Lesson Three: Weapons

January 7, 2008

Like prices on anything else in Neopia, prices for Battledome items tend to rise and fall - sometimes dramatically - based on a number of factors. I will update the prices listed here from time to time, but keep in mind that they should only be taken as general guidelines. Always be sure to research current prices before spending your hard earned neopoints !

Weapons, weapons, everywhere !

Neopia has lots and lots of battledome weapons & items and lots of different kinds of weapons and items. Before considering specific weapons, it’s a good idea to know something about the different types of weapons available and what they do.

Some items are single use, some you can use once per battle and some are multiple use. Single use items are items that disappear after you use them. Once per battle items are items disappear when you use them, but reappear after the battle so you can use them in the next battle. Multiple use items, well … you can use them over & over. In the lists of weapons below, single use and once per battle items are noted as such. Everything else is multiple use.

Simple enough … but there’s one other complication. Some items are fragile or semi-fragile. These items are once per battle items, but will eventually break and disappear forever. They might last one battle or they might last ten – there is no way to know. Semi-fragile items tend to be a bit more durable than fragile items.

This all has to be considered when you look at the price of items. Multiple use items are generally the most expensive, but you can use them over and over and then resell them when you are done with them or upgrading or whatever. Similarly, you can resell once per battle items.

This makes them a better investment than single use or (semi-)fragile items, which you pay for then they’re gone. Some people will say that you should never buy single use or (semi-)fragile items because of this. But as you’ll see, unless you’re rich, sometimes you should (or have to) use single use items while you save for keeper items. For example, a Honey Potion is a great bomb to have (13.3-16 icons damage), but until you save up the 800,000np, you may have to make use of single use water muffins (15 icons damage) at 12,000np each.

You do remember icons, right? Icons are basically a measurement of how much damage an offensive weapon does or how much damage a defensive weapon blocks (one of many factors that determine hit point damage, if you recall – if not, go reread Lesson One).

So, all items do or prevent a certain number of icons worth of damage, right? Nope. Some, but not all. Some battledome items do other things, but we’ll get to that – don’t be pushy.

In general, icons are used to measure the effectiveness of both offensive and defensive weapons. Some weapons serve a certain number of icons (attack or defend), but some are also variable. In other words, their effectiveness falls within a certain range. For example, an Earth Faerie Slingshot does between 7 and 9 icons of damage, so it might deliver either 7, 8, or 9 icons of damage on any given turn. With some variable weapons, there is an equal chance for each of the possible options, for others, they may be more likely to do a certain amount and less likely to do another amount. This is something worth investigating if you are considering a weapon that does or defends a variable amount of damage.

Additionally, some weapons do (or defend) fractional damage. In other words, they may appear to do 5 icons of water damage and 5 icons of physical damage for a total of 10, but in actual fact they do 4½ icons of each for a total of 9 icons.

As you know (or if you don’t, go back and re-read the earlier Lessons), there are different kinds of damage that can be done. These are physical, earth, air, fire, water, dark, and light. This is relevant, because weapons tend to do or block certain icon types and not others. For example, using a defensive weapon that blocks fire icons doesn’t help you if your opponent is using a weapon that does earth and water damage.

Some icon types are more common and other icon types are more rare. This is more relevant in 2-player battles (when you’re battling other neopians) where your opponents will try to block the more common icon types and less relevant in 1-player battles where your (computerized) opponents don’t pay much attention to that stuff.

I’m sure you can see why this can be an important factor in choosing your weapons. You will often find that where two weapons do the same number of icons of damage, the one that does icons of the more rare types will be more expensive. Because you can equip and use multiple weapons/items, you may want to match up weapons that do different icon types of damage so you have a better chance of getting past your opponents defenses.

Now that you’ve got all that down, it’s time to start looking at the weapons and items themselves … except you need to know a couple other little things before we start. First, with some items and item types, you can only equip one (for example, you are only allowed one healing item and one freezing item). These items are noted below with an asterisk *. Second, the prices listed below are current as of when I wrote this, but they do tend to fluctuate, especially when there is a war going on or rumored to be coming soon.

As I said earlier, there are LOTS of weapons in Neopia. When you compare effectiveness, price, etc. you quickly can figure out that most of them aren’t worth using. The list below is essentially a list of weapons at different prices that I think are worth considering. I’m sure I’ve missed a few and there are plenty of new weapons being added all the time. If you are looking at a weapon not listed here, compare its effectiveness and price to the ones on this list and you’ll get a pretty good idea whether it is worth considering.

OK, now you’re ready. Do you feel ready? Well, you look ready. Your hair could use a brushing, but whatever …

Offensive Weapons

These weapons do damage. That’s it. No finesse or defense here, just bone breaking damage. If you’re the type that doesn’t like to worry too much about strategy and just wants to grab your opponent and step on his/her neck, these weapons are your best friend.

Bone Sceptre (6 icons – 2 dark, 2 air, 2 earth) – 20np
The bargain basement. This weapon accomplishes two things – it shows that anyone can afford to battle and makes all of the weapons that do less than 6 icons of damage essentially worthless. If you have very little neopoints, just grab two of these and start smashing. If you don’t have 150np, then stop reading now and go play some games …

Obsidian Dagger (5.2-8 icons – 2 fire, 3 earth, 0.2-3 physical) – 200np
A very popular entry-level offensive weapon. This is an example of a weapon that does both variable and fractional damage.

Enchanted Wooden Bow (6.85-8.65 – 2 fire, 2 air, 2.65 light, 0.2-2 physical) – 24,000np

Earth Faerie Slingshot (7-9 icons – 3 air, 3 light, 1-3 physical) – 38,000np

Ice Club (9 icons – 3 water, 3 air, 3 physical) – 80,000np
Stone Club (9 icons – 3 air, 3 earth, 3 physical) – 90,000np
Between the two of them, these two 9 icon weapons drove down the prices on the 10 icon weapons. People realized that there was no point spending 1,000,000np on a Ramtors spellbook (10 icons) if they could get an Ice Club for so much less.

Psellias Fighting Fan (9 icons – 3 air, 3 light, 3 physical) 110,000np
An example of paying more for icon variety. You may want to stick with either the Ice Club or Stone Club (or one of each) above rather than buy one of these, but some people love them and I include it to illustrate the point about icon variety.

Staff or Righteous Fury (7.5-12 icons – 7 light, 0.5-5 physical) – 370,000np

Scuzzys Comb (10 icons – 5 light, 5 physical) – 295,000np

Ramtors Spellbook (10 icons – 5 light, 5 dark) – 490,000np

Sword of Apocalypse (8.47-13 icons – 3 fire, 5 dark, 0.47-5) – 1,100,000np

Bzzt Blaster (11 icons – 5 light, 3 water, 3 air) – 2,000,000np
This was THE 11 icon weapon to have for quite a while. A few other 11 icon blasters (below) were recently added that do different icon types of damage and can be cheaper. The Bzzt Blaster remains popular, though, partly for icon variety, but primarily for sentimental reasons, I think.

Goo Blaster (11 icons – 5 water, 3 earth, 3 physical) – 1,200,000np
Fungus Ray (11 icons – 5 water, 3 dark, 3 earth) – 1,700,000np
Garoo Elite Blaster (11 icons – 5 fire, 3 earth, 3 physical) – 2,000,000np

Bow of Destiny (13 icons – 5 earth, 5 light, 3 fire) – 3,100,000np

Wand of Reality (13 icons – 5 light, 5 air, 3 physical) – 3,400,000np

Werelupe Claw Necklace (14-18 icons – 4.66 dark, 4.66 fire, 3 earth, 0.5-5 physical) – 7,250,000np
You’re in the big leagues now, brother. The WoR and BoD above are considered the top of the intermediate weapons and this one is the first of the advanced weapons. The two swords below are the best of the advanced weapons and the natural upgrades from the Werelupe Claw Necklace.

Sword of Skardsen (16.25-25 icons – 15 dark, 1.25-10 physical) – 10,750,000np
For many, this is the ultimate offensive weapon, meaning the biggest, best one they are willing to pay for. If you want anything better, you’re really going to have to PAY.

Pirate Captains Cutlass (16.25-24 icons – 6.25-14 air, 5 light, 5 physical) – 15,800,000np
More of a compliment to the Sword of Skardsen because it does essentially the same amount of damage, but costs much more. Some advanced battlers like to get one of each of these for a very powerful duo of weapons doing a variety of icons.

Ghostkersword (16-31 icons – 8-23 air, 5 physical, 3 dark) – 63,000,000np
Now we’re getting into the crazy weapons – those that are more expensive than most Neopians will ever be able to afford.

Attack Pea (24 icons – 24 earth) – 100,000,000np+ ?? (if you can even find one - when I was last updating these prices, there was one on the TP for 225 mil)

Seasonal Attack Pea (28 icons – 20 earth, 8 light) – 150,000,000np+ (if you can even find one)

Super Attack Pea (32 icons – 20 earth, 12 air) – uh … just walk away … you didn’t see nothin

Defensive Weapons

These are the opposite of the offensive weapons in that they block damage and nothing else. You can’t use them to step on anybody’s neck, but they will protect your neck from a steppin’.

There are essentially two kinds of defence – icon defence and percentage defence. Weapons that defend a certain number of icons are only useful if your pet trains defence. As with attack damage, the total hit points blocked depend on both the effectiveness of the defence item, your pet’s defence stat, and all those other good things discussed in previous lessons.

The other kind of defensive weapons block a certain percentage of the damage done regardless of your pets stats or anything else.

Large Metal Shield (5 icons – 1 air, 1 earth, 1.5 fire, 1.5 water) – 100np
The bargain basement of defensive weapons.

Earthen Scorchstone* (10 icons – 5 air, 5 dark) – 4000np

Leaf Shield (13 icons – 5 earth, 5 water, 3 physical) – 6000np
Considered one of the great battledome values. Blocks a lot of common icons for a very low price. In terms of icon defence, it’s pretty much the best way to go unless you’re looking to block specific icon types.

Mystical White Cloak (9 icons – 3 air, 3 light, 3 dark) – 23,000np

Patched Magic Hat (11-14 icons – 5 earth, 3 light, 3or6 physical) – 20,000np

Virtupets X-514 Super Shield (9.9-12 icons – 2 water, 2 light, 3 earth, 0.9-3 physical) – 46,000np

Sophies Magic Hat (14 icons - 5 earth, 3 fire, 3 dark, 3 physical) - 300,000np

Faerie Tabard (16+ icons - 100% water, 5 fire, 5 physical, 3 air, 3 earth) - 7,500,000np
Ghostkershield (16+ icons – 100% dark, 5 earth, 5 physical, 3 air, 3 light) – 8,000,000np
The big ‘uns. The ‘ideal’ shield to many, but I don’t think I’d spend that much on a purely defensive weapon. I’m quite fond of the dual duty weapons, myself (moreso than lots of pets), and from a strategy perspective, I would prefer to try to finish a battle faster by doing damage than wait around round after round trying to block damage. But these are both pretty impressive. If Bellagio ever gets rich, maybe …

Downsize! (50% of all) – once per battle – 4,500np
All-in-all this is probably the single best battledome item in Neopia. It blocks 50% of all icon types whether you have trained defence or not. Equally useful to beginner, intermediate, and advanced battlers, it would be a bargain at ten times the price. Get one. I mean now, go get one before you read any further. I’ll wait for you …

…

What? Did you go get a sandwich? Anyway, we continue …

Thick Smoke Bomb (100% of all) – single use – 9,500np
Very useful in that you can block all of anything for one turn. For a lot of battlers, though, it’s VERY expensive, but when you see the price of the once per battle keeper below, Thyoras Tear, you’ll see why.

Thyoras Tear (100% of all) – once per battle – 40,000,000np

There are also a number of defensive items that will block 100% of a specific icon type. Most of them are quite expensive, ie. priced in the millions of NP – too expensive for items that are so narrow. Some pets disagree with me, of course, but most of them are pets who don’t train defence (and you know what I think of them *ptooey*).

Dual-duty Weapons

If you train defense, then dual-duty weapons are for you. Why? Because they do damage like an offensive weapon and prevent damage like a defensive weapon at the same time. One way to evaluate dual-duty weapons is to add total offensive icons and total defensive icons. For example, 5 attack icons and 5 defence icons would compare with a ten icon weapon, for example. Using this comparison, you will see that many of the dual-duty weapons give you a lot of value for your NP.

Scarab Ring (6 icons attack – 2 water, 2 dark, 2 physical & 6 icons defence – 3 fire, 3 physical) – 1100np
The classic dual-duty weapon. A total of 12 icons for 1100np. How can you beat that? Unlike Downsize!, you will outgrow its usefulness when you start to get to the upper intermediate battle level. That’s the only reason it’s #2 on the list of Neopia’s best battledome items. You will have a use for this until you’re ready to spend nearly a million NP on a Dusty Magic Broom. The dual-duty weapons between here and there aren’t better, they just allow opportunities for more emphasis on attack over defence or for different icon varieties.

King Kelpbeards Blessing (6 icons attack – 3 water, 3 dark & 3 defence – 3 light) – 4800np

Tooth of Terask (6 icons attack – 3 water, 3 air & 3 icons defence – 3 dark) – 22,000np

Zapatron 2000 (6 icons attack – 6 light & 3 icons defence – 3 dark) – 78,000np

Cloudy Wand of Storms (7.2 icons attack – 2.6 fire, 2.6 dark, 2 water & 3 icons defence – 3 earth) – 95,000np

Frozen Wand of Crystals (7.6 icons attack – 3 light, 2.6 air, 2 fire & 3 icons defence – 3 water) – 135,000np

Amulet of Inevitable Betrayal (7 icons attack – 3 water, 2 air, 2 dark & 3 icons defence – 3 light) – 100,000np

Golden Compass (9 icon attack – 3 fire, 3 air, 3 light & 2.6 icon defence – 2.6 dark) – 200,000np

Dusty Magic Broom (8 icons attack – 3 air, 5 earth & 5 icons defence – 5 light) – 1,000,000np

Air Faerie Crown (9 icons attack – 3 air, 3 dark, 3 light & 5 icons defence – 5 light) – 1,500,000np

Hobans Hat (10 icons attack – 2 air, 2 earth, 3 physical, 3 light & 5 icons defence – 5 water) – 1,800,000np

Mask of Coltzan (8 icons attack – 8 fire & 11 icons defence – 6 dark, 5 earth) – 3,400,000np
One of my favorite weapons. 19 combined icons for 3.4 mil is a great deal. The Werelupe Claw Necklace does 14-18 icons of damage and costs more than twice as much.

Bottle of Magic Sand (10 icons attack – 5 physical, 5 light & 5-9 defence – 4.5 dark, 0.5-4.5 physical) – 6,000,000np
Much more expensive than the Mask of Coltzan, but surely no better, just a little more emphasis on attack. Included for comparison purposes, but also because if you have the NP, it would compliment the MoC fairly well.

Bombs

Who doesn’t like bombs? … ok, you have a good point there …

Anyway, bombs are one use per battle weapons that do a lot of damage relative to their cost. The good ones are fairly expensive, so most battlers will use single use snowballs and muffins until they can afford a bomb.

There are lots of kinds of snowballs and muffins, but again, a comparison of effectiveness and cost helps demonstrate which of them are even worth considering (the good ones are below).

Snowballs

Peach Snowball (6.2-9 icons – 3 water, 3 earth, 0.2-3 physical) – single use – 3np

Sand Snowball (9 icons – 5 fire, 4 earth) – single use – 15np

Icy Eye Snowball (9 icons – 4.5 air, 4.5 water) – single use – 75np

Icy Snowball (8-11.3 icons – 3.8 earth, 3.8 water, 0.4-4.7 physical) – single use – 75np

Tortured Snowball (10 icons – 5 fire, 5 water) – single use – 150np

Sticky Snowball (8.5-12.5 icons – 4.3 earth, 4.3 water, 0-4 physical) – single use – 150np

Snow Mudball (9.5-13.5 icons – 4.5 water, 4.5 earth, 0.5-4.5 physical) – single use – 600np

Muffins

Evil Muffin (9 icons – 3 dark, 3 fire, 3 physical) – single use – 300np

Fire Muffin (12 icons – 4 fire, 4 light, 4 physical) – single use – 1600np

Stone Muffin (13.5 icons – 4.5 earth, 4.5 dark, 4.5 physical) – single use – 2500np

Radioactive Muffin (13.5 icons – 4.5 dark, 4.5 light, 4.5 physical) – 3500np

Golden Muffin (13.5 icons – 4.5 earth, 4.5 light, 4.5 physical) – single use – 3800np

Water Muffin (15 icons – 5 earth, 5 water, 5 physical) – single use – 8800np
This was the top muffin for quite a while, but more 15 icon muffins (below) have been introduced recently and most of them are cheaper.

Shooting Star Muffin (15 icons - 5 fire, 5 air, 5 dark) - single use - 3000np
Brain Muffin (15 icons – 5 earth, 5 light, 5 physical) – single use – 4800np
Dung Muffin (15 icons – 5 water, 5 earth, 5 physical) – single use – 5000np
Robot Muffin (15 icons – 5 fire, 5 air, 5 physical) – single use – 5000np
Darigan Muffin (15 icons – 5 fire, 5 dark, 5 physical) – single use – 7000np
Icey Muffin (15 icons – 5 water, 5 air, 5 physical) – single use – 8900np

Bombs

Mud Mixture (6 icons – 6 earth plus heals 1-5 hp) – once per battle – 15np
Caustic Potion (6 icons – 6 earth plus heals 1-5 hp) – once per battle – 75np
Illusens Earth Potion* (6.33-9 icons – 6 earth, .33-3 physical) – once per battle – 900np
These are the only three cheap bombs. They’re strictly for beginner battlers, though, and even then, probably only for those that battle a lot and can’t afford snowballs.

Honey Potion* (13.3-16 icons – 13 earth, .3-3 physical) – once per battle – 800,000np
The cheapest of the big bombs. You know you’ve graduated to intermediate battling the first time you drop this sucker on somebody.

Rainbow Clockwork Grundo* (16-20 icons – 4-5 fire, 4-5 air, 4-5 light, 4-5 dark) – once per battle – 3,400,000np
I used to have one of these before I upgraded and had lots of fun blowing up my opponents with it. I even unleashed it on poor Pahmo once heh heh. Poor, poor, Pahmo.

Ghostkerbomb* (21-30 icons – 10 fire, 10 earth, 1-10 physical) – once per battle – 7,500,000np
This make BIG bang.

Freezers

Freezers are great, which is why they’re so expensive. When your opponent is frozen, you get an attack turn in which he/she can’t attack you and can’t defend himself. A very popular battledome strategy is to freeze your opponent and then launch a berserk attack with your big bomb and your strongest weapon. Try it and you’ll see why it’s so popular … or if you don’t have a big bomb, challenge me to a battle and I’ll be happy to demonstrate.

Personally, I wouldn’t bother with anything but 100% freezers, ie. ones the freeze every time. There are various other ones (that freeze 17% of the time, 23% of the time, whatever), but more often than not, you’re just wasting an attack slot with one of those.

Scroll of Freezing* (100% freeze) – once per battle – semi-fragile – 85,000np
This is the only affordable 100% freeze item (except for a handful of species-only items –- if you don’t know what that means, keep reading, you’ll get to it). Unfortunately, it’s semi-fragile, so if it breaks during its first battle, you’re out a lot of NP. Probably best to save this for only your most important battles.

H4000 Helmet* (100% freeze) – once per battle – 6,200,000np
This used to the be THE freezer and when it was retired, the price shot up and up and up. It has come down a bit lately since Neopets introduced some other 100% freezers that also serve or block a few icons as well as freezing.

Freezing Potion* (100% freeze & 2 icons attack – 2 water) – 7,000,000np

Magical Marbles of Mystery* (100% freeze & 3 attack – 3 physical) – 8,000,000np

Sleep Ray* (100% freeze & 4 icons attack – 2 dark, 2 air) – once per battle – 9,500,000np

Heavy Blue Tunic* (100% freeze & 9 icons defence – 3 air, 3 fire, 3 water) – once per battle – 11,000,000np
One of my dream weapons that Bellagio recently bought for me. One thing to note, your pet must have 1000+ intelligence to use this item.

Healers

Healing during battle can be very important. It buys your pet extra time to grab your opponent and step on his neck.

Minor Healing Scroll* (up to 5hp) – once per battle – 900np
Lesser Healing Scroll* (up to 25hp) – once per battle – 2000np
Greater Healing Scroll* (up to 50hp) – once per battle – 29,000np
The healing scrolls – good value and an essential item until your pet has enough hit points that a 50hp heal is a waste of time. Then you need a 100% healer.

Lucky Robots Foot* (100% heal) – one use – 8000np
Another one of those expensive one use items, but once again, check the prices on the keeper items that heal 100% and you’ll see why these may be worth it. Loopy likes to have one of these on hand during battles, but he only uses it if he really needs it.

Lead Elemental Vial* (100% heal) – once per battle – 30,000,000np
Jade Scorchstone* (100% heal) – once per battle – 40,000,000np
These are both great items, but crazy expensive and the prices just keep going up. Personally, I’m going to stick with the Luck Robots Foot, ’cause I don’t see myself ever having enough NP for these.

Stealers

Stealers grab an item from your opponent and then you can use it against him. You can see how useful this would be if you get their best weapon. Loopy doesn’t waste time with stealers. Pirates don’t steal booty until they’ve finished kicking, er … booty.

But here are the two worth considering (price/effectiveness again) if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

Purple Sticky Hand (approx. 55% success) – 1000np

Heavy Robe of Thievery (100% success) – 350,000np

Reflectors

Reflectors … reflect. Do you want a moment to write that down?

What that means is that some of the icons your opponent aims at you back at them. There are lots of fairly cheap reflect ½ of specific icon, for example, but most are fragile. I can’t recommend any of them, really, because I don’t use ‘em. If I want to step on your neck, I’ll use my own paw.

Species Weapons

Species weapons are weapons which only one specific species can use. Each species has several weapons of their very own, so there are far too many to review and include here.

Nevertheless, you can check on their stats and compare them to the weapons listed here. As with weapons in general, most of them aren’t very good. If they compare favorably in effectiveness and price to the ones listed here, you’ve found a good deal. But if it doesn’t, don’t pay good NP for a bad weapon just because it’s exclusive to your pet’s species.

So, that’s it. Here ends the lesson. Now get out there and step on some necks !

Posted in Battledome Tutorial