After the War of the Obelisk Plot (Y15), the Battlegrounds opened up once again for continuous warring called skirmish battles. Fighting for control of the Obelisk and its boons (prizes and special abilities), the six factions from the plot battle every two weeks and need your help! A timer that keeps track of the current affairs of the Obelisk can always be accessed at the Battlegrounds.
SIGNING UP TO BATTLE
Every other Monday, three of the six factions will be up for skirmish battles: The Awakened, Brute Squad, Order of the Red Erisim, Thieves Guild, Seekers, and/or The Sway. (The previous week’s winner will be excluded from participating.) Users have 3 days to pledge allegiance to a faction for which they will fight, and then an additional 4 days to battle the enemies of the opposing factions.
It is generally agreed upon that the team that wins the most battles overall will win for the week. Most weeks, conversations between users in the Games Chat, Battledome Chat, and Guilds Chat (specifically Battledome- and Obelisk-related guilds) come to a consensus as to which faction they will all choose for the week to nearly ensure that a chosen faction will win. While it can never be guaranteed, it is highly recommended visiting these Neoboards during the sign-up period if you are missing Obelisk avatars and still need to collect them; otherwise, users with the avatars tend to choose the faction of which they like the boons.
This avatar — and five others — could be yours! Choose wisely!
BATTLING
Again, users have the rest of the week post-sign up to participate. Users must win at least 10 battles in order to be eligible for the winning prizes at the end of the week. This means that even if your faction wins, you will receive no access to the boons if you did not individually win 10 battles or more.
There are ten opponents from the warring factions that are presented at a range of difficulties, the lowest being 8-12 HP and the highest being 225-450 HP. The difficulty does not factor into the winning number of battles needed to qualify to for the prizes, meaning users can win 10+ battles against any opposing faction enemy. The easiest opponents are so weak that even a newborn Neopet with a single weapon can win against them, so everyone can participate even without owning a BD pet. For very specific details on each potential faction enemy, you can visit JellyNeo’s In-Depth Battlepedia.
The more battles that are won within a faction, the better the likelihood that faction will win in the end. While teamwork is very important, individually lodging as many battles as possible is the most basic strategy users can use to help their respective factions.
AFTER THE BATTLES – BOONS
At the end of the week, a winning faction is announced. The participants in the winning faction are given the Oracle’s Blessing, the ability to choose a boon, and an avatar and site theme if they do not already have them for that specific faction. To get the avatar and site theme, just go to the Battlegrounds homepage once the battling period has ended. After the skirmish battles end, winners can choose a boon that will last for one week until sign-ups begin for the next war. Boons offer a special ability that can be used throughout the site, ranging from increased bank interest to extra spins on the various wheels. Each faction has boons specific to them, so if you have already won all of the avatars and site themes, choosing a faction that has a boon you particularly like is encouraged. There are also two Premium boons for Premium users that can be chosen alongside a faction’s boon. To learn about the many boons, you can visit the Daily Neopets Boons guide.
