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         | Puzzle Quest              |
         | Wizard guide              |
         | Version 1.1 (6/           |
         | Copyright 2007 Mikedn8c   |
         | [email protected]     |
         \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/

--TABLE OF CONTENTS--
	
	1. Introduction
	2. How to build an effective Wizard
		-Spells
		-Stat distribution & Firewalker
		-Attack strategy
	3. Equipment and mounts
		-Equipment
		-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- This is the most pointless spell in the game, NEVER USE. It 
friggen cost two times more than what it gives you, It makes no sense. 
Apparently because your turn does not end its aloud to have an outrageous 
mana cost. Ya, just forget about this spell.


FLAMING AVATAR- level 50
Mana needed-

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. I'll show you my equipment and why  believe its ideal 
(sorry if I sound cocky).


~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.

Wow, best rune in the game IMO, +8 at the beginning of the battle ise'nt to 
shabby. The real payoff is getting +6 for every 4 of-a-kind and 5 of-a-kind.
MAKE THIS.


			   ***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. 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 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 2nd or 3rd.
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