From the Bleachers to the Track: Knowledge is Power

Welcome back to the last installment of “From the Bleachers to the Track!”

Before you begin reading this installment, make sure to check out the first two posts in this series:

Part 1: The Racer's Handbook

Part 2: Can't Rush Perfection

This time we take a look at derby abilities!

Any pet has the potential to be a great racer, but knowing what each ability does and how to use it, allows you to have many options when it comes to creating your perfect pet!

Removes Jump/Duck

Abilities: Baffle, Befuddle, Disconcert, Distract, Dumbfound, Flummox, Perplex, Stumble, Stumble On, Stupefy, Super-Dizzy, Think Fast!

What they do: Removes jump or duck from your opponent for a certain amount of time.

How to use it: Timing needs to be perfect to use these well. Try using these abilities when your opponent is near many hurdles or attempting to jump many in a row. Not only will doing this possibly cause your opponent to run into hurdles and slow down…but it also prevents them from gaining precious morale!

Lane Drops

Abilities: Banana Peel, Bananas!, Bombardier, Bomber, Dead End, Oil Slick, Slick-N-Slide, Stonewall

What they do: These abilities drop items into one or all the lanes. 

How to use it: No matter what the item is, running into any obstacle on the track causes your opponent to slow down or maybe even change lanes. For these abilities, try to drop items when your opponent is directly behind you. If you have a decent lead, try “hiding” the items by placing them behind walls or hurdles. Another good strategy for these abilities is to place them in front of hurdles, causing your opponent to either bypass the hurdle or suffer a slow when attempting to jump it.

Speed Boosts

Abilities: Big Boost, Big Hurry, Boost, Hurry, Mega Hurry, Mega-Boost, Super Hurry

What they do: These abilities give you a speed boost for a limited amount of time!

How to use it: These abilities are good to use any time in the race! Although, if you find yourself way ahead of the other racers, it may be a good idea to conserve your speed boosts in case an opponent has spiffy pop. (See below for details on that)

Removes Positives

Abilities: Big Downer, Downer, Killjoy

What they do: These abilities remove “positives,” or “speed boosts” from your opponents.

How to use it: The best way to pull these abilities off is to keep a lookout on the bottom of your screen. If you see your opponent use a boost or hurry….quickly use your ability to take that boost away!

Removes Morale

Abilities: Big Drain, Big Exhaust, Deplete, Drain, Exhaust, Exhausted, Mega-Deplete, Siphon, Siphonizer

What they do: These abilities remove morale from your opponent.

How to use it: These abilities are good to use almost anytime. The only thing I would be aware of is where the stars are on every course. If you see an opponent near a spot with a star on the corner map, wait a bit….they might have a star and have immunity.

Lessens Cheer Cost

Abilities: Big Rally, Clay Post, Dirt Post, Grass Post, Huge Rally, Rally

What they do: These abilities lessen your cheer cost on certain terrain (or all terrain) for a certain amount of time.

How to use it: These abilities can be used any time. Although, these abilities are best used when you are on or near the surface(s) that you will be decreasing the cheer cost on.

Morale Chance Increase

Abilities: Big Recovery, Recovery, Restorative, Restore

What they do: These abilities give you a morale chance increase when jumping or ducking hurdles.

How to use it: Morale is the key to winning races, if you have these abilities and have the opportunity to get even more…do so when there are tons of hurdles up for grasp!

Slows Speed

Abilities: Big-Check, Check, Dawdle, Delay, Freeze Frame, Halt Leader, Overtake, Slow Leader, Slow Motion, Slowpoke, Stall, Stop Leader, Super Delay, Super-Pass, Super-Stall

What they do: These abilities slow down your opponents for a limited time. 

How to use it: These abilities are good to use almost anytime. The only thing I would be aware of is where the stars are on every course. If you see an opponent near a spot with a star on the corner map, wait a bit….they might have a star and have immunity.

Steals

Abilities: Bummer, Leech, Mega-Leech, Sap, Super-Sap

What they do: These abilities steal morale from your opponent(s).

How to use it: These abilities are good to use almost anytime. One thing I would be aware of is where the stars are on every course. If you see an opponent near a spot with a star on the corner map, wait a bit….they might have a star and have immunity. The other thing to be aware of is how much morale your opponent actually has. If your opponent is already out of morale, don’t use your ability, it will be useless and take away nothing! Wait until your opponent jumps a hurdle or uses an ability like “Charge” or “Supercharge” (Which replenishes their morale) to do more damage.

Lock Lane/Lane Changes

Abilities: Catch, Catch Leader, Clear Path, Eat My Dirt, Eat My Dust, Lock, Move-It!, Musical Lane , No 

Passing, Scoot, Super-Lock

What they do: These abilities lock the lane of your opponent or force them to change lanes.

How to use it: Timing, timing, timing is what these abilities are all about! If you have any of these abilities you want to wait until the precise moment in which you can do the most damage. Try locking or switching your opponent into a lane with lots of obstacles such as walls, or the best of all….mud! Locking your opponent into a mud lane is HUGE! They can’t cheer AND it slows them down! It takes practice, but it’s a great tool if you have one of these abilities. 

Increases Morale

Abilities: Charge, Charge Up, Supercharge

What they do: These abilities replenish your morale!

How to use it: Another ability that’s good to use anytime, but I recommend using it as soon as you think you need it. An important note: Never, I repeat, NEVER use these abilities at the start of the race! I can’t tell you how many times I see these abilities wasted at the start when you already have full morale! Wait until your bar is half empty to use these abilities. That way, you’re not wasting the ability and you can get the most out of the ability. The more you use it, the more morale you can gain back. 

Removes Negatives

Abilities: Clear

What they do: These abilities remove negative effects on you, such as slows.

How to use it: If you have clear, feel free to use it whenever you have any type of slows bringing you down. If you don’t have any slows initially, wait until you do! Don’t waste it!

Decreases Attributes

Abilities: Enfeeble, Enfeeblement, Mega-Upset, Sideswipe, Weaken, Weakenizer, Wipeout

What they do: These abilities decrease your opponent(s) stats on terrain, often resulting in an increase of cheer cost.

How to use it: Try to use these abilities when you know that your opponent is on or near the surfaces you will be affecting. Also try to make sure your opponent is not near any stars. BE WARNED: Both Enfeeble and Enfeeblement are glitched! Even when time expires, your opponent’s cheer bar will remain locked in at cheer cost 10 (as if you were still using your ability.) This is a graphic glitch, it doesn't actually take away 10 cheer, even though it says it is. Newbies are often shocked and terrified when they first encounter this.

Immunity

Abilities: Immunity, Unbreakable

What they do: These abilities grant you immunity for a certain amount of time. This means that your opponent’s abilities can’t affect you, and walls, obstacles and missing hurdles won’t slow you down. 

How to use it: Anytime is good to use immunity! It might be best to keep track of your opponent’s cool down time to use it just before they zap you though! :)

Removes Cheer

Abilities: Mute, Pipe-Down!, Shh!, Shush!, Silence, Ultra-Mute

What they do: These abilities restrict your opponent(s) from cheering. 

How to use it: Use these abilities wisely as they can be very effective! Almost any time is good to use these abilities. The only thing I would worry about is using them when your opponent has immunity either by using an ability or by catching a star. (Don’t waste it!)

Teleport

Abilities: Spiffy-Pop

What they do: Allows you to teleport to a racer further ahead. 

How to use it: Ah, Spiffy-Pop, the game maker and game breaker. 

Using Spiffy-Pop: The number one mistake is letting people know you have Spiffy-Pop! Don’t alert people that you have it by using it near the beginning of the race, hold off as long as you can. You ideally want to stay in second as long as you can without using the ability at all. If you must use it to get into second, then use it, but try your best not to. Whether you have used it to get into second, or have held on to second the entire race, start saving your morale and any hurries near the final stretch of the race. It’s at this point when you want to unleash anything you can on the leader. Mutes, saps, anything that can make them suffer…do it! Then, at the same time you’re teleporting, use any and all your hurries and cheer like mad! This method isn't fool proof, but will give you the best shot at winning with Spiffy-Pop. Basically the key to using it is saving all your morale and helpful abilities and unleashing them all on the final stretch! 

Defending against Spiffy-Pop: People who know how to use Spiffy-Pop correctly will lag behind you on purpose to save morale and abilities. If you notice a significant lead or have seen your opponent use Spiffy-Pop earlier in the race, start saving YOUR morale and abilities too! On the final stretch, if you have immunity-use it! When your Spiffy-Pop opponent teleports, use all of your hurries and morale to try to outsprint them to the finish line! The biggest mistake to make against a Spiffy-Pop pet is using up all your morale and hurries before the end of the race. If you do that, you won’t have anything left to use when your opponent teleports! It seems that is the end of this derby series! I hope you all enjoyed it and I wish you all the best of luck in your future derby endeavors! 

~Vanessa Mythdust

I would like to personally thank Vanessa for her awesome work with this series!  I wish you all the best with derby and hope you've learned a lot from this series!  If you are 13 years or older, make sure to tweet @VanessaMythdust thanking her for the series (you can comment below or send Vanessa a visitor or private message over on Wizard101 Central as well)!  If you didn't know, Vanessa is a Derby Tournament Master over at Wizard101 Central.  Whenever you are ready for some Central Derby Tournaments, make sure to go try it out!

~Sophia