Wizard101 Polaris Level 108 Spells: An Analysis

Wizard101 follows their world-themed spells trend in Polaris, and these new shadow-enhanced creatures are a hot topic right now in the wizard world. From effects to animation, they've undergone extensive scrutiny, and after having examined much of it and drawn some of my own conclusions, I am excited to provide my analysis and suggestions for these new, level 108 spells.

Balance Spell: Nested Fury

Based on Russian Nesting Dolls, this balance spell is multiple layers of fun ending in bombs simultaneously exploding on all enemies. It's a fairly quick and simple animation, and one of the first AoEs to hit all enemies at once. 

Besides having one of the coolest and most well-polished animations of all the new spells, Nested Fury is also incredibly powerful. Power Nova, at seven pips, only does 470 damage to all enemies, and Ra, at eight pips, only does 560- 640. Nested Fury, at six pips and one shadow pip, does 818-866 damage to all enemies. Not only is it a fairly small and precise range when compared with some of the other spells, but it's also a lot of damage.

One of the reasons you probably haven't been hearing a lot about this spell is because it's so powerful and others have simply been hoping for increases to their own spells. I see this spell as being a little bit too powerful. In my mind, one of two things needs to happen. I would either take the range down to 718-766 (not sure why these all have odd numbers), or drop the bottom part of the range significantly so that it does 642-866 damage to all enemies. Balance is still getting off pretty good either way given that they'll have a spell stronger than the Fire school's.  

Fire Spell: Raging Bull

Randomness is the name of the game with these new spells. For Balance, it was from which school each hit would be dealt. For Fire, it's how powerful your spell is going to be. By the time you power something like this up to kill your standard boss, you're looking at a good 7500 damage variable in where you damage will land based on the range. That's pretty big.

That said, the AoE and the added accuracy debuff make this a great spell for both PvE and PvP. You get more damage out of it than Fire Dragon, and all in one big hit, too, plus the effect.

My only suggestion for this spell would be to bring in the range on both ends, but if Fire wizards are willing to deal with it as is and accept a possible low roll, they also open themselves up for a possible high roll that could make for a lot of damage.

Beside its impressive power, Raging Bull has an equally awesome animation, including burning buildings. 

Ice Spell: Snowball Rampage

Suppose there was a one-shadow-pip-cost spell that added ten damage per pip to Tempest. That is essentially what Ice has gained with Snowball Rampage, giving them the card with the near-highest-possible AoE base damage in-game, coming close to Glowbug Squall's 1220 at 1190 with 14 pips. Given that it does more than Tempest, one would think it pretty powerful, but I can't help but feel that if Ice can't do with 14 pips and a shadow pip what Storm can do with six pips and a shadow pip, something is wrong.

This spell has one of my favorite animations of all the new Polaris spells, but its damage is lacking on its own. Instead of beefing up Ice, add in a Legion Shield effect. Not only would this be appropriate in terms of power, it'd also work for Ice's school theme, and could be a major issue for opposing teams. Death often finds success in the fact that it can hit and heal in the same turn. Now Ice can find the same success with hitting and shielding in one turn.

The other thing this spell is missing is the randomness element that other spells have. Maybe the spell gives everyone a Legion Shield after hitting, or randomly gives or doesn't give one.  

Storm Spell: Rusalka's Wrath

This is probably one of the oddest spells I've seen. Number one, it has 1352 damage. Number two, it can be a big hindrance in a battle. Despite having Cleanse, Storm wizards often have trouble getting a "clean" hit in without debuffs or shields, and Rusalka's Wrath adds to that problem.

Besides needing a bit of a visual polish in terms of the texture art, this card should also be examined for its effects. People have complained that no other school receives a spell with a potential negative effect besides maybe less damage, which is hardly negative. However, a -50% Stormblade could be trouble. The spell would work well if it surpassed Storm Owl's base damage, because then the risk would be worth it. But that'd also make it overpowered for the cost. On the other hand, you have to consider that while Fire, for example, must forever and always deal with the possibility of getting a lower damage roll on a hit, Storm could bypass their negative effect entirely with Cleanse or by simply finishing off the boss with this spell.

That in mind, if it were changed, here's what I'd suggest. We've already broken the theme of six pips and one shadow pip with Snowball Barrage, so it might be appropriate to up the pip cost and increase the damage past Storm Owl's, or decrease the pip cost and leave it the same. If it cost four pips and a shadow pip, one could hardly argue with that efficiency, regardless of effects. 

Myth Spell: Witch's Housecall

It seems to me that Myth wizards consistently make out with some of the best spells around, and this time is no exception. Witch's Housecall has what's probably my favorite of the animations of the Polaris spells, but also has some powerful effects. Besides dealing a solid 992-1132 damage, you also get an egg minion. There are several possibilities for what you'll receive, and each serves a different function, but they have quite a bit of health, and the spells they use can be effective. 

Even without the minion, which is the randomness factor for this spell, the damage alone is pretty effective. Overall, I'd say that if some of the other spells aren't getting a buff, this spell needs a nerf. Keep the minion for sure, but bring the damage down to 792-842. This puts it in line with other spells in the sense that it effectively tops the school's eight-pip spell but isn't super powerful given that there's no real drawback to this spell. 

Life Spell: Wings of Fate

This Life spell is one that both Life and Death wizards have been hoping to receive for a long time - hit all enemies and heal all friends. Life is also overdue for another AoE. This is probably the most underwhelming spell in terms of its animation, but it's really grown on me and I think we're just so used to over-the-top attacks and creatures that this one was a surprise. I think that Polaris, however, is going back to the basics. The world brought the magic back to Wizard101 and these spells are an effort to avoid another Khrulhu. 

It's the power of the spell that has been the main topic of conversation among Life wizards. The problem they run into is that their school typically has a relatively low damage output. However, Forest Lord does 540-620 at eight pips, so it's reasonable to believe that this spell could exceed that. 

Let's think in terms of health offset, though. Health offset takes into account not just damage but also healing, since they're essentially affecting the battle in the same way, just via positive and negative numbers. Forest Lord's health offset is 540-620 per enemy, while Wings of Fate has a 920 health offset for each enemy/ally combo. That would really be considering overpowered, as it'd be a jump from their eight pip spell that is larger than Storm's. The fact that it's a damage-over-time and heal-over-time spell make up for it. The only thing this spell could use is maybe a slight boost in power since the randomness aspect is the requirement of multiple allies to get the full effect. 

Death Spell: Winged Sorrow

While certainly one of the more impressive creatures out of he lot, Winged Sorrow has gotten a lot of backlash for its Beguile effect. Just in case you didn't notice, it's a single hit but has a change to Beguile all enemies. The problem with this spell is twofold. 

First, bosses are beguile immune, and if you're fighting mobs, you probably want to kill them quickly, not wait on one that's on your team for a round or two. It also doesn't have much value in PvP. There's a lot of randomness as to whether or not an enemy will get Beguiled, and even then they may not help you. Second, all other spells have chance involved in only one area. The Death spell has chance in two areas - both the Beguile and the huge damage range. 

The animation for this spell is awesome - it's time to make the effects match. One potential solution is to make the effect a 40% plague or 50% infection. One suggestion made was to not have a chance of Beguiling enemies, but to do it 100% of the time. The problem is that if all or even most of your enemies are Beguiled, it's hardly any use because there's no one to attack. This spell definitely needs some change, though.

Polaris Spells in Action

In order to properly judge each of the new spells, you have to see more than their effects - you want to see the animations, too. They're pretty cool.

What do you think of the new spells? What changes would you make?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral! A special thanks to the following individuals for casting their spells: Nicholas Dragonblood for casting Nested Fury, Kelsey Fireheart for casting Raging Bull, Alexander Lionheart for casting Snowball Barrage, Johnny for casting Rusalka's Wrath, Alura Rose for casting Witch's Housecall, and Malvin Lifedreamer for casting Wings of Fate.