The Ultimate Beginner's Training Guide

Where do I begin?

In order to train your pet, you have a few options depending on your current level. You could visit Capn Threelegs in the Swashbuckling Academy if your Neopet is level 40 or lower, visit the Mystery Island Training School up to level 250, and if your pet is an ultimate fighter above level 250, you'll have to visit the Secret Ninja Training School! The Swashbuckling Academy accepts dubloons as payment, the Mystery Island Training School accepts regular codestones, and the Secret Ninja Training School accepts red codestones.

To get Dubloons, you could either win them from dailies (such as Anchor Management), the Battledome, or buy them on the Shop Wizard. One Dubloon Coins (up to level 10) are all under 1,000 NP each, so it is a great bargain to start training with. Personally, when I began training, I would use dubloons up until level 10 because it is a LOT cheaper. When we got to Two Dubloon Coins, it was still cheaper, so I'd do that when I knew I would be busy outside of Neopia so I wouldn't have to worry about the course finishing too quickly.

To get codestones, you could win them from dailies (such as the Tombola), get them through random events, Key Quest, or buy them from other users. Codestone prices change regularly, depending if there is a plot, or rumors of a plot, or the Battledome is becoming more popular with Skirmish battles occurring. I usually buy mine on the Shop Wizard – often, users misprice their items, so you could get a great bargain if you know where to look! Codestone training is ideal after level 20 or so.

Red codestones are earned in the Battledome, or by combining all the different regular codestones at Mystery Island. It's usually cheaper just to buy them from other users from what I know.

First off, since you could train at both Mystery Island and Swashbuckling Academy in your beginning times, you should be considering the costs of dubloons versus the cost of codestones. At present, dubloons are cheaper, but courses at Swashbuckling Academy take longer.

But I'm too impatient for the training schools...

No worries, if you have a lot of Neopoints, or Fortune Cookies from the NC Mall, you're in luck.

The first alternative you have to training schools is using the Lab Ray, which is accessed from completing the Secret Laboratory Map. Each day, you can zap your pet and he or she can gain or lose stats, change colors, or change species or gender. It's a risk, especially since your pet will most likely have high HP, and lower level and other stats so if you want an evenly trained pet, this isn't your best bet. However, the lab does offer a nifty avatar if you're lucky (or unfortunate enough to suffer the consequences).

If you want to gain levels quickly, visit Count Von Roo at 12am NST. You have the chance of losing levels, but also gaining up to 2. There is also an avatar available from visiting him and winning twice.

The NC Mall also offers alternatives to waiting longer or gaining stats for your pet. If you buy a Training Fortune Cookie, your training school wait times will be shorter. Faerie Quest Cookies also guarantee you quests for a week, so you could use those to boost up your pet! However, NC costs real money, so make sure you're invested in your pet before deciding on this.

Faerie Quests normally are a bit more random, but they also offer valuable boosts in stats, with the exception of the Fountain Faerie.

There also are lots of stat boosting items! For instance, there are a lot of different Neggs that raise HP, defense, and other stats. These Neggs tend to be expensive, but you only have to depend on your pet's hunger level to increase stats. These wait times from "dying" are a lot shorter than the training school times. The most commonly used Neggs are Armoured Neggs (+1 Defense), Faerie Queen Negg (+1 HP), and there are also others that are pretty expensive such as Sneggs and Power Neggs.

Potions are another way to increase stats, but sometimes they can decrease them. Popular stats potions typically come from Kayla's Potion Shop at Meridell Castle, such as Bubbling Fungus and Cooling Balm of the Warrior. They also don't always work, so spend your Neopoints wisely!

Following a Plan

You can train up to twice your level and HP up to three times as much as your level. At level 20, for instance, my goal would be to train all my stats (except for movement, since movement doesn't help much) up to 40, and my HP up to 60, and then level up accordingly. You want to implement a plan that is cost and time effective, since training a pet could take forever!

The plan I follow has me train level up until the cap before having to increase the amount of codestones used, and then train all the other stats up and then HP to 3 times higher. Very simple, and also cost-effective since I don't have to pay for all those extra HP points with extra codestones. I don't rely on stat items or Faerie Quests yet. I will probably use more Neggs once the cost of the Negg is cheaper than the codestone cost, so I'd keep that in mind when you are training.

I hope this helps give you a little bit of insight on how to train your pet, even if you aren't too sure if battling is for you. Happy Battledoming and stay patient in your training, and you too could be as awesome as the Techo Master himself!