Welcome to the Wizard101 Message Boards


Player Guide
Fansites
News
Game Updates
Help

Follow important game updates on Twitter @Wizard101 and @KI_Alerts, and Facebook!

For all account questions and concerns, contact Customer Support.

By posting on the Wizard101 Message Boards you agree to the Code of Conduct.

Balance and death or Death and balance?

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Dec 12, 2016
7
Basically what the title says. I'm looking to make a new character, haven't played either element yet and I'd like to play a combination of death and balance. I just don't know which would be better for the primary school. Which would be better and why?

Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
Asollan on Dec 18, 2016 wrote:
Basically what the title says. I'm looking to make a new character, haven't played either element yet and I'd like to play a combination of death and balance. I just don't know which would be better for the primary school. Which would be better and why?
Well, here's my thoughts:

and

My own balance character is (only up to feint though). He also has a Mastery which you will need to make things a lot easier for you.

This is how I use him. I use a good amount of Treasures (as you'd imagine) including Death's X Summoning Minion Spell. It's always cool to see which one would emerge based on your number of pips :P

Also, with Feint from Death, your Spells will still pack a punch! and with the death mastery, Vampire will be very useful in the earlier levels. Also, it helps to enchant your cards with Astral Treasures like Giant, Monstrous etc until you get to level 50 where you can train these school spells of your own.

and doesn't seem too bad either, but I feel you'll have a much more effective gameplay in the latter levels having a Wizard :D

All The Best!


Adherent
Mar 18, 2009
2737
In opinion, neither is better than the other as a primary. However, those two schools do compliment each other as primary and secondary.

Defender
Dec 06, 2009
115
My thoughts is that Death Balance would be more durable and have a higher overall damage output...but balance death would have a bit more versatility.

If you have a Death mastery amulet I would say go with the Balance Death option but that's just my opinion.

From everything I have seen balance as a back up school isn't very useful as the best balance spells are balance only, whereas Death as a back up school has almost all of the leech spells available as well as feint.

Squire
Oct 29, 2011
586
This goes for every character you make, never ever train an actual secondary school, train for certain spells. Train ice to tower shield and death to feint. Those are must haves.

Defender
Oct 24, 2012
175
Get balance as your main and Death school up to feint

A+ Student
Dec 24, 2009
1895
I've done both.

I've taken Balance to level 110 and Death to level 60 (she's still working her way up).

If you start a Balance wizard...

Balance has universal blades and traps, so any second school they choose will be boosted. This school is considered "advanced" and is designed to work in a team. Because of that, the school offers "a little bit of everything" in terms of hits, heals, defenses, etc. Soloing is easy through mid-game but becomes challenging later on.

In my experience, Balance is helped quite a lot by adding Death, especially the feint. Death drains give you the ability to hit and heal at the same time. If I ever do another Balance wizard, Death will be their second school.

If you start a Death wizard...

Death is also considered an "advanced school," but soloing seems to be easier. Death's drain spells can punch through Absorbs, but not shields. You will need to carefully set up single, powerful blows by placing multiple blades and traps, then healing yourself all at once while destroying your opponent. This school thrives on patience and risk.

In early game, you can use your Curses and Feints to boost any second-school spell. Balance as a second school is not much use beyond level 50, but the one advantage it does have early on is getting an AoE (attack everyone) spell at level 16. That's the earliest of any school. Since Death doesn't get their AoE until level 48, that is one reason to consider Balance as your second. Another good option is Death plus Myth - the Humongo Frog & Minotaur are very helpful as a way to get around Tower, Death & Life shields. The Earthquake (level 48 Myth) removes everything on your opponent. Risky, but sometimes very useful when they're surrounded by shields.

Once you get past level 60 in any school, the second school becomes far less useful - so focus on what will help you reach level 60 most easily.

Good luck!

& Alia Misthaven, level 110
& Fallon Raven, level 60

Defender
Aug 25, 2014
164
Your secondary school only gives you a few spells and you can't use the spells that go beyond 7 pips unless you use a mastery amulet. So your secondary school really isn't a big deal because its not something you will utilize much, if at all. If you really want to combo, then Balance with Death. Death and Balance does not really do much. As Balance you get your school, then you can learn Death up to feint for that extra boost in damage.

Survivor
Dec 12, 2016
7
Thank you for the replies everyone!

Delver
Aug 05, 2013
253
Death and Balance mix good. Balance with death mastery is magnificent, because you can stop blade stacking "virulent plague" and cast doom and gloom which is very handy, and feint for a last minute judge from first >:D

Armiger
Jan 11, 2012
2497
Here's my thoughts:

I just started a Balance with the full intention of getting a death mastery for him. Currently he's using a life mastery, but still. My idea was for doing Balance as primary because if you do balance as secondary, you can't learn traps of blades, but if you do death as secondary, you can learn feint with TP and stack it with Hex, Balance Blade and Blade storm. Death w/balance as second, you gain no new buffs. Balance with Death secondary, you learn the strongest trap buff in the game (that's not an x-pip). Plus, add on that fact that you get Spirit Blade/Trap for free (no training point needed), and for me it seems an obvious choice for balance first, death secondary. Load in a wraith for heeling, and if you get hit, and have blades/traps stacked, use that instead of your balance hit and voila, healed a ton and hopefully a dead monster

Mastermind
Jan 05, 2014
300
I only quest, not PvP. I have for some time been working on a plan to set up my balance wizard to be able to cast what to me seems the most powerful death spell: scarecrow. The great value of scarecrow isn't so much the damage it does as the healing you get from the life steal effect. My notion is this can make it easier to defeat those special boss fights with multiple minions, just keep casting scarecrow and healing to max until the minions all die, then dealing with the boss alone is usually simple.

I have my death mastery amulet, currently I am working on crafting some Azteca clothes that give both balance and death damage bonuses. Next after that would be developing a pet that gives the scarecrow card. But I can make do with treasure cards if I have to.

Death with a balance mastery seems rather pointless. You can't use your death school blades with balance spells, and can't learn blades in a secondary school. The other way around works better since your balance blade and bladestorm DO work with death spells.

Delver
Jul 24, 2015
245
I mostly agree with DanTheTerrible. Spirit Blade and Spirit Trap are trainable, and you should pick them up. The other Balance spell people normally train to, Weakness, will not compare well with Plague, Bad Juju, or so on. Don't bother with the main series of Balance spells. Instead, go through Ice until you get Tower Shield. After that, use Training Points on astral spells such as Tough, Giant, etc.

Survivor
Aug 15, 2015
20
Asollan on Dec 18, 2016 wrote:
Basically what the title says. I'm looking to make a new character, haven't played either element yet and I'd like to play a combination of death and balance. I just don't know which would be better for the primary school. Which would be better and why?
Balance and Death. Why? You can attack with all schools. But then I would train Death up to feint with tp, the life up to saytr, then ice up to tower so you can solo most of the game.