Faerie Abilities Guide Series: Level 10

Thank you for joining us once again for our serial exploration of the different Faerie abilities released in Y15 to supplement the new Battledome! In this series, we not only give descriptions of each and every ability, but also provide you a full breakdown of their advantages and disadvantages relating to their tier, the other available abilities, their cost, and how you can best utilize them to enhance your battledome set and skills! This week, we will be looking at the Level 10 tier abilities: Cranky, Meh, and Positive Thinking. The first ability you buy in the tier will cost 4 faerie blessings (the types are noted below). After your initial purchase, if you wish to switch to a different blessing, it will only cost 2 of the specified type of faerie blessing.

The Abilities

Cranky

Costs: Fire Blessings

Cranky is a favoured ability among people who like attacking, and especially attacking hard. The reason this ability is so exciting for attackers is because it increases your attack damage by 5% for the turn on which you use it. That means if you have a strength boost of 3 and you attack using a Scroll of Knowledge and a Ridiculously Heavy Battle Hammer, you would normally do 20 damage: (11 icons + 9 icons) * 3 boost = 20. However, if you use Cranky with those weapons, you will instead do 5% more damage, which means a total damage of 20 * 1.05 = 21!

An extra 1 damage point doesn't seem like a lot, but keep in mind that sometimes 1 HP makes a major difference in a battle. Most battlers have experienced a time when they had 1 HP left in a battle, and some have even come back from that to win. Plus, Cranky is even more beneficial if you have weapons that attack with more icons or you have a higher strength boost. If a pet has a strength boost of 10 and attacks with a Ghostkerbomb, which averages 25.5 icons, then typically they would do 255 damage points. Paired with Cranky, that would become 255 * 1.05 = 267.75, which rounds up to 268 damage. That's an increase of 13 damage points!

Cranky can only be used once per battle, so timing is key. Because of its emphasis on attacking, Cranky is best paired with strong attack weapons or bombs, such as single-use 15-icon weapons like Smelly Dung Muffin, Brain Muffin, or Yoyo Bomb. You'll get the most damage points, and thus benefit, out of this ability if you attack with a lot of icons. However, that means that you're best off using Cranky with 2 attacking weapons, which doesn't leave any room for defending. Thus, Cranky's weakness is a tendency to leave users exposed to high levels of damage from their opponents. This can be alleviated by using Cranky when your opponent is frozen. By preventing your opponent from attacking and also blocking your attack, Cranky can supplement your hard hit and potentially cause a major difference - in your favour - in the battle.

Meh

Costs: Air Blessings

Like Cranky, Meh is percentage-based, though it's a defensive rather than offensive ability. Using Meh will reduce the total damage you take that turn by 5%, and can only be used once per battle. This ability takes into account both your own existing defences, as well as your opponent's attack strength. The more damage your enemy inflicts, the more the ability will reduce, and the more you block yourself, the less the ability will reduce. For example, your opponent inflicts 120 Hit Points (HP) of damage and you use no defensive weapons, so using Meh would reduce the damage you take by 6 HP. However, if the same attack was used, and your defensive weapons blocked 80 HP of the attack, using Meh would only reduce the resulting damage by 2 HP. Though the resultant HP lost will obviously be less using Meh in conjunction with defensive weapons, it also requires more defensive effort with a smaller return on ability used, and minimizes your opportunities to mount offensive attacks.

The way we would recommend using this ability is during your first fully offensive strike of the battle. Using Meh with two offensive weapons ensures that you are able to get its full benefit while also inflicting a great blow against your opponent. However, depending on your set and you opponent, it could also be used as more of a safeguard towards the end of a battle. If your opponent has a higher strength boost (or in the case of 1 player, a more offensively-based set), and your defensive consists largely of one-use weapons, saving Meh to use after you've exhausted your defensive weapons could be a good idea. In this case, as you're closer to the end of battle, it may be worth pairing the ability with a reflective or dual-duty weapon like a Scarab Ring, Golden Compass, Hanso Charisma Charm, or Shield of Reflection.

Positive Thinking

Costs: Light Blessings

Positive Thinking is another ability that uses percentages to calculate its benefit. This ability will heal your pet 5% of its current HP during battle. The 5% is calculated before any damage from that round is taken off, then added to your remaining HP at the end of the turn. For example, if you have 250/300 HP, use Positive Thinking, and take 58 damage during the turn, you would be left with 250-58+(250 x 0.05)= 204.5, which rounded up is 205 HP at the end of the turn, for a net loss of 45 HP instead of the 58 HP you would have lost had you not used the ability.

Because the percentage is taken from your current remaining HP, we would definitely recommend using this ability either on the first turn of a battle to negate initial damage (depending on your HP and opponent, 5% could mean you take no damage the first turn!), or if you are in possession of a reliable freezer, using the freezer on the first turn, followed by Positive Thinking and a strong offensive attack on the second turn. Using this ability earlier on in the battle ensures that the amount you are being healed is calculated before your HP get too depleted, meaning that you will benefit more from using it. Some good freezers that can be used in preparation for this ability, if you choose not to use the ability right on the first turn, are Heavy Blue Tunic (though it's a little pricey and requires high pet intelligence to be effective) or, for the more budget-conscious battler, a Scroll of Freezing.

Recommendation

For this tier, we recommend any of the three abilities. Each one has its benefits and drawbacks, but used with the right pet, weapons, and time of battle, they each can benefit you. If you have a high strength boost and weapons that deal lots of damage, you'll probably see the most benefit from Cranky. If you have low defence stats but also want to protect yourself from damage, Meh can be useful to you. Meh can be particularly good in 1-player battles because the opponents tend to be strong with fairly good weapon sets. And if you have high HP and would like to conserve them, Positive Thinking is the way to go. All three of these abilities are useful, and their relative usefulness depends on your specific battling strategy and style.

Conclusion

In this tier, your individual battling strategy matters the most in selecting which ability you'd like to purchase. Hopefully this guide has helped you consider what your battling strategy is and how these abilities might complement it to help you win more battles. And keep in mind, you can always change your mind later and choose a different ability. Stay tuned next time for our discussion of the Level 25 abilities!