Introduction:
When delving through the clockworks, Knights aren't always locked in combat. During lulls they repair their equipment, scout out the terrain, and make sure that they're always prepared in the case of an ambush. This isn't reflected that well in actual gameplay, which basically boils down to run to where enemies are, kill them. Move on to next area where enemies are, kill them also. Of course, the game needs to keep a quick pace or players will get bored. Things have been added to combat to spice things up, like the shield bash, dash and skill system. The item system also always added onto combat, but they're not exactly worth enough to always worry about. What I plan on doing is adding a few things that although not everyone will bother with, can have a relatively evident impact in battle when used correctly. They'll be considerably more powerful than Sprite Skills, but as they are usables, they are limited in how many times they can be used. This is expected of course, a sprite with the ability to summon Mecha Knights/Energy Turrets would be horribly overpowered, and a sprite ability that gives the Mecha Knights the upgrades I've mentioned here would be terribly underused the majority of the time.

First things first are a few buffs:
______________________________________________MECHA KNIGHTS______________________________________________
Mecha knights are always at the butt of jokes, those miserable meat shields that are sent to their death just to be used as a decoy. I plan on beefing them up a little bit. If necissary, their drop rate can be reduced so that they aren't always dominating combat.

Firstly, I'm suggesting a change on how they are activated. When you press the slot which the Mecha Knight is contained in, the player holds the capsule above their head like they would a vial. If the player presses the attack button, the Mecha Knight capsule will be activated infront of the player. Whatever weapon the player was holding before activating the mecha knight will be the deciding factor on what weapon class the Mecha Knight is holding.
Secondly, I'm suggesting a change to how much damage they do. This can be negotiable, and if all else fails, they can maintain the miserable damage output they have now, and have the upgrades (mentioned below) be the main focus of the Mechas.

SWORDSMAN MECHA
If the player was holding a sword at the time of activation, the activated Mecha Knight will be a Swordsmam Mecha. Their behaviour is identical to how they currently act. They wield a Calibur of equal star rating to the sword the player was holding. The Mecha Knight's calibur does 50% damage of its regular counterpart. (as opposed to the all-tier 10-damage proto sword they previously wielded)
Notes:

• Now although this means that activating the default Mecha Knight takes two keystrokes, they are now surmountably stronger.
• Deactivated Mecha Knights also take on the weapon class and star rating that the player was wielding when they were activated

GUNSLINGER MECHA
If the player was holding a handgun at the time of activation, the activated Mecha Knight will be a Gunslinger Mecha. Their behaviour is similar to how they currently act, however they will not attempt to advance on an enemy unless there are no enemies within a 6-block radius. They will also not attempt to outrun enemies, and cannot strafe: they may only fire while standing still. They wield a Blaster of equal star rating to the handgun the player was holding. The Mecha Knight's blaster does 50% damage of its regular counterpart.
Notes:

• The Mecha Knight will not chase enemies that exit its range radius if there are still other enemies in its range radius. This is to prevent Mecha Knights chasing enemies far away and aggroing absolutely everything.
• Deactivated Mecha Knights also take on the weapon class and star rating that the player was wielding when they were activated

DEMOLITION MECHA
If the player was holding a bomb at the time of activation, the activated Mecha Knight will be a Demolition Mecha. Their behaviour is similar ot how they currently act, however, they will not attempt to advance on an enemy unless their charge attack has finished cooling down. They do not have a basic attack, and can only use their charge attack. Cooldown for their charge attack is identical to the original Mecha Knight's charge. Like their original counterpart, they can advance on moving enemies while charging. They wield a Blast Bomb of equal star rating to the bomb the player was holding. The Blast Bomb does 25% damage of its regular counterpart, and has its blast radius reduced to the same range as a Gremlin Clockwork Grenade. They will throw four of these bombs at 90 degree angles around their orientation.

• Deactivated Mecha Knights also take on the weapon class and star rating that the player was wielding when they were activated

MECHA KNIGHT UPGRADES
While the Mecha Knight capsule is held above the player's head, the player may use additional usables to upgrade their Mecha Knight. The upgrade does not affect the Mecha Knight's behaviour, only adding special effects. Multiple different upgrades can be added to the one Mecha Knight.

STATUS MECHA
If the player uses a vial while holding a Mecha Knight above their head, the vial will be consumed to upgrade the Mecha Knight with that status. The Mecha Knight capsule will emit the appropriate particle effect while being held over the player's head. Adding further vials will overwrite the previous vial: same statuses do not stack. When activated, the Mecha Knight's attacks will have a chance of dealing the associated status. The star rating of the status is dependant on the star rating of the weapon the Status Mecha Knight is equipped with. The strength of the status is determined by the vial's tier.

• Curse and Sleep can be added to a Mecha Knight's attacks, however, they will be inflicted with far less frequency
• A thrown vial that splashes onto a deactivated Mecha Knight will cause that Mecha Knight to convert into the status of the last vial splash it was hit with when it is activated.

REMEDY MECHA
If the player uses a remedy capsule while holding a Mecha Knight abvoe their head, the capsule will be consumed to upgrade the Mecha Knight into a Remedy Mecha. Only one Remedy Capsule can be consumed in this way, further Remedy capsules will be returned to the player's item belt. Remedy Knights have a unique appearance, their metal panelling being a white colour and their glowing sections are red instead of energy blue. Remedy Mechas have the same behaviour as the default Mecha Knight, but every 4 seconds they will emit a 5-block wide pulse that cures the status of any party members within the radius.

• Due to the fact that remedy capsules cannot be thrown, deactivated Mecha Knights cannot be converted into Remedy Mechas

ARMORED MECHA
If the player uses a health capsule while holding a Mecha Knight above their head, the capsule will be consumed to upgrade the Mecha Knight into an Armored Mecha. Armored Mechas in appearance have beefier armor than their regular counterpart: as their health is doubled and their shield is now omnidirectional. Additional Health Capsules can be added to the Armored Knight, each adding a further Mecha Knight's worth of health to the Armored Mecha, up to a maximum of 400% health (3 capsules used). Further Health capsules will be returned to the player's item belt.

• Due to the fact that health capsules cannot be thrown, deactivated Mecha Knights cannot be converted into Armored Mechas

______________________________________________VIALS______________________________________________
As far as most people are concerned, Vials are relatively useless. They do have some neat abilities, like being able to eliminate all projectiles in their path, among other inventive uses, but on a whole they're fairly lacking compared to the ever-useful health and remedy capsules.
I've got a few ideas for things that vials can be used for. As it stands now, activating the vial, and then using the attack key throws the vial.

VIAL IMMUNIZATION
Activating the vial, and then pressing the defend key consumes the vial to give the player several seconds (subject to negotiation depending on how strong the resistance is) of immunity or increased resistance to the vial's status. This makes it so that when levels of a certain status drop their associated vial, you don't get irritated groans.
Status immunity/resistance stacks timewise.

VIAL WEAPONIZATION
Activating the vial, and then pressing the Dash key embodies the current weapon with the vial's status. The weapon obtains the associated particle effect, and the next time the weapon's charge attack is used, it delivers the status to all enemies it causes damage to. (so only the "damage ring" of mist bombs gain the status) A weapon can only have one vial imbued in it at a time (so it will deal 2 statuses on the next charge if it already had a status)

VIAL SHIELDIZATION
Activating the vial, and then pressing the Shield Bash key embodies the shield with the vial's status. The shield bash now delivers that status instead of stun. Curse and Sleep can be added to the shield bash in this way, but they will wear off after 2 shield bashes.
Using a vial on your sheild when it already has a status overwrites the old status.

VIAL DEQUIP
Activating the vial, and then pressing the hotkey for either an empty slot or a slot with 2 or less of an identical vial puts the vial back away.

______________________________________________TURRETS______________________________________________
The Energy Turrets only exist in a few levels, and barely see the light of day.
Turrets should be available in capsules as rare as Mecha Knights, and when activated, appear above the player's head like a piece of furniture. When placed, they lock to the grid, and cannot be moved. Turrets, like furniture in Guild Halls, cannot be placed on certain parts of the floor. This floorspace does need to be manually set into each Clockworks module by the developers. Pressing the attack button when an invalid location is selected will simply drop the turret in its capsule form.

This is just a mass-idea suggestion. I realise that some of these suggestions might make some of the others redundant (Gunglinger Mecha and Energy Turret, for example)