Hey guys, my name is Paraxion and I just recently joined the Spiral Knights community. I started playing about a week ago, and instantly started to love this epic game. So, as a nubbie, I don't have much knowledge on Armor, Weapons, etc. Can you help me out?
I have done some wiki'ing and have read some guides on SK already, and have gotten down the basics. I know what's going on with all the different paths, alchemy, materials, rarity, etc. I am just struggling to decide what my loadout should be, so I want your opinion! My main aim is to be a Elemental Knight, focusing on Elemental gear and stuff. Here's how my CURRENT loadout looks like:
-Brandish (I'm considering upgrading to Fire Element at 3*, let me know your opinion)
-Cryotech 2* Handgun (Should I change to Prismatech? I have heard from guildmates that it is very powerful, especially the final 5* version. But, it has no status effect and I would have to get the 2* to craft the 3*. I chose the Cryotech when buying 2* stuff from HOH because it looked like it had good stats, and was the opposite of Fire which was the Brandish 3* Element I intended to upgrade to. Should I stick to the Cryo or go for Prisma?)
-Magic Armor/Hood (Apparently the later evolutions of it are super OP, let me know if I should change to something like Wolver armor or anything else)
-Owlite Shield (Any good 3* shields that suit my Elemental based loadout?)
Now this is the big question. Should I change my Elemental focused loadout to something else? Remember, all of the gear above was chosen purely from preference. Is there a clearly OP set that I should have bought instead? Did I buy the right stuff (Cryotech? Owlite Shield? Magic Armor/Hood?) Please, all you experienced Knights out there, lend me some assistance! I would appreciate it greatly, and I hope to become a Knight who can teach other nubbies what I have learnt from you guys! Thanks, everyone! :D
Add me on SK if you'd like: Paraxion
A couple points of interest:
Chaos Set(the 5 star version of magic armor I'm guessing you are referring to) is powerful yes, but unfortunately has negative status resistance, meaning you will not only take MORE damage from statuses like fire and shock, but they will also last longer when you're affected by them. So no, it is not the BEST option, just one of the most sought after. It gives a great damage and charge bonus to all weapons, but if you're not used to dodging and avoiding damage by the time you have to make it, you're going to be in a world of pain the moment you obtain it.
Statuses and Elemental damage are almost completely different things in this game, "Elemental" is a type of damage/resistance that is done by certain weapons/enemies, where statuses are just side effects of many weapons, although the shock status does deal exclusively elemental damage, it is the only case where a status does do that. I'm guessing you're talking about elemental resistance and damage obviously, but "specializing" in that damage type only isn't going to help you in the long run either, as many enemies, especially as you progress through missions, are going to resist elemental, meaning it'll take you much longer to kill them off than it could have.
Statuses however, except Shock, do entirely normal damage, meaning you won't see gold/yellow or gray numbers on the damage from them. There isn't an "opposite" for statuses, some just tend to be more useful at times than others. When I think about using Freeze as a counter to Fire in status, I think back to haze styled bombs where a Shivermist Buster is placed next to an Ash of Agni, speeding up the damage caused by the fire because the freezing effect stops them in place and freezes them, but as they are also affected by the fire, they are near instantly thawed out and refrozen, helping to kill them off a little faster than would be normal for just fire.
Which brings me to my next point, your weapons. A Combuster(5* fire brandish) along with the Acheron(5* shadow brandish) or Obsidian Edge(also 5* shadow brandish, made from an event, so is harder to obtain) is probably one of your best choices if you intend to do mostly damage with your sword, people will say the Voltedge or Glacius is better, and they have reasons to believe so. I personally think the Combuster is one of your best damage options for an elemental sword, because when you use the charge, it is more likely to hit enemies with the entire charge shot, where the Glacius and Voltedge tend to freeze them halfway because they stop in place from the status effect, the Combuster will still set them on fire, but won't stop them halfway through. This is probably the only reason I prefer it over the others, but the choice still falls to you.
As for your other weapon, I don't suggest it also being elemental, as you need to make sure you have some variety of damage types so you can handle anything on a given floor with relative ease. That being said, You also need to make sure you want to use an Alchemer as your other weapon, there are quite a number of weapon choices now, and while the Alchemer shots may bounce after hitting, and the charge shot is basically a cluster bomb when fired at a crowd, you only get 2 basic shots before you are forced to reload, meaning you have to shield cancel each shot, or constantly "insta-switch(setting a button for each weapon and constantly using those to switch between two different ones)" weapons back and forth to cancel out the second attack and reset your bullet count again in a much shorter time. If this is something you want to use and deal with, then go right ahead, get the Alchemer and run with it, but as a counter to your Elemental Brandish I would then suggest a Shadowtech Alchemer, as it is the exact same as a Prismatech you were thinking of getting, except it deals Shadow damage instead.
If you decide you don't want to worry about that or the reload as much, then I suggest one of the blasters or maybe a Pulsar or Antigua line weapon. They all have a Shadow damage type option to make, but you won't see any of those in the HoH, because they all came with the gunner update or are boss line weapons, meaning you have to play the arcade and buy recipes from Basil. If you don't want to take shadow damage but instead want piercing damage, the Antigua and blaster both have a piercing damage type you can make as well, and the Antigua itself deals piercing damage starting out. If you chose a blaster or Antigua though, neither of them deals a status effect, an Obsidian Carbine does deal Poison status, but again, that's an event weapon that you would be waiting around to make.
My final point(for now) would be your armor, there is a number of armors based around boosting the damage type you want to do most and the weapons you prefer to use without sacrificing your defense in the process. Well, some variety, at least, if you want swords, unfortunately the only one that really boosts JUST swords is the Wolver line of armor, but there is an option for each type of damage resistance at 5 star there, however if you want shadow defense you have to complete at least one shadow lair(providing you have the materials to craft it AND bought one of the materials you would get FROM the lair already), however a lot of people do like the fiery look of Vog, as that would be the Elemental defense line you might be looking for. If you prefer to boost your gun damage/speed however, there is not only the selection from the HoH, but a large number of armors were added to Basil for exclusive gun bonuses, however until 5 star all the boosts you would get would be "low" from both the armor and helmet, and once at 5 star the damage bonuses would be "medium" to a specific enemy type, or "low" to all types depending on which one you selected to go with, meaning with armor and helmet the boost would be either "very high" to one type or just "medium" to everything when you use guns, but there is a type of gunner based armor for each damage type and nearly all statuses in the game, so that is worth looking into though if you want gunner based armor instead.
Oh, I will also add that while the Chaos set gives damage bonuses in exchange for negative defense, the other two options for the magic cloak/hood both have rather high defense and resistance, but do not really boost your damage at all, so if you want to keep the cloak and hood, but do not mind getting something other than Chaos, you have the Grey Feather Mantle/Cowl and Divine Mantle/Veil to pick from as well.
I could go into bombs as well, but I'll let you think about the above first. if you have any questions you can add me in game as well, my name is the same as on the left here.