Spiral Knights - [[Guide]] Battle Arena Population Control: How not to get swarmed by 12 gunpuppies and 6 mecha knights at the same time

[[Guide]] Battle Arena Population Control: How not to get swarmed by 12 gunpuppies and 6 mecha knights at the same time

25 replies [Last post]

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 20:57

divaliant

Legacy Username

As I run PUGs down the Clockworks, I notice that many groups I have been with struggled at the Battle Arena levels. Lives are very often lost because of overcrowding: that is, because monster waves are prematurely spawned by unwitting group member(s).

This information is nothing new. In fact, it is written right there on the Wiki: http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Battle_Arena.

Hopefully, however, it will gain more coverage here, and more people will be able to enjoy the extremely rewarding Arena stages, instead of lamenting their possible resurrection costs.

[[Battle Arena: The Waves]]
If you are familiar with Tower Defense game, this term should already be an old friend to you. A [wave] simply means a group of monster that spawns at the same time. Defeating all monsters within that [wave] will spawn the next [wave] of monsters.

[[The Two Waves]]
For each stage of Battle Arenas (there are three in total), the moment the Party Switch is activated, TWO [waves] will be spawned into the room.

The first two waves

In this picture, one can easily tell that the Jellies and the Gunpuppies are two different waves.

Let us call the Jellies [wave] A:1 and the Gunpuppies [wave] B:1.

From what I often see, people would immediately aim for both of the Gunpuppies, thus clearing the B:1 [wave]. As a result, the B:2 [wave] will spawn. This would unnecessarily bring more enemies into the fray.

[[The Safer Way to Rome]]
Reduce [wave] A:1 and [wave] B:1 to one monster population each.

Like this

Then kill the one that you feel the most threatening to you (and your party).

That way, when the next [wave] spawns, only monsters from ONE [wave], which is B:2, with the addition of only 1 monster from A:1, are populating the room.

I chose to get rid of the Gunpuppy, and some Retrodes, which is [wave] B:2, spawned

Then repeat the population cleansing process

I decided I'd rather keep the cute chillin' jelly with me rather than the death-and-decay-puking Retrode. [Wave] B:3 spawned more Gunpuppies!

Only one monster each from [wave] A:1 and B:3 are left

Gunpuppy is dead, and that's the last of [wave] B! Now I only have to deal with the rest of [wave] A

[Wave] A:2 -- Lumbers!

[Wave] A:3 -- Mole-looking Bomberman (or, Ironclaw Demo)! Now, aren't you glad you didn't have to face them together with the Gunpuppies from [wave] B:3!

PROFIT!!

[[More Info on Waves]]
A [wave] does not necessarily consist of only one type of monster. Especially just a little deeper, at Depth 14 and 15, a [wave] could easily spawn mecha knights, menders, and demos.

Also, sometimes different waves may spawn the same monsters. For instance, A:1 and B:2 could possibly spawn Mecha Knights. So be careful not to kill the wrong Mecha Knight and have an extra troop of Retrodes join in the killing orgy fun!

[[Rumor Clarification]]
I've read somewhere on the forum of people separating the two waves into the Offense and Support waves, and that by killing only the Offense wave, we will eventually end up with the last several waves consisting only of Support monsters. This has not been true in my testing. I've killed Mender waves that spawn both offense and support monsters. I have only tested this on Depth 10, 14, and 15. I suppose there remains a possibility that things may work differently on other levels, maybe in Tier 3.

**note: these screenies are taken at Tier 2 - Depth 10. I was decked in 4*, except for the headgear, which was ACTUALLY the Spiral Tail Helmet (a very kind fellow guildmate was pre-leveling my 3* cap to craft the 4* version. Thanks Irri!).

I used Depth 10 because it's probably the easiest for illustration purposes. I could take screenies at deeper levels (perhaps at T3?) to illustrate the same concept if anyone thinks that will be helpful.

I'm still a fairly new player, but I'll try my best to answer any question, so comment away! Besides, there are tons of friendly, knowledgeable players who are lurking around the forum who probably can answer your questions as well. Newbie unites! =D

Tue, 05/03/2011 - 22:49

Eruzei

Thanks for this, it explains

Thanks for this, it explains a lot! I have to admit I didn't know about how the waves worked -- now I will be more careful. =)

Wed, 05/04/2011 - 02:25

MeSako

Legacy Username

Heh.. I was thinking of

Heh.. I was thinking of making a thread like this myself after I disscoverd this method myself two days ago.. but you beat me to it :D
And I must say that the method works wonders :D

Wed, 05/04/2011 - 02:30

rashly5

Legacy Username

Good job!

Very nice guide. Didn't notice this little tidbit before.

Sat, 05/07/2011 - 13:09

Zerrif

Legacy Username

I'm still a fairly new

For a "fairly new player" You're showing thought process and mechanic understanding far better than most "newbies". Good on you.

Great post too, by the way.

Sun, 05/08/2011 - 04:24

Azurenightmare

I always face palm when my

I always face palm when my teammates kill indistinctively in arenas, releasing 8 lumbers+flamethrower puppies. This is some very basic stuff, and should be a required read.

Sun, 05/08/2011 - 05:56

Jerakal

Legacy Username

Great post, and necessary too

Great post, and necessary too from some of the lads I've PuGGed arenas with.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 02:12

abray

Legacy Username

I always get really confused

I always get really confused with stage 3 of arenas.

Mon, 05/16/2011 - 07:02

Gigafreak

Legacy Username

Far as I've seen, the last

Far as I've seen, the last wave of the third round is always twelve Mechaknights, two Gremlin Menders, and a few of the arena's themed monsters (such as Oilers in a Fire+Slime arena).

If you know it's going to be the last wave (there's only one monster left alive), charge up an attack or bomb and run to the top left or bottom right corner to smash a Mender's face in as soon as it begins. With a Calibur-series sword or a Blast Bomb-series explosives, you might even knock the Mechaknights away to buy more Mender-pummeling time. Once the Menders go down, the Mechaknights will have a limited lifespan. If even one Mender is still alive, you'll be stuck in a zany endless chase around the arena until either the Mender dies or the party dies.

Mon, 06/13/2011 - 10:58

Smarfle

Legacy Username

Month old bump because it's

Month old bump because it's useful. People I've talked with/PUGs I've been in have no idea what I'm babbling about half the time when I tell them to leave a harmless scuttlebot alive.

*EDIT: should have checked useful links section. But hey, I can't delete and it's still a great guide nonetheless :P

>Far as I've seen, the last wave of the third round is always twelve Mechaknights...

It can be 12 gremlins as well, including the demo ones.

Thu, 09/01/2011 - 12:26

#10

Fraxur

I have another tip for people

I have another tip for people who struggle in arenas. This is something you should use in the third room of Arenas. This strategy is easier when solo or in a group of 2.
So, when you step on the party button in the third room, some Mecha Knights/Gremlins will spawn along with some monsters of that theme (we will use Ice Retrodes in an Ice+Construct Arena as an example, note that it might also be Scuttlebots). Reduce them to 1-2 Mecha Knights/Gremlins and 1 Ice Retrode and kill the Retrode, do NOT kill the Mecha Knights/Gremlins. Then a wave of 4 Gun Puppies/Polyps/Howlitzers (depending on what theme, in this case, Ice Puppies), kill all of them and still do not kill the Mecha Knights/Gremlins, a new wave will spawn and kill all the monsters of that wave. Keep doing this and you will reach a point where 4 monsters will spawn (in the Ice+Construct Arena's case, 4 Lumbers), kill all the Lumbers without killing the Mecha Knights/Gremlins and no more waves will spawn after that. Now you can kill the Mecha Knights/Gremlins and 2 Lumbers in this case (the two monsters will be identical to the wave where the 4 monsters spawned) and 2 healers (can be either Silkwings or Gremlin Menders). Kill all of them and you will reach the stage where 8 Gun Puppies/Polyps/Howlitzers (depending on the theme). Try not to awaken all of them (to do this stand in the corners after you killed those 2 monsters with 2 healers, this strategy will work with Howlitzers and and a bit with Gun Puppies but not so well with Polyps because they can see in all directions). After you kill them, Mecha Knights/Gremlins along with 2 healers and some monsters of the theme (in the example, Retrodes or Scuttlebots) will spawn, ask your teammates to run in the same directions. From this, we will know that killing Mecha Knights/Gremlins in the first wave and the 2 monsters+2 healers that spawn right after you kill Mecha Knights/Gremlins will trigger the wave of 8 Gun Puppies/Howlitzers/Polyps. If you accidentally kill all the Mecha Knights/Gremlins, leave one of the healers that spawned along with the other healer and the other two monsters and kill the 2 monsters+1 of the healers. The reason why you should leave the healer is that the two monsters is identical to the 4 monsters that spawned after you killed all that is not Mecha Knights/Gremlins and you may mix them up. With the healers it is going to be hard to kill the enemies that spawn after one another but I managed to do it (I was solo and in solo situations you can nearly kill a monster with just one charge) after accidentally killing all the Mecha Knights.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 21:10

#11

Nechrome

I needed this. oops,

I needed this.

oops, necro-bump. my bad.

Fri, 12/02/2011 - 02:51

#12

Stavrosg

o_O

..and what more appropriate knight to necro a thread than the LORD of Necromancers himself? ^_^

Fri, 12/02/2011 - 07:55

#13

Rangerwillx

You fool.. I'll get you back for beating me to it! ;)

It's probably good you bumped this thread. I was gonna do it myself =0

Fri, 12/02/2011 - 08:11

#14

Carthiah

Yeah.

As far as threads go, this one is probably one of the best to necro.

Bumpity bump, more people need to know this.

Tue, 12/06/2011 - 11:07

#15

Sir-Didymus

Agree

Necro away.

Wed, 12/07/2011 - 12:02

#16

Oceanprince

I would like to comment this

I would like to comment this worked out for me on a depth 5 Arena as well. It's helpful and kept me alive.

Thu, 12/08/2011 - 13:20

#17

Mohandar

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Battle_Arena
This is the relevant link. In short, each room has two sets of enemies, and each set has its own waves. If you kill all the enemies in the wave, the next wave in that set spawns. The only exception is the final wave, which does not spawn until both penultimate waves from each set are eliminated. Note that the waves of the separate sets may feature the exact same monster type, so it may be hard to distinguish which monster belongs to which wave! However, in general if you exercise restraint and pick off specific enemies, you can proceed through the room with the wave spawns entirely under your control. This is absolutely critical for dealing with the third room of many T3 arenas- you will get shredded trying to face off the heavies in the penultimate waves (lumbers or alphas) if you have to dodge fire from 8 T3 turrets as well.

Also, +1 for a good necro. More people need to read this

Mon, 12/19/2011 - 23:38

#18

Nechrome

BLARGH! REVIVE! ACTIVATE

BLARGH! REVIVE! ACTIVATE NECROMANCER POWAS!

More people need this.

Mon, 12/26/2011 - 23:04

#19

Vaarsuvius

+1, this is mandatory knowlage for any knight

Thu, 12/29/2011 - 20:36

#20

Imperialstriker

So... For a bomber's case

I'm gonna sound really noobish here, but since i cant focus my weapon to specifically target an enemy that comes from the waves aforementioned, how would a bomber go about clearing arenas without accidentally causing swarms?

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 07:14

#21

Prodjsmiles

(RE) imperialstriker

"I'm gonna sound really noobish here, but since i cant focus my weapon to specifically target an enemy that comes from the waves aforementioned, how would a bomber go about clearing arenas without accidentally causing swarms?"

its very simple, try using an electron bomb or a gravtion line, they keep the crowd together, plus try getting a freeze bomb or haze. Hope this helps! :D

Fri, 12/30/2011 - 19:03

#22

Mohandar

Fire bomb + Calibur line

One of the BEST ways to solo an arena is to use an Ash of Agni (or whatever level you can get) along with a Calibur line blade. Keep kiting clockwise, plunk bombs, used charged sword swings to take out turrets, and you should have no trouble. In a team, as long as everyone kites in the same direction, you can do the exact same thing. Just be careful not to throw enemies around with charged swings.

Note that this will fail in a Fire-themed arena, especially a Flame Lash: Slimey Showdown!

Mon, 01/02/2012 - 20:03

#23

Afiss

Next best

K, this is all based on theory, and as we know.. theory is never perfect in real life.
If you can't use Ash of Agni, because the arena is a flame based arena, then i suggest a graviton bomb, the ones that create vortexs.
Its helpful to keep them one side, but be careful not to make your team mates stuck with all the monster..., this is caused when someone is chasing after the monsters, and the monsters are sucked into the vortex and create a wall that is hard for the player to break out from...

Tue, 01/03/2012 - 12:06

#24

Nordlead

I find that the capacitor

I find that the capacitor line of bombs work extremely well on the last wave of the 3rd arena. The shock slows down the enemies just enough to keep them out of reach and deals damage. Since they tend to be grouped together the shock does a lot more damage (a single spasm will affect 3-4 monsters) than if they were wandering around an open room. Also, shock is elemental which means that against mecha knights it'll be more effective.

Mon, 02/13/2012 - 17:37

#25

Rika-Eternal

Accidentlal Babies

I'm (very) new to the game, and I haven't mastered precision aiming with all of my weapons. If anyone else has this problem, I find that it helps to leave 2 enemies from a wave alive instead of one so you don't accidentally kill the straggler and spawn a whole new wave. Also, I try to leave one of each type for as long as possible so that I don't get confused during waves with multiple enemy types.

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[[Guide]] Battle Arena Population Control: How not to get swarmed by 12 gunpuppies and 6 mecha knights at the same time