Take The Quiz - Which Astral School Is Right For You?

Ever wondered which Astral school is right for you? Take a quick, 11-question quiz (no way to come out half and half) about how you play the game to determine which Astral school of magic is right for you! Although it could be somewhat helpful in deciding, the quiz is just for fun, so don't take it too seriously. Afterwords, we'll discuss the benefits of each school, but first...

1. You've got a boss and a minion, both with plenty of pips. What do you do?
A. Prepare an AoE
B. Beguile one of them
C. Use a feint for a big hit
D. Use a Minotaur in case of shields, even though you're Storm
E. Ask your teammates for advice

2. Oops. You had the PvP options wrong, and got paired with someone way below your level. You...
A. Apologize, and make a quick kill to get to the next match
B. Summon a minion and use Bolt spells
C. Use a blade and Spectral Blast over and over
D. Try your secondary school's spells
E. Use a Storm Shield

3. You just redeemed a code for 10,000 crowns, and it's off to the Crown Shop. You buy...
A. A Lifeforce Blade
B. A pet and maybe a Hoard Pack or two
C. A universal set of gear
D. A Mastery Amulet
E. The Sidhe Staff

4. Your best friend needs help with a battle. You...
A. Ask where he or she is at
B. Quickly teleport in
C. Prepare your deck with random assisting spells and teleport in
D. Fly through the various school tabs adding practical cards from each one
E. Swap decks and teleport

5. You're getting ready for a long instance. The best option, in your opinion, is to...
A. Prepare your deck with high-powered spells
B. Get your close friends and go on in
C. Make sure your friends know how you'll be playing
D. Add a variety of different school spells for various situations
E. Change your deck each battle based on the enemies

6. Which school have you always preferred?
A. Storm or Fire
B. Myth
C. Life or Death
D. Balance
E. Ice

7. A boss, by himself, if nearly dead. You nearly have the pips for a killing shot, but also a larger, more exciting spell in your hand. It'd be best to...
A. Wait for the smaller hit to kill the enemy
B. Relax and use a large hit... after all, he's almost dead
C. Blade/trap for a friend in hopes that they kill the boss even though it'll take up your pips
D. Discard any spell you won't be able to use next round
E. Use a spell that is available if it makes any sense to use

8. In the beginning...
A. I told my teammates what to put in their decks for the most effective strategy
B. God created the heavens and the Earth
C. KingsIsle carefully prepared each spell for use in-game
D. Insert clever answer here
E. This question makes no sense.

9. You've entered a surprise battle within a MooShu hut after already completing your quest goal. You...
A. Quit and hit PLAY again
B. Challenge yourself to defeat them
C. Prepare a big setup
D. Invite friends to help for fun
E. Choose the answer that comes to mind first

10. All of the blades and traps are in place for a big kill and you're going first. "I think I'll..."
A. Attack with the highest hitting spell I can find
B. Use a wand hit
C. Add another blade
D. Use Triton since you can't find any spells from your school
E. Use whatever seems most practical at the time

11. You're looking for challenges in-game. The best one is probably...
A. Complete only side-quests to get as high of level as possible
B. Use only a starter deck to complete the game
C. Complete the game by yourself, even with those 10,000 health bosses
D. Use no gear
E. Try more than one at a time

Mostly A's - You're definitely centered around power and its benefits. You're also probably one of the least accurate schools, but you're precise and a by-the-book, get it done, kind of player. Because of your style of play, you're best choice is Sun magic - Damage and Accuracy boosts. You'll find that these small additions to your spells will amplify your ability to deliver quick, hard-hitting blows to any opponent. With accuracy bonuses, when you know you can kill, you'll find that the extra accuracy will make your chances of fizzling very slim. You'll also, at higher level spells, get some enchantments that will add Armor Piercing to your spells, which means that shields and/or resist become much less effective.

Mostly B's - Your more creative style of play makes you a very fun wizard. You aren't concentrated on extreme overkill, because you know it can be a waste of time. You'd rather enjoy yourself while slowly defeating an opponent with an interesting method. This makes Moon magic your best bet. The Moon school offers different polymorphs that are actually quite useful - extra resist, hit boosts, etc. You fit into a group setting well, especially with your friends, because of this. While you'll be able to change forms for different battles, you'll also be enjoying yourself while doing it.

Mostly C's - Because you rely fairly heavily on buffs and power-ups, you don't want to waste time turning into a random creature or adding extra damage, when you already have plenty of damage-increasing spells. You should go with the Star school. With Star's auras, you'll be able to add an extra layer of fortification, or a little bit more damage or critical chance without disrupting anything else. Because you'll probably be using spells like Feint or Balanceblade quite a bit, you don't really need too much more damage, which gives you the ability to use auras for accuracy and armor piercing, or stun resist and critical block. You won't be stuck with pure damage like the Sun school, you'll have a huge variety for any situation.

Mostly D's - Your varied style of play based on the situation, and love for all spells makes the Sun school mutations the route for you. Not only will you have a spell for any situation, but you'll also get the ability to change that spell for a different situation. You'll be using that same, creative style of play, but with new twists and changes. With your new-found power, you'll be able to set your friends up with several traps or attack an enemy even when you don't have the correct school's card.

Mostly E's - Something just didn't work, did it? Either you're having trouble deciding on a style of play, you play randomly, or you're an Astral genius that wants a little bit of everything. Your best option is going to be a variety of spells based on your current style, if you have one, or maybe it'll just be preparation for whatever you throw next. You're likely a spiritual school that isn't have horrible trouble with damage or accuracy, even though a few Sun buffs would be nice. But then, maybe you'd like to change it up with a few of the polymorphs? I suppose you could also add Amplify to your deck, and maybe Mutate Minotaur depending on your school. You'll just have to play it by ear and improvise!

I hope you at least had a little bit of fun, there. In all seriousness, each Astral school, or division of an Astral school, does have its own benefits.

Sun magic - Really, you'll see most people for right for the damage boosting spells, and leave out the accuracy boosts, but now that some of them are getting Armor Piercing, they might be more popular. Naturally, the damage enchantments are most helpful on smaller spells. For example, if you do 100 with a Storm Snake, you can add 250 or so to that, so it's 350. Eight of those is 2800. If you do 1000 with Leviathan and add one, you're only doing 1250 for the same amount of pips, plus you might encounter shields. It's common to slap these onto four pip AoEs and throw them the first round. You can't really go wrong with the damage boosts, I suppose. The only argument against them would be that you might be able to go with something better or more exciting.

On the other hand, there are mutations, and these can be very effective. Instead of a Frostbite, you might mutate a Locust Swarm for a more effective AoE for the pips. Although you'd have to train part of Balance to do it, it might be world it. You'd get Weakness, anyway. Because of this, you really have to judge whether or not the mutates are worth it based on your playing style and available training points. I started my Ice back when I had little knowledge about the game, and so his secondary was Balance. It wasn't too bad, considering he had Weakness, and could Donate Pips if he couldn't use theme effectively, but now there's another bonus - he can Mutate Swarm. Normally, you'll want to be the school of the spell once it's mutated, not before, or you'll be forced to use power pips as regular ones. These are highly effective for their pip costs, so they're worth it if you can make them work.

Moon magic - The moon school, to be honest, isn't too much use to any one person. Obviously schools like Storm and Fire are going to benefit more from Sun magic, and Ice basically wastes a point on the required Gobbler Polymorph for the next few in the set. Fortunately, that secret trainer sells some separate ones for those interested. This school will never be more effective than Sun or Star, but it's so much more fun to use. If you're a PvPer, it isn't necessarily for you, unless you can balance training points between PvP and PvE. It's really about having fun. Besides that, you can also get some use out of it if you're struggling with your current school. For instance, you've got to fight a lot of Ice mobs in Celestia at one point, and it isn't very practical for Ice to play four prisms while hoping to avoid shields for a hit. They could, rather, turn into a Cat Bandit once they build up enough shields and defenses, and Tempest with tons of pips. If they're paired with a Storm character or two already, they can polymorph into a Mander for added blades and other Balance spells. In these ways and others, you can get some use out of these spells. From what I've tested, I really enjoy them.

Star Magic - Most of the time, wizards come and pick a select few Star spells and are done with the school, because you don't have to train them in order. The accuracy aura even has armor piercing now, so these are getting more and more effective. The upside here is that they can't be removed, broken, or stolen at all, so they're indefinite bonuses for four rounds. Your blades can actually work against you if stolen, as I learned from Fire characters. Ice can also steal your shields. Storm and Myth can also destroy your blades and shields, which is unfortunate for you, because it means a turn wasted. To prevent that, you use Star spells. Fortify for defense, Amplify for extra damage, etc. You can even add 20% critical rating, and with the current gear's critical bonuses, that means you've got about a 50% critical chance, which means that every other attack or heal will be doubled, which is pretty impressive. You can also gain one pip per incoming 4+ pip spell with that last aura. That includes spells you use on yourself, like Satyr and Rebirth, which basically reduced their pip cost.

I hope you learned something, or at least had some fun. Tomorrow is our first Feature Post, so keep an eye out! Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!