What do you Do?

It struck me tonight while I was in a little street battle (over 3K health!) that I will always play my maximum spell. When there is not much left on my enemy, but I have enough pips or an astral enhancement.... that I will use whatever is the biggest hit. I have just finished a battle, that saw one Life School Treant with 88 health left. I had a number of pips, Vengeance was in play, and Colossal was in my deck..... along with Wraith and Vampire... and a wand wisp.

So what to do?

For me it was a no brainer.... Vengeance had 3 rounds left, I already had a blade..... time to run Colossal on Wraith and then play that card. The 88 health on the Treant had nowhere to hide! My damage attack was in excess of 2,000..... that Treant was dust! 

 Looking at my choices, each one of them are winning cards, but the "Super Torment" is the only guaranteed non-fizzle card. That is what can make the choice more difficult.... do you go for the guaranteed winning blow, or do you risk a potentially safe outcome by playing a card that has 85% chance of NOT fizzling? 

This is again where I believe that Death Wizards have the advantage. We have every reason to run the risk and play the card with a  greater chance to fizzle - after-all..... a Wraith, with +275, + my damage % of 23, with a blade and Vengeance running pretty much means one thing..... huge hit.... and huge 50% health back. And there we have the reason. If I can run out of a battle with full life then I will...... It has nothing to do with showing off, or the theatrics of a particular spell..... it is purely about getting that health back and if I don't have to spend my time running around after red wisps, then why not?

What do you do?

Have fun, until next time,

Tabitha

And the Second Spring comes again...

As many of you would know, once I got past my 'block', I have always enjoyed gardening - so much so I wrote two books on it!! LOL! (shameless plug time - You can download them by clicking on the links on the right!)

When the spell "Second Spring" first came out, I was around there in a flash to learn it.  It is pretty expensive to buy (unless you know our mate Halfang), and it is pretty expensive in Energy to cast, but its affects last forever...

Have a look at my latest two masterpieces.  Only simple, but tasteful (I think).  It is the beautiful Moon Flower.  This is a classic application for Second Spring.  The plant looks great in it natural colour, but once it hits Elder, it just loses some of that beauty.

The same can be said for the Clockwork Flower.   They are kind of similar, but still very different.  Here is one I have had floating around for some time now.

As you can see, it really is 'floating' around.

I guess, for me, that is the real power of Second Spring.  When you find a plant that you do like the look of, you can build it into the design of your entire house.  Once it has reached Elder and no longer needs your help to stay alive, a little Energy and it is sealed, preserved forever in all of its glory - and your design stays consistent.

Here are a couple of my other plants, frozen in time forever, just adding their natural beauty to the house that they live in.  Yes, they are similar, but I just wanted some Boom Shrooms around the place to liven it up a bit!

BTW - Don't get me wrong, there are times when the Elder version of the plant is really the one to keep.  Look at these beautiful, but deadly, women, guarding the entrance to another house.

In fact, there is only one thing wrong with Second Spring.  Your plant is still 'officially' Elder.  This means, that one wrong click of a button can end your plant's life and you are forced to start again.

This little guy greets me (then turns his back) every time I go HOME.  The only trouble is, if I want to use the World Gate, I have to take a step backwards away from him, or when I hit 'X', instead of spinning me around and opening the door, instead, my rude (and slightly sickly-looking) plant gets snuffed out and he vanishes.

Then I have to start again to grow a new one... :(

So, Second Spring is a great spell, one of my favourites.  Just use with care and be careful once done...

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

School Battle Strategy

I've been thinking a bit about how I approach battle quests recently. Certain schools definitely cause certain decisions.

For instance, my first thought when fighting Storm is to get the Storm shields into my deck. Then make sure my Myth cards are in and my Amulet is on. I actually trained in the Storm shield - it is the only school I did that for.

Fighting Death is just about having those Prisms in the deck, along with a few Humungofrog cards just in case those Prisms don't appear quickly.The other problem with Death enemies is that they replenish their health constantly, which I love for me - but not my enemies! For this reason I now include Feints in the side deck. I prefer the TCs because the hit on me is 20%  instead of 30%. I put everything in place to defeat them in one hit. There is nothing worse than getting a good hit in, waiting on the pips only to find that they have taken the opportunity to replenish their health!

When I see an Ice fight I always get a little nervous. Prolific use of Tower shields has defeated me many a time. Strategy wise I always load up on Tower shields and Poison. The hope is that a powered up Poison will take care of those Tower shields while I get ready for a big hit.

Balance and Fire I really don't have any strategy in place yet. Neither of them cause a big problem in the way they use spells in a battle - so far anyway! So I just have a standard deck. If the Fire fight is a boss fight then I usually add some Volcanic shields, but that is about it.

Then there is Myth. I really do not like fighting Myth. They have 2 spells that irk me - Earthquake and Myth Imp. Strategy for Earthquake is not to use blades, but use Feints to get extra damage. If the Earthquake spell is cast at the right time, then then 20% or 30% self hit disappears, which is fantastic! Unfortunately there is little I can do about the Myth Imp. Dispel Death - a terrible thing for a Death wizard! I make sure I have a Death wand on, so I can use the zero pip hits if that nasty little Imp has me cornered. It also dispels Life, but I rarely use Life spells, it affects Patch or Winston sometimes though.

How about you guys? How do you approach the different Schools? Would love to hear from you.

Have fun, until next time,
Tabitha

Procrastinate no More!

Hey everyone,

I have been procrastinating over my training points recently. I had trained up to Giant in the Astral cards, but always wanted to get to at least Gargantuan. 

I had the recipe for Monstrous and Gargantuan, and used to craft both regularly, but stopped. My reagents for those particular two ran low and I never quite got round to replenishing. 

Then I started buying them at the Bazaar. At times I would find myself with more than 50 Gargantuan in my deck. But they soon get used. 

They dominate my side deck like nothing else. Recently I have run dry, and the Bazaar has not been so forth coming. So I realise that it is time to make a choice. I mean I had no idea what else I would use my training points for, and those cards are so very helpful. In fact, I would go so far as to say they are a necessity!

 The last big fight I was in, I was in a seriously bad situation. I didn't realise it until after the battle was done, but could have kicked myself when I did. I bet it is something all wizards have done at some stage. So I went into the battle area to view what I was up against and then set my deck. When I entered the battle itself and found my deck was reluctant to give me what I needed. The healing powers of Patch and, more importantly, the random Vengeance casting also seemed to be missing. No fairy, no vengeance, and a bad deck. Well this was ordinary to say the least. So ordinary in fact, that I was defeated first try.

However, it wasn't until later when I decided to pop to the Bazaar to sell some stuff and just check out what was around. (Being the Bazaar lurker that I am, I am pretty sure that none of you are the least bit surprised!) So it was around this time that I realised my deck was my street fighting, 'tight' deck. I look further and find that Winston is at my feet, not Patch. Hmmmm. Two pets that look the same but one is infinitely more useful than other. I need to be careful with that! But the deck!! I couldn't help thinking that perhaps if I had the wrong deck equipped, but that it had Gargantuan instead of Giant, then things would have been that little bit easier. So this was it. 

The turning point - I had made my choice, and Celestia was my next stop. I had 10 training points burning a hole in my wizardly drapes :) Now I knew the Star School trainer was in the Floating Land, so I hot tailed over there to check it out. I really couldn't remember how many training points were needed to get what I wanted. The great news was that I only needed to use 2 Training Points. Pretty much best case scenario!! So now you can see my training points are down to 8!

I have also gone through every single deck and taken out Strong or Giant and replaced with the maximum number of Gargantuan cards. Vengeance is still making an appearance here and there, but the other astral cards are now pretty much retired. I can't help but think I should have done this so much earlier. I think my reluctance stemmed from using too many training points and finding something better that I can't have. But no more. 

And you know, I think it is time to review my pets too. Patch has a great triple heal, Vengeance and a Dragon Blade, but there is so much more that could be helpful. I guess I need to do a bit of research to figure this one out! I also have over 230 Mega Snacks at the moment, and do not use all my energy every day, so Pet Training will be a breeze. As always, will let you know!

Have fun, until next time,

Tabitha

Time for a Test Drive!

Hey everyone,

Had the opportunity to take my new spell out for a test drive today. Love the attention to detail in this one, so captured a few images while it was running.

It's pretty awesome in that you see Dr Von Katzenstein bringing the monster to life, just like in the old movies that I am sadly old enough to remember!

 I had no blades or traps, but Patch had given me Vengence just before I gained the final pip to run the spell..... Great to see that was enough to send me critical..... best way to run that spell first time. Looking forward to using a Blade or three and maybe a Feint or two to get really get a high damage score.

As you can see it scored 3722, and much of that damage comes straight back to me.

It really is great being a Death Wizard.

So often it has looked like I am losing a battle only to have either Wraith or Scarecrow bring me back from the brink. And now I have this Monster to add to the mix!

I must admit I pack more of the returning health spells than I do the others, although their respective hits are smaller, their return is well worth the shortfall.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha.

Khrysalis Part 2 - News on Spells

Hey everyone,



The biggest news of the year is here - Khrysalis Part 2 is now live, but with this update comes a whole heap of new and improved things. Almost all parts of the spiral are touched in some way! I have decided to list the changes and improvements to spells, in this post.


Shift Spells!

Shift Spells are part of Moon Magic. They are single-round polymorphs that allow you to perform a creature’s natural attack for one round, after which your Wizard reverts back to their original form.

Players who are level 98 or higher need to speak to Arkyn Moonblade in the Eclipse Tower to train these spells.

These new spells include:

Death SchoolShift Sugar Glider 
attacks for 380 Death School Damage and adds a ward to the target for -25% to target's outgoing damage and -50% to target's next outgoing heal

Storm SchoolShift Piscean 
attacks for 460 Storm School Damage and steals one pip from target

Myth SchoolShift Ogre 
attacks for 340 Myth School Damage and removes 1 shield and 1 charm from target

Ice SchoolShift Dread Paladin 
attacks for 360 Ice School Damage plus adds one of three possible increases to incoming damage for the target (15%, 30% or 45%)

Life SchoolShift Greenoak
attacks for 340 Life School Damage and adds a -25% Damage ward to next spell for target plus a +25% Damage blade to next spell for Self

Balance SchoolShift Thornpaw 
attacks for 390 Balance School Damage plus adds +10% Armor Piercing and Accuracy to self

Fire SchoolShift Grendel 
attacks for 115 + 360 damage over 3 rounds plus adds one random accuracy ward (-25%, -45%, -65%) to the target

New Global Spells



Global spells are the 'domes' that appear over the entire dueling circle, encompassing and impacting all teammates and enemies alike!

New Global Spells have been added for players level 97 or higher. Speak to Amelia StarDust to obtain the quest "A Dream of Avalon" which will grant one spell for your main school of focus.

Fire School
Combustion adds +20% Fire Armor Piercing, +17% Fire Critical Hit
Ice School
Katabatic Wind adds +25% Ice Armor Piercing, +10% Ice Critical Hit
Storm School
Astraphobia adds +20% Storm Armor Piercing, +20% Storm Critical Hit
Myth School
Saga of Heroes adds +20% Myth Armor Piercing, +15% Myth Critical Hit
Life School
Namaste adds +20% Life Armor Piercing, +12% Life Critical Hit
Death School
Age of Reckoning adds +20% Death Armor Piercing, +15% Death Critical Hit
Balance School
Counterforce adds +20% Balance Armor Piercing, +15% Balance Critical Hit

Look for upgrades to the effects on the current global spells too - cast your school's global spell today!
(Time of Legend for Myth, Balefrost for Ice, Doom & Gloom for Death, Sanctuary for Life, Darkwind for Storm, Wyldfire for Fire, and Power Play for Balance)

Spell Changes

• Insane Bolt has an insane new cinematic
• Look for upgrades to the effects on the existing global spells
• Legendary Treant spells are now more powerful
• Cloaked spells that are Pierced should now show the correct damage text
• Wildfire Treant Treasure Cards will now only steal positive charms from opponents
• Backlash will no longer stack when players cast additional shadow forms while currently in shadow form
• Cloaked shields were causing player health to appear differently than their actual health. Sometimes this resulted in a defeated player "popping" back up with some of their health left. Cloaked shields will no longer impact the display of a player's health in PvP

That's all the news on spell changes in this release. I will pop another post on some of the other changes too.

Until Next Time,

Tabitha

To Summon a Monster

Hey everyone,

I leveled up to 68 today, and up popped Dworgyn with the great news that another spell is waiting to be learnt. So I dropped everything and hot-footed it over to Nightside.

Dworgyn sent me over to see Dr Von Katzenstein.... who had much to say....

So... We meet again. Who sent you? Dworgyn? It has been years since he worked for me. Whatever does he want? Oh... He seeks the secret of my  monster, my greatest creation! You know that really takes me back... We were young, and I was just getting into the whole mad scientist things, and Dworgyn had just graduated from Hench School. The things we used to get up to! Robbing graveyards, stitching corpses, calling lightning from the sky! Those were the days...

But I am afraid that I cannot help you. My papers were stolen from my lab some time ago. I heard rumours that they had been taken by a sorcerer named the Hoarder, but I do not know anymore. Go now, and slink back to Dworgyn with your tail between your legs. Oh, you don’t have a tail? Well... Let me out of this cell, and I’ll fix that...

Next up it's back to Dworgyn to see where I am led for the second part of this quest....

Did Katzenstein teach you what you needed to know? It Katzenstein says his papers contain the secret to building his famous Monster, then you must recover it! I’ve heard that the hoarder hides out in Dragonspyre, but I have no idea where! You know who will know? Milos Bookwyrm! The librarian of the Atheneum will know everything going on in Dragonspyre! Milos Bookwyrm is as sharp as a scalpel, and quick as lightning. Nothing escapes his notice! Go and speak to him!

So.... we are off to Dragonspyre next.....

Oh, hello there. Have we met before? It’s been so quiet around here... I can barely remember my own name! You are looking for the Hoarder, yes? That is unfortunate. The Hoarder is very powerful, not to be trifled with. There are those who claim it is a servant of Morganthe, Queen of the Shadow Web, gathering magic towards her return.

The Hoarder lurks in a tower with the Plaza of Conquests. Katzenstein’s notes will be with the Books of Death. But be wise and stay away from that place. I am a ghost, and I would not meddle with the Hoarder!

I was wondering when a battle would take place, but I was really surprised to see that this Rank 11 Boss was about 7,000 health LESS than the last spell I learnt. A mere 8,710 health!

Of course it was a Death Boss. I was expecting it to be fairly easy, and it was. Surprisingly so.  I had packed plenty of Prisms and used them to good effect. It wasn't long before this battle was over........






So it's back to Dworgyn...... happy that the journal has been retrieved, it seems the best place to call the spell to life is outside in front of dear old Mortis. So off I go, only to find out that the papers are too messy to work..... I am advised to go back to Dworgyn, but before I do I catch something out of the corner my eye.... the spell is working!
So I stay to watch.... It's actually a pretty cool spell to watch, although I notice that it is not one I see in battle too often.

As with all these new spells, I like to use them quite quickly to see what they look like when cast, and this at least looks a bit different to many of the death spells.

Back with Dworgyn and he confirms that I have my new spell. It is a 9-pip spell, and one that gives health back which is aways useful. Should be good to get a high hit out of at some stage.
My highest hit so far is less than 8,000 - I have no idea how anyone even gets close to 1-in-a-million, but hopefully one day I will find out!

Until next time,
Tabitha

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

What a Stunner!

I leveled up to 58 the other day, and with that came the promise of a new spell!! Of course spells at these levels spells need to be earnt, but they always take you to your school first. So off I go to Nightside to see Dworgyn.

I had no idea what spell would be coming my way, and that brings with it a certain anticipation.

The quest is revealed - I need to make a bone drake. Mortis tells me all about the bone drake, and what I have to do to make one.

Back to Dragonspyre I go to find the Nightreaver's Lair. Of course Osseus Nightreaver wouldn't just give those bones away - let the battle begin! And then I notice that he is a level 10 death boss. Not just any level 10 death boss - this was going to be one hell of a battle - he had 33,310 health!! The minion in the fight only had 1,055, but once again was death. I took care of him, and settled into the biggest battle my wizard had ever fought.

I pulled out the Living Puppet, with 45 health, that I get from my wand to lend a  hand. Surprisingly he managed to last the whole battle, as you can see in this shot just before the battle finished.

One other issue with this battle, is that the boss gave me a +35 trap every time I played a feint, a trap or a blade. Made a tricky fight all the more trickier!
There's no calling a friend in to help on this one either. You have to prove your worth to get this spell it would seem.
Thanks to the Living Puppet and my hound I finished the battle with pretty much full health - it's great being a death wizard!

Time to go to Grizzleheim now. This is a great part of Grizzleheim actually, I do love the ice parts.
Once in Nidavellir I take out the bones and let the magic of the place re-build the bone drake.

 How awesome! I have never seen the spell I am about to get, so looking at what has now appeared in front of I am more than a little excited.

Time for another visit to Dworgyn to let him know of my success and to collect my reward.

The Skeletal Dragon spell, otherwise know as the Bone Drake.

And it is a stunner!

Awesome to watch and a big hit that just keeps going. Looking forward to the next boss fight now!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha