Wraith-Wrecking Weaponry on a Budget: a Guide

    Do you see it? Do you feel it? All around you? The sense of dread? The new site theme with the menacing shadows all over it?

     This is big. Those shadows and wraiths might decide to creep out of the site theme and start attacking us. Given that they already have a penchant for going around and making pets sad or giving them diseases via their respective random events, I don’t think I need to explain to you why it’s worth being able to defend yourself from these guys. I hope you’ve been training your pets. If you haven’t, it’s not too late – get to the Swashbuckling Academy or Mystery Island Training School as fast as you can and train, prioritizing HP, attack, and defense, then level (you can safely skip out on agility, which is basically useless – you can’t run from the shadows anyway).

     But not everyone can afford to defend themselves with items that cost tens of millions of Neopoints. What if I told you that you don’t need to spend that much to stave off the descending darkness? That you can have a good Battledome set without letting shadowy nothingness seep into your bank account?

     In this article, I’ll tell you about a few relatively cheap and cost-efficient options – all under 500,000 Neopoints, many under 100,000 - that should give you a chance in the Battledome against the horrors that await us. The prices I’ve quoted are current at the time of my writing this, but keep in mind that, with everyone terrified of the shadows around them, the market for weapons has gone haywire, so these prices may not be 100% accurate. Be sure to do some looking around with the Shop Wizard and on the Trading Post to find the best deal.

     Weapons

     To start out, you’ll want two of these. These are the weapons that provide the best raw firepower for their price. The turns when you use your two primary weapons are going to be the turns you end up doing the most damage.

     Scroll of Ultranova - ~3,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 9.8 icons in total (it will look like 11 when you use it but you won’t actually do 11 icons’ worth of damage): 3.4 of both air and fire and 3 of light. I wouldn’t personally bother with anything cheaper/weaker.

     Multi Barbed Ice Spear - ~20,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 11 icons in total: 4 air, 4 water, and 3 dark. As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, weapon prices do not increase linearly with their power. Still, this is your best and cheapest 11-icon option.

     Winged Boomerang - ~30,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 11 icons in total: 6 of fire and 5 of air. If you’re looking at this, I’d personally suggest just saving up for the Molten Boulder or going with the generally-cheaper spear, but if you want the fire and air without spending enough for a boulder, this is your best choice.

     Molten Boulder - ~80,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 13 icons in total in varying combinations of physical, air, and fire. Being a recent Daily Dare prize, it’s relatively cheap - Once upon a time, this effect would have cost ten times this much, if not more!

     Yooyu Knuckle Duster - ~170,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 14 total icons: 7 light and 7 physical. If choosing between this and a Tyrannian Scepter, get the one that you can find more cheaply, since they both do the same damage.

     Tyrannian Scepter - ~170,000 Neopoints – This also attacks with 14 total icons: 7 fire and then 7 of either light or physical. If choosing between this and a Yooyu Knuckle Duster, get the one that you can find more cheaply, since they both do the same damage.

     Turned Tooth - ~325,000 Neopoints – This attacks for 15 icons on average but can attack for as few as 13 or as many as 22; it will use somewhere from 8-12 earth icons and 5-10 physical ones. If you’re quick enough, you may be able to restock one from the Tyrannian Weaponry shop; since Turned Tooth is only rarity 83, one will show up reasonably often. You can also hope to get lucky and wish for one at the Wishing Well, since its rarity is low enough.

     Unfortunately, for the time being, the next most powerful weapons worth picking up will set you back several million Neopoints – not exactly budget-friendly.

      Shields

     These do exactly what you would expect: defend. They’re better if your pet’s defense stat is high, and they’re inherently more situational than weapons are. If you’re going to use a shield, it’s best to use one you know can block something your opponent is using. If you want to keep it simple and save money or your pet’s defense stat isn’t very good, you can skimp on shields. If you have a choice between buying a shield and a weapon, though, I’d suggest the weapon just about every time – you can’t win with just shields, after all!

     Downsize! - ~8,000 Neopoints – If there’s an essential defensive item, it’s this one! It blocks 50% of all incoming damage, once per battle. It’s great if you’re up against an opponent you can’t consistently defeat, and since the next direct upgrade (Thyora’s Tear) costs around 30 million Neopoints, you’ll likely hold on to this for a while.

     Parasol of Unfortunate Demise – ~3,500 Neopoints – This defends 100% of all incoming light, 3 water icons, and up to 5 earth icons. Obviously, the light blocking is the primary attraction, but in single-player battles, it will use your opponent’s strength to defend – good if your pet’s defense is lacking.

     Leaf Shield - ~35,000 Neopoints – This blocks 5 earth, 5 water, and 3 physical icons. Illusen hands this out upon the completion of her 29th successful quest, so it should remain cheap.

     Kiko Skull Pirate Hat - ~45,000 Neopoints – This blocks 5 water, 5 dark, and 2 physical icons, and it blocks 2 more physical icons if you find yourself blasted with air. Honestly, I’m not a fan of buying shields like these just to have them; unless you know you’re going up against an opponent that this will really work well against, I’d just save my Neopoints for better weapons.

      Dual Duties

     They protect, but they also attack, hence the "dual" nature. What’s not to love? Well, they tend to sacrifice a bit of raw offensive power in order to provide you with that defense, so bear that in mind. Despite that, there are several dual duties worth considering; my favorites are here.

     Scarab Ring - ~2,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 6 total icons (2 water, 2 dark, and 2 physical) while defending against 6 total icons (3 fire and 3 physical). This used to be the king of cheap weapons, and while there are better offensive alternatives now, this is still a great value.

     Stocking Full of Coal - ~35,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 9 total icons (3 earth, 3 air, and 3 physical) while defending against 5 light icons. For the price, this is quite efficient, though it’s obviously a lot better if you know your opponent will use light.

     Golden Compass – ~40,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 9 total icons (3 fire, 3 air, and 3 light) while defending against 2.66 dark icons. A bit less efficient than the aforementioned Stocking, but still reasonably powered.

     Rusty Pitchfork - ~85,000 Neopoints – This attacks with 11 total icons (3 earth, 3 fire, and 5 physical) while defending against 5 physical icons. This is actually quite powerful since physical icons show up on a wide range of weapons, so this item’s defense will come into play often. It shows up for a bit more than the quoted price on the Trading Post on occasion, so I would only go there as a last resort when looking for one of these.

      Healers

     This is a key part to anyone’s set, whether they’re on a low budget or a high one. Most items that can heal you work only once per battle and none of these are an exception. Still, especially for higher-HP pets, choosing the correct healer is very important.

     Magical Healing Potion - ~5 Neopoints – This will heal your pet for 15 HP. This is really only good for absolute beginners since 15 HP is outgrown reasonably easily, but it’s so cheap that, as long as this is around, there’s no excuse to have a pet with no healer.

     Oasis Tonic - ~42,000 Neopoints – This will heal your pet for 35 HP. Not much else to say about it except that, like everything else, power and price are not proportional.

     Cursed Elixir of Neovia – ~95,000 Neopoints – This will heal your pet 40 HP. For whatever reason, it also attacks with two physical icons; perhaps the act of opening the bottle is physically painful for your opponents.

     Elephante Unguent (Elephantes only) - ~150,000 Neopoints - This will heal your Elephante for 50% of their maximum HP, no questions asked – just as powerful as the 15 million Neopoint Bag of Healing Dust! Golden, green, and blue Elephante morphing potions can be had for very cheap (with the golden ones ironically being the cheapest), so by morphing your pet into an Elephante and then buying one of these, you can get a 50% healer for about one percent of the price of the Bag!

     Gelert Healing Remedy (Gelerts only) - ~120,000 Neopoints – This item, similar to the Elephante Unguent, will heal your Gelert for 50% of their maximum HP. Since Gelert morphing potions are all significantly more expensive than Elephante morphing potions, if you’re on a budget, don’t care about your pet’s species, and have a pet with more than 80 max HP that isn’t a Gelert, going with the Unguent will be cheaper, but this is still a worthwhile option.

     Kacheek Life Potion (Kacheeks only) - ~150,000 Neopoints – When your Kacheek is under 33% of their maximum HP, this will only heal them by 33%, but when they have over 33% of their maximum HP it will heal them to their max HP. This is absurdly powerful; general effects like this run from several million Neopoints to tens of millions. If you like Kacheeks, then this is the healer for you; it’s worth morphing your pet into a Kacheek for this, though all Kacheek morphing potions are unbuyable.

     Helm of Recovery/Greater Healing Scroll - ~225,000 Neopoints – These both heal pets for 50 HP. The correct one of these to grab is the cheaper one; currently, the Helm is cheaper than the Scroll, at around 200,000 Neopoints versus the Scroll’s 250,000. If your pet has 150 max HP or more I’d suggest morphing it into a Kacheek, Elephante, or Gelert and using the respective species healer; for pets with less max HP this is a reasonable option.

     Like the shadows themselves, the wide range of items available for use in the Battledome is vast and can be overwhelming, with some items being so much better than others. Hopefully, I’ve given you the knowledge to help make sure that the darkness doesn’t get the better of you!