- this may sound dumb, but what exactly is a full blocker? I see battlers talking about them all the time. Guess it's about time I learn what they are and where to get them. And which one (ones) should I be thinking about.

- yes, I know that not having expensive weapons is going to slow me down, but don't really mind going slower. I promised myself long ago only to make expensive purchases if I was sure they are worth it long term and that I would not invest in new weapons for each tier. I do occasionally buy something. I own a Phoenix Quill and was lucky enough to buy a Deluxe Death Shard at Blackheart Hollow. And I now have one Cobalt Eternal Scroll as well as an Aftershocks Scroll. I also own a Recycle Blaster and a KT Ring, but usually find that blasting and/or stealing are low priority for me because I don't have enough health to survive the wasted attack opportunity. I actually use an UltimaPlus Tag as my default stealer since the attack plus chance of healing seems to work really well for my tier so far. In fact, I think it's my fault it's now selling for 50K since I recommended it in a post on this thread earlier today when it was selling for under 10K. Guess someone has been taking my battle advice - scary thought - there are clearly much better and more experienced battlers here to listen to. :-) Bottom line is that long list of must have items you talk about. I don't think I have the resources to buy the whole list (especially when you also consider scrolls) and am not at all sure that buying an item or two or even three would make that big a difference. Guess I'll have to reconsider if I myself close but stuck too often. What makes stealing/blasting so helpful for you? Is it grabbing a particular main weapon? If not, I'm not clear how it makes that big a difference since the other weapons the challenger has usually kill me just as well. Maybe I'm just not understanding. Anyway I do much appreciate the suggestion and I'll have to go price those and think about it some more. Meanwhile, I'm guessing that my next purchase needs to be some sort of better defense (maybe that full blocker talked about. Which do you think is more important?

I often double blast -- soma and RB are often in my default set -- when I have a tougher opponent. Let me make up an example to illustrate why I usually prefer to blast...

Say your foe has 8 weapons -- some hit you harder than others, but all do damage. If you steal one, or even two of those weapons you might get lucky and get the worst of the artillery that hurts you, but you will still have to suffer through the weapons they have left. You get hit with two of them every turn.

If you blast one or two weapons, now 1/8 or even 1/4 of your foe's arsenal is useless. 1 physical damage? lol It gives you room to breathe and heal so you can stay in the game longer and keep whittling away their HP. ;)

- got it (except what's RB?) - but I'm still at the point where, usually, I don't survive a long battle. I can beat some challengers easily and for the next bunch it's either beat them quickly or not at all. That's why I think I still need to concentrate on training and better defense first. I can certainly understand that as you start being able to last for awhile, that missed attack on your opponent's part can become more and more important - thus blasting rather than stealing. Good to know, thank you.

: RB stands for Recycle Blaster. I concur with . Blasting is almost always more helpful than stealing. Would you mind sharing your pet's stats? Even when I was at T8 I didn't use stealing too much unless it is for special opponents where stealing is actually more helpful than blasting (i.e. Scary Singer, Skeletal Warrior and the hustler). If survivability is your main concern, I'd suggest investing in a full block. If you haven't got enough for a Shinwas Temple Shard or Rainbow Vortex, making a Spacial Abyss (scroll) would not be a bad choice either. It consumes 20AP, but blocks 75 of each icon type apart from dark and light, and is very useful in cases of emergency. My strategy back then was to freeze first turn paired with a large block (I used Temple Shard or Flayed Lord Breastplate) for opponents too strong for me, then double blast plus using a healing or chance freezing scroll, hoping for a lucky freeze for another free turn.

time again

full blockers are items like and that blocks everything for one turn. You could even equip as a cheap alternative, but you will need to equip a new one every time as it is one time use only.

Full blockers are useful but not essential to battling. I would only buy one if you have the funds for it.

[edit]

Thank you for your purchase! Natasha

You've earned the Big Spender achievement!

I FINALLY DID IT!!

- thank you. Hmmmm, I'd have to use an awful lot of s before I get close to the cost of either of those full blockers. Especially considering that I am mostly a part time battler, unlike many of you.

- Ah, that makes sense, thanks. I do own a Recycle Blaster, but every time I ever tried to use it, I got killed, so I mostly just leave it in my armory and equip the UltimaPlus Tag instead. To be fair, I do that mostly for the freezing/healing.

Tos is almost (but not quite) Tier 9 - Level: 536 Health: 1337 / 1339 Strength: 1337 Defense: 1339 Speed: 1340 Intelligence: 581

Tharg just got to Tier 8 - Level: 450 Health: 1123 / 1125 Strength: 1125 Defense: 1122 Speed: 1125 Intelligence: 432

and Gulp just got to Tier 4 (so she can no longer use those pesky eggs :-) ) Level: 143 Health: 302 / 353 Strength: 353 Defense: 352 Speed: 356 Intelligence: 175

My usual strategy is to use my best weapon plus Deluxe Death Shard and Aftershocks scroll the first round. Then my two best weapons (one of which is Large Gutting Knife for the healing) plus Aftershocks until I think I need to use my Phoenix Quill. Sometimes, the second weapon is UltimaPlus Tag if I need the extra healing or want to try and luck into another freeze. After the Phoenix Quill is gone, I just use two weapons plus Aftershocks unless I get desperate in which case I try one weapon plus Forj Tempered Shield until that breaks (or now, I can get one round in using a Cobalt Eternal instead of Aftershocks).

If I can't beat a challenger, usually I just wait and keep training. It's those monthly Throwback Challengers that have me trying to reach past my normal limits (especially if they have good drops for the fifth win). For boss battles in events, I usually get killed with a single hit, so pay to heal and go back for another battle (guess that full blocker would work there, but I'm not in many boss battles).

It is nice to see progress though. I am proud of how far Tos has made it. She is totally hand trained (no auto training) and pretty much no stat boosters or experience purchases (I have saved all of those for when she can't be trained). I've also saved all the Loyalty Boxes from my years on Subeta. As far as intelligence, Tos hasn't read any expensive books, but they've been saved in my vault. Possibly a serendipitous thing since I am learning that using stat boosters for intelligence (followed by a single book at each AP point) is a better strategy. So one day, she may be a real force to reckon with - maybe. :-) Meanwhile, we're enjoying the process and learning a lot, thanks to all the helpful battlers here.

Verdugo earned 30,000 sP for their work today! Good job! This brings Verdugo's total earnings to 4,764,000 sP. BONUS! Your intelligence has increased by 1 point!

You Won! You have defeated Unstable Snow Fairy You won a(n) Impossible token to use in the battle shop! Verdugo earned 3500 EXP Points!

BQs done

@ arixen

The negating pylonics are very good, you just can only equip one per battle. Blasting is very useful. The best time to blast is when your opponent is frozen since blasters provide no protection.

- true, you can only use one pylonic (of each type) per battle, but those full blockers are one use per battle too aren't they? Just you don't need to buy another one when the battle is over if I understand correctly. My problem seems to be that the best time to do everything is when my opponent is frozen. Heal, attack (he can't block anything) and blast. I just can't do all of it at once. :-)

Yeah that's all I meant. You need to buy a bunch of them to replenish each time.

It depends on the battle really. If you freeze your opponent on your first turn, then blasting or using an item like the mecha is a good second turn. The blasters make it so that your opponent has the chance to use a junk item on you and do less damage. The mecha protects you from some physical damage and has a curse that lasts 100 turns. Curse damage cannot be blocked so the sooner you use this the better. You will always want to use weapons that have a % heal on them so that you are healing all the time, not just when an opponent is frozen. The only time you really can't heal is against opponents like cursed effigy the tormented.

: Yeah, the Ultimaplus Tag isn't bad. I'm still using it now for Generor Error XD Chance for another freeze is always good.

You might know what works best for you, because you're now at that point and have fresh experience. If I may, I'd suggest that you try out other tactics to see what works best against your next difficult opponent. The first freeze turn is indeed the golden opportunity: either to use bomb or blast. I personally don't use heal when the opponent is frozen though. I remember liking using bomb very much when my opponents were frozen, so I tended to go defensive while blasting weapons. Have you got the Flayed Lord Breastplate? It's not expensive and blocks quite a good chunk of icons. There is a chance it doesn't block any thing at all, which sucks yes but I still find it better to have an infinite blocker than a blocker that has a chance to break. Having said that, I still like the Forj Tempered Shield very much while it lasts. I just wish it could last a bit longer because I never seem to have it in one piece past my second turn XD.

Tos's stats are pretty good. Which opponents are you having trouble with? I imagine it must be Slavam (I could be wrong though)? He gave me such a pain back then and I can't forget the petty glee I experienced when he had difficulty beating me when I grew a little bit beyond him XD.

- well, the good news is, I used to stock at the apothecary, so besides some stat boosters, I have a pile of pylonics from when you could actually find them there. That would make a reasonable start any how. Curse damage can't be blocked? Wow - I didn't know that. Very interesting. I can see where that would be helpful. And yes, I've always had a healer as one of my main weapons. Right now, it's . Plus the Aftershocks does some healing as well. If Tos and Tharg didn't heal every turn they wouldn't last any time in the battle coliseum. Don't want to even think about Cursed Effigy the Tormented - at least not yet. We'll just hide behind you when he shows up for now. :-)

- I started healing while the opponent was frozen for two main reasons. One is that I needed two heals to recover enough from their first hit to survive the hit after they unfroze. The second was that I wound up with a decent healer that actually does as much damage as the inexpensive bombs I own, so why not use it and heal as well. Yes, doing some experimenting is a good idea. I've been doing a little with what I already have since it's been quite awhile and Tos just started to be able to beat a few harder challengers. I don't have a Flayed Lord Breastplate but that looks like a good item to purchase and play with, thank you.

Not having trouble with anyone right now because aside from Battle Quests (when I have time for them) and Throwback Challengers, I really don't battle much at all. But I'm starting to play with it and see what happens. I really need to make a spreadsheet and start spending some time fighting opponents to see who I can beat. Now, I only see the big guys when I do Battle Quests and I can't remember who I can and can't beat since it has changed so recently.

Yes, that "petty glee". I do so enjoy finally beating one of the challengers that used to destroy me. That's the best part. :-)

And wow - you're actually using the UltimaPlus Tag against General Error? Guess I"ll remember to keep mine.

Edit:

Yeah the most satisfying is when your enemy is fully blocking or freezes you, but winds up dying the next turn anyway from curse damage :D

The gutting knife is great! The Scientist Specs could also be a nice freezer to swap between the deluxe death shard if you need to block water. There are a lot of nice affordable weapons for T8. I'll dig through my armory later today for some recommendations.

You Won! You have defeated Prodigy 4 times! Prodigy drops: Dark Mage Amulet Water Mage Amulet Water Mage Amulet Light Mage Amulet You earned 36450 sP for beating Prodigy! Verdugo earned 4252 EXP Points!

So much easier now that I have Natasha. Win 5 will have to wait until later on. Time for bed

- WOW!!! Congratulations! Yay! Kilroy is here ... Tier 13!

- yes, that would be excellent.

I bought the gutting knife when let me know it was selling relatively cheaply because it was a drop from one of the Throwback Challengers. Tos has been using it ever since, and now Tharg is using it as well. Thanks. I'll look forward to your list.

And a big congratulation on having Natasha. Good night.

Thank you :D Now for some sleep.

Congrats on your wins against the Prodigy, and for picking up a Natasha too.

- good night.

No need to choose... RB doesn't take the stealer slot so you can equip both! ;)

WOWSER! Congrats on a major milestone! Glad to see you're already playing with the big boys! ;) It's official -- you've made it! shakes hand

RoE is one of my fav T8 weapons & isn't too bad for price, atc. CTS is another great one, but since there are only like 50 of them, the price tag on this gem is pretty hefty.

thank you for your reply and sorry for my late one, things were a bit busy last week uu_uu the scrolls and shinwas heart pendant are a bit outside my means at the moment, but i'm stalking laure's shop for ingredients xxD" i've found that sometimes 10 levels and the stat changes they enable make a big difference, so i'll keep trying.

@ OaZuoM

Congrats on T13!

@ bonita

My main pet blew past T8 so I never got to use the rapier lol

@ arixen

That sparkly sign is awesome haha Yeah it was 2 am last night so I really had to get to bed. I've heard the rapier of error is really good for it's chance to freeze. Even though it's in my armory, I never used it because I boosted past T8 and T9. is really nice for blocking, but expensive. is a super cheap dark/earth/ice blocker with the potential to do a lot of dark damage. Definitely a cheaper alternative to the charged tower shield.

is decent. It's a nice backup weapon to use against the forj in case she steals since it does a lot of water damage. The fire block is not super reliable but it does have the chance to block 60+ fire depending on your defense stats so it can also be a decent alternative against the forj and someone like flamagia. I used to use it a lot as a backup against flamagia and the forj.

Blessed trident is of course my favorite weapon but expensive. Having used it before the tier system and before they nerfed it into a scaling weapon, the T8 stats are very underwhelming. Once you hit T10 it will become a real power house so you can save up and wait until later to buy it. The nice thing about it is it scales so all of your little pets can use it, but then they have to be at T8+ to use it as the blessed trident.

is a nice water blocking option until you can win manifesting weapon. Even after you win manifesting, it can be still be used against opponents for its chance to freeze.

The last T8 weapon I have is . This also scales and does different things based on stats. It's most effective when your def is 1k greater than strength. Even then, there are still better alternative at higher tiers so I would only use the gauntlet for a T8 pet. It also has no heal on it.

[edit] You Won! You have defeated Prodigy 5 times! Prodigy drops: The Void Scroll Quark Tome of Water Tome of Darkness Tome of Light Prodigy Staff You earned 32805 sP for beating Prodigy! Verdugo earned 4724 EXP Points!

Thank you Natasha :D going for win 6 because I am a maniac!

MAKING OUR WAY UP IN THE WORLD