I know there's a guide already. its outdated though. so ill make my own.

I highly suggest you read up on the wiki to understand terminology. i like reading it, but it's probably just me.

If you want, you can skip to summary, although you will get MUCH less done. in a shorter read.

First Level.

Anyway. Beating the Level Crash Site: Awakening in a New World is extremely easy. just listen to the boxes. now if you use mouse and wasd keys to move and fight, i suggest going to options (press esc) and changing shield to space, and using the mouse roller thing to change weapons(if you dont have that, set it to something reachable...). Get in the habit of destroying everything you see here, because 1 crown may not look like much, but you may be lucky enough to get, say, a 50 crown piece from a torch.

The rescue camp.

After arriving at the rescue camp, try out your keyboard, press enter to chat. Now here's one important thing. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM VENDORS. If it's a stranger, you wouldn't buy it in real life either. lol. Anyway, Get used to the rescue camp, dont go to the abandoned depot, and go on the Crossing the Chasm: The journey to Haven.

Crossing the Chasm: The journey to Haven.

This place is easy, do it with team mates and get used to it. soloing is NOT an option, unless you think your really, really good. If you can complete crossing the chasm without taking damage, then go solo if you want. otherwise, no.

The arrival at Haven

You should have a wonderful mist tank. When you get to haven claim it via mail, and get used to your surroundings. If you want, you can go to your social compendium, click friends options, add 'Lithanium', and in the optional message, write, 'I read your guide.' even if its just for laughs. otherwise i wont friend you. I may get you some extra pointers, but dont barrage me with questions. EXTRA NOTE: plenty of people like my guide and friend me. sadly, my guide isn't getting bumped and this will lead to the eventual downfall of it. if you think my guide is real good, take the time to post. it shows me that you want more people to know this.

Your First Run

That aside, When your ready, use your mist energy, and do your first 'run'. a 'run' is when you go from the start of a tier to the end. boss runs, like a snarbolax run, means you will fight that boss. Now. Look at all the gate, but dont go in unless the gate, in the second stratum, has the gloaming wildwoods level. Do that one. (note: a run also means a stratum to the end, if you have a friend or guildie who's at a clockwork terminal)
OK, a side note: if you find a lock box, you can try to sell it. I dont recommend trying to open these things for use unless your tier 3.
some might argue, that if u have too much energy, to use it then, but you could use that extra CE to get something useful to work towards tier 3.

Indiana Jones and the Clockwork Terminal.

You can lock your party at they start (invite only) but remember to unlock your party at the Clockwork Terminal, so you're not alone fighting the snarbolax. At all clockwork terminals, you should find Basil, a traveling merchant. He sells all kinds of recipes, but you will only find 1-2* recipes here. there are no notable 1* recipes. sorry! and given the fact that you probably dont have 1000 crowns... well you know..

Pointers about the gloaming wildwoods

Beating the gloaming wildwoods may be a bit hard for your level, remember to shield and dodge. Don't use energy to revive, unless everyone is dead, or your fighting the boss and most people have low health. Also, the energy blasts can be helpful to get you out of a bad position. So sometimes, you might really, really need to use it to beat up those scary monsters your teammates can fight/reach. If you find yourself dying multiple times in a single level. take a step back, and use your gun a bit more often. if you already do, start shooting twice, then dont use the last shot, so you dont have to reload. Just count to 3 Mississippi in your head before you shoot. If that wont work, spiral knights probably isn't for you. Just fight through the woods, until you get to the lair of the snarbolax. use the hearts, and fight the wolver boss.

Defeating the Snarbolax

To beat him, you have to stun him with beast bell. it may not always work. dodge the spikes and stuff. until walks closer to you. then hit the beast bell and hit him with everything you have. Once defeated, he will drop a gigantic boss token with 3-5 frumious fangs. more than 3 is extremely rare, dont count on it. Grab the module(it looks like a projection), then head to moorcroft manor for the first time.

The first run completed! Time for moneymaking!

You should have a good amount of money. Buy a calibur recipe from Kozma. Go back to haven, and go to the Auction House in the Town Square. Now try to sell your haze bomb recipe. Put it up for starting bid 250-750 and buy now price about 750 more crowns than that. If you dont have a haze bomb recipe, instead count your shards and chat that you are selling shards. Wait for someone to trade with you. Ask them to offer for the amount of shards you have. use a calculator if you want, make sure each shard for 25-100 each. Try to tip towards 75, unless they offer 75 or higher first. if they say, 50 ea, offer maybe 10 cr more. haggling is good.

Crafting the cool Cailbur of killing.

Now, i think you may have about 10 energy left. hopefully you didn't energy revive. with this 10 energy under your belt, do another depth or something. not much better to do. Now, check your cailbur recipe. Anything your missing? Proabably those annoying swordstones. these are rather rare drops, so most people obtain them via forge sparks. if you dont have 2 or 4 forge sparks, you have other players. Go to the Auction House in town square, and try to buy swordstone until you have 2. Look for prices ranging from 100 each to 400 each (MAYBE!). search around for a cheap buy now price- no need to w8. Once you did this, now use your mist tank. craft your calibur. Huzzah! wield it and go to the advanced training hall to try it out. w8 about 2hr and 15 min, until you have 60 energy. Perhaps now is a good time to try to look at the wiki for good armour you want, so you know what to bid on at the Auction House. at 60 energy, do another snarbolax run. Now go to sleep for the day. sorry.

Day 2: Welcome back (insert name here)!

Coming back, maybe you are happy to once again breath the fresh air of haven. Or maybe you bored and asleep and want to get this part over with so u can go no with tier 2. Either way, Time for some more fun. do another snarbolax run. if your lucky enough, you may have 10 frumious fangs, which allows you to skip this part.

Skip if told.

Hopefully you can buy 100 CE now. if not, and I've been doing my calculations wrong. post or something. ill fix this. CE prices fluctuate, settling in the 5k (MAYBE!) range. buy your first 100 CE by clicking the blue circle with a line in it, then click the trade tab at the top. Congrats! You should have 140 energy! now go do another snarbolax run. if you dont have 10 fangs already.

The Bristling Buckler

Now, with 10 fangs under your belt, go to brinks in the bazaar(near kozma) and buy a bristling buckler. this is a wonderful shield, even if your a gunner, with a sword attack boost! now, if you already had 10 frumious fangs prior to buying CE, buy some now and do any gate.

Selling Crystal Energy.

with 80 CE tucked in your compartment, try selling it. to get a good price, take the price for 100 CE at the moment, divide it by 100, then round up. so 100 CE for 5224 crowns should go for 53 crowns each. a fair price. Check the prices regularly to make sure your not losing cash, or cheating customers. Sell all of your CE. This may take awhile, be patient, and if you are getting really frustrated, ask me. ill probably buy. but dont choose me first. Also remember to occasionally switch havens if business is bad.

My first two star armour!

now type '/join 2' in your chat box. next, type '/2 WTB (insert equipment name here) for (insert amount here) crowns!' this is the trade chat. The amount of crowns should be:

(Cost for 100 CE (x) /2 + 400) +500. So if x was 5k,

(5,000/2+400) +500=3400.
Remember your order of operations. or you'll be offering a dumb amount.

A good equipment to insert there would be a magic hood or cloak, a wolver cap or coat( if you like swords) a Skelly suit or mask, or a demo suit or helmet(Demo is for bombs). If you really like guns, you're out of luck for now. If no one will sell for the original formula, try offering 500 cr more. Otherwise go to the Auction House.

Almost done!

Keep this going, Use gates with arenas(always have 4 people in these places) and wait for the lifts to cycle to arena Always for money. This takes anywhere fom 2-15 minutes. arenas are shield icons. Graveyards are unpredictable, but good money if you play them right (kill zombies, avoid phantoms). treasure vaults dont give very good money or heat.

You have your 2* armour!

once you have tier 2 access, You can use the 6k trick. Each run thru tier 2 can net you 6k or so. with 5k for 100 Ce , that will make profit+ its only using 80-95 energy! (never energy revive more than twice in tier 2) Now play to your hearts content, have fun, make money, have fun, create equipments, have fun, kill stuff, have fun, make friends, have fun, and above all, HAVE FUN!

Extra Info:

Now. I gave you some pointers about armour, but what about weapons? Here are some good 2*.

Swords:Brandish, Calibur, cutter, flourish. Some1 also suggested the snarble barb as an alternative for the flourish. Thanks to YoshiPatrol! with the addition of the triglav, troikas.
Guns: Blaster, autogun, voltech/cryotech/firotech/shadowtech alchemer. I have found the catalyzer, when upgraded to the poison line, is a good alternative to the shadowtech alchemer.
Bombs: Blast bomb, Freezing/Toxic/Fiery Vaporizer, spine cone. The graviton charge is good but... its 3*.

That's it in a nutshell. I have a majority of weapons learned, so you can ask me if you added me.

Shields. The bristling buckler may not be to your taste, so maybe you want one NOT piercing defense.
Nice shields are the owlite (looks a bit ugly at 2*, looks awesome 5*) The Skelly (Shadow Defense FTW!) The plate shield (horrible in tier 2 and 3, until its volcanic. then you'll love it in the firestorm citadel)drake scale (its nice, but starts at 3* do NOT get stone tortoise, if that's ur main shield)

Also. If you are a gunner, Then get tier 2 access FIRST. Now amass about 500 CE. Buy a gunslinger hat/sash for 250 CE each. You will probably get many buyers. if not, you can look to basil for a sash, and me for a hat.

Annoyed by Basil's unpredictability? then sometime you may want to go to kozma to buy COBALT armour. cobalt is basically your proto armour, but stronger. it works, but its not the best. your better off with wolver, even if you dont use swords, due to bonuses at the end of the chain. Also, if you want, check vatel every day. hes to the -> of Kozma, near a house with a vial blanket on it. He mostly sells 1* recipes, but occasionally 2* recipes for basil price. Want a firotech alchemer so you can run and not shoot after burning? look at vatel before basil who you look before auction house. Always look for recipes in this order:

Vatel->Basil->Kozma->Players->Auction House.

Sometimes It's smart to check the Auction house first for prices cheaper than crafting, or maybe a recipe. Thanks to Tipiak!

Vatel is very smart. still, remember not to buy premade items from vendors. only recipes. these guys are overpriced. 3500 for an iron buckler? you can buy an owlite shield for that.

If the area with the most arenas is the snarbolax gate, you can use this to your advantage. after buying 30 tokens worth of snarbolax equipment from brinks, simply buy the equipment to sell to vendors. you'll get a little extra money that way.

Should you happen to buy a crystal energy pack with real money, here's what you do:

should you buy any pack less than 10$, follow my guide anyway. you'll be done in a LOT less time than others, who will be done in a LOT less time than i was. 3500 crystal energy pack or more? just buy whatever 2* stuff you want before you start managing the energy. read my guide for pointers anyway.

Now, with the current 30- day elevator pass, you can churn this game out in a flash. with unlimited elevator energy, you can keep grinding for crowns to get your 2* items, but dont stop there!

also remember to sell crystals.

Tier 2 runs are more profitable... but if you die, then of course it's better to do T1.
T1 arenas and Danger Zones are quite profitable too and a good training for T2. (thanks Tipiak, again!)

Summary: dont buy from vendor. dont do abandoned depot. do snarbolax run. use last nrg. Use mist tank. buy recipe and craft calibur. W8 2.25 hrs. Do another snarbolax run. sleep.Snarbolax run. bristling buckler. buy CE. do another gate. sell rest of CE. buy 2* armour/helm. sleep. Do another run. Buy 2* armour/helm.

According to Arctic Fern...
1. Instead of crafting a calibur... check if the Auction House is cheaper. 1.6-1.8k is pretty good vs the 50 energy+mats needed.
1a. In fact, I'd recommend buying entire 2* arsenal from the AH.
2. Haze bomb is 2* so it's not good to craft for selling. (i updated this one)
3. 1* crafting is actually pretty decent now because of demand for costumes and PVP. My suggestion is emberbreak helm.

dont use Mist Tanks on Tier One. Ever.

This is an opinion thing. i find it very helpful in streamlining to get past boring 'ol tier one where you cant find enough crowns or materials to get much done.

Thanks dude!

And i will still find more ways to improve this!