There’s a lot of hidden numbers in Wizard 101. How do you know if a new hat you just got is really better than your old hat? Is accuracy more important for Storm wizards than it is for Life wizards? Is Crowns gear really the best gear?

After trying on nearly every piece of gear I owned and seeing how it changed my stats, I have answers to some of these questions (and a really, really large spreadsheet!)

What are Accuracy, +Damage and +Power Pip? Which is best?

Greater Accuracy reduces the chance you will fizzle. It is added to the base Accuracy on the card you are playing. The max Accuracy you can have is 100%. The only gear that improves accuracy is Crowns gear, which is bought either with Crowns or huge, Harry Potter’s Gnomish Vault-piles of gold. The current maximum possible bonus to Accuracy by wearing Crowns gear is 9%, making my total Accuracy when wearing all the Crowns gear, 99%.

Greater Damage increases the damage your cards do. It’s either general damage covering all schools of magic, or just one (typically your primary school for the best items).

Greater Power Pip percentage increase the chance you will receive a Power Pip instead of a normal pip on a new turn.

To quickly determine how much a given item will increase your damage – other bonuses aside – add four points for each point of accuracy, three points for every percent of damage, and two points for every percent of power pip.

What should I choose for my secondary school?

Well, I’ll tell you what NOT to choose for your secondary school. Don’t choose a secondary school based on its damage. Power pips apply only to your primary school, and give such an overwhelming bonus that your primary school spells will ALWAYS be the best to use on average, no matter how weak your school is or how much your school fizzles, except against monsters of your school. And for them you use prisms to turn your magic into something they are weak against.

Choose a secondary school (or schools) based on what non-damage cards they can give you. Heals, or better shields, blades and traps, or cards that affect the entire opposing group.

Balance damage cannot be specifically blocked, so that gives it an edge in the secondary school department. The fire school’s Fire Elf is the most efficient damaging spell in the game, and at two pips for a non-Fire wizard, worth getting. Myth has two Area of Effect (AOE) spells Humoungafrog and Earthquake. The Fire school has Meteor and it is fairly cheap compared to other schools’ AOEs. Ice school has Blizzard.

Is Crowns gear the best gear?

It is very good gear, and the easiest to get, if you have the real money or the game gold to pay for it. But it isn’t the best, even though it’s the only gear with +Accuracy. Still, if you can afford it, it’s definitely worth the purchase. The extra cards Crowns gear gives, especially if it is in your primary school of magic, can give you a nice boost.

Should I choose gear with +Damage for my primary school of magic, or is it better to get +Damage that is good for any school?

Whichever kind has the highest number, since you are at your best casting spells from your primary school of magic, anyway. Don’t put away a piece of gear that has a higher +Damage number solely because it is only in your primary school. Don’t even consider gear that has a +Damage in a non-primary school of magic.

Is it a good idea to wait as long as it takes to cast a powerful spell not in my primary school?

No. And might I add, it really bugs me when wizards pass for six straight rounds so they can cast a spell out of their school just because it looks cool, but which is underpowered in their hands. Always cast damage from your primary school if at all possible. The difference in power is not even close.

Is accuracy more important for schools with low accuracy, like Storm, than schools with high accuracy, like Life?

No, it is just as important for both schools. Schools with inherently low accuracy have more powerful spells, but the power increases in equal proportion for all schools with more accuracy. The only way it would make a difference would be if your base accuracy was already 100%, in which case, adding more would give no benefit. This is not currently possible to do.

How important are health and mana when choosing gear?

That’s situational. If you do a lot of dueling, you might value health more than anything else. If you solo a lot, mana might be your thing, as you can usually refresh health between battles, but not mana. If you are often in a group, then you might want to focus entirely on damage, especially AOE damage. That said, I would feel a level 50 wizard with less than 2500 health or less than 200 mana would find themselves struggling. When I tune my own gear for straight damage, bringing both my health and mana below these limits, I struggle a LOT.

Is it better to be strong or look fabulous?

Don’t you be visiting MY dorm room wearing your battle clothes. Strut your stuff. Just saying :)