Knee-Deep Battledome Guide

Oh, sorry ^^; I was in the middle of a fight! It sure gets heated sometimes... So, you're interested in learning how to battle? You've come to the perfect place!

Here I will be teaching you the basics of Battledoming; hopefully I will be able to teach you at least all of the basics of it. Well, wish me luck!

The BATTLEDOME *dramatic music*

Well, you may have just stepped into the Battledome and asked yourself, "What is this place?" and a second after, a Yellow Kacheek lands on the floor beside you. Hand him a healing potion, because he may have just lost a battle! Also, you may want to call the cleaners. O_o

After looking up in a few dictionaries, I discovered the most suitable meaning of Battledome.

Battle means an armed combat. Dome means a vaulted roof having a circular, polygonal, or elliptical base and a generally hemispherical or semispherical shape (oh okay I really didn't get that, but I'll try to simplify it, just for you!) So basically, a Battledome is a place where Neopets (armed with weapons) fight against each other!

Stat Points and What They Mean

Confused by all the numbers? Don't worry, if you've made it this far onto the Internet, you shouldn't take too long to understand something as simple as this. Stat Points are divided into Strength, Defence, Speed (Movement), and Hit Points (Endurance). While strength increases the damage you do to your opponent, defence reduces the damage your opponent does to you. Hit Points is considered as the amount of damage your pet is able to sustain before getting knocked out. Speed does not play a very important role in the Battledome as of yet; nope, it does not let you have more turns. At the moment, certain weapons such as the Heavy Robe of Thievery have a stat point requirement, which you HAVE to meet before you are able to equip the item.

Training Your Pet

Alright, so far, there are quite a few ways in which you can train your pet:

1) The Swashbuckling Academy is located on Krawk Island, which can be reached via the Explore page. Once you enter, you will be able to choose which course you wish to partake in. As you may have noticed, here on Krawk Island, dubloons are used as a currency. This means almost everything you buy/sell on Krawk Island is exchanged with dubloons. Dubloons are worth quite a lot more than neopoints. At the time of writing, a One Dubloon Coin costs a whopping 2960 Neopoints! That's a lot of neopoints, but don't worry, it's all worth it. Depending on the level of your pet, the school will charge you a certain amount of Dubloons to train a single stat point, and lessons vary between a 4-10 hour period.

2) The Training School on Mystery Island is quite similar to the Academy. However, instead of dubloons, you will have to pay with Codestones. Yes, those cool-looking brown stones that you find on the ground every so often. Now you know what to do with them!

3) Coltzan's Shrine can be found in the middle of Lost Desert. Although it is not a reliable source of stat points, you can't complain, since it's free. ;) You can try your luck here every 12 hours or so.

4) Kitchen Quest. "Quick, get these items!" He really means it! You have about 1-2 hours to get a few items that he asks for. Prizes range from a pile of sludge to a stat point (that's what we want)!

5) Faerie Quests are pretty cool, but you aren't able to use the shop wizard to look for the item, so I suggest you ask on the Neoboards - come to the Battledome Chat; we would gladly give you free (cheap) items that you need for a quest!

6) The Laboratory Ray *dun dun dun!* If you're cruel enough to force your pets to fight, this won't be a problem for you! A complete set of the Laboratory Map costs about 500,000 neopoints, and it allows you to zap your pet once a day, forever and ever as long as your neopets account stays alive. Effects of the zaps can range from a colour change, stat point change, and.. a gender change. O_o

Choosing Your Weapons!

Sure, you might wanna try going hand-to-hand, but in this guide, we will be looking at a few of the weapon types, and some of the best ones.

Healers are used to heal your pet, whether they can be used multiple times in battle, once per battle, or just once.

Bombs are usually stronger than normal weapons, as they can only be used once per battle.

Freezers can completely freeze your opponent, rendering them defenceless during the next move.

For beginners, here is a suggested set:-

1) 2x Scarab Rings (Attacks AND Blocks at the same time! Not too expensive either)

2) Leaf Shield (This will be your shield)

3) Greater Healing Scroll (You can use this once per battle, it heals 50hp)

4) Downsize! (Also once per battle, reduces damage by 50%)

5) Illusens Earth Potion (Your bomb, does considerably more damage than Scarab Ring)

Battle Stances

Wah-cha!! *holds out two arms martial-arts-style*

Battle stances are certain ways that your pets stand in battle - or in other words, their standing style. A few styles to name are Fierce Attack, Defend, and Cautious Attack.

For example, Fierce Attack increases the damage you deal to your opponent by 30%, but also increases the damage dealt to you by the opponent by 30%, so it works both ways. Be careful when choosing this stance.

Fighting the Battle!

Ok, so you've bought your weapons, trained your pet, and now what? You wanna fight? Get in to the Battledome, and you can choose from a list of one-player opponents. One-player opponents are computer-generated opponents, which means they are not real players - nope, TNT doesn't have slaves to completely control them! Once you have chosen a pet, choose an opponent, and head in to battle!

Now there should be two pictures, one of your pet, and one of the opponent. Your equipment will be shown at the bottom bar. Now, choose two weapons that you would like to use, and choose a stance! If you did it correctly, you should still be alive, and your opponent should be near dead (assuming you didn't choose something insanely hard like the Snowager). Try to choose your strategy according to the situation. When you are low on hit points, use your Healing Scroll. And last of all, don't be sad if you lose; you can always try again. Perhaps you can take the loss as motivation to make your pet stronger!

After the Battle - Healing Your Wounds

Ouch, that was a tough fight, eh? Your pet should have sustained at least some damage. If he has at least one hit point, you can go to the Battledome, and fight the Inflatable Balthazar to regain your hit points when you win (don't worry, he doesn't fight back). Otherwise, you could buy a cheap Healing Potion!

End Note

Well, that's about it! I hope you had fun (or at least learned something) by reading my Knee-Deep Battledome Guide. Feel free to neomail me if you have any trouble!