King Artorious!!!!

Firstly, my apologies

After recently finishing Azteca (FINALLY!!!!) and doing the quests to unlock Khrysalis, I was asked to have a chat with the King of Avalon; King Artorious.

After asking if he wanted to join the Council of Light and the answer being 'I'm busy with things here,' The King thought that he would be able to help me in another way. The next minute, I had a new spell and was off to Unicorn Way to bash some souls.

I obviously couldn't wait to see this spell in action so I went to a quiet Realm and waited for my pips to gain.

Once I had them, I hit that spell and....
Fizzled.


After that first fail I was ready to try again, and The King doesn't disappoint!

Until Next Time!

- Blaze

How Many Pips was That?

It was just another day in the spiral. I was farming up some gold from Halfang and saw a fellow death. I went in, bladed and waited for his move. He started the fight with a... Deer Knight?

Wait a minute, Deer Knight costs 5 pips and you only start with up to 4. I quickly clicked on him to find out what he was wearing and I found it. As well as his extra power pip from his wand, his Deck had an extra pip to start off with!

I imagine that lot's of others would be working on getting this as it's very powerful, but this is the first time I've actually seen one on someone!

As soon as I saw it, I thought of PvP. If you were going second in a match, you would be able to cast a SEVEN pip spell in round ONE! Imagine being in a 4v4 against all storm wizards. You're going first and after your turn, you get hit by FOUR STORM LORDS! It's Insane! I'm not sure if this will affect PvP as I'm not the greatest at it, but I just can't imagine going against a team of storm who do that.

Well, that was my first thought on the deck. It's obviously going to be very helpful in PvE. especially with something like Deer Knight which can be cast first turn now. :)

I hope you're as amazed as I am at the power this deck could have and good luck if your planning on farming for it.

Thanks for reading,

Blaze

Bringing Back Old Memories! (and showing off a little)

Today, I decided to head back to the first dangerous area of Wizard101... The name brings shivers to the hearts of many... The place that must not be named, is... Unicorn Way! 

Because of the terrifying danger this place first struck into me, I decided to go all out with my deck setup.

What followed this was a series of what I would like to call, successful duels.

Those 90+ levels of experience gained from first experience must have made this terrifying place a little less so.

Showing the new, young wizards, my developed spells and smashing those lost souls. I made the decision that it wasn't as tough as first thought.

I did, however, come up with a good way to help those that would have been as terrified as me.

I SMASHED the life out of those dead lost souls and helped my fellow wizards!

The most useful spell from a pack!

Let's play 'Spot the Wizard on the Beach'

My secret Catalan

Good old Fossil, never let's you down

Hopefully I helped out a few fellow wizards and they were encouraged to keep playing after seeing my, (I think) amazing spells.

Thanks for reading,

Blaze

The Secret Bosses of Aquila

You may or may not be aware of the secret bosses in the 3 dungeons of Aquila, Gladiator Dimachaerus, the Sand Squid, and Cronus.

The first of the 3 secret bosses is the mighty Gladiator Dimachaerus. This mighty gladiator, is located in a seemingly closed gate which leads into the place that Zeus, Poseidon and Hades trapped him...
The Pit of the Noxii.

The Gladiator has a whopping 30 000 Health! Making him a very tough opponent even for the toughest of wizards (although, me and a 2 other level 30's got him down to less then half health).

The Gladiator is most well known for his incredible ring, the 'Alpha and Omega Ring' as well as his exalted amulet drops.




The next hidden boss is known only as the Sand Squid, the most painful boss of the 3. This massive squid has captured a crew of 2 Marleybone civilians and it is your job to rescue them.

Located in the ruins of a wrecked ship in the depths of Atlantea, the Sand Squid's Tentacle has a massive 28 000 health!

The Sand Squid is most well known for his exalted amulet drops but I do not recommend farming him for them as he is quite the tough boss fight.

The last of the 3 secret Aquila bosses, is Cronus. Father of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, in Tartarus's Cave of Nyx. Being the father of 3 devastatingly powerful sons, you would expect Cronus to be powerful. He doesn't disappoint!

With an incredible 30 000 health and cheats to top it all off, Cronus is a true challenge for even the toughest wizards.

Cronus is mostly known for dropping the amazingly powerful athame, the 'Blade of the Felled Titan' and the 'Exalted Amulets'. If you're looking for the athame then definitely put a target on Cronus, however, if you are looking solely for the exalted amulets, then perhaps the Gladiator may be a better choice.

Hopefully you've enjoyed my first post in a long time, and hopefully I will definitely be putting a lot more up for you to learn about and enjoy.

Thanks for reading!

Blaze

You BIG Cheat!

Hey everyone,

Meanwhile, away from my festive garden, I am still working my way around Zafaria. Today was the day I would face Belloq.

• Defeat number 1 - I wonder what on earth happened. 
• Defeat number 2 - To be honest I am really none the wiser. 
• Defeat number 3 - I know I am doing something wrong. 
• Defeat number 4 - I think I have some insight... maybe.

Now, if you haven't succumbed to this particular quest yet, then you may wonder what on earth is happening too!! Time to meet Belloq, who should really be known as Belloq the Cheat.

First up, this is what we are dealing with in this battle:

A rank 10 boss, but you know - 6,335 health? Not a huge fight compared to some of the others I had overcome. And there be the lesson..... do not be complacent.... things are never quite what they seem, and I was about to learn that.

So I start the battle with a plan to defeat the minion first. I have fought a few of these Greyhorn's and I know they are quite liberal with balance trio shields, and didn't want to see too many Death-Myth-Life shields in play. The weird thing was that Belloq kept saying "I thought you were here to hurt me". I came to realise that meant that Ra would be played. Ra hit me for anything from 1200 to 1600 each time.

He seemed to play it alot - so I knew this was a fight that I needed to concentrate on. Sadly it did take quite a few re-starts to realise exactly what was going on. I came to dislike Ra very much in that time - two hits in amongst the other spells and I was done. They made it look easy. I was defeated around 7 times after round 3. This was embarrassing to say the least.

Then I realised how to approach this battle. I had tried a couple of changes, and each one had failed. I knew I had to attack, but I had not realised the extent of that until after a friend had ported in and played some of the spells I thought would work. They didn't - and we were both defeated.

I re-thought my deck. This new deck was something I had never played with before. But I knew that something radical was in need. Here is the deck I went forward with:

There are a few things to notice here:

• There are no blades
• There are no traps or curses
• There are no prisms
• There are no Vengeance cards

Treasure cards were a mix of Feint, Gargantuan and Poison only. Nothing else at all. My theory was that I need to attack. If I don't attack then he plays Ra. And I already know that 3 times Ra and I am defeated.

But the question is - what is an attack? I knew a Feint worked, and that was great. Being death I had enough in my deck, and gardening is a big help with this card. Traps and Curses though? I really wasn't sure. But I know that at this point, he has defeated me 12 times too many and I needed to get this battle done!

My new deck is all about the pure attack apart from the Feints. No curses. No Traps. I was taking no chances!

 So I started my considered attack. My theory was that I should keep Poison running continuously so there was an attack every round. I hoped this would work because 1. it is a low level pip spell and 2. it was a three round attack card. And the good news is that it did what I wanted. Gradually I whittled down the health of Belloq. I played nothing on the minion. And as you can see - it is successful......



It was fairly easy from this point on. Patch helped my every now and then - and as you can see my incoming health is very high at 48%, and this was the only fairy he was willing to give in this particular battle :)

But you know what?

It didn't matter. I kept playing those Poison Cards - obviously I used a Gargantuan on them first, and sometimes Patch gave me Vengeance, to increase the chance of critical.

Before I knew it I had him on the back foot :). Every card I played was an attack on Belloq. If I didn't have an attack card then I prepped - Poison gave me three rounds :)

And I didn't worry about the Greyhorn. Sometimes you just need to concentrate on the boss and then deal with the minion. This was definitely one of those times.

It was nice to get this particular victory. I think it is great that you are lulled into a false sense of security with a low health boss. But seriously, if you are faced with a cheat you need to watch very closely for the triggers.

Just take a look at my health - completely full at the end of the battle - I love being a death wizard!!

So it was Poison that helped change this battle in my favour. But you are not all Death Wizards... so I would love to hear what you used against Belloq!

Have fun, until next time,

Tabitha

Mirror Lake - Making it Interesting!

Hi all,

It has been quite a while since I have last had an opportunity to post!  It seems like an eternity.  There are just times that real life really gets in the road :(

Nonetheless, Blaze and I decided we'd have a bit of fun the other day and head on back to Mirror Lake.  If you have read our gardening books, you'd know that the reason that lots of people like farming this (semi)-challenging dungeon is that the drops are great.  Mega-snack (Pixie-stix) and high energy gear are the real
rewards here.  These are a good all-round snack and are great for most forms of pet training.

Given that this is a Zafaria dungeon, it isn't really that hard once you get up a few levels, so for Blaze and I, there was a choice to be made.  Blast straight through it like bats out of hell, or give ourselves a challenge.  We were in a mood for a challenge, so we laid out some rules and headed for the World Gate!

The Rules
This dungeon (for those that haven't played it) has a bit for everyone.  Lots of bad guys, and interesting bad guy strategies.  So, for us, being Death and Fire, we decided that we would attack it in this way:

• First fight, only Rank 4 Spells
• Second fight, only Rank 6 Spells
• Third fight, only Rank 8 Spells
• Finally, just go for it!

For those Fire-types out there, this is a real challenge.  We are fighting multiple opponents, but, other than the first and last fights, all the Attack All Enemies spells are out of bounds!  It was challenging and frustrating.

So, we set up our decks and off we went.

The first fight, I had my meteor.  Bulked up and with Blaze hitting well too, it was over pretty promptly and Tse-Tse was heading back to Morganthe with his tail between his legs.

OK, fight two.  No meteor, dragon or anything else useful against multiple ghostly opponents.

This wasn't a fun fight - look at those noob-pips!  Worst of all, this shot was taken just as my blades were getting quaked off me...

So, what do you do when you get lots of noob-pips?  Play a nice off school spell :)  I had made sure that I had loaded up on a few 6 pips off-school spells in my treasure deck, so I decided to have a little fun.

Given that Blaze was on my left, and he was Death, look who decided to join us?

Yes, that's right, the increasingly confused Malistaire!  (is he good?  is he bad?  is he dead?  just what is going on here?)  And who would have thought it?  The guy can fight!

(if anyone is confused by this, when playing Grub Guardian, you get quite a few Minon pack drops...Malistaire is one of the guest appearances)

Well, it went on from there.  We finished the 2nd fight a little slowly, and the 3rd even more so, but after that Blaze and I just opened up and ripped through the final fight.

All in all, a solid session.

For those of you who are getting up in the levels - what kinds of 'games' and challenges do you set yourselves?  It is interesting to hear about how other Wizards spend their time, so drop us a note and let us (here at the Keep) know a little more about how you play.

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

(it's good to be back!!)

Return to ... Unicorn Way!!

You know, sometimes I like to duck back to two places, Unicorn Way and Hunted Cave.  I think I like them because Unicorn Way holds my first real Wizard101 memories, and because I didn't have Crowns for a while, Haunted Cave was my first really scary time.

I was doing the Cave once and a Wizard on a flying mount was watching one of our fights.  He jumped down to join in and wow...he had nearly 2,000 health!  Then he cast this spell that looked just like the scary pumpkin head things we were fighting - and it killed them all!!  In one hit!! AND he got energy from it!  WOW!

That was one of the first times I knew I wanted to be a high level wizard.  Every now and then, I go back and visit and help out the new batch of young Wizards that have just entered the Spiral.

Check it out though - my first fight, and it looks like I am not the only one playing games today :)

Then, of course, comes the satisfying finish!

Then it is off to Hunted Cave, and guess what?  First fight here and another high level!  Looks like lurkers everywhere!

Have you ever found yourself reliving those memories, but this time really punishing the enemies?  There is a strange sense of satisfaction being able to do it now.

Anyway, if you see me around, make sure and say "Hi!"

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Rant time!

OK.  I just thought I'd throw this one out there...

I love playing Wizard101 and I really enjoy all aspects of the game.  But sometimes, when playing the game, there are those little recurring things that just get me every time.

Tonight, for example.  I was wandering through Wysteria and ducked into Tanglewood Way.  I hadn't been there for a while and I enjoy going back and looking over some of the places that I visited on my journey through the Spiral.

As I ducked through the crack in the wall, there was a lone Wiz taking on those tree guys there.  She was doing fine, and I tried to sneak past along the wall.  Needless to say, one of those tree guys tapped me on the shoulder from behind and dragged me from nowhere into the fight I had just been watching.  I apologised to Jenifer and we proceeded to dispatch them.  I can remember how much I avoided those fights back then...but they are surprisingly easy now :)

She was badge collecting and I offered to help dispatch a few more of them.

Well, that is when it started - in the next 3 or 4 fights, all of my pet peeves hit in quick succession!

Pet Peeve Number 1: Deck Fail

I have previously posted by standard street-fighting deck.  It is pretty small and tight and I rely heavily on a meteor for a quick dispatch in round one or two.

But check out this hand! It took 4 rounds to draw a single meteor!  And for the next few fights I just couldn't get my meteors out when I wanted them.

Pet Peeve Number 2: Pip Fail / Noob Pips

After making a new friend in Jenifer, she went off to complete some other quests and I kept mowing through a few more tree men.  It wasn't long before I got a tap - could I give a quick hand in Stormriven.  Jenifer had forgotten that some of those guys can give you a fair whack.

I ported in, and fired off a meteor.  It took out one of the 3 bad guys, but the weakness I had picked up with them going first meant that two of them survived.  Grr...oh, a noob pip!  Ok, that means two more rounds before I go again, and even my wand jabs weren't showing.  Oops - another noob pip!  and another!  C'mon, I know I am Fire, but my Pip % isn't that bad!

4 noob pips launch the final strike, but seriously??!!??

And last night, this picture is a classic double pip fail in what should have been a quick Halfang fight...

Pet Peeve Number 3: Fizzle!
Part way through the next fight, again, ready to light up the sky with a colossalled meteor, and ...fizzle!  <sigh>

You would think I would be used to it by now, but no...it is still disappointing.  And why does it always seem to happen on the kill blow?  The bulk Efreet or the massive Rain of Fire to finish the fight?  Never the smaller spell, just the hammers.

It just seems to happen so regularly on the big hits, it is almost like the percentages work against you more in those situations!

Or maybe I am just paranoid :)

Pet Peeve Number 4: Tower Shields

Taking on these guys in Celestia is good fun.  Ice with 2400 health - I'll smash them all day...except when they through up those Tower Shields.

Fortunately, Jennifer shot off a violently ill and massively oversized Frog that took out the shields, so there was still the satisfying crunch of molten rock on bad guy to see them dispatched....so, yes, it is a Pet Peeve, but not one I had to suffer through...at least not tonight.

Another day, a different fight...another Tower Shield.  His mate died, but this guy lived to fight one more round...

Of course, if I draw one, there is a fair chance I'll use it!! :)

Do you have any Pet Peeves?  Something that just gets you, every time it happens?  If you do, let us know!

Now that I have that off my chest, I'm off and into it again!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Pack-a-Palooza - What Pack to Buy?

Ok, it's Pack-a-Palooza time again!  You've got some Crowns and they are burning a hole in your...um...whatever it is that Wizards carry Gold around in...

You know you want to buy a Pack, but just what pack is right to buy?  Which will give you the BEST value for money?

Hmm, a tough question to be sure, but that just means that we'll have a go at answering it!

Before you can answer this question though, the real question is, what are you looking for?  There are packs for:

• High Energy Gear
• Great Seeds
• Awesome Mounts
• New Spells
• Rare Pets
• Some of the best PvP gear
• Fantastic Wands
• Amazing Healing bonuses
• ...and absolutely heaps of Bobbleheads (and other stuff you really don't want!)

It makes it hard as there is a definite element of luck involved, but let's see if we can untangle this a little and come up with some good, solid choices.

High Energy Gear

If you want High Energy Gear, the Wyvern's Hoard pack is for you.  If you have read my book on Gardening (if not, click on it over there on the top right of this page!) and you'll find that this pack will give you the best 'pack' Energy Gear available, followed closely by the Hoard of the Hydra.

Great Seeds
If you are looking for a cheap way to grab the incredible Evil Magma Pea (or EMP), it is, once again, the Wyvern's Hoard Pack, but the White Tiger Lily is in the Raven's Hoard pack - still, these do not replenish themselves and can be purchased in the bazaar, so it might not be worth buying a pack just to get one.  Couch Potatoes can be found in the Wyvern's Hoard pack and the Hoard of the Hydra pack.  You might have other seeds you are after, but these are the ones that I personally farm for.

Awesome Mounts
OK, I know, how subjective is this one? Well, for me, you'll usually see me flying around on my magnificent Cloud Wyvern, so for me, Wyvern's Hoard pack again (still want a Night Wyvern).  If you want a 3-person mount, the Hoard of the Hydra pack is for you.

New Spells
These can be found in the Keeper's Lore, Knight's Lore, Ninja's Lore and Yuletide packs, but all crafted spells can be obtained from the Loremaster if you are patient enough!

Rare Pets
Yes, you can definitely get some rare pets from Packs, but I still think the best way to get a pet is to hatch, so this doesn't rate that highly for me.

As for the last 3, PvP gear, Wands, and Healing, well, the options are many and varied.  For me, this is where I turn to the Manual of Mastery!  I tell it what I am looking for and it will tell me if I need a pack to satisfy it.  Let's face it, that is one of the reasons we made it in the first place!  Needless to say, for generic critical the Islander pack is handy, and the Nightmare pack has some good all round gear.

So, for me, I like Gardening and Energy, so I'll be buying more Wyvern's Hoard packs.  I need heaps more EMPs and a few more Couch Potatoes.  I still don't have the Greenwarden's Energetic Shroud (stitched of course - that robe needs stitching more than any other, surely!!) and I do want that Night Wyvern.  It is a pack made for me! lol!

Tell me, what is your favourite pack?  And why do you like it?  We love to hear from our readers, so shoot me a note and let us know!

See you 'round the Spiral.

Morgrim

Get the card you want - but don't run out!!

This is just a simple, quick post to answer a few questions we have had here at the Keep - "where is / what is Reshuffle?"  ...and "why can I never seem to draw the card I want?"

Well, let's approach these two questions, but in reverse...and I hope you'll see why.

While we cannot tell you exactly how to draw the cards you want, there are definitely ways to make it easier!  It is interesting, but as you increase in level, you get access to more and more spells - those that you learn and those that you train in (or buy with Training points).  The decks that you get have more and more Spell Card slots and there is a strong temptation to fill them all.

Now that is a near certain way to not draw the card you want!

Have a look at this:

This is my 'street fighting' deck.  I know I could trim it further, but as it stands it will serve me well for any regular street fight right up to mid-way through Azteca.  In fact, with damage bonus and enchants (and the right pet), this deck can usually be fine in a boss fight up to Zafaria - but it is a far cry from having a full deck of spells!  In this way, it is more likely that I will get the spells I want, but the story doesn't end there.

As you can see, in a simple Triton Avenue street fight, I didn't draw my main go-to spell, Meteor, for two rounds!  That is where 'Discard' is essential.

Next time you are confronted with a handful of rubbish (relatively speaking!), then a simple right-click on the card you don't want will discard the card as if you have used it.  Now you have multiple gaps in your hand and the next round will present you with lots of new cards.  This will let you shuffle through your cards much more quickly, increasing the likelihood of drawing the card you want.

Which brings us to the next logical question - what happens when I run out of cards?  Well, you lose the fight!  Not a very good outcome at all...

That is where Reshuffle comes in.

Reshuffle is the one card I cannot do without, in any deck, and I usually have more than one (you'll notice that I have two in the mini-deck above).  It is a Balance spell with one simple goal - get me my cards back!!  I first mentioned it back in October and promised a follow up post...it has taken a while :)

Reshuffle has a bit of a history.  Originally, you only needed on Reshuffle in your deck because it too came back when you reshuffled your deck.  This basically meant that, unless you Discarded your Reshuffle, you would have an unlimited deck.  It was important that KingsIsle put a stop to this practice.

Now, each Reshuffle card can only be used once per fight.  It will still Reshuffle your used cards and unused Treasure Cards back into your deck, but it will not replace itself.  For my street-fighting deck, I'll carry two. For PvP - I'll carry as many as I need :)

So, where can you get this wonderful card?

If you have been to Colossus Boulevard, there is a fair chance you have passed it right by.

Next time you go down and visit Mindy, look to your left and down the side street there.  Right at the end, there is a shop!  From the smoke coming from the top, you can guess that someone is home.

Say hello to Mildred Farseer.  This is the lady that will sell you Reshuffle for the very reasonable price of 1 Training point.  And it is well worth it.

Once you have your brand new card, make sure you carry one in your deck.  You won't regret it.

Have fun and...

...see you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Slaying the Pendragon - Quick and Easy ... if you know how!

There are many fights in Wizard101 that are quite challenging.  Bosses that cheat, myth bosses (you just gotta hate Earthquake!) and minions that shield.  Some of these fights can really take ages.

I still remember my first 'hard' fight.  I was with Alia and Blaze and we were taking on Jotun and all of his brothers (although I think they have made this fight easier now - I don't really like it when they do that).  The fight took us nearly an hour - <phew> What a marathon.

Of course, now poor Jotun is easy pickings...and I know that some fights can take much longer, especially a tough PvP, depending on your level.

Still, KingsIsle keep finding ways to make fights challenging.  I like a fight where you actually might die - one that requires skill instead of simply pounding.  The Tower of the Helephant is a good example of this.

But, back to the topic today.  The penultimate fight in Avalon - the Pendragon.  The Avalon story is nearly at a close, but there is another twist...as you are about to discover!  (don't watch the video, spoiler alert!)

The Pendragon fight is an interesting one, with a cheat that you can really use against this poor boss.

As soon as you start the fight, a Fire Dragon is cast by the Pendragon (so stagger your entry into this fight if you cannot finish it quickly).  This is no ordinary Fire Dragon, this one goes for 200 rounds!  It is not particularly powerful, but it is annoying, and it just keeps going around.  Before you realise it, you can have lost a fair bit of health.

Well, thanks to the ever tricky school of Myth, combined with one of the most useless Fire spells available, there are ways and means of beating this tough guy without even breaking a sweat.

First, we make sure the Pendragon has cast his Fire Dragon spell and it is currently activate.   Then, it is a simple case of "Shift" to push the spell back to where it came from, followed by "Detonate".  This will then instantly apply all 200 rounds (or whatever is left) to his hide, and with any luck there is enough left in it for an instant kill!

Check the video to see what Blaze and I did to him while Blaze was farming for Huckleberries, with only one card in my deck :)

So there you have it.  One dead Pendragon in no time at all...

Understanding your spells and their capability is a key part of winning the game of Wizard101 - enjoy it!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Just having FUN!

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but I have been working on something BIG.  It will change the way you play and think about Wizard101 - drop me a line or leave me a comment if you want to know more.  But more on that later.

The thing I like about Wizard101 the most is that it is just plain and simple FUN!  Whether it be questing, gardening, PvPing, pet training or crafting, there is so much depth to the game.

One of the things I'll often do is help people.  That can mean lots of things to lots of people.  For example, when I port to help in a fight, I ask "hit or heal" or sometimes "fast or slow", so I know what kind of role people want me to play.  It is normally "hit" and "fast", but not always.

A good example was today - Blaze was looking to compile a detailed guide to Mount Olympus, so he asked me to join to help get some great pics, but also to help smash our way through fights.  I enjoy helping anyone who asks...it is rare that I cannot lend a hand.

Here are some pics that I took along the way, although Blazes will be awesome, just like the Guide he is writing will be..and yes Bad Guys, that is a super pumped-up meteor with your name on it :)

So, if you see me around the Spiral, don't be scared to say "Hi" and ask me if I'd like to help.

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim