February 10, 2019

Grizzleheim and Wintertusk:
Why You Should Complete these Worlds

Many of us have been there: Grizzleheim. We’ve been called to solve problems in the beautiful world of bears. As the good wizards we are, we go there, save the world and…. ummm…. yeah. Yay?

Since it’s a side world, it has nothing to do with main story line progression. The experience you get from quests is really low and all your drops ends in bazaar for low amounts of gold. Grizzleheim looks like a really unappealing world from the first sight, but there’s so much more in this little gem.

As you’ve already noticed, we’re going to talk about Grizzleheim and Wintertusk. You unlock the latter one once you finish the Grizzleheim.

So why should you quest through both of these worlds?

1. You Get Great Experience

Grizzleheim is really underwhelming in this departement. You get nearly no experience at all from this world. That’s mostly the case because it’s a world meant for level 20 wizards.

In contrast, Wintertusk offers us something completely different: heaps of xp! Wintertusk (for level 40+) become available at approximately the same time as Celestia (level 48+). It just so happens that Celestia is also the world when the quest difficulty drastically increases. This can cause problems for a lot of players. The Celestia monsters can provide a nice challange even to hardcore players when they decide to solo the world and stick to only with main storyline quests. Hence, leveling up in an easier world will allow you to manage better while questing in Celestia.

Combining Celestia and Wintertusk can give you a nice boost in experience department. The main issue when starting Wintertusk is probably one of first quests. Defeating the Frost Bones Ice mobs is tough, because they pack a lot of punch and can easily kill you if you’re under-geared. However, getting through this quest will open some side quests and more storyline quests (you can check those here). You’ll find some nice quests, which require only talking or exploring and award you with nice amount of experience. Combine that with some Celestian talk and explore quests and you’ll quickly gain some necessary levels.

Wintertusk, if you do it in combination with Celestia, will give you a level gain of about 5 or 6 levels for the main quest line. If you do all the side quests as well, you can gain as many as 8 levels in this side world.

2. The Story is Interesting and Relevant

While the experience part only really holds true for Wintertusk, story plays an important part in both Grizzleheim and Wintertusk. In Grizzleheim the story has been written really well and is overall really compelling. If you’ve ever felt that questing through Grizzleheim is boring, then switch it up. Instead of bashing space button to skip dialogue like a madman, take your time and read what NPC’s have to say. You’ll notice that the world by itself isn’t that bad afterall.

On the other hand, we have Wintertusk. While the story on its own is really interesting, Wintertusk also introduces us to someone way more important. She’s someone who plays really important role in future worlds and the spiral as whole – Grandmother Raven. Despite being a side world, the Wintertusk storyline is simply something you have to experience in order to put all the pieces of the Spiral puzzle together. The Untold Spiral did a pretty good job retelling the story of both worlds, so for spoilers, look here!

3. You Get New Spells and Your School Pets

If you’re not convinced yet to quest through Grizzleheim and Wintertusk, then next reason will probably convince you. Each of the schools receive new spells and a pet.

Your Level 35 Grizzleheim Spell

The first batch of spells are given when we reach level 35 and have quested to Mirkholm Keep in Grizzleheim. To activate the spell quest, visit Old Town in Wizard City and talk to Baldur Goldpaws. You’ll talk to other NPC’s, beat some bosses and collect your reward:

Balance: Elemental and Spirit Defuses
Death: Dark Pact
Fire: Fuel
Ice: Legion Shield
Life: Triage
Myth: Shatter
Storm: Supercharge

Your Level 55 Wintertusk Spell

Once you get the previous spell, you’ll be ready for the next quest when you’ve leveled up to 55 and quested to Sudrilund in Wintertusk. Talk to Baldur again and he’ll send you on another journey. A journey to obtain even stronger spells than last time! Keep in mind that you can activate a quest when you reach Sudrilund, but the actual fight takes the place behind the dragon gates. If you haven’t quested that far yet, you’ll either need a friend you can use to teleport there or do some more quests to unlock the doors by yourself:

Balance: Availing Hands
Death: Virulent Plague
Fire: Power Link
Ice: Frozen Armor
Life: Brilliant Light
Myth: Talos
Storm: Insane Bolt

Your Level 58 School Pet

But there’s more! At level 58 you can get a new pet. Make sure to get your level 48 pet first and reach Nodrilund in Wintertusk before talking to your professor. They will give you a quest where you can pursue new pet:

Balance: Judgement
Death: Scarecrow
Fire: Phoenix
Ice: Ice Wyvern
Life: Forest Lord
Myth: Humongofrog
Storm: Kraken

Wintertusk spells are also a requirement for unlocking level 75 minion quest as well requirement for both Avalon spells. One you receive at level 72 and the other at 75.

4. You Get More Training Points

Like in every other world, clumsy Zeke will need your help again.

In Grizzleheim you’ll need to find his Yardbirds, while in Wintertusk you’ll be hunting little Troggs. While it’s true that we obtain a lot of training points through our questing, there’s no such thing as having too many points. Especially if you’re participating in PvP, where one additional spell can make a huge difference. Make sure to check this and this articles if you need some help finding those pesky little buggers.

5. A Dungeon, a Maze and a Unique Boss Mechanic

While Nastrond (the end dungeon in Wintertusk) didn’t withstand the test of time, it’s still a nice dungeon to wrap up your journey in this winter world. The drops aren’t anything special nowadays, but Nastrond can still bring some diversity in fighting. The battles aren’t the classic blade, feint and kill type and can be a nice challange to group of Grandmaster or Legendary wizards. And, of course, the final Zeke’s Trogg is hiding in there so that’s another reason why you should finish the dungeon.

You’re tasked to defeat Jotun and his brothers once you finish the Mirkholm Keep area. Now this fight is outright brutal if you do it at level 40 (which is the requirement to get the quest). To make things a little easier, these bosses give us a unique and absolutely fantastic mechanic. If you want a challenge, you can go straight to Jotun and his brothers and pick a fight against all of them at the same time. However, there is an alternative route, which is bit longer but also much easier: you can fight and defeat his brothers individually. If you choose that path you’ll fight Jotun and his (not so harmful) minion alone. Now that’s a big difference in difficulty level and an awesome mechanic to add a challenge.

One of Jotun’s brothers also has a really interesting path to himself. You need to fight your way through the maze to eventually reach and beat Grettir. The only other instance when we need to navigate through a maze is this side quest in mirage. Mazes are fun, so make sure to visit Winterdeep Warren if you want to finish one in Wizard101.

6. The Drops and Crafted Gear

So, you’ve finished Grizzleheim and didn’t record any noteworthy drops. Overall, we have to admit that this world is pretty bad when it comes to drops.

Couch Potatoes

Regardless, it’s hiding one wonderful gem – Couch Potatoes seed! They are a great source for mega snacks and a real gold mine with their other drops. They are droped all over Grizzleheim. So go ahead and find some low health mob, check on the wiki if they drop Couch Potatoes and start farming! My personal choice are the Troubled Warriors in Savarstaad Pass.

Gold Farming Spots

In case you dislike gardening, you can also visit Wintertusk. While the fights are harder, the rewards can be sold for a very nice amount of gold. Halfang is a popular farming spot among wizards, since he’s relatively easy to beat and can drop the Cow’s Pearl Amulet – an Amulet you’ll sell for a lot of gold in Bazaar.

Crafted Gear

In addition, you can visit Sudrilund for the level 56 crafted gear. This is overall really good gear and you can’t go wrong by wearing it. It’s like Waterwork’s little brother.

7. Fishing and Monstrology

These two activities aren’t as popular as some other things. That doesn’t mean you should skip them though! We can find some unique fish in both Grizzleheim and Wintertusk. Whether you’re a collector, a decorator or simply like fishing, here is a list of unique fish you can find only in Grizzleheim and Wintertusk:

Bear Acuda: Northguard, Savarstaad Pass, Helgrid Warren, Vigrid Roughland, Mirkholm Keep
Polar Bear Acuda: Vigrid Roughland
Red Grunion: Nordrilund
Rune fish: Mirkholm Keep

Last but not least, we have monstrology, where we can also find unique creatures to collect. Unlike for fishing, every creature is unique for monstrology. Each monster has its own spot in the Monstrology tome and offers a different set of cards if you use it as a minion. As a decorator, you will find many uses for these creatures. While every creature is unique, many have a bunch of look-a-likes. Two different creatures can look very similar and you can use them for decorating purposes (imagine a house full of Manders in many different colors for example).

There are many creatures whose looks are exclusive to Grizzleheim and Wintertusk. The ice skeletons, boars and bears are nice examples of that. We can also add Frostbranch and Winterbranch to the list. While we can find the body type of these treants elsewear, their wintery colour makes them unique. A grizzleheim themed house could definitely use them! Check our Monstrology hub to learn more about this!