The Beginners Guide to the Battledome

While I was basically afraid of the battledome for years, I recently embraced the it and have not looked back since. The battledome is a great way to earn some neopoints and some prizes. Battling is neither difficult nor boring and I would recommend it to all who aren’t already taking part regularly.

As someone who had only attempted to take part in the battledome once more than a decade ago, I was pretty clueless in December when I decided to start using the battledome. While I’m certainly not an expert, I now battle every day and usually win, which brings in a tidy profit. This is by no means an exhaustive guide to the battledome, training, or weapons, but is rather intended to help you get off to a good start. There is a lot of information available when it comes to battling, so you can probably find answers to any questions that you have.

Getting Started

Unless you have a pet that has fairly good stats already, you are going to have to pick a pet to be your battledome pet. I would recommend picking the pet that is usually active, as this will allow you to capitalise on any random events or stat boosts that might come your way from dailies. If you have a pet that has good stats already, it is worth picking that one to save yourself some extra training time and costs. Another option is to look through the pound to find a pet with fairly high stats. This is a good option if you want to start battling straight away, and you can always work on training another pet in the meantime.

Training your pet

The main way of training your battledome pet is through the three training schools: Swashbuckling Academy, Mystery Island Training School, and the Secret Training School. If you’re just getting started with a pet below level 40, you will probably be training at Swashbuckling Academy. There are special restrictions on how far you can train different stats at the two main training schools, but the general rule is that Health, Defence, Strength, and Movement can be trained to double your pet’s level. At the Mystery Island Training School, Endurance (also known as Health) can be trained to three times the level. The cost and length of training depends on the level of your pet, though training time can be sped up with a Training Fortune Cookie. While training movement might be a real advantage at higher levels with choice of weapons, it is generally not important and can be increased with the lab ray and faerie quests, so consider not training movement if you want to reduce training time.

Training schools are not the only way that you can boost the stats of your pets. If you have the lab ray and are not attached to your pet’s species or colour, consider zapping your battle pet each day. While the lab ray can zap level back to zero, this stops around level 20, so keep that in mind. Zapping a pet can reduce the amount you have to spend on training.

Faerie Quests are also a great way to increase your stats. While they are awarded randomly, you can get a guaranteed faerie quest every day with the use of a Faerie Quest Fortune Cookie. Each faerie gives a different type of reward, generally a stat boost, so it is definitely an effective way to train without really training.

There are also a number of stat-boosting items available, though most of these are fairly expensive. Remember to visit your pet’s lookup on their birthday as you will be able to get a Birthday Cupcake that will boost a stat 5 points, depending on the cupcake that you select. These are a no-trade item.

Selecting your Weapon Set

There are a ridiculous number of weapons to choose from, so putting together a weapon set is a daunting task. The weapons you choose will largely depend on your budget, so consider checking out the Basic Weapon Set Guide on TDN Battlepedia (http://battlepedia.thedailyneopets.com/index.php/articles/viewarticle/basic-weapon-sets/) to choose a set of weapons that fits your budget. The general rule is to start out with the more inexpensive weapons and upgrade over time, which is a good idea if you’re new to battling. You don’t want to spend all your neopoints on an expensive weapon that turns out to be hard to sell if you decide that battledome isn’t really for you. You will find that there are lots of different options at different prices, but keep in mind that less expensive does not mean less effective. The Ridiculously Heavy Battle Hammer, for example, is a powerful weapon that can be found for as low as 1np. If you are having trouble putting together a weapon set that works for you, consider asking for some help on the Battledome board, and you may find someone who can help you out.

Faerie Abilities

Faerie abilities are abilities that your pets have in battle, and can be trained by blessing your pet with weak bottled faeries. Each ability requires a number of blessings from a particular faerie. These abilities can be learned when your pet is at a certain level, and some are more useful than others. TDN Battlepedia has a guide (http://battlepedia.thedailyneopets.com/index.php/articles/viewarticle/new-faerie-abilities/) that recommends the abilities that you should pick at different levels. If you change your mind after your pet has learnt an ability, you can always learn another one, but you will first ‘unlearn’ the original one.

Entering the Battledome

When you first start battling, you should pick the easier opponents, like the Chia Clown. As you get stronger, try battling other opponents. When I began, my general rule was to pick opponents with similar HP to me. Other good opponents for early on are S750 Kreludan Defender Robot, Donny, Eyrieki and Valin. It may take a few weeks, or months, before you can consistently win, depending on how much you train, and Healing Springs will be very useful early on.

Once your pet becomes more confident, you can tackle some of the more difficult challengers. Certain challengers award avatars when you beat them, while others give great prizes. If you have premium, you are going to want to be beating Jetsam Ace when you are strong enough, as you can win nerkmids fairly regularly, while Koi Warrior is a good option for non-premium users as it awards lots of codestones. After a while, you will find that the codestones that you win in the battledome can almost fund training costs, which is great.

Consider joining factions in Obelisk Skirmishes once you are confident in battling. Pick factions based on the boons that you would like, or avatars that you need, and ensure you win at least 10 battles for your faction during the skirmish.

Conclusion

There are lots of resources out there to help you on your journey to being a Battledome fighter. SunnyNeo has a great training calculator that can help you work out how long training will take and how much it will cost (http://www.sunnyneo.com/battledome/improved_calculator.php) and you will find that people on the NeoBoards are very friendly and helpful. It can be daunting to begin training