I am preparing my Wizard for he Storm Deckathalon, as I am desperate to get the Storm Hamster for my Storm Wizard. However, I am not familiar with the Deckathalon event and am not sure how to prepare.
I would like to request the advise of those of you familiar with the Deckathalon event. I am primarily concerned about what maycast talents I should put on a pet to help me, and in there are any decks aside from the Storm Deckathlete's deck that can help me.
You're able to equip any deck you'd like in the Deckathalon, and you still get stats from all decks (not just Deckathalon decks) like +starting pips, +health, and larger sideboards. Therefore the best non-Deckathalon deck to get you started would be the highest-leveled deck your character can equip with an emphasis on decks that give a starting pip and some health. A deck with a tear or square socket will be even better for additional health or defense but you will likely need a socket wrench first. If you don't have wrenches to spare don't worry about the socket.
As for healing maycasts... I'm of the opinion that there is no such thing as too many healing maycasts. From my experience Healing Current seems to trigger very frequently and has a tendency to "piggyback" off of other maycast heals. I guess healing is one of its more prominent triggers. If there was one MC heal in particular I would go for it's that one.
As for the rest you can't really go wrong with most of them. Sprite Queen is a slighty more potent version of Sprite so if you had to pick between the two go for Queen. That being said there is nothing wrong with having both Sprite and Sprite Queen on the same pet either. Unicorn and Fairy are both the other two solid healing choices though I feel they are slightly less frequent than Sprites and Currents. The only heal I would recommend avoiding is Life Bat because the healing amount (10 + 90 over 3) is very poor. I've never used it so I have no idea if it triggers more often or what.
For MC auras Fortify is good for survivability and Empowerment is good for letting you get bonus pips from enemy attacks. Auras don't seem like they trigger as much as they used to but that could just be my own perception. You can also bring some aura TCs in your deck instead.
For utility Disarm/Enfeeble and Steal Charm could be useful. In general both of these talents will reduce the damage you take by depriving enemies of their blades. All blades used by enemies in the Deckathalon are universal so you will always benefit from stolen blades regardless of which school's attacks you are using. Disarm may trigger more frequently compared to Steal Charm and Enfeeble.
Will cast damage spells are extremely useful in the Deckathalon for reserving your own treasure cards, finishing off low health targets, and one-shotting enemies on some of the lower floors. Will Cast Frozen Kraken is basically the best of these spells right now due to its damage output and low charge/cooldown time. Note that these kinds of talents need to be "unlocked" on a character with talent tokens earned from pet training, but once you've unlocked the talent your character will permanently be able to use it on any existing or future pets. Frozen Kraken will require Talent Tokens which you get from training any pet to Ancient and beyond, and Elemental Tokens which you get from training any Fire, Ice, or Storm pet to Epic and beyond.
When it comes to Deckathalon pets I think there is a lot more wiggle room regarding pet talents so long as they are all maycasts and/or a will cast. Remember: you do not benefit from +stat talents during the Deckathalon. I therefore wouldn't worry too much about having a "perfect" Deckathalon pet. If you've got a will cast + 3-4 healing maycasts + 1-2 utility maycasts your pet will be fine. You could even run 5 healing may casts and scrap the will cast if you don't think you'll accrue enough talent tokens in time.
One last piece of advice regarding socket jewels: A lot of bosses in Arc 3 and beyond can drop jewels for pet talents like "Ally Dragonblade", "Ally Tower Shield", "Ally Volcanic Shield", etc. etc. Even though these talents say they cast the buff on an ally they can be cast on your character if you are solo. Since only maycasts matter these kinds of jewels will be your only options for socketing a Deckathalon pet. There are other so-called "Kroger jewels" that give talents like MC Brace or MC Pigsie but these are not currently available and cost money/Crowns. I would therefore try to find one of these MC ally-buff jewels for putting a Deckathalon pet.
Storm enemies love to use 4-pip attacks even high up into the tower, so the usual Storm Shield you can buy from Harold Argleston will sometimes not be enough. You will want Virulent Plague and the Storm Dispel (the latter you can purchase from a few of the higher world TC vendors).
You can also purchase minion TC from the Zafaria TC vendor, the best here being the Storm Minion (oh how the weak have risen, huh?) and the Minotaur Minion since they can draw attention to themselves, very valuable when you have such low health. Be careful though, since Storm hits so hard they will be worse in this event than they are in most other Deckathalons. You can also farm Neberyx in Dragonspyre for Brandon Minions, which are absolutely amazing and allows for you to play ultra defensively if you so want to.
When it comes to attacks, Myth does not have an easily accessible mid-range attack that is any good here. They got a huge buff with the change to Orthrus, at the very least. However, avoid cards like Minotaur, as they require Blades in order to be useful and the Storm enemies will constantly try to remove your charms. Instead, use Ninja Pigs, Otomo Fury, and Oni No Jade instead. Medusa is also an incredible spell that you will have difficulty acquiring once they run out over at the Bazaar. The 2-turn stun is amazing. You'll also want Calendar if you go into the higher floors merely for the higher base damage.
(I kinda wrote up about the TC before noticing you didn't actually ask about the TC, but I'll keep it in here in case someone else reads this thread wanting TC advice)
As for pet talents, most people tend to take a bunch of healing talents. You will absolutely want to use a Willcast, however. Willcast Kraken goes off every 3 turns and provides a lot of damage, singlehandedly allowing you to win in the lower floors without casting a card. Some maycasts like Balanceblade are also nice, but I wouldn't go for it here, because, again, blade removal. An aura may also be useful. Fortify will help soak up Piercing from the enemies, making your Shields stronger. Empowerment gives you extra pips, which is really handy but can be a double-edged sword around stages 6-7 when Power Pip chance is low.
As for Decks, the Storm Deckathalon deck is definitely the best, and it's worth switching out your non-Deckathalon deck for even a Storm Deck 1 very quickly. The flat resist is crucial to any Deckathalon (except maybe Balance since you're up against multiple damage types).
Craft the school decks as soon as you can. Until then, use whatever deck you have with the biggest TC sideboard. If you are high enough level to have a deck that gives a starting pip, you'll want it. Most any may cast heal, aura, buff, or debuff will be some help. I like Sprite Queen best, but any healing is better than none. May-cast Fortify or Tower shield aren't bad either.
For the storm event you'll be using mostly Myth attacks, so stock up on those, blades, traps, storm shields, and some low pip heals. Weakness, plague, disarm or steal charm can be handy too. Some players use minions for the 1v2 fights.
