We are getting close to the finish line in our prep for the Winter Wizards Smash & Bash! The remaining columns will recap what charms are available to each school. Most charms are available only from the primary school of Ravenwood students; I’ll note any that can be added to your deck through the use of training points.
First up: the Elemental schools!
- Pyromancers: Fireblade. Zero pips, 100% accuracy. Adds 35% to next Fire damage spell.
- Special note on Fireblade: If you’re wearing this blade when you cast Immolate, hold on for extra damage! My Fire Magus, Calamity, can tell you about winding up in Regent’s Square quite unexpectedly, and by her own wand!
- Pyromancers: Smoke Screen. One pip, 100% accuracy. Decreases accuracy of next spell cast by 45%, for all enemies.
- Pyromancers: Quench. Two pips, 100% accuracy. Dispels (makes fizzle) the next Fire spell. In the immortal words of Severus Snape, “FOR ENEMIES“.
- Thamaturges: Iceblade. Zero pips, 100% accuracy. Adds 40% to next Ice damage spell. Thaumaturge students must wait until level 38 for this spell. If you are anxious to boost your ice damage through a blade (instead of a trap, which anyone on your side can use) before level 38, you will need to visit Niles for an Elemental blade. You must be level 25 to use a training point on an Elemental blade, and you must be able to reach Krokosphinx. If you’re level 25 but haven’t unlocked Krokosphinx through the main storyline quests, you will need to find a friend who will let you port to him.
- Thamaturges: Melt. Two pips, 100% accuracy. Dispel next Ice spell.
- Diviners: Lightening Strike. Zero pips, 100% accuracy. Adds 10% accuracy to next Storm spell. Diviners are the only wizards who have a school-specific spell to increase accuracy, maybe because they have the lowest accuracy to begin with. Diviners, please note that this charm is triggered by ANY Storm spell. If you cast a Storm wand strike or anything else with 100% accuracy, you have wasted the turn you spent casting Lightening Strike.
- Diviners: Storm Blade. Zero pips, 100% accuracy. Adds 25% damage to next Storm spell.
- Diviners: Dissipate. Two pips, 100% accuracy. Dispels next Storm spell.
- Special note on Dissipate Spells: At first blush, these spells seems awesome. The power guarantee an enemy’s spell will fizzle? What’s not to like? However, think carefully before you pack this spell in your deck. My Ice Wizard uses her dispel charm more than my Pyromancer, and even then it’s rare. When Christina IceDreamer is playing as part of a team, she will use Melt if it would help her opponents avoid damage, especially if an enemy known to cast ice had a lot of pips, blades and traps set. However, lots of time Christina discards it in favor of another spell. The thing about dispel charms is, it causes the next SPELL to fizzle. So you may be causing a trap, blade, or shield from the school to fizzle. There’s no guarantee that you will make a damage spell fizzle. For my battle style, that’s not worth giving two pips and a turn. Carrying over into the schools of Storm and Fire, I would never use dispel charms. These schools have the lowest accuracy rates for damage spells to begin with (70% and 75%, respectively). Combine the fact that first, you might be using two pips to cause a non-damage spell to fizzle AND the fact that storm and fire spells have a relatively high fizzle rate to begin with and … I’d leave that spell in my sideboard. Go ahead and see Mildred Farseer for the dispel charms that you can train for with zero pips, because you will need those spells in your deck for your “Master of …” badge. Otherwise, I’d let them collect dust.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
