Spells of Avalon

There's been quite a bit of discussion going on over at Wizard101 Central over the 28 new spells included with the Avalon patch. I'm writing up as much as I can about each of them, and then opening the comments section up to discussion. Rather than talking about each spell by level, I'm going to be giving chunks of information by school so we can see how each made out overall.

At level 70 each school (save for balance) receives a "Mass SchoolName Prism" that puts a prism on all enemies for 2 pips. At level 80 each school (save for balance) receives a SchoolNameSpear. Those all give +10% Armor Piercing to next SchoolName Spell. Balance receives nothing at level 70 and receives 2 Spear spells at level 80. Elemental Spear and Spirit Spear. Both give +6% Armor Piercing to the related schools.

Ice:
   Level 72: Snowdrift. 2 Pips. Steal one HoT (Heal over Time).
   Level 75: Cooldown. 3 Pips. Remove 1 tick from all DoT (Damage over Time) effects.

Fire:
   Level 72: Detonate. 4 Pips. Destroy 1 DoT and deal 100% Damage.
   Level 75: Backdraft. X Pips. +15% Per Pip to next Fire Spell.

Storm:
   Level 72: Enfeeble. 3 Pips. Remove all positive charms from enemy.
   Level 75: Healing Current. 4 Pips. 3 Pips. 1100 Healing to target or 10000 Moon Damage to self.
100, 400, or 1000 Heal.
Life:
   Level 72: Master Triage. 3 Pips. Removes one DoT from all friends.
   Level 75: Guardian Spirit. 5 Pips. Regain 25% Health after being defeated.

Death:
   Level 72: Master Infection. 4 Pips. 3 Pips. -50% to next heal for all enemies.
   Level 75: Bad Juju. 1 Pip. 4 Pips. 500 Damage to self, put -90% damage charm on opponent.

Myth:
   Level 72: Shift. 4 Pips. 6 Pips. Push one DoT to target.
   Level 75: Dimension Shift. 3 Pips. Trade all hanging effects with minion.

Balance:
   Level 72: Mana Burn. 5 Pips. Deal damage to target based on number of pips. Deal 80 damage per pip your opponent has and remove 3 pips. 
   Level 75: Supernova. 9 Pips. 2 Pips. Target with active aura takes 535 damage. Target Aura is destroyed, dealing 535 damage. 

Ice seems to have made out OK. The already difficult-to-kill tank class now has more spells at their disposal based around surviving longer. It'll make future PvP much more interesting...and likely much more challenging against all-ice (or 3 ice and a life) teams.

Fire also made out fairly well. Detonate will (from my understanding) take any ticks that are on the target and blow them up, dealing the full amount of damage that would be dealt at once. Backdraft looks to work like Supercharge, taking all of your pips and putting them into a trap. This could be lethal with an Efreet! Just make sure to put it on after you apply the Mass Fire Prism.

Storm got lucky with Enfeeble. Being able to strip massive amounts of stacked blades in one fell swoop and leaving your infections and dispels you worked so hard to place. Healing Current looks like a bit of a joke to me. With no solid way to defend against moon damage it seems as though it's not meant to be cast. The only way I can see it being useful is as a heal if you've got 3+ stackable weaknesses. Or as a way to "Heal or die" to remove ticks or save your life, either way. It has its uses...it's just a bit of a catch 22.

Life made out WONDERFULLY! Master Triage is going to be a fantastic defense against Snow Angel and Rain of Fire spammers. Guardian Spirit looks very nice, as well. Being able to put an "If, then" effect on you seems like a wonderful addition.

Death has finally received the spell they've been begging for for as long as I can remember. Master Infection finally applies a heal negation to the entire team. Spritely will still be a problem to manage with it, though. Bad Juju looks a lot like Dark Pact. Following the classic "hurt myself to hinder the opponent" mantra that is necromancy, it could be great. Assuming they add in "cannot critical" to it ;). With the pip cost changes on 4/11, Bad Juju won't be a spam issue if you have a Spritely happy pet. The reduction in Master Infection's cost is nice, but ultimately disappointing as I expect spam will happen much easier now. Especially since Empower gives you 3 pips...

Myth receives a couple of interesting spells. Shift will work like a "redirect" of sorts on DoTs, moving them "return to sender" style (or return to other team's healer ;) ). Dimension Shift (which I wouldn't have named that way. It doesn't behave the same as Shift. Dimension Shift would imply moving one DoT from each ally to each enemy in my opinion.) Trades all "hanging effects" with your minion. I'm not sure what's included with "hanging effects". To me, that would be any and all wards, charms, traps, and ticks (both HoT and DoT). It's interesting to think about. I can't wait to see some of the uses for it.  With the change to Shift on 4/14 from 4 pips to 6, I see it being used much less often now. Let's get Snowdrift increased in pip cost now, too, or Ice will become even more unbalanced and overpowered. 

And finally Balance. I could write a novel about why I'm disappointed with it but I'll spare you. I was seriously hoping Balance might finally get a shield, blade, trap, prism, something. Instead we receive two sets of "Spears" that do less piercing than their individual counterparts and cost a pip, to boot. We receive Mana Burn for 5 pips (instead of the 0 on the Test Realm currently that caused a royal rhubarb on Wizard101 Central). It looks like it'll be fun, especially if it eats through an opponent's pips like it claims. I'm expecting it to be nerfed and possibly made more expensive, though. Only time will tell.  My only thought is that balance can't play support if our pips are constantly being cranked into these larger spells. And the Spear spells scream support, because they'll stack with the school-specific counterparts. Only time will tell, I suppose.  THIS JUST IN. The 9 pip spell for balance is a royal piece of junk! 9 pips to deal 535 damage to ONE opponent IF the opponent is under an aura? No thank you. Balance gets nothing from this new update whatsoever!  I can honestly say I am not excited about anything new that Balance is getting.  How disappointing.


As of 4/11, Mana Burn is no longer "broken" like so many people considered it. Rather than removing a rack of pips, it is limited to removing 5 now. It also deals 80 damage per pip. I'm not certain if this is per power pip (as though the caster had used it) or based on your school casting an out-of-class spell. Supernova is MUCH more exciting now. The pip cost has been reduced by a whopping 7.  It does still strip blades/traps/shields (to an extent) but only those that could stack (ie. not 2 of the same Tower). We aren't sure if this is intended yet or not, and as I know more I'll let you all in on the secret.  It strips the Aura and deals flat damage. Consider it a Detonate for Aura spells. Still situational, but I'm willing to give it a chance now.

Your [Highly Disgruntled] Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

EDITS are made in red ( for 4/11) or green (for 4/14) or stricken through.