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Halina Warhawk's dungeon- help?

AuthorMessage
Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
I'm having one heck of a time with this one. I always manage to last until the 4th floor or so; then, when I die, the WHOLE THING RESETS and I have to do it all again, in which case I always end up dying at the same spot.

I've attempted this about 5 times now- I've used up all of my heals, summoned minions, everything! I have less than half a bar left, and can't level until I finish this. What am I doing wrong, and how to avoid wasting any more time? Any help would be much-appreciated.

Cheers,

Laura Shadowsong
Level 45 balance/fire/death mage

Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
vonawesome1 wrote:
I'm having one heck of a time with this one. I always manage to last until the 4th floor or so; then, when I die, the WHOLE THING RESETS and I have to do it all again, in which case I always end up dying at the same spot.

I've attempted this about 5 times now- I've used up all of my heals, summoned minions, everything! I have less than half a bar left, and can't level until I finish this. What am I doing wrong, and how to avoid wasting any more time? Any help would be much-appreciated.

Cheers,

Laura Shadowsong
Level 45 balance/fire/death mage


Are you looking for advice to beat it, or would you like someone to meet you and help you through it? I would be happy to coordinate either. If its the first, can you tell me what gear you have, its stats, lay out what spells are in your deck, and confirm that your primary school is balance? If its the latter, I can generally arrange something on weekends... we just need to pick a time (with timezone), a realm, choose a meeting spot, and exchange wizard names.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
Either one would work- I prefer to work alone, but having another person along might help. If you're interested, we could definitely set something up for the weekend- Laura Shadowsong is my character's name, and her primary school is Balance. I have the following spells in my deck:

-Hydra
-Helephant
-Meteor Strike
-Sandstorm
-Scorpion
-Spectral Blast
-Helpful Mander
-Elemental Minion
-Helping hands (heal over time)
-Fairy (heal self)
-Fire elf
-Scorpion
-Vampire
-Banshee
-Crusade (the karate-chop thing)
-Storm shark
-weakness trap
-balanceblade
-bladestorm
-spirit shield/trap
-elemental shield/trap
-glacial shield
-wyldfire
-fire trap
-hex trap (+30%)
-sunbird
-phoenix
-judgement
-skeletal pirate
-dream shield

To be continued...

Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
vonawesome1 wrote:
Either one would work- I prefer to work alone, but having another person along might help. If you're interested, we could definitely set something up for the weekend- Laura Shadowsong is my character's name, and her primary school is Balance. I have the following spells in my deck:

-Hydra
-Helephant
-Meteor Strike
-Sandstorm
-Scorpion
-Spectral Blast
-Mander and Elemental minions
-Helping hands (heal over time)
-Fairy (heal self)
-Fire elf
-Scorpion
-Vampire
-Banshee
-Crusade (the karate-chop thing)
-Storm shark
-weakness trap
-balanceblade
-bladestorm
-spirit shield/trap x2
-elemental shield/trap x2

To be continued...


Cool, well I'm usually available in the evenings (PST) on weekends. However, I think I can put together some advice for you. I just need to finish reading through this and look a couple of things up. I'll get back to you soon.

Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
vonawesome1 wrote:
Either one would work- I prefer to work alone, but having another person along might help. If you're interested, we could definitely set something up for the weekend- Laura Shadowsong is my character's name, and her primary school is Balance. I have the following spells in my deck:

-Hydra
-Helephant
-Meteor Strike
-Sandstorm
-Scorpion
-Spectral Blast
-Mander and Elemental minions
-Helping hands (heal over time)
-Fairy (heal self)
-Fire elf
-Scorpion
-Vampire
-Banshee
-Crusade (the karate-chop thing)
-Storm shark
-weakness trap
-balanceblade
-bladestorm
-spirit shield/trap x2
-elemental shield/trap x2

To be continued...


Ok, I still have a couple of questions. Namely, how far have you trained in Death? Have you made it to feint? Is the storm shark trained or from a pet or other item? The crusade item card, does it come from either kagemoosha's citrine blade or the equalateral sword? I'll finish up my advice after I hear back.

In the meantime, gear is very import. If you don't mind crafting, or you don't mind spending crowns, I may have some different recommendations. But until I hear back and assuming you have enough gold, I would recommend a trip to the bazaar to buy the following:

boots: footgear of craftsmanship
hat: mantle of order
robe: Wrap of Equity
athame: claw of conciliation
ring: Signet of the Chimera

which should make your current stats:

2585 health
219 mana
73% power pip chance
+13% incoming healing
+30% balance damage

I notice that you have a lot of non-balance spells in your deck. Outside of healing (and just the pixie because you have healing hands) I would try to use primarily balance spells as they benefit from the substantial power pip chance I have recommended. In particular I would throw in a couple of judgement spells as this is a power spell of balance for one hit kill capability. You need a few spectral blasts and one or 2 hydras for dealing with balance enemies (vampire can work into this as well, but it depends on strategy). Until I hear back, I'm going to hold off on very specific deck recommendations. I look forward to hearing from you.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
I actually finished it last night, at around 2 am- one of my friends, who is level 38 death, was able to help. :-) It took long enough, though. Still, if you're interested in setting something up for greystone or the like this weekend, I'd be glad to have you along- I'm usually on in the wee hours of the morning (think 1 or 2 am) atlantic time... I work evenings. Hahaha.

Right now, I have (I probably missed a couple the first time):

2744 health
451 mana (yes, I leveled!)
48% power pip chance
17% resistance to balance spells
+29% balance damage

Balance spells:

-crusade (comes from level 45 sword/wand)
-scorpion
-swarm
-spectral blast
-hydra
-sandstorm
-Mander minion
-elemental minion
-weakness trap
-balanceblade
-bladestorm
-spirit shield/trap
-elemental shield/trap
-healing hands
-judgement

Fire spells:

-fire trap
-glacial shield
-wyldfire
-fire elf
-sunbird
-meteor strike
-phoenix
-helephant

Death spells:

-banshee
-vampire
-legend shield

(No training points yet, though I'm high-enough level for the others).

Miscellaneous:

-storm shark (akori's deepwater amulet)
-fairy (heals)

As for gear:

boots: footgear of craftsmanship
hat: mantle of order
robe: bristleback's robe of awe
athame: locket of equality
ring: band of balance

-

Looking forward to your advice :-)

Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
vonawesome1 wrote:
I actually finished it last night, at around 2 am


Thats great news! Congratulations!

vonawesome1 wrote:
if you're interested in setting something up for greystone or the like this weekend, I'd be glad to have you along- I'm usually on in the wee hours of the morning (think 1 or 2 am) atlantic time...


Oh, Candadian eh? lol. I'd be happy to. Are you in a part of Canada that honors ADT, or are you on AST? I'm on the other coast in PDT, so it sounds like this will work out fine. :-) Would Friday or Saturday work best?

vonawesome1 wrote:
Looking forward to your advice :-)


Ok, well here goes. ;) Now, before I begin, I just want to stress that this is only one style of play and that I don't take good notes along the way. Therefore, the playstyle advice should be solid (assuming you are comfortable with this style of play) but the suggested deck configuration may take some tweaking.

Though you will lose some health, mana, and all your balance resistance, I recommend:

boots: footgear of craftsmanship
hat: mantle of order
robe: Wrap of Equity
athame: claw of conciliation
ring: Signet of the Chimera
deck: Deck of Perfect Harmony

Assuming you are level 46 now (Because you mentioned you leveled), your stats will be:

Health: 2412 (I miscalculated in my last post)
Mana: 221
Power Pip Chance: 74%
Healing Boost: 13%
Balance Damage Boost: 30%

I recommend this for several reasons. First, I find that having more than 200ish mana means there is some other useful stat I am missing out on. In the longest of dungeons, I have never needed 200 mana. While the balance resistance is useful, it comes at the cost of either health or power pips and since you don't really want to sacrifice health if you can help it, I opted for health and pips since this strategy benefits from power pip chance. So, what is this strategy? Well...

I try to run my balance somewhere between life and ice defensively. Basically, the idea is that you use healing hands after you have taken moderate damage to keep you from getting too low. You use balance shields (like an ice) to prevent damage and you use weakness strategically to keep strong attacks reduced. If you get too low, you hold on to a few pixies for that "all-at-once" heal. You try to stick primarily to balance spells so that you can benefit from the huge power pip chance.

Offensivelly, judgement is a go to kill spell. Hex, balance blade, judgement (when you have enough pips) will do amazing damage to non balance enemies. In fact, with your stats set up as I recommended, a 3 power pip judgement with a hex and balance blade will do around 1267 to non balance and unshielded enemies. The drawback is that it leaves you completely drained... making health management key. If you are anywhere near shakey (health-wise), you should cast hands first, then build and judge. However, I have also included some spectral blasts and a few hydras. If you see an opportunity to do real damage but you want to keep some pips for healing, blast is a good option. Hydra is an often underrated spell. Aside from being able to do some real damage, it can also be used to stip away towers and elemental shields. If you are needing to use a lot of elemental damage with blast or hydra, such as in the case of balance enemies, I recommend getting treasure elemental blades from the library. They stack with your regular blade and if you add in a balance blade, you can do some very serious damage with them.

Here's how I how I would configure the deck:

5 hex
2 sandstorm
1 bladestorm
4 judgement
4 spectral blast
3 hydra
6 balance blades
3 elemental blades
7 healing hands
2 Mander Minion
1 Spectral Minion
4 elemntal shield
3 spirit shield
2 black mantle
1 sap health
3 Precision
2 pixie
2 elemental traps

This should be considered your do anything kind of deck. Some people like a small deck and to use reshuffle. Personally, I don't ever use reshuffle. The way I have it, you shouldn't be afraid to discard and you should generally get something you're looking for each round. In other words, I think of this as a general purpose go anywhere kind of deck. I don't like to reconfigure my deck unless I have to because it feels like a waste of time. However, if you find that a particular set of enemies (or a particular boss) is giving you trouble, it might be worth buying another deck so you can create special purpose configs with that one.

For your amulet, I would recommend the Jade Oni's amulet of duplicity, the troll ear pendant, or Nightshade's choker. Duplicity gives you one strong hydra spell, troll ear pendant gives you 2 +40% guiding light spells (very handy with a healing strategy), and Nightshade's choker gives you two -30% weakness spells which can be stacked with regular weakness. You'll have to play around with it and see what works best for you. Personally, I'm fond of the toll ear pendant. Since you already have a +13% boost to healing, casting a healing hands with one of these guiding lights present will give you a +58% healing boost meaning that hands will heal approximately 79 + 774 over three rounds (258 per round) which is pretty significant healing.

I hope this helps. Hopefully, this all makes sense and f you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Astrologist
Jun 04, 2010
1008
gtarhannon wrote:
Here's how I how I would configure the deck:

5 hex
2 sandstorm
1 bladestorm
4 judgement
4 spectral blast
3 hydra
6 balance blades
3 elemental blades
7 healing hands
2 Mander Minion
1 Spectral Minion
4 elemntal shield
3 spirit shield
2 black mantle
1 sap health
3 Precision
2 pixie
2 elemental traps


In re-reading my post this morning, I realized that I left out a few pieces. The sandstorms are useful for finishing one off while removing towers or damaging another. The 1 bladestorm is for the occasion when someone joins you, or when you need that extra little "ummph" to finish off an enemy with a lot of health. If you go with a the hydra amulet, I would take one hydra out of your deck and substitute another attack spell. That brings us down to minions. Minions can be useful but a lot of people struggle with using them. I try to be very versatile, so I only keep a few minion cards in my deck and if they come up at the "right" time strategically, I'll cast one.

For me, the "right" time for a minion is when they won't get killed immediately. They need to be able to function for 3 or 4 rounds to be worth the pips to cast them. If they get killed after that, then at least its a hit I didn't take. You really have to let your minion "lead" in order to make him useful. Watch what he's doing and cast around him. If he's attacking, buff him (if he isn't buffed already). If he has attacked (and you haven't), then shield him because he will have drawn attention... etc. That being said, the mander minion is widely considered to be one of the best in the game. He does a great job of helping you without attracting a lot of attention to himself. Watch for the donate pips move so that if you are full or near full, you can cast something to make room for the pips he will donate. FYI, in the past there was a bug where if you used up all your pips and then the mander donated to you, it would be a "failed" donation so I always try to make sure I leave at least one pip. However, I don't know if that is still an issue or not as I haven't used him in a long time.

The spectral minion is often hated by balance wizards. Personally, I like to have one because if it comes up in the first round or two, I find it useful. The thing to remember is that again, you have to work around your minion and his play style. If you get the storm minion, he'll taunt and draw attention (very useful at the beginning of combat). If you get the fire minion, he'll keep shields stripped off an enemy while whittling them down, which in the case of enemies who cast tower shields is super useful so you can finish them off with a judgement. Also, he'll cast smoke mantle which you can stack with black mantle giving you SUPER high odds of fizzle. Finally, the ice minion who is super aggressive. Try to attack with him so that attract too much attention, and give him the odd shield. He's super easy to kill, but he will hammer, hammer, hammer at the enemies.

If all else fails with minions, you can always get a big health by using sap health to sacrifice your minion. Moving on to shields...

I leave more elemental in than spirit because enemies often fall back to elemental attacks even when they're in the spirit triangle. I like to cast one or two of those and discard the rest against spirit enemies just in case. Storm and fire hurt the worst, and ice is often underrated and therefore goes unshielded but can actually do some serious damage if left unchecked. The spirit shields are useful because a lot of people have vampire and you like to keep them from healing themselves as much as possible. ;)

The black mantles and precisions are useful while building pips. Just remember that precision should only be cast the round before your attack or it will be wasted. Also, don't be afraid to cast extra balance blades because you never know when you might have to wand off a weakness and if you can, you want to keep your attack boosted. The elemental traps are a just in case... that extra little boost if you're struggling to finish off an enemy.

So, final wrap up for my notes... pip management is key. Try to use up white pips on odd number rank spells (such as the 3 pip helping hands), elemental & spirit blades (or traps) and bladestorm. Don't be afraid to cast hands when you need little or no healing if you the enemies have a lot of pips and you think there is a good chance they're about to hit you. If you know you will be fighting against a lot of ice or storm attacks, drop the mantles and precisions for glacial shields, and the same applies in the case of myth or life enemies with the dream shield. If you're fighting enemies who use a lot of towers, dump some mantles and/or precisions in favor of some fire elf spells for keep those things off them.

And finally... if you're struggling with a particular boss or enemy and you just can't seem to do enough damage fast enough... camp out at the bazaar and pick up as many monstrous or giant spells as you can (as well as an empty deck). Switch to the empty deck, put in 7 of the attack spell you find is the most effective and dump those monstrous cards into the sidedeck. Meander over to unicorn lane, get in a fight and create monstrous treasure cards then (finishing off the ghost with a wand hit) and then put those new treasure cards in the side deck of your main deck (which you should switch back to). You now know that as soon as you're ready for an attack, you can discard, pull a powerful attack spell and strike, no special timing required.

Again, I hope this helps.