I have all the recipes needed to make a Shadow Driver though should I? It will be going with a Levithan Blade and the possibility of a future bomb?
Shadow Driver
Wed, 12/31/2014 - 06:04
Wed, 12/31/2014 - 08:24
#2
yes
The alchemers are some of the best weapons in the game, because they reward skillful play. A novice Umbra gunner will put out less damage than a Sentenza (or Obsidian Carbine) user. But an expert Umbra gunner will put out much more damage than Sentenza. How? By exploiting the ricochets (which double your damage) and switch-shooting (which increases your rate of fire). In contrast, Sentenza just requires you to click quickly, over and over again. It's tedious.
In shadow guns, there's also Biohazard. I haven't used it since the gunner update, so I won't comment on it. There's Gorgofist. The tortofist guns are fun, but I wouldn't recommend them for your first gun in any damage type. Now we also have new shadow guns, which I haven't used yet:
* shadow+freeze Magnus (Winter Grave),
* shadow+freeze Pulsar (Permafroster),
* shadow Blaster (Phantamos),
* shadow Autogun (Grim Repeater).
Knockback is a major selling point for Pulsars, so I don't understand how well Permafroster works. Umbra should out-damage Phantamos easily. The buffed Magnuses are pretty cool, so Winter Grave is worth considering, even if the freeze hinders the charge damage. Grim Repeater probably out-damages Umbra when used well, and it requires some skill, but is probably not as much fun as an alchemer.
In the end, my advice is to try a variety of weapon styles. That's a lot of the fun of this game. But from what I've seen, Umbra Driver and the other alchemers are still fun, powerful guns, definitely worth considering.
Thu, 01/01/2015 - 03:57
#3
Thanks but
Do you know anyway I can best maximize the use of the ricochets?
Thu, 01/01/2015 - 06:56
#4
not actually very hard
This has been explained in countless threads. You might try searching Google for something like "alchemer ricochet site:forums.spiralknights.com" (without the quotation marks). Here's the short version.
On regular attacks, ricochets come off in a randomized direction, but always to the left as measured from the viewpoint of your knight. For example:
* If you fire north, then the ricochet bounces west.
* If you fire northwest, then the ricochet bounces southwest.
* If you fire west, then the ricochet bounces south.
* ...
So make sure auto-targeting is turned off. Aim to one side of the monster, so that the ricochet goes into the monster, not away from the monster. For example:
* If the monster is north of you, then aim at its east side, so that the ricochet goes west into the monster.
* If the monster is northwest of you, then aim at its northeast side, so that the ricochet goes southwest into the monster.
* ...
On charge attacks, ricochets come off both left and right. If you have only one target, then aim to either side of them, to land half of the ricochets. If you have two targets standing close together, then aim between them to land ricochets into both of them. My favorite example of this is a Jigsaw Valley-style level (in Axes of Evil?) where two lumbers spawn close together, with a gremlin behind them. Fire a Nova Driver charge shot between the lumbers and kill both in one shot.
Mon, 01/05/2015 - 04:12
#5
I agree that Alchemers are among the best weapons in the game, but you can say the same of some other Shadow-damage weapons and other guns as well.
Having at least one gun is a good idea, IMO. If it's your first gun, I recommend the Prismatech over Shadowtech, because Elemental damage is usually a much better choice than Shadow for your first gun.
If the only other weapon you really know you're interested in is the Calibur-Leviathan line, you might want to consider specialising in swords- not necessarily using them to the complete exclusion of everything else, but rather trying to cover all your bases with swords and get sword-oriented armor and shield. Bopp has a very nice guide for that, which is worth reading. I won't go into details because I kinda drifted away from swords, but if that's where you're going, you might want to have your gun be either Prismatech or Blaster, and get a Nightblade for your Shadow damage. For Elemental swords, the top choices seem to be Avenger, Fireburst and Iceburst. The first thing to do if that sounds appealing to you, though, is to read Bopp's guide before spending any crowns or orbs on anything.
I'm not really sure what Leviathan is best for, but I suspect it would make a great sword for some one specialising in guns and/or bombs, kinda like how Blaster is good for some one specialising in swords and/or bombs. Shadowtech has traditonally been a must-have for any gun specialist, though the recent addition of a Shadow-type Autogun might possibly change that. Shadowtech is still definitely a top choice for gunslingers, it just might possibly no longer be an essential since there's now at least one other very powerful gun option for Shadow damage. If you're doing that, Bopp's guide still has a lot of info relevant to gunslinging, though "feel" or "size" is more relevant than with swords because the most extreme options for guns are different by much more than for swords. If you'd like to specialise in guns, there's a guide for that as well. I think the easiest equipment recommendation I can give at this time for gunslingers is to start by getting an Autogun and a Magnus and seeing how you like them, and either a Prismatech or Voltech Alchemer. Based on your experience with those 3 guns, you can decide which types you'd prefer for Pierce damage and Shadow damage.
Finally, there's also a hybrid guide for getting started on the eclectic path, not focusing on one weapon type, and a bomber guide for getting started with bombs. If you don't know which of those 4 paths appeals most to you, I guess you can start by reading all 4 guides.
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