Beginners' Guide to Battling
If you understand the basic principles behind attacking in the Battledome, you'll be pleased to know that defending works in much the same way.
Just as attack weapons deal icons of damage, defensive weapons block certain types and amounts of icons. The icon types are the same ones mentioned in the attack tutorial. Which icons, and how many, can be blocked varies between different weapons. For instance, the Leaf Shield can block five icons of earth damage, five water, and three physical.
Much like attack icons, defence icons get stronger or weaker depending on your pet's stats. You'll need to look at the Defence stat to find out how much damage each icon will block. Just as the different ranges of strength are known as strength boosts, the categories in the table below are often called defence boosts.
| A pet whose Defence is... | will block... |
| 7 or less | .5 damage per icon |
| 8 to 12 | .75 damage |
| 13 to 19 | 1 damage |
| 20 to 34 | 1.25 damage |
| 35 to 54 | 1.5 damage |
| 55 to 84 | 2 damage |
| 85 to 124 | 2.5 damage |
| 125 to 199 | 3 damage |
| 200 to 249 | 4.5 damage |
| 250 to 299 | 5.5 damage |
| 300 to 349 | 6.5 damage |
| 350 to 399 | 7.5 damage |
| 400 to 449 | 8.5 damage |
| 450 to 499 | 9.75 damage |
| 500 to 549 | 11 damage |
| 550 to 599 | 12 damage |
| 600 to 649 | 13 damage |
| 650 to 699 | 14 damage |
| 700 or 749 | 15 damage |
| 750 or higher | 16 damage |
It's important to remember that the different types of defence icons are not interchangeable. If you are using a Leaf Shield -- which blocks earth, water, and physical damage -- and your opponent attacks you with a weapon that deals air damage, your shield will be unable to block any of it.
The amount of damage your pet receives cannot be lower than zero. If your defensive weapon blocks more damage than your opponent can deal, then your pet will receive no damage whatsoever.
Fractional defence icons (where weapons block less damage than their displayed icons would suggest) do exist, but are not as common as fractional attack.
Defence Calculation Example
My pet has a Defence stat of 60, and is using a Leaf Shield. My opponent deals 5 points (not icons) of fire damage, 5 points of earth damage, and 15 points of water damage.
A Defence stat of 60 falls into the 55 strength boost, meaning that each icon blocks 2 points of damage. This means that my Leaf Shield can protect my pet from 10 points of earth damage, 10 points of water damage, and 6 points of physical damage.
Of the 5 points of earth damage from my opponent, my shield blocks 10, meaning I receive no earth damage at all.
Of the 15 points of water damage, my shield blocks 10, meaning I receive 15 - 10 = 5 points of damage.
Finally, since my Leaf Shield cannot block fire damage at all, I receive all 5 of the 5 points of fire damage.
Adding together all the damage types, we find that my pet takes 0 + 5 + 5 = 10 points of damage.
This article was written by: In-Depth Battlepedia
