Pink Poogle Toy Forum

So, I'm considering the move into "proper battler" territory, and I'd like to have a pet I'm able to train. I have a semi-decent intermediate set and only playing the occasional 1P battle meant that my defense strategy has never really mattered up til now. However, one day I'd like a balanced battle pet... (All my pets have completely basic stats other than my lab rat by the way.)

I've just done a few little calculations and I've realised that if I stopped labbing my lab pet right now it would cost me around 668,000 NP just to get her level up to a point where I could train her other stats too because of her luidcrously high HP. Obviously with the use of terror trove scratchcards etc that cost may be lowered a teeny bit, and fluctuating codestone prices may push it either up or down, but overall it's still pretty high, although acheivable without much problem.

The problem then becomes her defense stat, which is languishing around the mid 30s (strength is 110, Hit points 232 for completeness sake). That was all fine (expensive and time consuming but still fine) until I realised that each time I wanted to raise the stat I'd have to pay for a level 116 pet at the training school - which takes the prices (for my meagre neo-income) towards the "crazy" end of the spectrum.

Background story done with here's the part I want help on:

Would I be better off starting afresh with a non-labbed pet and training from scratch to get a more balanced overal spread of stats (but accept I'll probably never hit that HP stat again) or would training my lab pet (and accepting the cost is what it is) be a better way to go?

Then there's always the option of using other methods to boost my defense stat (neggs etc.) I know they're not exactly cost effective when compared to normal training but I'm not so sure for someone in my situation.

So: thoughts? Suggestions? Mocking laughter? Any are appreciated (except for the laughter maybe)

I had the same problem, after SpireMK did that research bit about the Academy, I calculated that it would be more expensive to keep labbing it...

I'm just below the 200HP border though, so it's cheaper for me to train my pet further instead of starting a new one. Putting the cost calculation aside, I intended my pet to be the main one for everything (including battling) from the beginning, so I would've continued training it even if it was more expensive.

If it's about cost only: Just go to the thread about the Training School cost overview, and calculate what each option would cost: How much to train up to 116 and max all other stats for your lab pet, and how much to train up to level 116 with a new pet? If the difference is big, it's obvious. If the difference is small, take other things into account, like the Academy (as alternative), the Kitchen Quest (you don't wanna do this for your lab pet though, as it can raise HP even more) and other things that can affect status.

If you decide to go with a new pet, you don't have to train it using the school only. Many big battlers train and lab. The lab raises strength and hit points while lowering level and defence, so all you have to do is train level and defence at the training school while you let the lab take care of the rest. You might think, "But yuck, what if I train two defence points one day and the lab takes them away that night?" And yes, that will sometimes happen, but overall, you'll earn so many hit points and strength points with the lab (and much faster than you would training manually) that you will actually be saving money (because you only need to train two stats instead of four). You just have to keep an eye on your stats and stop labbing for a few days if they start to get unbalanced.

That said, do you want to do 1-player battling only, or 1-player and 2? Shields and dual-duties are excellent only against people with the same (or similar) strength boost as your defence (so if the opponent deals 5 icons of earth, that equals the same amount of damage you can block with 5 earth defence icons). In 2-player, that will be the situation most of the time, because you'll fight people with similar stats to your own. In 1-player, especially during a war or DoN, you'll be fighting enemies with much higher strength boosts than your defence, and their damage will overload your shields. In 1-player, most people use full blockers (which don't depend on defence stat) or percentage defence items like Downsize! instead of pure shields and dual-duties. So if you want to do 1-player only, you'd be fine with your current lab-only pet. If you want to get into 2-player, yes, you'll want the balanced strength and defence, so you'll have to figure out whether it would cost more to train up your lab rat or create a new labbed/trained pet.

Just something I've noticed, but I don't believe the lab really lowers defense; it seems to have a pretty 50/50 chance of ever adding or taking away from it. The reason I say this is because I've never experienced the lab making it go down to 1 like it does to level sometimes. My lab rat started being labbed over two and a half years ago at a defense of the average 7 or so, and right now it's at 6 (with 521HP, dammit). So if you ever weigh in the defense thing when decided to lab or not, it really doesn't hurt defense, it'll just stay roughly where it was originally. If my theory is right, then if you train 10 defense points, then the lab will keep your defense at the original stat +10.

Did I make sense?

As for defence through labbing, it pretty much levels out, like metalmario said. These are my total stats after about 6 months:

Health: +108
Strength: +47
Defence: -5
Move: +25

I didn't mention level, since at a certain point the lab turned it back to 1 (I was down to level 6 then anyway, so it didn't really matter that much anymore.. all in all I'd say level dropped by about 50)

About training and labbing together, it's all down to luck. There is that very small but deadly chance that the lab ray will reset the pet's level back to 1, so even though you'll be training level and defence up to match the lab's health and strength, you might have to spend much more if you go back to 1. I don't really know whether it's worth it or not, you could do some calculations on this as well

I said "lowers defence" to simplify things. No, it won't make your defence go down to 1 like it will level, but it raises defence very slowly compared to hit points, so if you want a balanced pet, you will have to train both level and defence while getting strength and hit points from the lab. Otherwise you're going to end up with one of those very obviously labbed pets with crazy high HP, high strength and movement, defence several boosts lower than everything else, and a very low level. And it will cost a lot to balance that pet in the future... trust me.

Here's my pet when I stopped labbing. Note the high HP, fairly high strength and lower level and defence.

Here's when I stupidly decided that I didn't need defence and just trained level up, then strength.

Here's what he looks like now. You don't want to know how much it cost and how long it took to train that defence. Let me be a lesson! Train as you lab!

Edit: Oh, and on that "reset to level 1" thing, it doesn't happen once your pet is over a certain level. Some people say 10, some say 20. Some (and I am in this camp) believe you only get the "and he goes down to level 1!" message if, say, you're level 2 and the lab wants to take away two levels. Obviously you can't go down to level 0, so you get the "and he goes down to level 1" message instead of "and he loses two levels!" I have heard of the level 1 reset happening to higher level pets, but very, VERY rarely, and I believe a staffer once confirmed that was a glitch. This is why all those big battlers lab without fear.

I wasn't trying to challenge your knowledge on it, Cranberry, sorry if it came off that way! I've just noticed there seems to be a common misconception, like "if I start labbing my 100 defensed pet, after a while he'll be down to a defense of 8!" when in reality I don't think that's very likely. He'll just hover around 100 I think.
Also, I don't believe the lab will ever bring your level down to 1 unless it's trying to take away more than you have, as well. Anyone claiming their level 20 pet went to level 1 in one zap probably didn't pay attention for the past week or so when it kept taking levels, and just assumed that it's always been 20.

Thanks for all the help guys!

I need to do the cost calculations properly but right now I'm leaning more towards keeping my lab rat as a pure labbing pet, and using her/him as my 1p battler (as I already do now) to keep up with DoN and wars and when she/he gets to a colour/species combo I really love I'll consider proper training. I think I might also train a new pet up as well through both lab and the more traditional training methods. WHich means I can start my 2 player battling career with a clean slate and work my way through some more inexperienced battlers with lower stats before my pet becomes good enough to have to face people who really know what they're doing

I've never thought of combining the lab and academy/training school before now! In my head it's always been one or the other but the way you described it makes perfect sense Cranberry - much more logical.

Now I just need to decide on whether to buy a new lab map for my second account, or alternate pets on the one I have already... hmmm... and I need to switch some pets around I think...

Argh, so many things to think about!

I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but what I've been doing with my lab is to lab my pet until her HP are 5 or less below the point where she'd go to the next training level. Then (when I feel like it, I'm a more casual trainer) I train up until everything is even again. At that point, more labbing. Then more training. Etc.

It's not nearly as fast as labbing and training at the same time, but I think it's cheaper since you don't have to keep your level up (you can usually train up some of the lost levels at a lower training level, which is cheaper.) It also means I can keep my Eyrie an Eyrie much of the time while still periodically using the lab to train. And, I'm lazy and this gives me less stuff to worry about. :-)