Duels

A duel is started by walking into an enemy's area of influence. A duel circle will appear, and the first turn will begin.

First, your hand appears on the screen, which is a list of pictures of seven random cards that you currently are able to use from your deck. Next, all the players/enemies pick the card they want to use for this turn. To pick the card you want to play, click on it, and then click on the player or enemy you wish to cast it upon.

Vs. NPCs
To engage in a duel with a Creature; simply walk near it. The sidewalk is usually safe, but on rare occasions, Creatures will 'cheat' and walk sparingly close to the supposedly safe zone. Once you get in a duel the duel circle will appear and you will be assigned to the first position, assuming you are alone. In most locations in Wizard City, the first world, there will be as many Creatures in the fight as there are players.

The number of Creatures in each duel is equal to the number of players until Colossus Boulevarde and onward, after which the number of creatures will be equal to the number of Wizards plus one. However if you're in Sunken City the number of Creatures allowed in a duel will always be 3 or 4. Although, the maximum number of creatures is four. Minions do not count as players and will not affect the number of creatures.

Strategy
When you enter a duel, you are given a selection of cards taken randomly from your deck. These are the spells you have to work with; beginning players will have seven cards, for example. (Different decks will provide more to choose from.)

As you play cards, they will be replaced with random cards from your deck. You also have the option to right-click a card to return it to your deck and replace it with a random treasure card (assuming you have treasure cards). At higher levels a spell to reshuffle a deck is available; it's useful if you draw ineffective cards.

Note that treasure cards are one-time-use spells. Unless it fizzles, it's gone for good. Save them for the tough fights.

Duels are turn based as opposed to real-time, meaning every player (or NPC) chooses the spell he wants to cast from his available cards, and then chooses the target of that spell. When all players have chosen (there's a 30-second limit), 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/NPC furthest anti-clockwise on the starting side, then continues clockwise. I.e., if the NPC's side goes first, all of them will have a chance to cast before each of the players do.

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 an NPC is killed, that space is skipped.

When it's your character's turn, 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.

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 NPC so subsequent players can take advantage of it. E.g., cast a +25% fire damage on an NPC, so the next player can cast a fire spell.

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 a monster’s exact health by pushing Ctrl-I. You can also target the monster via this display.

Latecomers
If you join a duel in progress, you will have to wait for the round to end (i.e., for all players and NPCs to cast) before you will have a chance to cast.

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 two Guards.

The Guard on the right is for Practice Dueling and all players can participate in this.

The Guard on the left is for Ranked Dueling. These are duels that can earn you Arena Tickets and are only available to players with a Subscription Account or you can pay 80 crowns per battle.

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 Guard, 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.

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.

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.

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 Ravenwood Commons.

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. Tickets can be spent at Diego to buy lots of rare and powerful clothing!

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 monsters firsts or players first. This order will stay the same for the rest of the fight.

Once you use 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.

When the duel is over, if the Wizard wins, he/she is rewarded with an amount of experience based on battle participation and Creature Rank. If the Creature wins, the losing Wizards are sent back to the Commos area of the particular world they are in (Wizard City: Commons; Krokotopia: Oasis).