W101: Strategy to Solo Boss Encounters

At least in Wizard City (WC), even though each zone has its own theme the maps are very similar.  You start to recognize certain bends in the road and where the end zone boss encounters will take place.  If the pattern remains the same throughout will this seem boring?   It could but maybe not.  Sometimes simplicity is fresh enough that it lasts a lifetime.  I played Monopoly as a kid, played it with my children and then we played it with my nephews.  We purchased the new themed versions along the way but the game itself – the board and property locations remained the same, and yet, playing it never got old.  Perhaps the simplicity of W101 will withstand that same test.

One of the common sequences for the WC zones is a boss encounter that’s part of the Library Dues quest series.  After Unicorn Way, where you face the Boss alone, the remaining zones have a mechanic that allows you to join with others to defeat the end zone encounter. Even so you might want to give it a try alone first.  MMO solo player that I am, you know I’d eventually get to that point.  For readers with short attention span and I mean that lovingly, I'll provide the short version here.  *Smile*

 The summary of the strategy is:

1. Identify the primary offensive magic utilized by the Boss and Sidekick
2. Counteract that offensive magic with appropriate shields and de-buffs
3. Guard against your greatest weakness – for Storm it’s accuracy which I offset using the Precision buff
4. Include your self heal spell x 2 in your base deck
5. Include spells effective against the target in your base deck (outside their magic school)
6. Balance out your 1PIP and 2PIP DPS spells appropriately
7. Include 1 to 3 powerhouse DPS cards; critical strike potential – usually 3 PIPs
8. Invest in 3 to 6 Treasure Cards: Healing, DPS and Shields are the ones I buy.
9. Enter the instance at full health and mana
10. Be patient – buffs, de-buffs, PIPs for big hits are required.  Don’t go in like a cowboy trying to nuke from the outset.
11. Kill the Sidekick first!
12. Carry one potion to replenish health and mana after the fight.  If good loot drops, I often exit, drink the potion and go back in for another round.  If the worst happens you can try again sooner.

Details of the Strategy

When it was time for me to fight the end boss in Triton, two other players were waiting to start the encounter.  We joined together and beat the pair easily, although it did take a few rounds and one of them almost died.  The encounter is an epic level boss with an elite sidekick.  After your first experience in Unicorn Way, Bosses and Sidekicks will buff themselves and debuff you.  If a high damage spell lands on you while you’re de-buffed, you can easily lose half your health in a single blow.  After solo farming the Triton boss a few times, I came up with a strategy that works very well – at least for me.

I’m a Balance/Storm wizard, which means I can take a bit of a beating even though I’m not the game’s tank class.  Balance gives me +damage buffs, -damage shields and –damage de-buffs. Balance’s damage output is moderate DPS and accuracy

Storm as my secondary line of magic gives me high damage-low accuracy output.  I use Storm for spike/critical strike DPS.  Whenever possible, I cast +10% Precision before casting a big Storm spell.  As a result, with patience and planning, my Sorcerer can take on quite a bit and dish it out in return.

Luck plays a factor in W101.  The game randomly selects spells you’ve made available in your deck so you can’t guarantee spell availability for each round.  There are techniques for managing through this that I’ll cover some other time.  My focus for this post is a technique you can use if you want/need to solo a high end encounter. This method has worked consistently and requires the use of Treasure Cards.  You can minimize your deficiencies and maximize your advantages through the strategic use of Treasure Cards.

Know Your Enemy

In my limited experience, I’ve found that the Bosses are usually from the same school of magic that was dominant in that zone.  If you want to know for sure, you can enter the instance and check.  If you don’t move forward you won’t initiate combat.  Note their schools of magic and leave.

Use Buffs and De-Buffs
Shields and de-buffs are important.  I include 3 copies of the appropriate shield in my base deck to increase the odds that I get it in the first shuffle.  I use my first turn to apply my shield.  The Shields are zero PIP which sets me up for a 2-PIP spell the next round.  Be mentally prepared to take damage the first couple of rounds without panicking.

Use Treasure Cards
Balance provides me with a shield that reduces incoming damage from Ice, Storm and Fire.  If I’m fighting mobs whose primary is from the other schools of magic, I purchase appropriate damage shield cards.  Slow and steady wins the solo race against multiple mobs.  With that in mind, here’s how I build out my Treasure Card selection:

• (2) Ghoul cards because they do damage and return 50% of the damage back to me as health. It’s often the amount of damage I need to final blow ,the Sidekick while gaining a little health back for myself. (Cycle through Draw until it pops)

• (2) Fire Elf cards to provide damage over time against the Boss mob.  When the stars align, this is the first offensive spell I cast.  I put the Fire Elf on the Boss so that he’s taking some damage while I’m killing the Sidekick.

• (2) Shields if necessary should be purchase if you don't have the right ones in your base set of spells.

• (2) of any high damage cards that you have received for free as loot drops or quest completion rewards

All in all, there are 3 to 4 Treasure Cards that I want at my disposal: DOT, Health, Shield, and free Crit Damage.  I add them into the deck x2 in case things are going very wrong.  I’ve yet to use more than 1 copy of any Treasure Card in a single encounter.

In a perfect world the encounter goes something like this:
1.    Apply shield to myself  (1 PIP available / 0 PIPs used)
2.    Fire Elf the Boss (2 PIPs available / 2 PIPs used)
3.    DPS the sidekick (1 PIP available / 1 PIP used)
4.    DPS to kill sidekick (1 PIP available – use it if needed, wand it if possible)
5.    Cast Precision to increase hit chance (1 to 2 PIPs available / 0 PIPs used)
6.    Cast highest damage 2 PIP DPS spell or best 1 PIP DPS if my health is low
7.    Cast Self Heal (2 PIPs) or Cast Ghoul for damage + health (2 PIPs)
8.    Now its a 1v1 fight. I dispatch the Boss as quickly as possible.

Things change each time you try this routine.  You have fizzles, the mobs get off a great combo on you or the cards just don’t shuffle in your favor.  Regardless, with this setup I’ve been able to recover from all unforeseen problems and bad luck.  I’ve exited with most of my health and mana.  Other times I’ve survived by the skin of my teeth – but survived nevertheless.  If at any point I received the bonus PIP, I can heal early or roll the dice on a monster 3 PIP spell which would be directed at the Boss even if the Sidekick is alive. 

I’ve farmed Bosses in Triton, Cyclops and Firecat Alley using this method.  I did Firecat Alley early because I wasn’t sure of the zone sequences.  I found it annoying to click past the quests from Firecat once I realized that I should be in Triton.  Consequently, I decided to just do the quests I had without accepting new ones to clean up my quest log.  Somehow I already had a Boss encounter and mopped them up no problem at level 9.

I just turned level 10 and have farmed the bosses from the zones mentioned above.  I can’t tell if that’s expected or not since the mobs don’t have levels that map to the player levels.  It feels powerful doing them solo at levels 8 to 10 but I have no idea if that’s the case.  Regardless, it’s a strategy that lets me complete my quests on my own pace versuses asking around for help or worse just standing around waiting like I see other players having to do.  At some point I would like to experience a really epic battle that requires multiple players for several rounds or more.  Continuing to use strategy in a game that randomly selects your options is entertaining.

Comments

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

Excellent tip about -damage de-buffs impacting DOTs. I hadn't factored that into my rotations. I knew about keeping multiple wands from reading Tipa. Unfortunately, I only have two so far and their on the low damage side but I switch out when needed.

I also considered two-boxing with Life/Fire but thought to myself, "Serious, are you going to two box W101????" and decided to get a grip and not do it. *Laugh* Life/Fire or Life/Myth seem like nice companions for my Balance/Storm though.

[Mallika]

I'm creating an account for Wizard101 right now because of you and Tipa. :D

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

Try a few levels and let us know how you like it. If you're going to play for a bit let's figure out a way to meet in game and add to Friends List.

I'm taking my time and doing every single quest. The fact that I quested in AOC, a lot in WAR and now is making me rethink my stance on not liking quests. I guess I didn't like the quest systems of all the other games I'd played before and took them as the norm.

Anyway, you can easily hit level 6 in a couple of hours and catch me at my slow-poke level 11 in a weekend. Hope you like it. I'm enjoying the longer battles but would prefer to do them with adults.

[Alysianah aka Saylah]

Just noticed you were caught in spam filter. Yes, I wish it there was a more direct way to add people to friends list. Shouldn't be so hard. :-(

There is no way to respec so be careful with how you spend your talent points.