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From Zero to Hero: Part 4
Beginners’ PvP Guide
School Specific Break Down
PvP is a fantastic Wizard101 endgame activity but it’s also the hardest one. Requirements to even survive in private ranks are insanely high, not to mention obtaining the shiny warlord badge. Sounds pretty scary, right? Don’t get discouraged though, we’ve got you covered.
This guide will be divided in four parts and hopefully we’ll cover everything you need to know to start being competitive in the Arena. Don’t get scared though about this wall of text, which is aimed to privates. The road to higher ranks become significantly easier once you master the basics. Imagine this as a life process. It’s really hard to learn how to walk. However, once you do learn it, figuring out how to jump and run becomes a much easier task.
Before Starting with Randked PvP: Part 1
Non-Fighting Essentials: Part 2
Fighting Essentials: Part 3
Balance
Balance is one of the three schools that is great at any level. While you do have a strong natural healing spell as a Balance, it’s sadly a heal over time. Due to the initial healing being really low, you need to be really careful how and when you use it. If your opponent manages to land a huge hit on you, it might already be too late to act. Fortunately, Balance has a lot of other tools that can help prevent this situation. Mana Burn and Supernova are great tools to control and limit your opponent’s options.
If you’re a low level (up to Grandmaster) and don’t have Loremaster, then you might have some problems. While Chimera is a powerful attack, it’s really easy to predict and counter it. Going for a max pip judgement is not a bad choice, but you have to make sure that you actually kill the opponent. Not killing them and staying without pips can quickly turn the tide of the battle. But fear not – the Balance school has one really good pet that can ease your life in Arena – the Clockwork Paladin.
Things become interesting once you reach legendary level. Since you can
craft Loremaster and get access to gear with a nice amount of resist and a damage boost, Balance becomes really powerful out there. As a matter of fact, it’s by far the best school among legendaries and one of the easiest to play across all levels. Add some Supernovas from Sunions and Mana Burn from the House of Scales robe and you get an unstopabble force in the arena. Transcendent level is simillar to legendary – you get slightly harder opponents, but you learn Supernova (and you can enhance it too) and Mana Burn.
Fighting at max levels (100+) might not be as easy as it is at mid levels, but Balance is still holding strong and is a Tier 1 school. Gaze of Fate is a powerful spell that’s hard to shield from and leaves a damage bubble. When you combine this with all other tools we previously mentioned, Balance remains a school that is really hard to get defeated.
Death
Death is the school where you’ll have troubles regardless of the level you play at. While Death is a decent school at low and mid levels, it fall to low tier at max level. Granted, the difference is not as big as it is at Max levels. Still, Death’s uniqueness — draining — isn’t always the best way to PvP. Drain attacks are considered one of the hardest kind of spells to use in game. This is due to Death’s low base damage, the 2/3 boost from sun enhancements and poor stats at max level. As a Death, you do have a natural heal, but using it is equally tricky as using helping/availing hands for Balance. This is due to the fact that — while Sacrifice is a power heal which instantly gives you a nice amount of health — it also uses all death and universal blades you have on.
Death has a nice fighting chance at low levels due to a very powerful rank 8 DoT attack. A few blades and infallible and you’re ready to shred through your opponent’s defense. The tricky part is triages and shifts – especially if you start second or play a turn based match. Another strong and slightly harder to get spell is Deadly Minotaur. It’s a bit weaker than Bone Dragon, but it’s a good way to go around shields and deal instant damage. Going up to grand (for defensive play) or legendary (for offensive play) makes Death even stronger than it is at low levels. Unfortunately it still falls short compared to most other schools.
Going even higher brings us to 2 extremes: by far the easiest and by far hardest level to Pvp. By the far easiest is the category of level 80 Juju spamming. It does require some crown investment for pack gear and life mastery and what is most important – a lot of time for every single match. On the other hand, we have max level, a range that is really really bad for death wizards. If you’re not prepared for torture, then just stay at grand or legendary level with your Death wizard.
Fire
Beside the previously mentioned Loremaster, there is one more spell that really stands out as overpowered dropped spell. It’s called Burning Rampage. While it is fairly hard to get, it’s a card that can almost guarantee you a win if you start first. From second it’s also an extremly useful tool. It provide so many opportunities for combinations!
Fire’s large variety of over time attacks, their amazing hard hitting utility spells, the most annoying minion in game and their great stats on gear make Fire a top contestant among all levels. It’s true that Fire’s natural heal comes only in the form of (power) link. As such, a life mastery is obligatory if you choose the healing route. Luckily Fire is such an offensive school that you can just go for the kill before even needing a heal.
If you manage to get Burning Rampage on your low level, you’re sporting one of the most powerful school/levels to play with. Low level Rampager are a pain to deal with. It’s almost as bad as 80 death juju spamming and slightly above Legendary balance Lore spamming. Even if you don’t have Rampage, there are still alternatives like Efreet or Firezilla. Just make sure that you have a shield clearing minion up.
Fire is a school that remain equally good as you progress up the levels. Some other schools are good at all levels, but godlike at specific ranges; some schools fluctate a lot; and then there’s Fire – a really constant school regardless of where you play. Reaching legendary will allow you to train and enchant Efreet. Going even higher will give you spells like King Artorious and Fire from Above. In addition, Fire Beetle and Brimstone Revenant allow for some nice and powerful trap stacking.
Ice
Ice concludes the list of schools that are currently good at any level.
Ice’s high health gives you nice survivability. Still, at low and mid levels you still need to be backed up with a Life Mastery amulet. Your tankiness can only take a certain amount of damage. As an Ice, you’ll need to either kill the opponent fast enough or heal back up and gain more time to stack even more blades for a deadly attack. Ice is a really good choice at low and mid levels. At max, it is without a doubt the best school. As such, Ice wizards can and will demolish everyone who crosses their path.
Frostbite is one spell, that almost every Ice loves to use and you get access to it in Krokotopia. It’s a great hit to start combos with. At low levels it can also do a nice amount of damage to opponents. The good thing about Frostbite is that its low pip cost allows for some nice follow-ups with spells like Woolly Mammoth and Lord of Winter. There are also spells that aren’t as costly such as Winter Moon and Arcticzilla. Ice Bird is another spell that you should definitely have your side deck. For only 2 pips, you get a spell that destroys a shield/kills a minion + puts a blade on you. With your high health, amazing utility spells mixed with some hard hitting ones, you won’t have too much problems in PvP on your Ice until reaching level 100.
And when you do reach level 100, you won’t have any problems at all anymore in PvP. Winning everything is of course impossible, but Abominal Weaver with its 75% universal shield is probably the best Shadow hitting spell of all schools. In addition, Weaver also hits hard.
If you want to PvP as an Ice, then choosing grandmaster or max level would be your best options. It depends on your preferences and whether you like fights that are a bit slower, or faster paced fights.
Life
If you like long matches with lot of healing, than the Life school is perfect for you. As a Life wizard, you have a lot of tools that will help you stay alive. There’s a vast array of healing spells, trainable triage and the most effective healing minion in the game. Still, the problems with killing are present both ways.
Due to Life’s weak damage, its lower offensive stats and a limited choice of shield breakers, it can be bit tricky to win without making an opponent flee. There are some useful TC available that can help you with this problem. These work especially well if your opponent uses a tower shield instead of set shield. Death Bat and Fire Elf are nice over time spells. If you train Fire Elf, you can enchant it for extra accuracy. Meanwhile, Myth Banshee keeps your opponents stunned for a round. Alternatively, you can just shatter the shields off.
Due to the high amount of natural healing spells, Life can use amulets like Myth to help them in offense. Alternatively there is also Spinysaur TC. The good thing about this spell is that it’s a Life DoT attacking spell. Unfortunately it’s really front-loaded. This means that the intitial damage might get absorbed by a shield. Still, with enough blades, the over time can leave a mark on low leveled wizards with a low amount of health. Or you can be cheeky with a Myth mastery and use a spell like Medusa. You could also try to keep your minion alive to break the shields for you. She can even bring you back to life, if you start second and she heals you the same round you die!
The Life school remains equally good as your level goes up – it’s somewhere in the middle. You do get access to Guardian Spirit spell, which revives you with 15% of your health. This might look like nothing, but this spell can still completely reset the game if you posses enough of a healing boost. While healing isn’t as popular as it is at lower levels, the Life school can still effectivly use Satyrs. Especialy if you happen to crit your heal, since heals still do x2 (unlike x1,3 for attacks).
Myth
Myth is a really good choice at low levels, and solid at mid and max levels. They are known as the minion school, but there are also other things that make them good in PvP. Let’s start with minions! There is the zero pip shield breaker, the 700 hp minion you can get at level 18 and the ultimate beast – Talos. If this isn’t enough, Myth has a lot of other awesome spells. Your double hitting spells (Minotaur, Orthrus) and Basilisk will turn shielding into a nightmare. Meanwhile Medusa will put your opponent under pressure to find stun blocks. The downside is that as a Myth you don’t have a natural healing spell. In addition, unlike Ice or Fire, you don’t possess stats (either defensive or offensive) to compensate for the lack of a healing spell.
On low levels you can choose one of two routes to play. Well three: if you have option A and B, there is always an option A+B. Firstly, you can summon a minion and keep your opponent occupied with it until you’re ready to unleash attack. Secondly, you can go the quick damage route. A few blades and one of the previously mentioned attacks will put a lot of pressure on your opponent.
There isn’t much new as you level up. Your main spells remain the same, except that they can be enchanted with tc’s now. Make sure to utilize Talos. His 1000 health, ability to get power pips and use frog to kill your opponent minion — combined with regular stunning — make this probably the best minion you can have. Trainable Shift is another strong point for Myth wizards. Shift is something that should always find its place in any deck. It’s a bit tricky to use Shift from second, but from first or in the turn based system it can be a game changer.
Storm
Storm is another good school if you are seeking a challenge in the Arena. While Storm’s attacks hit really hard, you’ll have the lowest amount of health of any school and no shield breakers. You can get a pet with a Storm Elf item card or buy mutate Storm Elf tc’s, but that’s about it. Storm hound also exist, but it’s a bit impractical in actual fights. In addition, Mutate Phoenix is another good card, which is a bit more accessible. It does decent damage and leaves three traps on the opponent. Lastly there’s of course Storm Lord – the backbone of every Storm wizard’s setup. Unfortunately everyone rushes to stun block, so you have to be quick.
The low levels are pretty challenging for Storm. As always, your low health is an issue and your low power pip percentage means more time until you can use Storm Lord. But on the flipside, one max bolt can kill or almost kill your opponent. Remember, as a Storm you strive towards killing opponents before they can set up. Because of this, Infallible and constant pressure are your best friends here.
Leveling up higher, toward legendary levels, will make playing bit easier. Tactics won’t change too much, but your offensive stats will be much higher. Utilize Storm Elf (if you can) in combination with Storm Lord for some extra power.
Reaching max levels doesn’t make life any easier for Storms. One benefit is that your opponents won’t heal as much as they do at lower levels. Regardless, shields will still regularly show up. Shadow Shrike combined with a nice pierce boost from gear allows you to shred through shields. Glowbug Squall is a nice spell and should find a place in your deck. It’s true that it’s not as strong as Rusalka’s Wrath, but removing all blades from the opponent provides much needed survivability.
Which school do you feel fits you the best?
Let us know in the comments!
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