Being one of my favourite classes in Maplestory, the Flame Wizard, I got into Maplestory Blitz with the mindset that Oz would play very similarly to how she does in Maplestory. She does... just not like Flame Gear Flame Wizard and more like reworked Flame Wizard. So yeah, also more unfortunate news to tell you guys, I'm not a very punctual or consistent person. But I will try to get guides for every class out and maybe even a little more. Ah yes, ambition and perfectionistic tendencies don't go well with the lack of punctuality or consistency, but alas, here we are.
So going along with the Hearthstone analogies, if Mercedes plays like the Mage, Oz would be more akin to somewhere along the lines of a Priest or Warlock. Priest because she has some insta-kill spells with trade-offs and Warlock because she also has a lot of spells that require some sort of sacrifice. But that's as far as the comparison goes, because other than that I don't know how else to describe Oz's playstyle. She lacks spells that deal damage upfront but she has many spells that deal damage over time instead and if you actually total up the damage, she deals more damage than Mercedes. Her buffing spells are also weird with mechanics that a good player can really capitalize on but bad players will just not get much value out of. She is more complicated than Mercedes but because of that there are also more unique ways you can build decks around her playstyle.
Before we get into the spells, let's just cover her Hero Skills first:
Just like Mercedes and every other Hero in the game, you unlock the first one immediately, the second one at 4 and the last at 8.
Even her first power require micro management, god
A slightly less powerful Swift Dual Shot, Orbital Flame starts off weak but you can build it up by defeating enemies, as a standalone skill it's already fine but you can couple it with a few spells and it'll really separate you from a normal Oz player.
Her second skill is Fire Repulsion, for which I have to say is the weakest among her Hero Skills, first of all because the last thing you want is for enemies to attack you tower and this skill actually encourages it plus if say a Dinodon were attacking you tower, what's 3 damage gonna do?
And then secondly cause unless there are monsters attacking your tower, this Hero Skill is useless, you can't do anything with it and it doesn't do anything for you. You know how in Chess when all your opponent is doing is reacting to your every move, you've basically got the upperhand and can dictate the game? Same thing here, a spell that simply reacts to the enemy's actions and nothing else is only valuable when you take damage, which you don't want to so... then what? Exactly. But then again, that's just my opinion so if you manage to find a good build for this, please share it with me =D
Her last Hero Skill is Flame Elemental and it's one I have trouble building into a deck. On the one hand it's a good skill, always having a 2/8 monster for 1 mana up your sleeve all the time. Plus, you can strengthen it by casting the spell over and over again until you get a beastly Flame walking down the lane. But on the other hand, it takes time to gain traction and can be countered easily by enemies with a lot of wave clear abilities. That being said, there was one instance where I was using this Hero Skill and my opponent and I traded abilities and monsters quite equally that in the end, he didn't have any cards left so I took my time and summoned a flame with a ridiculous attack stat to destroy his tower. Just note that it adds the damage and remaining health of the current flame to the next one, so your attack and HP gain is exponential.
The problem with Oz's playstyle is that her Hero Skills don't seem to be standalone spells but more so just one side of a coin as she has spell cards that compliment her and really make her a force to be reckoned with and I'll get to the cards after this.
Hero Specific Cards:
I don't play Maplestory Blitz everyday, every time so I wouldn't call myself a pro but I'll give you a list of cards you can easily get value from in every game. These are cards that can fit into any deck and are great if you wanna start testing different builds for Oz.
One of Oz's cards is a simple 2 mana monster from the region of Ereve itself, the Tiru. It's HP is nothing to write home about and so is it's speed but it's effect really allows for interesting plays with a low cost, rush build deck. Build it into a deck or don't use it at all, you can't go wrong either way.
What if I told you, you can create a circle of fire, on the ground that will NOT burn your monsters and instead give them a 5 attack bonus AND also burn those evil, vile, useless enemy monsters your opponent sends your way? Now what if I told you that all that costs ONLY 4 Mana (ok, I'll stop now but you get the picture), and is only a rare card. It is so easy to get value out of Burning Conduit, that you must get a couple if you want to build an Oz deck.
If you're having trouble finding cards to fill your deck with, a good starting point is getting spells for wave clear. Using the Hearthstone mentality, monster cards can continuously deal damage as long as they are on field whereas spell cards only give value once per use. So, when you take out monsters with spells, you're getting more bang for buck. That's where the awesomeness of Flame Bite comes in, a spell for 4 Mana that can effectively deal up to 70 damage to a single enemy. AND it's just a rare card, burn 100 essence and get some of these on your hand. 70 damage can easily take out even cards that cost 7 Mana and higher. Just take some time to learn the targeting mechanism, use the card and tap on a lane to start firing. If you wanna change the direction of fire, swipe from where it's firing to the direction you want it to fire. Hopefully, this helps cause it took me a while.
Sometimes you just don't brain guys, k
The last thing every deck needs is a single target insta-kill. So this card will get you covered. The trade off is negligible in the long run and also, better one time damage than the monster just clawing away at your beloved tower. It's not the best card, I must say, but if you're short on essence and you really don't like to lose, it's good to have a couple of this for when the time comes. Also, how cool is the name tho, like I'm gonna Dragon Blaze your monster! Really has a nice ring to it.
If you really wanna go ham with your Orbital Flames, Brilliant Enlightenment will really compliment the skill. Also given that Orbital Flame's cooldown is longer than Swift Dual Shot, even though it initially deals less damage, this card will bring it up to line with Swift Dual Shot, giving you the opportunity to finally cast those 30 damage Orbital Flames. And spamming them every five seconds as well.
Moving on to the Epic Cards:
I mean, was there any doubt I wouldn't include Flame Gear after how much I liked Burning Conduit? Flame Gear is basically a stronger Burning Conduit without the attack buff and a cheaper mana cost. Yeah, sure, no attack bonus, but that just means you don't have to wait for the perfect time to use it compared to using Burning Conduit where the stars have to align for you to get maximum value out of it. Another plus is that it pays homage to the old Flame Wizard with the Flame Gears which you can't use anymore in game because why Nexon why?! Although it doesn't look as cool as Flame Gears in Maplestory but you know it's the memory that counts.
If you guys are wondering how it looks like in the original Maplestory
Blazing Extinction is amazing by itself already, because it turns any monster you have into a ranged monster with a small trade off, plus the ranged attack can hit monsters on any adjacent lane to the one the monster's on. Pair this with some heals and increasing life spells on a beastly monster and your opponent will have a hard time dealing with whatever comes their way. Note that it fires every second so your monster will be losing 2 health per second any time an enemy monster is within range.
I just wanna touch on some basic spells you're given the moment you unlock Oz:
This is a really good card to have in any starting deck, the damage is good and it deals damage to all enemy monsters. Keep in mind that any monsters past the middle of the map to your side will be pushed to you tower and the monsters past the middle to the opponent's side will be pushed to the opponent's tower. It's really up to your skill as a player to utilize this card, which is why it's such a good card for any deck, you can be offensive with it and push all your monsters to the opponent's tower or push back enemy monsters so they don't harm your tower. Flame Tempest just needs you to git gud and you'll be winning games left and right.
In principle, Spell Control is pretty straight forward, you pop the card, the effect goes off, all you monsters benefit, BUT it's really one of the more cheap cards with great value, simply because your monsters get both a health AND a damage buff. Although you only get insane value for money for 5 Mana cost cards and more. Use it in decks you need to fill up if you're just starting out until you're set on a build you wanna go for.
Another card I wanna touch on just because of how broken this effect really is. This card seems weird at first, you buff a monster and it marches down the lane until it reaches the enemy's tower and explodes for damage equal to the monster's health and damage total. What they don't tell you is, you can destroy 7 and 8 cost monsters marching down the lane with a simple 1-2 cost monster (hint, Flame Elemental, hint) with the help of this card. And given the mana cost of this card, Cinder Maelstrom gives you a great trade off cause you're only spending like 4-5 mana to get rid of the entire lane. It greatly counters rush builds AND couple this with Blazing Extinction, you're going to have a field day.
Now I'm not saying that this is the one true guide for using Oz but instead, use this guide as a way to start winning games with Oz, and so that you spend your Essence efficiently allowing you to play more games and level her up to access better, more diverse builds. This is also why I'm not touching on Legendary Cards in Oz's kit, they're strong and have great value, but only a really seasoned player will be using decks filled with Legendary Cards and they obviously wouldn't need a guide anymore. Plus if you trade right and play your cards well, decks with Rare and Epic cards can even beat Legendary decks, take it from me.
Have fun playing as Oz!!!
Other Classes:
Phantom
Oz (You're reading this one)
Kyrin
Demon Slayer
