Aquila Hoard Pack

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Wizard101 has released their next stunning pack, the Aquila Hoard Pack. This is the second pack to feature an Aquila aesthetic (first one being the Immortal’s Lore Pack), but with a more gorgon-centric theme.  Along side the release of this pack, the Aquila Hoard Crowns Reward Event has gone live in-game until March 13th. Players are rewarded with a free Aquilla Hoard pack for every 3990 crowns spent, or in other words, every 10 packs. Let’s dive into the goodies now, shall we?

Gorgon Gear Sets

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First up is the gear. As usual, this pack features 3 sets of gear. However, the pack provides 3 universal sets. This is a bit different from the regular set up where gear has stats for each school on one of the 3 sets. There is not a set bonus associated with these sets either. At first glance, I would say this pack gear will be more favorable for those after cosmetics than for those who are after stats.

As I noted above, these sets have universal stats. Any wizard can equip them for use. There were a few distinguishing stats for each set. One appears to prioritize accuracy and pierce, the other power pip chance and stun resist, and the last one, a mix of accuracy and power pip chance. Players can easily mix and match these pieces as needed to hit their target stat minimums for each category. I really like this approach because the item cards aren’t restricted to one school. This will be even more important when analyzing the wands.

However, as far as viability, these sets aren’t likely to be favorable for mono-styled wizardry. Or in other words, this gear isn’t suited for players who are only leveraging one school at a time. The gear is much weaker than even the lower tiered versions of Lemuria’s 150 school gear and the jury is still out on whether Lemuria’s universal set is better or not.

Gorgon’s Xiphos Wands

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As with the gear above, these wands have universal stats so they aren’t as strong as most wands. Glancing below at the stats, a big difference with these wands is that the signature item card isn’t there. Almost all wands have a ‘wand hit’ or 0 rank damage spell, and there are few examples that do not. This is an unprecedented format for a wand. Instead of the wand hit, they offer a school-themed utility,  a Medusa spell, and each wand has 2 new item card unique to this set.

Here are what those item cards look like:

For 3 pips these wands will allow you to summon a minion. After a couple encounters with the Lost Souls of Unicorn Way, I’ve got all the details on these new minions. Each one has 500 health. They all seem to follow a similar pattern of using  utilities until they reach 4 pips and then they will use a rank 4 AOE respective of their school. Another noticeable behavior is that all of these minions have cleanse ward, the myth spell used to remove a single trap from the target. Given that minions aren’t generally reliable for pve, this leads me to believe these minions might have been designed around pvp, and if that’s truly the case the universal stats and medusa card might be incentives for players to use these items with their dual school builds. But enough about pvp, let’s get back on track.

Elephant Mounts

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Would you look at these elephan-tastic mounts! Ready for battle and hauling all your wizardly things, these elephants are ready to go. They have the standard 40% speed but with the added bonus of carrying two people. I’m not usually a mount person as my favorites are hard to top, but the vibrant colors on the elephants have definitely been growing on me.

Strix Pets

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Last but not least the adorable strix pets are the miniature companions accompanying the Aquilla Hoard Pack. They are based of the mythological creature of the same name and are regarded as nocturnal creatures. The have two pairs of wings and each pet has two colors associated with them, which slightly correspond to the rest of the gear in this pack.

Concept Art

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Below is concept art for various items shared by Kingsisle’s Senior Concept Artist Adam Roush. Check out his twitter where he features concept art from all over the Spiral. It’s always cool see how these creations start off and become the final product. 

 

Miscellaneous Items

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Aside from the highlights, there isn’t much else in this pack worth acquiring. Usually new housing items can be expected from packs, but so far no new items have been found. Most of the housing items in this pack are Aquila themed such as Zeus and Poseidon Statues or different types of braziers from around the spiral.

However an interesting find did turn up in the form of a reagent. The Shark Tooth is a reagent not previously seen and it’s still unclear why it was released with this pack. No recipes currently require it but it’s also a bit of a stretch to associate a shark tooth with the likes of Medusa and other gorgons. Time will tell if this reagent will have use or if shall become yet another reagent on the list of strange additions we’ve seen over the past couple years. On the other hand, it really doesn’t look like a shark tooth either.

Final Thoughts

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Overall this pack should really be deemed cosmetic over anything else. None of the stats are anything new, and the only unique items appear to be the shark tooth reagent and the minion item cards on the wands. After 10,ooo crowns I had the majority of the gear from each set so I don’t think this is a bad pack to go after if you are looking for a new stitch.

Let us know in the comments down below if any of this Aquilian loot caught your eye!

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