Tag Archives: new wizards

7 Tips for New Wizards

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Navigating the Spiral can seem overwhelming when you first enroll at Ravenwood Academy. There are so many things I wish I knew before I started playing. It would have saved me a lot of time and frustration.
 
Don’t struggle like me. In this article you’ll find gear, pets, gardening and more. Here are my top 7 tips for getting started in Wizard101.
 
If you have any more questions, there are tons of other Ravenwood Academy articles that can help you out!

1. SPEAK THE LANGUAGE

Wizards are so busy studying they have no time to type a world’s full name. That’s why you’ll find Zafaria being shortened to ‘zf’ and Krokotopia to ‘krok.’

Here’s a list of other common terms to help you navigate the Spiral.

  • Treasure cards or ‘tc’ – Cards that can be put in your side deck. These gold colored cards disappear after being cast one time.
  • Training Points – Points that can be spent to train spells from schools other than your own. This includes Astral and Shadow spells.
  • Critical or ‘crit’ – The chance a Wizard has of doing extra damage to opponents.
  • Block – The chance a Wizard has of blocking a critical attack.
  • Shadow pip or ‘shad’ – Refers to the pips required to cast shadow spells.
  • Max / max Wizard – This usually refers to a Wizard who is the maximum level at the time. Currently it’s 130.
  • Reagents – Ingredients used to craft certain items.
  • AOE Spells – An attack that damages all enemies.
  • Side deck – The part of your deck where treasure cards are stored.
  • Mega snacks – Rank 8/9 Snacks you can feed to your pet. This is how your pet gains talents that help your Wizard.

    Look for more articles on terms in the near future from Ravenwood Academy.


2. Suit up for battle appropriately

A common problem for new Wizards is the overwhelming selection of gear. When questing, you’ll get a lot of drops from battles. Most of it won’t be useful for your particular Wizard’s school. Players often ask, “How often should I change my gear? What gear should I use? Does this hat bring out my eyes?”
 
Before level 30, I don’t worry about stats much. Questing with gear that drops as you go should be enough to get you through the storyline. Upgrade your gear when something drops that matches your School with higher stats. Avoid socketing jewels unless you are sure the piece of gear will be useful long-term.
 
If you’re looking to outshine your fellow Wizards, I’ve got some level 5 recommendations. These will serve you well until level 30.
 
Most of the drops are from Wizard City’s final boss, Lord Nightshade. If you’re not willing to spend time farming for the gear, it’s also purchasable from the Crowns Shop. 

HAT

ROBE

BOOTS

Here is a more in depth guide on level 5 gear.

At level 30, Mount Olympus will be the next place to get gear. It’s the first dungeon in the side world Aquila. Zeus drops some quality items that most Wizards use until level 60. Cyrus Drake gives the first quest in the Aquila story line so make sure to pick that up! It’s called Quest for Glory.
 
The Sky Iron Hasta is a guaranteed drop from this dungeon. This wand gives Ten damage and a power pip, which is excellent for any school. The Zeus or Senator sets should be your goal. They give amazing stats for every school and add a little visual flair to your Wizard.
 
There are a few notable gear sets that you should go for at each level after this:

 

Level 60 – Waterworks or House of Scales Gear

Level 100 – Darkmoor Gear or alternatives (Exalted Krokopatra/Rattlebones)

3. Sometimes less is more!

A common mistake that many wizards make is stocking their deck with all their cards. You will waste rounds trying to find the card you need, giving the enemy the upper hand. As you get used to combat, you’ll realise you don’t need everything for regular questing.

The likelihood of you drawing the card you want increases when your deck has less in it.

 Know you don’t have to add every card you’re given!
 
I like to have aoe spells, a few blades and some single hits for bosses or clean up. My side deck contains blades as well as monstrous tc.
 
If you have the gold, I’d recommend picking up some of these treasure cards. Your attacks will be significantly more effective. Different kinds of blades stack, and enchants like Monstrous increase the base damage of spells.
 
For example, this is my myth deck at level 27.

Main deck

Side deck

4. Save your training points

One of the most common mistakes new Wizards make is wasting your training points. You get one training point every 5 levels. The only other way to get them is by completing the Professor Zeke quests around the Spiral. 
 
Training a ‘secondary school’ is ineffective in the games current state. If you face your own school in PvE, converts are there to help you.
 
Before level 50, there is little need to spend training points. The only spells I would go for with training points are Feint, Satyr and Tower Shield. If you’re looking to PvP you may need different spells. Research how to spend them wisely.
 
Once you unlock Celestia, it is a good option to spend your points on the sun and star school spells. You are able to train the enchants I mentioned before. Unfortunately you’ll have to have enough to train them all to get the highest one.
 
Unless you seek to collect moon school spells, they serve little purpose in the game. Wizards commonly regret spending their training points on them.
 
I recommend using a training point calculator to plan out how you are going to spend your points. Once you spend them, the only way you can get them back is with a hefty amount of crowns. Be careful!

5. BE HAPPY WITH YOUR IDENTITY!

When you first enroll at Ravenwood School of Magical Arts, you will choose your name and school. Be careful about this, you don’t get to change it later. To help you choose your school, here’s an outline of each

Ice – High health. This class is intended to be a tank. To balance this out, Ice does less damage than the other schools.

Storm – Has the highest base damage of all the schools. However, they have the least health and less accuracy.

Fire – High damage, can use damage-over-time-spells which are extremely effective in PvP as well as questing. They are powerful but have more health than storm.

Death – Considered by many to be one of the best schools for questing. They have good health and damage. Many Death spells damage the enemy while healing the Death Wizard.

Myth – Can summon lots of minions to help them in battle. Good health, damage and their spells have a lot of utility. 

Life – Heals others! If you’re a support player, this is for you. You can build life to be a tank and to protect your teammates. The downfall is that they do less damage, like Ice.

Balance – An amazing utility school. Has various buffs that can be applied to others. However, they don’t have very many themselves. If you’re not intending to solo quest, I’d consider balance.

6. BE HEALTHY FOR BATTLE!

If you walk into a battle with 300 health, chances are you’re going to end up with your head spinning. You may think it’s unavoidable in dungeons where health whisps are absent. Yet, your wizard training has prepared you for this situation. You’ve got potions that will restore your health and mana.
 
What happens when I use them all?
 
You can refill your potions two different ways. The first is to play mini-games at the Fairground in Wizard City. If you don’t have time for that, you can refill them with gold from Hilda Brewer outside the Fairground.

7. You’ll need your crowns later

Crowns are valuable, you don’t want to spend them all in the first 50 levels. 

I suggest investing in a mount you like since running everywhere slows down the game. If you’re struggling with questing, consider the level 5 gear above. However, all of that gear is also droppable by relatively easy bosses.

Stitching is an inefficient use of crowns at a lower level because you change your gear so frequently. Sitching and unstitching costs 100 crowns each. 

This applies to pack gear as well, it gets better every 10 levels.

You’ll need crowns for chest rerolls, energy, pet training and much more! Spend them wisely

I hope these tips give you a better idea of how to play Wizard101! You can find more tips on Ravenwood Academy and at the Wizard101 Official Forums. The Official Forums are a great way to make friends and Interact with the community too. Take a look at these other great articles for new Wizards on Ravenwood Academy.

Good luck with your adventures!