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Monstrodome and the Jewel Vault

The newest housing items to join the Spiral, the Monstrodome and the Jewel Vault, both of great use to wizards. In this article you can learn more about them both, but more focus has been given to the mysterious Monstrodome! To begin with, you can obtain both of these items either through the Crown Shop or by crafting them.

To those of you wondering, the Monstrodome is a housing item that let’s you fight specific monsters in your castle. As of right now, you are only able to summon monsters that are classified as ‘Undead‘, a ‘Wyrm‘, a ‘Parrot‘ or a ‘Polar Bear‘. 

 

What else do I need to know?

• Monsters won’t have the same drops as their original counterparts.
• None of the monsters will have cheats.
• You can’t get Animus from inside the Monstrodome.
• The monsters you choose to summon will keep spawning until their TC is removed.
• The Monstrodome is NOT limited to just 4 wizards.

 

How can I do this?

First and foremost you need to understand the art of Monstrology and how this will help, which is why I suggest reading our article here for a quick introduction. To begin you will need to place your Monsterdome wherever you intend to place it. Next, you click and open it similarly to how you open other vaults and/or music boxes. Just push the big red button!

A menu will pop up once it’s open with 4 empty slots and the available treasure cards you own that can go inside it. However, if you don’t have any treasure cards you simply need to press ‘T’ to open up the Monstrology Tome. Select whichever creature you want to fight and create the Summon Monster Treasure Card with Animus. If you don’t have enough Animus, you need to go fight the creature some more until you have enough.

Keep in mind that once you add a treasure card to the Monstrodome it will remain there until you replace it. Also, the card doesn’t return to you once you put it in your Monstrodome, so choose wisely! After you’ve inserted the monsters you want to battle, close the Menu and click ‘X’ to go in the Monstrodome. 

This just leaves one big question, who are you going to summon first?

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A Monstrology Guide

What is Monstrology?

Monstrology was added in the March 2017 Update to Wizard101. It’s a fairly interesting system, and very difficult to explain in just a few words. This article will serve as your Monstrology introduction. For all intents and purposes, the system serves as a ‘bestiary’. You defeat specified mobs, the system records the total you’ve killed, and you are rewarded with badges, treasure cards and the privilege of inviting those mobs over as permanent guests in your home.

To start your experience, look for Monstrologist Burke near the Myth School at Ravenwood. You’ll find a Monstromnibus nearby to further assist you should you need any help. The system works through enchants of the Myth school. Once enchanted, your spell has a chance of collecting that creature’s Animus for each successful hit, plus a bonus if the spell defeats the target.

Why Practice Monstrology?

There are three main reasons for pursing the hobby of Monstrology. If you open your backpack and turn to the Monstrology Tome section, you’ll see three options pop up underneath each creature you have successfully identified as being either an ‘Undead’, a ‘Parrot’, a ‘Wyrm’ or a ‘Polar Bear’. [More groups will most likely be added in the future]

There are a few things we need to point out in the example above. The first is that the monsters are identified by world. This is for organizational and completion purposes. The number of enemies that can have their Animus captured per world is revealed once you hover upon their icon. For example, if you hover over the Mooshu icon, the tome will tell you that you have #/13 monsters discovered. This means that there are currently only 13 monsters in Mooshu that can have their Animus captured, with more surely on their way in future updates. As for the monsters themselves, you’ll notice three icons as mentioned earlier. These are important if you wish to:

1. Summon them using a Treasure card.
2. Summon a permanent housing guest version of the creature (like those we’ve been getting in packs)
3.  Bind them to a Monstrodome duel circle.
4. Craft Expel Monster Treasure Cards to one shot minions.

There is no limit for the amount of times you can use each feature; You simply have to collect more Animus for that monster if you run out of resources. Note that a small gold fee is required in order to use any of the three options.

 

Leveling up is important in the Monstrology world. Starting at Level 1, it will be very difficult for you to collect Animus from anything outside of Wizard City. The lower your rank is in comparison to the monster’s, the less chance you have at collecting any Animus for the creature. For example, it is very unlikely that a Level 1 Monstrologist will ever collect any Animus from a Rank 11 monster. Likewise, a Level 15 Monstrologist will have increased Animus gains from Rank 4 creatures.  It is wise to attempt capturing Animus from creatures around ~2 levels above or below yours for optimized leveling. 

Levels and Badges

Leveling starts out easy in Monstrology. Level 1->2 is a mere 10 XP. Level 2->3 climbs to 20. However, once you get to the higher ranks, for example, rank 15, the XP jumps drastically. From Rank 15->16, the XP needed climbs to 525 and it doesn’t stop there. As you achieve a new rank, you also gain a separate badge for your efforts. These badges are displayed separately and do not replace each other like some of the other hobby badges do (for example, PvP). Below is a list of just some of the badges obtained through leveling up:

Finally, there are also a number of badges that will reward you for the total amount of Animus you collect. These badges begin here with ‘Plenty of Animus’, with the second badge requiring 1,000 Animus collected.

Our Thoughts

Overall, the Monstrology system proves to be a very rewarding experience to those that wish to farm and grind monster fights throughout the Spiral. This hobby forces players of any level to go back and review monsters they may have faced in the past. Furthermore, if you are a housing enthusiast, you’ll probably have specific monsters in mind that really capture your house’s atmosphere in some way. They’re out there for you waiting. Go and catch them!

What do you think about the new Monstrology system? Is it good for the Spiral? What monsters would you like to capture? Let us know in the comments below.

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Spring Update Skeleton Key Bosses

Spring is here and with it comes another update to Wizard101. This time round we encounter 3 new interesting and mysterious (for now) skeleton key bosses. Shall we find out who the latest discoveries in the Spiral are?

 

Sapoti

This new Rank 4 Life Boss can be found in the Hall of Doors right next to Ra’s Reading Room. That’s right! Ra officially has a neighbor. Head over to see what Sapoti’s story might entail and what is there for you to discover. You will need to use a Wooden Skeleton Key every time you fight this boss.

 

Captain Hockins

Captain Hock…ins is one tough fellow! Make sure to bring your best pierce gear and spells for this match as I fear that our dear Captain got his hands on some Jade Gear. The rewards will surely interest you, but there is more yet to be discovered! Head over to Waterfront in Zafaria and confront Captain Hockins by using a Stone Skeleton Key.

 

Mimic

Don’t be deceived by the looks of this boss, Mimic is a trickster like no other! With the ability to Polymorph into other creatures such as Luska, the Squid from Waterworks and the same cheats! What is this chest hiding from us? Mimic can be found in the docks of Aggrobah. Also, make sure you bring a Gold Skeleton Key with you. What other creatures can Mimic transform in?

 

What do you think of these new bosses? Did you have the chance to fight them? What drops did you get?

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Spring Update Notes 2017 – Wizard101

This Spring Update will bring huge changes, brace yourselves people! The original notes can be found here

Monstrology Now you can capture the “Animus” of monsters through the magic of Monstrology. Wizards level 12 and above should visit Monstrologist Burke across from the Myth School in Ravenwood to take on the quest, “Know Thine Enemy” for an introduction to the new Monstrology system in Wizard101.  You’ll begin with a quick training session to using the Extract Animus spells which apply to damage cards in combat much like other enchantments (In other words, you apply an Extract Animus spell to your cards much like you would the Colossal spell). Use these enchanted cards during combat to extract Animus. Use Animus to then create Summon Monster Treasure Cards, create House Guests for your Castle, or create powerful Expel Monster Treasure Cards for non-boss enemies. Press T” in game to open your Monstrology Tome to create and track these new items. You’ll also now be earning ranks in Monstrology and earning badges for your accomplishments while you play with this new system.  Special Notes: During PvE combat, non-Myth school wizards can summon one monster through a created treasure card, but Myth players can summon up to three! If the monster is one you can only ever fight once through a quest, you won’t be able to collect animus from it.

 

Monstrodome Along with the new Monstrology system also comes the Monstrodome!  The Monstrodome is an interact-able item you either purchase through the Crown Shop or craft (See Felicia Worthington in Marleybone to purchase the recipe). You can add your minion summoning treasure cards into the Monstrodome and invite friends to come duel your devious collection of monsters from within your player housing.  You interact with the Monstrodome much like you would other housing items. You click on the Place Object housing button, place your Monstrodome in your house, Click on your Monstrodome, and then click on the Monstrodome icon.

Skeleton Key Bosses It’s time to face off against three all new Skeleton Key Bosses in Wizard101. Find Sapoti in the Hall of Doors in Krokotopia (Wooden Skeleton Key Boss). Find Captain Hockins in Zafaria’s Waterfront (Stone Skeleton Key Boss). Find Mirage’s Verboten Mimic in Aggrobah near the river area (Gold Skeleton Key Boss). Unique loot is waiting for you in each of these fights if you’re able to master their challenges. What new treasures will you find?

New Level 118 School Pets! The Arcanum Scholars now have a new quest available to those who are level 118. They will summon you to talk to them in the Arcanum and will send you on a quest to earn a new school pet.

Aquila Fishing New fish (and treasure chests) can now be found along the coast of Aquila. Fish up some great rewards and some new friends (like the Spartan Spear) for your fish tanks at home!

Crown Shop Introducing the Jewel vault! The Jewel Vault works similarly to the seed vault, but for jewels. You place your vault in your player housing, click on it, and open your jewel vault. From here you can transfer your extra jewels into your vault. Note that a crafting recipe for the Jewel Vault is also available from Toshio. Other Crown Shop changes are as follows:

• For those who want to shortcut the time it takes to gather Animus, we have a brand new Animus Elixir that triples the animus collected.
• The Ghulture’s Hoard pack now gives a level-appropriate socket wrench when one is obtained from a pack.
• Level 115 jewels were added to the Crown Shop Jewel Packs.
• The Marleybone Car mount is now able to be dyed.

Spells

• Qyburn Stellargaze has a new upgraded Frenzy spell available for wizards who already own the Berserk spell.

• Ignus Ferric now offers Link as a trainable spell.

• Baba Yaga now offers Gobbler as a trainable spell.

• Jacki Whisperwind now offers Precision as a trainable spell.

Quests

• Daily Assignments should now be less likely to give you assignments for worlds you haven’t visited yet.

• Added new Mirage daily quests.

• Added Team up option for Stone Key Boss instances.

• The Team up penalty will now only apply to the first person who leaves an instance early.

• Adjusted the Young Morganthe encounter in Avalon, so it will be a little easier.

• Reduced the health of bosses in Darkmoor’s upper halls.

• Players should now be able to re-enter the Ghulture Nest after completing it.

• Corrected the resistances for several enemies in Mirage.

• All ghultures can now drop their feathers for the “Soft Spot” quest goal.

• The Ghosts for the Packman instance now have a larger variety of spells they cast.

• Adding a Death Dispel to the Shadowwock in Mirage will no longer cause it to not dispel the trap it places on itself.

• Exiting Duncan’s house no longer teleports you to the wrong location.

• Completing Zeke’s quest in Mirage now gives a badge for the achievement.

• Being defeated in the Chapter Hall will no longer cause a reset of the dungeon.

• Guillermel’s Nomadic Needs quest now gives more information on how to achieve the Treasure Hunter Badge.

• Fixed quest text for the Level 118 spell quests. Players will now be directed to the Mottoman Treasure Cave in the Caravan, not Rubal Wastes.

• The Speedy Delivery quest and the Leyden lab quest no longer show Austrilund as the goal location.

• Players who have purchased the level 50 elixir can now also find Zeke’s Yardbirds as well as Troggs.

• Adjusted the starting pips of Iron Paw.

• Snowbeard will no longer respawn after defeat in multiplayer combat.

• The Bear Market quest should no longer divert you from your main quests in Wizard City.

• Multiple Ice Angler Bosses should no longer spawn in the Chamber of the Frozen Sun in Khrysalis.

• The Night Dread found in the quest Tunnel Trouble should no longer continue spawning continually.

• Fixed a bug with repeating the Zolton Zero Hour and Crimson Eagle bosses in Azteca.

Equipment

• The No Trade restriction on most rare equipment from Wizard City to Dragonspyre has now been removed. This includes lower level one-shot dungeon and ultra-dungeon equipment.

• Decks with stats will now display those stats before they display level, trade, auction, and PvP-use information.

• Staff of the Krampus is no longer listed as No Trade.

• Several common drops from Mirage are now able to be auctioned in the bazaar.

• Modified the jewels that can be obtained from common enemies in Mirage.

• Eloise in the Caravan now offers different options for gear stitching.

• Added Level 108 “Kataba” and “Walrusk” items to various bosses in Polaris.

• Attempted to further clarify rounding errors with Accuracy/Precision statistics.

PvP

• Jordo Mistborn is now located closer to his brother Brandon Mistborn.

• Housing PvP sigils no longer allow players to join games that are in progress.

• Fixed the incorrect amount of pierce that was being added to Quick Match Tournaments.

• The amount of damage a critical hit can do in PVP has been increased from +25% to +30%.

Housing

• Added new Castle Magic items and spells, including some new camera control spells! Be sure to drop by Babbage Basset to check out his new inventory.

• A glow has been added to the Gardening Button when you have plants (that aren’t elder) ready to harvest.

• The Faction and Arcanum apartments can now be sold.

• Enlarging an item with castle magic will also enlarge their range if they are an interact-able housing item.

• Increased the reliability of Castle Magic Start Detectors.

• Using a Magic Random Reflector with a Magic timer will now provide more randomized results.

 

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Coming Soon: Aquilla Fishing

Wizard 101 hasn’t stopped teasing us and this time they bought out something a little bit more slippery. That’s right, it appears the spring update will have something else for avid fisherwizards and witches to do. Aquilla is a popular farming spot but it looks like it is about to become a popular fishing spot too. Usually with a new fishing location we also receive new fishing spells so that’s something else to look forward to. Check out the teaser below!

Video

Excited for Aquilla Fishing? Let us Know in The Comments Below!

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Wizard101 Lifehacks – Part 2

Tricks, tricks, and more tricks! This article is meant to help you discover the hidden techniques used in Wizard101 to help make your life easier. After all, isn’t that what lifehacks are all about? In this article you can find both simple and slightly more advanced tricks as a follow-up to Eric Stormbringer’s article here.

 

Backpack Item Lock

The very first thing you should do when creating a new wizard is to turn on ‘Backpack Item Lock’. This option will let you lock items in your backpack and avoid accidentally trashing anything valuable. You can easily turn it on from the game settings, ‘Gameplay Options 2’. Additionally, if you obtained some rare jewels you also have the option to lock them with this feature.

 

Transferring a Garden

How many times have you found yourself trying to start a new garden on a wizard that has a low gardening rank and/or is a low level? I do hope I’m not the only one! With the occasional double gardening rewards benefit for members, I now have enough seeds to garden on 6 wizards. On the other hand, I haven’t started gardening on all of them yet. This issue has held me back quite a few times, specially because the thought of starting over gets me anxious. 

Luckily, now you can transfer your houses between wizards. Why luckily? Because with a house you can also transfer a fully eldered garden for your new wizard to harvest and reap the rewards. This will instantly boost your rank as you can see below. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to reach rank 15 immediately in order to train ‘Plant All’ from Roger the Shrubber in Abbey Road. 

I took the liberty of trying this out myself and here are the results. Additionally, I’d like to point out that this transferred garden was harvested during the member benefit. 

A total of 68 elder Couch Potatoes with double rewards (68 x 6000xp = 408,000xp). In conclusion, the results were a head start to rank 12!

In addition to this, you need to keep in mind the rules to transferring houses in the shared bank. Each house can be transferred once every 90 days. Also, it cannot have:

• mannequins with no trade gear equipped
• any teleporter links (to or from)
• no trade weapons on walls
• no trade housing items
• pets or mounts

 

Transferring seeds between your Wizards

Are you all too familiar with the problem of having to click ‘Move to Shared Bank’ only a few thousand times? A seed vault can be of help! Just keep one handy in the shared bank and whenever you want to transfer large amounts of seeds, you can just stash them in it. 

 

Shirataki Temple Farming

This dungeon in Mooshu has been around from the very beginning and some of you probably have already farmed for some of the neat school design gear, or simply to gain access to the spell recipe vendor. The problem is that it’s a long dungeon to go through. Here is where the trickery comes in! However, for this to work you’ll need more than 1 wizard.

The first thing you have to do is defeat Shoji for the key to go through the first gate. Whenever you fight him, make sure that there are all wizards present. To easily explain this, imagine that Shoji drops a key but gives it to EACH wizard, and the key stays with the wizard until it is used, even if you leave the dungeon or quit. Therefore, for the next 3 runs you’ll be able to skip Shoji by letting a teammate open the gate for you. Then head right over to the main temple where the Plague Oni will be waiting without the need to do the entire dungeon.

 

Fish Speed

This trick works to identify rare fish from other common fish in the same pond. However, you need to pay extreme attention to how the fish are moving around. First I suggest that you use spells that will increase your odds like winnowing the fish by school and rank. Then observe the remaining few fish and spot the odd ones! 

For instance, the Silver Streak in the Emperor’s Retreat moves exceptionally fast. Other similar examples would be the Cranky Catfish in the Commons, and the Musushi in Crimson Fields. Both these fish are surrounded with other fish of the same rank and the same school, so the speed is what you must look for!

 

Got any other lifehacks you’d like to share with everyone?
Leave a comment below!

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Kingsisle Live – Monstrology Sneak Peek

Article number 1500! Can you believe it? This one is filled with interesting upcoming content we’ll be seeing in the next test realm. If you haven’t watched the latest episode of KI Live, it answered some burning questions about Monstrology. It also gave us some other hints at what to expect in this next test realm which is and I quote “that close”! So, what is Monstrology and what is coming to Wizard101?

 

It’s not going to be something related to Daily Assignments (we already have Aegon Statz for that). Monstrology is going to be ‘an extension to the myth school’. Therefore, myth students are gonna get some extra perks from it. It works very similarly to Sun Magic as you use a spell to enchant a hit you will use to defeat the enemy and collect Animus. As far as we currently know, Monstrology will only work on mobs that are classified as ‘Undead‘, such as Skeletal Pirates, Rattlebones and basically every other mob found in Azteca.

“What is an animus? An echo of a monster’s fighting spirit”

 

What can I do with Monstrology?

There are 3 different uses for this new feature. First, once you collected enough Animus and gathered a few gold, you can craft a treasure card of the monster. Second, you can create a house guest of the mob. This house guest will differ from previous versions as when placed in your castle it will behave the same way pets do. Therefore you’ll be able to use it with Pet Bread Crumbs. I can already imagine Malistaire running around my house! That is yet to be confirmed, so for now we just have to wait and see. 

Last but not least, you can use Monstrology to be able to instantly one shot a mob. This will only work on minions and not bosses. The mechanic specifics of this feature are still unknown but it will definitely make our farming days easier.

 

What else is coming?

Our friends at Kingsisle didn’t hesitate much with keeping secrets this time round! 

New school pets, new skeleton key bosses, the possible jewel vault, and finally the epic Monstrodome! The Monstrodome is a housing item that lets you fight monsters in it. Basically, you’ll be fighting the treasure cards of the monsters you fought. Some known facts:

• Bosses won’t have cheats
• The monsters you put in it will keep spawning until you remove them
• They will have completely different loot from the originals
• Myth wizards can summon regular minions and the tc minions at the same time
• The Monstrodome is not limited to 4 people so you can have a party!

Can test realm possibly get here any sooner? We can’t wait!

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Expansion Teaser #2

Kingsisle has released Expansion Teaser #2 for the upcoming Spring Expansion. This one focuses on the school pets that have been mentioned in previous Kingsisle Live episodes. The teaser came on the main message boards(Click Here) and on a Youtube video seen below:

This brings the total number of known new pets to 4

Raincore(Storm)

Ghulture(Death)

Kookaburra(Life)

Opossum(Balance)

Are you Excited for the New Pets? Let Us Know in The Comments Below!

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Monstrologist Burke – Coming Soon to Wizard101

Today is the day! We got the very first teaser to a possible new update coming soon to the Spiral. Wizard101 just recently tweeted “Who is Gilda Burke? And what is a Monstrologist?”, followed by a video link. Personally I’d like to know too! Wouldn’t you?

What is coming to Wizard101? Could this be a new side activity like pet training or fishing? If you notice, right next to Gilda Burke there is one of those tutorial books you can find in the Commons next to Lucky Hookline or in the Hatchery. This might imply that it could be yet another amazing side activity for our wizards! On the other hand, Iridian Willowglen on twitter pointed out that this could be the new event like the Lost Pages teased from KI Live. Could this be something related to one of Falmea’s feedback Friday hints? More specifically, this one. 

 

What do you think our wizards are about to discover? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Mirage Meta 1v1 PvP Tier List

This list is a comprehensive guide to the tiers present at level 120 (Mirage Meta) 1v1 PvP. This list is designed to help players visualize where a school falls relative to the others in the current meta and to help them gain a perspective into what defines a school’s position. This list is based on extensive knowledge and play experience at the warlord+ ranks along with leaderboard presence.

What is a Tier?

A Tier as it is defined here is the position of a school in terms of ease of play and expected success. A top tier school is relatively easier to play and has a high rate of success. A low tier school is a harder school to play and offers a more limited rate of success. In general a player utilizing a top tier school will have more success and find gameplay easier than the same player utilizing a lower tier school.

What defines a school’s Tier?

A schools position on the tier list is largely a result of the meta. The meta is the style of play and gamestyle that offers the best chance for consistent victory. Top Tier schools are acknowledged as such due to a combination of different factors such as:

• Are the school’s attributes advantageous in the current meta.
• Are the school’s spells advantageous in the current meta.
• Does the school have the tools needed to limit the other schools in this meta.  

If my school is low tier does it mean I can’t win?/If my school is high tier why did I lose?

This is the biggest misconception about tiers that currently exists. Nearly every tier list in existence will be layered with naysayers spouting such truisms such as “Ice isn’t top tier, I lost to a lore spamming noob” or “KI broke death-I’ll never be warlord”. What these people fail to realize is that tier lists are only a measure of a school’s relative effectiveness in the current meta. Tier lists are not a measure of the players themselves. A smart player utilizing a low tier school can easily be match for a novice using a high tier school. 

However tiers can influence battles when both players are cognizant of what they are doing. A smart Death will always have trouble against a competent Ice for example. The simple truth is that any school can do well, but if you want the highest chance of achieving a high rank, your best bet is to go with the highest tier you can.

The Meta

The current mirage meta is dominated by offense. Offensive gear, offensive spells and damage spikes are a common sight in this meta. Defense in this meta is a lot less about negating damage as it is about mitigating it or limiting its effect. The saying: “A good offense is the best defense” definitely applies to this meta especially with the cheap damage spikes the 4 pip shadow enhanced spells offer. We will be going over the characteristics this meta favors in terms of offense and defense.

Favorable offensive traits

• Low Cost Offensive Spells (ex: Lightning Bats, Wildbolt, Loremaster)
• Low Cost Offensive/Defensive Spells (ex: Loremaster, Luminous Weaver)
• Low to Mid Cost Disruptive Utility (ex: Mana Burn, Guardian Spirit. Stuns)
• Combo (ex: Thunderbird, Burning Revenant, Gaze of Fate, King Artorius)
• Finishers (ex: Every shadow enhanced spell)
• Ability to get around through or past shields (DoT’s, High pierce and Infallible, Double Hits)
• Diversity/Variability in Attack Options(i.e viable meta effective attacks at different pip levels)

Favorable defensive traits

• High Health Buffer 
• High Resist to Top Tier Schools

The Tier List

Top Tier(Tier 1)

Tier 1 schools are the dominant school in the mirage meta, they have all the tools necessary to succeed and have the easiest time dueling in the arena. Mirage has resulted in 3/7 schools being Top Tier. Here are the 3 schools presented in descending order of dominance (Highest-Lowest)

Ice(1st)

The Ice school has returned to it’s throne as the dominant 1v1 school at max level. Boasting an incredible health that is close to 8000 with 60%+ resist, Ices are defensive monsters. They are no slouch on the offense either. Ices are boasting 100%+ attack with 34%+ pierce, allowing then a strong offensive presence. Combine this with it’s powerful bubble and the utility of Ice Bird TC and Ice can hit surprisingly hard with very little commitment. The strong Offensive/Defensive utility of Abominable Weaver allows it to make favorable trades with other shadow enhanced spells and acts as a potent augment to an already massive defense. Finally it has the ability to both combo with wintermoon and to inflict damage around shields with frostbite.

Strengths

Strong Defenses/High Health

Multiple Offensive/Defensive spell options

Strong damage augments(bubbles, blades)

Ability to combo 

Ability to get around shields

Universally useful Dispel(Prevents tower shields and stun blocks)

Weaknesses

Heavily Shadow Pip dependent(Main damage spike is Abominable Weaver and alternate damage spike is the 10 pip Lord of Winter) 

Lack of Attack Diversity/Variability(Main spells: Wintermoon, Frostbite, Abominable Weaver are all at 5 pips)

Fire(2nd)

Fire is a school that seems to always find it’s way to the top tier of most metas and the Mirage meta is no exception. Fire finds itself at the top of the Mirage meta by having an absurd degree of combo potential. The sheer variety of ways fire can kill has propelled it to the top. Don’t have a stun shield? Prepare for an Artorious Combo. Do have a stun shield? Say hello to Efreet. Think you can chip? Howdy power link. Too many shields? Fire Elf or Fire Beetle. Need a guaranteed mega spike from first? Burning Rampage. Bubble Wars? Hephaestus. Need a fizzle combo? Krampus. Ever expanding offense? Fire Beetle, FFA, Fuel, Brimstone. The simple fact is that fire is almost never in a position where it cannot create a kill scenario within 2 or 3 rounds and that makes it a top contender in today’s meta. Fire falls below Ice due to it’s relatively low health buffer hurting it’s longevity and it’s inability to recover sufficiently when damaged early on.

Strenghts

Strong Offensive presence

Expanding offensive capabilities due to trap stacks and bubble control

Varied Combo Potential

Ability to get around or outright ignore shields(Burning Rampage)

Strongest offensive/defensive spell in game(Efreet)

Weaknesses

Relatively Low Health Buffer(second lowest health in game)

Slow Recovery Tools(only realistic healing capability comes from critical power link)

Balance(3rd)

Balance once again finds itself a top tier school in the Mirage meta. Present since the utility spells introduced with Avalon, Balance continues to make itself known with mana burn and loremaster. The threat of supernova still keeps many a player from utilizing auras allowing Balance a statistical advantage(balance can freely use the benefits of an aura). Balance also benefits from a huge health buffer of 7k+(behind only life and ice) with mana burn helping to limit incoming damage while acting as a potent combo breaker. Gaze of Fate allows Balance to accelerate it’s offense while hitting hard around shields. Finally, Loremaster continues to do work this meta. The mantle is not nearly as effective as it used to be but it can still cause an occasional game winning fizzle. The stackable 20% weaknesses can help balance survive with just enough health to close out a match while Sandworm offers some of the damage spiking ability the school lacks. Balance finds it’s way at the bottom of the top tiers for 2 main reasons. It’s spells such as mana burn and loremaster are doing less damage than ever before due to the prevalence of ward pets. With a shield and a good ward pet a loremaster is only doing about 2-300 damage on most of the meta. Secondly, Balance has almost no way to stack buffs which is a disadvantage that is becoming more pronounced with the higher resist offered by the ghulture’s hoard boots and ward pets.

Strenghts

Strong Control Presence with Mana Burn and Supernova

Loremaster is still the best 4 pip spell in this meta

Gaze of Fate offers an accelerated offense and takes a multi-round commitment to shield from

Sandworm offers it a low pip damage spike

Ability to use auras while denying usage to other classes

Weaknesses

Inability to effectively buff is more detrimental thanks to ward pets and the ghulture’s hoard boots

Lack of Attack Diversity/Variability(Loremaster, Sandworm, Mana Burn and Gaze of Fate are all predictably 4-5 pips)

Mid Tier(Tier 2)

Middle Tier schools have some of the tools necessary to survive in the Mirage meta but are held back by a number of factors. The Mirage meta has resulted in an interesting stratification of Tiers. High Mid Tier- Which is very close to top tier and Low Mid Tier-Which is slightly below the traditional sense of mid tier. Mirage has resulted in 3/7 schools being mid-tier- 1 in High Mid Tier and 2 in Low Mid Tier. Here are the 3 schools presented in descending order of dominance (Highest-Lowest)

Life(High Mid Tier)

Life finds itself in the interesting position of almost top tier but not quite. It has a high health buffer standing at 7k+, a spammable 4 pip offensive defensive spell and an offensive/defensive shadow spell. Couple this with it’s ability to heal and the Life school is definitely competitive. However, a number of missing tools keep it from the top tier position enjoyed by Balance, Ice and Fire. It has no trained combo spell whatsoever, no low pip DoT for clearing shields and it’s healing was significantly neutered by the critical system changes. Coupled with no control-relevant utility outside of guardian spirit and no trained damage bubble; we can see why the Life school fails to make it to top tier. However, Life’s tools do make it the top school of the middle tiers and with a little buff Life could very easily surge into top tier.

Strengths

High health buffer(7k+)

4 pip offensive/defensive spell(Luminous Weaver)

Ability to heal

Reset with Guardian Spirit

Offensive/Defensive Shadow Enhanced Spell

Weaknesses

No trained combo spell

No trained mid-pip or low cost DoT

Lack of Attack Diversity(main spells such as weaver, caterpillar, satyr, guardian spirit are at 4-5 pips)

Myth(Low Mid Tier)

The Myth School has finally made it out of the low tier it was relegated to after Aquilla and is now sitting in middle tier in the Mirage meta. The biggest changes that assisted the myth school are the extra resist offered by the ghultures hoard boots and the ability to damage spike at low pips offered by Snake Charmer. The ghultures hoard resist and health buffer increase allow Myth to do something it has not been able to in a while: survive to the higher pip levels. No school, I repeat no school can out-compete myth when it reaches the higher pip levels. The variety of potent options it has at the high pip levels was part of what made it a top tier school in the slower 1st age meta. At high pips a myth can stun you for 2 rounds(medusa), combine a combo and a DoT in one spell(basilisk), Spike around your shield(orthus), inflict grievous damage with the most backloaded DoT in the game(King Art) or launch a surprise combo and damage spike with celestial calendar. Combine this with the fact that myth now poses a threat at the lower pip levels thanks to Snake Charmer and we can see why Myth has risen to the mid tiers. However, Myth is still held back by a number of factors. It has a relatively low health buffer and no recovery tools. It also still struggles to deal damage at the low pip levels without a shadow pip. Nevertheless, myth has become a serious threat that is not automatically shut down with a stun block.

Strenghts

Huge variety of high pip utility

Best ability to get around shields

Snake Charmer gives it a much needed damage spike

Dimension Shift gives it the only realistic trained counter to Bad JuJu spam

Weaknesses

Very dependent on high pip spells

Relatively low health buffer

No ability to recover

Storm(Low Mid Tier)

The biggest surprise of the Mirage Meta is that Storm is no longer the low tier school it once was. Thanks to the increased survivability offered with the ghultures hoard pack and ward pets the storm school has pulled itself out of low tier and is sitting in mid tier. The increased defensive properties offered to storm with the ghulture’s hoard boots/waard pets allows it to leverage it’s offense more effectively. Now, Storm’s offense…boy lets talk about Storm’s offense. It is the only school that has the potential to leverage 2k damage at any time at virtually any pip level. At 2 pips wild bolt and insane bolt are there(with some risk). At 4 pips there is Calypso. At 5 pips+ any direct storm hit will deal 2k+ damage. Rusalka deals 3.6k+ damage at base. It does have one trained combo with Storm Lord-follow up hit which can be game winning if the opponent is careless. It’s real combo potential comes from TC’s with such potent tools as thunderbird and rain beetle. However, storm’s long-standing problems prevent it from rising above mid tier. It has almost no real utility outside of treasure cards. It has no offensive/defensive spells and no DoTs. It’s health buffer is also a continuing problem particularly as the other schools continue to get cheaper and cheaper damage spikes. Finally the Storm school is still shut down by shield spam. Nevertheless the Mirage meta has seen Storm making progress and it is a fearsome school to face down in today’s arena.

Strenghts

Amazing ability to spike damage at virtually any pip level

Highest Damage Shadow Enhanced spells

Ability to win a losing match with insane bolt

Amazing amount of attack diversity(potent attacks at virtually all pip levels)

Weaknesses

Lowest Health Buffer

Almost no cost effective utility outside of blade removal

No trained answer to shield spam

Low Tier(Tier 3)

Low Tier schools have very few of the tools necessary to succeed in the meta. They struggle to achieve consistent wins against higher tier schools and have very few methods to achieve victory. The Mirage Meta has resulted in one school being low tier. That school is the Death school. We will go over exactly why the Death school struggles in the Mirage Meta and what factors contribute to it’s position.

Death

The Mirage meta has resulted in the death school being the only low tier school. Despite it’s advantages of a relatively high health buffer and access to a low pip DoT, the death school suffers for a number of reasons. It is the only class that is really dependent on blades for the majority of it’s damage. Skeletal Dragon remains it’s main non-shadow damage dealer and as such is very predictable. Qishmah’s Curse does offer death a way to spike damage at the lower pip levels but that is about it when it comes to sudden damage spikes. Death also suffers from the double whammy of low base damage hits and limited pierce from gear, further inhibiting it’s ability to burst damage. Drains are also relatively weak this meta and death has no spammable utility outside of them. Unlike myth, death does not benefit as much from building pips since it’s only realistic high pip option is skeletal dragon. Deadly minotaur is it’s only way to spike damage around shields and it is a relatively weak spell. Finally, it’s self hit utilities such as bad juju and sacrifice do more harm than good with an offensive set-up and consume it’s blades. With no real combos, limited ways to spike damage and heals and utility that are detrimental-death is hard pressed to succeed against most of the meta.

Strengths

Relatively high health buffer

Low cost DoT

Ability to heal with drains

Weaknesses

Very blade dependent

Severe lack of attack diversity

Very limited potential for burst damage

Self hit utilities do more harm than good with an offensive set-up

Do You Agree with this Tier List? Let us Know in the Comments Below!

 

 

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