Beginner's Guide to Magicka: Wizard Wars (RIP)

-- Magicka: Wizard Wars has been closed. RIP Wizard Wars 2016. :(

A guide explaining some of the basics of M:WW, from spell combinations and gamemodes down to crafting and how to unlock new items. Condensed, new-player friendly (hopefully) and includes lots of images.

If you like my guide, please do consider rating it up and giving it a Favourite - It really means a lot!

- Cyan

Elements & The Basics of Spells

	Fire (F) Medium damage, Burning effect, Opposite to Frost		Cold/Frost (R) Low damage, Chill effect, Freezes, Opposite to Fire
	Death/Arcane (S) High damage, Opposite to Life		Life/Healing (W) For healing teamates, and yourself. Opposite to Death
	Earth/Rock (D) Very high damage, Knockdowns, Opposite to Lightning		Lightning (A) High damage, Mini-stun effect, Opposite to Rock and Water
	Water (Q) Wet effect, Pushes enemies, Opposite to Lightning		Shield (E) For blocking and warding. Opposite to itself (Only one may be present in a spell)

*Default Keybindings for these elements is shown in brackets. Due to different keyboard layouts they can be changed in the options menu. Throughout this guide, icons will be shown for spells instead of keys in the case that you do change them, though keep in mind that other guides and discussions may write spells with the default keybindings.


Spells can contain up to three combined elements, the most basic spells are ones that contain all the same element. After a spell has been "queued" you can cast the spell with the Right Mouse Button (RMB), or self-cast using the Middle Mouse Button (MMB). These can be rebinded in the Options Menu if needed. If the elements queued are wrong, you can de-queue elements by using the opposite element (see table above).

Note: Where "self-cast" is mentioned, use self-cast, Otherwise It means the normal cast.


(self-cast) Self Healing
This spell is used to heal yourself. Hold the self-cast button down to heal, the longer you hold it down, the more you heal.

The other spells all have different types or "Shapes", this is how that element behaves and when two elements of different types are combined one shape will override the other.

Beams and Shields

Some spells have a beam shape, this is a straight line from your player and goes offscreen. The beam doesn't continue going on forever, but stops somewhere offscreen.

Life-based Beam
Above is the layout to produce a Life-based, or Healing, Beam. The ? means another element which doesn't conflict with the ones already queued, in this specific case it could be either Life, Water, Fire or Frost.

Death-based Beam
And this is the layout for a Death-based beam. Where ? is Death, Water, Fire or Frost.

If a Life-based beam is crossed with another Life-based beam, they will combine and the resulting beam will go off in a different direction.
If a Death-based beam is crossed with a Life-based beam, both casters will be knocked to their feet.


Examples:

Healing Beam
The healing beam allows you to heal your teammates so they don't die. It's a team-based game, so keep them alive if you want to have a chance of winning. The spell is a beam and requires quite precise aiming at the teammate.

Healing-Fire Beam
In most cases healing beams will only contain three life elements, to get the most out of healing. Sometimes healers will switch quickly between beams with one different element in to remove status effects from a teammate though, such as the one above which will remove the Chilled and Wet status effects, if held on for too long or used when the teammate isn't Chilled/Wet it will cause the Burning effect though.

Death Beam
One of the most simplest forms of damaging an opponent. The death beam provides high damage to enemies, and the longer the beam is held on an opponent the more damage it will do.

Death-Frost Beam
Does Death and Frost damage and provides the Chilling status effect.


Shields are used to block sprays and beams, they will reflect beams in the opposite direction. If a player shoots a beam directly at the shield it will bounce back at them and knock them over, similar to what happens when healing-based and death-based beams cross. Sprays won't pass through the shield but won't bounce back either. Players can pass through shield, as well as lightning and rock-based attacks.

Shield
Produces a shield close to the player.
(self-cast) Shield Dome
Produces a large dome shield around the player.

Sprays and Icicles

Sprays are spells which still require aiming, but have a small angle that is affected so is easier to aim than beams or rocks. Some sprays are bigger than others, if you only have two elements queued, the spray will be shorter and do less damage (so always use three elements).

Fire Spray
Does fire damage and will cause the Burning status effect.

Water Spray
Causes the Wet status effect and pushes the opponent away from you.


Frost Spray
Does frost damage and will cause the Chilling status effect. If the opponent is chilled too much the opponent will freeze.

Steam Spray
Where ? is another Fire or Water.
Does damage based on your Water Affinity (see affinities section) and with an additional Water it also provides the Wet status effect, but will do less damage than if there is an additional Fire. Steam also tears through walls pretty quickly,



Icicles
Where ? is Life, Death, Frost or Water.
Shoots a collection of icicles, or small ice shards which deal damage based on your Water Affinity (see affinities section). With an additional Water element it will provide the Wet status effect, or with Frost it will provide the Chilling status effect. With Death it will also do Death damage, and with Life it will heal players. Icicles as well as rocks, can be a good form of healing if someone is in a shield dome and beams can't get in.

Rock and Lightning Bolts

Rocks require charging over time, the longer it is charged the more damage it will do, but while charging an opponent could block your spell rendering it useless. The more Rock elements in the spell, the more Rock damage will be done and depending on what other elements are used, damage of that kind will also be dealt.

Element-based Rock
Where ? is any element other than Shield or Lightning.


Examples:

Rock
Does high Earth damage

Fire Rock
Does Fire damage, a small amount of Earth damage, and causes the Burning status effect.


Lightning also has it's own spell shape, which shoots lightning bolts infront of the player casting it. Lightning will also chain between two close players, which makes it dangerous to use in team fights as you may accidently teamkill someone. It is usually best that when you are with team members you refrain from using lightning when they are infront of you, and use a different spell shape instead.

Element-based Lightning Bolts
Where ? is any element other than Shield, Water or Rock.

Examples:

Lightning Bolts
Does Lightning damage

Frost-Death Lightning Bolts
Does a small amount of Frost, Death and Lightning damage. Causes Chilling status effect.

Area of Effect

AoE (Area-of-effect) spells are ones where players will only be effected if they are close to the player who is casting the spell.

If any element other than Shield is selfcasted it result in a AoE of some sort (with the exception of three Life elements being Self-Healing).

(self-cast) AoE
Where ? is any element other than Shield. (With the exception of three Life elements being Self-Healing). If Rock is included it will cause Knockdown, if Lightning is included it will shoot lightning bolts in all directions and the other elements in that spell will be included in the lightning rather than being around the player. All other elements (Fire, Frost, Water, Death & Life) cause a blast or "nova" of that element.


Examples:

(self-cast) Death AoE
Does death damage around the player.

(self-cast) Fire AoE
Does fire damage around the player and will cause the Burning status effect.

(self-cast) Frost AoE
Does frost damage around the player and will cause the Chilling status effect.

(self-cast) Water AoE
Does a miniature amount of water damage around the player and will cause the Wet status effect.

(self-cast) Quake (Rock AoE)
When rock is self-casted it will always cause a quake effect, which is visible by the cracked imprint it leaves in the ground. Quakes will knock any players that are near down, preventing them from using spells until they get back up.

(self-cast) Lightning AoE
When lightning is self-casted it will always cause lightning bolts around the player in different directions. Any players in the area will be damaged.

(self-cast) Death-Fire AoE
A common AoE which players use to deal damage. Does Death and Fire damage and causes the Burning status effect.

(self-cast) Steam AoE
Where ? is another element other than Shield, Frost or Lightning.
Does damage based on the water affinity. If another Water is included it will cause the Wet status effect but won't do as damage as if there was another Fire.

(self-cast) Ice AoE
Where ? is another element other than Shield, Fire or Lightning. Does damage based on the water affinity. If another Water is included it will cause the Wet status effect. If Rock is included it will provide knockdown. If Death is included it does death damage, or if Life is included it will heal slightly (Doesn't heal yourself, but other players. Not really the best way to heal though).

Wards and Walls

Wards are used to protect players against spells. The elements in the ward will change the colour of the ward around the player, and will provide resistance against that element. The resistance of half-wards depends on the Shield Affinity (see affinities section for more information), while full-wards provide a immunity to that element.

Half-wards will also prevent status effects that are linked to that element, so with a fire ward for example, you won't get the Burning status effect. However having a fire ward on also stops Fire AoEs from removing the Chilling or Wet status effects.

(self-cast)
Where ? is any element other than Shield. (Obviously two elements that conflict cannot be used.)


Common Examples:
(self-cast) Death Ward
Protects against all Death damage.

(self-cast) Death-Fire Ward
Protects partly against Death damage and party against Fire damage, prevents Burning status effect.

(self-cast) Ice Ward
Protects against Ice damage, prevents Chill and Wet status effects.

(self-cast) Rock-Fire Ward
Protects partly against Rock damage and partly against Fire damage, prevents Burning status effect and Knockdown (via quake).

(self-cast) Rock Ward
Protects against Rock damage and Knockdown (via quake). Also prevents being pushed by Mines (see subsection below)

(self-cast) Lightning Ward
Protects against Lightning damage and prevents the mini-stun status effect.

(self-cast) Life/Healing Ward
Heals over time but prevents other forms of healing from healing you, including beams. It is recommended that you do not use this when in battle (unless you have a high Life affinity maybe), but it is useful for small amounts of healing while getting around.


Walls, or Barriers (and sometimes referred to as "Bombs" ingame if they contain another element other than Earth) can protect against rocks, sprays and beams if used correctly. Lightning will pass through a wall and chain onto opponents on the other side.

Elemental Wall
Where ? is any element other than Lightning or Shield.
All walls block Earth-only Rocks (3 Earth Elements), but rocks mixed with other elements are slightly different. For example, Fire Rocks can be blocked by Fire Walls which can be made by simply using Fire as the ? element above. Fire Walls will also block Fire sprays, and Death Walls will block Death-based Beams, Cold/Frost Walls block Frost Icicles and Frost sprays, etc. Note that when the walls explode damage of that element will be done to all players nearby, including the caster and his teammates. It is a good idea to walk away from the wall after placing it, or ward against the type of damage it will deal (for a Fire Wall, use a Fire Ward. Death Wall, Death Ward, etc.)

Ice Barrier
There is also an Ice Barrier, which is different to other walls and when placed damages opponents. Any spell containing Fire, Death or Life will break the barrier.

Storms and Mines

Storms block Lightning-based attacks and can be used as a form of damaging the opponent over time, or causing status effects. Storms can be placed down and will stay for a short duration. While a player is inside the storm, they will be damaged over time with the elements that the storm is made of.


Where ? is Water, Fire or Frost. (Obviously two elements that conflict cannot be used.)
Special Case: Water and Frost will not produce a storm, and instead produces a Ice Wall.


Where ? is Fire, Frost, Death or Life.



Mines can be used to heal, or as a form of damage and applying status effects on opponents. It can sometimes be useful to place mines on the output of teleporter pads so that players will teleport through and then get damaged from the mines.

Life-based Mines
Where ? is either Life, Fire, Frost or Water.
In most cases you want another Life element to boost the healing power of the mines rather than adding a status effect to it. Some players like to use a combination of walls and mines and then detonating them both with an AoE to heal themself quickly.



Death-based Mines
Where ? is either Death, Fire, Frost or Water.
Mines will detonate if players walk over them, or if some spells are done nearby. If a player is close enough when the mines detonate they will be damaged. Some players like to combo mines with a spray or AoE to purposely detonate them, damaging any opponents which are near (see Combos section).

Status Effects

Once you've got a hang of the different spells and casting them. Here is some nice tips when fighting by Dobby Promisque:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=471350033

Status effects are different effects caused by elements on your character. They can be fatal if not dealt with, so knowing how to deal with them is good.

Burning

Whenever a spell contains the Fire Element it will cause the Burning status effect on the opponent. It does fire damage over time (30 then 20 as it starts to fade and finally 10 before fading completely), which can dealt with by warding against Fire or self-casting Water or Frost. It will also wear off after a small duration, but it is best to deal with it so it doesn't damage you.



Chill

Whenever a spell contains the Frost Element it will cause the Chilling status effect on the opponent. It slows the opponent's walkspeed and attack speed making it difficult to cast spells. It can be dealt with by warding against Frost, or self-casting Fire. It will also wear off after a while, but if you get chilled too much you will be Frozen.



Frozen

When you are frozen, you have to click the mouse button a number of times to get out. The faster you click, the faster you get out. While frozen, you are vulnerable to rocks, which if charged enough will shatter you, killing you instantly. You can prevent getting frozen by warding (at least half-ward) Frost while in the Chilled status.



Wet
Whenever a spell contains the Water Element it will cause the Wet status effect on the opponent. The wet status doesn't do any damage, but that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. It will boost the damage of Lightning based attacks on you. It will also boost Frost damage, which makes it a lot easier to Chill you too. You can't be wet while having the Chilled or Burning status effects. You can remove the status by self-casting Fire.


Mini-stun
Whenever a spell contains the Lightning Element it will cause a very short stun which prevents you from moving. The stun itself does not do damage, but the Lightning it came from will if not warded against. The stun can mostly be ignored in normal Lightning attacks, but it can be pretty annoying with Lightning-based storms as you can get stuck in them because of the Mini-stun effects. While warded against Lightning the mini-stun effect won't happen.

Knockdown

Whenever a self-casted spell contains the Rock/Earth Element it will cause a quake which knocks you down, preventing you from moving. It can be prevented by warding (at least half-ward) Rock/Earth. If not prevented it can be fatal if other opponents are nearby and get heavy attacks off on you, so usually warding rock in close range to other players is good.

Magicks

Magicks are special spells which require Focus to cast. Focus builds up over time but is also increased by killing an enemy, including imps (though if you kill two imps at the same time you only get Focus for one of them). To cast a Tier 1 Magick you require one bar of Focus, 2 bars for Tier 2, 3 bars for Tier 3 and full Focus for Tier 4.


To cast a Magick use the 1-4 Number Keys to select a Magick, these can be rebinded in the Options menu if needed. There are quite a few different Magicks, but most follow simple rules of either being casted instantly or require being aimed and casted with the normal-cast button (defaulted to Right Mouse Button). Shown in the images above is the Tier 2 Conflagration Magick.

A list of all Magicks can be found in the main menu by clicking the "Magicks" button, and by clicking them it will show a video and a description, so I won't list what each one does here.

Magicks will be locked if you don't own them in the Mastery Tree or have any "Magick Scrolls" of that Magick (For example, In the image above the Tier 2 Frost Bomb Magick is locked). Magick Scrolls allow you to have temporary uses of a Magick, since it could be hard to unlock if it is at the end of one of the branches in the Mastery Tree. Magick Scrolls can be purchased from the Store for Crowns and the amount you have is displayed by the number on the Magick (For example, in the image above I have 125 Scrolls for Tier 1 Stasis Field.)

In this menu you can also change your Magicks which allow you to go into a game with a chosen Magick for each Tier rather than the default ones. Magicks can also be changed ingame by holding a key and selecting a Magick; which can be binded in the Options Menu. You can also change Magicks by clicking the small triangle above the Magicks or right-clicking the Magick, but doing this while fighting can be difficult.

Magicks that just happen instantly and don't require aiming of any sort. These Magicks also don't require clicking the cast button, they will be casted as soon as the Magick is selected.

Includes:
Tier 1 : Haste, Stasis Field

Magicks which have to be aimed and are casted from the character towards the spot where it was aimed at.

Includes:
Tier 1 : Teleport
Tier 2 : Conflagration, Tidal Wave

Magicks which have to be aimed, but are casted directly at the area.

Includes:
Tier 1 : Stone Prison, Midsummer's Blessing, Flame Tornado, Geyser
Tier 2 : Brain Wash, Nature's Call, Tornado, Frost Bomb
Tier 3 : Revive, Summon Death, Displace
Tier 4 : Meteor Shower, Thunderstorm, Raise Dead, Mighty Hail

There is also the Tier 3 Tactical Dragon Strike, which has to be aimed at an area and while still holding down the cast button it can then be aimed to give it a direction.

After releasing the cast button it will be casted, and a dragon will spit fire down starting from the first location and ending at the other.

Good Combos

There are many different combinations and I can't possbily list every single one but have tried to list a few good ones. You should not rely only on these combinations, as other spells can be useful just on their own, defending yourself against the opponent's spells is also quite important, and mixing combinations and other spells up is good so you aren't too predictable.


Healing/Life Mines
Healing/Life Wall
Followed up with a AoE. Most AoEs will detonate the Wall & Mines, for example:
(self-cast) Water AoE

Provides a burst of healing, allowing you to heal quickly while in battle. It is usually best to aim to wall towards, and the mines away from the enemy.


(self-cast) Death Ward
Death Mines
Followed up with a AoE. Most AoEs will detonate the Mines, for example:
(self-cast) Fire AoE

The AoE is used to detonate the Mines, dealing heavy Death damage to the opponent. Since you warded against Death the damage won't also be done to you. You can place more mines and repeat the combo multiple times, which can throw some good players off which don't expect you to place mines twice in a row.

Lightning Storm
Followed up by any Water-based attack, for example:
Water Beam
OR
(Wet) Steam




The Water-based attack will cause the Wet status effect on the opponent, which allows the storm to do extra Lightning damage. If you find it hard to position the storm you can knock the opponent down with a Quake (Rock AoE) before placing the storm.

Storm
Where ? is Frost, Lightning, Fire or Water. (Exception: Not Water and Frost together).
Followed up by any Beam or a Spray attack which won't destroy the Storm, for example:
Death Beam
OR Followed up by a Quake, keeping the opponent inside the storm.
(self-cast) Quake (Rock AoE)

The storm and beam provides damage on the opponent. If the opponent uses a shield to block the beam they will stay inside the storm for longer, dealing more damage. You can also quake (Rock AoE) the opponent to keep them inside the storm for even longer. Works best with Lightning or Frost Storms since Fire-only Storms are pretty easy to walk out so aren't as effective and Water-only Storms don't deal damage, Steam Storms are also easy to walk out of but deal a lot of damage so can be good if a quake is used. If Frost is used the Storm could freeze the opponent so a rock could be charged to follow up after the beam, which will shatter the opponent (If they aren't +Rock Affinity), or if they don't freeze it can do a lot of damage anyway.

Water-Based Attack
Lightning Bolts

By wetting the opponent before using lightning attacks they can do extra Lightning damage. Wet Icicles (Where ? is Frost) is something that a lot of skilled players like to use because they can also go through most Walls (except Water Wall). After the opponent is wet, you can follow up with any Lightning-based attacks, which could also contain Fire, Frost or Arcane to do a different type of damage along with the Lighting damage.

Advanced Tactics

This guide is mainly for beginners so this section won't be long, but I'll list some more advanced tactics than just basic spells and combos which might be very useful in battle.

While casting spells is good, protecting yourself against the opponent is just as important. By watching a player carefully you can see what elements they are queuing by the floating orbs around them and you can block their spell before they even get to damage you. If a player is quite skilled these floating orbs won't be there for very long, but could still give you an idea of what elements they are using. As well as the orbs, there are certain effects for charged spells that can be used to take into account what spell is being used:


From left to right, Charging Rock Effect, Charging Icicles Effect, and Aiming Magick Effect.


< Insert image depicting refracting the healing beam here. >
Blocking Healing Beams is something that can be useful when fighting with other opponents and team members such as a 2v2. If an opponent is low, you could block another opponent from healing that player, which might allow your teammate(s) to kill them. To block an opponent's Healing Beam you can use your own Healing Beam to deflect the opponent's one. If you are at very close range, you could use a simple Shield or Life Wall to block it instead.

Gamemodes and Maps

Wizard Warfare is where two teams of four fight and capture points. There are 50 spawn tokens on each team which slowly decrease over time if there are spawns captured.

• The more spawns your team has, the more the opponent's tokens will decrease.
  
• For every team member standing on a point when it is captured, the opponent's tokens are decreased by 1.
  
• Capturing points is the most important thing in warfare. You should aim to capture as many as you can and always fight on a point.
  
• You can push players off points with water.
  
• In most cases a 2 & 2 player split is good at the start, though it can be useful for a single person to protect a teleporter exit on the third and fourth maps, and wait for opponents to come out. Even if that player dies, they have delayed the enemy team capturing the points and so helped their team.

Maps:



Soul Harvest is where two teams of four fight and collect souls. Once your team has collected 200 Souls, the enemy effigy will be defenseless and your team should go to attack it (but also need to defend in the case that your base becomes defenseless too).

• It is best to split up so you can get the most souls possible
  
• Trolls drop a large amount of souls but should be fought with teammates. Be aware that the souls drop around the troll in a circle and players like to use haste to quickly collect these so the other team doesn't steal them.
  
• Haste is good to get around quickly between different groups of creatures. AoE's are good to damage all creatures around you at once.
  
• Use Fire or Frost/Cold wards against Cannoneers depending on which element they are using. Warding Earth/Rock is best against the Troll, and a Earth-Fire ward is best for the Orcs.
  
• Beam attacks are quite useful as creatures won't try and deflect them.

Maps:


For more detailed information on Soul Harvest, see this guide by w!z@rD:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=436948857

Team Deathmatch is where two teams of four fight to the death. When all players on the opponent's team is dead, you win a point. If everyone dies, it is a draw and no points are given. First team to 3 points wins overall.

• Healing team members is essential for winning in this gamemode.
  
• Revive is useful for if a team member dies.
  
• Some teams like to use their Tier 4 Magicks all at once, this is because it is very difficult to dodge and ward against multiple magicks. Just be careful where you are aiming it - Don't aim it at your own team members.

Maps:



Duel is where two players fight to the death. When the opponent is dead, you win a point. If you both die, it is a draw and no points are given. First team to 3 points wins overall.

• Usually in duels, Magicks are not used because they can seen as quite cheaty. You might want to ask the opponent before the duel begins whether they allow Magicks or not if you are planning on using them if you don't want to be yelled at.
  
• Be nice to your opponent. If they kill you, don't get angry at them, instead say "Well played" / "wp". Saying "good luck" / "gl" and/or "have fun" "hf" before the match begins is also nice.

Maps:



Custom Matches for each gamemode can be set up, these allow the host of the match to pick players on each team and can be used to duel friends.

To set up a custom match simply go to the Custom Matches page using the button in the bottom left corner of the menu. Click the "Create Match" button to create a match and you will be asked to enter a optional password. If you enter a password you can then give that password to your friends so they can join the match. Do not use your account password or anything that might be linked to it.



After you've created the match set which gamemode you want in the top left corner and when players come in click the dots to assign them to each team. You can also have spectators which can watch the game. Once everyone is assigned, click the Play button at the top of the screen to start.

Gear and Affinties

Gear includes Robes, Staves, Weapons, Trinkets, Rings and Familiars. All of these can be obtained from multiple places:
- Store, where Gear is sold for Crowns.
- Mastery Tree, where Gear is unlocked using Mastery Tokens.
- Crafting, where Gear is crafted from Crafting Components (See Crafting section).
- Daily Chest, Rare and Epic random drops.

There is a lot of different gear in the game. For a list of every robe in the game, see this guide originally made by Pendragon (aka Wispy Wafer) which I now work on:
< link removed, guide was deleted! :( >
And for the other gear items (Staves, Weapons, Trinkets, Rings and Familiars):
< link removed, guide was deleted! :( >

Weapons can be used ingame by clicking the Right Mouse Button (RMB) without any elements queued and it can be hold down to use the weapon's Special Ability. Different weapons have different abilities, as listed in the Weapons guide and on the Gear stats. The weapons in the images below are the Blade of Default (left) with a Flurry special attack and the Hatchet (right) with a Throwing Axe special attack.




"Affinities" is what most people call specialising in different elements. Most Robes, Staves, Trinkets and Rings will have "+N Element" and "-N Element" on, which affects your Stats shown in the box on the Gear tab in the bottom left when changing Gear.

Every element you increase will also decrease the stats of another element, this makes the game fairly balanced no matter what items you are wearing. Someone with +Fire will be weaker to Death, so it will damage them more. If you hover over the stats on the Gear tab you will see what each element affects, or see below:

Fire, Affects:

• Base Resistance to Fire.
  
• Size, Max Duration and Rotation Speed of Fire Sprays.
  
• Damage of Fire Spells

Death/Arcane, Affects:

• Base Resistance to Death.
  
• Size, Max Duration and Rotation Speed of Death Beams.
  
• Damage of Death Spells.

Cold/Frost, Affects:

• Base Resistance to Cold.
  
• Size, Max Duration and Rotation Speed of Cold Sprays.
  
• Size of Cold Self-Cast Spells
  
• Charge Up Time of Cold Projectiles.
  
• Damage of Cold Spells.

Water, Affects:

• Base Resistance to Steam and Ice.
  
• Movement Speed, Size, Max Duration and Rotation Speed of Water Sprays.
  
• Size, Max Duration and Rotation Speed of Steam Sprays.
  
• Speed of Water/Steam Projectiles.
  
• Amount of Speed and Ice Projectiles.
  
• Amount of spawned Ice Barriers.

Lightning, Affects:

• Base Resistance to Lightning.
  
• Length of Lightning Bolts.
  
• Damage of Lightning Spells.

Earth/Rock, Affects:

• Base Resistance to Earth.
  
• Movement Speed of Earth Wards.
  
• Charge Up Time and Velocity of Earth Projectiles
  
• Damage of Earth Spells

Life, Affects:

• Amount of Healing from Life Ward Auras.
  
• Amount of Healing from Self Heal.
  
• Max Duration and Rotation Speed of Life Beams.
  
• Amount of Healing of your Life Spells

Shield, Affects:

• Effectiveness of Half Wards.
  
• Amount of spawned Barriers (except Ice), Bombs, Storms and Mines.

Affinities max out at 100 (or +50 Element) and at this point they won't increase any more, even if you have the items to do so.


It's worth mentioning that affinities aren't required, and many players can play better without them. If you don't want any affinities, but want to look stylish, you can buy and wear the Amulet of Nullification from the Trinkets section of the Store. The Amulet will negate any changes to your Elements, Speed and Health, but won't affect your weapon stats or look.

Store and Mastery Tree

The Store is used to purchase items such as Robes, Weapons, Trinkets, Rings and Familiars. Most items in the Store are sold for Crowns, but Boosters, Crown Packs and Bundles require real-money payment.

Crowns can be obtained from:

• End-of-match reward
  
• Purchasing Crown Packs via the Store for real money
  
• Treasure Chest drops. (see Treasure Chest section)
  
• Tournament Prizes (Mainly for skilled players, some community-run tournaments can be for beginners too though - Check the Official Paradox Forums to see if any are happening. Sometimes they can also be displayed ingame and in the News/Annoucements sections.)

The Mastery Tree is used to unlock new Robes, Weapons and Magicks. The tree starts from the centre with the Vendetta Dagger and branches out in all directions with items coloured with different elements. Unlockable items are outlined with a glowing effect which can be unlocked using Mastery Tokens. The entire tree is possible to unlock though may take a while so it is recommended that you take the affinity you want to play with, or if you don't want to use affinities just go for what looks cool.

I should also note that if you are a player from Beta and previously brought a item in the Store which is now in the Tree, it will be unlocked though might not be connected to the Vendetta Dagger and so any items further up the tree won't be unlockable until the item is connected. If you aren't from Beta though, you don't have to worry about this.

Mastery Tokens can be obtained from:

• 25 per Level-up with some extra if a Booster is active
  
• Random end-of-match drop: 1-3 tokens?
  
• Treasure Chest drops. (see Treasure Chest section)

Treasure Chest & Drops

The Treasure Chest can be opened daily and as you win matches its "Multiplier" will increase.

After winning 1 game it will become a x2, after winning a total of 3 games it will become a x3, 7 games for x4, 12 games for x6, and finally 20 games for a x10.

The Treasure Chest can drop either Common, Rare or Epic items. It "rolls" the type before rolling the item, so as you unlock rare items it doesn't get harder and harder to get those remaining rare items. See a list below of every item it can possibly drop. With a multiplier, rarer items become less rare.

As well as the chest you get daily, you can also get Treasure Keys from random end-of-match drops, or you can purchase them in the Store for crowns. These allow you to open the chest instantly, however the Multiplier does not affect the keys, and so it mostly drops common items. Good for getting crafting materials though, and there is still chances or rare and epic items; Even if they are low, you could be lucky.


Below I have listed every known item that the Treasure Chest can drop.

• All Tier 1 Crafting Materials, excluding Shards
  
• Crystals
  
• Crowns (2000, 2500, 3000)
  
• Basic Trinkets & Rings

• Gems
  
• Crowns (20k, 25k)
  
• Mastery Tokens x50
  
  
• Lantern Staff
  
  
• Technologic Lab Robe
  
• Party Animal's Arctic Robe
  
• Minstrel Robe
  
• Holy Knight's Robe
  
• Anti-Celebrating Peasant Robe
  
• Pink Astronomer Robe
  
• Low-Highlander Robe
  
• Dragon Wuxia Robe
  
• Tsunami-Wave Bender's Robe
  
  
• Midsummer Imp
  
• Yogscast Tippin'

• Crowns (100k)
  
• Mastery Tokens x100
  
  
• Heavy Metal Axe
  
• Blade of Hard Light
  
• Fab Blade Mk.II
  
• Blade Gun
  
• Blaster
  
  
• Southern Ice Regent Robe
  
• Thunderstruck Electromancer Robe
  
• Putrid Shaman Robe
  
• Veteran Enchanter Robe
  
• Legendary Pirate Robe
  
• Truly Evil Vizier Robe
  
• Sensational Amazon Robe
  
• Evolved Merfolk Robe
  
• Revered Assassin's Robe
  
• Captain's Ranger Robe
  
  
• Cosplay Imp

• Insane Pyromaniac Robe (Rare? Not sure if it's even in chest anymore)
  
  
• Runner's Stick (Rare?) (Can now be unlocked via the Mastery Tree, so is probably no longer be in the chest)
  
  
• Amulet of Nullification (Rare?) (Can also be purchased from Store, but should still be in the chest.)

Crafting

Click the "Crafting" button on the top bar to access the Crafting page. Crafting has 3 tabs, Item Crafting, Component Crafting and your Inventory.



The Item Crafting tab is for crafting Items, when crafting you should always have something to work towards instead of crafting random components as you may, at some point in the future, need a component which you crafted into a higher tier. You can always salvage it, but you probably won't get all the components back, so it's a good idea to only craft what you actually need.



Following which item you want to craft, the Component Crafting tab is where you craft the components you need for that item.

Components which are highlighted are ones which you are able to craft, while the darker ones are what you don't have the ingredients for.

Also, when hovering over a component, it's ingredients will be highlighted with a green or red outline depending on whether you have the item in your Inventory or not.



To craft components, select the component you wish to craft and click the "Craft" button. If you do not own the materials needed, you won't be able to craft it.

Tier 3 Components	Tier 2 Components	Tier 1 Components
Gems Redonculus Charm Lovely Fabric Steel Ingot First Class Fairy Dust Glam Rock Daemon Slime Hair of the Horse An Awful Lot of Wood	Crystals Complex Charm Soft Fabric Iron Ingot Business Class Fairy Dust Punk Rock Ghost Slime Hair of the Dog A Lot of Wood	Shards Simple Charm Coarse Fabric Bronze Ingot Economy Class Fairy Dust Hard Rock Slug Slime Hair of the Cat Some Wood

Each tier of component is simply crafted from it's lower tier counterparts, with the exception of the lowest tier, which can only be gained from end-of-match drops, from the Daily Chest, or obtained from salvaging.

I also haven't included Prisms, Mega Prisims and the Cosmic Jewel of Magick in the table above since they are even higher tiers, see the next section for crafting that.

As a quick crafting example, the Death Ring requires the following components to be crafted:

x2 which is made from x6 (x3 each)
x2 which is made from x6 (x3 each)
x3 which is made from x9 (x3 each)

As you can see, it can take quite a few components just to make something simple. This is why many players like to buy Boosters to help get the lower tier components from end-of-match drops quicker.


Salvaging is breaking items back into their components, but it does not always give their components back, it is only a chance.

You can buy Magick Scrolls from the store (Using crowns) and salvage them to obtain one of the three components that make up that Magick. The type of components you get from salvaging a Magick is usually the same as to craft them, but some are slightly different. See this post on the official forums by Fun Fest for what each scroll drops: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/items-from-salvaging-scrolls.881635/

Cosmic Jewel of Magick & Prisms

The Cosmic Jewel of Magick is a item which is required to craft a few of the different weapons and robes on the Item Crafting. How to craft the Jewel is displayed in the table below, I have layed out every component going right down to the shards.

Similar to the Jewel there is also Mega Prisms which are components required to make the Jewel, but also Mega Prisms are components for a few of the weapons too. If you only need a Mega Prism, just take that part of the table into account.

			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
			x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
		x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)
		x2	x6 (x3 each)	x18 (x3 each)

Notes

Thankyou for reading and I hope this guide helped you.

I wanted to write a guide because I felt like doing so for so long now. I noticed there are other guides out there that explain the basics of spells and they are very good, but some seem slightly outdated in some places and it seems like a lot of text, so I decided to make my own which I will try to keep simple and as up-to-date as possible. I also wanted to make a basic guide about Crafting since there doesn't seem to be any yet, and thought I might as well include that in this along with information about how to use the Store, Mastery Tree and Treasure Chest.

I am also fully aware that the first part of this guide is quite similar to the Complete Magicka Guide by Auron D, Loop & w!z@rD. I just wanted to write my own guide about some of the basics, and of course it is going to turn out quite similar because of that. Their guide is, and always will be more detailed than mine and is great for both beginners and intermediate wizards, so be sure to check theirs out too:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186205747
Overall I felt a guide that was more condensed and had more pictures than some of the other guides out there would help beginners understand the game more, so that's what I tried to do. Hopefully it worked, so leave comments below if this guide helped you at all.

• If you find any mistakes, or think something needs adding in, leave a comment below. :)
  
• Special thanks to those whose guides I mentioned/linked (Dobby Promisque, w!z@rD, Auron D & co, Fun Fest (for Salvaging Magicks post on forums)), but if you don't want it there, Just ask and I'll remove it.
  
• Please consider giving a rate up and favourite if you liked it - It really does mean a lot!

[Rianinator]

not anymore! They game just died out of nowhere and I can't even install it anymore.

[Bodiapa]

its alive

[Cyan]

Thanks!

QRD would come under the 'Rock' section. I never bothered mentioning it because it doesn't change the general "shape" of the spell which is what this guide mostly outlines - In other words it gives beginners an idea of what to cast without actually telling them all the combinations, because it's more helpful to know how elements affect spell shapes rather than remembering specific spells.

[Manimerken]

Real good

I'd like to point out QRD

[Cyan]

[Shadow Saint]

it has everything in it. Jee thanks :)

[Zippy]

I can confirm that all three of those items can be obtained in chests as rares.

[Cyan]

Thanks!

[ThomasVnl01]

Worth reading!

[Cyan]