Zafaria: Not An Easy Stroll Through the Savannah
Jambo, and welcome to Zafaria! ThisWizard101world based on various African nations and cultures came out in November of 2011. I vividly remember hordes of people flooding into the world like a tribe of their own, taking turns to fight enemies in the streets because there was so much excitement. The joy of seeing so many people come together and experience something new has made Zafaria one of my favorite worlds, along with the ABBA references!
Groups of four would jump onto sigils at a time after people selected their team (with some people jumping in uninvited), and this is how I ended up in a group fighting Nergal the Burned Lion in Nemean Rock. We were completely unprepared for his cheat and ended up having to flee and restart the battle because the whole team was covered in dispels and couldn’t heal or hit.
With this experience in mind, I’m making this guide to Zafaria’s cheating bosses. Zafaria doesn’t have as many cheaters as other worlds, but the bosses that do cheat can be a roadblock to unprepared players. Here’s how to get past these roadblock bosses and reach Avalon.
Nergal the Burned Lion
Much like Scar inThe Lion King, Nergal the Burned Lion is trying to overthrow his brother to become king of the Savannah. After fighting some spiders in the Nemean Rock dungeon, you will find Nergal waiting for you at the top of the mountain. He has 3890 health and resists 80% of fire damage, so fire wizards will want to use prisms.
Nergal has two cheats. His first cheat is casting a weakness on the last wizard to join the battle in the first round, and he will repeat casting this weakness every four rounds on whoever has gotten his attention with attacks. To get around this cheat, wand hits or Cleanse Charm treasure cards should do the trick.
His other cheat happens every other time he is attacked. When this cheat is triggered, Nergal will place a dispel on his attacker for the school of magic that he was attacked with. For example, if you hit him with a storm spell, you will have a Dissipate placed on you.
Overtime spells do not trigger this cheat, so ice wizards can spam Frostbite at their leisure. This cheat can be avoided by placing a prism on him; this will make him give you a dispel of the opposite school. You could also remove the dispels with a Cleanse Charm treasure card.
Shaka Zebu
Shaka Zebu is “the greatest living Zebra warrior.” This is probably because any time he takes any damage, his minion will interrupt with a Satyr to heal his wounds. You can prevent this cheat with an Entangle dispel for one round or simply kill all of his minions.
When Shaka Zebu’s minions are dead, he asks, “Where did everyone go?” This begins the next phase of the fight, and every two to three rounds, he will cast a Meteor Strike on your team that deals 600–750 damage to everyone. Yikes. To make this worse, it doesn’t cost him any pips. Casting Quench, the fire dispel, on him will stop this cheat in its tracks.
The best way to avoid Shaka Zebu’s cheats is to kill him and his minions in one shot with an AOE attack (a spell that hits all enemies). This way, you don’t have to worry about him healing or destroying your team with Meteor Strike.
Belloq
Belloq is perhaps the most notorious boss in Zafaria because his cheat makes it nigh impossible to fight him alone. As one of Morganthe’s elite flunkies, he poses quite a challenge for wizards at the average level for questing through Zafaria. He can be found in a tent in the Waterfront, and he has 5070 health and 80% resistance to balance damage, making this fight even more annoying for balance wizards.
Belloq’s cheat is simple yet brutally effective. If you do not hit him every single round, he will cast a 0-pip Ra that does 1460-1540 balance damage on the next turn. To make this harder, his Greyhorn Mercenary minions can stun you with Freeze or Frost Giant, and they have Tower Shield as well. Belloq himself can use Elemental Shield and Spirit Shield, so shields may be a huge problem in this fight.
The best way to complete this battle is to have at least one person hit Belloq every round with a wand hit or a 1–2 pip spell. Fire Elf works wonders here because it goes for several rounds, hitting him every time and preventing him from casting Ra for three turns. The other people in the fight should put stun shields on the spammer and put blades on themselves for a larger hit to take Belloq and his minions out.
If your spammer ends up stunned anyway, you could take huge damage from Ra, so it is good to have a healer with you as well during this battle. As long as you hit him every round, you can persevere through this fight relatively unscathed.
Tim-Tim Snakeeye
Tim-Tim Snakeeye is an “elephant” storm boss in the Black Palace with 5675 health and 80% storm resist, and hmm, he looks awfully familiar … This cheater says he fights fair with no minions to help him, and he “hates to take advantage of you in your weakened state,” yet he pulls an annoying trick in battle.
At the beginning of the first round, Tim-Tim will put a 90% Tower Shield on himself. This shield will be replaced every time you damage him. You can remove this shield by using Pierce or Steal Ward or trigger another cheat by healing yourself. When you heal yourself, this boss will remove his shield, allowing you an open shot for one round before he replaces it.
To take advantage of this cheat, use a low-pip heal like Sprite, or equip the Sun’s Light Spear (a wand that can be found in the Bazaar) to use its 0-pip heal. Then the next round, you can hit him with a powerful attack. Repeat this until he is dead.
Kallah Silverback
Kallah Silverback, the leader of the Gorillas under Morganthe’s control, is a star boss in the Drum Jungle with 5910 health. Before you enter this battle, pack a few prisms in your main deck or treasure cards because his cheat centers around prisms.
If you use a single-target spell on this boss without first placing a prism on him, he will heal himself with a Minor Blessing. This is indeed minor, but if you do have a prism on him, he will hit himself for 500 damage and then remove the prism, speeding up the fight for you. Kallah has no incoming boosts or resistances, but he does know Elemental Shield, so this fight may be a little easier for spirit school wizards, as well as storm wizards who can convert their damage to myth. Just make sure you prism after he shields if hitting with a storm spell.
Spectral Guardians
The guardian spirits atop Shining Mountain have been corrupted by Morganthe, and now they will attack anyone who enters their domain. There are four spirits to battle at once: the Elephant, a sun boss who is the main cheater of the group with 7390 health; the Lion, a myth boss with 4225 health and 40% myth resist; the Gorilla, a fire boss with 3380 health and 40% fire resist; and the Zebra, an ice boss with 4225 health and 40% ice resist.
Like Tim-Tim Snakeeye, the Elephant will cast a 90% Tower Shield on himself, but the only way to remove this shield is either by defeating all other enemies in the battle or using Pierce or Steal Ward. Any time you attack him, he will put the shield back up until you kill all of the other guardians. When they are all dead, he will remove all shields from himself, and he will begin using a 0-pip Scarecrow on your team every three rounds, draining your health. A well-timed death dispel can prevent this.
The other cheat to watch for is when the Elephant says, “Only charms can save you now!” and puts a stun shield on a random wizard. You have two rounds to put a blade on that wizard. If you fail to place a blade on the marked wizard in that time, they will be hit with a Smokescreen spell from the Gorilla that reduces the accuracy of their next spell by 50%; a 0-pip Orthrus from the Lion, and finally, a 0-pip Blizzard from the Zebra. It may help to place blade treasure cards in your sideboard for this fight. Know that Bladestorm will not work for this cheat because you have to blade the marked wizard individually.
Just Two More Battles!
After you beat these guys, there are only two more fights in Mirror Lake and in Zafaria as a whole. The guardians drop some rare stuff like the elegant school gear, and the last battle drops mega snacks every time, so Mirror Lake is a good place to farm. Once you are done with Mirror Lake, you should be at least level 70, and you can move on to the next world, Avalon. Congratulations!
