Wizard101 7 Schools of Magic Comparison

Wizard101 7 Schools of Magic Comparison by BWildheart

Overview
Like a number of other forum members, I have multiple wizards … 13 grandmasters as of last counting, with a couple of babies floating around here and there. Two of each school except Ice and Fire. I thought I’d capture my experience with each in an overview of the 7 schools of magic, but with a twist. Instead of focusing on each schools strengths and weaknesses, I thought I’d offer some comparative facts and my take on why I like each school.

Each school is very different and they play differently. I still play all of my grandmasters and I pull them out for different reasons. Hope this helps some new wizards pick their schools.

The School of Fire
“If the Mind is like a candle, the Heart is like the sun.” Fire is passion, the bright, burning flame of raw emotion sweeping over everything. Those who follow the School of Fire, known as Pyromancers, are tempestuous, quick to anger, and consumed by whatever drives them at that moment. They tend to walk a fine line, having great passion and enthusiasm for one’s loves in life is good, but watch out! Passion can burn you up and consume you, leaving nothing but a charred husk of your former self. Pyromancers use
incantations to dominate and convince Fire creatures to do their bidding.

Fire Magic traces its origins back to the fierce Fire Dragons, the race of Titans that ruled the land in the Days Before.

Quick Facts:
– Generally packs high damage spells.
– Specializes in damage over time (DOT) such as Fire Elf, Heck Hound, Link, and Fire Dragon.
– Of the seven schools, only Storm wizards have lower maximum health than Fire. Fire students start with 415 health and gain 22 health per level to a maximum of 1,500 at Level 50.
– Second lowest accuracy rate (75%); again, only Storm wizards have a lower accuracy rate.
– Fire opposes Ice. Fire spells will gain a damage bonus vs. Ice opponents.
– Fire possesses one spell, Link, that can heal.

Why I Like the School
What is there not to like about setting things on fire? Conceptually, Fire is a straightforward school that allows for a number of different deck building and playing strategies. Fire has a wide variety of powerful attack spells that allows a wizard to really customize their deck to suit their fighting style. You can select from high strength attacks such as Phoenix and Helephant or use DOT spells, such as Scald, Fire Elf, Heck Hound, and Fire Dragon. DOT attacks in particular, are very hard to defend against once they get going.

Player Notes
Fire can be a tough school to play at the early and mid stages. Fire wizards have fairly low health levels, which makes them somewhat fragile, yet don’t have the same quick kill ability that Storm wizards possess. However, once a Fire wizard gets its attacks going, they are very hard to stop.

Train in Ice and Life to boost your survivability. Both Ice and Life will give you a good complement of sheilds to choose from and Life can give you Sprite, which for 1-pip won’t take away from your offensive capabilities. Death to Feint is a favorite for a lot of players but won’t complement your DOT spells very well. If you include Feint in your deck, then you have to tailor the rest of your cards around it.

The School of Ice
“. . . with Persistence, Victory is assured.” Ice Magic is all about persistence, slow but steady progression and advancement, like the great glaciers forever sliding across the landscape. Those who embrace the power of Ice, known as Thaumaturges, exhibit great patience and strength, but as a result they sometimes become rigid and inflexible. Thaumaturges use Chants to bargain or plead with Ice creatures to serve them.

Ice Magic has its origins in the great Ice Giants, a race of Titans that built massive castles in the sky in the Days Before.

Quick Facts:
– Has the highest health of all schools. Ice students start with 500 health and gain 31 health per level to a maximum of 2,025 at Level 50.
– Has slightly lower than average accuracy. At 80% accuracy, it is on par with Myth, better than Fire (75%) and Storm (70%), but worse than Death (85%), Balance (85%), and Life (90%)
– Ice opposes Fire. Ice spells will gain a damage bonus vs. Fire opponents.
– Ice has no self healing spells other than the Pixie you get from Unicorn Way.

Why I Like the School
What’s not to like about a wizard that will never die? Ice may not have the hardest hitting spells, but with all of the shields, armor, and health available to an Ice wizard, chances are the Ice wizard will just outlast any monsters it encounters. Ice is the quintessential turtle, slow and sure. Pair it with Life as a secondary and you have the most survivable wizard in the game.

Player Notes
Ice starts out lower on the damage curve than the other schools, but by the time you get to Grandmaster, you’ve received your blade, which is one of the most powerful in the game, have access to Elemental Blade, and have Balefrost. If you choose to second in Death for Feint, this is a nice boost to your attacks and Ice is one of the schools that can best handle the 30% boost on yourself.

The School of Myth
“To control the Future, one must look to the Past.” Myth is imagination. The power of the mind, and everything it can create, drives Myth Magic. It is illusion and dreams made real. If the Wizard can conceive it, it can be brought forth and even brought to life. Beware, though, for when imagination becomes too fanciful and whimsical, dreams can escape control and run wild. Wizards of the Myth School, known as Conjurers, use Naming to summon beasts of legend by memorizing and calling out their True Name.

Myth dwells between Fire and Ice, for that is where the shadows lie, and Myths are the shadowy forms of thought made real.

Quick Facts:
– Has average health. Myth students start with 447 health and gain 22 health per level to a maximum of 1,500 at Level 50.
– Has slightly lower than average accuracy. At 80% accuracy, it is on par with Ice, better than Fire (75%) and Storm (70%), but worse than Death (85%), Balance (85%), and Life (90%)
– Myth opposes Storm. Myth spells will gain a damage bonus vs. Storm opponents.
– Myth, being one of the Spirit schools, also gets a damage boost vs. Balance opponents.
– Myth has no self healing spells other than the Pixie you get from Unicorn Way.
– Myth has no DOT spells.
– Myth has the only dual attacks, a small first attack, follow up by a much larger second attack … great for breaking shields.

Why I Like the School
I think Myth has a bad rep. I got mine up to Grandmaster and it was quite fun. In the early stages, you have access to a number of minions which give you a lot of flexibility when you want to solo, you get Humungofrog, which is one of the best cards in the game, and it’s great to bypass shields with Minotaur and Othrus.

In my opinion, Myth is undervalued because many of the spells you get don’t seem to be that valuable. I think that many of the spells just aren’t used in PvE because you don’t have to. However, spells like Earthquake, Pierce, and the minion spells are invaluable in PvP. They give the PvP player quite a bit of flexibility to modify the battlefield much in the way Balance and Ice wizards can.

Player Notes
I found Myth to be good all arounders. Myth wizards have plenty of strong attacks, which are enhanced by the difficulty of blocking them. They’ll never set all-time damage records, but most of the time, their bladed attacks are just fine. You do need to be a little careful because your general health level is low, but secondaries in Life and Ice can add some needed survivability.

Myth will have the hardest time against high level Myth bosses because it’s hard to double prism your attacks. One options you will have is the treasure card, Ninja Pig, which you should hoard.

The School of Storm
“That which can be imagined, can be achieved.” Storm Magic is all about creativity. It represents that flash of insight, or the spark of inspiration that makes you yell, “Eureka!” It is about the pleasure of catching lightning in a bottle. Wizards that embrace the School of Storm, known as Diviners, are driven by the thrill of investigation and discovery, the joys of invention and ingenuity, the power of creating and building. The drawback to such pursuits is the tendency to get lost in the maze of thoughts and being paralyzed to make a decision. Diviners use Verses to charm, enthrall or hypnotize creatures to help them.

Storm Magic has roots in the power of the majestic Storm Lords, the race of Titans that ruled the seas in the Days Before.

Quick Facts:
– Has the lowest health of all schools. Storm students start with 400 health and gain 16-17 health per level to a maximum of 1,200 at Level 50.
– Has the lowest accuracy of all schools. At 70% accuracy, it is lower than Fire (75%), Myth (80%), Death (85%), Balance (85%), and Life (90%)
– A Storm wizard also has access to a large number of buff spells: Stormblade, Storm Trap, Windstorm, and Darkwind
– Storm opposes Myth. Storm spells will gain a damage bonus vs. Myth opponents.
– Storm has no self healing spells other than the Pixie you get from Unicorn Way.
– Storm has no DOT spells.

Why I Like the School
The sheer amounts of damage you can throw out is just plain fun, if somewhat random. Generally speaking, Storm wizards will throw the most powerful spells but fizzle almost 1 in 3 times, though this gets better at higher levels. You just have to accept it for what it is and not get too worked up about it.

Player Notes
The low health levels make you a pretty fragile wizard, particularly in the early – mid stages of your career. The low accuracy doesn’t help as it can make your gameplay pretty erratic. At the mid levels, you probably have enough gold to buy Keen Eyes treasure cards to improve accuracy and as you progress up towards Grandmaster, you’ll find gear that will provide accuracy boosts too. At the lower levels, you might want to group up with other players. You get some cover and they’ll appreciate your offensive power. Spend some extra time to set up your fights carefully as this will let you take on opponents one at a time.

The School of Life
“As we have been Created, so must we Create.” Life is spirit, the force of awareness and existence. It is about constant growth and movement. Practitioners of Life Magic, known as Theurgists, are positive, enthusiastic people who seek to appreciate the simple pleasures. At times, however, they can be too flighty or frivolous when circumstances demand otherwise. Theurgists use Songs to breathe life and spirit into a vessel. Unlike other magic, which relies on summoning, coercing or beseeching, Life Magic harnesses the power of the Song of Creation to create something new. Scholars believe that Theurgy channels the tapestry of music from which the Spiral was created, and that in echoing portions of the great symphony, a Wizard can bring forth and create Life where none previously existed.

Life Magic rests between Fire and Storms, for the spark of Life comes from those two forces.

Quick Facts:
– Has above average health. Life students start with 460 health and gain 27 health per level to a maximum of 1,800 at Level 50.
– Has the Highest accuracy of all schools. At 90% accuracy, it is higher than Storm (70%), Fire (75%), Myth (80%), Death (85%), and Balance (85%).
– Life signature ability is healing. With 7 healing spells, Life wizards have a full range of individual and group healing spells at its disposal. With 2 exceptions, Life spells are the only health-giving spells that can be used on other players.
– Life opposes Death. Life spells will gain a damage bonus vs. Death opponents.
– Life, being one of the Spirit schools, also gets a damage boost vs. Balance opponents.
– Life is the only school without an AOE or DOT attack.

Why I Like the School
As a Life wizard, everyone else will want you on their friend list … after all, everyone likes to have a good healer at hand. What people forget, is that Life wizards are powerful point attackers too. They can’t dish out the area damage like Storm and Fire, but when we focus on a single target, our powerful buffs and high accuracy give you a powerful and consistant punch that is unmatched. our 90% accuracy means that we don’t have to deal with the frustration of fizzling. With the suite of healing spells available, Life wizards rarely have to worry about running out of health.

Life wizards have the most obvious ability to directly help out other players … through healing. No one minds having a healer on the team and that always makes you a welcome addition to the group. You an easily tailor and balance your role by changing the mix of healing and offensive spells. Your accuracy card and Spirit Blades are also nice buffs for other players.

Player Notes
On the surface, one would think that Life wizards are even slower than Ice wizards, given the same level of damage and the lack of AOE spells. However, I’ve found that my Life wizard is actually very fast. They key is optimizing your deck to be heavy on attacks and somewhat lighter on heals. If you find yourself supporting a group, it’s very easy to add a couple of healing spells and change the balance of your deck. Life makes a good all around player. With shields from the Ice school, there are very few things you have to worry about that you can’t take down … eventually.

In PvP, a Life player will never 1-shot you, but they can wear you down. Life wizards can throw a constant barrage of Leprechauns, Seraphs, and Centaurs at you, while maintaining enough mana to cast a 1000+ plus Satyr with annoying frequency.

The School of Death
“Timor mortis conturbat me.” (The Fear of Death Confounds Me) Death is about ending and closure. All things pass eventually, and time cannot be held back forever. Wizards devoted to Death Magic, known as Necromancers, understand this fact about everything around them and strive to face it without fear. They try to make the most of their time. Beware, though; some Wizards become morbid or try to cheat death through undeath. Necromancers use Whispers to strengthen their will, and draw on the power of courage
to channel their own fears out of themselves and at their opponents.

Death Magic sits between Ice and Storms, for the cold energy of undeath draws on those two forces.

Quick Facts:
– Has above average health. Death students start with 450 health and gain 24-25 health per level to a maximum of 1,650 at Level 50.
– Has higher than average accuracy. At 85% accuracy, it is better than all of the elemental schools: Storm (70%), Fire (75%) and Ice (80%), Myth (80%), and on par with Balance (85%). Only Life (90%) has a higher accuracy.
– Death opposes Life. Death spells will gain a damage bonus vs. Life opponents.
– Death, being one of the Spirit schools, also gets a damage boost vs. Balance opponents.
– Death is the only school which has life stealing attacks. Four cards (Ghoul, Vampire, Wraith, and Scarecrow) return 50% of damage in the form of health back to the caster.
– Death is one of two schools (other than Fire) who has DOT, AOE, and Healing spells.
– The Death school is located in Nightside, which you get access to after beating the three streets in Wizard City.

Why I Like the School
Death wizards are just cool. For those who like to work alone, Death is unmatched at soloing. The powerful combination of strong attacks, decent health, high accuracy, and a full suite of life stealing give a Death wizard the full set of capabilities needed to solo and survive. I have a Death wizard, who recently attained his Grandmaster, who did just fine on the Starter Deck, which he had been using since the first day. With this wizard, I’ve solo’d Jade Oni, Tree of Life, Cyrus Drake, the Grand Chasm storyline, and the Labyrinth.

Additionally, most people get what Death wizards are about and the school is very forgiving of new players because of the accuracy, health, and damage output.

Player Notes
Death wizards don’t have a ton of weaknesses. Ice shields can make a Death wizard even harder and help you survive long enough to set up your life stealing attacks. Death wizards may not be the fastest wizards in the world, but have patience, they will get the job done.

The School of Balance
“Eye of Newt, and Toe of Frog, Wool of Bat, and Tongue of Dog.” The Magic of Balance is harmony and finding equality in all things. It draws on elements from each of the other schools, incorporating bits and pieces of those other energies to fill in the spaces between the Schools. Wizards who focus on Balance Magic, known as Sorcerers, are broad-minded. In their minds, all things deserve consideration, and there may be many answers to a single question. The drawback to this point of view, is a tendency to seem impassive or indecisive and never willing to embrace a side or position. Sorcerers use Transmutation to blend the forces of the other schools for their spells.

Sorcery does not draw upon internal aspects of the caster, nor does it rely on external forces. Instead, it is the creation of something new by combining elements in unique and powerful ways.

Quick Facts:
– Has the second highest health. Only Ice has higher health levels than Balance. Balance students start with 480 health and gain 27 health per level to a maximum of 1,800 at Level 50.
– Has higher than average accuracy. At 85% accuracy, it is better than all of the elemental schools: Storm (70%), Fire (75%) and Ice (85%), Myth (80%), and on par with Death (85%). Only Life (90%) has a higher accuracy.
– Balance has no DOT spells.
– Balance is the only school that generates off-school damage, in form of Spectral Blast and Hydra.
– The only shield against Balance spells is Tower Shield from the Ice school.
– The Balance school is found in Krokotopia on the Krokosphinx.
– Balance wizards get their AOE spell, Sandstorm at L16, earlier than any other school.

Why I Like the School
Balance wizards can play any role in the game. They are solid all arounders. They can solo well when you can’t find any help. They plug seamlessly into any fight. If I want to be support, I can through enough boosts to drive some spectacularly fast kills. If want to get in the big hits, I can power up big judgements. We can throw around the AOE spells in the form of Sandstorm and Power Nova. Balance Blade, Bladestorm, and Hex will buff any school’s attacks.

Balance wizards have a lot of cards that can help out others too. Bladestorm, Balance Blade, and Hex work with anyone, so you can jump in and buff other people’s attack. Helping Hands is the only non-Life card, except for Sacrifice, that can heal others and you have a number of other shields, debuffs, etc. that support the group. In fact, a Balance wizard can be quite useful without ever having to cast an attack.

Player Notes
Like the Death wizard, Balance has a good mix of power, health, accuracy, and shielding. They are resilient, tough, and capable wizards. Unlike Death, Balance isn’t as straightforward a school and may take some growing pains to learn about the school’s peculiarities, but once you do get everything sorted out, there shouldn’t be any fight you can’t handle or any group you can’t work well with.

Balance wizards are well suited to parents who are supporting kids. The flexibility of the school really allows you to take any role you want when you play with your kids. Healing, buffs, and shields nicely complement Fire and Storm and lets you support them, while they dish out the damage. Your offensive spells help out Life and Ice wizards. At the same time, your health is high enough where you aren’t always watching your bottom line, thus allowing you to focus on their experience.

Good secondaries for Balance include Life and Ice for additional survivability and Death for the additional power boost from Feint. The Spirit attacks also gives you some nice alternative attacks when facing Balance opponents.