Magic Fizzle Chance

As any veteran mage can attest, magic is a difficult and sometimes temperamental art. Many things can interfere with the complex combination of gestures and words required to cast a spell, causing a spell to fail and “Fizzle.” Any Avatar hoping to wield magic in combat should be aware of their Fizzle chance, which represents the percentage chance a spell will fail. Combat skills are not affected by Fizzle chance, only Magic spells.

When a spell Fizzles it costs the normal amount of focus, but the spell is not actually cast. Reagents are not at risk of being consumed. Glyphs dealt into your hand are not consumed or discarded and you can attempt to cast them again. Locked Glyphs do not enter cooldown when they fizzle.

Fizzle is affected by several factors, explained in more detail below.


 * Movement
 * Held Equipment
 * Armor
 * Spell Tier
 * Skills

The most basic factor affecting Fizzle Chance is movement. Fizzle chance increases while walking and running and decreases while standing still. Low tier spells are inherently simpler and easier to cast, even while moving, and suffer less Fizzle chance penalty from movement.

It is harder to cast spells with your hands already full. Mages wielding swords, bows, shields, and other conventional weapons will suffer a higher Fizzle chance. Magic staves, wands, and other magical foci do not inflict this penalty.

Heavier armor can help protect an Avatar in combat, but is difficult to cast spells in. This is represented by the Fizzle attribute on each piece of armor. Some schools of magic (like Life and Earth) are less affected by Fizzle Chance from armor. Other schools (like Death and Air magic) are affected even more than usual. Heavy armor like chainmail and plate generally has a drastic Fizzle chance penalty.

Higher tier spells are significantly more difficult to cast, requiring complex words and gestures. As such the higher the tier of the spell the higher the base Fizzle chance. As your skill in a spell improves so does your mastery of it, reducing the fizzle chance of that spell. Skills that mitigate some Fizzle Chance for all spells can be found in the Focus tree.

The percent (%) chance that any spell will cast successfully is displayed on the Glyph on your hotbar. If no percent chance is displayed on the spell glyph then it does not have a chance to Fizzle. This information updates in real time. Factors like spell tier and individual skill rank mean that different spells may have very different Fizzle Chances