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Polished Piercing Jewels
(and Others)
for Gold in Wizard101

 

 

Do you have some excess gold and want to upgrade or add to your school jewels (piercing, accurate, critical, damage, defense and blocking)?  Are you willing to do some crafting?

In the past, to get piercing jewels (or other helpful ones, like accurate and critical) you either had to do a lot of mob or boss battles or spend some crowns on the jewel packs.  Now you have a third option!  

In the Bug Fixes section of the Empyrea Part One update notes, there was a comment “Check the Caravan for a new jewel and Jewel Crafting vendor in Mirage!“

If you go to Caravan, climb the ladders at the far end of where you enter and you’ll find your buddy Gemeral.  He sells recipes for level 95-115 school jewels. 

There’s good news and bad news about the recipes…

 

The Good News

For these recipes, the three ingredients can be bought with gold — easily!

 

Total cost for crafting one jewel is a reasonable 9200 gold:

• 17 Perfect Stones: 1700 gold (17 x 100)
• 10 Turmeric: 5000 gold (10 x 500)
• 5 “Mega” TC: 2500 gold (5 x 500)

 

The Bad News

The bad news is that the jewel you get is random and the ones you most likely want (piercing, accurate, critical, damage) have a lower drop rate.

“How low” you may ask?  Well, I needed some piercing jewels for my wizards so crafted 200 of them.  Here were my results:

Type	Polished (95)	Lustrous (105)	Shiny (115)	Total
Defense	14.0%	3.0%	11.0%	28.0%
Blocking		5.0%	6.0%	11.0%
Accurate	12.5%	9.5%		22.0%
Damage	13.5%	10.0%	3.5%	27.0%
Critical		4.0%	5.5%	9.5%
Piercing	2.5%			2.5%
Total	31.5%	42.5%	26.0%	100.0%

 

  

Given these rates, the average costs for the most desirable jewels are:

Jewel Type	Average Cost
Polished Piercing	368,000 gold
Lustrous Accurate	97,000 gold
Shiny Critical	167,000 gold
Shiny Damage	263,000 gold

 

The Verdict?

Well the good jewels ain’t cheap but… if you have excess gold, don’t feel like doing a lot of farming, nor feel like spending crowns on jewel packs, you can see if these jewel recipes help get you “over the hump” with your jewels you want!

 

What do you think?
  Let us know in the comments!

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Best PvP Wands

For this article, I collected screenshots of overlords in the Arena in November and December 2017. As a result, I have screenshots of 310 overlords with their wand of choice. Last year, I did the same, and collected roughly the same amount of overlords in two weeks instead of two months. Hence, we can say the amount of overlords seems to be in decline. Back then, I wrote two articles based on these wands: one for max level PvP (which was prodigious back then) and one for lower level PvP. This year, however, I’ll combine them all in one and the same article.

Please note that not all levels are equally common in the Arena. My data only gives a general idea of how popular certain level ranges are. After all, there’s always the chance that – had I collected my data at a different time of the day – I would have found more overlords of a different level. Based on my research, the most popular level ranges seem to be Champion (level 120+, 68 overlords) and Legendary (level 60+, 66 overlords). Next comes Grandmaster (level 50+, 47 overlords), closely followed by Magus (level 30+, 31 overlords) and Exalted (level 100+, 26 overlords). As a result, these are the only levels I will be taking a closer look at.

This article is written in colaboration with Jeremy Ravenhunter, whose expertise with gear is greatly appreciated. I, as a misthead, can’t really grasp gear fully since there are so many variables. As such, misthead has provided and analyzed the data for this article, while Jeremy has taken care of the wand descriptions.

 

Best PvP Wands for Magus Wizards (30+)

We begin with the most simple of levels: Magus. At Magus there isn’t really much competition. The best wand by far is the Sky Iron Hasta from Mount Olympus. A total of 29 out of 31 Magus overlords were carrying a Hasta around.

Additionally there were two Magus overlords with a pack wand: one was using the Headmaster’s Sky Staff (Professor’s Hoard pack) and the other the Mandolin of Evermore (Hoard of the Hydra pack).

 

 

Best PvP Wands for Grandmaster Wizards (50+)

I ran into a total of 47 Grandmasters while I was gathering data.

1. Pack Wands for Grandmaster Wizards

First of all, Grandmasters are mostly fond of pack wands. Their wands come out of a total of 9 different packs. Two packs are especially popular: Hoard of the Hydra and Keeper’s Lore, with 10 overlords each. So that makes 10 Mandolins of Evermore and 10 Order of High Glory Banners. Next, the third most popular pack wand is the Road Legend Skull from the Road Warrior’s Hoard pack.

2. Dropped Wands for Grandmaster Wizards

Second, some Grandmasters are still fond of the Sky Iron Hasta, which we saw earlier is very popular at level 30. That 10% damage is hard to resist!

3. Bundle Wands for Grandmaster Wizards

Last but not least, there was one overlord using the Ranger Marksman Bow from the Avalon Outlaw’s bundle.

 

Best PvP Wands for Legendary Wizards (level 60+)

At Legendary, there are two prominent choices. Both pack wands and arena ticket wands are used by 32 out of 66 Legendary overlords, which makes 48 % each.

1. Arena Ticket Wands for Legendary Wizards (48 %)

First, there’s only one Arena Ticket wand that is popular at level 60+: Diego’s Staff of Flashing Blades.

2. Pack Wands for Legendary Wizards (48 %)

Second, in packs, there’s a little more variation. The most popular is the Mandolin of Evermore from the Hoard of the Hydra pack. A total of 16 out of 66 of the Legendary overlords (24 %) use this Mandolin that comes with a Guardian Spirit item card. Second in line is the Aquilan Velite Lance, with 10 legendary overlords out of 66 (15 %) using it.

3. Bundle Wands for Legendary Wizards (2 %)

The Witch Hunter’s Arbalest is used by one Legendary overlord, so it is rather rare.

4. Dropped Wands for Legendary Wizards (2 %)

One single Legendary overlord was still using his Sky Iron Hasta, the level 30 wand from Mount Olympus.

 

Best PvP Wands for Exalted Wizards (level 100+)

I have a total of 26 Exalted overlords. While that’s not enough to make detailed conclusions, we can still look at the general trends among Exalted overlords nevertheless.

1. Pack Wands for Exalted Wizards (58 %)

First, out of my 26 Exalted overlords, 15 chose a wand from a pack. Most noteworthy are the Immortal’s Lore pack‘s wands (6 overlords), followed by the Mandolin of Evermore from the Hoard of the Hydra pack (2 overlords) and the Terror’s Hoard pack‘s wands (2 overlords).

2. Dropped Wands for Exalted Wizards (34 %)

Of the 9 dropped wands that I found among Exalted overlords, 8 were Darkmoor wands and 1 was a Tartarus wand.

3. Bundle Wands for Exalted Wizards (8 %)

With this small of an amount of Exalted overlords, 8 % comes down to two bundle wands. One was the Witch Hunter’s Arbalest and the other the Shard Warrior’s Hammer.

 

 

Best PvP Wands for Champions (level 120+)

Next, at level 120+, pack wands and crafted wands are the most popular. Of my 68 Champion overlords, 25 (so 37 %) were carrying a pack wand. Another 23 (so 34 %) were using an Arcanum crafted wand. Bundle wands were the third most common group, with 14 overlords (21 %) carrying a wand from a bundle. Finally, there were 5 individuals with a dropped wand and 1 with a crown shop wand.

1. Pack Wands for Champions (37 %)

First of all, when looking at only pack wands, it’s interesting to notice that of the 25 champion overlords with a pack wand, only 3 are using the level 120 version. Everyone else is still using the level 100 or level 110 versions of this wand. I suppose getting wands requires buying too many packs, which probably leads to people settling on the wand they already have rather than upgrading as they leveled up.  This may also be due to the fact that in many instances, the level 110+ and 120+ are not direct upgrades, for example, one level may have pierce while another level focused on pip conversion or another stat.

The Immortal’s Lore pack is currently the most popular. Especially the Aquilan Secutor Lance attracts overlords, as it accounts for 11 out of 25 pack wands. The second most popular pack wands come from the Terror’s Hoard Pack. When I researched this topic a year ago, this pack’s wands were the most popular, as it was the most recently released. Its popularity has since declined, with 7 overlords using a wand from this pack. Of those 7, 5 used the Fortune Teller’s Eternal Gaze.

2. Crafted Wands for Champions (34 %)

Crafted wands take up 34 % of all Champion overlord wands, which comes down to 23 crafted wands in total. Currently, the Arcanum allows max level wizards to craft Legendary and Focused (Revered) wands. First came the Legendary wands with the release of Mirage in November 2016. Next, the Revered wands were added with the release of Empyrea. While this new wand is pretty awesome, it requires a lot of effort to craft. You have to PvP, fish, do silver chest games and farm for reagents to craft this wand. Due to all these requirements, it seems most overlords stick to their Legendary wand for now.

3. Bundle Wands for Champions (21 %)

The most popular bundle wand is the Shard Warrior’s Hammer from the Jewel Crafter’s Bundle. This wand was used by 11 overlords, which makes it as equally popular as the Aquilan Secutor Lance (see above).

4. Dropped Wands for Champions (7 %)

Another three Champion overlords are still using their Darkmoor wand, while two Jades went for the Sword of Kings from Avalon’s Keep of Ganelon dungeon. All in all, dropped wands are not popular anymore in PvP at max level, which is in sharp contrast with last year, when Darkmoor wands were good for 23 % of all max level wizards’ choice. Consequently, we can say we’ve moved on past Darkmoor as far as wands are concerned.

 

Were there any surprises in this article?  Let us know in the comments below!

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Spiraling into Shadow

 

Chapter One

The bell rung, and the door to the School of Myth burst open. Out of the yellow building poured dozens of Conjurers, of every shape and kind, buzzing with gossip and harping about Mr. Drake’s unfair grading scale. Some waved to Ivan as they passed by, others ignored their school tree entirely. It payed no notice; after all, such was the fate of Myth.

Slowly blinking its solitary eye, Ivan gazed upon students of every school of magic file out to socialize in the Commons. The tree watched as a young student scampered out of the Life School, desperately fumbling with the potted Dandelion Wu had assigned as extra credit. It watched a young male Diviner chatting it up with a female Pyromancer, the girl clearly bored out of her mind listening to the boy’s lightning-fast chatter. Eventually the only sounds that could be heard were the faint pulses of water passing by and the occasional rustling of leaves overhead. All was peace.

Minutes passed. Hours. The Tree of Myth stood entrenched in its place, listening to Blossom sing for Torrence while Bernie and Kelvin engaged in playful banter. Silently,  Ivan twisted its trunk and gazed downward upon its shadow, now elongated in the evening sun.

“You may come out now,” the tree rumbled.

The shadow quivered. A portion of the shade broke off of the larger whole, sliding its way up the wall of the nearby Myth School school and elongating to form a large black oval. The dark hole rippled, as if a pool of water, and a dark figure emerged from its depths.

 

---

 

The creature silently gazed at Ivan, its eyeless stare sending a chill down Ivan’s roots. Its dark staff quivered in its grip as its wings drooped to its sides. The pale blue marks on its cheeks pulsed with an unholy light, illuminating the featureless face underneath its hood. The creature’s pitch-black robe rustled as it walked off the grass onto the nearby pathway, its round blue feet creating small ripples of blackness with every step. Ivan shuddered; it had never been fond of Shadow back in its days as a sapling, and it certainly wasn’t now.

The Shadow Seraph tilted its head. “I apologize,” it said mouthlessly, its voice distorted and masked. “I did not mean to make you afraid.”

Hitting the end of its staff on the stone beneath it, the creature of Shadow was surrounded by a whirlwind of black energy. Strings of darkness enveloped the creature, weaving in and out until parting to reveal a young man in a dark green cloak. The dark slithered its way down the wizard’s legs and stretched out beside him to form a shadow.

Satisfied, the Theurgist opened his eyes, expressionless. A moment later and he was doubled over, coughing something horrible and shaking like a dead leaf. Trembling, the wizard, pale as a Ghoul and lips cherry-red with blood, staggered forward, struggling to get on his feet. Hands shaking, he brought a flask of Potion to his lips and quickly downed it, renewed by the familiar taste and warmth. Color briefly returned to his face as he blinked several times, regaining composure. Renewed, he calmly rose to his feet, skillfully kicking his discarded staff up and back into his hand. Relaxing his tense muscles, he turned to the Myth Tree, witness to all that had transpired.

“Thanks for letting me hang out with you,” the Theurgist said mildly.
Ivan furrowed its brow. “I am concerned for you, young wizard. One should not be dabbling in Shadow for such long periods of time.”

“I know, I know,” the student of Life replied glumly. “I’m just… not good with people, you know?”
“Your friend Travis would say otherwise,” Ivan rumbled.
“Yeah, well, Travis is Travis.”

“I suppose,” the tree said. “Still intent on seeing Cyrus?”
The wizard looked down. “Yes. I… I need to give him something.”
Ivan’s eye narrowed. “I see. He’s been quite worried about you and your friends, you know.”
The Theurgist nodded. “I expected as much. I’ve seen Dworgyn already, but I wanted to see Mr. Drake… personally.”
“Take care, young wizard,” Ivan said. “Oh, and one more thing… tread lightly.”

The Life wizard nodded and turned to walk to the School of Myth, arriving at its doors within a few steps. His staff throbbed with dark energy as the leaves crowning its head rustled uneasily. The wizard fidgeted uncomfortably, patting his side pocket to ensure the knapsack on his belt was still there. Taking a deep breath, James Earthwalker pushed the door open with his free hand and walked into the classroom.

The next chapters

Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4

Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7

Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Do you like this? Do you want more of this?
Let us know in the comments!

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Best Balance PvP Pets

In this series, I will be looking at what pets are the most popular among overlords. I will give an overview of what your best pet options are when you are a wizard of a certain school. This article is based on the data I collected in November and December of 2017. I collected screenshots of the pets of a total on 307 overlords. However, when divided per school, the data is too limited to draw wide conclusions about the subject. When the data isn’t complete, I will add my own pet suggestions if needed.

Today, we’re looking at Balance. Balance has some pretty awesome PvP pets! My favorite one, the Fiery Judgement, didn’t make it to this list, sadly. That’s because it isn’t really all that good. It gives one card for a 6 pip judgement attack that leaves two random dispels. I’ve had so much fun with that pet when Avalon was the highest world! Mistheads are allowed to be nostalgic sometimes, alright? Next, let’s look at some pets that are BETTER than my favorite!

 

1. Clockwork Paladin

The Clockwork Paladin is the most popular Balance pet around at the moment. Of the 67 overlord Balances I took a screenshot of, 27 were using a Clockwork Paladin. When 40 % of all Balances use the pet, you know it must be good.

The Clockwork Paladin is used at nearly all levels, though it’s more popular at level 60 and below. The most popular levels seem to be Initiate, Grandmaster and Legendary, which all have 5 out of 67 overlords using this pet. At higher levels, minions aren’t as relevant anymore. So if you’re a Champion Balance, you should consider other options.

Why is the Clockwork Paladin a Good Pet for Balance?

The Clockwork Paladin gives three minion cards. This makes it extremely useful at level ranges where minions are relevant. This is a great pet if you’re a lower level Balance wizard or, for example, a Life with a Balance mastery.

The Clockwork minion can use weaknesses as well as elemental and spirit shields. Those are awesome defensive moves. In addition, it can also blade you or give you spears. It has three attacks: Spectral Blast, Spirit Blast and Sandstorm. It comes with a nice amount of health as well. Make sure to always keep your minion up and kill your opponent’s minion as soon as you can. The only good minion is YOUR minion!

Level range: 5-60 or higher for jade builds
Playstyle: Any

 

2. Flamenco Tocador

The Flamenco Tocador is the second most popular pet among Balance overlords. Out of 67 Balance overlords, 12 ran around with this pet, which is 18 % of all Balances.

This pet is the most popular at the higher level ranges: I ran into 5 Champions, 2 Legendaries and 2 Exalted overlords using a Flamenco Tocador.

Why is the Flamenco Tocador a Good Pet for Balance?

If you are Balance or have a Balance mastery, the Flamenco Tocador can be very useful. Its Availing Hands heal is a heal over time, which is most effective against people who spam attacks. If you’re facing a Lore spammer, your heal over time can discourage them from attacking you for a little while.

A combination of Satyr and Availing Hands can allow you to survive the biggest of spammers around. Make sure to pack plenty of bubbles to replace Doom and Gloom, if your opponent decides to cast it!

Level range: Any
Playstyle: Somewhat defensive to very defensive

 

3a. Boiler Golem

The place for third most popular pet among Balance overlords is a tie between the Boiler Golem and the Enchanted Armament with 7 % each. That’s 5 overlords choosing these pets. Two of them were Adepts and three Legendaries.

Why is the Boiler Golem a Good Pet for Balance?

The Boiler Golem comes with one Supernova item card. It’s only one card, but that’s still great when you’re a lower level Balance who doesn’t have the spell learned. With this spell, you can do a pretty nice amount of damage for two pips by destroying your opponent’s aura. It’s a spell that’s prone to fizzle, with only 75 % accuracy. Still, that’s better than the 60 % accuracy of the trained spell.

This spell can be used both defensively (when destroying an Infallible aura) and offensively (by destroying a Fortify aura). This spell is exactly the reason why many people don’t use auras when they’re facing a Balance wizard. In addition to using the item card version of this spell, you can get the TC version by gardening Sunions.

Level range: 5-76
Playstyle: Any

 

3b. Enchanted Armament

The Enchanted Armament is the other pet in shared third place. No doubt its three sharpened blade cards are very useful when blade stacking. This pet is useful at any level, which my data shows by having 1 Adept, 1 Legendary, 1 Exalted, 1 Prodigious and 1 Champion with the pet.

Why is the Enchanted Armament a Good Pet for Balance?

This pet is good if you like setting up for a big attack and killing your opponent in one hit. As a Balance with a Life or Myth mastery, you can set up for a Spiny or Basilisk, all the while also keeping your options to use Chimera open. That’s a popular strategy at Grandmaster in any case.

Level range: Any
Playstyle: Bladestacking

 

 

After the top three, the number of overlords picking the same pet dwindle significantly. Because of this, the next pets in this list are picked from the list based on my personal preference for them. On with it!

 

4. Balance Armaments

We have two Balance overlords in my data who use this pet. One of them was Prodigious, the other Legendary. If you can’t get your hands on a Boiler Golem, this pet can be a good alternative. It also comes with one Supernova item card, but in addition it also gets a Cloak card and a card for the Punishment aura.

Why is the Balance Armaments a Good Pet for Balance?

The Cloak item card can be useful at times. You can make your opponent guess whether you just cast a cloaked weakness or a cloaked infection. If you have two different dispels cloaked, you can also make them unsure whether you just Life or Balance dispelled them. Do note that cloak no longer circumvents the dispel shield. The same counts for cloaking either stun blocks or a set shield. They’ll have to guess which one it is!

Supernova’s usefulness was already explained higher up, while the Punishment aura can be useful occasionally.

Level range: 5-76
Playstyle: Any

 

5. Rain Beetle

Another two overlords chose a Rain Beetle as their pet. One was a Grandmaster and one an Exalted overlord, but this pet is good at most levels.

Why is the Rain Beetle a Good Pet for Balance?

The Rain Beetle is a good pet for most schools, as it comes with no less than four item cards. These Storm Beetle cards are a handy way to get rid of a shield and apply a blade at the same time. If you can, use them while you have infallible up, because their accuracy isn’t great.

Level range: Any
Playstyle: Any

 

 

Of course there are other options. For one, there’s the Firestorm Quetzal with its 70% elemental shields. Also think of the Proper Penguin, excellent at low level PvP because of its three Tower Shields item cards. There are the Desert Beast and the Carnation Pixie with their single blade, the Party Corgi with two sharpened blades, and the Gobblerball with both a balanceblade and an elemental blade. However, all of these options come after the top five I have presented already.

 

Do you know of another good Balance pet?
Let us know in the comments!

 

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Debunking Popular Beliefs
The Economy Behind Mega Snack Plants

Thesis: Kingsisle should make new seeds with stronger mega snacks. They would profit from us buying the seeds and we would be satisfied because we could train pets faster. It’s a win-win situation.

If you’re lurking around social media, forums or YouTube you have probably already heard the statement above. Maybe not exactly like that, word for word, but a statement with the same meaning and maybe even an explanation. Usually, with these questions some desired answers appear. Why doesn’t KI give us stronger mega snacks? We will try to answer this question and hopefully clear up some confusion.

Disclaimer: The article is based around our economy knowledge and out-of-the-box thinking. The reasons stated below aren’t official KI reasons – these are just our thoughts – similar to a thesis we’re debunking.

 

Selling a Service vs Selling a Product

Selling a product is easy. You have a dishwasher and you’re trying to convince your customers with the product’s specifications. However, this alone isn’t always the best option when marketing a product. You need to find a way to sell this as a service. You have to create a NEED, a DESIRE for the product. So instead of selling a dishwasher, you’re selling the ability to wash dishes. But Jeremy, why are you explaining me this? I want to read about mega snacks, not the dishwashers…

The same logic applies to Wizard101. They’re not selling mega snacks because they give more xp to the pets. They’re selling Mega Snacks because people need them. Because they’ve created a desire for Mega snacks.

The main question is, what are KingsIsle selling? Products or services? Let’s ignore memberships because they are clearly a service. Instead, let’s focus on our case: seeds and mega snacks. They are a product of course. That’s true, but that’s not the main focus of the selling strategy. The main focus is pet training, which is a service they’re offering. A service which is creating a desire to continue stockpiling mega snacks.

Well, this and achieving the ultimate goal of having 999 of each Mega Snack in shared bank, but that’s a story for another time…

 

Pet Training as a Service

But Jeremy, people have already multiplied their seeds and are drowning in mega snacks. It makes sense to release new seeds with better mega snacks. After all, people don’t have a need to buy Couch Potatoes or Evil Magma Peas anymore. This is true. But Mega Snacks aren’t the only thing that is needed to train a pet.

There is another source of income. Things that are really cheap by themselves, but highly profitable when bought in masses. The energy elixir is the most known out of them, as well as hatching and timer resets.

We can return to previous section, when we were comparing selling the product vs selling the service. As long as KI will provide the constant need for pet training, elixirs by themselves will provide enough profit. Just think about it. Designing plants with stronger mega snacks would temporarly bring more profit, while selling elixirs provides a steady income.

 

Ways of Creating Pet Training Needs

There are a couple of ways to keep us busy and make us strive towards making new creations.

1. New Pets

Cute new pets are one thing that keeps us spending on mega snacks. It’s either because they have a cool card/card combination, because they look cute or simply because we want to stay in touch with new trends.

2. New Talents

Talents are the second reason why we keep on training. It could be because new talents appear. In addition, we may simply want to try something new. Perhaps there is a new power combination that few people know about? Or the latest example of a new energy talent – this created so many utility pets that had to be redone.

3. Meta Changes

Changes in the meta are another way that creates pet training needs. Sometimes it’s done by KI when they make changes to PvP (for example changes in the critical system). Other times it’s simply because players changed their play style. Maybe they decided to go offensive after having been defensive or the other way around. Meta changes require changes in play style and making a new pet is definitely a requirement here.

4. Accessibility to Mega Snacks and Gold

And here it is – the reason why it is good for KI to allow us to get so many mega snacks. Just like gold, having mega snacks in abundance gives us access to training pets without worrying too much. Careful planning isn’t as needed as it used to be. If a pet fails we can simply try again with the mega snacks we have left. This means people will be spending more on energy elixirs, because they don’t have to worry about their mega snacks anymore.

 

Knowing Where to Stop

Now, making stronger mega snacks would provide us with an even easier way to train more pets, but limits need to be known. We’re moving back to the previous section now with elixirs. Energy elixirs plays huge role in wizard101’s pet economy. Simply put, stronger mega snacks would mean less energy elixirs sold.

It all comes down to a circle, that starts with double gardening and pet xp rewards. Double gardening rewards fill us with loads of snacks and gold, which are a great encouragement to start creating/training pets. Another great encouragment for that are double pet xp rewards. Creating new pets leads to the sale of more elixirs. After a nice profitability, the circle starts again.

 

What Can be Done

So, what changes can be made here? What can be changed to add plants with stronger mega snacks without disrupting the current economy? I can see two possible solutions to this question:

1. Make those stronger mega snacks consume double the energy. The end result (energy consumed vs xp gained) would be exactly the same with one little difference. Time spent for training the pet would be two times lower.
2. Make stronger mega snacks consume normal energy, but add another level after an Ultra with another talent slot. This would create the need for extra energy elixirs – the ones that wouldn’t be bought at “old” levels due to faster progression with stronger mega snacks.

 

Do you agree with our theory? Why do you think
that KI doesn’t give us stronger Mega Snacks?

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Alphoi Hoard Pack

There’s a new pack in the Spiral: the Alphoi Hoard Pack! It’s packed full of funky fresh items from Zanadu’s Leisure Dome in Empyrea Part One, including a wearable Khan’s Disco outfit, Disco Ball Relic weapon, Light Blades Mount, and even a cute little Sani-Bot Pet!

 

New Pet: the Mini Sani-bot!

The new pet, called the mini sani-bot, is a Fire pet and comes with a Power Link card at baby.

 

Gear and Weapons

The pack contains interesting new gear. There are three sets: an Ice-Myth set, Life-Storm set and an universal set

 

New Housing Items

The housing items in this new pack are pretty cool! There are many housing guests, as well a drawven furniture.

 

What do you think the most cool item in this pack is?
Let us know in the comments!

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Treasure Cards Worth Collecting:
A Hoarder’s List

Hello, I am misthead and I’m a hoarder. I hoard lots of different things, but today’s topic is treasure cards! During certain periods, I spend hour upon hour in the Bazaar checking out Elik’s supply.

If you want to be a hoarder too, I will list some of the rarer treasure cards to look out for in the Bazaar. I’m obviously not listing everything that would be nice to collect. I will focus on the TC I personally collect. For each TC I will mention what it is used for. This is a highly personal list, which does by no means include every rare treasure card there is. I want to thank Jeremy RavenHunter for providing the PvP implications part of each spell!

Balance

Loremaster – Rarity:

Sources: dropped by Sword Fern plants and also from battling Loremaster or Deep Spawn (in Khrysalis).

Used for: Loremaster treasure cards are used in many crafting recipes. First off, you need them to craft the Loremaster spell of course! You also need them to craft the statues of the Arcanum teachers. The recipe for that is sold by Ignus Ferric, the Arcanum Fire teacher. In addition, the beautiful crafted Khrysalis wands also require Lore TC.

PvP implications: The bread and butter of every balance. While the TC itself isn’t commonly used in arena, it’s still a card you should get if the opportunity arises. It’s one of the strongest spells in game and a requirement to craft the actual spell. Every (or at least the big majority of) Balance wizards with the legendary artisan badge has it, which tells it all.

Stone Wall – Rarity:

Sources: Exclusive to the Immortal’s Lore pack, so slightly hard to get a hold of sometimes.

PvP implications: There are set tri-shields to every school, but this one stands out. It’s the only set shield to the Balance school (which means it can’t be wanded off) and nice way to shut down lore spammers. Balance-Ward + Stone Wall is a pretty powerful combination.

Steel Giant – Rarity:

Sources: I love these though I have yet to use them. They’re a drop from the Winterland pack and can also be dropped by bosses in Polaris.

PvP implications: Fantastic and underused spell for low/mid PvP. For 4 pips, you get back loaded DoT for all enemies. Which basically translates into »I’m a great minion killer.« Did your opponent shielded it? No problem! As an extra you’ll also remove their tower shields.

 

Sirocco Djinni – Rarity:

Sources: This TC can only be required by doing the Zafaria Telegraph Box during the fire B.O.X.E.S. event. Needless to say it’s very rare. I’ll be on the lookout for this one when the event comes back!

PvP implications: Unlike Loremaster, this spell can’t be crafted, so you can only use the TC in PvP. This means that you can’t enchant it with eg. Colossal. Still, the 90% weakness is well worth it. The spell still does a fair amount of damage at low and mid levels and locks your opponent out of attacking. At max levels it’s a strong spell if you need to buy an extra round because opponent has Shrike up.

 

Death

Death Bat – Rarity:

Sources: These can be found aplenty in the Bazaar when the Halloween packs are available. The rest of the year, they’re fairly rare. I only collect these to give to Dawny, who uses them in PvP. Maybe some day, I’ll start hoarding them for real. PvP implications: This death spell is good for any school. It’s a 1 pip DoT, which is perfect to get rid of weaknesses and several tower shields. If you’re not death, you even get bonus points for keeping your blades.

Red Ghost – Rarity:

Sources: These are just a personal favorite to me. I have red ghost pets that give this card, but I’ve been collecting the TC version for as long as I can remember. Maybe one day they’ll come in handy! You can find these in the Winterland pack, which means these are fairly common on the Bazaar right now. Get them while you still can!

PvP implications: Very useful card for Death wizards. Since Death doesn’t have a damage bubble, this is the only alternative. Getting either a pet with the Red Ghost card or stockpiling its TC version will make your life easier. While it does cost you 3 pips, you knock off your opponent’s set shield, their bubble and put up your own. Just be careful when you use it, because they will probably want to get rid of it.

Doom and Gloom -85% – Rarity:

Sources: Doom and Gloom TCs are not rare. However, the version that’s readily available only reduces healing to 75%. The one I collect has 85% healing reduction! These are only found in the Eye of Bartleby pack. If you don’t remember this pack, I don’t blame you. It isn’t really worth its price in my opinion.

PvP implications: This stronger version of TC doom is good to fight the toughest jades. For regular fights, 75% is more than enough, but if you’ll be fighting someone with a large incoming and outgoing healing boost, then 85% is a way to go. Just like with Red Ghost, be careful when you use it, because your opponent will probably replace it with sanctuary during the next round.

Life

Triage – Rarity:

Sources: Triage isn’t exceptionally rare. I have quite a few stocked away and should probably stop hoarding these. Old habits die hard! It’s dropped by Ivy League plants and several bosses around the Spiral.

PvP implications: A must have spell of anyone in PvP. Regardless of level, school and your skill level – you need a few copies in your deck. Every school (except storm/balance) has the option to attack you with heavy dot attacks and removing 2 ticks (or only 1 if you’re second) can make the difference between winning or losing, between living or dying.

Brulee Sucre – Rarity:

Sources: This TC can only be received from the Immortal’s Lore pack. As such, there are usually very few of them available.

PvP implications: You don’t see this spell used much in PvP. While you can’t enchant it, it still does decent damage and returns a nice amount of health. Granted, it’s a heal over time, but its hp at the end is similar to Satyr’s. You just pay 2 extra pips for a 500 damage dot. It has possibilities for some creative strategies – they just have to be found.

 

 

Myth

Shift – Rarity:

Sources: This TC is dropped by various bosses in Mirage. It can also be a reward in the Wysteria Lore pack. These days, Shift is less rare than it was before, but they won’t be in the Bazaar for long!

PvP implications: Triage’s big brother. Not only you remove a DoT from yourself, you also throw it back to your opponent. Due to its rare nature and high pip cost it’s bit risky to use it from second, but shifting a big DoT attack is almost an assured win in most cases.

Aftershock – Rarity:

Sources: My luck with Aftershocks in the Bazaar has been terrible as of late. You can get this TC as a reward from the Shaman’s Lore pack. It’s also one of the possible rewards for tourneys.

PvP implications: If Shift is Triage’s big brother, then Aftershock is Earthquake’s little brother. It costs 4 pips but can’t be enchanted. That’s not a problem here, since dealing damage isn’t the primary focus of the spell. It removes all blades and shields from the opponent and kills a minion. That’s a great deal for 4 pips, even if you don’t rock a mastery amulet.

 

Storm

Healing Current – Rarity:

Sources: A drop from the Winterland Pack. As far as I know, nobody else collects these. I have had this vague dream of one day trying PvP with a Storm mastery. I’ve been hoarding these TC for that for more than a year already. Let’s see if I ever get to use them!

PvP implications: A spell that probably doesn’t have much use in PvP as tc. Maybe lower leveled Storms might use it, who didn’t learn it yet and don’t have Life ammy or are feeling adventerous. But for everyone else, life heals are better/safer alternative. (misthead: Shush, Jeremy, I will rock the PvP boat with this some day).

Storm Efreet – Rarity:

Sources: Storm’s version of Efreet is pretty cool! This TC is only dropped in the Zafaria Telegraph box during the Five B.O.X.E.S. event, making it very rare.

PvP implications: This special storm spell is nice hit/utility spell. Many players will put stun blocks up as soon as possible when fighting Storm. With that, they remove one of the few combinations that posses a threat from Storm wizards – Storm lord combo. But luckily, there is the Storm Efreet alternative. It won’t always make them fizzle, but it’s a nice wild card to have.

Lightning Elf – Rarity:

Sources: These are awesome little buggers for getting rid of shields! Only dropped by Krampus.

PvP implications: A must have spell for any Storm. Since Storms don’t blade much anyway, it’s bit easier to use it than for example the regular Fire elf. It’s a great way to get rid of set shields/tower shields and open up opponent for free hit. It could also simply make them waste shields in anticipation of an incoming hit.

 

Ice

Arcticzilla – Rarity:

Sources: This TC is dropped in several places in Mirage. It’s also in the Skyvern’s Hoad pack.

PvP implications: This spell is pretty popular among Ice wizards and with good reason. Sacrificing 10% accuracy will get you damage that’s stronger than an Epic enchanted Wyvern, which would cost you the same amount of pips.

Fire

Firezilla – Rarity:

Sources: I just like collecting zillas, I guess… This one comes also from the Skyvern’s Hoad pack. In addition, Boom Shrooms and Bell Peppers drop them.

PvP implications: Fire version of Arcticzilla. Strong spell, which is good to finish off the opponents. Not as popular as ice counterpart, since Brimstone revenant provides nice alternative. Enchanted damage is comparable and it gives additional trap, which is great for incomming combinations.

Ashen Bones – Rarity:

Sources: There are two TC versions of Ashen Bones. This is the rarer one that does 1000 damage over 3 rounds. It’s from the Witch’ Hoad pack.  If you’re less of a snob, you could settle for the less rare version that gives 222 + 948 damage.

PvP implications: A hard hitting overtime – the Fire version of Death’s Skeletal Dragon. Yet another over-time spell added to Dire’s arsenal. Despite being an unenchantable card, it still deals a fair amount of damage. If we don’t count the initial hit (that most of the time will land on shields), the over time itself deals more damage than the Epic enchanted Death version.

Raging Kraken – Rarity:

Sources: Surprisingly, only available from gardening Boiled Peanuts. I think the wiki might be missing a source, these are not THAT rare.

PvP implications: A hard hitting 3 pip Fire spell that does same amount as a Gargantuan enchanted Sunbird for the cost of 5% lower accuracy. It’s a nice finishing spell for those cases when the wiz gods turn their back on you and give you a regular instead of power pip.

Don’t go steal all my TC
in the Bazaar now, you hear me!

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Wizard101 Spell Idea: Combustible Spells

We all knew the effects of common global spells (or bubbles) such as Doom and Gloom and Wyldfire. Then, new global spells showed up from Khrysalis. They provided us with stats that have never been seen on globals before, critical and pierce effects. The idea of combustible spells continues to build up on these.

The Basics

They’re a shadow infused global spell that will combust after an X amount of rounds, which will also deal an amount of damage to ALL players in the duel circle (that means both sides of the circle). This combines Star and Shadow magic with that of another tertiary school, your school. I assume that you’re all asking the same question, “Why on earth would I want to cast this?”. The answer is obviously for the stats provided from the global spell which would work similarly to that of Shadow Self spells such as Shadow Shrike.

No, I’m not proposing the idea of giving everyone in the duel circle a Shrike. The effects would be something different. Personally, I first thought of combining 3 different stats together, such as resist (non-universal), accuracy, and stun resist. However, those are just one possibility out of a million! The different stat combinations that could be implemented are endless.

An alternative effect style

I also ran this with our spell expert, Eric Stormbringer, and he suggested a completely different, but potential effect. What if the global spell could have a 75% chance of cleansing charms, or maybe a 50% chance to steal a blade?

No matter how many possible effect combinations we can come up with, my main focus with this article is purely on the ‘combust’ mechanic and it’s specifics:

• If another combustible spell is cast while one is already active, the current global will explode dealing only 25% of the damage that should be inflicted.
• Spell cost will be 1 Shadow pip and 2 regular pips (1 power pip).
• Duration of the spells would vary between 3 to 4 rounds, just like a typical shadow or star spell’s duration.
• The damage from when the spell gets combusted works just like backlash. It doesn’t affect any shields, de/buffs and stats, and it deals a % of your health. Now I know that this could be lethal in some scenarios, especially since it can potentially be abused. However, I was thinking that the backlash would be fixed between 5%-10% of your health, which is a lot for a boss creature.

 

What are your thoughts on combustible spells? Would you consider adding them into your spell decks?

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Duelist101’s 20 Bundle Days Recap

With this post, we want to thank everyone who participated in the 20 bundle days. It was awesome to get to hear from our readers a little more than we usually do. Some people that have lurked forever finally got out of their shell! We appreciate the effort all of you put into your entries for each and every day.

Here, we want to share some of our favorite winners and other submissions in this post. We think the whole community should see these! We’re not sharing everything we got here for multiple reasons. Firstly, some people haven’t explicitly given us permission to do so. Secondly, this is not a full report on the 20 bundle days, but just an overview of the most important things.

 

Day 2:
Cool Guide Idea

We got many cool guide ideas! In fact, we’ve received 77 ideas when you combine day 2 and day 13. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed! We compiled all of them in a document the whole crew can see. That way, we can choose one from your list when we un out of inspiration to write! We will try to credit the person suggesting the guide when we use your ideas.

If you ever have an idea you really would like to see on Duelist101, you can email us later as well. Another option is writing the guide yourself in the Duelist101 community! We try to feature the best community articles on the main site.

Day 4:
  A Little Haiku or Poem
about our Beloved Ambrose

You guys sent many great poems and haikus to us! It was hard to choose, but in the end, Maddie was chosen as the winner! The kind-of pajamas was a nice touch xD

Ambrose Appreciate Application with Alliteration

We love you Ambrose,
This much is true,
But when it comes to remembering our name,
You don’t seem to have a clue.

But that doesn’t matter,
For we still fight for you,
Because when it’s you against Malistaire,
Together we slew!

Not to mention your sidekick, Gamma,
With her cute little hat,
Matching your kind-of pajamas.
I quite love that!

– Maddie H

 

Day 5:
“Why I play Wizard101/Pirate101”

Isaac‘s gaming history is nice to read. Like so many people, he started playing wizard101 after an advertisement caught his attention.

Boris LifeShard confesses that every time he thinks about it, he finds it harder and harder to tell why he plays w101. He does come up with some great reasons though!

Nathan really likes the tiny bears that waddle around in Northguard. Can’t argue with that, they are truly hilarious!

David PearlSmith plays both games. He has different reasons for both of the games, of course. I like how he doesn’t pick a favorite!

Yuri the Ghost just really loves Wizard101!

 

 

Day 8:
“Good match!”

We got 32 entries of people saying “Good match!” in a PvP battle. While this was nice to see, we hope you continue this good habit when you’re PvPing. Sportmanship is important. Our Arena will be a less toxic environment if you start being proactive and saying “gg” even when you’re not all that happy with how the match went.

 

 

Day 11:
“My Thoughts about PvP”

David PearlSmith realizes there are some problems with ranked PvP, but keeps a positive attitude regardless. Testing yourself against others is one of the things he likes about it.

Ian GhostHunter is experienced in Death PvP. He recognizes that Death isn’t a top tier school in the higher level range, but he still loves Death Minotaur and Headless Horseman.

Groot talks about PvP from his perspective as “an amateur”. He goes over some of the things that currently are keeping people from getting excited about PvP.

Boris LifeShard also decided to talk about what changes he’d like to see in PvP in the future. He’s been PvPing for a long time!

James EarthWalker has a couple of things that could use some change in PvP in his opinion.

 

Day 15:
“My New Spell Idea”

Brecken Winter invented this new Myth spell called “the Wumpus“, with a genius description of what the quest to get it would be like.

Yuri the Ghost really really wishes you could control your minions. As such, he invented a spell called “Under Control“, which would allow us to control a minion for a couple of rounds.

James Earthwalker has many excellent ideas for both mechanic changes and aesthetic changes to existing spells. KI should definitely take a look at these!

Tatiana DeathFlame’s description of what her new Life spell “Queen of Hearts” would look like is amazing!

Boris LifeShard came up with an Ice spell called “Black Knight“! I would definitely like to cast this spell, it sounds wonderful!

David PearlSmith’s Triclops spell would also make a great spell!

 

 

Day 16:
Most Epic PvP Battle Story

When we read Tom’s entry, it immediately felt like a winner. While we did ask for your most epic PvP battle STORY, we weren’t quite expecting a story with quality like this. We got a couple of other applications that also had a “story” vibe to it but, in the end, Tom came out victorious with this fun match.

Death stared me straight in the eyes when the begun. As the match started my eyes glared straight down to the feet of my enemy to reveal their shadow pip. I stood there frozen in fear for I knew glowbugs was coming right at me straight off the bat. I shook my head and got these thoughts out of my head and became determined to battle my way to victory. My fear has become a reality as glowbugs strikes me for 2800 of my health.

With half my health on and him without pips I focused my power and unleashed a critical landed burning rampage. He did not block. He was being eaten alive very quickly by the demons circling his feet. He attempted to block the fatal hit of the rampage by putting up a shield. I foresaw such actions and played a fire beetle to take off the shield and to add extra damage to my rampage.  Rampage deals 3200 damage to him leaving him in a trance. With hardly any of his health left he unleashed a chain of powerfully struck wild bots with the first dealing a devastating 1400 damage. The damage was so powerful it had left me dazed and weakened.

With only one card left in my sights I knew I had to make this decision. It was life or death. My hand drew blanks, only covered in shields for the wrong school and blades. However… there was one hope. I took my chance and unleashed the FIREY JUSTICE of IMMOLATE. Dealing 600 to myself killing me in the process and dealing 1600 to him killing him in the process too. We both stagger to the ground as we have absolutely battered the lives out of eachother.

Neither man came away the winner that night, but we did walk away with a hell of a lot of respect for eachother…

– Tom Waterman 

 

Day 17:
A Drawing of Diego the Duelmaster

This day was HARD! It was truly difficult to pick a winner from this, as so many of you put great effort into this drawing. Michael Dragonrider eventually won with this drawing:

I asked the other people for permission to share their drawings with the world, and the following people gave permission. Click the image to see a bigger version!

 

Day 18:
Singing Contest

The winners of the singing contest were Nathan and Jason, who worked together to create this masterpiece. Jason sang. Nathan played the piano, and composed all of the lyrics and piano accompaniment. Nathan warns that his piano is lacking a pedal, because it is an electric keyboard. Therefore, it can sound quite choppy. It would have sounded phenomenal on an actual piano, he assures us. We loved this song!

 

 

Day 19:
“My favorite world in Wizard101”

Christopher Deathwalker‘s favorite world is Wizard City! It’s the start of our adventures in the Spiral and brings back fond memories of being a new player.

Trevor Emerald has opinions on ALL the worlds! Some he really likes, some not so much. Azteca seems to be his favorite.

Isaac thinks an Africa themed world is awesome, so he loves Zafaria. Among other things he loves the traditions, the furniture and the landscapes.

Brecken Winter has a special place in her heart for Marleybone. She loves the Marleybonian fashion as well as the storyline’s references to the mafia.

 

 

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. It was thrilling to see your submissions come in and to read your opinions. I love that we got so much feedback through this event.

Last but not least: thank you for learning how to use the community. Please keep writing there. We love reading your articles. Perhaps you’ll even get featured for this on the main site!

 

Thank you to all the participants!

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DuelCircle’s 2017
Christmas Clash Tournament

We want to thank those of you who participated in our casual PvP Christmas Clash last Saturday! We loved hanging out with all of you. However, some people were disappointed that there wasn’t an actual tournament in which to test yourself against other people. For those people, we have good news!

 

Date and Time

The event which will be held on Friday, December 29th and Saturday, December 30th starting at 2PM EST/11AM PST. 

 

Signup

You can sign up to participate in the tournament at this link: signups.  If you wish to volunteer to help in the event, you can signup to be a referee here. Note: if you sign up as a referee you can’t be a participant in the tournament.

If you can’t participate, but want to see some of the awesome matches, many of them will be streamed live with commentary! You can watch the streams from here: http://ift.tt/2oADkvM.

 

Organizers:

• Thetechboy,
• Michael FireHammer,
• Vanessa MythDust,
• ShadowFishy, and
• Seff

Artist:

• Sophia Dream (1st and 2st place prizes),
• Marsi (3rd and 4th prizes), and
• JaliSkyx (5th-8th prizes)

Also:

• Saffron,
• Shannon WildWeavier,
• Pebbles,
• Spiral Radio,
• TheArtOfWarlord,
• Dese,
• Marcus,
• Michael WildFlame,
• TaviaH, and
• Man0fbass

 

If you have any questions that you can’t find the answer to on the website, you can contact the organizers either through Twitter @duelcircle_pvp or email at contact@duelcircle.com!

Go sign up today!

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