Magicka: Wizard Wars

Magicka: Wizard Wars

34 ratings
All about Soul Harvest
By [Lemons] w!z@rD and 1 collaborators
For game beginners and veterans who just haven't played Soul Harvest yet. Includes everything you have to know about this game mode, including effective combos for killing monsters, ways to deal with the effigy and much more.
   
Award
Favorite
Favorited
Unfavorite
Foreword
 
The universal spellcasting notation will be used in this guide https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=196132827
If you're not familiar with the basics of Wizard Wars, check out the complete guide https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=186205747

Thanks to Jix and Dikharz/Totalloss, who helped me with testing stuff.
Also, check out loopuleasa's post on the Paradox forums[forum.paradoxplaza.com].




Soul Harvest is a PvE oriented game mode similar to League of Legends and Dota 2. It's layed out for 8 players (4vs4) but can be played with less in a custom lobby. Currently there are 2 maps available.

Each team has a base where the players spawn. In order to win players have to collect souls and destroy the enemy shrine, called "Effigy", which is located in the enemy base. Unlike Warfare, there are no spawn tokens and the respawn time is reduced to 5 seconds.
 
Recommended gear
 
Magicks



T1: Haste
The most useful magick during early and mid game. You need it to get to camps quickly.
Teleport can be used to take shortcuts.

T2: Tidal Wave
Good for pushing away enemy players so they can't collect the souls.
Tornado can be used as well. Get quick kills with Conflagration, but don't use it too often.

T3: Displace
Use it either on yourself in hopes that you get teleported near an occupied camp or on enemies to remove them from your base or from precious souls. This can be used on the troll, all goblins and TP guardians(?). Dragon Strike is effective against the effigy.

T4: Thunderstorm
Since the effigy is immune to magick damage now and Trolls can't be frozen with Mighty Hail anymore, T4 magicks are much less useful now, but Thunderstorm is still very good.



Recommended affinities

+speed
Soul Harvest is all about splitting up and running between the monster camps, so obviously, +speed is a good choice. Enemy players will likely not be encountered until late game, when the fights are around the Effigies.

+death
Beams are highly effective in Soul Harvest, since monsters don't ward against it nor cast shields and usually run towards you in a straight line. Also, SES mines are useful against groups of enemies and as extra damage dealer.

Other affinities are decent choices too, but not nearly as useful as speed and death.
Don't take +fire, +hp.



Useful weapons

Weapons are good for a multitude of things. Some can be used to finish off monsters, some are good for an opening hit. Ranged weapons can be used to land a sneaky hit on enemy players.
  • The Katana and other weapons with Quickdraw.

  • The special attacks Flourish, Hurricane Spin and Sawblade are moderately useful against normal Goblins. Good DPS on the effigy.

  • Ranged weapons such as the Pistol, the Hatchet or the Gungnir can be used to damage players who are occupied with monsters.
 
Player encounters / Map awareness
 
This section needs a proper name - please leave your suggestion in the comments.

Preventing the other team from getting souls is just as important as farming souls for your own team!
  • Capture teleporters - this will give you a huge advantage, as you'll be able to move around the map quicker.

  • Engage opponents directly, but only if you have a notable advantage!
     • They're being attacked by monsters
     • You are way stronger than them, in terms of skills and/or affinities
     • They have much less health than you

  • Heal monsters enemies are trying to kill and attack them with opposite elements. Especially useful on Cannoneers, Orcs and the Shaman, who deal elemental damage.

  • Cast Displace, Tidal Wave or Tornado, so you can steal shiny soul loot.

  • Attack players, then make them chase you. Only viable when there are 2 or more players whose time you can waste, or if there are strong monsters nearby, which can be used against them.


Finding your way around the map and not wasting time is essential in Soul Harvest!
  • Suicide to get back to your base quickly without using Haste. It takes only 5 seconds to respawn. Exploit your weaknessses if you're using affinities.

  • Don't stick to your team mates unless you're assaulting the effigy or the troll. Aid them with WWW if you cross their path though (if they need heals).

  • Use !WEW to heal minor damage. !WWW and the WED WEW combo only waste time.

  • The troll should be engaged with a team mate or two, not because it is too strong, but because the other team will probably try to get the soul loot.

  • Avoid players! Collecting souls is more important.
 
Dealing with monsters
 
There are many different monster camps, here's how you deal with them.

Notes:
  • These combos were tested with neutral affinities. If you use high affinities, there might be other, more effective spells.
  • If it says SSS, keep the beam up until it's over, then continue with the following spells.
  • Please write a comment if you've got better combos.



Camp with 3 Goblins
  • !DED or !WEW ward

  • Fully charged DDD can hit all of them at once
  • !QFQ !ASA



Teleport Guardian Orc
  • !FEF as ward

  • place SES mines, walk back a little,
    then SSS !QFQ !ASA




Orc Warden
  • !FEF as ward

  • place SES mines, walk back a little,
    then SSS !QFQ !ASA
  • place AE, walk toward it a little,
    then SSQ !QFQ !ASA


Goblin Shaman
  • !DED as ward against melee attacks
  • switch to !SES if he casts the death ball
  • doesn't require using wards if you freeze him

  • QQQ RRR DDD



Troll
  • !DED as ward

  • walk underneath him, QEF SFS SSS
  • crossed beams from far away






Double Fire Goblin Cannoneers
  • !FEF makes you completely immune

  • SRS
  • !QFQ !ASA




Double Cold Goblin Cannoneers
  • !RER makes you completely immune

  • SSS
  • !QFQ !ASA




Fire and Cold Goblin Cannoneers
  • !WEW or !FEF

  • SSS
  • !DDD !QFQ !ASA (repeat until they're dead)




Type
Souls 
Respawn Time
Points 
HP
Damage 
Goblin
1
0:40 / 0:35    
5
600
50M 75D
Cannoneer
3
1:00 / 1:00
15
1200
melee: 100D, ranged: 200F / 100R
Shaman
3 (+1)
1:30 / 0:45
15
1200
melee: 400D, ranged: 400S
TP Guardian 
3
1:30
15
2000
150D 150F
Warden
3
2:00 / 1:45
25
4000
150D 150F
Troll
20
2:00 / 1:15
200
6000 
overhead attack: 700? 600?, swing: 300A 300D 
M = magick damage; second spawn times are for the cave map

On the cave map the second troll spawns after 2 minutes and 35 seconds.
 
Maps
 
That Other Meadow (Forest map)

  • 1 troll & warden

  • 2 shamans

  • 2 teleport guardians

  • 4 goblin cannoneer camps

  • 10 goblin camps


The first map which was released for this game mode. It's larger than the cave map with an average round length of 15 minutes.


Desolated Caverns (Cave map)

  • 2 trolls

  • 2 shamans

  • 2 wardens

  • 4 goblin cannoneer camps

  • 10 goblin camps


This map is smaller than the forest map, rounds usually take about 10 minutes.
There are no teleporters, but instead there are 2 wardens.



The Warden is a subpar target in terms of spent time and soul drop. However, you will be rewarded with 3 special imps and a total of 55 points.

In the Forest map the imps deal 150 physical and 50 magick damage. They have 900 HP. They don't drop any souls, but give 50 points.


In the Cave map they explode dealing 500 fire damage(?). They can't explode if they're wet, they'll instantly explode if they come in contact with fire. Meele damage is 125.
 
Souls and their effect on the effigy
 
Each soul gives 10 points.
Souls do not disappear, they stay on the map infinitely. Also, they can't be displaced.


Goblin Shamans drop 3 souls and 1 golden soul. This special soul instantly fills your focus bar, but doesn't count to the collected souls needed to disable the effigy.




50 Souls
The effigy's shield is removed, it can now be damaged.

100 Souls
First sentry is destroyed.

150 Souls
Second sentry is destroyed.

200 Souls
Third and last sentry is destroyed, apart from enemy players, the effigy is completely defenseless now and won't shoot magick missiles anymore. Remember that the effigy can be damaged by friendly fire too, so don't fight enemies next to it, otherwise it'll take unnecessary damage.


From left to right:  0 souls collected,  100 souls collected,  200 souls collected + destroyed
 
Dealing with the effigy
 
Before you even consider attacking the effigy, you should have gathered enough souls.
The effigy can be damaged once you've collected 50 souls, but that doesn't mean you should instantly start your attack! The magick missiles from the sentries deal 400 magick damage per hit. That's a whopping 1200 damage once you set foot in the enemy base.
Starting attacks on the effigy gets viable after your team has collected 100 souls.


Defending against the sentries
You can't dodge the missiles unless you escape through the base teleporter (only on the forest map). As said above, each volley does 400 damage, but you can out heal that damage with the WED WEW combo and Midsummer's Blessing.
Zombie Imps can be used to draw the fire away from you, but it doesn't always work. Imps can't attack the effigy.


The effigy has 20000 HP(?), it's immune to magick damage, it's 20% resistant to S damage


Effective ways to destroy the effigy

Dragon Strike
Tier 3; 10 ticks x 125 damage = 1250

Thunderstorm
Tier 4; 8 ticks x 300 damage = 2400
(The effigy might get hit more or less often depending on whether people are inside the storm.)

Combining beams
As shown in the left picture, if you are alone you won't be able to hit the effigy from outside the base with a beam. However, if you combine the beam with another, you'll hit the effigy without being targeted by the sentries. Aiming can be tricky though.

More pictures in the Bonus screenshots section.

Various spells
These were tested without affinities. If you are using affinities, there might be more effective spells.
EQF, EA: 100 x 21 = 2100
EF: 80 x 21 = 1680

!ASA: 336 (3 x 112)
!SQF: 230
!QFF: 213
!SFS: 188

Various weapon specials
Hurricane Spin: 5 x 170 = 850
Flourish: 3 x 225 = 675
Sawblade: 3 x 207 = 621


Damaging the effigy without magicks
You have to mix several damage types, for example storms and beams, or storms and weapon specials.
When fighting players in their base, make sure you are always right next to the effigy, because then it'll take lots of collateral damage. Cycle through different AoE-spells (novas, mines, ...) for maximum damage on the effigy as well as the enemies.

Likewise, if you're the one defending the effigy, don't let enemies come near it. Push the attackers away with QQQ and use !E to protect it against beams and sprays. Use novas like !WQW and !WRW to remove storms from the effigy.
 
Bonus screenshots
 
Troll breaking out of the gate.

Souls never disappear.

 
14 Comments
[Lemons] w!z@rD  [author] 1 Apr, 2016 @ 7:45am 
Orcs: Storms work well, but mines are easier and not much less effective.
Shaman: That's pretty much what I already have, but I edited it a little.
Banana Crayons[Sad Forever][RIP] 1 Apr, 2016 @ 5:40am 
Good guide :)

Teleport Guardian Orc:

For this one, I find heal/fire ward (odd I know, but works), dropping a steam storm & death beam. Death beam gets Orc to you, stands in the steam & it melts super fast.

Orc Warden:

Same as TP Orc.

Goblin Shaman:

Run to Shaman wearing full heal ward, water spray Shaman & freeze it, rock explodes it & job`s a good `un.
It doesn`t get to even touch you :)

Only other thing I do different is Brain Wash on Magick2.


`Splody Imps "They can't explode if they're wet," Wow! I had never realised that 8D
(wow, wall of text, oopsies hehe)

:defaultstaff::bluewizard::Pizza:
Trapfly 28 Jun, 2015 @ 6:31pm 
I got those from the Steam Community Market. They're pretty cheap.
(sorry for answering ten days later) :vlad:
Rinku_Platino 7 Jun, 2015 @ 6:55am 
Good job guys :) Thanks!
saria 22 May, 2015 @ 5:55pm 
No Farm No Win
Incognito 9 May, 2015 @ 2:55pm 
(Sorry for bad English.)
Incognito 9 May, 2015 @ 2:54pm 
I try to ignore enemy players while soul harvesting, because fighting players is a waste of time. But if they want to be killed... Who am I to regret them?
A good idea is to run near first 3 goblins to another 3 and then kill them all!
Also, tried Death + Lightning + some speed set to use ASF, but it's not very good against 5+ goblins - use SSF instead!
If you meet Fire and Cold Goblisn, you may use SSS to attract one of them and kill one by one.
If the Effigy is nearby, you may use SAE and then something else.
Solanaceae 8 May, 2015 @ 2:03pm 
Wait, but !QSF does 250 damage per 0.9 seconds, and !QSR does 325 per second. Do you mean that they're more backloaded instead of burst, so aren't worth it in a speed-priority game?
[Lemons] w!z@rD  [author] 7 May, 2015 @ 11:04am 
Well, Soul Harvest is mostly about not fighting alongside your team mates, so I'm not entirely sure what you mean.
Snuggles 7 May, 2015 @ 3:28am 
good guide, but some teamstrategies added to it would be nice