Tag Archives: Pips

Pip Wizardry 2020

Posted on by

Pip Wizardry 2020!

Hello Wizards, this is Nathan Shadowbringer here to help you calculate the actual damage of spells per pip!
 
This article will be updated if spell changes happen down the line. Eventually, I plan for this list to include even Loremaster and crafted spells.
 
We will start with the highest Pip spells, and works our way down to the lowest ones. You will notice some of the spells are not a whole number. Why is that, you ask? Currently, Shadow-enhanced spells that use Shadow and standard Pips – have been changing. In the summer 2020 Test Realm, KI has confirmed that one Shadow Pip now equals 3.6 pips. This number is subject to change. 
 
Before the 2020 Summer Update, Shadow enhanced spells had severe damage compared to non-shadow-enhanced spells. These spells went through changes to balance them. Shadow Pips previously never had an absolute value, but now they do thanks to the new spell changes! They are still powerful, but now within reason to normal spells of a similar rank.
 

Calculating Damage Per Pip

First, if the spell has a damage range, we must find the average damage. For example, let’s take the spell Storm Owl. Storm Owl is a ten Pip spell, that can do anywhere between 1330 – 1470 damage. Which, on average, is about 1400. I would divide 1400 by 10 to get the spell’s loss per Pip or DPP. Storm Owl would come out to be 140 DPP.
 

This can be represented by the formula: (damage)/(x-y). 

Here you would take the spell’s average damage (based upon the values on the card), and divide it by the difference of its Pip cost (represented by the letter x) and its utility Pip cost (represented by the letter y) which we’ll get to in a moment.

So the math for Storm Owl would look like this:

(damage)/(x-y)

(1400)/(10-0) 

1400/10

= 140 

It seems simple, right? Not always. To get a spell’s true DPP, we have to factor in Pip reductions, and damage multipliers.

What Are Pip Reductions?

A Pip reduction is something factored into a spell’s DPP calculation. These reductions happen when a spell has an added effect or utility attached to it. When calculating DPP, some Pips may get subtracted. 

For example, one type of Pip reduction is the scion condition. Scion spells cost 11 pips, and do x2 damage if a particular condition is met depending on the spell. Because Scion spells can do x2 damage, reducing their initial damage. Their base damage is around the damage of a ten Pip spell. See where I’m going with this? 

The Scion Condition results in -1 Pip when calculating damage per pip. Yet, the Scion condition is not the only Pip reduction. There are, in fact, many more. 

Types of Pip Reduction

The following list contains the types of Pip reductions along with how many Pips they reduce.

  • Special: 10% Pierce blade: -0 Pips
  • Rusulka’s Wrath blade/weakness: -0.5 Pips
  • 800 Absorb: -1 Pip
  • Disarm: -1 Pip
  • Guiding Light: -1 Pip
  • Infection: -1 Pip
  • Pierce: -1 Pip
  • Remove 2 pips: -1 Pip
  • Scion Condition: -1 Pip
  • Steal 1 pip: -1 Pip
  • Stun: -1 Pip
  • Summon minion: -1 Pip
  • Trap: -1 Pip
  • Tower shield: -1 Pip
  • Bubble change: -2 Pips
  • Double Disarm: -2 Pips
  • Double stun: -2 Pips
  • Gain 1 pip: -2 Pips
  • Plague: -2 Pips
  • Pierce before hit: -2 Pips
  • Smokescreen (40% accuracy debuff to all enemies): -2 Pips
  • Spirit Shield + Elemental Shield: -2 Pips
  • Stun all: -2 Pips
  • 45% Weakness: -2 Pips
  • AOE 45% Weakness -3 Pips

What This Means

These Pip reductions may NOT all be accurate, because determining the number of Pips a utility takes away is tricky. KI developer Mattnetic has said some utilities may cost less and others more. The issue is finding out which ones. Most pip reductions appear to be -1 one Pip, with AOE utilities such as Plague counting as -2. One for the utility, and one for the AOE effect. However, that still leave some loose ends, so allow me to to tie those up right now.

Because all King Artorius spells to get a 10% Pierce charm, the Pierce charm is not counted as a utility. Thus, every King Artorius spell gets it for free.

Rusalka’s Wrath gives either a 30% storm blade or a 30% Storm Weakness to the caster. Considering it has a chance to positively and negatively affect the caster, it was given 0.5 pips instead of 1.

Because the typical bubble would cost two pips, the Pip reduction is counted as two Pips.

Calculating the Pip reduction for an 800 Absorb was difficult. The actual Absorb spell is three pips for a 400 Absorb; therefore, wouldn’t it be counted as six Pips for an 800 Absorb? If so, then the DPP of Hungry Caterpillar would be extremely high. But that wouldn’t be, right? Would it? These things can be quite challenging. 

What Are Damage Multipliers?

You factor in a damage multiplier after you calculate a Pip reduction. For example, a standard damage multiplier is an AOE, or area of effect. An AOE spell is when a spell hits all enemies. Let’s take the spell, Glowbug Squall. This spell is an AOE, and it does 940 damage to all enemies. It costs five regular Pips and one shadow Pip. A Shadow Pip currently equals 3.6 Pips; therefore, Glowbug Squall would be 8.6 Pips in total.

AOE spells have their damage multiplied by 0.75, or 3/4. To account for this spell being an AOE, we get the inverse of 3/4 and multiply by 4/3. Instead of dividing 940 by 8.6, we would multiply 940 by 4/3 first to get 1253.3. Now, we divide by 8.6. Finally, this makes the DPP of the spell Glowbug Squall 145.7.

 

Calculating Drain DPP

Calculating the damage multiplier for drains was difficult. Thanks to the new spell, Ship of Fools, we can now figure it. Ship of Fools has two routes you can go and upgrade using spellements. One is damage, and the other is a drain.
 
We can now accurately compare drain damage to typical damage. For example, the final tier of Ship of Fools. We found drains to suffer a 0.88% damage dropoff compared to pure damage. The final drain tier for Ship of Fools deals 330 damage. The final pure damage tier for ship of fools deals 375 damage. 330/375 is 22/25, 0.88, or 88%. 
 
This rate stays consistent for each upgrade of Ship of Fools. Therefore, before we calculate a drain spell’s DPP, we have to multiply its damage by the inverse of 22/25, which would be 25/22, to find the true DPP.
 

Calculating DOT DPP

One more type of damage multiplier is “damage over time” or DOT. These spells have initial damage, and then the damage dealt over three rounds. Because this damage takes longer to deal, the damage is 25% higher than the average spell—DOT’s damage multiplies by 1.25. So, to find DPP of spells with DOT’s divide by 1.25 to get the final DPP value. 

X rank spells like Tempest and Snowball Barrage are not affected by the AOE multiplier. Because they already have their damage per Pip value listed on the card.

What do the Devs say?

The first chart here is from Ratbeard’s Dev Dairy, it shows the individual base DPP for each school of magic. In addition to the new and old DPP for each school’s Shadow-enhanced spells. 

With the damage per pip chart below, you will start to notice things with some spells above rank 7. The damage per pip curve caps off at eight Pips. It does not increase further. To account for this, rank eight spells and above get utility for cheaper then what a rank seven or lower would. They get these utilities at a 50% discount, compared to a rank seven or below spell. 

There is one utility that does not get this discount, the Scion Condition, which remains at -1 Pip, not -0.5. The discounted utilities are bolded on the chart.

Another thing to note is rank seven spells DO NOT get penalized for being an AOE. They are purposefully over the damage curve. None of the things mentioned above apply to Shadow enhanced spells.

Formulas: (x = number of Pips and y = utility Pip cost)

AOE: [(damage)(4/3)] / (x – y)

DOT: [(damage)(0.8)] / (x – y)

Drain: [(damage)(25/22)] / (x – y)

If you’re interested in learning more about DPP you can check out Ratbeard’s Dev Dairy on the subject with this link! https://www.wizard101.com/game/dev-diary/spell-balance-audit

Final Notes

Moving forward the it’s important to keep this information in mind:

  • One Shadow Pip equals 3.6 pips
  • Storm base DPP is 125
  • Fire base DPP is 100
  • Myth base DPP is 90
  • Death and Balance base DPP is 85
  • Life and Ice base DPP is 83
  • DOTs have a damage multiplier of 1.25
  • Rank 7 spells are intentionally above the curve in DPP (no x4/3 AOE multiplier when calculating DPP)
  • DPP scales slowly as spells start to cost more Pips
  • Shadow enhanced spells have a higher DPP compared to regular spells.

We hope this article helps you to understand the logic behind the recent changes to the game and how they will help balance things going forward. Personally, I am excited to see what new spells will be possible now.

Thanks For Reading!

Special thanks to Shawn Fire and Dustin from the Ravenwood Community Discord for assisting me in the many calculations throughout this article. I would also like to thank KI developer Ratbeard for responding to my questions about DPP so quickly, he was extremely helpful! And, thank all of you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did writing it. If you did, please check out the other guides and information Ravenwood Academy has to offer. Let us know what you think and what your calculations find in the comments below, or at the Ravenwood Community!! 
 

Lambent Fire: 2 Turn Farming Strategy

Posted on by

Lambent Fire

Lambent Fire is a Stone Skeleton Key Boss that is found in Crystal Caves – Avalon. He drops the Burning Rampage spell, which is highly sought-after by many fire wizards. Unfortunately, his cheats work conveniently well to make the battle harder specifically for fire.

Main Cheats & Common Strategies

He cheat-casts steal charm on all fireblades, elemental blades, and universal blades. Aegis can be used to prevent this cheat, but many people don’t have that spell yet. If Bladestorm is used, only the caster will have their blade stolen. A common strategy is to have someone spam quench (fire dispel) on the boss so that someone else can blade. Hitters of other schools often don’t worry about this cheat (other than balance), but it’s mainly fire wizards that are farming this boss.

He also cheat-casts Immolate on any universal traps. That’s right – no feints, even if protected with Indemnity. You would need someone to spam quench for that, too. The only exceptions to this cheat are Mass Feint and Malediction (mass universal traps). Regular traps (like Fire Trap, Elemental Trap, Fuel, and Backdraft) all work fine. Fire Prism and Mass Fire Prism are both allowed.

A minion will also cheat-cast Bad Juju at the end of the 3rd turn to whoever has the most pips, which is usually the hitter. That always has to be cleared using a wand spell or Cleanse Charm before hitting. This cheat is part of a cheat-cycle and repeats every 3rd turn.

So if you’re fire, it’s hard to blade and hard to trap. Farming is all about efficiency; regardless of the drop rate, you have a higher chance of getting what you want if you get more runs in. But with all of the cheats against buffs, how could 4 average fire wizards ever hope to beat Lambent Fire in 2 turns?
 

Here’s The Strategy

 
Person 1: Minion Killer
 
You need one person to kill the minions. If you’re a fire wizard with a +1 pip deck, use Mass Fire Prism followed by an enchanted Scald.
 
Yeah, I said Scald. Trust me on this.
 
How high your damage is won’t matter, the minions will die regardless. If you don’t get a power pip on the 1st and 2nd turn, no worries; it will just take 3 turns to kill.
 
If the minion killer ends up not being a fire wizard, just find someone that can kill the minions by the 2nd turn. Having a spell that is both AoE and DoT (like Deer Knight or Reindeer Knight) would be ideal, but anyone else that can one-shot minions by the 2nd round is fine.
(Ex: Stormblade + Tempest/Storm Lord)
 
Person 2: Main Hitter

Here’s another surprise for you fire wizards: if you’re the hitter, use Fire Prism (single) on the boss, followed by an enchanted Heckhound. Even if you have a shadow hit ready.
 
Another “useless” spell, I know. Just go with it.
 
If your main hitter is not fire, then just have someone blade and hit with any DoT spell. Frostbite, Poison, or Thunderstorm (Rain Core pet spell) are all great options. Even if you have a stronger spell, please stick to DoT.
 
                                                                       Person 3: Secret Weapon
 
This is where the strategy comes together. Most of the people farming this boss are fire, right? Someone probably has Dalia’s Smoldering Hairdo, the fire hat from the Professor’s Hoard Pack. Congratulations, you have been selected to use Incindiate.
Does it make sense yet?
 
This will detonate all of the previously used DoT spells AND double their damage. To put this in perspective: Assuming a fire wizard was the main hitter and used what I said above, it would end up being a 5-7 pip Heckhound with a prism. If you include a Colossal enchantment and the double damage from Incindiate, you’re looking at a 1900-2440 base damage attack. That’s more base damage than any spell in the game. And that’s still without the 30% ice boost (from prism), stat damage, or even a possible critical.
 
The Scald works similarly; with Colossal and Incindiate, it would have 1540 base damage, which is still more damage than Raging Bull. That alone with the 30% ice boost is guaranteed to kill minions (and land a solid hit on the boss as well), not to mention your stat damage.
 

If you’re a non-fire wizard but you have the hat, you can still make it work. If you have a fire mastery amulet, great. If you have a +1 pip deck, using empower on the 1st turn will give you enough pips to cast Incindiate on the 2nd turn

f you are balance, you could go first and use bladestorms (cheat will only steal blade from you) to boost the other 2 hitters, or use Donate Power to boost the Heckhound, or both.
 
If you have Dworgyn’s Havoc Hood (the death hat from the Professor’s Hoard Pack), Mass Feint would also help.
 
If you are not fire but you are still a strong hitter, then you can blade and hit with whatever you got; just keep in mind DoT will do double damage.
 
If you have none of these, you could always buy Donate Power tc from the bazaar and use that on the main hitter before they use Heckhound, or buy Fire Trap/Elemental Trap/Fuel tc. Just find some way to be helpful.
 
 
 
Person 4: Backup

There is no specific role for this person, just help somehow. If you are fire/ice/death, I recommend doing the same thing as the main hitter. I’m specifically including ice and death because they both have solid, low-pip DoT spells they can use, and they each have a 30% damage boost against Lambent Fire.

If you’re fire but have really low accuracy/damage, use traps for the hitters. (Traps have to be after prisms, so enter battle after the hitters.)

If you are balance, you could go first and use bladestorms (cheat will only steal blade from you) to boost the other 2 hitters, or use Donate Power to boost the Heckhound or both.
 
If you have Dworgyn’s Havoc Hood (the death hat from the Professor’s Hoard Pack), Mass Feint would also help.
 
If you are not fire but you are still a strong hitter, then you can blade and hit with whatever you got; just keep in mind DoT will do double damage.
 
If you have none of these, you could always buy Donate Power TC from the bazaar and use that on the main hitter before they use Heckhound, or buy Fire Trap/Elemental Trap/Fuel tc. Just find some way to be helpful.
 
 
 
(If you’re a high level and wanna get fancy, a death wizard could use Empower then Wrath of Hades, or a myth wizard could use Empower tc then King Artorius (which both have a big 1000+ damage DoT). If you’re hitting minions, an ice wizard use Empower TC/Snow Angel, or a myth wizard could use Mythblade/Noble Humongofrog. Feel free to get creative!
 
Putting It All Together
 
If your backup person is not hitting or trapping, have them go first, followed by the 2 hitters (in any order). If the backup person is hitting, then all 3 hitters go in any order. Most importantly, have the person using Incindiate go last.
 
If anyone on the team doesn’t have enough pips to do their part by the 2nd turn (due to lack of power pips, entering late, etc.), everyone needs to wait until the 3rd turn to hit.
 
If your hitters aren’t very strong, or you don’t have a backup person, hitting on the 3rd turn can also give everyone an extra turn to trap, and increases Heckhound’s base damage (by gaining an extra pip). This would ensure a kill, although most full teams can manage it in 2 turns.
 
Preventing Fails
 
 
One of the unpredictable things in this battle that can cause a fail is Lambent Fire using Efreet. But with this strategy since the person using Incindiate is going last, the Efreet will always target them (since they will always be across from him) as long as you have a full team.
 
 
 
The Bad Juju cheat is another thing people worry about,
but hitting by the 3rd turn avoids this completely.
 
 
The minions CAN use Immolate, which can clear some of their prisms. If the minion killer is fire and has low damage, the Scald might not kill. Have a backup AoE hit in to clean up. Lambent Fire will not use Immolate.
 
Aside from that, watch your accuracy and power pips. Incindiate needs 15% accuracy to ensure no fizzles. Raise your power pip stat too, especially if you don’t have a +1 pip deck. Other than that, make sure your hitters all have 100% accuracy for their school. If your accuracy isn’t high enough, taking an extra turn to use Infallible is well worth your time. Accuracy and power pips are much more important than critical for this strategy.
 
 

Deck Setup

Minion Killer

If you are fire, this is the setup you wanna have. Keeping a maximum of 7 cards ensures that you will draw exactly what you need. the plan is to use Mass Fire Prism, then an enchanted Scald. If you get a pip fail can’t use Scald on the 2nd turn, use a trap while waiting for a pip. If your fire accuracy isn’t perfect, use Infallible tc regardless of pips.
 
If some minions clear their prism and end up surviving, then you have a backup enchanted Meteor Strike. In the rare case that it goes past the 3rd round, you may need a wand to for the Bad Juju cheat.
 
If you’re not fire, just replace the trap/prism with blades, and the attacks with your AoE spells.
 
 

Main Hitter/Backup Hitter
 
Same simple setup: Fire Prism then Enchanted Heckhound. Pip fails don’t really matter with Heckhound, but use a trap if someone else on your team needs to wait for pips. Just like before, you have an enchanted Meteor Strike and a wand hit for emergencies, but probably won’t end up using them.
 
If you aren’t fire, just replace the trap/prism with blades, and the Heckhound with your DoT spell. Backup hit is optional.
 
***All hitters NEED perfect accuracy, more than anything else. If you fizzle, you miss out on the Incindiate. If someone on your team needs to use Infallible tc, just hit on the 3rd turn.
 
Secret Weapon
 
It’s pretty simple for this person: enter the battle last and be ready to use Incindiate by the 2nd turn. if you have a +1 pip deck and at least 90% power pips, you’re solid. You can use a Fire Trap or anything else that would be helpful while you wait. If you don’t have a deck pip, increase your power pips as much as possible and use Empower tc on the 1st turn. Regardless, 15% fire accuracy is a must. Backup hit is optional.

Other Backup 
If the Backup is a fire wizard with low damage/accuracy and doesn’t want to hit, this is also a possible setup. Pack whatever traps you have, and go after the hitters so that your traps go after their prisms.
 
If the backup isn’t fire, then go first and support in any way possible. An easy way is by using Donate Power tc to boost Heckhound on the 2nd turn.
 
 
While I do agree that this strategy is a bit particular by requiring a spell like Incindiate, also consider that you’re more likely to run into fire wizards with this boss than anywhere else. The chance that someone on your team has it is pretty decent. All the current guides and strategies advise against having too many fire wizards (which is terrible since fire wizards farm it the most), but this one encourages it. This is also the only current strategy that can be done in 2-3 turns with a team of average Archmage fire wizards.
 
Good luck on your drops!
 

By: NinjaDudeB12 #4545

Mount Olympus Strategy Guide

Posted on by

When you reach level 30, Cyrus Drake will invite you to the Quest for Glory, your ticket to Mount Olympus. The quest will send you to Cyclops Lane, where you will discover something unique. Hiding in the back of the park is a golden chariot to Aquila. There, you will meet Silenus, who will send you to Mount Olympus to meet Zeus. This is a side quest you will definitely want to do, as the gear Zeus drops here will keep your stats where they need to be until you reach level 56 or 60.

When you step inside the sigil to Mount Olympus, you first meet Athena. She will be your guide and sends you to your first challenge, Apollo. Apollo is a Life boss with Myth minions, but he mainly deals Fire damage. This boss doesn’t cheat, but he uses a natural attack that leaves behind a smokescreen nearly every round. Stacking a Feint or two on the boss with a few blades on your attacker will work. After defeating Apollo, you will be awarded your first Legion Token, an Ophidian Archer.

After you turn in the first Legion Token, Athena will send you to the next challenge. The Moon Chamber. Inside you will find Moon school and Death school mobs. There isn’t a boss here, and there are no cheats. It’s worth noting that many at-level Wizards prefer to use a particular strategy to minimize the number of mobs in this fight.

For the mob-reducing strategy, only one Wizard enters the room to start the battle before the rest of the team joins. This trick works in all of Aquila, wherever rooms contain battles with minions. Your usual mob-killing strategy boosted by an extra blade or two should do the trick, and in no time, you will have your second legion token, a Minotaur Warrior.

Next, Athena will send you to the Sky Balcony to face the Praetorian Guards. This is another mob like the last one. Even though one of them is in a different school like a boss would be, the health is about the same for all of them. The “boss” is a Storm, and the mobs are Myth. The same strategy you used in the last fight will also work here; be sure to convert the boss if your attacker is Storm. Grab the free statue of Zeus, which you will find on the Sky Balcony, then swipe the third Legion Token, a Carthenian Elephant.

After turning in the final Legion Token, Athena will send you off to face a new kind of challenge. Down in the Arena, Eris Golden Apple has a puzzle you must solve. She will show you two teams, and you will have to figure out which of your warriors can take down the ones she selects. Lucky for us, she makes the same moves every time. First, move your Carthenian Elephant. Second, move the Minotaur Warrior. Then end the game with the Ophidian Archer.

 

If you complete the puzzle correctly, you won’t have to fight anything here, turn in the quest and move ahead to the next challenge.
 
Next, The Hall of the Watchful Eye contains an easily conquered Myth mob, the Elite Cyclops Guard. After you defeat them, you will gain access to Hephaestus.

Before moving ahead, you must gather Hephaestus’s statues that are hidden all around Mount Olympus. Start by heading straight out the door and down the hall. When you get to the end of the hall, head out the door and hang a left toward the Chamber of the Sun. Enter the Chamber of the Sun, but stop side the door and turn to your right. You will see the first statue in the corner (1).

Head back out the door and toward Athena; you will find the next statue in the corner by the entrance (2). Now, go toward the Moon Chamber, but when you get to the top of the stairs leading to the Moon Chamber door, turn to the left. The third statue is hidden in a corner (3). Finally, head down the nearest set of stairs to the Arena. When you get to the bottom of the stairs, stop and turn to your right. You will see the fourth eagle statue standing near the bench in the alcove there (4). Now that you have gathered all the eagles, you can bring them to Hephaestus and brace yourself for the next challenge.

Inside the Hall of Battle, you will meet Ares Savage Spear. Ares is a fire boss with Death minions and has a damage aura that is permanently renewed. If you hit him directly, he says, “You dare strike me directly!?” and smacks you with the business end of his spear for just under 500 damage, leaving behind a 40% trap.

The best strategy here is to stack up a few Feints on the boss, a few blades on your attacker and hit with an All One Enemy attack such as Tempest or Meteor. If Ares doesn’t die in the AOE attack, make sure the follow-up hit finishes him off or face his wrath.


Next is the big boss, Zeus. The same mob-reducing strategy is often employed here that I introduced you to in the Moon Chamber. It’s a good idea in this fight, especially because Zeus is a Myth boss with Ice minions that are not easy for an at-level team; they tend to cast a lot of shields that complicate things.

If you use any spell over six pips in this battle, Zeus will hit you out of turn with a free Minotaur and scold you that “You hesitate too much!” The best strategy here is to stack 2-3 feints on Zeus plus 3-4 blades on your attacker and go for a one-shot kill. Having a supporter carry Shatter is a good idea, just in case those Ice mobs stack up too many shields before your attacker is ready to kill.

When you complete this battle for the first time, you will be awarded the title Honorable Bronze Archon, and you will have conquered Mount Olympus!

Power Pips

Posted on by
Power pips are a special feature within the game and with good reason. A wizard has a base chance of getting a power pip, starting at level ten. This chance goes up by one percent every level until you reach level fifty, where it is maxed at 40%.
 
Power pip chance can be increased with gear (pets can also develop a talent for increasing a power pip chance.) Depending on how the game is played by the individual, some may favor another stat. Others will devote a whole gear set just for power pip chance. Higher power pip chance is found on better gear, and as your wizard gains more levels, the gear has a higher power pip chance. Balancing power pip chance with other stats is a part of the game.
(These are just examples. Not all rings will offer 12% power pip chance.)
 
Once you reach a certain level, wands will start to give you either a pip or a power pip. This is just a standard power pip, it doesn’t affect power pip chance.
 
Power pips are, as stated above, a two-for-one deal. One power pip represents two normal pips, but only for spells that are from your primary school. A storm wizard who has two power pips could not, for instance, cast Satyr (a four pip spell.) This is because life isn’t their primary school, and the power pip would only count as one.
 
The number of pips a spell cost is in the upper left-hand corner of your spell card.
 
Spells that have an X in their upper left-hand corner are based on the number of pips you have on hand. Tempest and Dryad, for example, have this symbol. However, Dryad is a healing card, and based on the number of pips you have, is how much it would heal you for. Dryad heals 200 health for one pip. A life wizard who wanted to heal 800 would have to wait for four turns. This life wizard would only have to wait for two turns if they received a power pip each turn.
 
No power pip: 200 [amount of health on the card] x 4 [the number of normal pips] = 800 [the amount that would be healed]. This would take four turns.
 
One power pip: 200 [amount of health on the card] x (2 [the number of normal pips] + (1 [ number of power pips] x 2 [value of power pips])) = 800. This would take tree turns.
 
Two power pips: 200 x (2 [number of power pips) x 2 [value of power pips]) = 800. This would take two turns.
 
Tempest would be the same way, only for damage. If a storm wizard wanted to do 320 damage, that would require four turns. (As it is 80 damage per pip).
 
Power pips can be used for a side school if you have the school’s mastery amulet. There is a mastery amulet for each of the seven schools of magic. You can buy the basic mastery amulets in the Crowns Shop, but you cannot buy the amulet of your own school.
 
There are also exalted mastery amulets that do the same thing but offer extra stats for your wizard. Critical block for two other schools, damage boost, and balance and life offer incoming or outgoing health boosts. Exalted amulets have to be farmed for as they cannot be bought in the Crowns Shop.
 
Spells that take pips (Mana Burn, Lord of Winter, etc.) will specify on the card. Mana Burn is a balance card that does 80 damage per pip and takes the enemy’s pips as well. It takes 3 pips from your opponent.
 
Spells that take pips will only take what it lists on the card. If the enemy has three power pips, it will take the three pips the enemy has and give you three normal pips, even though the power pips would equal out as six pips. If an enemy has two normal pips and a power pip, it will take the two normal pips and a power pip. It won’t leave a pip behind. Power pips cannot be taken apart and you are only given what you’re promised on the spell. It’s all or nothing.
 
It’s important to know that if you cast a spell, and someone casts a spell on you that removes your pips, you still attack even if you have nothing. If you are hit with a Mana Burn, and the seven pips you had go to four, you still use the spell you selected that costs seven pips.
 
In short, power pips are considered a fundamental part of the game because they help with performing a spell quicker. Every school uses some form of the pip, and power pips are just a two-in-one pip deal. Increasing the power pip chance is invaluable as well, however, some wizards may choose to increase another stat.