Exalted Life PvP Guide

Okay. This is a Life PvP Guide, as the picture above states. Given that there’s no lvl 100 Life pvp guides, I shall make one. My guide on Life PvP will be one that isn’t isn’t very complex and will rely on easier strategies that can get you all the way to the rank of 1500 and maybe even higher.

So let’s begin. Before I talk about gear decks and everything in between, I want to get the pet thing outta the way.

Training Points

24 Training Points needed in total

Ice to Tower (5)

Spirit Blades (1)

Conviction (1)

Vengeance (1)

Sun to Colossal (6)

Primordial (1)

Death to Doom (7)

Sharpened Blade (1)

Shrike (1)

Optional Spells to train

Earthquake (9)

Fire Elf (2)

Infection (1)

Stun Block (1)

Infallible (1)

The Gear

The good thing about Malistaire‘s gear is that it gives us essentially OP (overpowered) stats. You get the pierce, the critical, the pips, the health, and damage all the while getting the resist. In other words, Malistaire’s gear is WaterWorks for Exalted wizards. An upside down ‘M’ is, after all, a ‘W’ …. Must be a sign….

Anyway, Malistaire gear has taken over all the builds I use to be honest. Hades’ used to be my go to critical build. Now it’s Malistaire’s. Whenever I would jade I would leave all other stats behind, now I can either go full Malistiare or half and half and get higher resist and still have decent offensive stats. What i’m trying to say is that Malistaire’s will top most lists on almost any build/strategy. The best you can get as of today (2014):

• Best
• Second Best

Critical is your best friend. Pierce, high damage, accuracy, high health and good pips are your close friends. Healing boost is your acquaintance/friend/close friend depending on what gear you use. One more thing, just because these are the only examples of gear I suggest you use, it does not mean you cannot make your own. If you come up with a different build that works better for you then, by all means, use your creation.  But remember, once you reach a rank of 500 I believe it is best that your gear and strategy changes to the one I talk about later on.

The Deck

This is a very simple deck. It relies on using spells that have a double effect (Weaver and Caterpillar).

The Strategy

The strategy at this rank is to simply kill fast and to apply pressure. This strategy is done differently based on the type of match you are in. At a PvP at the ranks of <500, you will usually face two types of players: the Exalted and the Grandmaster/Legendary.

The Exalted

This type of match is by far the easiest thing there is for you to get matched up against in the arena. This opponent is such an easy target for one or both of the following reasons:

• He most likely has little to no experience, therefore with some planning you can take them out easily.
• This person has bad gear, which consists of low resist, low block, low damage, low critical etc. That makes this match a very fast and easy one.

There is no need to go into school specific notes for this part of the guide, as it is a very simple type strategy: Spam.

Glass Cannons

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you will be doing what ‘Glass Cannons’ do except you will have a major upgrade: Defensive Offense. Not every school has access to it. Glass Cannons are all the wizards that go for a high critical, high pierce, high damage build. To beat other glass cannons with your own version of glass cannon you got two spells: Luminous Weaver and Tower Shield. Hitting and Shielding. Besides that, you have the other two big players in this strategy: Satyr and Hungry Caterpillar. Using Tower Shield to gather pips for your next hit is the goal. Weaver accomplishes the same, dealing an average of 1000 damage per cast and leaving behind a weakness. Hungry Caterpillar is your big hitter in these matches, dealing on average over 2,000 damage and leaving behind what I like to think of as Tower Shield 2.0.

The main point to get from this build is that you are working with defense and offense at the same time. Therefore using spells that help with both aspects of PvP is your key to success. To maintain the pace or to apply even more pressure on the player, Vengeance and Infallible will help speed up the process as they will buff you up and usually give you the boost in stats to pierce all of the opponent’s base resist or to critical through their block. Other, more pip-expensive spells have benefits you can use as well. King Artorius will do a good hit, and heal you as you keep up with your opponent. The Spear it provides as a combo booster with Weaver or Caterpillar for a damage spike with the potential to finish up the opponent. The most glass cannon school is storm.

Use this spammy strategy to take them down faster than they can take you down. When up against other Lifes, Gnomes! might result in a faster match. Against Fire, Death, Ice, Life and Myth players, try to keep a Triage in hand in case they try blade up for a OHKO DoT. These players tend to keep a back-loaded DoT (Damage over Time) spell in deck that if not Triage’d, it can cost you the match. Using Weaver and low-pip spells will have a better match turnout when facing glass cannons. However, make sure you keep a Satyr in hand for whenever a heal is needed.

All Around Players

Take a slower approach against these players as they will have higher block and usually higher resist. The best method against these players is alternating between Weaver and Caterpillar, using both normal versions and enchanted version (especially with Caterpillar) as the spells’ effect will attack and slow down your opponent. The best of the best to do against these players is to simple use Tower Shield –> Caterpillar combos. As the 800 damage Absorb will protect your tower shields from being ‘wasted’ and forcing you to cast another. Giving you an edge throughout the match. Further, do not hesitate to use a couple of Lifeblades. A turn used on a blade allows you to gather up pips and then follow with a much stronger attack.

If your opponent sets out on a ‘Give Me Shields Or Give Me Death’ quest, just Shatter and proceed to hit. The Tower Shield/Life Shield spam is one of the major issues for Lifes, for there is no simple shortcut to take these off unless you have the amazing Shatter. Which you should have if you use the deck I’ve provided. Minions should be taken care of with wands, or low-pip spells at most. To make sure your opponent’s healing abilities is shut down, use a bladed Gnomes! and follow with smaller hits, or a Caterpillar is possible. If killing becomes an issue, use Infections if you have the spell or better yet, use Doom and Gloom to lock them down. The Gnomes! method, of course, does not always work with death and balance wizards, as they can heal with their schools’ spells. For these wizards, you can skip Gnomes! — it’s optional, you will have the final no — and instead spam the opponent with spells such as Weaver and Caterpillar; two un-shielded Caterpillars and one Weaver should finish off any Death or Balance. Keep a Triage in hand for players of schools with DoTs that can deal major damage, they may or may not use the spells. But better ‘safe than sorry,’ right?

In addition, if the match takes a big longer than you expected, use Guardian Spirit as it will give you a major advantage, once you let out the Guardian, you are allowed to go full out on offensive, which is not a big difference from what you are already doing.

Jades or Wannabe Jades

These are the players that have massive resist (60s and higher) and tend to cast shields to your school. These players are not the easiest of players to fight, but can be defeated. If they are not myth or have a Myth Mastery/Exalted Amulet, you will have an advantage as you will have an easier time blading up for a one-hitter. The deck has Lifeblades, Spirit Blades, Sharpened Blades, and if you can use pet blades or blades from gear, you can get at least up to 6 different blades on you. This will make anyone go bye-bye. ANYONE.

However, to counter the resist, more effort has to be made. You will need to use one or two or all of the following: 1)Shrike 2)Infallible 3)Namaste If you can combine all of these into one hit, chances are whoever you are facing, will not even be an opponent when the hit goes off. However, if the player puts on shields, your best bet is to Shatter before you hit. So, Blades …. Infallible —> Shrike —> Shatter —> Hit.

Depending on who your opponent is and what gear he has, the finishing combo can change. However, I would not suggest using Spinysaur for these matches for the simple fact that Hungry Caterpillar completely outdoes Spinysaur when it comes to damage being dealt. Spinysaur is helpful when there are multiple shields and you have no other option but to attack through the shields. But when Shatter is available to you, a Shatter –> Caterpillar combo is a much better combo. If you are second and facing a player that relies on loads of resist, this can be hard to accomplish as it can be dispelled easily or you may run into a shield head on. However, you can, nonetheless get through it. Casting a Life Dispel before you hit will help you if you fear you will get dispelled. So Life Dispel –> Gnomes! –> Caterpillar will be a very strong combo that will help against anyone with Life Mastery Amulet or Lifes themselves.

The Grandmaster/Legendary

I will not go into much detail for these matches because 1) you are a critical build so you just spam either way, 2) there’s many strategies these players use and I cannot go into each and every single one of them (it’s too much work, and chances are once you get out of a rank below 300 you will see less and less of these players), and 3) I cannot stress this enough, you are on CRITICAL MODE, your main goal is to spam until you get the win.

So the best way to fight these players is to, well, I’m sure you know by now: Weaver and Caterpillar. These are multi-effect spells that will build your defense as you destroy you opponent’s. Two critical Caterpillars in a row should be the Goodnight combo for any Grandmaster/Legendary wizard. So do not worry too much. Blades, Caterpillars, Weavers, Satyrs/Fairies and Guardian Spirit should do it. The main thing against these players is that they tend to lose to Exalted players due to the critical-block issue they have. That is why you will make use of critical (Gear, Vengeance, Namaste) to deal more damage than they can handle. And if all else fails, you got Guardian Spirit to help you put up a longer fight.

One more thing on this part of the guide, if you do not have an amulet such as Amulet of Divine Influence or Jewel of the Shadow Web, but you do have a Myth Mastery Amulet/Exalted Myth Amulet/Ampul of Carpathes, I suggest you use that whenever in PvP because it will usually give you an advantage when facing a Grandmaster/Legendary Wizard (they like to blade up or shield up and they love minion-ing up). Better yet, this amulet is one of the few things that I think has gained usage at Exalted PvP. I’ve used it myself and I constantly switch between the Ampul of Carpathes, Divine Amulet, and the Jewel of Shadow Amulet. It just depends on how I feel, but they are all very helpful whenever in a match in their own respected ways.

The Exalted Arena (Ranks >500)

This is where things change. Getting to the top here takes a bit of brains, and, since the latest update, a lot more luck. The gear you will be using is going to be, no matter what you say, a full Malistaire Set. If you’re serious about this PvP thing, you must be willing to farm for the gear. Soooooooooooo

Gear

Malistaire gear is what will get you to the ranks of 900+ for sure. I promise you, it’s worth it. No doubt about it. It’s so good it’ll cause a power outage! Anyway. If you do not have the gear then I really suggest you start farming for it because it will get you to where you want to be.

Malistaire's

The amulet (Jewel of the Shadow Web) is the best amulet you can use, but  it does not mean it is the one you have to use. If you do not have it, then use something else instead; a Mastery Amulet, preferably Myth, will help you as well. If neither of these are viable options for you, then use the best amulet you have access to. The deck in the screenshots is  only there to give you an idea of what to use. It does not mean that you have to use it for the guide to work. That deck I the only one I have and is the deck I use for PvP myself. It works great, but if you have a deck that gives an extra pip, use that one instead, as it will help you more than the one I have.

But if you don’t want to farm, then there are other options for you (Crafted, Hades, Crowns, Whatever-It’s-In-Your-Bag)

Crafted

The crafted gear is for those of you that do not want to farm Darkmoor for it’s amazing gear. And that’s cool. However, I’d like to say that the difference in stats betwen the crafted set and the Darkmoor/Malistaire set is, in my opinion, humongous. Using the crafted set will help you against Spirit Schools the most (something that might help you at higher ranks). But gear brings other stats with major importance behind. The drop in block can put you in the critical danger zone against Storm, Fire, and Balance. And the Pierce becomes minimal and not as useful. Lastly, I want to point out that the most important drop in stats, for me, is the Power Pip chance. The pip difference between Darkmoor and crafted is over 30%. And such drop in stats is a BIG difference in your play style because it can change how fast you can play and how hard it will be for you to change strategies when needed. With the deck I’ve made, constant Power Pips are very important; Satyrs, Weavers, heck even Fairy becomes useless if you do not get Power Pips when needed. Using the crafted gear, there’s a very small chance you wont be able to use Spiny whatsoever. Just something I want you to know. Nonetheless, If I had to choose between Hades’ and crafted, I’d choose crafted simply because it has more accuracy, something I think is super important. That is why I put crafted above Hades’.

Hades

 The midway between good stats and, well, good stats. This is where you are doing good but you know you could be doing better. Hades will help you with the all around aspects of PvP. However, it lacks accuracy, which to me is more important than many other vital stats.

Crowns

The Not Trying Outfit: If you really thought I would make one, you should really stop reading this guide.

Wands

The one thing I’d like to make clear is that if you plan using Hades’ for PvP, Do not use the Hades wand. It will do you more harm than good. The same goes for crafted gear. DO NOT USE A CRAFTED WAND. Your other options are using a crowns wand (Teeth of the Lords of Night, Frosty Stare Tiki Torch, Lunar Scepter of Anubis), PvP wand (warlords ONLY), dropped wands, and bazaar wands. Now the problem with the last two is that they tend to be useless. And the first two cost money, time, and rank. And you are new to the Arena, thus the PvP wand is not an option. That means you have to either get some luck and spend Crowns on Hoard Packs, or get something that’s far better than most, or all, crowns wands. That is why I put the Staff of the Undying Heart along with crafted and Hades’ sets. Because it will help you. It won’t harm you.

Seriously though, you can get to warlord with any of the three outfits. But only the first one is what I will suggest you use, and I will write this guide with the stats from Malistaire gear in mind because, honestly, if you are not willing to work for the gear, then I do not think you should even try to do PvP at this level. But use Crafted or Hades if you want to, and pretend you’re using the gear I believe you should use before you walk into the arena. All three sets will work just fine.

The Deck

Notes on Deck

Hungry Catepillar

Contrary to the first part of the guide, Weaver does not take the spotlight in here. Hungry Caterpillar is by far your go-to spell. Dealing massive damage is only part of what makes it so great, the absorb is really what gives Caterpillar its reign. This thing and one blade. That’s all you need to make progress in a match. Use three blades and the mighty ‘Pillar, and it’s a KO.

But in most matches that wont be possible, people shield, people hit, and people are annoying. You will need more than just one hit to get around them. That’s why this spell is so useful, it gives you amazing damage that will put anyone on the alert and grants you almost 1000 health with each cast.

Guardian Spirit

Guardian Spirit is OP. The only problem with it is that it’s not always used right. Not even I — a player that has had his fair share of Life PvP — use it right all the time.

The whole point of the spell is to give you a second chance, basically. But it it’s not as easy as it sounds. Once you die, if you didn’t critical it, chances are you wont be able to make the comeback. If you did critical it, however, you will come back with around 2300HP — maybe less, maybe more.

When to use Guardian Spirit is the thing most people have trouble with. How to know if it’s too early to use it? You can’t. But you can estimate it. If you’re not doing so well, you should use it then. That’s all there is to it. Just know when you believe it’s going downhill, that’s when you should use it. The other option is to use it when early in the match, that way you guarantee yourself a 2nd coming and give yourself the freedom of PvP. In the end, the spell is very situational and there is never a perfect answer. You just have to learn to use it.

Sanctuary

There are only a few Life wizards who see this are worth the pips in 1v1. I’m one of them. I usually don’t use this. I only use it when I really need to heal and when I’m about to die and have Guardian Spirit on me.

Most people see it as helping the opponent more than it would help them, I see it as a risky investment. That is why I only use it when I really need it. However, I do not use it on a Guardian Spirit that does not critical. Because 500HP isn’t worth it sometimes, but sometimes it is. So Sanctuary is a healing combo that best works with Guardian Spirit but it can be used with Satyrs or Fairies etc.

Well, the almighty deck isn’t as mighty as you’d think. You can change it and in fact I’d suggest you make minor changes to it if you do not find any use for some of the spells in it. I will submit multiple decks and at what ranks I would use them at the end of the guide. But for now, this is the deck you should start with. The deck is very generic and it puts a focus on the schools that seem to have been lit up once again because of the gear upgrades and the devilish new spells. Storm is the same thing, just stronger. Fire has becoming the conversation starter of many citizens of Wizard City. And Death with their Squid thing has become a “1v1 School again,” and Balance, well for Balance all the shields in the deck apply. So there ya go. You’ve managed to kill a few birds with a few stones. BOOM! As for Life, you got Dispels, Gnomes!, Guardian Spirit, and many shields, so that one should be easy to counter. On the flip side, they can do the very same to you, so be cautious.

When Rank Changes, So Does Your Build

Rank 500s-700s

If you’d like, you can switch your Alpha and Omega Ring for a school specific resist ring. Using the Signet of Sand Evil (17% Storm resist, 12% elemental Block) or the Ring of Desert’s Blazes (17% Fire resist, 12% elemental Block) might be a better option at the lower rank, and it will grant you a buff against Storm and Fire, both of which tend to be very aggressive at the lower ranks.

Rank 700s-800s 

A different deck. A slower pace. And more time enjoy the match.     

• Matches tend to be less troubling and much less rushed as you go up in rank.
• Healing tends to have more importance in the match as well.
• Guardian Spirit remains useful, however, it is not all that useful for now.
• Reshuffle might play a bigger role.

Rank 800s-1100s

• Storms are rare sights.
• Spinysaur is used once in a while.
• Healing is much more useful.
• Triage is useful against Death, Life, and ice
• Reshuffle is used once in most matches, sometimes twice and from time to time thrice.
• Shadow-infused spells are spammed more than normal spells.
• Balance is seen a lot more.

Rank 1100s-1500s

• If you plan on doing PvP after a rank of 1000, I really suggest you buy the Duelist’s Daredevil Ring. The boost in Pierce is super important.
• Also, If you are looking to go into the high ranks of PvP, buy the Duelist’s Fatal Razor. The new Malistaire Sets are OP, but, and I speak from personal experience here, it’s easy to exploit it’s lack of “OP” Critical Block.

This is the deck I use, btw.

 

Based on how PvP goes when I do a match.

• The Towers (normal and TC) become very important
  • I use it them when I have nothing better in hand, when I can predict my opponent’s spell (usually when it’s a shadow-infused spell), when I want to stall, and when I need to heal (Tower –> Satyr works well for me).
• The Life Dispels are super important when I fight other Lifes (which is normal for me).
• Because I see mostly Lifes, my deck is set up so that I have an easier time against them. As the many school specific show, I have 11 shields to help me put a stop to other Lifes while I stack up pips.
• I hardly ever use Shrike. If I do use it, it’s because the opponent has set up for Life as well and his/her resist is at immunity range. Even then, with my stats, 26% Pierce, and Namaste out, I do not need to use Shrike as often.
• I use Guardian Spirit in all my matches. This is the one thing that makes Life “OP” once they get out of the critical Exalted PvP zone and into the higher ranks.
  • It is best used against other Lifes, Ice, Myth, and Death; Balance can put up a fight and take you down if you let them. Don’t let them.
• As you can see, I don’t carry Stun Block, that’s because I don’t have enough training points to train it. The same goes for Infection. But even then I can close out matches with ease. This is because of the power of the ‘Pillar. Using a single-bladed ‘Pillar can take out half of your opponent’s health. So you got power within, don’t think you don’t.
• Conviction is used whenever I face off against a Fire, or the much rarer Storms. Other than that I hardly use it.
• I try to enchant my blades so that I can hit less when I reshuffle. Don’t judge. I’m a lazy PvP-er.
• I take an advantage of the current state of PvP with Vengeance. As of now, most players have around 48% block to all schools. My current critical is 64%, with Vengeance and Namaste out, my critical becomes 86%, which doesn’t guarantee a critical, but it helps me get one. Besides that, Namaste increases my Pierce and gets me to 46% pierce, even if I don’t critical my hits my opponent is pressured into a survival state of mind when I use Namaste.
• The Feint is rarely used. I hardly use it from second; it’s more of an against Life spell. When a player uses Guardian Spirit, I try to get ready to do a OHKO, and then when they come back, I try to get blade(s) and/or the Feint on my opponent so I can clear them out with ease.
• The Gargantuan is for stacking. Colossal ‘Pillar/Weaver + Gargantuan ‘Pillar/Weaver + normal ‘Pillar/Weaver will help you get through the OHKO players. Don’t question it, just go with it.
• The Earthquake is for OHKO players, they don’t really expect it because I don’t have a Myth Mastery Amulet. ‘Pillar Absorb stacking, Guardian Spirit, and Earthquake will help you soooooo much against these players.
  • You also have Ether Shields (myth spell) for when they try to Myth Dispel you.
• The Minions are for Life wizards, Jades, and Juju Deaths. They will help with 1) School specific shields, 2) Stall, 3) Healing.
  • There have been cases where I use my extra Guardian Spirit on my Minion. This is when I’m against Death Juju or such players. It really gives me an advantage.
• There’s only 1 shield that helps against Myth specifically because 1) they got Earth/Shatter, 2) they got Orthrus/Minotaur/Myth King Art./Basilisk, 3) at my rank, Myth tends to do a Medusa + Nova combo. (if you’re Myth, you might want to try that combo out. It’s extremely successful).
• There’s one Sanctuary in deck because whenever I’m about to face my death, I Guardian Spirit and try to guess my time of death with the Sanctuary. 3 pips that can get me 500HP or over 1000HP is more than worth it for me.
  • Boosting my possible healing outcome with Sanctuary is much harder to do against Balance. This is because:
    1.  I usually am at over 1500HP and a Lore won’t get it done, so they use Gaze of Fate and, besides killing me, they can cancel out my bubble.
    2. Since my Power Pip is so high, I don’t usually get ‘Noob’ Pips, therefore when I have enough pips for a Sanctuary I also have enough pips for a Satyr and my opponent expects the Satyr which leads them to use Gaze of Fate as their killing hit and takes out my bubble.
• Doom is meant for Life. But it helps a lot when trying to kill a Death Juju or Balance.
• There are not a whole lot of Bubbles in my deck because 1) They cost too many pips, 2) I have Guardian Spirit, 3) If I ever do change Bubble is usually Sanctuary when I’m about to die.
  • I only go into ‘Bubble Wars’ against Juju Death. But I never use Sanctuary in these matches until I really need it to be casted.
    • I have 4 Life Spiders (TC) to help with such matches as well.
• I have 5 TC Primordial-enchanted Satyrs in the Side Deck to help me out earlier in the match. After the first Reshuffle, I usually do not need to use those Satyrs anymore.
  • I save them until I need them once again (usually while I’m attempting to reshuffle for the 2nd/3rd time)
• The 1 Freeze is because I hardly use stuns. If you ask me, I think Life is so on top of the game now that such spells aren’t as needed.
• 7 Reshuffles because, well, Juju Death.
• 7 Empowers because, well, 7 Reshuffles.
  • Besides that, I can combo Empower with Caterpillar. Helps me a lot when I need quick, deadly hits.
• The 1 Black Mantle is for those who try to lock me out of Reshuffles.  ….. Cough Cough Juju Deaths and Jades Cough Cough …..
  • The one thing that usually gets the match when I face these people is that I can stack shields and Absorbs, which tend to get me the time needed to get the Balance Dispels off with Spirit Blades and Black Mantle TC.
  • Saving your Sharpened Blade for Spirit Blades is very useful in these matches. It multiplies your balance spells in deck so it makes taking the Balance Dispels a lot easier, and faster.

School Specific

That’s all, really. Life PvP is pretty, pretty simple. It gets easier with practice and it’s more controllable at the higher ranks.

Have fun at the Arena!