Level 160 Novus Spells Guide & Review | Wizard101
Novus brings with new spells for Wizards who have completed Lemuria. Although
these spells are for the level 150-160 range world, they're awarded very early
on in the quest line. Here's a look at what they do and my ratings for and
thoughts on the effects and visuals.
Spell Animations
Check out this video to see all of the new Novus spells in action! Note their
conditional effects triggering, indicated by the "Clear" keyword on the cards.
Balance Spell: Scales of Destiny
Spell Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Cost: 1 pip, 1 Life pip, 1 Ice pip
Effect: Deal 235 Life damage, 255 Ice damage, and 255 Balance damage.
Gain 1 Ice or Life pip if the caster has over 50% health.
At a total of 705 base damage, Balance's spell seems pretty powerful. It's
also one of the tougher ones to pull off, because you need two school pips
instead of one, which means this is the only spell of all seven that you can
never cast the first round of combat. That is balanced by the fact that its
condition is the easiest to meet - if you have over half of your
health, you get either the Life or Ice pip needed to cast this back. This
makes it a little bit clunky to use, and most of Balance's multi-school-hit
spells see little to no play.
All of the spells this round are pretty strange, in keeping with the theme of
Novus. While the corn stalks and ice crystals feel a little odd, I like the
overall feel of this spell.
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, each upgrade adds 10 damage to each hit of
the spell, or 30 damage total. The base damage for the final upgrade totals
765!
Death Spell: Gravestorm
Spell Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★☆☆
Cost: 3 pips, 1 Storm pip
Effect: Deal 450 Death damage, convert half to health for caster. If
the target has negative charms (weakness, infection, etc.), remove up to 2 for
a corresponding number of +325 Storm damage flat blades on the caster.
Death's spell is a pretty straightforward steal health spell. The damage on
it for the pip cost is pretty impressive, though. That said, a lot of
single-target drain spells don't see much play for Death. In this case, the
spell removes weaknesses from an enemy for a Storm blade, so we'll talking
about a ridiculously specific scenario where you've placed some kind of
debuff on the enemy which they haven't removed or triggered and may benefit
from a flat damage Storm blade. The damage by itself warrants some
consideration, but not likely at level 160.
The animation on this one is a little bit cooler and does a good job of
combining Death and Storm effects in a way that feels natural, if not fully
polished.
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, the first upgrade increases the damage by
20 and the second by 25, which is roughly equivalent to Balance's upgrades
when factoring in the drained health.
Fire Spell: Glimpse of Infinity
Spell Rating: ★★★☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★★Cost: 3 pips, 1 Myth pip
Effect: Deal 680 Fire damage over four rounds as a protected damage
over time effect. If the enemy has positive wards (shields, etc.), remove
up to 2 for a corresponding number of +40% Myth traps on the target.
Fire's spell damage is very competitive with other spells of its cost,
and adding the protection to the damage over time effect is interesting.
Most of the time, Fire will be opting for some of its heavier hitters
than this midrange, delayed-damage DoT, but in certain scenarios, it
could be used. Although the addition of the Myth traps if the enemy has
shields is probably never going to be used, the actual removal of up to
two shields is something to take note of. It puts the Fire spell a step
ahead of the Death one, at least.
This spell has one of the coolest animations. It combines the full
skybox look with objects in the summoning circle for an animation that's
short and sweet but super interesting to look at.
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, each upgrade increases the overall
damage output by 30, exactly equivalent to Balance's upgrades.
Ice Spell: Deathly Depths
Spell Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★☆Cost: 3 pips, 1 Death pip
Effect: Deal 495 Ice damage. If the target has positive charms
(blades, etc.), remove up to 2 for a corresponding number of -55% Storm
damage charms on the target.
Ice's spell has damage that suffers a little compared to the others. It
only does as much damage as Death's spell, but with no drain health
effect. That's a little strange to me. The damage feels undervalued by
one pip, being roughly equivalent to a handful of other 5-cost Lore
spells (though those will likely change) but without the guaranteed
effect. The conditional effect on this spell is only really good against
Storm wizards, but the removal of blades could be decent on its own.
This might be a spell used in very niche circumstances for Ice.
The animation on this one is also pretty great. Although some of the
bubble and underwater effects feel a little flat and strange, the skull
is spooky and magical. It makes for a cool animation.
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, the first upgrade increases the damage
by only 20 and the second increases it by 25, again matching Death but
with no drain health.
Life Spell: Starspawn
Spell Rating: ★★★★☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★☆Cost: 3 pips, 1 Fire pip
Effect: Deal 535 Life damage. If the caster has any negative wards
(traps, etc.), remove up to 2 for a corresponding number of 172 Fire
damage over time effects (4 rounds) on the target.
The Life spell has pretty great damage for its effective pip cost,
outperforming Earthwalker and dipping into Centaur territory. This might
be a decent single-target spell for Life, especially when considering
that the added effect removes traps on the caster. It's one of only a handful of spells in the lineup that has a positive condition and trade-off for another positive trade-off. This could be used to
clear a Feint off the caster and deal additional damage to the target, for example. I could see it used situationally in both PvP and PvE.
The animation on this one finally got fixed and it looks pretty cool.
It's one of the weirder ones, but I think that gives it extra
points.
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, the first upgrade increases the damage
by only 20 and the second increases it by 25, which matches Ice and
Death but isn't quite the increase that Fire and Balance are getting.
Myth Spell: Improbable Gaze
Spell Rating: ★★☆☆☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★☆Cost: 3 pips, 1 Ice pip
Effect: Deal 50 Myth damage, then 500 Myth damage. If the target
has any negative wards (traps, etc.), remove up to 2 for a corresponding
number of 650 damage absorb shields on the caster.
Myth's spell has a decent base damage of 550 split into two hits. The
damage alone is an upgrade to Minotaur, but consider how often Minotaur
is used by Myth wizards and that's probably about as often as you'll see
this played. I do like that it has the double hit effect for shield
removal, so there are scenarios where it could be helpful. The effect
removes traps from the target though, so this isn't necessarily a
positive effect, which is weird when Life gets to remove traps from
themselves. That said, a 650-damage absorb is a pretty great reward.
The animation here is pretty cool. It's also one of the weirdest ones,
in keeping with the theme. Is that... is that a whale eye being
reassembled off the broken-up body of the fallen whale?
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, both upgrades increase the secondary
damage by only 20.
Storm Spell: Tree of Strife
Spell Rating: ★★★★☆ | Visual Rating: ★★★★★Cost: 3 pips, 1 Life pip
Effect: Deal 810 Storm damage. If the caster has any positive
charms (blades, etc.), remove up to 2 for a corresponding number of 580
health heal over time effects (4 rounds) on the caster.
Storm's spell is one that seems pretty good, and perhaps the
most likely to see play as a lower-cost single hit. The 810 Storm damage
easily outdoes anything else at this pip cost. It does remove blades from the caster,
awarding 580 health up to twice as a heal over time effect. This is a little bit more realistic as Storm could be using an Elemental Blade, with the leftover blades being converted to 1160 health! Storm's
spell is the one of the few on the list which has good damage on its own, a reasonable condition, and a payoff that's always helpful and not school-specific or situational.
The visuals on this spell are also one of the best also. I love the ship
in s teacup along with the burst effects that tie in both the Storm and
Life elements well.
Spellement Upgrade Path
Upgrade paths for all of the new spells are currently pretty
straightforward. In this case, the first upgrade is by 30 damage, and
the second by 35. These are some of the bigger (and 35 is the biggest)
margins on any of the spell upgrades.
What do you think of these new spells?
Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!
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