Are you tired of losing game after game of Lockdown? Looking for advice about Lockdown in general or what to do in certain situations? Your questions will be answered (hopefully mostly) here.

First off; who am I and why should you care about what I say about Lockdown? My IGN is Skankingrove and I have played A LOT of Lockdown since the release. I was ranked 2nd overall between release and the first reset. (Yes, we know ranking depends on most time spent playing; but it also helps to win most rounds that you play in.) I decided to write an advice thread for Lockdown because I constantly see people make poor decisions while playing Lockdown. These generally bad decisions frustrate the player and their team because, who are we kidding? Everybody likes to win, especially when winning involves beating other players senseless.

As you go through and read this thread please let me know what you think about it through in game mail, message, or responding to the thread to keep it on the first page. I have a lot of tips to give, so if I miss anything or if you have any questions still, respond back here or by mail and I will try to answer them.

My advice is based off of playing in tier 3 Lockdown, I am unsure how the game plays out in tier 1 and tier 2 so if some of the advice does not fit in all tiers I am sorry in advance. I will first go over some general tips, then I will give tips for each class and tips for how to deal with each class.

Remember, this is a game involving a lot of STRATEGY so think about what you are or will be doing, don't just blindly charge into battle around the map. Work as a team.

Again, please please please let me know if this is helpful for you with bumps or messages or if you really enjoyed it a small donation, anything helps and it was time consuming to put this together. Thank you.

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GENERAL TIPS
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What kind of armor should I wear?
So far, it doesn't really look like any high defenses really contribute to keep you alive long. With that being said, skolver and vog sets work very well if you use swords. Try to wear an armor and helmet that give some sort of bonus to you, be it attack speed, attack damage, or extra health. Charge time reduction (with the exception of bombs) is not as useful in Lockdown so try to get other bonuses. Also, if you have status UV's on your armor/helmet it can prove to help enormously. The most common statuses in Lockdown are freeze, shock, stun, and fire. Freeze and shock resist should be your priority.

What kind of weapons should I use?
This mostly depends on preference but try to have more than one option. What I mean is, even if you only have 2 weapon slots, carry a sword and a gun around with you (or bomb etc.). It isn't a good idea to have all your weapon slots filled with the same exact type of weapon (for example 2 weapon slots available and filled with gran faust and divine avenger). Different situations call for different actions and your weapon choice can make or break those situations. As stated before, armor and helmet defenses don't seem to make much of a difference so use what you prefer and are used to using (2 hit heavy swords, 3 hit quick swords, guns, etc.)

What if I am placed in the wrong tier?
This happens fairly often, tier 1 or 2 players are thrown in with tier 3 and don't stand much of a chance. I suggest picking guardian no matter what class you normally play as. Being in a higher tier, you will have much less health and won't be able to stand up to even a single hit from an enemy. By picking guardian not only will you be able to stay alive by shielding, but you can help heal and defend your own team. The healing ability of the guardian will help your team pull ahead much better than you trying to cloak or charge your way in to getting (most likely) only one or two hits in before getting killed.

What to do about freeze bombs:
If your teammate is the one freezing opponents (first be thankful) make sure you protect them. A frozen opponent is an easy kill but only if you play your cards right. Whatever you do, DO NOT shoot them with a weak gun. By shooting your opponent you are freeing them with little damage, afterward they can run away or move in to attack you. Instead, even if you primarily use guns, pull out a good sword and run around behind to hit them a time or two.

If your enemy is the one laying freeze bombs (or any bombs really), be very careful fighting near them. In Lockdown, any status effect is VERY unwelcome and can be an easy cause of death. The best thing to do in a situation like this is pull out your gun and try to shoot them as many times as possible. Shooting keeps you out of range from being frozen but also interrupts their bomb charge. If you interrupt their bomb charging enough, the freezing mist will end and you can run in to finish them off. After a couple shots they may run away or you may be luck enough to even get a kill out of it.

What do I do if the other team moves together and is hard to kill?
Time after time I see people throw themselves against this sort of brick wall hoping to be a hero. This is NOT what you want to do, you are NOT Rambo. Very very rarely will you see one person go up against most or all of the other team at once and be the one to survive. There is a very powerful option to solve this problem which seems counter-intuitive to most. Your team should split up completely and take as many points as you can simultaneously. Usually when a team is clumped up at one point they have taken all or most of the capture points already and are just trying to defend. Run around them to every other capture point. When they see a capture point go neutral they will start to run there to retake the point. If you neutralize more than one point, their group will become disorganized (due to having to stand still defenseless if they want to type orders) and all split to which ever point they think they should take. Once they split they will be much easier to kill and it will then be easier to take back control of the map. This strategy works VERY well in maps with 5 capture points. Just remember that all capture points are equal and you don't HAVE to have the point right in front of your base at all times, the important thing is to have more points than the other team.

This leads into another good point. You don't have to control everypoint to win a game. Sure you want to outscore your opponents as much as possible, but being too greedy in Lockdown can come back to cost you the game. Play it safe on the capture points. Try to always be ahead by one capture point or at least even with the opponent. Don't start out by trying to take every point at once. It's also important to stay on a capture point as much as possible during fights.

If you are defending a point, staying on the point while fighting keeps the opponent from capturing it for that much longer; this means more points for your team and less points for theirs. The same idea goes for when you are attacking a point; you will take the point quicker after killing your opponents and earn more points.

Use the vision range of the spiral knights HUD to your advantage as much as possible. Because of the angling of the screen, you can see much more above your character than below your character. Take advantage of this by approaching enemies from below. You will be able to see how many there are and what they are doing well before they even know you are there. The element of surprise can give you an early hit in the battle and really win it for you, even if you are fighting more than just one person. Similarly, a large amount of the left side of the screen is filled with teammate health bars; approaching from the right may help you the say way as from below. You might walk under the cover of their teammates health bars!

Do something unexpected! There are many examples that can be said here, but what is important is that you surprise your enemy and don't let them predict and respond to what you are doing. For example, if you are running away from somebody, if they get close, quickly turn and smack them. Most often they are planning on hitting you only once they have caught up to you. They think you will continue running, so you will be able to get in your hit first. Similarly, if somebody is approaching a point you are defending meet them half way with your sword first.

When approaching a capture point occupied by an enemy that isn't taken by them yet, try to scare them away before completing the capture. By stopping the enemy from completely capturing a point you will save time recapturing it and stop them from getting a few points too. It is fairly easy to scare somebody away from a capture point by shooting at them while you approach. The threat of damage usually pushes people away, at least until they figure out what is going on and decide what to do. By that point you will be close enough to also occupy the capture point to stop the capture and fight with them. Even if you lose you will have cost them several points. Doing this throughout the game can cause a lot of lost points. If you find yourself being shot at while on a capture point or attacked in general, try to dodge and stick it out. If you hang in there long enough for the capture you will gain some points and cause them to lose time by having to capture the point for longer.

Whatever you do in Lockdown, standing still should never be one of them. With the ability for recons to cloak, you never know when you'll be hit next. To make yourself a little harder of a target keep moving, even if capturing a point.

Random sporatic movements on a capture point can help you dodge a poorly timed recon attack and save you. If you are standing still and get it, it is mostly too late for you to survive the ambush.

When being attacked by a swordsman, wait for the best time to swing, don't wildly try to hit them. In lockdown most swordsman use a Gran Faust or Divine Avenger or a Barbarous Thorn Blade or Flourish. Time after time I see swordsman get greedy with their attacks and finish their combo, desperately trying to hit you. An easy time to hit such attackers is right after the final combo swing. For the slow weapons, wait until the second swing goes before running in for your hit. For the faster swords, wait for the third. But don't make the same mistake, try only swinging at them once and backing off. By doing this you won't be hit and can hit them again once they make the same mistake over and over again.

If you are farther away from somebody with a sword out, shoot at them! You can wittle down their health to make your close ranged fight easier. Sometimes, you may even get them to pull out a gun of their own; take advantage of this by running in and changing to a sword, you will be able to do more damage like this.

If you are being attacked by a gunner, try to move in as close as possible. When shooting, they cannot move as fast so keep dodging and closing the gap between you and them. They will have to run around while aiming at you which won't be too easy. Once you get within range, a couple sword swings can mean easy victory.

If you get low on health, don't be afraid to run back to base and heal; those heal pads are there for a reason! This is especially true if you are already close to the base or are a striker and can dash there and back. Any amount of missing health can save your enemy from having to hit you an extra time. You never know when you'll survive by only half a pip and be truly thankful you healed. It's much better to run and heal real quick than to die and be stuck with a long respawn time and then run back to where you were.

Be one step ahead of your opponents. If you see on the map that they just took a capture point, it isn't necessarily best to run and take back that same capture point. Instead, try running to the next capture point that they don't own next to where they just took one. Most likely you can head them off and hopefully kill and stop them. Then you will have more time to go take the point they just took. Sometimes it's better to run between your own points and defend than to run to neutral or their points to capture.

It is VERY important to stay in capture points with your allies until it is competely captured unless it is a dire circumstance. Too much do players sit in capture points until it is neutral and then run off just to find an enemy to fight. By waiting just a few more seconds until it is completely captured you gain many things. First, you will can points quicker, nobody ever complains about more points. Second, when you leave the capture point, you won't be alone! By waiting to complete capture your ally is available to run off with you wherever you go, greatly increasing both of your chances for survival.

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GUARDIAN TIPS
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The guardian is a very important class in lockdown and can really help your team win. It is important as a guardian to be shielding as often as you can. By healing your teammates and shielding them you can really change the tide of a battle. The healing can help your teammates survive much longer and accumulate more points than if you weren't there.

If played right, the guardian can also single handedly defend a capture point for long periods of time. Remember to shield attacks if fighting against somebody and, again, waiting until the right moment to strike. You want to make sure

you have ample time to attack and put your shield back up so that you don't take damage. And when you do take damage, you can heal yourself with the shield.

Follow your teammates around making sure they have as much health as you can give them, this cannot be said enough.

When fighting a guardian be careful not to linger in front of them attacking, otherwise the shield will lower right when you are done and cannot escape and you will surely lose the battle.
If you are a striker, try rushing in for one attack at a time to chip at their shield. Once it breaks you can hit them several times easily without them getting away. Try to bait them into taking a bad swing at you so you can hit them while their shields are down.
Recon players should cloak and wait for the shield to lower for attacking.
The best time for any class to attack a shieldless guardian is when they are moving between capture points, shielding will slow them down greatly so they will most likely be running unshielded.

If you are capturing a point and a defender is running towards you, shoot them! The guardians will 99% of the time raise their shield to stop incoming damage. This is exactly what you want. When their shield is hit they will be stopped

for a small period of time. Just keep shooting and then by the time they make it to you you will have already taken the capture point because they moved too slow.

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RECON TIPS
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The most important attribute of the recon class is patience. Waiting on the sidelines cloaked for the right moment to strike is what you should be doing. Try to put death marks on your opponents before striking to get the full effectiveness of your attack.

Be VERY careful of where you walk when you are near capture points cloaked. I get asked often in games "how I can see cloaked people," the answer is simply that I can't but I use a few tricks to know of their presence. Regardless of cloaking, there are capture point cues to tell people that you are near them. If nobody is on the capture point and you are, the "capture" ring will begin moving. If somebody sees the ring moving but nobody in the point, they know a cloaked person is there somewhere.

Do NOT stand in the direct center if capturing while cloaked. Most often people will swing at the middle first as it is instinct to wait in the center. Try standing on the very edge and moving away from somebody approaching.

If somebody is capturing a point, do NOT run onto the point while cloaked. The capture ring will stop moving because you are contesting the point and this will also let them know that they are not alone. Take the few extra seconds to walk to the nearest edge around the point before moving in for the attack.

Use the radar jam and death mark notifications to your advantage. Sometimes giving these effects to an enemy is enough by itself to have them running away, off a capture point, frantically swinging and shooting in every direction.

When fighting a recon, use your gun to try to find where they are standing. Shooting some bullets into where you think a recon might be could reveal their presence and save your life while damaging them a little bit. When standing on a capture point be aware of the capture point ring indications described above. Also, if you are defending a capture point that is in your possession, stand outside of the capture point on the far side from where attacks would approach. By doing this you could get the recon to run into the capture point while moving towards you, when the capture ring starts moving, you know there is somebody cloaking coming to you.

If you are capturing or defending a point, shoot your gun where a recon might come from to get an early warning if you land a hit.

If you see a recon cloak while running somewhere, try to gauge their move speed and attack at that location. Recons very often continue running the same direction they were before cloaking, by leading their path a bit you can usually get a hit on them while they are cloaked (and not expecting to be hit).

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STRIKER TIPS
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The biggest advantage you have is speed and this leads to very crucial gameplay but the striker. Being able to out run the other classes opens up many good uses of this ability.

Sprinting to capture points obviously means capturing the point a second or two earlier than normal. However, it might be smarter to boost most of the way there and walk a short distance so that the boost ability recharges. Allowing the ability to recharge before you get to the capture point keeps you a safer if an attack from an enemy comes shortly after arriving. If you arrive to the point with no boost left and come under attack, you are left defenseless until the ability recharges.

Use boost to catch fleeing enemies and kill them before they can make it back to base to heal and return to the fight. By killing the enemy instead of letting them run allows you to reduce the pure strength of the other team for a short period as well as their ability to take and capture points.

The boost ability is also useful to catch opponents off guard and get in an easy first hit if you are charging in from a blind spot. Use the speed to your advantage so that they don't have enough time to react.

Don't be afraid to use guns as a striker. The striker class doesn't give a direct stat boost to guns but it the speed boost can help you keep your distance from a fight and continue to shoot at your enemies. If you are able to shoot at

an enemy with a sword AND boost to keep your distance from them you can pack in a lot of damage (not to mention frustration) without being hit.

If you see a group of enemies near you, boost by them and keep going. The recons and defenders cannot keep up but you may manage to pull some strikers from the pack. You will have a better chance fighting just the strikers than the whole group and your team will have an easier time fighting the group now that the strikers have run elsewhere. Try to use the boost to split up or distract the enemy team.

When fighting a striker, do your best to predict their moves. Most often they will try to boost around to hit your back. Instead, if you are swinging, attack directly backwards with the next combo swing. You may hit them while they are charging right into you.

Try to keep them sprinting around until you see the shield break animation. Once their speed boost is run out you will have the advantage and they will be slow and defenseless. With the health decrease for the class they will take fewer hits to kill.

The lowered health also helps finish them with guns. Try shooting an approaching striker, you may do enough damage to them to allow you to kill them with only one sword swing. If you hit them with a sword and they start to back off, try shooting them; again, you might finish them off before they flee back to get healed.