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This is my unofficial advisory on the schools of Wizard101. I've ranked the schools in matters of difficulty and written a small description of their advantages (or lack thereof). I'll say upfront: I've only played as a Sorcerer, a Theurgist, and a Diviner. The other points are deductions and accounts from other wizards. These descriptions are subject to change, and any new schools will be added in the future. Please post any questions or comments:

1. Life: Yes, I'm fully aware that Life is the main school for healing spells, but that's also its weakness. Since Life teaches mostly healing spells (even its Level 48 spell is a healing spell), and the attacks aren't very effective, the school is actually very difficult in solo battle, especially when facing a Death monster. In my opinion, Theurgists have the most difficult time throughout Wizard101.

2. Balance: Although Balance has the second best accuracy (Life has the best accuracy), Balance attacks aren't very strong. A Sorcerer's strength is charms. Sorcerers have more traps, shields, and blades than effective attacks, which makes it a very difficult school to master for players who are new to Wizard101. Although Sorcerers learn many practical charms (like Hex, which adds 30% to next spell, and Bladestorm, which adds 25% to all allies' next spells), they will never learn a Prism spell (Prism spells are school-specific and allow wizards to cast a spell and convert it into damage for its school's weakness; ex: Fire Prism turns fire damage into ice), a shield spell for Balance, or a Balance-specific blade/trap (blades and traps add a percentage of damage to an attack). I always strongly recommend people not to start with Balance.

3. Storm: It's pretty obvious why Storm is a difficult school. Not only do Diviners have the least amount of HP, but they also have terrible accuracy. It's also one of the schools without its own healing spell (most schools have at least one healing spell; ex: Fire has Link, which allows you to heal as you deal damage to the target for 3 rounds) You'd think this double threat automatically earns them the top spot for difficulty, but the fact that Storm attacks have the highest damage out of every school pushes the school to third. Don't get it twisted though; it's still a pretty difficult school to master.

4. Myth: First, let me admit I'm not a big fan of the Myth school. Conjurers have the ability to summon various types of minions, which are non-controllable monsters that aid you in battle. I don't use minions for the reason in bold; however, if the idea of summoning minions appeals to you, Myth is your school. Its stats are pretty standard and Conjurers learn all kinds of spells that aid minions like Buff Minion (+40% to minion's next spell), Shield Minion (-70% to next incoming damage dealt to minion), and Siphon Minion (sacrifices minion for 400 HP). The Myth school, in my opinion, is the most random school available in Wizard101 and there's nothing particularly special about it, which is why it's stuck in the middle.

5. Fire: The advantage of the Fire school is that its attacks linger. Either way, this ability, if used correctly, can cause major damage. Its Level 48 spell, Dragon, is a very effective spell, casting a great deal of damage to begin with and then a great deal of damage over 3 rounds. Pyromancers also learn great spells like Scald (deals damage to all enemies over 3 rounds) and Immolate (take a small amount of damage to deal a large amount of damage on an enemy). It's a pretty easy school to start out with.

6. Ice: Although Ice has the weakest attacks overall, it has the highest amount of HP. This is a huge advantage since health is so important in the game (it's not gonna matter how powerful you are if you keep dying, right?). Thaumaturges also can cast very useful charms like Tower Shield (a shield that cuts any attack's effectiveness in half) and Stun (stuns the target for 3 rounds), which is why I say it's a very easy school to master. One aspect that always bothered me is that Thaumaturges have the ability to "Taunt" and "Distract". Both charms do as their names suggest: they force the target (or targets in the case of the Taunt ability) to attack them. Keep this in mind if you choose Ice.

7. Death: Personally, I think Death is the best school for any player (whether you're a rookie or a veteran) and is the easiest ride through Wizard101. Not only are its stats pretty fair (good accuracy, nice attack power, and pretty good HP), but many Death attacks sap life from the target and give it to the caster. The best part of being a Necromancer has to be Scarecrow, which is a Level 48 spell that saps a great deal of health from all the enemies and gives it to the caster. For these reasons and more, I say, hands down, that Death is the easiest school to master.

Storm has it harder than you'd think, you know. With such low accuracy, us diviners have to have AWESOME luck to be any in good duels. I'm stuck at the crimson fields because if I have my heath- boosting gear on, I fizzle too much to duel all but the weakest monsters alone. But if I have my accuracy- boosting gear on, I don't have enough health. My spells take for ever to come up in my deck, so by the time I have a good spell I'm almost dead.

If Life is the hardest school, Cyrus Drake takes ballet lessons.

Kimberly Thunderheart, Master diviner (yep, I'm level 40 and still in mooshu) and utter failure at doing anything useful.

Gotta admit that death school is the best one for starting players. With only few traps and blades, you can heal yourself at full.
But i don't like idea that fire would be third or what it was in here, since they only have 5% more accuracy than storm.
Although they still have pretty high attack power, i would suggest storm over fire.
Also, life is pretty good school for starting players too ;)

rubyb23 wrote:

1. How is Life difficult against a Death monster? The damage is boosted against Death school enemies.

2. Balance has the advantage of most enemies not being resistant to their spells. You forget that Judgement is one powerful spell, esecially with all the traps you can toss on it. Do not forget its minion, Helpful Minion, which I find to be one of the best minions in the game.

3. Storm is the most powerful, yes, but the fizzle rate is astonishing. You need big accuracy boosts beyond its spell for it.

4. Most if not all schools have their own Minion sacrifice spell. Personally I am not a fan of it either, only that its helpful against Storm enemies that seem to have a FAR lower fizzle rate then yourself.

5. Fire has a horrid fizzle rate as well, which is why they have high damage. Link is an extremely low heal spell, and really not worth equipping IMO.

6. Why Ice has the low damage and higher fizzle rate is beyond me. Unless I am wrong, Stun doesnt stun for 3 round, rather only one. Then even that is useless IMO as the stun shields prevent chain stunning. Their support spells are good however (Ice Armor, Steal Ward, etc). They also do not have a heal spell.

7. Death is a great school. Not only do their attack do damage, but heal you as well (most attacks). They have a heal spell that is nearly as powerful as Satyr when a Death shield is on (Sacrifice), and the traps can make it where you barely need to use a Fairy, Satyr, etc. I have a death char, and have but 4 Vampires as attacks and 3 of most traps and blades (far lower spell count then what deck will hold). Rarely do I need to heal, and can take the damage caused because the traps will near fully heal me after every attack. Their minion depends on pip count, thus 14 minions are possible. I think any over 7 pip is a waste in group settings, as they use Doom and Gloom, probably the worst spell I can think of. Scarecrow as mentioned is a HUGE healing machine with a couple blades on yourself.

1. In my experience, Death monsters abuse Life Shields and Weakness.

2. My first wizard was a Sorcerer. Judgment is not all it's cracked up to be. Although it's a powerful spell, all of the other schools have spells that are 10x better. Plus you really need to invest time into Judgment (believe me, I've died plenty of times because I was setting up for Judgment too long) and if you get Weakness put on you, you might as well throw in the towel.

3. I'm glad someone sees it my way!

4. I don't even think I'm gonna create a Conjurer because the school seems so useless (no offense to Conjurers).

5. I guess you're right, but I like Link for some reason. I guess cuz it's a lot more useful than Helping Hands.

6. I don't get that either, but we can't do anything about it. I think the whole Stun thing is a glitch cuz it's supposed to stun for 3 rounds, but it doesn't. It does have some awesome shields, and that's to make up for the lack of a healing spell (plus you don't do much healing when you're a Thaumaturge).

kyoushiro wrote:

Gotta admit that death school is the best one for starting players. With only few traps and blades, you can heal yourself at full.
But i don't like idea that fire would be third or what it was in here, since they only have 5% more accuracy than storm.
Although they still have pretty high attack power, i would suggest storm over fire.
Also, life is pretty good school for starting players too ;)

I have a Pyromancer and a Diviner and I can safely say Fire is the lesser of two evils. Also my second wizard was a Theurgist; I'm telling you it's NOT the school to start with.