Choosing the Perfect Wand Pt. 2 and Wizard101 News

To follow up on my first part of choosing a perfect wand where I focused on appearance, I now want to focus on the equally important statistics of a wand. For some, this is all they use a wand for - the statistics. They can be the gamer-changer, or that extra bit of block that you need. Now that I have my chosen appearances, I'm ready to stitch in the stats... then I thought for a moment... all of those great wands with good stats... if I want to keep this appearance, I'll have to re-stitch when there are new, more powerful wands. Then, if I stitched in the stats of a Lifeforce Blade, I'd lose that blade altogether, and any other character who wanted to use it as they were leveling up would not have a chance. This would bring some difficult decisions, and spark a new idea.

For now, I decided to focus simply on the stats. The bonuses for a wand are supposed to target your weak points in your gear. That means that if you're Storm, and you're purely critical, you might want to use the wand with 60 Block rating. Or maybe you need a perfect balance, and want to use the Lifeforce Blade. Perhaps you're Ice, and you don't rely heavily on critical, but rather on universal block, which your gear already gives you plenty of - will you go for the Sidhe Staff for a bonus 20% power pip chance and 13% accuracy instead? Pips and critical and block are only half the decision, though. Do you want a wand that gives good hits for shield breakers? Should they be for your school or you opposite school? Does it matter? Maybe you'd rather have a few extra Minor Blessings - there's a way to get rid of the Life dispels from Gnomes! as well as Infections. Maybe you happened upon a Life Mastery amulet and want a wand with some nice block and a bunch of healing cards. Or are you a team player, and you want the wand with cards focusing on benefiting your whole team? Maybe both hits and dispels? Maybe shields? Maybe a wand with attacks of all school types? Maybe you didn't know you had some many wand options.

When you multiply the appearance possibilities with the stat possibilities, you see why this topic is divided into two parts.

I had a plan for my Ice character. I wanted to begin to involve him in PvP, where Block was most necessary, and critical was hardly needed. With the gear I planned on using, I'd have good universal resist and decent universal block, plus many other bonuses. With the right pet, I could get a goof 4300 health or more, not including the health that could come from a good amulet. I'd also have at least 52% universal resistance. By the time I was done, you'd need to do a good 9000 damage on me before I was dead - that's assuming I don't have any Tower Shields present. With a Life Mastery Amulet and the right gear, an 1800, 4-pip Satyr would give me more health than a Balance could do with a fully pipped Judgement.

There was always the Greenwarden's Peaceful Staff with 60 block rating! It was quite nice, and had come from the Wyvern's Hoard Pack... I mildly liked the look. What should I do? I decided that it would be best to keep the staff, seeing as it was one of the best for its level, and I would want to use it for other wizards. If I had to stitch, I would stitch the next best, free thing. The Spear of the Trade Winds gave 50 Block, but the hits, I then realized, where Ice. So I then found the spear for me - the Sun's Light Spear! It still gave 30 Block and threw in 15 Critical, plus it did not have hits, which I would not need with my DoTs. It had a bunch of Minor Blessing spells - perfect for breaking Infections and Life Dispels - especially with Gnomes! Then, though, I could always just switch staves in PvP, did I really need to stitch? Then, though, what would I use in PvE. I didn't want it to be something different, and so, if I decided to stitch, it would be that wand. But then another thought occurred... what about the Sidhe Staff? What if, with Critical fairly unnecessary with all the Block gear, I didn't need any more block. What if, between my Hat, Robe, Boots, Ring, and Athame, I had enough? The Sidhe staff could ensure that I get a Power Pip every turn, and that I'd never fizzle, plus start me out with that bonus pip. But then there was also that though that I'd completely lose the staff if I re-stitched with a more powerful wand later. This got me thinking.

Where my Balance was concerned, I didn't know for sure what I was doing for gear, and so I couldn't readily choose a wand, but I envisioned the stats being fairly balanced, and so a wand with good, equal bonuses would work well. There was a crafted wand with a 20/20 split, but now there we newer, and better wands. I could have 50 Block. Or maybe a 25/20 split. Or 35 Critical rating. I finally concluded that, if I didn't use the 25/20, I would just have to level to 70 before I could decide. My Myth was in the same boat.

My Death character worked slightly more on Criticals, and so the 35 Critical rating seemed appealing. Now, though, more and more bosses gained Critical Rating, and universal Block was working its way out of gear in Zafaria. It has almost become essential. As always, my Death was one for a creative kill, and believed that a little luck never hurt anything.

There was always the Lifeforce Blade - a nice 30 Critical plus 30 Block. That would cost quite a few crowns, though, and I'd love it if I ever stitched to a more powerful blade. And with a few simply thoughts, I decided that the Staff of Shadow and Light (25 Block and 20 Critical) would be best. At least for now. A quick note - it seems that from comments and personal testing, we all seem to like the staff more.

The decision on what your wand includes is purely up to you. You can still have a bunch of Block rating and some good cards. For instance, the Hammer of the Stone Sky offers a bunch of team cards, plus you still get 20 Block and 10 Critical. There's also the Edge of the Green with 40 Block and a bunch of healing cards! If you gear lacks good Block, then maybe that's what you should go with. It's your decision, and a tough decision it is.

Wizard101 has released their latest Abracadoodle!

They've also said that that odd shark tooth reagent requirement will be replaced soon.

There's a new pet - the Yuletide Spirit! It automatically gets Unicorn at teen, and has chances to receive other useful talents, too. Check out its page on the Petnome Project in our links!

MMORPG has also listed the Super Bundle as the number two gift on their list of Top Five holiday MMO gifts! Check it out HERE.

Before you go, do you have any questions about what wands you should choose? Where to get a wand? Where to get the best Block rating? Leave a comment and I might answer your question in my next blog post! See you in the Spiral!