defensive items to become more effective by improving the amount of damage blocked per icon. For an in-depth look at defense modifiers in the BD, please see the petpage of Grephun (scroll to the bottom) Training schools, Water Faerie Quest, Kitchen quest(r), certain neggs (r?), Lab ray can raise or lower(r)

Movement Agility Enables use of certain BD items which require a specific amount of agility. While this is currently the only usefulness of this stat, agility also played a part in the Lost Desert Plot, causing many players to speculate that this may become much more important in the future. Training schools, Air Faerie Quest, Kitchen quest(r), Lab ray can raise or lower(r)

Hit Points Endurance The amount of damage your pet can take before being ko'd. The higher, the better! Training schools, Dark Faerie quest, Faerie Queen quest, Kitchen quest(r), certain neggs (r?), Lab ray can raise or lower(r)

Intelligence n/a Enables use of certain BD items which require a specific amount of intelligence. Makes your pet smarter, which unfortunately also causes them to become bored more quickly with games like Dice A Roo and Kacheek Seek. Reading books, playing Faerie Crossword (r),Cliffhanger (r), Wheel of Knowledge (r to increase or decrease), Wheel of Misfortune (r - broken book causes your pet to forget a book they have previously read), eating a Genius Negg - grants one intelligence point and also gives you a rare book, Coltzan's Shrine (r)

Okay, that was the overview - now for an in-depth look at exactly how to train.
First, the training schools, which will help you out in every stat except for intelligence.

There are three training schools.

Cap'n Threelegs' Swashbuckling Academy (Krawk Island)
Mystery Island Training School (Mystery Island)
Secret Ninja Training School (cannot view until your pet is level 250†)

Training School Comparison Chart

******* Krawk Island Mystery Island Ninja School

Pet Level 1 - 40 1 - 250 250†

Time Range from 4 to 10 hours depending on level Range from 2 to 24 hours depending on level ???

Currency One, Two, or Five Dubloon coin depending on level 1 to 8 codestones, depending on level - the specific codestones required for each course are completely random and can be any assortment of the ten regular (brown) codestones Red Codestones

Free Training On your pet's day Never Never

Ability to cancel a course Yes No Yes, but with a 24 hour penalty

Personal Opinions Better value up to level 20. Takes longer though, so if you're in a hurry train at Mystery Island during the day and Krawk Academy overnight. Easier to use since the currency is standard. Dubloons are less susceptible to war inflation. Faster at lower levels, agonizingly slow in upper levels. Best training value for levels 20 through 200. Lack of standardized currency is aggravating. Can train endurance to 3x level, which can save a decent amount of np. I'll let you know once I get there!

And now - on to the good stuff! The most commonly asked training question is..... (drum roll please)
WHAT SHOULD I TRAIN NEXT?????

Here are a few guidelines to follow so that you can answer this question for yourself:

Your level must be at least half of your highest stat. For example, if your hp is 120, your attack is 50 and your defense is 20, and you want to train defense, your level must be at least 60 (half of your hp) before you can train anything else. If your level is half your highest stat, move on to the next step!

Train your attack and defense (evenly) to double your level. If your level is 25, train your attack and defense together to 50 apiece. Please don't neglect your defense - it's very important! (see the above listed petpage) If you don't train defense, don't even bother owning defensive or dual-duty items.

Train your movement evenly with your attack and defense until you reach 100. Until recently, agility was useless in the BD. But the times, they are a-changin, and you don't want to be caught unprepared! (see notes above on agility). In the future, agility could play much more of a role in the BD, and it will be cheaper for you to train it now than it will be when your pets are at a higher level. Why do I say only 100? Because I'm cheap. I've gotten the vast majority of agility stats from faerie quests and kitchen quests, and I believe that in the future I will get many more stats - why pay for what you can get for free?

Train your endurance to maximize cheaper training at Mystery Island. Ok, this one's the most complicated. You don't have to do it - you can just train endurance evenly with your attack and defense. Or you can follow my advice and pay less. This requires just a little bit of math, and will change with each training level. You can only do this at Mystery Island, where you are allowed to train your pet's HP up to THREE times the level of your pet.

Ok, got your calculator ready? Let's take the following example. Level is 75, and attack, defense and endurance are even at double your level - 150. You start to pay an additional codestone per class at level 81. Train level to 78, attack and defense to 156. (not all the way to 80/160/160 because you want to leave some room for faerie and kitchen quests). Now, you could take your HP all the way to 234, but first look at the next training level - it covers from level 80 through 100. So you only want to take your HP to around 180 (90 times 2) so that when you raise your level to half your endurance, you haven't actually cost yourself np by putting yourself in a higher cost training bracket. For each training bracket, you'll have to do this math again - but if you do, it will save you quite a bit of np in the long run!

Lather, rinse, repeat! I have my pet in training nearly all the time - training is a long process, and there isn't much you can do to speed it up. A class or two a day will produce visible results in just a few months, but you have to stick with it, not just decide to train when you hear there's a war coming.

THE BENEFITS OF OWNING ONLY ONE PET

If you're serious about training or the BD, it makes a whole lotta sense to only own one pet. It makes your training take less time and less np. If you don't care about the BD very much, then don't worry about how many pets you have. For me, owning one pet is the way to go. Yes, I have other pets. Yes, for different reasons, my other pets are special to me. But the one pet that is most important to me is my battler, and I also like to save time and np. If you ever see more than just one pet on my account, the extra pet has something to do with an avatar and will be gone just as soon as I have the avvie I'm working on.

So, why is having one pet less expensive? Simple - EVERY quest result will go to your battler. Faerie quest, kitchen quest, and scratchcard results are distributed randomly. Even though I was horrible at statistics in college, I can tell you that if you own 2 pets, your chance of a quest result going to your battler is only 50%. If you have 4 pets, it goes down to 25%. If you're horribly unlucky like me, it's going to feel more like 1%. Take a look at mountbara's petpage for listings of what each faerie gives you. A faerie queen quest grants 1 level, 3 attack, 3hp - 7 stats. Currently, those same 7 stats would cost me 42 codestones and would take 84 hours to train. I like to know that that kind of a result, and every other result, will go strictly to the pet that I want to receive it.

KITCHEN QUESTS

If you've read the above paragraph, then you won't be shocked when I tell you to not even bother with these if you have more than one pet. If you do this with more than one pet, you will just be losing np, and more than likely you will not be happy with your results. If you only have one pet, proceed as follows...

You can do 10 quests per day. The requested items can cost anywhere from a few hundred neopoints to tens of thousands of neopoints. The rewards can range from junk items to a few hundred neopoints to stats for your pet to valuable, or sometimes even unbuyable items. I recommend that you set a budget for how much you're willing to pay on a quest. Some people set it pretty low at 5k, some people will pay as much for ingredients for one kitchen quest as they would pay for a stat (different for everyone). Personally, I won't pay more than 20k, but that's my budget - yours can be whatever you want it to be. I just wouldn't recommend spending MORE than you would spend on a training class. Obviously this method of training becomes much more useful with higher levels. There is no penalty for failing a quest, so if the items requested would go over your budget, do nothing and go back after the time has expired. Then you can try another quest.

NEGG TRAINING

I've never done it. I don't know much about it. It produces an instantaneous result, but at a hefty price. The most commonly used neggs for training are Ferocious Neggs (F-neggs) and Cool Neggs. Look them up on the Trading Post, and then after you revive from the shock, go enroll your pet in a training class instead.

LAB TRAINING

First, I am reluctant to use those two words together. Almost seems like an oxymoron. (If you don't know the meaning of that word, please look it up - I am not calling you a name!) You now have most of my opinion on using the lab for stats.

Ok, seriously then. If you are very attatched to the way your pet is right now - whether in species, color, or gender, don't zap your pet! If your master plan for training your pet is to zap it daily, you may want to go back to the drawing board. The lab is notorious for leaving your pet very low in level and defence. If you ever want to get your stats even, you're going to spend an incredible amount of time and np at a training school to even out the level just to the point where you can train defence. That being said, if you're a gambler - go for it! But if you get bad results, don't say I didn't warn you.

USEFUL PETPAGES

Wonderful petpage on all things Battledome!

Specific information on Defenders of Neopia Challengers

Excellent explanation of defense in the BD at the bottom of this petpage

Excellent chart on level and faerie abilities

Great game and avatar guide

Avatar guide and listing of faerie quest rewards

Want to know more about Collectable Cards?

Great guide on how you can help keep Neopian chat boards friendly!

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HEALER	Slime Potion (heals 10)	1300np
FREEZER	Nothing in this price range	*****
STEALER	Purple Sticky Hand*	500np
BOMB	Illusens Earth Potion (7-9 attack)	3100np
BOMB	Caustic Potion (5 attack, heals 1-5hp)	250np
BOMB	Mud Mixture (5 attack, heals 1-5hp)	60np
WEAPON	Scarab Ring (6 attack, 6 defense)	2000np
WEAPON	Obsidian Dagger (6-8 attack)	800np
DEFENSE	Earthen Scorchstone (10 defense)	3500np

HEALER	Red Scorchstone (heals 20)	62k
FREEZER	Snowglobe Staff*	20k
STEALER	Green Sticky Hand*	95k
BOMB	Illusens Earth Potion (7-9 attack)	3100np
WEAPON	Scarab Ring (6 attack, 6 defense)	2000np
WEAPON	Tooth of Terask (6 attack, 3 defense)	40k
DEFENSE	Leaf Shield (defends 13)	10k
DEFENSE	Patched Magic Hat (defends 13)	25k
DEFENSE	Downsize! (blocks half of all icons)	10k

HEALER	Blue Scorchstone (heals 30)	175k
FREEZER	Black Frost Cannon (3-5 attack)*	300k
STEALER	Heavy Robe of Thievery (please note that this item requires a certain level of both agility and intelligence to work as a stealer)	300k
BOMB	Blood Grub (7-11 attack)	150k
WEAPON	Halo of Devilpuss (6-10 attack)	215k
WEAPON	Brain Tree Mace (7 attack)	100k
DEFENSE	Leaf Shield (defends 13)	10k
DEFENSE	Patched Magic Hat (defends 13)	25k
DEFENSE	Downsize! (blocks half of all icons)	10k

HEALER	Green Scorchstone (heals 40)	450k
FREEZER	Black Frost Cannon (3-5 attack)*	300k
STEALER	Heavy Robe of Thievery (please note that this item requires a certain level of both agility and intelligence to work as a stealer)	300k
BOMB	Honey Potion (13-16 attack)	710k
WEAPON	Scuzzys Comb (10 attack)	600k
WEAPON	Ramtors Spellbook (10 attack)	800k
DEFENSE	Leaf Shield (defends 13)	10k
DEFENSE	Downsize! (blocks half of all icons)	10k
DEFENSE	Clawed Shield (defends 3, reflects most fire)	1.1 mil

HEALER	At this point, you need to either consider morphing your pet to use a species healer, look into one of the new robes which require high intelligence stats, or start saving for a Jade SS (approximately 50 mil). Until then, keep using the Green SS.	*****
FREEZER	H4000 Helmet	5 mil
STEALER	Heavy Robe of Thievery (please note that this item requires a certain level of both agility and intelligence to work as a stealer)	300k
BOMB	Ghostkerbomb (21-30 attack)	7.5 mil
BOMB	Honey Potion (13-16 attack)	710k
WEAPON	Sword of Skarsden (16 - 24 attack)	11 mil
WEAPON	Wand of Reality (13 attack)	3.75 mil
WEAPON	Portable Kiln (11 attack)	3 mil
DEFENSE	Ghostkershield (defends all dark & 13 additional icons)	8 mil
DEFENSE	Clawed Shield (defends 3, reflects most fire)	1.1 mil

STAT (pet lookup)	STAT (training school)	USEFULNESS	HOW TO IMPROVE (r=random result)
Level	Level	Allows pet to be trained in other stats at schools, unlocks certain stances in the BD (including the coveted berserk attack at 50), enables your pet to be blessed with certain faerie abilities.	Training schools, Light Faerie quest, Space Faerie quest, Faerie Queen quest, Kitchen quest(r), Terror Trove Scratchcard (r), Random Event (r), certain neggs (r?), Lab ray can raise or lower(r), Coltzan's Shrine (r)
Strength	Attack	Causes your weapons to become more effective by improving the amount of damage per icon done to your opponent. For an in-depth look at how strength modifiers work in neopia, see the petpage of beatmetoapulp.	Training schools, Fire Faerie quest, Faerie Queen quest, Kitchen quest(r), Ferocious Negg, Lab ray can raise or lower(r), Random Event, Turmaculus (r), Coltzan's Shrine (r)
Defence	Defence	Causes your defensive items to become more effective by improving the amount of damage blocked per icon. For an in-depth look at defense modifiers in the BD, please see the petpage of Grephun (scroll to the bottom)	Training schools, Water Faerie Quest, Kitchen quest(r), certain neggs (r?), Lab ray can raise or lower(r)
Movement	Agility	Enables use of certain BD items which require a specific amount of agility. While this is currently the only usefulness of this stat, agility also played a part in the Lost Desert Plot, causing many players to speculate that this may become much more important in the future.	Training schools, Air Faerie Quest, Kitchen quest(r), Lab ray can raise or lower(r)
Hit Points	Endurance	The amount of damage your pet can take before being ko'd. The higher, the better!	Training schools, Dark Faerie quest, Faerie Queen quest, Kitchen quest(r), certain neggs (r?), Lab ray can raise or lower(r)
Intelligence	n/a	Enables use of certain BD items which require a specific amount of intelligence. Makes your pet smarter, which unfortunately also causes them to become bored more quickly with games like Dice A Roo and Kacheek Seek.	Reading books, playing Faerie Crossword (r),Cliffhanger (r), Wheel of Knowledge (r to increase or decrease), Wheel of Misfortune (r - broken book causes your pet to forget a book they have previously read), eating a Genius Negg - grants one intelligence point and also gives you a rare book, Coltzan's Shrine (r)

*******	Krawk Island	Mystery Island	Ninja School
Pet Level	1 - 40	1 - 250	250†
Time	Range from 4 to 10 hours depending on level	Range from 2 to 24 hours depending on level	???
Currency	One, Two, or Five Dubloon coin depending on level	1 to 8 codestones, depending on level - the specific codestones required for each course are completely random and can be any assortment of the ten regular (brown) codestones	Red Codestones
Free Training	On your pet's day	Never	Never
Ability to cancel a course	Yes	No	Yes, but with a 24 hour penalty
Personal Opinions	Better value up to level 20. Takes longer though, so if you're in a hurry train at Mystery Island during the day and Krawk Academy overnight. Easier to use since the currency is standard. Dubloons are less susceptible to war inflation.	Faster at lower levels, agonizingly slow in upper levels. Best training value for levels 20 through 200. Lack of standardized currency is aggravating. Can train endurance to 3x level, which can save a decent amount of np.	I'll let you know once I get there!