November 27, 2022 September 3, 2023

Wizard101 Archmastery

Novus is here, and with it comes one of the biggest changes to Wizard101 combat since Shadow rating. This new combat feature will change up the way we view the entire library of spells as well as the way we play the game. I present to you our newest stat, Archmastery!

Archmastery

Archmastery is a new stat for our wizards to chase on our gear. This is what will give us these new School Pips. These new pips can be used for anything a power pip can be used on with the additional benefit of being usable on spells of that school! For example, the green pips in the image above can be used on storm spells, as he is a storm wizard, but also maybe used on life spells without the need for a life mastery!

Power Orb

Archmastery as a stat controls the rate at which your “Power Orb” fills, which will in turn convert power pips into school pips. The stat is functionally similar to Shadow pip rating. The higher your Archmastery stat is, the faster your Power Orb will fill up. Whenever your Power Orb fills up, one power pip is converted into a school pip. If you have no more power pips to convert, your Power Orb will store and hold up to 7 points for a future turn. If your Power Orb gets to 3 points, it will also start converting white pips into power pips!

In PvE, your archmastery stat is the only contributing factor to how fast your Power Orb will fill. Archmastery will start to generate on its own as early as level 50. However, in PvP the rate will also be dependent on how full your deck is. A full deck will have your Power Orb filling up at 100% efficiency.

Your Power Orb is also where you will be able to change what school pip you want to receive the next time your orb fills.

School Pips

Starting out, everyone will generate pips of their own school. However, you can change that in your spellbook. Through a button on the Spell Deck page, you will be able to select which school you want your pips to convert to. That’s not all, you will also be able to switch in the middle of combat! You have a Myth pip but need to cast a Death spell in a few rounds? Just switch your Power Orb to Death, no problem! This opens up so much more potential than just dual school.

The doors that open up from Archmastery are unbelievable. Dual school was the expected goal from the Rhoshambo spell update that arrived with Lemuria. Archmastery surpasses that by a mile. This means players can use a mastery amulet while also packing a third school’s worth of spells for synergy. Imagine using a death mastery on a Storm, while packing life Rhoshambo spells to setup both Macabre Jinn and Rain of Torrence at the same time to threaten two different gambits at once.

Dual School Spells

Along with allowing us to cast spells from other schools, some spells will require specific school pips in order to cast them. The Loremaster spell changes showcase this as well as our new level 150 spells.

The school pip symbols beside the regular pip cost shows a specific school pip requirement in order to cast them. The lore spells we’ve seen so far have received audits to better represent their increase in both damage and utility through the school pip. Since school pips are worth 3 pips of damage and utility, these spells now require a school pip. As for these new dual spells, they will also require a school pip but from a different school. Deathly Depths for example is an ice spell that will require having a Death pip in order to cast it.

Archmastery Rating

We can obtain Archmastery as a stat from decks and from jewels. We also gain base Archmastery with each level, starting at level 50. These jewels can be found in the form of tear sockets and square sockets. Archmastery jewels can be purchased for gold in the Shopping District at any level. In PvP, these jewels will help to slow down your opponents power orb and they will get school pips at a much slower rate.

These jewels could end up being very important after Novus as we run into mobs with their own Archmastery rating, so don’t trash ’em if you get them while you quest through Novus!

A Game Remade…

Wizard101 has been set on a single mind set of 7 schools each with their own separate selection of viable spells since its early years. With Archmastery being added, we now see original ideas of training into a secondary school come back to light. To all the ices that wanted to keep their resist while killing with a bladed Scarecrow, I say let those dreams become reality! This will fundamentally change the way we look at the spiral in every way, truly a great way to shake things up!