Wizard101 Level 130 Karamelle Spells: A Review

With the release of Karamelle, there are new, themed spells available for every school! These spells don't require you to go through most of the world to obtain them - you'll get them right away, before you even make it to the new world! Check out these level 130+ Karamelle-themed spells, their spellement upgrade paths, and my thoughts on them.

In order to win your new spell, you'll need to defeat the Doombox! It's a solo battle in the Arcanum, but it's a pretty easy one. Once you complete the fight, your spell will be awarded immediately, and you'll be able to use it throughout the new world. Let's jump right in!

Balance Spell: Mockenspiel

Spell Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★★

Balance's spell is Mockenspiel. It does 965-1085 Balance damage to one target and converts half of any school's blade to a universal blade. So if you have a 40% Death blade, it would be converted to a 20% universal blade. 

This is a pretty interesting effect, but I'm not sure quite how useful it'll be. Balance wizards have relatively few spells that use spiritual and elemental damage, so their odds of having a school-specific blade to be converted are relatively slim. But beyond this, this is a seven-pip spell also requiring a shadow pip that is much more likely to be a finisher than a spell you're going to use to buff yourself. And even in the best-case scenario, converting a 40% blade to 20% isn't very impressive. Balance wizards would be better off casting a Balanceblade than any school-specific blade for conversion.

That said, this spell, even at its weakest damage amount, is more powerful than Sabertooth and Scion of Balance (though not if its condition for doubling is met). It's one of Balance's most powerful spells. The problem? Nested Fury. Nested Fury, for one pip less, does 805, 970, or 1050 damage. While it can't do quite as much as Mockenspiel on avergae, there are instances where Mockenspiel would be outperformed by Nested Fury and Nested Fury is an AoE. All things considered, unless you're facing a single boss, which is rather uncommon (and in which case the aftereffect isn't much use), I can't imagine many scenarios where this spell will be used. As interesting as the effect is, my guess is that Balance wizards would prefer to drop it in favor of pure damage.

That's a shame because it's one of the strongest animations in the batch. I legitimately laughed when I first saw it. The clocktower has become a sort of landmark for Karamelle. I'm very happy with this spell's animation and it sets a high benchmark for the rest!

Spellement Upgrade Paths

Mockenspiel has two different paths. One increases the overall damage, and one increases the conversion rate from 50% up to 55% then 60%. Neither of these changes makes a huge difference to the spell or where exactly it falls in relation to other spells, though the first tier does push the damage comfortably above that of Nested Fury and is probably the optimal choice.

Death Spell: Snack Attack

Spell Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Death's spell is Snack Attack. It pushes a negative charm to an enemy and then does 550-670 damage to all enemies. This means that if someone uses a weakness on you, the spell will first push the weakness to an enemy, then attack. 

This is an effect I'm pretty excited about. It's not one that I'd necessarily use very often, and I'd much prefer it on a low-cost utility spell, but it's a nice combo piece to remove a negative charm and also attack without needing to use a self-hit. The damage is what's a little problematic. Compare this spell to Scarecrow. Scarecrow does 590 to all enemies and steals half of the health. That means it has the potential to outperform Snack Attack and also steal health. That said, pushing the negative charm might make this worth using in specific situations. 

Call of Khrulhu just completely demolishes this spell, though. For one pip less, you'll be guaranteed to do more damage than Snack Attack and you'll steal half the health. So even with only two enemies in the dueling circle, you're healing 675 health. Consider the Myth spell Grendel's Amends, a pack spell which tends to exceed the power of usual spells. It heals 675 health and costs 5 pips. So the life-stealing aspect of Khrulhu is worth a lot. To not only do less damage but lose all of that healing just to push a weakness could only be worth it for certain in the case of an Efreet. Even if I had a weakness, I'd still choose Khrulhu because I'm not doing that much less than Snack Attack and I'm getting healing back.

The other disappointment for this spell comes in the animation. We already have a Gobbler spell and natural attack that's fairly similar. Unlike all of the other spells, this one isn't very dynamic or action-packed, it's just throwing up a snack. It's a little unfortunate given the possibilities with witches and cauldrons and black licorice and everything we might have seen used from Karamelle for this spell.

Spellement Upgrade Paths

In keeping with this spell's pretty horrendous track record, the upgrade tiers here aren't too stellar. They don't offer any sort of increase to the effect like most other spells do, but instead offer the choice to increase the damage range or focus the damage with no range. The initial "upgrade" on the second path will actually, in some instances, underperform compared to the original. Imagine gathering so many spellements to downgrade your spell! Additionally, the amount of damage this spell increases by is quite a bit less than many other spells.

Fire Spell: S'More Machine

Spell Rating: ★★★★☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★★

Fire's spell is S'More Machine. It does  1110-1230 Fire damage and adds three 15% Fire traps that only active on damage over time effects. 

Fire is in for a treat - in more ways than one - with this spell! The base damage on this thing is wild. Without the doubling effect on Scion of Fire (which is very difficult to activate), this spell almost always does more damage than any of Fire's other spells. That's impressive by itself and makes this a potential inclusion in decks designed to take out a big boss. On top of that, it included 15% fire traps to boost up DoT damage. I'm fine with this effect and this spell as it is, but for the sake of practicality, it isn't a great match. You have the biggest damage spell available setting up for a DoT hit afterward? Not only does Fire rarely rare want to use DoT spells, but bosses or instances that might require DoTs wouldn't want a big hit like S'More Machine to begin with.

I think that compared to some of the other spells, this one might be a little powerful. I would like to see a slight rebalance that maybe bumps the traps up to 25%-35% (Think about them essentially as a blade that only works for DoTs. Would a conditional 15% blade be very good?) and decreases the damage slightly. I think this can still be Fire's biggest spell in terms of the top end of its damage range, but it needn't be quite as big as it is now.

The animation on this spell is right up there with Balance as one of the best in the set. It absolutely makes me smile and it looks epic. It's a great representation of Karamelle and overall a really fun spell. The combined power and animation of this spell makes it one of the strongest offerings of the sets, if not the strongest offering.

Spellement Upgrade Paths

S'More Machine has two upgrade paths, one of which increases the size of the DoT traps and one of which increases the damage. While either is a fine option for an already powerful spell, it's probably best to choose the damage over these situational effects.

Ice Spell: Shatterhorn

Spell Rating: ★★★★☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★☆

Ice's spell is Shatterhorn. It does 915-1035 Ice damage and taunts the caster for one round. This means that if there are other targets in the dueling circle, enemies can only target the person who cast this spell for one round.

Ice should also be very pleased with their new spell. Ice wizards who act as tanks can utilize this new mechanic, and if they're soloing, it won't hurt them anyway. But the taunt mechanic doesn't compromise the damage on their spell. It still outdoes every other Ice spell with the exception of the doubled Scion damage (which is actually not too difficult for Ice to achieve) but does it at a cheaper pip cost (although requiring a shadow pip).

This spell stands out as another one that almost seems like its effect wasn't calculated into the cost of the spell. It's a little powerful, but I think it's one I could live with, especially given how easy it is to double Scion for Ice, making that an option that's already superior to this spell. The taunt effect, like with most of these spells, isn't as useful on such a costly spell. I think that the Fire and Ice spells, so far, could have their damage reduced slightly, or the damage on other spells needs to be increased.

The animation for Shatterhorn is pretty cool. It fits Karamelle well. It isn't quite as amazing as Mockenspiel or S'More Machine for me, but those spells do set a high bar!

Spellement Upgrade Paths

Shatterhorn has two upgrade paths. One increases the damage by 100. The other increases the amount of rounds the taunt effect lasts. This is a tougher choice, and I would generally lean toward the damage again. However, if you intend to use this spell specifically for its taunt utility or as a tank, the increase in taunt rounds is really quite powerful here, allowing you to triple the effect from the original spell!

Life Spell: Grrnadier

Spell Rating: ★★★★☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★☆☆

Life's spell is Grrnadier. It does 915-1035 Life damage and pacifies the caster for one round. This means that if there are other targets in the dueling circle, enemies cannot target the caster for one round.

Life should very happy with their new spell. It's their new top hitter and perfect for taking out big bosses. Given that Life's Scion spell is a heal, this makes Grrnadier even more important for the school. There simply isn't any better option in terms of immediate damage, though Spinysaur can outperform this spell with its DoT effect. Grrnadier also includes a pacify. Preventing a healer from being attacked for a round is a mechanic I can see being fairly useful, but if your Life is acting as a hammer or fighting a solo battle using Grrnadier, I question whether it's really necessary. 

Even without the effect, the damage is good enough to make this spell one worth using for Life wizards. Like Fire and Ice's spells, it could be a go-to for taking out bosses or 1v1 PvP.

The animation on this spell starts out pretty cute because you realize that this dog has some tricks up its sleeve. It's a pretty cool animation that utilizes some Karamelle environments, but it a reused model that's not originally from Karamelle. It doesn't fit quite as well as the others despite its flashiness. 

Spellement Upgrade Paths

Grrnadier has two upgrade paths. They're essentially identical to the Ice spell - one increases the damage and one increases the rounds that the caster is pacified. Similar story here. If you're hoping to use the pacify effect, being able to triple it is powerful. But otherwise, the damage is probably better.

Myth Spell: Tatzlewurm Terror

Spell Rating: ★★★★☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★☆

Myth's spell is Taztlewurm Terror. It does 590-730 Myth damage to all enemies and has a 30% chance to confuse an enemy. This means that, if it works anything like the Medulla fight, the wizard will not be in control of the spell they cast next turn or its targets.

Tatzlewurm Terror is probably the most interesting of all the new spells. It's the first AoE on the list thus far that makes sense in terms of damage when compared with other single-target spells. But let's compare it to Myth's other AoE offerings. Mystic Colussus costs two pips less and deals 635 damage, where the average damage for this spell will be 660. While Mystic Colossus can remove a shield beforehand, that's not always necessary and the confuse effect is one that might convince Myth players to swap between the two.

Where it struggles a little bit is against its non-shadow, 7-pip counterpart, Orthrus. I've always said that adjusting the original 7-pip spells to be overly powerful was a mistake, and here's a bit of an example why. While Taztlewurm Terror at its top end has a chance to do more damage than Orthrus, chances are it'll do less. And yes, you get the confuse effect, but oftentimes with AoEs, you're attacking a bunch of mobs that you hope to finish off with the spell. That said, against particular bosses, as long as they aren't made confuse-immune (boss immunity to some effects is a whole other topic), this spell could definitely be a winner. It'll be interesting to see how confuse plays out in PvP.

This is the only spell that doesn't use any existing models or anything directly out of Karamelle but is more based on folklore, which feels appropriate for Myth. It's also a really cool-looking spell to me, though, so it gets a thumbs up on my end. Overall, a solid spell option for Myth wizards.

Upgrade Paths 

Tatzlewurm Terror has two upgrade paths. One increases the damage by 35, then 70, and one increases the chance of confusion by 5% then 10%. Because it's so much more common to use spells as a one-hit-knockout, the top path seems like the best choice, but hear me out. Orthrus already offers a solid AoE with no effect. Myth wizards could make this more of a specialty spell by taking the second tier and utilizing it on tough bosses and in PvP.

Storm Spell: Sound of Musicology

Spell Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★☆☆

Storms's spell is Sound of Musicology. It does 885-1025 Storm damage to all enemies and adds a Storm blade to the caster that gains 3% for each defeat. So if you defeat 3 enemies with the spell, you'd get a 9% Stormblade.

Storm seems to be in a good place damage-wise with their new spell. Even with its added effect, it still averages more damage than Glowbug Squall. This is Storm's most powerful AoE now and that makes it a spell that will also certainly see some play. The damage feels about right to me given the addition of an effect, but the effect seems a little weak.

Because of the cost of this spell and its damage, it's unlikely anything will ever use Sound of Musicology to set up another hit, which makes the effect a little bit less useful. But furthermore, even if you defeat all four enemies in battle, that's only a 12% Stormblade. That's less than half of a zero-pip spell being valued at around 2 pips and that's the best case scenario. I think the buff could easily be 15% per defeat and still be appropriately powered.

Sound of Musicology is one of the more static spells, but it does use some visuals you won't see anywhere else with some flavor from Karamelle. It's not the most exciting but it works.

Upgrade Paths

Sound of Musicology has two upgrade paths, and they're a little weird. Both increase the defeat blade percentage and one increases the damage. In terms of the first upgrade, the top path is undeniably better - it offers the same defeat blade percentage increase but also increased damage. Then the first path increases the damage and leaves the defeat blade percentage while the second tier leaves the damage and increases the defeat blade percentage. Definitely an odd one. I lean toward the top tier given that I don't view the blade effect as being very useful. The top tier puts even the lowest end of the range solidly above Glowbug Squall.

What do you think of the new spells?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!

Credits: Thanks to Iridian Willowglen for the Life spell images.
Thanks to Cody Raventamer for the Balance, Fire, Ice, and Myth spell images.