The reason why I don't put
Purple Sticky Hand as an anti-stealer is because I don't even use it in 2-player. I don't like to have anything I won't use in my weapon slot; I would actually use the
Dazzling Steel Lenny Sword, it helps add to the light of RSB and air of my soon to be purchased BoD.
The
Ramtors Spellbook is also for keeps as an anti-burrow weapon. It has its use still... unless someone can recommend something better?
I was looking at
Dusty Magic Broom cos 1) it is cheaper 2) it adds to the power on the BoD enough to overcome common shields, unlike
Air Faerie Crown where adding on dark icons won't mean squat if you face someone with the
Ring of the Lost or
Ghostkershield. The air is also fractional, so quite packing the air power as the first combo would.
However, the extra light helps to make my decision between them both difficult (though purchasing the
Skeletal Fire Gun would help with the light too).
And you are right about the
Commander Blade: It's not to be sold. *lovingly pats
Commander Blade <3*
I still need someone to address my concern with the
Jittery Jipple Potion part, which is the main cause of my dilemma with my decision to 'upgrade' my
Commander Blade.
I would keep the Commander Blade. It defends enough light(I have found most 5 light weapons have Air too, bringing you to the same defence). It brings WoR down the same amount(8, 1 more then Commander Blade), BZZT Blaster down the same amount(6 icons, 1 less then Commander Blade), Skeletal Fire Gun the same amount(6 Icons, 1 less then Commander Blade), Air Faerie Crown the same amount(It brings it's attack down to 3.73!) and brings the Jittery Jipple Potion down to 8(1 more then Commander Blade)
I could go on, but I won't. In short, I say keep the Blade and buy the BoD and MoC.
Ah, thanks Ace, though
Bzzt Blaster isn't something I worry too much cos it's a pretty rare encounter in this day and age with all the 9 iconers going on.
However, the argument back then was that the
Commander Blade's defence isn't enough to justify its use, and that there is hardly enough air to make the air defence worth it. But now, most battlers are opting for the newer, cheaper 9-10 iconers, which for a major part has either light, earth or air in them.
More opinions, please.
Cadaver, you have too many weapons in my opinion. You're like a farmer who is "land poor" - he's rich if he sells his land, but holding it, all of this money is tied up in it and he can't afford to make a living. I also have more than eight weapons, but the extras you keep have to be good enough to use and WANT to use. If you're getting a Mask of Coltzan you'll have good dark and earth defense from it. The Commander Blade gives you a bit of air and light defense. The Scarab Ring for a minimal cost gives you fire and phyical defense. All three are decent items for a pet with balanced stats. There are a number of CHEAP dual duty light blockers out there and if you want to pick up one (Amulet of Inevitable Betrayal, Sword of the Dead, Thief Dagger, etc.). One way to attack the problem would be to purchase one of those, along with a Winged Scarab(additional air, and almost all physical defense) and a Frozen Wand of Crystals (water defense). This would allow some defense of all icons, but in all cases WITH an attack. You could also move up to Hobans Hat (better water defense with more attack). That would kind of remove the need for all of the pure shield alternatives. Downsize! would still have a value, but most of the rest wouldn't. For where you're likely to be fighting, if you've got the Commander Blade, I really don't think you need either the Air Faerie Crown or the Dusty Magic Broom, as the added value doesn't justify the huge price. They either add incremental increases to your light defense, nice, but not for the price. And offensively, they aren't powerful enough to be meaningful additions on that side of things either. Thus, you can either cover a lot of holes fairly inexpensively, or one at great cost. If you get the Bow of Destiny, have Ramtors and get the Mask of Coltzan you have decent firepower for your level, and given your current weapons holdings it seems like you're very defensive oriented, so you cover everything that way, without having to have pure shields. If I was going to sink a fair amount of money in a dual duty given your set, I'd rather see Hobans Hat (which has more offense than the other two, and good water defense) than either of the light blockers. In addition I think Hobans Hat is a better long-term investment item as well.
Yeah, that's kind of what I'm suggesting. PLUS adding one of the inexpensive light blockers (if you'd like), so that you can rotate in if you know you have a heavy light attack to block, thus giving you the capability to block 3-8 icons of light when added to the Commander Blade. And yeah, I'd keep the commander blade. Since you're not about to sell it, it's a lot more useful in your battleset than sitting in your safe deposit box, and it's a big chunk of change that needs to (and can) carry its weight in battle. As I said earlier, I myself, have more than 8 weapons, but NOT the number you're carrying, and if you have "extra" weapons they have to be good enough that you'd want to use them. The Winged Scarab fits fine. If you have HEAVY physical attack to defend against, you may want to use it (particularly if that opponent uses air as well). If you have a light physical attack (especially if the opponent also attacks with fire), I'd opt for the Scarab Ring, and let the Winged Scarab sit in the safe deposit box. And again, I think because of it's unique abilities, Downsize! should be kept. But beyond that, I don't see much use in all the other multiple defensive shields, as you'll have options to handle any attack with offense. And in one player, many opponents have one or two icons where either they don't attack at all, or attack with say one item, with a total of two icons. Whatever an opponent can't hurt you with, is what you don't have to defend, and that becomes the weapon you remove. For example, if a one-player (so you KNOW what they have) opponent doesn't attack with either dark or earth attack, then your Mask of Coltzan can be sent to the safe deposit box for that opponent. In that example it defends two icons that the opponent won't use, so it in effect becomes an 8-icon fire attacker. Still useful if the opponent has a Ghostkershield, but otherwise, not as strong offensively as the Bow of Destiny or Ramtors Spellbook, and not as overall useful as any of your other attackers which also defend what the opponent DOES attack with. The idea is to have the flexibility to move in (in this case three options) situational items that can negate any opponent's strength. Obviously if you end up fighting an opponent with a Pirate Captains Cutlass, Sword of Skardsen, Ghostkerbomb, Ghostkershield, etc. you're just going to get overpowered and lose. But that would be true with the Air Faerie Crown or Dusty Magic Broom as well.
I'll toss in one other thought for you. I LIKE the Mask of Coltzan, and the Air Faerie Crown and Dusty Magic Broom. All comments are relating to just your set. If you're running into the Sword of Skardsen a lot, say a lot more than the Ghostkershield, you might find a Ring of the Lost and Cloudy Wand of Storms combo to be more effective than a Mask of Coltzan at whatever point your budget allows. That's a personal decision, but in the future you'll see the SoS A LOT and the Ring of the Lost kills it, but at the expense of some earth defense. The key, at least in one-player to me, if you're a defensive battler, is identifying what the opponent has that can really hurt you, and then dismantling its attack with your defense by rotating in whatever you need to disarm his number one, and maybe number two options. Most one-player challengers only have one or two multi-use items that you need to avoid, and that set would allow you to compromise them. Two-player is more a matter of the battle of the wallets. You may be able to use your superior battle skills to overcome an opponents superior weapons to a point, but given the appearance of your budget and value of battleset, a lot of 2-player opponents with thicker wallets will be able to overpower you. Keep training your pet though, and this happens less and less. Unfortunately, the rise of the "premium" account has let people snipe their way to wealth, and lets some who have virtually no battledome ability become dangerous due to their np making advantages which are used to buy weapons that most common Neopians can't afford. Anyway, hope this is of some help.
Goodness! That is a lot to digest. But you are basically reiterating things I knew but somehow forgotten to apply unto myself (silly me!), so yeah I can basically understand what you are saying
.
As of now I am in the process of selling off all the extra full shields I have except for two (which I forgot to list on my earlier list, btw
):
Sinsis Crown
Flaming Oven Glove
I decided to keep those two. The reason for me keeping them is cos they defend icons that my current/soon to be defence is slightly lacking, and which other good dual duties has yet to effectively address. I know, you mentioned
Winged Scarab and
Scarab Ring, which I have no doubt are really good suggestions, but selling away the two shields will give no significant advantage to my budget cos they are so cheap. (Of course, you are most welcomed to suggest otherwise!
)
The other shields, though, are awaiting buyers in my shop (as well as other battledome weapons I used to use till my pet became Lenny
) so that should help with my income a little. Currently, my pet is 10 mins to passing the 180 mark for strength. I will put him into another cycle of training again.
Hobans Hat is awesome, but putting into account all the other weapons you suggested, I realised my budget simply won't allow it, so I am settling for a
Frozen Wand of Crystal.
About the three light-defensive dual duties, I actually have
Ethereal Sword in my gallery, so savings on that part!
However, I am also considering
Amulet of Inevitable Betrayal cos of the icon type it deals (it's attack practically supplements THREE of my weapons:
Commander Blade with water,
Ramtors Spellbook with dark, and
Bow of Destiny with air. So should I stick with
Ethereal Sword or just go for the Amulet in this case?
So my final set will turn out like this, I think:
Main Set
Bag of Lenny Healing Seeds
Entangling Lenny Lasso
Bow of Destiny
Mask of Coltzan
Ramtors Spellbook
Honey Potion
Commander Blade
Final slot will be taken up by (according to needs)
Dazzling Steel Lenny Sword - anti-stealer in 2-player
Scarab Ring
Amulet of Inevitable Betrayal or
Ethereal Sword
Winged Scarab
Downsize!
Flaming Oven Glove
Sinsis Crown
Additional weapons stocked up
One-use bombs, fragile reflectors,
Thick Smoke Bombs etc
Feel free to suggest further ammendmends
If you make those moves, for the time being, I think you've got about 98% efficiency and it's probably not worth the time and bother to deal with the last 2%, as you've got a good base defensive set that you build out from as you raise more nps. Remember to grab a stealing weapon of your own (sometimes useful against some one-player opponents and sloppy two-player ones). You'll be at the point where for your budget, you have a decent set, and it's then a matter of TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN your pet, and save where you can. I agree the two shields you've mentioned are cheap, and to a point useful, but I doubt you'll ever equip them. With the Commander Blade/Winged Scarab, you already have TWO air defenders, both with an attack, while you defend air along with some light and almost all physical. Thus, Sinsis Crown is actually your THIRD best option for air defense, and you can only equip two weapons. As for the Flaming Oven Gloves, you already have light blocking options that are better, and a second Scarab Ring (also CHEAP) would be a more powerful option than the Oven Gloves and give you the capability to block 6 fire icons, 6 physical ones and have 12 icons of attack combined. I don't normally like dual anything, but the crazy cheap price of the Scarab Ring for its usefulness is an exception. Anyway, the Oven Gloves again strike me as a third best alternative when you can only equip two weapons. The second one may kick around the safe deposit box for 24 of 25 fights, but it's a cheap insurance policy and can often win you that 25th fight. And I think you mean Dazzling Steel Lenny Sword, and its expensive to serve no real purpose. If you want to throw an item in, toss in a purple sticky hand to serve the same purpose at a fraction of the price.
I prefer the Etheral Sword. Straight Air is hard to block and you get 2 more light icons of defence. However Downsize! or Winged Scarab could also be in the spot.
