Faerie Abilities Guide Series: Level 300

Hello again and welcome back to our Faerie abilities serial guide, where we describe and analyze the new Faerie abilities released in Y15 for the new Battledome! In this series, we not only give descriptions of all of the faerie abilities, but we also analyze the abilities in relation to the others in the same tier, providing advantages and disadvantages of each, comparisons with the other abilities, and recommendations for how to use each ability to give you the best advantage over your opponent in the Battledome. This week, we are examining the Level 300 abilities. Each of these abilities will cost you 40 Faerie blessings of each of their respective elements. After you purchase one, if you decide you'd like to switch, the new ability will cost you 20 Faerie blessings of both of the specified types.

The Abilities

Healing Fire

Cost: Earth and Fire Blessings

Healing Fire is a very straightforward ability that heals 25 Hit Points (HP) and can be used once per battle. While that may sound useful on the surface, at this level of battling, 25 HP is pretty measly. Typically level is a pet's lowest stat, and many battlers train level only so their pet can continue to be trained at the training schools, where level must be at least half of a pet's highest stat. Thus, most pets that are over Level 300 will have a stat that is at least 600, and in many cases that stat will be HP. When you have 600 HP already, 25 HP is only about 4% of that, making this ability about as useful as Positive Thinking from the Level 10 tier. In addition, 25 HP can be easily obtained from healing weapons. In fact, this ability precisely matches Lesser Healing Scroll. However, there are many other options for healing weapons that battlers at this level would likely be able to afford, such as Greater Healing Scroll, which heals 50 HP, or Rejuvenating Jar of Brains, which heals 60 HP. Even if those healers are out of your budget, if you have over 250 HP - which is likely at this level of battling - Velms Healing Potion, which heals 10% of your possible HP, will provide more HP than this ability.

However, there are instances when Healing Fire may be useful. If your battling strategy focuses on weapons and does not incorporate many abilities, Healing Fire could benefit you because you would not have to sacrifice a weapon slot to heal, and in some battles, every little HP counts. On the other hand, you would probably be better off with one of the other two abilities in this tier instead of Healing Fire.

Healing Fire is best paired with strong shields. Many opponents, especially those that someone who is over Level 300 can take on, typically inflict more than 25 points of damage in a turn, so someone using Healing Fire would want to minimize the damage they take in order to have their total HP increased at the end of the round. Shields like Hubrid Nox Memorial Shield, Faerie Tabard, or Pirate Captains Hat are fairly good options to use with Healing Fire.

Drain Life

Cost: Water and Dark Blessings

Drain Life is a fun ability because it has the power to not only heal you, but it does so by taking HP from your enemy. This means you simultaneously heal yourself while damaging your opponent. When used, this ability takes 10% of your opponents current HP and adds it to yours, up to a maximum of 100 HP once per battle. That means even if your enemy currently had 2000/3500 HP when you used the ability, you would still only be able to steal 100 HP.

Because the benefits of Drain Life are based on a percentage of the current Hit Points of your opponent, you're going to want to time your use of it to get the biggest possible benefit. This means you're going to want to use it earlier in a battle, before your enemy has taken too much damage, or on a turn after they've healed. We would recommend the second approach, as if you're using it early in a battle, you're not yet likely in need of the healing it provides. This ability is more tailored for battlers who typically battle high level opponents in longer battles, as the small benefit it would provide against low and mid-level challengers can easily be replicated or surpassed by cheaper abilities (like the healing abilities in the Level 5 tier for low-level battlers) in combination with simple weapons.

On the turn you use this ability, you'll likely want to pair it with defensive weapons so as to not lower your opponent's HP that you'll soon be stealing *insert evil laugh here.* As we're recommending this ability for higher level battlers, we're also going to recommend some higher-end gear. A Hubrid Nox Memorial Shield is a fantastic option, as it's readily available in the Hidden Tower and blocks 100% of Light icons, as well as 5 each of air, earth, physical and water icons. Of course, if money is no object and you'd like to protect yourself as much as possible, you could always opt for the elusive Thyoras Tear, which blocks 100% of all icon types. Alternatively, you could pair this ability with a strong once-per-battle defensive weapon like Downsize!, which blocks 50% of all icon types, or an even stronger one-use weapon like Thick Smoke Bomb, which blocks 100% of all icon types.

Rejuvenate

Cost: Water and Light Blessings

Rejuvenate is a peculiar ability in that it functions under a particular set of circumstances. It's extremely useful because it can heal you to 100% and can be used once per battle, but it has to be used at the right time. The first thing you need to know is that for Rejuvenate to work, you have to use it when you still have at least 5% of your total Hit Points left. You can double check this by breaking out a calculator program/app that almost all computers, tablets and phones have and dividing the number of HP you have left by your total HP. The result must be greater than or equal to 0.05 for the ability to work. Secondly, you need to have been attacked on the round you use Rejuvenate for it to take effect, which means that even if Rejuvenate provides a full heal, you might not end the round at full HP if you take damage from your opponent's attack. Lastly, it can be blocked by Shhhhhhhhh..., Tempest, Warlock's Rage and Lens Flare, so if used on the same turn as your opponent uses one of those abilities, Rejuvenate will be rendered ineffective.

While Rejuvenate can be great, the fact that it needs to be used under certain conditions means that you might not want to rely on it fully. Unfortunately, most in-battle healers are ridiculously expensive for the benefit they provide, and if you want one that's going to be truly helpful (guaranteed healing of more than 50-60 HP), you'll easily be spending in the tens of millions of neopoints. Therefore, you'll want to make sure you have your defences covered for later turns in the chance Rejuvenate gets blocked. A Leaf Shield is a decent option for a still-affordable price, blocking 5 each of earth and water icons along with 3 physical icons. For some extra insurance, you could march over to the Hidden Tower and pick up a Faerie Tabard, giving yourself a range of defences blocking 5 physical and fire icons, 3 air and earth icons, and boasting a 100% water defence. These shields are also helpful to pair with Rejuvenate. Blocking large amounts of your opponent's attack means you're more likely to have close to 100% of your HP when the turn ends.

Recommendation

In this tier, we recommend Rejuvenate. All three of these abilities help you gain HP, and HP are key to winning a battle - particularly because the entire goal is to hang on to yours longer than your opponent does. Healing Fire is a weak healer at this level of battling, so either of the other two options are a better choice. Between those two, Drain Life is particularly exciting because it not only increases your HP but simultaneously decreases your opponent's HP. However, Drain Life ultimately only heals about 10% of your total HP (assuming your HP is similar to your opponent's), while Rejuvenate has the ability to give you close to 100% of your HP. To compare, a 10% healing item such as Velms Healing Potion is available in user shops for about 20,000 NP, while a reliable full healer costs upwards of 30 million NP. Because Rejuvenate is stronger overall, it is the recommended choice.

Conclusion

Healing can keep you alive and help you save your battle. That's why Level 300 is an appealing one to reach! But these are by no means the best abilities available to trained Neopians. Next time we'll analyze the Level 400 abilities, which bring their own intriguing effects. Stay tuned!