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Well I battled a lot today and it seems that EVERYONE around the 125 STR boost has a Faerie Tabard and a G-shield. It is really boring because I can't get any icons through their defense. A lot of times their DEF stat is around 200-250 and their STR is 100-125. Since when have people trained Defense over strength? How can I beat a dual Tabard & G-shield?

Also they all seem to use that weapon that drains 100 HP from the opponent. What is the name of that weapon and is there anyway to defend it?

The beginning of the "tank" pet really gained popularity from the NCW Tournaments. Their original League Calculator did not put much emphasis on defense, so when calculating ones league, a 125 str, 700 def pet would be equivalent to a 125 str, 125 def. pet.

Quote:Also they all seem to use that weapon that drains 100 HP from the opponent. What is the name of that weapon and is there anyway to defend it?

I believe you are referring to the Crisp Blue Tunic? There really isn't a way to defend against it. Especially as they will most likely use it at the beginning of the round. The only was is to increase your overal HP, which makes the 100hp less of an impact. Or better yet, keep your HP below 100 at all times, so that they are unable to use their tunic.

The Tabard/G-Shield combo is a deadly one. When combined, it can be fatal. There really isn't one specific weapon you can use to defeat both (as combined, they block every icon possible). Note however, the specific icons that each block. The Tabard has no defense against dark icons. A Sword of Skardsen would destory one. Whereas the G-Shield is vulnerable to both Fire and Water. A Pumpkin Stick or Ultra Bubble Gun would work well there. You might also want to consider reflecting weapons such as the Glowing Cauldron. But like I said, a tabard+gshield is a very difficult combination to counteract.

Battling is a lot more boring than how it was back when I battled (1 1/2 - 2 years ago). Every battle is always all defense. The frozen tactic isn't even effective because when they freeze me they only do around 80 dmg since they usually have 85 Str Boost. Its the defense that annoys me SOO much. I barely accept any battle invites because when their DEF is higher than their strength, they WILL have a Tabard and G-Shield.

So everyone's running both, and there's not a preference towards G-Shield?

You're going to need to pile a mono-icon, which is virtually impossible. Portable Kiln gets hit by Clawed Shield (which they may not be running if they're running Tabard), but may be the best bet. Dual-Bow of Destiny can pile very nicely against both (being weaker than dual-Wands against the Tabard, as I recall). Dual-Fiery Battle Ducks may be an option, but I don't know how overpriced those are.

If they're all 85 Strength Boosters, using Everlasting Crystal Apple as a defense would allow you to "block" 12 icons each turn. If you have any way of breaking their defense in the process, that might just be enough to let you take an advantage.

Yeah it seems like EVERYONE I've battled in the last two days have both Tabard and G shield and most of the time they have the Crisp Blue Tunic. Actually there mightve been once or twice that they didn't have a Tabard, but majority of the time they have both.

While the 200 boost is a massive effectiveness jump over the 125 boost and Crisp Blue Tunic is nearly a must have for 2p battling from about 180-300 HP;

Tabard + Gshield is predictable and easy to beat.

Combined they offer the following defenses :
Icons (Defended at 200 Def, Defended at 250 Def)

3 Light (13.5, 16.5)
5 Fire (22.5, 27.5)
6 Air (27, 33)
8 Earth (36, 44)
10 Physical (45, 55)
All Dark
All Water

As you can see, Light is the best option against the combo, with Fire and Air not far behind. So you'll want weapons or weapon combos that deal large amounts of light, air and/or fire.

I'm going to assume that you are only 125 Str boost for all of these:

Portable Kiln does 33 fire damage all by itself, more with stance multipliers. That will get damage through, and if you have a second fire weapon or species attack that adds fire or if you use an offensive stance, you can get more through.

However, that is somewhat vulnerable to reflection, so let's look at some other options:

If they are using both at the same time, they are only able to harm you with species abilities, so packing a full blocker/reflector combo against their species abilities can get render you immune to their attack while dealing a small amount of reflected damage back at them. Be warned that using such tactics may force them to go on the offense, so be prepares for them to switch things up after a round or two.

While a bit iffy on any given round, Glittery Faerie Dust deals 45 damage of a single icon type. That's an average of 11.57 damage against a 200 defense boost and 8.43 against a 250 defense boost. If you can combine with another weapon that either blocks their species attack and/or helps to overload one of the weaker defenses, this can easily work out to an average win in damage per round. Dual GFD is strong, but the math on all 49 combinations is more work than I have time for right now.

Dual Wand of Reality gets you 10 icons of light and air (30 damage each) which can stack with many species abilities. Upgrading one or both to Pirate Captains Cutlass adds more air and physical.

Ring of the Lost has 5 fire icons and 4.5 light. Add another fire weapon such as Garoo Elite Blaster to get to 30 fire damage, or a heavy light weapon such as Staff of Righteous Fury to get to 34.5 light Or double up on both with RotL + Skeltal Fire Gun (33 fire, 22.5 light) or Amulet of Thilg (24 fire, 37.5 light)

And of course, against low-offense, high defense pets late freezing should be a consideration. If you can survive them dealing 100+ icons to you, they are only likely to win on a first round freeze if you open offensively or if they have weapons better than those currently in the hidden tower.

In that vein, multifreezers should be a consideration. If you play defensively, shutting down half of their species attack and using a defensive stance the match might get slow enough for you to wait for Slumberberry Potion, Pearly Koi Bubble Net or Meerca Mesh Net to give you multiple freezes to go all out against them without their defenses.

Isn't light the strongest against the combination? And individually since it only is defended by 3 at most between the two? But I guess that leaves you with either Amulet of Thilg and Pumpkin Stick as the major light iconers.

Yes, light is best, since F-Tab defends ZERO light (not 3 as I was thinking for some crazy reason) Edited prior post, thanks.

While Fire my run into Clawed Shield or F-Zap, Air runs into Pteris all the time, the only Hidden Tower range light defense you really see much of is Pirate Captains Hat.

A higher boost pet with Tabard and G-Shield can use species abilities and destroy you if you're not careful.