Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Character Guide: Wizard

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         | Puzzle Quest              |

         | Wizard guide              |

         | Version 1.1 (6/           |

         | Copyright 2007 Mikedn8c   |

         | [email protected]     |

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--TABLE OF CONTENTS--

	

	1. Introduction

	2. How to build an effective Wizard

		-Spells

		-Stat distribution & Firewalker

		-Attack strategy

	3. Equipment/Forges and Mounts

		-Equipment

		-Forges

		-Mounts

        4. What about stat-farming? 

	5. Legalese





1. Introduction

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  Puzzle quest is a PSP and DS title that is of the puzzle genre. 

You must align columns or rows of three or more gems to deal damage, gain 

mana, gain money or gain experience. This sounds like fun but not enough to 

make a game about, however the developers added RPG elements like 4 

different character classes, different equipments,a variety of opponents and

more. This is a creative title and requires alot of strategy and planning 

for your character and a little bit of luck for those tough battles.





2. How to build an effective wizard

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  So you want to be a wizard? sweet dude. The wizard is a character that has

a diverse collection of spells and can have many different strategies. If 

you want a powerful class that is not broken like the warrior but needs 

strategic planning than the wizard is for you. The finesse needed to create 

an effective wizard is what drew me into this class. In the beginning of the

game you may find yourself struggling against the likes of theifs and bats.

However the more your wizard develops, the stronger he will become. You 

will notice this around the early-middle of the game when you start 

recieving the spells that make the wizard the powerhouse that he really is.

this section is designed to pick apart the strategies you should use to 

maximize your wizards effectivness, and how to distribute your stat points.







			    ***Spell List***





  The spells of the wizard vary in effectivenes, you may not use some at all 

and others you may rely on for the whole game. Here is a list of the 

wizard's spells and my personal analysis of them.





FIRE BOLT- level 1

Mana needed- 4 red, 4 yellow

  

Does 4 points of damage to energy. Plus an additional +1 for every 8 red 

mana.

  

 Mike's Opinion(my opinion)- This spell will be your friend for your first 

few levels, this is what you should use your mana on. What i would do when I

was a low level wizard was work my red mana up to its max and spam it until

I ran out of yellow mana. This will be your main offense for your early 

levels. Dont even think about using it in the middle of the game because it 

just does not have enough power against mid-level opponents.





CHANNEL FIRE- level 2

Mana needed- 3 green, 3 yellow, 3 blue



Adds +5 red mana. Your turn does not end.



Mike's Opinion- Ok, This spell has its times to use and times not to. Youd 

think that it would be useful because your main mana is fire and this spell 

adds to it. However, early in the game you rarely have time to build up your

other manas to use this spell, and youll usually find a match of reds before

you find a matches of green, yellow and blue. Just try to find matches of 

red than using this spell, but if its down to the last moves of the battle, 

you need fire, and you have the neccesary mana for channel fire than be my 

guest cause it may very well decide the difference of battle. So unless its 

absolutely neccesary I wouldnt rely on this spell much.





FIRE SHIELD- level 3

Mana needed- 5 red, 6 blue



Protects against 1 point of damage whenever you recieve 2 or more damage. 

Lasts for 8 turns, plus an additional turn for every 3 of your red mana.



Mike's Opinion- Ok, this spell protects you against 1 point for damage

(whopieee!) and the mana requirments are not exactly a bargain. Use at your 

own risk but I doubt youll benefit at all from it and it will ultimately 

just drain your hard earned mana. The red mana you waste for negating one 

point of damage would help much more in dealing 4 or more points to your 

oppnent with firebolt.





HASTE- level 4

Mana needed- 6 yellow, 5 blue



Does 4 points of damage to your enemy whenever you get an extra turn. Lasts 

for 10 turns, plus an additional turn for every 5 of your yellow mana.



Mike's Opinion- This is a great spell when your beginning and even through 

the early-middle of the game. Cast it as early as possible then play as you 

normally would and hope you recieve alot of extra turns. Recast if you would

like.







MANA BURN- level 5 

Mana needed- 3 green, 4 mana



Reduces your enemy's Mana reserves by 5. Your turn does not end if your red 

mana is +8.



Mike's Opinion- Well, because of my playstyle I dont use this spell at all.

I dont really believe in reducing your opponents mana because you should 

always be on the offense, not trying to stop your opponent from attacking 

you. Although as you gain mana you could spam this and make you opponent's 

mana reserves 0, but I dont really think it necesary, once again I would 

just use you mana towards firebolt. Uses may vary depending on playstyle.







HAND OF POWER- level 6

Mana needed- 5 green, 2 red, 5 yellow



Adds +2 to damage for 10 turns. This effect may be stacked twice.



Mike's Opinion- Yea, it adds 2 points to your damage that you deal, if you 

stack it then it adds 4, still no big deal, right? Wrong, Once you recieve 

the spell FIREBALL your set, why because FIREBALL does 8 damage and destroys

a 3X3 box of gems. So lets say you have 3 skulls in the area of a 3X3 box 

and you stack hands of power twice and your base skull damage is 12 per 

skull( a fairly low base skull damage, trust me if you follow this guide 

your base skull damage will be much higher).  If you cast FIREBALL on that 

box then thats (3X12)+(3X4)=48 which is much higher then 36. that extra 12 

damage is from the HAND OF POWER. 

*NOTE* If you match 3 skulls you will only get +4 not 16.







LIGHT- level 7

Mana needed- 6 red, 10 yellow



Causes Blind on your enemy for 2 turns. Plus an additional turn for every 8 

yellow mana.



Mike's Opinion- Never really used this spell, I guess its good if your the 

kind of person who likes sucky spells. Seriously its a waste of mana use 

your mana for something useful, maybe HAND OF POWER.







HEAT SINK- level 8

Mana needed- 3 green, 3 blue



Reduces your enemy's Red mana by 8 and gives it to you.



Mike's Opinion- Ahhhh This is the much better form of channel fire because 

of two reasons. You get more red mana for less other mana AND it steals it 

from your opponent. Although this could be a problem if your opponent has 

less than 8 red mana however this is usually uncommon with the mana hoarding

A.I. 







FIREBALL- level 10

Mana needed- 9 red, 6 yellow



Destroys a selected 3X3 grid of gems gaining full effect for the gems 

destroyed. Plus an additional 8 damage.



Mike's Opinion- Great spell by itself, even better if you cast HAND OF POWER

before using it. FIREBALL combined with HANDS OF POWER should become your 

main attack strategy. 







WALL OF FIRE- level 12

Mana needed- 9 green, 6 red



Damage is applied to red mana instead of life points. Lasts until Red mana 

is zero and reduces your red mana by 2 per turn.



MIke's Opinion- This spell is OK but in most cases for a wizard you red mana

is your life blood. You could say that red mana is more important than life 

points. I dont use this spell instead I keep my red mana as high as possible

so I can use more offensive spells and the more red mana I have the more 

damage per skull I get(more on that in equipment section).







FLAMING SKULLS- level 15

Mana needed- 3 green, 6 red, 3 yellow, 3 blue



Turns green gems into skulls. Turns blue gems into red gems.



Mike's Opinion- This spell is very good, it gives you your two favorite gems

, skulls and red mana. However, be warned once you use this your turn ends 

and if you did not get any extra turns by casting this spell you just gave 

your opponent a bunch of options to deal damage to you and get extra turns. 

So use this spell only if you know you will get a 4 or 5 of-a-kind or if you

feel that you will kill your opponent before it becomes his turn by casting 

it.







CAUTERIZE- level 20

Mana needed- 6 red, 8 blue



Adds +1 to life points for everyone red gem in play Red gems are not 

destroyed



Mike's opinion- Well on average there are about 9 red gems in play so thats 

plus 9 life points. If you wait 3 turns with an ultimate troll ring you will

have that in 3 turns without paying mana. If your on your last legs though 

and you need life points then maybe this would be useful, I dunno Ive used 

it a few times.







METEOR STORM- level 25

Mana needed- 10 green, 14 red, 6 yellow



Turns 8 random gems into red gems you gain full effects for all gems 

transformed.



Mike's Opinion- This spell is pretty dumb, your spending 30 total mana for 

8 random red gems which will probably give you red mana and theres around a 

20-15% chance that you will get a 4/5 of-a-kind from it. You could get more 

mana from heat sink. This spell has no uses other than to waste mana.





FINGER OF DEATH- level 30

Mana needed- 8 green, 8 red, 8 yellow, 8 blue



Turns a selected grid into a +5 skull. After gem is trnasformed, the turn 

ends.



Mike's Opinion- This is a fun spell because it almost guarentees damage 

because there is almost always two skulls next to eachother on the board. 

Although the damage output is not nearly as high as the FIREBALL/HAND OF 

POWER combo, It can end an opponent who has a fair bit of health left. This 

spell is also great for creating 4/5 of-a-kinds just be sure to not set up 

your opponent with a good match.







LAVA CORE- level 40

Mana needed- 12 green, 24 red



Adds +12 to maximum red mana. Your turn does not end.



Mike's Opinion- Well this spell makes sense, It will ultimately allow you to

deal out more damage because of firewalker. But honestly, it costs 36 total

mana and will make you have to regain your lost 24 mana before you can 

actually start to use the +12 to your maximum red mana. This spell is not 

necesary becase you'll already be doing enough damage anyways.







FLAMING AVATAR- level 50

Mana needed- 8 green, 25 red, 8 yellow, 10 blue



Adds points eqaul to your red mana to a random skill. Reduces your red mana 

to zero.



Mike's Opinion- This skill is just something to mess around with, Just to 

see how high you can raise a stat. There are 7 stats so its a slim chance 

your red mana will be added to the stat you want which is why this spell has

such low combat effectiveness.









		       ***Stat Distribution***



  2 Words, FIRE MASTERY, it is all you really need to survive as a wizard. 

It only costs one point to raise so pile on all of your points then buy stat

ipoints at the temple to raise your other stats as you see fit. The more 

Fire mastery you have, the more damage you will deal because of FireWalkers 

staff which is a staff that "Adds +1 damage for every 4 of your red mana 

whenever you do 3 or more damage". So the more red mana you can aqquire the 

more damage youll do when you match skulls of fireball them. This is a 

necesity for the perfect wizard, just keep looking for it in the shop, it 

will usually appeare around midgame. Fire mastery also increases the amount 

of mana you get for matching reds, the likeliness of an extra turn from 

matching red and your max red mana cap. Good stuff.



*Note*- for how to max out stats go to "What about stat farming?"







			***Attack Strategy***



  OK, as I mentioned before your going to want to use HAND OF POWER stacked 

twice(or once, but it will be weaker) then use FIREBALL and box in as many 

skulls as possible into a 3X3 grid. This will maximize your damage giving 

you the most bang for your buck. With Firewalker your damage will skyrocket 

to 33 damage PER SKULL which is 99 damage more 3 skulls caught in the 

FIREBALL. This combo is what makes the Wizard. And if you run out of mana 

use HEAT SINK to get 8 red mana for a bargain. channel most of your 

resources for the FIREBALL/HAND OF POWER combo and build up your red to its 

max to get the strongest attack and unleash it on your opponent.







3. Equipment And Mounts

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  In Puzzle quest equipment is a major aspect of combat, just by subtly 

tweaking your equipment you could change the outcome of a battle. But 

theres so many different types which should I choose? Mounts are also an 

option in this game although they do not play as big of a part as equipment 

in combat they can boost your stats and give you spells.







			   ***Equipment***



  First I will discuss the Ideal equipment setup for the Wizard. But for a 

generic setup you should basically have equipment that does 1 or more of 

these things.



1. Boosts your fire mastery

2. Gives you more fire mana at start of combat

3. Regenerates a fair amount of life(troll ring)

4. Firewalker

5. Increases your damage



  If each piece of your equipment will statisfy at least one of these terms 

then your good,although some satisfy these terms MUCH better than others. 

I'll show you my equipment and why I use it.





~Helms and Crowns~



HELM OF RAM- Adds +2 damage to when ever you do 3 or more damage



  I chose this helm because it simply gives me more damage its like adding 

an extra HAND OF POWER spell in the FIREBALL/HAND OF POWER combo.





~Clothing and Armor~



GRASP OF FIRE(Rune item)- Adds +2 to your fire mastery. Gives +24 to Red 

Mana at the beginning of each combat.



  This Rune can be formed by using: Rune of Lava, Rune of Chaos, Rune of 

Fire.



 I use this rune becuase of it's high starting mana bonus, the +2 is not 

really of any significance but you should consider forging this.





~Weapons~



FIREWALKER'S STAFF- Adds +5% to Fire Resistance, and adds +1 to damage for 

every 4 of your red Mana whenever. Nuff said.





~Miscellaneous~



DRAGONHORN OF FIRE(Rune item)- Adds +6 to all of your mana reserves whenever

you match 4 or 5 gems. Gives +8 to red mana at the beginning of each 

combat.



This rune can be formed by using: Rune of Music, Rune of Dragons, Rune of 

Fire.



This rune is good becuase the increase of red mana you start of with in the 

beginning of the match is not to shabby. The real beauty lies in the adds 

+6 to all of your mana reserves whenever you match 4 or 5 gems. This will 

make 4/5 of a kinds much more fruitful.



			

			   

			     ***Forges***



I added in this section when Soulgenesis posted a very nice wizard setup 

that utilizes Rune weapons, If you manage to create these forges your 

equipment set will be far superior to what I posted above. If you want a 

super wizard then these are the forges you NEED to make.



Soulgenesis's forges:



HEAD

Relic of Fire [Rune of Jewels + Rune of Gods + Rune of Fire ]

Adds +6 to damage for each full Mana Reserve when doing 3 or more damage.

Gives +16 to Red Mana at the beginning of each combat.



BODY

Clasp of Fire [Rune of Lava + Rune of Gods + Rune of Fire]

Adds +7 to your Fire Mastery.

Gives +16 to Red Mana at the beginning of each combat.



WEAPON

Obviously, Firewalker's Staff



MISC

Harp of Fire [Rune of Music + Rune of Gods + Rune of Fire ]

Adds +5 to all of your Mana Reserves whenever you match 4 or 5 gems.

Gives +16 to Red Mana at the beginning of each combat.



there we go. :) with this setup you should get:

+7 to fire mastery

+6 to all mana reserves when you match 4/5

+6 to damage for EACH reserve that is full

+48 to red mana at the start of battle



so, for a match of 3 skulls, you get an immediate +12. and if your red mana 

is full at the beggining, you get a +6 boost. now combine this setup with 

FIREBALL/HAND OF POWERx2 combo.



You can do the math ;)



PS:

Keep in mind that I recommend the rune of gods over the rune of dragons is 

that, an extra +1 to the base rune, is nothing compared to 100% extra to the

power rune. i'd much rather have +16 red mana than +8. ;)



besides the only thing the rune of dragons does better than the gods, other 

than the fact that it's +5 instead of +4, is that it makes the forging 

puzzle easier.



BUT your creating a super wizard. No one ever said creating anything super 

would be easy. but when you finish, it just better BE SUPER. Not mediocre.



	-Courtesy of Soulgenesis

 





			   ***Mounts***



For the wizard you should use either the Giant Rat which grants you +1 

cunning for every 4 levels or the Fire Spider which gives you +1 on your 

fire mastery for every 2 levels and the BREATHE FIRE spell which does damage

based on your current red mana and depletes it to zero which is great if 

youve been following the guide and have a high red mana capacity. 







What About Stat-Farming?

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  Ok this is a fairly controversial issue on the message boards.  

Stat-farming is when the player gets alot of gold and spends it on stat 

points in the temple so he/she can max his/her stats. This method usually 

relies on using seiged towns to produce money and the player may spend hours

going from town to town getting money to spend on stats. Stat-farming also 

requires the player to not spend any stat points before he/she does it, why?

Because the more points you have in the skill, the more it costs to add 

points to it. So what YOU should do is save all your level up points until 

your done stat-farming then spend them on on what you would like to upgrade 

once you finish your stat-farming session. Heres what I think,I stat farm 

for about 1 and a half hours on a playthrough, I get as much money as I can

in that amount of time using a specific money route and spend 50 points 

worth on fire and the rest on the other masteries just to balance things 

alot a little better. Why 50 points on fire? Because the max limit for stat

points is 255 points and you recieve 196 from just level-up points.50+196

(because you should spend every level-up point on fire) is 246 giving you 

about 10 points of room away from the point cap of 255. I have this 

"giveway" room because if you exceed 255 points than your mastery goes back 

down to zero. The extra room is for quests that give fire points 

automatically that weay you dont screw yourself over :).







			   ***How and When to Stat Farm***



  So you want to stat farm, huh? I'm warning you that after you do it the 

game becomes a real pushover in terms of difficulty. If you are still 

willing to I will tell you how to stat farm effectively. 



When to Stat Farm: Personally I do it beofre Dugog because I believe he is 

the hardest boss to fight in the game. I stat farm before him so that I can 

beat him easily as opposed to trying 20 times to kill him while i'm weak.



How to Stat Farm: OK, some people use the "Stolen Catapult" quest which 

gives myou a fair amount of gold for completeing it by I seige cities and 

accept tribute. The cities I seige are Enmouth, Galia and Drakenburg. After 

these cities are seiged I use a route that goes like this: 



1. Start at Skellheim(between Drakenburg and Galia) on the 1st or 4th.

2. Go to Galia.

3. Go to Bartonia.

4. Then Enmouth.

5. Then Elenia(between Enmouth and Bartonia).

6. Go back to Enmouth

7. All the way back down to Drakenburg 

8. Go to Skellheim.

9. Then back to Drakenburg.

10 Then to Skellheim and your back where you started except 2700(something 

like that) gold richer.

11. Spend it at the temple on Fire and other masteries.







6. Legalese

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  Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and pretty much all that I've 

written about in this FAQ is probably a copyright or trademark of D3 and 

Ifinite Interactive.



This FAQ cannot be modified without the consent of the author.  If you take 

any information from this FAQ for use in any other form, please give me 

credit.



Feel free to post this FAQ anywhere you please, just give me proper credit 

and email me to let me know where you are putting it.







Copyright 2007 Mikedn8c