Malevolent Being or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wand

      Chapter Replay Fortune Cookies have been released in the NC Mall and that’s exciting news for all you Battledome veterans and void aficionados! With these you now have access to replaying any chapter of The Void Within Plot and either reliving or getting to experience the events for yourself. With this you also gain access to battling one of the strongest the void has to offer, the Malevolent Being herself, Drakara! But why would you want to spend your free time honing your claws against such a ruthless foe? Untold riches of course! By defeating Drakara in this form you have the chance of receiving wondrous rewards including Drakara’s Wand itself! You’ll want to make sure to select at least Chapter 13 to unlock this mighty duel, as well as train and gear yourself appropriately, she’s no pushover!

     Drakara’s Overwhelming Power

      At her easiest option, she has a staggering checks notes forty difficulty rating? That doesn’t seem too bad, I’m sure she won’t be too strong then. Coming in at a FIFTY THOUSAND starting Hit Points, MB will absolutely knock your socks off if you don’t know what to expect. We have our work cut out for us folks. The equipment and abilities she packs with her are no joke either. As for her strength, she is maxed out with an 18 strength boost, meaning she hits HARD.

     Taking a look at her abilities, she has access to 4 different ones that all will try to ruin your day in fun and different ways.

      -We’ll start with Sear, which does 4 Fire icons each time across 2 consecutive rounds. Alongside her strength, we’re looking at 72 Fire damage, though the second turn will not work as two turn faerie abilities do not currently function, they are overwritten by the next ability used.

      -Next, Positive Thinking will heal Drakara for 5% of her current HP, which is part of what makes this fight take as long as it does. Expect to be here awhile.

      -Rounding out her “standard” abilities, Irritable Minions takes a round to activate, and then deals 8 icons of damage the following round. That means 144 damage that we will actually never have to worry about, as the second turn is overwritten by whatever ability she uses on that turn, making Irritable Minions do effectively nothing. We hope to see this as often as possible.

      -Now onto the interesting one. Summon Monoceraptor is a very powerful ability that both reduces incoming damage of all types by 99% AND does 10 Fire icons of unblockable damage. This ability will always scale off YOUR strength boost though, not MB’s. You can reduce this unblockable damage by having a strength boost below the max, which is important to keep in mind.

           Onto the crazy equipment that Drakara brings to the table.

      Drakaras Amulet: 6 Fire icons (108 damage) and 6 Dark icons (108 damage) for a total of 216 damage. Blocks 100% of incoming Light damage.

      Drakaras Maractite Scrying Bowl: 13 Water icons (234 damage) and 13 Dark icons (234 damage) for a total of 468 damage. Blocks 50% of incoming Light damage and reflects 100% of incoming Water damage.

      Drakaras Robe of Concealment: Defends 50% of all incoming Earth, Fire, Air, Water, and Dark damage. Reflects 100% of incoming Light damage. Once per battle.

      Drakaras Wand: 20 Dark icons (360 damage) and 3.6-9 Fire icons (65-162 damage) for a total of 425-522 damage. When MB is below 10% of her maximum health, this will heal her back to that 10% threshold. Also has a chance to freeze your pet for two turns when used alongside another weapon, or one turn otherwise. While we don’t know the exact chance of freezing, it is likely lies somewhere between 5 and 7%.

      Snowrickle-Shaped Ocarina: 5 Air icons (90 damage), 15 Water icons (270 damage), and 5 Dark Icons (90 damage) for a total of 450 damage.

      Void Gaze: 25 Light icons (450 damage) and 25 Dark icons (450 damage) for a staggering 900 damage total. Only used once per battle, thankfully.

      Fortunately for us, Malevolent Being Drakara has a set selection of moves she will take on any given turn, though which one she chooses from among this list seems random. The different combinations are as follows:

      Ocarina + Amulet + Summon Monoceraptor

      Amulet + Wand + Positive Thinking

      Wand + Ocarina + Irritable Minions

      Amulet + Bowl + Irritable Minions

      Gaze + Wand + Irritable Minions

      Bowl + Ocarina + Sear

      Wand + Robe + Sear

      Wand + Bowl + Sear

      Gaze + Wand + Sear

          What do we do with all this information?

      Now for the actual important part. How does one go about defeating Drakara and getting those juicy drops? We’ll start with the minimum recommended stats to even entertain this fight:

      1500 HP - This is really the bare minimum. The higher the better, as we’re going to be trying to steal items away from MB and the more health you have to work with, the more turns you have to make that happen

      300/350 Strength - Talking about strength boosts from earlier, you do not need max strength for this fight, and honestly the lower your HP. the closer to the 300/350 range for strength is better to keep yourself from taking full damage from Summon Monoceraptor.

      Level 200 - You’ll need to be at least level 200 to have access to both the abilities Lens Flare and Warlock’s Rage, which are full stuns and absolutely necessary to stand a chance at winning.

           Onto equipment. Be ready to spend here, or have a good friend to borrow from, as this will end up costing you.

      Explorer’s Whip - this is the MOST important piece of your kit. With a 5% steal chance on your opponent’s weapons and the only stealing item that currently works in 1P Battledome, you will use this more than any other weapon in your kit.

      Thunder Sticks - the best freezer in the game. This will give you a 100% chance to freeze Drakara for the following turn once per battle, which is incredibly important. They also pack a solid punch themselves, with 16 icons of damage.

      Thyoras Tear - Once per battle as well, but this gives you 100% defense on all damage types for that turn. (Does not block Summon Monoceraptor)

      Leaded Elemental Vial - Another once per battle item, LEV heals you all the way back to full, and is very useful to have enough sustain to actually outlast and defeat Malevolent Being.

      Illusens Staff+Snowager Pendant - Illusens Staff deals very solid damage, defends against all Dark damage, and heals you for 20% of your max HP whenever you go below 20%. There is an interaction with taking Light and Dark damage in the same turn, which ends up with you effectively taking 25% of the total Dark damage as well as the full Light damage, but reflecting the other 75% of the Dark damage back. This is something to remember in the case of Drakara using Void Gaze.

           There are other situational items to consider depending on what you already own and how high your HP stat is, like Illusens Living Sword and Rod of Dark Nova, but both of those are at a cost-prohibitive level that I think puts them out of reach for the average Neopian.

      Now that we’re fully trained up and have our gear, it’s time to address the plan to actually defeat the Malevolent Being.

      Your first turn will be using Explorers Whip alongside Thunder Sticks and Lens Flare, to freeze her for both this and the following turn.

      You’ll then want to take advantage of that freeze to use Explorers Whip alongside your best damaging weapon (usually Illusens Staff) and a damaging ability of your choice, though Static Cling or Icicle are probably the best options.

      On the third turn, you’ll keep using the Whip, alongside Illusens Staff and Warlock’s Rage, for another free turn.

      On the fourth turn, Whip again alongside Thyoras Tear to block all damage and a damaging ability.

      Hopefully by this point you’ve managed to steal Drakaras Wand and greatly nullify the offensive output and healing MB has access to. If so, you’ll swap to using your damage combo of Illusens Staff and Snowager Pendant alongside Static Cling (Icicle is worse unless you’ve also managed to steal her scrying bowl). Watch out for Void Gaze as it can deal over 500 damage in a single turn. If at any point she hasn’t used it yet and you drop to 500 or less, that’s the window to use your Leaded Elemental Vial and heal back up. If you haven’t managed to steal her wand by the end of the fourth turn, you can keep using Whip and Staff alongside any defensive abilities you have unlocked when available, using damage ones otherwise. Don’t be discouraged if you fail to defeat her multiple times before getting a successful attempt, as this fight is a game of percentages and determination. The higher your HP and the more weapons you’re able to safely steal, the easier defeating her will be in the end.

      Happy Wand Hunting!