Wizard Bootcamp: Magical Math

[ValdusWildheart]

Wizard Bootcamp: Magical Math

Blade me up, Scotty!

With the release of the super high health bosses in Darkmoor, I've heard a lot of wizards say something to the effect, "Oh my gosh, they have so much health we all need to hit." My reaction is almost always the opposite: with that much health I want a single strong hitter, supported by blades and traps from the team. Why? Every blade you put on ramps damage exponentially. It's easy to underestimate the effect one lowly blade can have at these levels.

Now, I realize not every team comes armed to the teeth with every stacking blade known to man. But for the sake of illustration, here's what you can do turn by turn:

Turn 1 Hit: 3 blades + Hit
Turn 2 Hit: 7 blades (4 from turn 1, 3 from turn 2, + hit)
Turn 3 Hit: 11 blades

Here's what it looks like if you plot it out (this assumes 100% gear damage and average 35% blade):

Turn 2 Hit = 15,800 points of damage
Turn 3 Hit = 52,400!! points of damage

Nothing in the spiral currently can survive that kind of Turn 3 hit! Just one more turn from a turn 2 hit with 3 more blades and the damage is more than tripled.

The Alternative: Multiple Hitters! Let's take the next best case scenario: 2 hitters, each supported by one blader:

Turn 1 Hit: 1 blade + Hit
Turn 2 Hit: 3 blades (2 from turn 1, 1 from turn 2, + hit)
Turn 3 Hit: 5 blades + Hit

The maximum cumulative damage on turn 3 from this scenario is 8,700 from each wizard, for a total of 17,400 damage. And, that's assuming all blades, with no one hitter using traps. That will kill the mobs, but the Darkmoor bosses will barely be half dead. And then you’ve got 2 wizards out of pips and another 3-4 rounds to survive. Oddly, the damage stays right around that level with 3 or 4 hitters as well (4 hitters with 2 blades each is 14,000 damage).

Did you Rob an Armory?

Where in the heck do you get that many blades? Well this isn't math, but just a quick note to support the feasibility of that much of a boost. Mobs will, for the most part, be eliminated with 6 or less blades. The rest can go towards traps: school traps, tri-traps, hex, curse & feint.

• Blades: Sharpened blades "stack" with trained blades (both will be used on hit). In addition, any unique source of blades or sharpen enchants will stack: Pet enchanted armament will stack with an item/gear sharpen from Jewel of the Apiary. Item/gear/pet blades will all stack with each other. Dark pacts are now being used regularly and can be used by any hitter since it's a universal blade (go do that quest if you're death and don't have it!). And of course Treasure cards stack with all. Elemental and spirit blades are available in the library.
• Traps: Feint counts as 2 blades (roughly) in the above chart. If a wizard has potent and feint trained, that stacks with regular trained feint – meaning they'll both be used and count as 4 "buffs." Potent versions of school and tri-traps will also stack with each other. In addition, item/gear potent also stacks. Some crowns gear gives a potent card, but you can also buy Black Light Medallion in KH which gives you a bonus balance blade! Jewel of the Feint can be purchased in the Bazaar. And of course treasure cards!
• Other boosts: Don't forget you can also put up a universal damage spell such as Darkwind or Wyldfire. With one hitter, the rest of the team often has plenty of pips available to cast a Treasure Card version on the hit round. There are also the school auras such as Galvanic or Furnace. Finally, prisms can often count as a buff (not always) as the opposite-school boost is usually quite good.

Avoiding Math – My Cheat Sheet

I know this was perhaps a bad flashback to 9^th grade math (whether decades ago, or yesterday), so I thought, I’d share a cheat sheet I use a lot to quickly do my blade counts for my hits. When I hit, I like to know that it will kill. The penalty for hitting and not killing include (i) building aggro and this being targeted for damage by the enemy while (ii) you try to re-pip and dig for blades for a second hit. It can make the remainder of the battle definitively not fun, especially if the worst of the boss cheats start. Therefore I don’t rely on critical, guesswork, or luck. In addition, it’s helpful to inform your team of the number as well: everyone likes a goal.

I plugged in roughly v2.0 Shane's health and I’ll need to get to the green to "go" to clear the enemy. You'd need 9 buffs for glowbugs, sirens, or Mystic Colossus (all colossal). Twelve for frog, scarecrow, or dragon (calculated based on first hit, not the full damage). But you can see approximate damage for any number of blades for the strongest hitting AoE spells for each school. So, e.g., if the mobs are sitting at 8,000 health, you’ll need 4-7 blades plus traps on the boss (of course you can always do 9 blades!).

Assumes 100% gear damage and 35% blades. Damage in thousands:

Good Luck and Good Hunting!


Other Wizard Bootcamp posts you may enjoy:

• The Supporting Cast
  
• Zen and the Art of Healing
  
• Engage! Getting into the Battle Ring
  
• If I Had a "Hammer"
  
• Discarding (The Needle in the Haystack)

[Sierra SeaSong]

Nice guide, would be helpful to know gear damage boost used for the "cheat sheet" table for each school, unless I missed it?

[Maria Leaf]

Thanks for the guide, it will be easier to calculate the damage now.

[barnestormer]

This is a great guide.

Darkmoor battles tend to defeat this strategy though. Yes, the blades accumulate damage, there is no denying that. But the amount of shields, stuns, other cheat coefficients and factors makes it risky.

In the graveyard, the cost of three people blading a storm or fire wizard is exponential in the sense they lose a turn (still need a turn to put up conviction or block) and the shielding cheats.

Shane makes blade stacking nearly fatal with beguile and the supercharges. (i rarely see the storm hammer remove these) rather, i see the blade stacking getting riskier as each turn progresses. I cannot count --well maybe i can-- how many times i have seen a fully charged 'hammer' kill the team. or . . killed with their blade chainsaw and full-house of pips with the mash or a 180+ % supercharge hit. Certainly more often than a successful one hit miracle.

Malistare is a bit different, but still is a risky proposition when the minions are present.

[ValdusWildheart]

Yes, the blades accumulate damage, there is no denying that. But the amount of shields, stuns, other cheat coefficients and factors makes it risky. In the graveyard, the cost of three people blading a storm or fire wizard is exponential in the sense they lose a turn (still need a turn to put up conviction or block) and the shielding cheats.

I would counter by saying you "lose turns" by spamming hits as well -- essentially using many rounds to try to kill over time vs hit quick. Not only that, but you keep your pips low and have limited recourse for heals, stuns, dispels and so on.

I agree on using blades only -- I used "blades" as an illustration. Any boost will do, including traps/feints, bubbles, and auras (lumped under "Did you rob an armory?")

This wasn't really meant as a Darkmoor guide, but specific to that:

For Yevgeny, we usually kill in one shot on turn 3. The exception is if we're going second and are stunned on turn one.

• Turn 1: Conviction for all
• Turn 2: 3 feints on boss (or equivalent of 6 buffs/"blades" in this illustration) and hammer blades self. An alternative is for the hammer to stun block and aura avoiding ever casting a blade.
• Turn 3: 3 blades from support. By casting blades on the hit round, even if they are stunned through conviction, the hammer can still hit fine.
• Even if you lose a turn by going second, it still works by round 4.
• Yes, the problem is this requires a storm hitter. Otherwise you will need to go the extra turn for extra blades. You should still be out of there on turn 4 if everything goes right. Even with Humongofrog.

For Shane the only way this works with consistency is if someone dispels him until the hit round. You can still kill on turn 3. If it needs to go further, wand on turn 3 and use turn 4. Better to have any single blades covered up by tri blades and/or cast on hit round.

For Malistaire I find this concept more important than ever.

Phase 1: Kill minions. Feint each on round 1, hammer casts aura. 3 blades on round 2 and storm lord. Done.
Phase 2: Mali I. 3 Spirit/myth traps + prism. 4 Storm/elemental traps. 3 blades on hit round, with no risk of losing any. Done. The round prior to hit we often put up a sanctuary, rebirth, doom.
Phase 3: Same as phase 2, just less health to deal with

I have found taking a lot of extra rounds for many small hits is much more difficult, although more feasible now that they have toned down the cheats. However, I've yet to see it work without fleeing and porting back as the damage from the cheats is just too high.

Also, if everyone is new to the dungeon a 2-4 hour run is OK. Once you're trying to farm it, it becomes less OK and this is a way to make it go faster. I'd personally rather have two 3-round battles with Shane (after first failed) vs. a single 12-round + battle.

At the end though, for Darkmoor I'd say do whatever the team is comfortable with and can do successfully.

- - - Updated - - -

Nice guide, would be helpful to know gear damage boost used for the "cheat sheet" table for each school, unless I missed it?

XD I hid it right above the graph: 100% gear damage and 35% blade. Same for both the table and the chart. Some schools will be lower, but with bigger blades. Most storms will be higher. I was trying to thread the needle a bit.

[psythedude]

May want to take into account that storm hitters can use steal charm of Shane's supercharge.

[ValdusWildheart]

May want to take into account that storm hitters can use steal charm of Shane's supercharge.

If you get a first turn or full pip steal, I would count the steal as 3 blades just as an estimate. Since that can vary, you have to calculate that based on the blade you get. Sometimes a second round steal after a hit is not a very big stolen blade.

Using that example, from the table you see you'd need 9 buffs to kill. If you get a big steal charm, then you'd need 6 buffs + steal.

Furthering the example, I usually run my storm with 126 damage (or about). That's getting close to an additional blade with the 100% assumption. In addition, the team usually focuses on bigger blades: sharp elementals, tc elementals, sharp storm, exceeding the 35% assumption. Therefore, I can deduct a blade/buff from the table. I'll use 5 + steal.

Conversely, if you have 70% gear damage, you'd need to add a blade.

The calculation is Damage = Enchanted Hit * (1 + Gear damage as a decimal) * (1 + Average buff as a decimal)

You know, just in case anyone wants to be completely precise :P

[Sierra SeaSong]

May want to take into account that storm hitters can use steal charm of Shane's supercharge.

This is a general guide, I realize everyone is obsessed with Darkmoor however :O

[Jonathan Greenflame]

Very nice guide, I just printed it out to keep on hand.

[RamSamSam]

Why do you have Humongofrog in there? Really, is anyone using that in Darkmoor?