General Battledome Information
Originally posted by Doraemon on Sep 27, 2004 - No longer being updated..

Content

1. Basic Guide
• What are abilities?
• How to train my pets?
• What items should I get for the Battledome?
2. Advanced Guide
   • Strength and Defence
   • Petpet Damage Multiplier
   • The Dilemma of Healing

Aggressive players who use only bombs and big attackers do not find defence useful and choose to ignore them. While defensive players treasure defence greatly. You should plan your training base on your fighting style. While training, remember to keep your level at least a half of your highest stat, or else you won't be able to attend the courses in the School or the Academy.

The Training School and the Academy are two formal institutions that allow you to train any stat of your pet. Codestones are used for the paying the fee in the School, while dubloons are used for training in the Academy. Generally the School is more effective (quicker courses) than the Academy, but the latter offers cheaper courses for pets under level 20. Fees for the Academy courses for pets beyond level 20 is much higher than those courses offered by the School.

When you first start BDing with an unlabbed pet, you'd better have dubloon training in the Academy, then move to the School when your pet's level is above 20. An unlabbed pet can continue to train in the school until their level reaches 250.

To access the lab, you need to collect all of the nine different lab map pieces. After that, you can have lab access "permanently".

The lab ray is a great way to increase your pet's stats, except that the stats will be very messed up. Usually hp becomes much higher than other stats as the lab can never lowers one's hp. Moreover, if you want to quit the lab and use the School after labbing for a period of time, you will need at least a large sum of NP to raise the level again. With constant change of species, you are also prevented from using the cheap and effective species weapons. Furthermore, with the frequent changes in species/colour/gender, your pet can hardly has any decent personality.

According to IDB the chance of increasing hp though the lab is about 13.4%, while the statistics in neocolours show that the chance is about 12.9%.

The kitchen quest is one of the most widely used way of increasing stats after getting beyond level 250, or when you find the training cost too high. However when the items the chef asks for are even more expensive than the training cost, don't complete the quest. You won't get punished for failures. Similar to the lab, the downside of Kitchen Quest is that you have no control on which stat to train. Generally the chance of getting hp increase is about the twice of strength and defence. Furthermore, you cannot choose which pet to train. If the stats go to the wrong pet, it would be a waste of money. The only thing that it is better than the lab is that your pets' species and colours are not affected.

There are other ways of training, like using neggs, or through the shrine or random events. However these methods are either too expensive or beyond our control.

• Stealing
• Freezing
• Healing
• One-Use Attackers
• Once-per-battle Bombs
• Defense
• Reflection
• Weapons
• Beginners
• Everyone

Weapon info including cost, number/type of icons, and other effects can be found at the In-Depth Battlepedia. Weapons are listed alphabetically and by various categories; there is a search function as well. Weapon stats are exhaustively researched. Comments rate the usefulness and cost of weapons to help you figure out if they are a good choice.
~Quoted from Rodent (mousey509)

In the neopets BD system, the power of your pets' strength is determined by their strength boosts. What are strength boosts? They are certain values of strength that when your pets get beyond them, the damage they can inflict increases by a certain amount. (assume that other factors are constant)

If you are a bit confused, check the strength boost list and see the example below:

Pet A cautiously attacks(100%) punchbag bob with a zaptwig (10-iconer), whom also attacks PetA cautiously(100%).

If PetA has 55 strength (2.0 multiplier), the damage would be: 2.0x10x100%x100%=20hp damage

If PetA has 84 strength (2.0 multiplier), the damage would be: 2.0x10x100%x100%=20hp damage

If PetA has 85 strength (2.5 multiplier), the damage would be: 2.5x10x100%x100%=25hp damage

If PetA has 125 strength (3.0 multiplier), the damage would be: 3.0x10x100%x100%=30hp damage

Can you tell what Cripler's strength boost is?

Similar to strength, defence also works on the boost (check the boost list above). So generally the higher defence, the more damage you can block. However you only need your defend boost when you use shields. So for aggressive BDers, defence has no use.

Notice that defence does not mean blocking icons. Instead it means blocking damages.

zaptwig attack: 5 earth, 5 light
leaf shield defence: 5 earth, 5 water, 5 physical
so a maximum of 5 earth damage can be blocked

If leaf shield is used, and the defence of PetB is 55, the earth damage he blocks would be:
2.0x5x100%x100% = 10hp
15hp damage got through

If leaf shield is used, and the defence of PetB is 85, the earth damage he blocks would be:
2.5x5x100%x100% = 12.5hp
12.5 damage got through

Notice that even if the defence is at a boost higher than 85, the earth damage blocked is still 12.5, because PetA launched the 5 earth attacks with a 85 boost.

As a sidenote, the defended icons shown are simply misleading you. The weaker you are, the more blocked icons are shown. They have nothing to do with the amount of damage you blocked.

Petpets are highly effective in 2P fights, though it has no use in 1P. Basically it is a 150% damage multiplier exclusively for 2P fights. Notice that the species of the petpet has no effect on the multiplier, so you can attach any petpet you like to your BD pet.

If you see a petpet pop up, you may choose to use it, but it is not necessary. The multiplier does not take effect until the next turn. But remember to click the submit button as fast as you can. You need to make your move before your opponent takes action. I am not gonna to explain why as this involves another complicated BD system - the turn system.

To make you easier to understand what I am saying, here is an example.

Suppose your pet is at 500 strength boost (11 multiplier), equipped with 2 Scuzzy's comb

Without petpet:
turn 1 : dual comb+berserk = 11*20 = 220hp damage
turn 2 : dual comb+berserk = 11*20 = 220hp damage
total: 440hp damage

with petpet
turn1 (petpet pops up): dual comb+berserk = 11*20 = 220hp damage
turn2: dual comb+berserk = 11*20*150% = 330hp damage
total: 550hp damage

Healing is always one of the most essential elements in battling. Low-level pets can easily obtain reasonably priced healing through the Slime Potion (10hp heal, 1k), Bronze Scorchstone (15hp heal, 15k), Red Scorchstone (20hp heal, 75k), Blue Scorchstone (30hp heal, 200k), and Green Scorchstone (40hp heal, 500k). However, there is no cost-effective healer for most of the species once they have grown out of the green scorchstone. The upgrading scorchstones are horribly overpriced, like the Purple Scorchstone which only heals 10hp more than the green one, but costs over 1 mil more. As for the ultimate (power & price) scorchstone of jade, it is a goal of many, but also an unachievable dream of many.

So here is the dilemma of healing. Should one morphs his painted rare pet for the species healers, or should he stick to the green scorchstone? Actually there is no perfect solution to intermediate level healing. But still there are quite a few feasible (yet painful for some of us) ways to solve the problem.

1. Forget healing and trust the healing abilities

   Abandon healing completly from your strategies. With the healing slot freed up, you can consider getting weapons like Mega Cabbage which has nice amount (8 or 10) and varieties of icons, at the same time have a 26% chance of healing 10hp. If your HP really falls to an alarming level, you can use one of your 33% healing abilities (restore/regeneration/healing vapor) to bring your HP up. The lower your pet's' current hp is, the more effective the abilities are, because the 33% heal is not based on the max hp, but the lost hp.

   
2. Species healers

   If your pets are kacheeks, gelerts or elephantes, you are fortunate enough to be freed from the curse of the healing dilemma. These three species have their own effective healers. Kacheek Life Potion is just like the Jade Scorchstone (full heal) if your pet's current hp is over 33%. If it is below the 33% level, the full healer is reduced to a 33% max hp healer. As the effective use of the KLP makes it has no difference with the jade, it is one of the most popular healers in the BD. However, KLP is more demanding on calculations and strategies, as you need to make sure your hp won't fall below 33%. Nevertheless, you can use the 33% healing abilities to bring up your hp first, then use the KLP.

   

   The Gelert healing Remedy and the Elephante Unguent are the same. Both of them heals 50% of your max hp, regardless of your current hp. If you think that you are an aggressive battler who cares nothing but shooting icons to your opponent, you may find these more useful, as you are more likely to use the healer below with less than 33% hp.

3. Everlasting Crystal Apple

   The ECA is a cooking pot mixture of two Hidden Tower items, the Everlasting Apple and the Jhudoras Crystal Ball. These two ingredients have a total marked price of 3.9 mil. The ECA itself can is a multi-use healer that can heal 30hp every turn. An added bonus is that you can see your opponents' lineup, which can help strategic battlers a great deal in planning defenses. Many people argue that 3.9 mil is far too overpriced for what it does. Others argue that using it every turn is a waste of one of the two slots. Actually normal 2P fights usually last a few turns. If you use the ECA for four turns, you have gotten a 120hp heal. Also, a blocker that blocks 30hp damage is equivalent to a 10-icon shield for 125-boost pets, and a 30-icon shield for 13-boost pets. Moreover, no one forces you to use it every turn. It is up to you to decide how to plan out your strategies.

   
4. Ice Scorchstone

   The Ice Scorchstone is sold in the Hidden Tower for 2.9 mil. It is an unreliable full healer that only has 25% chance of working. In other words, you have a general chance of a full heal if you use it for four turns. Even so, don't expect it to work when you need it the most. To some people with high-level pets, this can be a compromise between healing and species/colours in 1P fights, as you can always withdraw when the scorchstone fails to heal on time. However, this is pathetic in 2P fights where everything is unpredictable, and when there is no way to withdraw.

5. Lucky Robots Foot

   This is an one-use jade which costs for about 7k. It can be useful in important 2P fights and BD tournaments, but don't try to use it in every fight. The 7k adds up very quickly, and you would have spent millions a month if you are a BD maniac.


6. Lucky Robots Foot (2P) + Ice Scorchstone (1P)

   If you have a painted rare pet that has over 200 strength, and morphing him/her isn't an option, this is the best solution before you can afford a jade. Withdraw, heal and challenge again if the ice scorchstone doesn't heal in 1P fights. The LRF should be good enough for any 2P fights. However you need to consider reducing random 2P fights like quick fights so as to control the hole that the LRFs burn on your wallet.