Welcome to the Battledome

by eternity64

Welcome to the Battledome, people. This is definitely the most anticipated event of this year. Reading the news, I've seen articles on the Battledome since February last year. Most people have fought at least one battle and know what it is like. I've fought many battles. You win some, you lose some. (That is, unless you are charme1eon, Damon2U, K0jir0, or one of Borovan's pets. Then you win most of the time.) I've come up with some strategies to help win some battles. My pet is not as strong as you would suppose for a guy writing a Battledome article, but it's won some pretty hard battles.

1. Level doesn't really matter. All level does is help you get abilities. My pet is level 3 and easily beat a level 8 once. This is not an RPG.

2. Weapons are your best offense. If you fight a pet with a Rod of Supernova, Greater Orb of the Fire Faerie, Attack Fork, Cement Mixer and the like, chances are you are going to have a hard time winning. The problem is that most of these items cost around 1 million NP, literally.

Snowballs are also solid offense weapons. Powerful, but one-time only. Exploding and Stone Snowballs are probably the best. If you're new to NeoPets, or relatively new, it may be hard to get weapons (i.e. Before the Battledome, Rainbow Frost cannons cost 1,000 NP. Now, you can get them for at least 10,000 NP). Use the Weapon Shop if you are new. But you absolutely need weapons, no matter what it costs you.

3. What should you train in? Here's a tip: Look at some strong pets, like one of Borovan's. The strength and defence are about 800, and the movement is about 15. Drastic difference. I don't see what movement does, frankly. Strength helps out your attacking, defence obviously helps out defending, and level is only for getting abilities. That means, you only need to be Level 30. Anyone above Level 30 (which is the lowest level you can be to have every ability) has wasted money on codestones. But, by far, the most important thing is HP. If you have 30 HP, and your opponent only has 10, you can focus on hitting hard, while your opponent has to use Improved Defend and Heal all the time.

4. My pet's levels are really not that high, but I have the abilities I need to survive in the Battledome. Heal is probably my favourite. I've seen it heal up to 4 HP before, which is about how much damage a Rainbow Frost Cannon or something does with one hit. That pretty much cancels an opponent's weapon. Improved Defend, which you must sign up with a sponsor to get, is also nice. Also, I've noticed something about Fierce Attack. It copies the elemental damage of any other attack. For example, if you use Rainbow Frost Cannon (water), Grand Lightning Beam (light & fire), and Fierce Attack, your fierce attack will probably do some water damage, some fire damage, and some light damage. It rounds out an attack. My suggestion would be to choose Fierce Attack over the first few abilities, unless it's Heal.

These are the strategies I use for the Battledome. I know, I'm not very strong, but it's mostly brains over brawn. That's all. Good day and good-bye.