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Pip Wizardry 2020

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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!! 
 

Spring 2020 Test Realm Updates!

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As we enter April, the first Wizard101 update for 2020 is here!!! Past Spring Updates have brought popular quality of life changes, as well as new features and systems. Two updates you may remember included Monstrology and Hatchmaking. The 2020 update lives up to those expectations without a doubt. So, let’s explore what Spring is going to bring to the Spiral this year!

Beastmoon maps and changes

The first thing KI revealed early told us a lot about the future of the Beastmoon Hunt. We get two new maps in the hunting grounds! A beautiful, underwater Celestian building and an industrial Aquilan quarry. These new maps add swimming and new adventure to Beastmoon Hunt, potentially changing strategy and game-play.

In the same teaser we learned that changes would be made that will allow us to group-up and hunt together with our friends!

pets!

Pets are receiving lots of attention in this update! The first change we’ll look at is an update to pet training. The new system works in tiers. Upon completing any pet mini-game 25 times, the option to skip the game unlocks. This new system allows you to feed your pet snacks and level them up faster than ever before. I feel that this update will help make pet training more accessible to Wizards of all levels. Below you can also see the new Pet UI and the new pet-based event, the Pet Promenade.

The addition of an exciting new pet talent, called “Will-cast” is the next fantastic update. Unlike May-cast talents, Will-casts aren’t cast by random chance. Instead, the talent appears in your Wizards’ hand to be cast at your direction. While currently restricted from PvP, it could be interesting to see this come to the Arena if it could be balanced. The new stat called Happiness determines these talents. To cast a Will-cast spell, you need a high enough level of Happiness.

You can control your pets if your Happiness is high enough. This depletes at a rate of 5 Happiness per second, but you can feed your pets snacks to increase their Happiness as you go.

Set Bonuses!

New set bonuses could redefine the “best” gear sets entirely. Now, equipping multiples pieces from a gear set will give you bonus statistics. This update allows for gear adjustments and stat maximizing that were never possible before, potentially unlocking exciting new gear setup strategies. We also get a brand new interface for inspecting gear! Now you can use Ctrl + Right-click to see where another Wizard got their gear!

New gold key boss

This update also brings an exciting new boss to challenge us! Meet Fellspawn, a new Gold Key boss that was locked away inside the Wizard City catacombs by the ancient Druids. Although the challenge is nice, Fellspawn is not too difficult and is expected to drop Dragoon’s gear!

Fishing in Khrysalis!

Fish have slowly spread through the Spiral over the years. Now, fishing has finally come to the end of the second arc in Khrysalis. There are eight new fishies for you find, so go out there and catch them all!

Housing!

This update also brings a much-awaited quality of life change to housing. The new Advanced Move system makes the old rug-glitching system practically irrelevant. Items can now be moved or placed wherever you see fit!

Shadow Magic

Impactful changes are coming to Shadow Magic. Now, Shadow enhanced spells like Shrike will backlash every single time. Backlash starting values have changed, and final backlash caps out at +70%. For example: at the start of a round when you cast Shrike, you will get +40 Backlash. When you blade or hit, you receive -10. So, even if you flawlessly execute your Shadow’s preferred moves, you will still be hit with at least ten backlash at the end. This change will be impactful in PvE and the Arena. Further changes in the Arena include PvP becoming turn-based as the standard mode, and tournaments free to enter. However, tournament rewards have been temporarily removed.

All of this is subject to change, as that is the fun of Test Realm. Make sure to log on and check it out yourself. Don’t forget to let us know what you think at the Ravenwood Community, or on Twitter. We would love to see pictures of your adventures in Test Realm, like this one of me as my pet little Boomer!