Spiral Knights - Double Switching for Dummies. (Community Guide)

Double Switching for Dummies. (Community Guide)

14 replies [Last post]

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 02:19

Sipsy

CRITICISM, BRING IT ON! - BUT PLEASE KEEP IT CONSTRUCTIVE
You may use parts of this guide in your guides or link this page somewhere (e.g, One sword slaying guide) I don't care if you credit me or a monkey, just share the guide, fellow dummies.
I use English spelling, not American-English spelling. Colour = Color, s takes the place of z in "cise" rather than "cize" and Programme instead of program so my spelling isn't wrong, it's just a different language - ish.
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New title, new thread. Community's guide to double switching, since you all (ya'll) wanna help out, just put some extra tips under here and I'll put it in the comments, good idea, Seiran.
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Share the keybindings, it makes it easier for different people with different hands to double switch when there's a variety of different ways to do it, so feel free to share them. If you wanna look at them / try them out, here's the people that have taken their time to share their keybindings, Thanks guys !
Community Guides and tips + Keybindings
Seiran's mini guide on switch techs
Knightofheaven's Settings + Notes
-Golfdinger's settings
-Nottheanswer's settings

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Table of contents, oh yes. This is going to be a long read. I spent ages trying to figure out what Seiran was trying to teach me about a simple bookmark code so you guys better use them. >:o
C1 : A little about me
C2 : Dummies explanation to canceling
C3 : Settings and control scheme
-C3.1 : Movement
-C3.2 : Weapon slots - Important
-C3.3 : Other notes
-C3.4 : AT or Not
C4 : How it works
-C4.1 : Weapon2
-C4.2 : Weapon1
-C4.3 : Normal-ish switching
C5 : Final tips
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C1 A little about me ( Pssshhhh, No one cares ! HAHAHAH .. Oh wait, ;~; )
My first guide ( Unless you count, "How to disable chat on SK" as a guide ). I've played for SK for a very long time but I've only recently found out how to double switch through hours of testing different key bindings and settings. I've soaked a lot of time into learning how to do this because I wanted to be a gunner / hybrid but because I'm a cheapskate and at first I didn't want to buy another alchemer but now, I have more than thirty 5* guns at level 10 heat. It's really only 2, but it's less impressive now, isn't it? Oh, and it saves you some money if you're going to farm FSC. You don't need to buy another slot for a blitz if you gun. You can go Alch + Blitz and save 250ce. Also, when you have two different types of damage, say elemental and shadow damage, one being shadowtech alch and the other being prismatech alch. You can kill slimes faster by just double switching the shadowtech rather than normal switching between the two, so it makes killing this faster.

Why am I making this guide? I'm taking a break from SK, for no idea on how long. (Finals coming up in a few weeks (I don't live in the US (Woah, bracket within a bracket (my English teacher would kill me (I hope I don't pass English))). So I figured I'd leave SK with a guide to double switching so when (or if) I come back, I'll hopefully get to see more gunners ( Yay ♥ ).

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C2 Dummies explanation to Canceling
Simple guide to weapon switching for dummies or people that don't have fingers that can move like this guy's. Or like Tenkii's fingers when he aims and uses the mouse wheel to switch, I tried for hours and couldn't do it (it was actually like 30 seconds and then I lost all hope ). This is also useful for people who are just starting out and can't really afford two alchemers/guns to double switch, or just wanna go plain hybrid. What Double switching looks like

If you've already got a grip on normal switching, you can skip this segment. If you're new to weapon switching, it's when you cancel an attack with the shield, switch weapons and then attack, shield switch and so on. Attack > Switch > Shield > Repeat, shielding cancels the animation and therefore you can attack with rapid succession, one right after the other with the first hits. To gun, being able to do this is essential because for the price of healthy fingers, you do not need to reload at all ! Wow ! Double switching is when you Attack, switch to another weapon, and then switch back to your weapon you attacked with and then shield cancelling the animation. Attack > Switch > Switch Back > Shield > Repeat. This is actually very difficult when trying to do this and aim.
The spiral knights wiki does a good explanation about single switching and says that double switching is the same concept but it doesn't really go too much in depth about how to do it. Skip down to advanced techniques.

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C3 Settings and control scheme
Here's where we're actually starting do stuff - ish. First thing's first, weapon wheel off ! This is super dooper annoying, it's like an image that just stays on your screen when you're double switching.

I have made these keybindings so that it is easier to use when switching. Not because it's strange or cool or dum, but because it works. I will not change my keybindings unless you offer a way to double switch without developing arthritis. So please do not criticise it because I will cry.

C3.1 - Movement for dummies.
W - Move North
S - Move South
A - Move Weast ( If you got that reference, I love you )
D - Move East

C3.2 - Important stuff
Space Bar - Shield
LEFT mouse click - Weapon slot 1
RIGHT mouse click - Weapon slot 2
Middle mouse click - Attack

I know, Middle mouse click for--- WAIT !!! Before you guys throw your gran faust's at m--- OUCH ! Who did that ?! I bruise easily !
This is because when double switching, you just click the buttons from right to left for weapon 2 double switching and left to right for weap 1 dub switch
This makes it a lot easier to learn and it puts less stress on your fingers, rather than scrolling up and down, as the default puts it on. The reason I use specific weapon slots is because you do not have to change the rotation for each weapon whenever you stop switching, and that gets annoying and confusing as heck.

These keybindings are not the only way of going about with double switching ! Other people have there own way and some have even shared them with us. If you do not like these bindings ( but please try them out first ), you can find the community's keybindings down in the replies section.

C3.3 - Extra notes
You can see that I don't have weapon 3 or 4 slots. I put them on Q and E but I did not include them as I don't use them and this guide is aimed towards players that can't quite afford 3 or 4 slots yet. I'm also saying this because I'm still practicing 3rd and 4th weapon slot switching and I have yet to make an easier way to double switch with all 4 slots.

C3.4 - AT or No AT
It doesn't matter, this is a double switching guide not a flaming fight.

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C4 How it works
Woah, so you've made it so far, it's good to have you with me. As I said in 3.2, You click from Right to left or left to right, starting with either space bar or right mouse click. This means that you can double switch with two different weapons at any given time. We will be going from Right to left first because it's easier to learn that way.
Right Mouse Click = RMC
Middle Mouse Click = MMC
Left Mouse Click = LMC
Space bar = SB

C4.1
Weapon 2 Slot Switch
Right Mouse Click > Middle Mouse Click > Left Mouse Click > Space bar > Repeat
RMC > MMC > LMC > SB > Repeat
(Tip. Go down to C6 to see what it looks like)

C4.2
Then, you swap the other way for the 1st slot weapon.
Left mouse click > Middle Mouse Click > Right Mouse Click > Space Bar > Repeat
LMC > MMC > RMC > SB > Repeat

C4.3 Normal switching, Extra For Experts !
For normal switching with this.
With this set up, it's actually harder to switch normally. As you'd have to go RMC > MMC > LMC > SB > MMC > RMC > SB > MMC > LMC
So you'll be going one way, and then when you get to space bar you need to switch to the other way and start at MMC. If you would like to switch normally, I'd say just do the Weapon 2 slot switch ( without the repeat ) and then do the Weapon 1 slot switch and then alternate between the two, you will press 1 more button for each shot but it makes it easier to use and learn, if you really want to.

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C5 Practice makes perfect !
Keep practicing, remember, this key setup isn't required for double switching, it just makes it a lot easier FOR ME. You can experiment and try your own, Keep at it and have fun.

C6 ~ A Video Just between you and me because you've made it all the way to the end of this guide. There are a few other double switching video's there, I'd have turned this guide into a video too but I'm sooo bad at editing and things, today is actually the first time I've even cut a video ! Anyways, thanks a lot for reading, cya later and good luck !

Feel free to ask questions and make comments in the replies, I'll try to answer them whenever I'm looking to procrastinate !

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 10:55

Golfdinger

I created what I feel to be

I created what I feel to be optimal keybinds to ease double-switching and avoid Carpel Tunnel. The main point is using your thumb for all your weapons, due to it's great flexibility. I also used something similar for GunZ K-style.

movement: YGHJ

thumb for weapons. The keyboard I use has normal key sizes for these bottom-row keys, but these keys on other keyboards may be too large to easily reach them all
slot 1: spacebar
slot 2: right alt
slot 3: apps/menu key
slot 4: right ctrl

mouse
attack: left-click (mouse1)
shield: right-click (mouse2)
sprite 1: mwheelup
sprite 2: mwheeldwn
sprite 3: side-button (mouse5)
voice: side-button (mouse4)
dash: dpi-up button (mouse6)
shield-bash: dpi-down button (mouse7)

item keys surrounding movement keys
item 1: F
item 2: T
item 3: U
item 4: K

pinky finger
auto-target: C

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 12:16

Sipsy

Thanks for the response,

Thanks for the response, Golfdinger. I find it better to keep your left hand more free so movement would be easier, but my opinion's coming strictly from lockdown as I haven't played PvE in about 4 months. I made this guide so it'd be easier to learn, clicking in order from left to right or right to left makes it a lot easier to learn. I think yours might be better, if they get a good grip things and wanna do 4 slot switching. I'd personally use my pinky for weapon 3/4 because my right ctrl button is so far away ( Switching slots between c and alt or v and alt ).

Edit: I never really got into gunz, learning K-style was too hard for me.

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 16:05

Nottheanswer

Interesting guide, lots of good content!

There's a ton of ways to double-swap. My setup (I only run two weapons) is:

Attack = RMouse
Shield = LMouse
Weapon 1 = Spacebar, previously LAlt
Weapon 2 = LShift
Next weapon = mouse-thumb-button

Movement is standard WASD, other stuff isn't super relevant.

I wanted to try individual weapon keybinds, and figured my lefthand thumb and pinky weren't doing much. The next weapon keybind is used for shield-less double-swaps on guns that you can move while shooting (Blasters, Alches, etc.); feels a bit smoother and more consistent inputting a single button twice for that.

It might be worth trying to fit weapon keybinds into your current control scheme, rather than mixing everything up. Lots of options, regardless.

I was first inspired to try double-swapping by watching Nalrayi's Callahan/Storm solo of Silent Legion. Incredible example of mixing single and double-swaps.

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 18:56

Batabii

British or American, "Dummie's" is not proper grammar...so there.

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 19:21

Sipsy

@ Nottheanswer

@ Nottheanswer, Thanks for sharing your key bindings ! I tried out your setup and I think it's pretty good. There's so many ways to do it haha.
@ Batabii, Don't sweat the small stuff ! I'm just using the title thing from those books, "For Dummies."
-
More / Different layouts makes it easier for a lot of different people so keep sharing them!

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 19:25

Midnight-Dj

@Van

Don't mind Batabii, he had an entire page worth of arguement on the name of Jelly King (yeah, sue me for not calling it royal jelly). Good guide though.

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 20:01

Sipsy

Alright, thanks Dj !

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 20:05

Batabii

The only reason I commented is because he made a big deal about the language differences, despite not even getting the title correct.

Fri, 09/12/2014 - 20:29

Sipsy

I think you're the one making a big deal out of things. Ugh, ignore button doesn't work on forums ;~;

Sat, 09/13/2014 - 06:38

#10

Seiran

Aw hehe, I was thinking of doing something like this too. But since you started it, I'm going to hijack your thread. Thanks!

I normally monitor the length of my posts because I can be wordy, but hey, I've been up for a while, and I feel like spreading stuff and seeing how the game develops (or see if the devs actually care/are control-hungry enough to try to interfere with our fun). So...
> Skip this post, get stuck with key binds
> Understand this post, be rewarded with freedom in your loadouts and playstyles (want to have 3 bombs and a Callahan? Go for it!)

Since I've been busy and (bwahahaha) nobody's random-adding me for lessons anymore (success!), I'll just go ahead and share mine anyway.

Need binds for:

Next Weapon
Prev Weapon
Attack
Shield

IMPORTANT: It doesn't matter what keys you bind these to, as long as you feel comfortable with them.
You can use direct-weapon binds as Van-Winkle (and like, every previous guide) suggest, but I self-taught with Next/Prev and I wouldn't have it any other way. My control scheme is here.

Mechanics
The goal is this: Weapon timers reset when you switch weapons. This includes slash1 prevention, gun reloading. Using a switch technique is essentially doing a manual reload.
You can double-switch to chain unlimited slash1-slash2s, use guns without reloading, or (most importantly!) to have a variety of weapons without filling your loadout with unnecessary weapons and money investment.

Two parts here: Switching and Timing.

Switching
The main thing that all of these alternatives have in common is that you switch off your attacking weapon then back to it whenever you want to do a "manual reload".

Definitions:
To is a switch input to your attacking weapon
Away is a switch input going away from your attacking weapon
... repeat point
, short wait
- Input quickly (almost at the same time, but make sure you hit the left input first)

Ex:
1.[Attack], [Away]-[To] ...
2. [To]-[Attack], [Away] ...

As you can see, with each iteration, there are two switches between attacks. These do kind of look the same, but here's where I see a difference:
Spiral Knights doesn't read two consecutive [Next/Prev] inputs in a short time, which means people who use [Next/Prev] to switch weapons will have trouble doing (1).

Why? Think about it: default controls have Next/Prev mapped to scroll wheel, so it means you can do a careless scroll up/down and only move 1 weapon slot.

This leads us to...

Timing: Attacking
To get around the Next/Prev problem, I recommend method (2) for people who use [Next/Prev]. You sandwich an attack input between your switch inputs. For example, you can do something like this:

[Next]-[Attack], [Prev]...

Timing: Repeating (and speeding up)
First: This technique does NOT make you physically attack faster. It only lets you attack more consistently, which means the gains will come over a long period of time attacking.

So how do you speed this up?

Input Queueing: You can queue [Switch] inputs during your attack animation. So for method (2), you can almost do a [Next]-[Attack]-[Prev]... input, and your character will switch off your attacking weapon as soon as possible. If you don't believe, try doing an [Attack]-[Switch] input and wait: your character should switch weapons eventually.
Shield Cancel: You can hold [Shield] right after you start your attack until shield comes up. This ends your attack animation earlier, which means you switch away and can repeat earlier as well.
Shield Shorter: If you have shield cancelling down, your speed will come from wasting less time in shield. Visually, with perfect timing, you can do it right before the circle base of the shield shows up.
Weapon Wheel: If you have the weapon wheel on, the biggest signifier that your old 'attack' is finished and you can start your next repetition is when the weapon wheel UI starts to switch to a different weapon.
UI Sound: Probably paired with weapon wheel, but there's a beeping sound when it switches, so you can use this as an aural cue. If you can't hear it, try turning up your UI sound volume.
Attack Speed increase: And of course, you're limited by how fast your animations go, so faster weapons = earlier switching = 'faster' repetitions.

Examples:
- My actual control scheme:
WASD-movement
Next: Scroll Down
Prev: Scroll Up
Attack: Left Click
Shield: Left Shift (If you want to use this, you need to unmap your modifier key - hit backspace when assigning a key to it, then your LShift will be free!)
Dash: Space
Bash: X

When I gave lessons in-game, I would always stress that you do NOT have to copy my control scheme. I know a lot of people have issues controlling their pinky finger, so I don't suggest you use something like that if you can't do it. At the same time, I've run into people who try to do this with pure default controls (attack+shield+switch on mouse hand). Your mouse hand will be very busy if you do that. I prefer to tell people to try to split responsibility: Have your left hand in control of your shield rhythm some how (ex: you can use your thumb to shield if you want, and that leaves your left index+middle+ring fingers to control your movement) and your right hand in control of your aim, attack, and switches.

- My actual inputs when switching:
[ScrollDown]-[LClick]-[ScrollUp]-[Shield](hold), (release shield)...

For me, [ScrollDown]-[LClick] is kind of one action, so mentally, it's more of a [downclick][up] movement with my right middle+index finger.

- Video of me being the fastest ever (max ASI + maskeraith ASI bonus)

- Video of a recon with VH ASI double-switching callahan (watch the chaos one that pops out from the bottom of the screen - also the entire match is hilarious).

PS: After linking the biohazard video, I almost forgot to mention that you can always shoot (maxNumberOfBullets-1) times before doing a switch. Biohazard/Valiance/Polaris have 3 bullets, so you can shoot twice before repeating. With swords like flourish, you can do two attacks before doing a switch.

PPS: Using Next/Prev, you can use as many weapon slots as you'd like. 2 Slots? No problem. 3 Slots? No problem. 4 Slots? Psh.
What's the difference when you're only worried about your current weapon?

Sat, 09/13/2014 - 03:46

#11

Sipsy

Thanks Seiran!!

Thanks for sharing that, Seiran ! And After that, the thread's now, (officially) a community Guide, added a search thingy for your guide so they can find it (even more easily than it already is).
Psst, Do you still play? Haven't seen you on.
Anyway, bring on the double switching madness ! :D

Sat, 09/13/2014 - 07:07

#12

Seiran

stuff

Kind of. I haven't really quit (well, we'll see what happens this month when my trinkets run out- will I subscribe for another month!?), but I've been bogged down by work/fun side projects and fire emblem 3ds

Two things I wanted to leave at some point before setting SK down were:
- Switch guide (ay, we did it!)
- Recon guide, with videos and stuff. Because people going into Lockdown need to realize that for all the whining, there's a class that
1) doesn't care about autotarget
2) doesn't really care too much about opponent UVs
3) encourages fun teamwork (or team usage)

but I digress. Thanks to you, part of that bucket list is done :P

By the way, use this to link to specific posts:
- Right click the #__ next to someone's post.
- Copy link

For example:
<a href="http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/104638#comment-946501" target="_blank">*Seiran's mini guide on switch techs</a>

<a href="#comment-946501">**Seiran's mini guide on switch techs</a>

* if you're on another page
** if you're on the same page

And if you want a link that goes to a specific section (in a post you've made), you can do this:
<a name="bookmarkName"></a> This is a bookmark
<a href="#bookmarkName">This is a link to the bookmark

I did something like that here
=====

oh, and to kind of make Batabii's point more constructive:
- Dummy's community guide ... (singular)
- Dummies' community guide ... (plural)

Sat, 09/13/2014 - 12:40

#13

Sipsy

Thanks for teaching me

Thanks for teaching me how to do that. ( God I'm bad with computers hahaha )
And lemme fix that title once and for all.

Sat, 09/13/2014 - 23:24

#14

Knightofheaven

My keybinds & some observations!

We need more comprehensive guides like this, great job van!

Just something to note:

I have found that there are three good reasons to have different keybinds for each weapon.

Weapons seem to switch the most quickly (possibly due to the server not having to process which is the next weapon in your slots, etc.)
Also, it is much more simple than scrolling through your weapons to find which one is where. For example, I almost always play with the umbra driver in my second slot when gunning or hybrid. When I scroll mouse wheel up, I can be certain that my trusty umbra will be there rather than having to find it by scrolling through all my slots!
This type of control scheme minimizes "mistakes" made. Using the traditional scrolling method, one can easily accidentally scroll twice and skip a weapon. (terrible thing to happen when double switching!)

My personal keybinds:

Movement: WASD and Mouse left click
Shield: X
Attack: Mouse right click and Z
Weapon 1: Mouse wheel down
Weapon 2: Mouse wheel up
Weapon 3: Spacebar
Weapon 4: Left shift (I never really have enough slots to use this)
Boost: Q

I tend to have multiple keybinds for certain movement and attack in order to maximize my flexibility when playing. Either I can move with wasd and attack with mouse, or move with mouse and attack with Z. (Usually, it's a combination of both). Since I primarily play LD, speed and versatility are key.

Generally, the most useful weapons to double switch on are slow weapons with a small clip. (Think Triglav and drivers/alchemers). All of a sudden, these weapons' chief disadvantage can be greatly alleviated with a simple technique.

It provides two benefits over shield-canceling alone.

In-between time when double switching is shorter than when shield canceling alone (replicating greater asi)
Furthermore, it prevents reloading for guns, or a significant delay before another attack can be made for swords.

It may take a while to learn, but trust me! Double-switching is worth it ^^

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Double Switching for Dummies. (Community Guide)