Basic:Duels

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Duels are one of the foundations of Wizard101. They are how players may earn rewards, complete quests, and enjoy the game.

Vs. NPCs/Creatures

To engage in a duel with a Creature, you only need to walk up to it. In earlier zones, sidewalks are where Wizards will trek if they wish to avoid Duels with Creatures, in later Worlds, there may not be a "sidewalk", and safe areas will be judged by the Wizards. Once you get in a Duel, a Dueling circle will appear and you will be assigned to the first position, assuming you enter the duel first. In most locations in Wizard City, there will be as many Creatures in the fight as there are players. Once you reach the locations Crab Alley or Colossus Boulevard in Wizard City, the normal number of Creatures in a fight will be equal to the number of Wizards plus one, up to a maximum of 4, and will work like this throughout these areas and on. However, there are special locations, such as Sunken City, where the number of Creatures allowed in a Duel will always be 3 or 4. Summoned Minions do not count as players and will not affect the number of Creatures. If you win a Duel against a Creature(s), you will earn Experience based on the Spells you cast and possibly other rewards, such as equipment for your Wizard, Housing items, Reagents, or Snacks. If you are overcome by a Creature and are defeated, you will be sent back to the Commons area of the particular World you are in (Common Areas are The Commons, The Oasis, Regent Square, Jade Palace, The Basilica, Celestia Base Camp, Baobab Crossroads, Caliburn, The Zocalo, Bastion, Walruskberg, Caravan, Aerial Shores, Northguard, Pigswick Academy, and Garden of Hesperides). If you aren't the only one in a Duel and are defeated, the other Wizard(s) have the chance to heal you before the Duel is over. If the other Wizard(s) are defeated or the enemies are defeated before you are revived, you will be sent to the Commons area of the World you are in.

Strategy

When you enter a duel, you are given a selection of seven cards drawn randomly from those you loaded in your deck. Beginning players start with a deck that holds 14 cards. Higher level decks provide more card slots, as your Wizard learns more Spells. After a card is played or discarded, it will be replaced on the next round with a random draw from your deck. You can right-click on a card to discard it, if you're sure you won't need it beacuse you will not recieve it again in the current duel. If you wish, you can replace a discarded Spell with a random Treasure Card from your deck's sideboard by clicking the Draw button. You must load some Treasure Cards into your deck's sideboard before the Duel to use this function. Note that Treasure Cards are one-time-use spells. Unless it fizzles, it's gone for good. Save them for the tough fights. At higher levels, a Spell to Reshuffle your deck is available. It can be useful if you are using a small deck, or are drawing many ineffective cards. Once all your cards have been played or discarded, your Wizard will be left helpless, unless a Reshuffle is performed. Note that each Reshuffle in your deck can only be used once per Duel. Duels are turn based as opposed to real-time, meaning every player (or NPC) chooses a spell to cast from their available cards, and then chooses the target of that spell. When all players have chosen, or when the time frame of 30 seconds runs out, the turn begins. The game randomly decides which side will go first. This order will stay the same for the rest of the fight. Play begins with the player/creature furthest to their team's right on the starting side, then continues clockwise. I.e., if the opposing side goes first, all of them will have an opportunity to cast before your side does. The Duel will continue in this fashion: starting at the same side each round and moving clockwise. If a player is defeated (or flees) or a creature is killed, that space is skipped. When it's your Wizard's turn, he/she will attempt to cast the Spell you have chosen. If it's successful, it will do its thing: damage, healing, buff or debuff, etc. If it fizzles, the card is returned to your deck and can be drawn again. It is important to keep the order of the duel in mind. For example, if you're the first player to cast, you may consider casting a debuff on an opponent so subsequent players can take advantage of it. E.g., cast a +25% Fire Trap on a Creature, so the next player can cast a Fire Spell for extra damage. Another example, if your health is low and the other side goes first each Round, remember that each of the 'bad guys' will have a chance to do damage to you before you have a chance to heal yourself. So heal early. Hint: you can toggle the 2D dueling display to view an enemy’s exact health by pushing Ctrl-I. Spells can be more accurately cast on friends and enemies by clicking on their nameplate that is shown in the 2D dueling display format. Latecomers If you join a duel in progress, you have to wait for the round to end (i.e., for all players and NPCs to cast) before you get your chance to cast. Player vs Player What is Player vs Player? Player vs Player (or PvP) is a combat feature where players compete against each other instead of against creatures. Similar to dueling, Player vs Player Dueling is a much more in depth method of matching your skills against other players. Where can I play PvP? The Player vs Player Arena is located in Unicorn Way, inside the current dueling arena. Just look for Diego the Duelmaster, he's standing next to the entrance. Inside you will find four pedestals to set up your matches. The pedestal on the very left is for Practice PvP. All players can participate in this, and it doesn't affect your PvP ranking. Going right, you will find the Ranked PvP pedestal next to it. These are duels that can earn you Arena Tickets and will affect your PvP ranking. They are only available to players with a Subscription Account or those who pay 80 Crowns per Duel/240 per day. To the right of the Ranked pedestal is the Tournaments pedestal. Tournaments are events entered with a fee of Crowns, and can yield great rewards depending on how you place. To the very right is the Leaderboards pedestal, where you can view your ranking in the PvP system and see who's on top. You can also purchase Practice PvP and Ranked PvP pedestals from Roland Silverheart, each for 2,000 Arena Tickets. They can be placed in your house for quicker sign up. The sheet on the left is for Ranked Dueling. Joining a Match When you first get started, you may want to join a match that someone has already created. To do this, simply click on either scroll, depending on the type of match you're interested in joining. A window will appear showing you all the matches that are currently waiting for players to join. To join any of these matches, simply click on the word Join in any circle. You can choose to leave at any time. You can also choose to 'Quick Join' which will place you in any open spot in a suitable battle. You cannot join if the match is greyed out. This could be because it is a friends only match or you do not meet the level restrictions. Entering the Match You can continue to explore Wizard101 while you wait for your match to start. You can check your match status by clicking on the PvP Icon on your screen, this is located in the top right corner of your screen, next to the Friends Button. Once all players have joined a match, you will be asked to confirm that you still want to participate by clicking on to "Go to Arena". This will teleport you and the other duelists to a random arena once everyone has accepted. If you flee, you automatically lose, even if you were already defeated. After fleeing a duel you must wait five minutes before joining another PvP. If you log off during a PvP the five minute timer will not begin until you log back in again. This is so you can't bypass waiting by logging off. If you enter combat without spells, or run out of spells mid-combat you will be automatically defeated. Creating a Match If you want to create a match, click "Create Match" and this window will appear, letting you set all the settings for the match, including how many people, friends only and the levels of the opponents you'd like to compete against. Watching a Match You can choose to watch a match in progress. Just click the Eye Flag to see a list of matches you can watch. Then select a match and you will be teleported to an area outside of the dueling circle. There is an exit placed in each arena, that will return you to the Dueling Arena. When in the Arena there are two button on the left, above your health, mana, and energy globes. The left one removes the right one so you can see better and clicking the right one will make your screen go into battle mode. This means you can see the battle exactly as you would see if you were in the PvP duel yourself. You are also able to see the health and pips of the players. It aslo shows what spell the current player is casting but only as they begin casting it. You can not see all the spells being cast that round.While in here you can still move and type while in battle mode. To exit Battle Mode simply press the button again. Your PvP Rankings Subscribers can see their PvP rankings in their character screen. Just press C when you are not in combat and you will see the PvP panel tab on the right. It is the logo of the crosses swords. Click it to bring up this window, listing all your ranks. Arena Tickets Subscribers, bring up your Character Screen (C) to see how many Arena Tickets you have. You will see them located near the Gold and Crowns on the Left Side of the Character Page. Tickets can be spent at Diego to buy lots of rare and powerful clothing! You can also buy reagents from Diego for Arena Tickets. Arena Tickets can also give you entry to Tournaments. How Duels Work/Aftermath After each character has chosen a spell to cast, each card’s animation is played in a pre-determined order, which is either the opponents first or the players first. This order will stay the same for the rest of the fight. Once you use or discard a card, it is sent to the Discard pile and cannot be used again until after the battle or if you use Reshuffle. The card used will be replaced by a random card from your deck, unless you didn't use a card. So on the next turn, you have the 6 cards you didn’t use from the turn before, and the new card which replaced the one you used on the previous turn to choose from in your hand. This process is repeated until one side is completely defeated, that is, all their health points are taken down to zero or you have no more cards. If you have used up every single card in your spell deck (including Treasure Cards), you lose the match. The only way to regain cards is casting the spell Reshuffle which restores all your previously used or discarded cards (except successfully casted Treasure Cards). Tournaments Tournaments are events that happen over a period of time rather than a normal PvP which do not have a set time limit, whereas Tournaments can take about anywhere from two to three hours. They cost Gold for Subscribers, and Crowns for non-subscribers to enter. For Subscribers, the gold amount varies based on the character level, while for non-subscribers, the entrance fee is 849 Crowns. Every Tournament has four matches, and even if you lose the first battle you will always play all four. At the end you will receive a reward. The higher you place, the better. 1st, 2nd, 3rd all receive trophies where they can be placed in the house. All players will also receive Arena tickets, again the higher your placing, the more tickets you receive.