Wizard101 Storm School Tips and Tricksby BWildheart
I’m certainly no expert as this game and the following notes are based on my experiences with my Storm wizards, Samantha Wildheart and Miranda Wildheart. Miranda has also been using the Starter Deck-only, since Wizard City, including boss fights. Everyone has their own approach to storm wizards and ultimately you need to figure out what works for you. Hopefully other Storm wizards will offer their tips and tricks, which I will try to incorprate into this write up.
Overview
Storm wizards are an interesting lot. Pip for pip, Storm spells output more damage than any other school. The potential to set up and score very large hits is amazing and people will be looking for you to round out their teams for PvE encounters. However, Storm wizards are fragile. They have the lowest health of any class and accumulate health more slowly than other classes. Storm wizards also have the lowest accuracy of any school and fizzles are common occurances. Once you learn to mitigate some of these disadvantages though, it is a very fun class to play.
Facts
– Storm wizards start off with the lowest health and gain health more slowly than any other school
– Storm spells tend to have to highest potential damage (you can insert some comparisons) but this is offset by the lowest accuracy (70%) compared to 75% – 90% of other schools.
Must Have Spells.These are spells that I always have in my deck.
Lightning Bats 5 245-285 storm damage 2
Stormblade+30% next storm damage 0I’ve Got the PowerLevel 12
Storm Shark 10 375-435 storm damage 3
Kraken22 520-580 storm damage 4
Stormzilla42 650-730 storm damage 5
Tempest80 storm damage per pip to all enemies XBoiling HotLevel 28
Triton795-875 storm damage 6Before the StormLevel 38
Storm Lord 690 to all enemies and stuns them 7 -Unspecified- Level 48
Notes:As I gain levels, I run a combination of Lightning Bats, Storm Shark,Kraken, Stormzilla, Triton, or Storm Lord. Tempest is almost always in the deck.
Special Purpose Spells.These are spells that I swap out depending on the enemies I expect to face.
Storm Prism convert next storm damage to myth 0ChargeIt Up Level 7
Water Elementalsummon a minion of storm 3Test Your MightLevel 18
Windstorm26 +20% next storm damage to all enemies 1
Darkwind 33 +25% to all storm damage (global) 2
Thermic Shield 8 -70% next fire and ice damage 0
Storm Trap16 +25% next storm damage 0
Notes:I typically only run Storm Prism if I see Storm enemies. Given the large number of Storm enemies in Marleybone and Dragonspyre, I almost always have these in my deck as a precaution. Water Elemental gets added to my deck when facing elemental bosses or towers where the enemies are predominantly elemental. The minion isn’t nearly aseffectiveagainst Spirit opponents, so Idrop it. Darkwind and Windstorm are sometimes added to my deck. Usually one of the two is included, but not always. They are more likely to be added if I’m fighting bosses, though Windstorm is a nice complement to Tempest. I only run Storm Trap against bosses.
Spells I Never Use.Other than experimenting, I never run these spells in my deck.
Lightning Strike +10% next storm accuracy 0EnrollmentLevel 2
Thunder Snake 1 105-145 storm damage 1
Storm Shield10 -80% next storm damage 0
Soothe 15 reduce threat X
Dissipate 22 dispel next storm spell
SapPower 25 sacrifice minion for 4 pips
Disarm remove one positive charm 1The Sixth SchoolEnd of Wizard City
Cleanse Charm remove one negative charm 1Temple DwellerEnd ofKrokotopia
Wild Bolt 1000 storm damage (10% accuracy) 2 Bad News… End of Marleybone
Notes:I just don’t use these spells because I don’t find them to beefficientuses of turns or pips. Lightning Strike takes an extra turn which is wasteful. Wild Bolt is interesting, but the low accuracy relates it to my sideboard (if at all) and is either the opening shot or a last ditch finishing shot.
Spells from Secondary Schools
I went Life, Death, and Ice as my secondary school. A lot of people go Death and/or Balance. This may not fit with everyone, but it worked for me. Your mileage may vary.
Tower Shield(Ice)
Volcanic Shield (Ice)
Sprite(Life)
Fairy (Life)
Legend Shield (Life)
Feint (Death)
Dream Shield (Death)
Notes:I like Fairy and Sprite for healing because of their low casting cost. My GM originally trained in Life up toSatyr, but found that I rarely have 4 pips available to cast it. Now I either use a Fairy or if I feel the need to heal others, I’d go with Sprite, though to be honest, a Storm wizard should be the last one you look to for healing.
The shields are a must. A Storm wizard’s weakest attribute is low health, so you need protection that won’t take up pips needed for the attack. Miranda, who runs the Starter Deck, always packs 3 shields. I drop in Legend, Dream, Volcanic, or Tower Shields based on the expected enemy. All have a 0 casting cost and make great fillers if you’re not attacking or setting up for an attack. Legend Shield in
particular is important because it’s one of two shields you can use to defend against Death attacks and many Death opponents cast Myth spells as well.
Other sources of spells
Go to Krokotopia to buy the four amulets that give you the Ice, Fire, Lightning, and Myth Shields. Each will give you three cards. If you can find the Nightshade Choker, this will give you a pair of Weaknesses. I like using the amulets instead of filling 3-4 slots in my deck with Storm Shield.
Miscellaneous Spell Discussions
Storm Minion
Storm Minion is an easily mis-understood spell. At first glance, all it does is shield itself andtauntthe enemy. It rarely, if ever, attacks and when it does, it throws aGhoul. Big deal. However, that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do. By taunting and shielding, it’s making itself a meat shield for you. It’s making the enemies attack it, so that you have enough running room to prep for a large attack.
The Storm Minion takes three rounds before it’s effective. You’ll cast it on turn 1. On it’s first turn, it will cast an Elemental Shield. Thenext round, it will taunt the enemy. On the subsequent turn, enemies will start attacking the Minion instead of you. Note that it only uses Elemental Shields and the occassionalSpirit Armor. For this reason, it’s very effective against elemental enemies, but spirit enemies will blow through the Minion’s 700 health pretty quickly. However, against elemental enemies, the Minion can soak up an amazing amount of damage that would have otherwise been directed at you.
Typically, I get the Minion off in the first round, or not at all. If it comes any later than turn 2, I usually have enough pips to at least take out the first enemy. For that reason, I’ll run 4-5 Minions in my deck to maximize the chance of a round 1 casting.
Wild Bolt
Opinions on this spell vary. I don’t think it’s a very efficient spell. True, you can maximize the base 10% accuracy by 20% with Sniper (expensive and hard to find in large quantities), another 15% through gear, another 10% with Lightning Strike, and yet another 10% with the Life spell. This gives you a total potential accuracy of 65%, BUT, this also costs a treasure card and 2 rounds of spell casting, either from yourself or friends, and you still only have a 65% accuracy. If you’re high enough level to get a 15% accuracyboostfrom gear, you can probably get an 85% accuracy Triton off in turn 2.
If and when I do run Wild Bolt in my deck, I usually run 1 or 2 in my sideboard. It’s a treasure card with the best accuracy improving card applied to it. I have a base accuracy boost of 14%, so I have about a 1/3 chance of the spell working. I’ll either toss it as a turn 1 spell to gain a quick hit or save it as a must-kill or die option when I’m out of health and the last boss is bigger than me. If I cast it in round 1 and it fizzles, nothing’s really lost since I’m still saving pips for a Triton or Storm Lord.
Storm’s L58 Quest
I had a hard time with this at first. The boss is a Fire boss with 7000 health and a Life minion with 2000 health. The boss likes to throw Helephants and Fire Dragons. The minion is fond of Seraphs and Centaurs. I got smoked so many times I stopped counting. I tried polymorphs, I tried minions … nothing. I finally stopped to work out some math anddeterminedthat a very well bladedGargantuanTempest could one-shot bothKhai Tengriand his minion.
Below is the deck I finally settled on:
If you don’t have the dual shields trained, then visit the Library in Wizard City and buy some Fire Shields and Life Shields. Two of each should be fine. You will also need Feint, whether it’s trained or you get it from one of 2 amulets that you can buy in the Bazaar.
Enter the battle circle and if you end up was going second, quit out of the fight. The first spell you want to cast is yourFire Shieldfollowed by theLife Shield. After that, it was shield, buff, shield … until I got the Feint (from amulet or trained), Storm Blade, and Elemental Blade up. Then, it was wait for 10 pips for the Gargantuan Tempest and you should be done.
Playing Your Storm Wizard
Early Game (Level 1-14)
Storm wizards are most vulnerable at the lower levels and you’ll spend a lot of time just staying alive. Your health is still low and you probably don’t have much to improve your accuracy. You won’t get Stormblade until level 12 and Storm Trap until 16, which really boosts your damage output.
At this point, you’ve probably made it through Wizard City and are in the early stages of Krokotopia. In general, I recommend grabbing every side quest you can get to make sure you’re heading into each world at the highest level possible, thus improving your health and power pip % stats.
During this stage, I try to group up with other people as much as possible. The group gives me some shielding and chances are there is a healer in the group, which leaves you to focus on dealing damage. This helps mitigate myweaknessand provides some risk mitigation for when I fizzle.
Mid Game (Level 15-34)
My game changed when I hit the mid game. My game play shifted from survival to my core strategy of killing opponents faster than they can kill you, a core theme which I’ve carried through to Grand Master. You start to gain access to some of the better gear and you’ve earned all of your blades and traps. You’re also getting some of your heavy hitters in Kraken and Tempest. You have the ability to one-shot larger monsters and bosses. By now, you’re probably mid Krokotopia and Marleybone.
In the mid game, you also have enough gold to afford treasure cards on a regular basis. Go to the library and buy 25-50 Keens and then go to Golem Tower to make a bunch of accurized Storm Sharks or Krakens. I typically run 4-8 of them in my sideboard for those times where I need to make sure the spell succeeds. This also ensures that you’re never lacking an attack. This also helps minimize the impact of one of our greatest weaknesses, our low accuracy. I stop by the Commons on a regular basis to replenish my
stock of treasure cards.
Your gear choices will make a big difference. I’ve noticed that a lot of Storm wizards choose health maximizing gear, where as I’ve gone the other route and emphasized accuracy, power, and power pip enhancing gear. As a result, my mana levels are low to moderate, and my health is probably lower than the average comparably ranked Storm wizard. You can farm bosses for gear, or you can just buy it from the Bazaar, which is what I did. So I have weaker health and mana, but I’ve tried to boost my offensive output as much as possible. The rationale is that if I can kill enemies fast enough, Idon’t have to worryabout shielding or healing.
End Game (Level 35-50)
Storm wizards really shine in the end game, which will probably beMooshuand Dragonspyre. By now, your gear has probably improved your accuracy to at least acceptable levels and you have verystronghitters in your deck. In this phase, Tempest is a key card in my deck since it affects everyone on the board. It’s key strengths are it’s predictability, each pip adds 80 points of damage and it’s very versatile. I can use it as an 80-point finisher or an 800-pointclear-the-board attack. At Level 48, Storm Lord replaces Tempest as a primary attack, unless you are looking for a full clear the board attack for high health bosses, in which case you’ll want to pull out a Tempest.
In the end game, my approach to mobs changed from individual kills to mass kills via Tempest or Storm Lord.
Choosing A Secondary School
As mentioned earlier, I went Life and Ice for my secondaries. Balance and Death also seem popular. My take:
Life
I like Life because it offsets Storm’s greatest weakness, low life. However, there is quite a range of opinions about what Life spells to use. I tend to favor Sprite andPixiefor their low casting cost while others like Satyr for the amount of healing it provides. If you do train all the way up to Satyr, remember that it can fizzle, so thing about making treasure cards out of them. Legend Shield is a must have as it gives you protection against the two hardest hitting Spirit schools, Death and Myth. One of the reasons for theDeath Shieldis to blunt any life stealing attacks which not only hurt, but prolong the fight, which normally works out to your detriment.
Ice
A lot of people train in Ice up to Tower Shield. I did too. The versatility of Tower Shield is just too good and I use the Volcanic Shields a lot as it shields me from the two most destructive schools. Oddly enough, you run into a lot of enemies that use both Fire and Storm attacks, which makes this shield a very efficient spell.
Death
There is nothing that complements Storm’s damage output than Feint. The question is whether it’s worth 7 training points to get there. Additionally, remember that Feint adds a 30% damage buff on yourself. In the Early Game,Ghoulis a nice complement as it diversifies your damage output and provides life stealing. In the mid game, my opinion is more mixed as you could get Vampire, but 4 pips is expensive and can probably be better used for casting Storm spells. I would highly recommend getting Dream Shield as it’s a good shield when fighting Life enemies, who will often use Myth attacks as well.
Balance
A lot of people go Balance for Weakness and Reshuffle. Personally, I’ve never used Reshuffle, but it is available to everyone. Weakness will cost you 3 training points, so not a huge investment. However, you can also get two weakness cards fromLord Nightshade‘s Choker, which you can find in the Bazaar or various stores. The elemental and spirit traps and blades from Niles are an interesting proposition. They are available to everyone and are certainly very versatile, but I don’t really use them. I tend to run a mono-school deck and in my opinion, the one pip is better spent adding a 0-point buff of my own school. My thinking changes if I know that I’m running with other elemental wizards, in which case I’m more apt to add the elemental blades, which friends can benefit from too.
Fire
Can’t really recommend Fire. The spells share the same weakness of Storm, namely the low accuracy and the damage output is slow. Fire Elf, Link, and Heck Hound all deliver their damage over three turns, where as with my Storm wizard, I want the fight to be over by the third turn.
Myth
I don’t really have enough experience with Myth to have an opinion on this. It’s certainly a nice complement when you come up against Storm opponents, but given the pip-dependant nature of your damage in the mid- and end-game, I’m not really sure what I’d run outside ofTrolland Cyclops and possibly Humungofrog. You could always turn these into treasure cards.
Deck Construction
I won’t spend a lot of time here as it’s been covered in other posts. However, efficient deck construction is a must. If my strategy is to get the earliest mass kill possible, then I want to get a Storm Blade on turn 1 so that on turn 2 I have the option of firing off a 4-6 pip Tempest or even waiting an extra turn to cast a Storm Lord. The faster I get the attacks off the lower the change of having Weakness or Shields being put up.
Gear Selection
Gear selection is important. If you take a step back, you can boost Health, Mana, Accuracy, Power, Resistance, and Power Pip %. I figure that I’ll never really gain enough additional health to become competative with peers from other schools, so I tend to put less emphasis on Health enhancing gear. I mark my location often and port back to commons for Mana, so as long as I have 100-150 Mana, I feel pretty comfortable.
That leaves the other 4: Accuracy, Power, Resistance, and Power Pip %. Let’s set Resistance aside for a moment. The other 3 have direct implications on damage output. Power Pip % and Power % basically improve damage on a point for point basis, e.g., a 10% improvement in Power Pip % gives you 10% more pips and therefore 10% higher damage output (assuming consistant damage per pip). Accuracy boosts however, improve your damage more than that. A 10% boost in Accuracy raises your Accuracy from 70% to 80%, or it raises it by almost 14%. It also makes your play more consistant. If you create treasure cards to this, even a basic Keen, then you’re throwing spells with a 90% accuracy, which makes you very deadly indeed.
At the higher levels, you’re going to get clothes that provide resistance to Storm. I get what I can from it, but prioritize Power Pip %, Power %, and Accuracy ahead of it.
L15
Hat: No recommendation
Robe: No recommendation
Shoes: No recommendation
L20
Hat:Krokenkahmen‘s Circlet 64 health 2% accuracy 3% power 3708 gold
Robe:Krokopatra‘s Robe 96 health 3% accuracy 4% power 747 gold
Shoes:Krokhotep‘s Sandals 32 health 1% accuracy 2% power 2967 gold
L25
Hat: Spike’s Mechanical Visor 64 health 3% accuracy 6% power 8% resist no auction or
Clanker‘s Premium Cap 64 health 3% accuracy 5% power 8% resist 7567 gold
Robe: Black Widows Dandy Robe 96 health 4% accuracy 7% power 10% resist 10089 gold
Shoes:Old Smokey‘s Footwraps 32 health 2% accuracy 3% power 6% resist 9080 gold
L30
Robe: Katzenstein’s Robe 144 health 4% accuracy 8% power 10% resist no auction
L35
Hat:Jikiru‘s Mast of Misfortune 84 health 4% accuracy 8% power 3363 gold
Robe:Youkai‘s Vestment 128 health 6% accuracy 11% power 14% resist 8071 gold
Shoes:Fushiko‘s Sandals 21 health 2% accuracy 5% power 8% resist 9181 gold
L40
Hat: Oyotomi’s Cowl of Vacancy 128 health 4% accuracy 9% power 10% resist no auction
Robe:Plague Oni‘s Vacent Robe 192 health 6% accuracy 11% power 14% resist no auction
Shoes:Koto‘s Sandals of Discontent 2% accuracy 6% power 8% resist 4251 gold
Ring: Electrified Band of Mayhem 85 health 12% power pip (dropped by Oyatomi) 7250 gold
L45
Hat: Hat of the Stormwracked 128 health 4% accuracy 8% power 10% resist no auction
Robe: Shadowmark’s Tornado Tunic 160 health 7% accuracy 14% power 6746 gold or
Raiment of the Naiad 192 health 6% accuracy 10% power 14% resist no auction
Shoes: Dean Darkflame’s Stormstriders 53 health 3% accuracy 8% power 10% resist No auction or;
Markmaker’s Windwalkers 53 health 3% accuracy 10% resist gold
Athame: Spiderkeeper’s Windblade 140 health 15% PP No auction
Ring:Kraysys‘ Quisling Signet 140 health 15% PP No auction
L50
Hat: Snowcrusher’s Galvanic Shroud 160 health 5% accuracy 11% power 10% resist No auction
Robe: Malistaire’s Wrathful Wrap 240 health 7% accuracy 15% power 17% resist No auction
Shoes: Spiderkeeper’s Thundershoes 80 health, 3% accuracy 9% power 10% resist No auction
For athames and rings, read my list of power pip maximizing gear:http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/blog.php?b=697
Other Gear Option
Malistaire Drake‘s Deathedge 188 health 10% power pip, 15% incoming health no auction
Malistaire Drake‘s Ruby Signet 188 health 10% power pip, 15% outgoing health no auction
Stormtossed Band 158 health 10% power pip 5% power (Briskbreeze Tower) no trade no auction
Storm wizards can benefit from Malistaire athame, but at some cost. You give up 5% power pips but gain 38 health and 15% boost to incoming healing. This really comes down to how nervous you are about your health levels. I’ve opted to keep the Gurtok athame. The ring has the same downside but you won’t benefit from the outgoing healing as much.
The Briskbreeze ring is also a matter of personal preference. You give up 170 mana and 5% power pips, but gain 8 health and 5% power. With the Briskbreeze ring, you boost your GM gear’s max boost from 35% to 40%. I opted to increase my power and given that I was already at a 75% power pip percentage, I didn’t think that I really lost that much.
Pets
My Stormzillas have turned out pretty good. Best of all, in addition to the 5% power pips, they’ve provided additional attack boost, which brings me up to 46%. If I could have any other talent, in descending order, I would choose accuracy boost, universal resist/health, and then Storm resist.
Working With Other Schools
This is really just a compiliation of ideas and thoughts about how I’ve worked with other Storm wizards and how others have worked well with me, or how I wished others would work with me.
Location, Location, Location. A Storm wizard should NOT be the first one into the ring. At the beginning, that position will probably be the focus of a lot of attacks. If the Storm wizard takes that spot, you can force other players to spend time and resources shielding and or healing you. If possible, take the very last position.
Communicate. This is especially true if you’re going to use a mass effect spell (e.g., Tempest or Storm Lord). If I know that a Tempest will take 600 points off the opposing line, I won’t save up for a large attack of my own, I’ll focus pips and spells on good finishers.
Tossing a large mass effect spell after everyone else has just or is just about to unleash their own large attacks is a waste of time and resources.
Let the rest of the party know if and when you need healing. It never hurts to tell people that you need healing, but it’s also just as important to let them know that you’re OK, so they don’t spend turns giving you unneeded health.
Tell other players when you can finish off an opponent. Because Storm attacks are sopowerful, you can very easily toss a 3-500 point finisher that would require other schools to spend a round or 2 buffing. This enables the team to finish off an opponent faster and move onto the next target.
General Tips
– At the lower levels, storm wizards are fragile because you don’t have enough gear to offset both your low health and low accuracy. Pick your fights carefully and make sure you fill up on wisps after each battle.
– Low health and accuracy can be offset through gear acquisitions later in the game, particularly at the higher levels. However, this may be a hard balance to strike as sometimes you’ll gain accuracy at the expense of higher health and visa versa
– Low accuracy can also be offset by using treasure cards, such as Keen to develop a sideboard of attack cards.
– You can compensate for low health by pairing up with other players and taking up the last position in the battle circle. Other players will appreciate your additional damage and at the same time, you get shielded from a lot of return damage and probably get access to healing.
– Picking and choosing where you fight is important. If I’m prepping for a mob fight and intend to use Tempest, engage one enemy and accumulate your blades and pips. However, wait until the second enemy joins before you toss the Windstorm and/or Tempest as you want to maximize the number of enemies hit. Late joining enemies are also less likely to have shields up.
