Spiral Knights - Brandish line, which one should I choose?

Brandish line, which one should I choose?

13 replies [Last post]

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 08:59

Frederick

Okay, so I just got avenger, it's my only elemental sword since I've only depends on pulsar for elemental.
But I can't really adapt with its 2-slash, and heavy feeling u get when using it. I used too much calibur type sword..
So I decided to try out the brandish elemental line, but which should I choose? Most people suggests shock since it can both slows and damage monsters, good for wolves and devilites... But I was thinking about fire for extra damage.

So.. TL;DR shock, ice, or fire brandish?

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 09:09

Redlawlsy

Shock

The Shock is best

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:02

Birgus

Ugh. Shock is best for some

Ugh. Shock is best for some people, and the same can be said of Fire and Freeze.

Fire has the best bonus damage most of the time, Freeze is obviously best for disrupting target movement, and Shock is a middle ground. Once inflicted, Shock is less reliable and predictable for movement disruption since it hits at random intervals but OTOH cannot be undone by any stray hit. DPS against single targets is probably less than Fire offers, but better against huge mobs. If you plan on diving with pick-up groups, Freeze can be frustrating since most people in PUGs tend to unfreeze monsters instead of focusing on the most dangerous ones. The tradeoff is that Freeze is awesome in solo play or with a well-coordinated group. I hope that makes things clear enough for you. For what it's worth, now that I've tried the Shockburst I plan on getting Fireburst for PUGs and Iceburst for everything else.

Considering the reasons you gave, I think the Nightblade is probably something you will like to have handy sooner. Anyway, the Nightblade and Faust lines are the only options for Shadow-damage swords, and Faust is slow like Avenger. Swords probably make more sense for Shadow damage, since Gremlins are the biggest reason to deal Shadow damage and they dodge guns well. The only Shadow-type bombs I am aware of are the Graviton line, which are not very damage-oriented.

This is a bit tangential, but I highly recommend the Piercing swords- all are great, but the ones without status effects are generally considered the best. They are nice and quick, have good reach, (distance AND direction) good knockback, and complement any Elemental gun very well.

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:13

Volebamus

A pro/con about the Shock

A pro/con about the Shock Brandish line: you can only get its recipes through Blast Network or Lockdown. The good thing about this is that you don't need to spend CE diving through clockworks for Basil runs, and especially good if you like doing that rather than random Clockworks runs. The bad thing is that there is no quick way to get the Tokens needed for the Shock Brand recipes aside from spending a relatively large amount of CE buying coin boosts, and even then you need dozens of matches to get the recipes you need. Since those recipes bind to the player, you can't trade for or buy them from anyone or the Auction House as well.

Aside from that, the differences between the three elemental Brandishes were covered by Birgus. NOTE: those differences are only for the charge attack, NOT for normal swings. They are exactly the same functionality-wise when ignoring the charge attack.

However, it looks like you have somewhat made a choice, as you said you prefer damage-output, so that throws Iceburst out. To reference my first paragraph in this post, the Shock Brandish can only be acquired a different way from usual recipes. In that case, likely Fireburst is best for you. Remember though, Firestorm Citadel cancels out the setting-on-fire advantage if you decide to use it that far...

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:32

Bopp

a small correction

The advice so far is good. A small correction/suggestion: You said that Voltedge was "good for wolves and devilites", but wolvers are beasts, which resist elemental damage, so you will find that a Voltedge is not good against them. If you really want to kill beasts and fiends (e.g. wolvers and devilites), then follow Birgus' advice and get a piercing sword. You won't regret it.

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:37

Malhaku

Ditto

Volebamus put it very well. Combuster/Fire for damage (but advantage lost in FSC), Glacius/Freeze for more control. Shock for a little bit of both.

My advice would be dependent on the enjoyment you receive doing pvp. To reach 5 Star in a pvp line weapon, you need 300 Krogmo Coins (3*:50 + 4*:100 + 5*:150). Excluding boosters (which are very expensive) or bribes (which can be unreliable and also end up being expensive), that's 200 matches if you win 50% of the time.
From talking to people in game and regularly lurking the forums, anyone who does the pvp just to work toward recipes hates Lockdown/Blast Network by the end of their journey. If you enjoy pvp and would participate in it either way, then the recipes are icing on the cake. (I like playing lockdown and have wanted to try a Brandish, so even though I have and enjoy using the avenger line I've started working on a shock brandish.)

Since you mentioned damage, I'm guessing you're leaning toward fire or shock. So if you love pvp, try out shock. If you're not a pvp fan, go fire.

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 11:21

Birgus

Thanks, Volebamus. I forgot

Thanks, Volebamus. I forgot all about Krogmo Coins. >.< Thanks also for mentioning that the Status effect is for the charged attack only; it's important to know when facing Oilers, Quicksilvers and Ice Cubes, so I should have pointed that out too. Speaking of Charge attack differences, IIRC that and damage type are the main performance differences between the Calibur and Brandish families. If you are a big fan of the Calibur charge attack, be ready to make a tradeoff for the type bonuses; the Brandish charge attack just makes a forward lunging swing with one or two little explosions (at 3-star; more explosions at higher star levels) in front of you in a strait line away from you. This includes the Nightblade line.

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 12:37

Nicoya-Kitty

@Malhaku 250, realistically.

@Malhaku 250, realistically. It's much cheaper and saves a lot of time if you buy the 3* version off the AH then only buy the 4* and 5* recipes with tokens.

You only really need the 3* recipe if you plan to rage craft/buy a 2* brandish with a good UV.

Wed, 10/26/2011 - 21:51

Marcusspiralcus

You should buy the iceburst

You should buy the iceburst brandish I am selling for only 12k crowns :3

But seriously, any of those ones are good.

Thu, 10/27/2011 - 06:50

Malhaku

@ Nicoya-Kitty

Touché. That is a good point. I myself A) like pvp and B) "ragecrafted" a brandish with Med ASI (Not an earth shattering UV, but I was excited nonetheless.) So for myself it's 300.

Odd side question: Why do people call it rage crafting? I'm not really that angry when I make 2* items with my alt. It should be Huntcrafting or ooovcrafting. I also don't associate rage with it because my alt has been super lucky lately. After the Med ASI brandish, he started making autoguns and it didn't take long (~20 crafts) for me to strike gold (and oil at the same time and a genie bottle as well)... CTR Very High.

Thu, 10/27/2011 - 11:40

#10

Nicoya-Kitty

@Malhaku I dunno, I've always

@Malhaku I dunno, I've always kind of figured it's because you go on a crafting rampage, devouring all resources in your path. I'm sure someone else has a better idea on the etymology though.

Thu, 10/27/2011 - 12:32

#11

Mysticbeam

SHOCK(voltedge :P)

i have seen some arenas where ppl use combuster charge, set enemies on fire, and kill some1 else bc they were expecting their shivermist 2 work...... shock doesnt do that! :P

plus, shock coler blue looks better than freeze color blue :)

on the other hand, glacius DECIMATES single trojans(hint hint: FSC)

its also elemetal, so it works awesomely in FSC :P

im getting voltedge and DA as my primary elemental sword tho :)

Thu, 10/27/2011 - 13:08

#12

Espeonage

I suppose "ragecrafting" has

I suppose "ragecrafting" has meandered towards the general term, but it was basically

UV Farming - 'Casually' crafting for UVs, typically with mist. (UV Vendor kind of knocked this out I guess)

Ragecrafting - A sort of blind rush or moment-spur series of crafts in order to attain a good UV.

Fri, 10/28/2011 - 21:21

#13

Incoherrant

I nabbed a Glacius for mostly

I nabbed a Glacius for mostly aesthetic reasons (imo Combuster is too red and Voltedge is oddly teal), but I certainly haven't regretted it. It does excellent damage (t2 gremlins aren't even trouble despite the damage resistance, although I wouldn't recommend forgetting to tote a non-elemental weapon > >) and the freeze is occasionally very useful. As pointed out by Birgus, though... "Fire has the best bonus damage most of the time, Freeze is obviously best for disrupting target movement, and Shock is a middle ground."

None of them are bad. Which is best probably depends on which fits your playstyle best.

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Brandish line, which one should I choose?