August 25, 2019 November 12, 2023
The Evolution of Minions
in Wizard101
Minions have been an integral part of Wizard101 since the very beginning, but what happened to them over time? In this article we are going to look at just that without delving too deep into one specific aspect of the game, such as PvP or PvE. Let’s cover all the basics first.
What are Minions and where to get them?
Minions are creatures you can summon to aid you in combat that possess a limited yet promising arsenal of spells. Basically, they are similar, if not the same as the creatures you fight in PvE, as there is no real person controlling them behind the scenes, but simply the RNG we all know and “love”. Why the same as PvE creatures? We can draw this comparison from Monstrology
Nowadays, the variety of ways you can summon a minion is difficult to keep track of. However, this is our attempt at trying. A summon minion card can be obtained from different sources, such as pack treasure cards, pet item cards, monstrology, jewels, and obviously trained spells. Shall we not forget the Crown Shop Henchmen? But I believe that should be a separate topic for another day, so let’s not jump down that rabbit hole… just yet.
Trained Minion Spells List
The main source for minions has always been trained ones. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at what each and every school obtains in the long journey from Wizard City to Empyrea.
Balance Trained Minions
Mander Minion
Pips Required: 3
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 18 Balance Quest from Arthur Wethersfield
Spectral Minion
Pips Required: 4
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 38 Balance Quest from Alhazred
Nerys
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Balance Quest from Halston Balestrom
Death Trained Minions
Animate
Pips Required: X
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 28 Death Quest from Dworgyn
Malduit
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Death Quest from Halston Balestrom
Fire Trained Minions
Fire Elemental
Pips Required: 3
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 28 Fire Quest from Dalia Falmea
Sir Lamorak
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Fire Quest from Halston Balestrom
Ice Trained Minions
Ice Guardian
Pips Required: 3
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 28 Ice Quest from Lydia Greyrose
Freddo
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Ice Quest from Halston Balestrom
Life Trained Minions
Sprite Guardian
Pips Required: 4
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 18 Life Quest from Moolinda Wu
Sir Bedevere
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Life Quest from Halston Balestrom
Myth Trained Minions
Golem Minion
Pips Required: 0
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Enrollment Myth Quest from Merle Ambrose
Troll Minion
Pips Required: X (1-3)
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 7 Myth Quest from Cyrus Drake
Cyclops Minion
Pips Required: X (1-4)
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 18 Myth Quest from Cyrus Drake
Minotaur Minion
Pips Required: 3
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 38 Myth Quest from Cyrus Drake
Talos
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 55 Myth Quest from Erik Wyrdrune
Vassanji
Pips Required: 6
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Myth Quest from Halston Balestrom
Witch’s House Call
Pips Required: 6 + 1 Shadow pip
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 108 Myth Quest from Baba Yaga
Storm Trained Minions
Water Elemental
Pips Required: 3
PvP Allowed: Yes
Obtained: Level 18 Storm Quest from Halston Balestrom
Mokompo
Pips Required: 5
PvP Allowed: No
Obtained: Level 75 Storm Quest from Halston Balestrom
Now that you’ve met all the different minion spells that can be trained, it is time to meet the rest of them! However, do keep in mind that a single minion can have different sources at how it can be summoned in battle. Such an example of additional sources would be the level 75 minions and some others being available through jewels. For a full preview of the level 75 minions you can check out our article detailing the quest of how they are obtained, the spells they use, and a review of how they behave in battle.
Level 75 Minion Jewels
Nerys Citrine
Malduit Onyx
Freddo Sapphire
Mokompo Amethyst
Sir Bedevere Jade
Vassanji Peridot
Sir Lamorak Ruby
Brandon Minions
These minions were introduced in August 2016, a few months after the Polaris update released. Brandon is an NPC created by Kingsisle that represents a W101 player who visited KI headquarters thanks to the Make A Wish foundation. Brandon sends you on a quest to defeat Neberyx, a tough draconian located in Dragonspyre. To aid you in defeating this boss, Brandon provides all seven of the below treasure cards before actually completing the quest.
The spell summons Brandon in combat to assist you as a rank 10 minion with an average 2,053 health (depending on the school). “What makes the Brandon minions so special?” you might ask. They have some very interesting and unique spells at their disposal. Such spells include: Queen Calypso, Athena Battlesight, Eternal Leviathan, Feint, Stun Block, Loremaster and Hephaestus. These minions can also be obtained as jewels too. You will be rewarded with your school’s jewel when you complete the quest. Additionally, these jewels can drop from the Neberyx battle or even the school jewel packs from the Crown Shop at higher levels.
Balance Brandon
Death Brandon
Fire Brandon
Ice Brandon
Life Brandon
Myth Brandon
Storm Brandon
Pet Exclusive Minions
The Clockwork Minion and Van Der Borst are both item cards that can currently only be obtained from pets. No other sources for these minion cards currently exist. Both spells have their highlights. The Clockwork Minion is a notorious PvP minion with some very interesting spells (not the spear blades). On the other hand, just like Witch’s House Call, Van Der Borst provides the chance to both attack and summon a random minion (Fire or Myth) at only 5 pips.
Clockwork Minion
Main Pet Source: Clockwork Paladin
Van Der Borst
Main Pet Source: Rude Goblin
Hand of Doom Pack TC Minions
A pack that has been around quite literally forever! This pack introduces six unique minions modeled after some of the game’s most iconic early bosses, as you can see below. While they aren’t perfect replicas of the actual creatures in the game they represent, you will find they are quite fierce. Would I go after these minions to aid me in battles? In all honesty, the answer is a strong no. The problems here are that first of all they are very much outdated compared to the minions you can obtain nowadays, and on top of that they are classified as no PvP. As you will see further in this article, there are much more worth while alternatives to these. Perhaps they can be used in the Deckathalon events? We will see soon enough!
Lord Nightshade
Malistaire
Kol Shadowsong
Jade Oni
Meowiarty
Krokopatra
Road Warrior’s Hoard Pack TC Minions
The Road Warrior’s Hoard Pack has not only brought the first 50% speed mount to the game, but also this unique set of minions. You will find that these seven are slightly more advanced versions to the level 75 minions. They have stat boosts and some rare spells in their decks. Check out their exact stats by clicking on each image. These have always made me wonder if we will see them become available from other sources besides the Roar Warrior’s pack. They are decent minions, but are they truly worth the crowns due to their rarity?
Caruso
Balor Scourge
Kemek Brul
Bleirg
Osokowa Tama
Max Gage
Arnet Galestrom
Monstrology – the final evolution of minions?
Believe it or not, Monstrology has now been around for over two years now and it has become a regular feature for the Spiral. To anyone that knows me this will come as no shock, but this is my favorite feature of the game and perhaps the most detailed section I’m going to give in this article. Let us start from scratch!
Monstrology allows wizards to extract animus from creatures by using ‘Extract’ spells. Then, animus can be used to create summon treasure cards among other items. Let’s focus on that here. With enough animus, generally 15-20, one can create these one-time use treasure cards. While not every creature in the game can have its animus extracted, it is safe to say that most can. For a full list of extractable creatures, visit our monstrology hub. If you’re familiar with the lists you will know that some very powerful creatures can be created as summon treasure cards to aid you in battle, such as Malistaire the Undying, the Germ Ghosts, and many others.
Does this make all of the above minions irrelevant? You might think absolutely, but the answer is a definite no. You have to remember that to create these powerful minions, you need to actually fight them in the first place and then extract enough animus from them to create the TC that will only be used once. This can be a slow or inefficient process if you use these in many fights. On the other hand, if you compare monstrology minions with some of the above minions like the Road Warrior and Hand of Doom minions, they are definitely much better. They cost no crowns and you are guaranteed to get them given you have enough animus.
Conjurers & Monstrology
As some of you might know, Conjurers aka Myth Wizards, have the unique ability to summon up to 3 monstrology minions at the same time (or 1 regular minion with 2 additional monstrology minions). This ability is something else that sets Myth apart from other schools showing a clear link to minions. Imagine having Malistaire, Grandfather Spider and Shane von Shane at your side at the same time. While that is crazy and very cool, it is also unnecessary. To clarify, I don’t see this as a bad thing, but as a very powerful tool that should be used wisely. Myth has dominion when it comes to minions as it should, so that power needs to be wielded carefully!
Minion Maintenance
Apart from basic summon minion spells, we also have minion maintenance spells. What do I mean? These spells somehow affect the active minions in the battle circle. As can be expected, the Myth school has the most control / access over these. However, nearly all of these spells can be purchased with training points. Take a look below.
Tish’mah
All 5 of these spells can be obtained from Tish’mah as portrayed above. This NPC trainer can be found on the hidden island in Krokotopia’s Oasis. Do be careful as he is carefully hidden behind a teleporter which is inactive most of the time. You will want to try switching realms if it takes too much time to turn on. He is focused purely for Myth wizards to help aid them in minion control. They are very ideal for manipulation, especially if combined with Dimension Shift. A couple highlights from below would be Shield Minion and Buff Minion, as they provide immensely overpowered charms / wards to minions. They are especially overpowered because we don’t even have the ability to cast those on ourselves or other wizards. Dimension Shift can fix that, but at the steep cost of 6 pips, which make it too risky and costly to use.
Dimension Shift – Myth wizards can obtain this spell at level 75 from the quest “Always After Me Charms” in Avalon. This Quest requires to reach a certain point in Wintertusk’s main questline to unlock. It shifts any hanging effects such as charms and wards from the minion to the wizard and vice versa.
Croaky
Croaky is hidden in Digmoore Station on the opposite side of Sherlock Bones. These sacrifice minion spells can obtained from this NPC giving other schools an advantage unlike Myth. As you can notice, Death doesn’t get a sacrifice minion spell, but instead gets a much better alternative – Steal Health. This spell allows for multiple drains from the minion rather than sacrificing it all in one go. Additionally, it can be used in some very interesting strategies including a combination One in a Million and Elixir Vitae!
Mortis & Tupa Taua
Finally, we have perhaps the least used spells in the entire game, the threat altering spells such as Subdue and Mega Subdue. Wizards obtain these spells from Mortis near the Death School and Tupa Taua in Celestia’s Floating Lands. They don’t relate to minions directly, but have a very strong use when combined together. Let’s imagine you are in a PvE fight and want to avoid direct hits from creatures… you can summon a minion and cast one of these to change their target to your minion. This can be quite effective when combined with monstrology, as these creatures tend to have a higher health bar which means they can take multiple hits while your wizard stays safe.
