Is Volcanic Salamander set bad? // Help?
dim, 01/18/2015 - 12:41
Right now I'm not sure where I'm going with this loadout... I'm in 8-1 at the moment.
This is the set I use most of the time;
Swords: Khorovod + Warmaster Rocket Hammer
Guns: Blazing Pulsar + Strike Needle, sometimes Virulent Catalyzer (I have a lot more guns, don't use them as much)
Bombs: Dark Retribution (use in specific situations)
Helm: Salamander Mask (Lv. 10 heat, might make it volcanic)
Armor: Volcanic Salamander Suit (just alchemized today)
Shield: Wyvern Scale Shield (planning on heating up)
I'm really shady about this set, especially the armor.
I have no idea why I picked this up in the first place, and I really need help knowing on what I should do.
My future plans are to get rid of both salamander/volcanic salamander pieces, doing OCH a third time (to get the mask that's unlockable from it), and getting a chaos cloak / divine veil / shadow protection armor for Vana or any Prestige Missions I can do.
I consider myself either an all-out Gunner or a hybrid class. So, any help or options on this?
dim, 01/18/2015 - 14:22
#2
:o
Holy chicken fingers, thanks for your comment.
Out of your options, I'm choosing to do the Volcanic Plate Shield because it protects against a ton of stun and fire effects if Vana's mace ever hits me. I don't know to decide whether I should use Divine Mantle for extra protection against slag walkers and guards (walkers for the 3 other levels of the citadel), but it doesn't go against Normal damage either. The Chaos Cloak is pretty good in terms of boosting stats to all weapons plus protection to elemental + normal, but it's prone to all other status effects a lot more; I'm assuming that the volcanic shield would cover for the armor in Vana, since other status effects aren't really present in the entire run. I'm fitting for the mask from OCH, so that's good.
For the weapons, I'm obviously going to make them all 5*. I do have a Firotech Alchemer line (4*), but I'm considering getting a different branch/line of alchemer because it's a fire-inflicting weapon, even if it deals some nice damage. I'm most likely replacing with cryotech line or plasmatech line, as cryotech for damage + freeze and plasmatech for pure elemental damage output, and slightly more damage w/ no status effect.
One of the things I'm wondering is what am I supposed to do with the armor that I won't bother wearing again; do I unbind it and sell it, NPC it, what do I do?
dim, 01/18/2015 - 16:06
#3
response
Yes, Volcanic Plate Shield is a perfect shield for Vanaduke. Also it looks kind of neat, and is not super-common.
In case you don't know, shields do not work at all like other armor. Your helmet and suit protect you, but your shield protects only itself. For more detail, read the wiki articles Shield or Shieldbearer Guide. So don't count on Volcanic Plate Shield to protect you, except when you are actually activating it.
I'd recommend against Divine Mantle, because you probably don't want full Divine. Go for Chaos Cloak. If that seems too risky, and you don't want to start a new alchemy line, then get the nicely defensive Grey Feather Mantle. If you're willing to start a new line, consider one of the new Firefly gunner armors, or Vog Cub for your swords, or Volcanic Demo for your bombs.
Nova Driver is a great choice. So is Storm Driver. I dislike Hail Driver. The regular shots rarely freeze. When they do, the next shot or ricochet unfreezes. Certainly you can't spam it. The charge attack works well, though. (Umbra Driver is also awesome, but not in FSC.)
You're quite welcome for the comments.
dim, 01/18/2015 - 16:35
#4
The Arsenal: 101 ways to talk players into crafting chaos
If you do go down the Seerus+chaos route, you should really be focusing on handguns that benefit from charge time reduction. Your strike needle is good for this, but your fire pulsar isn't. Your options when it comes to charge-oriented guns are-
Magnus variants = Good for crowds and single mobs
Alchemer variants = Good for taking out specific enemies and fighting in general
Autogun variants (which you already have) = Good for dealing tons of damage at close range and support
Tortofist variants (later on) = Heavy damage against crowds, good against many large mobs as well
If I were you I'd stick with your current weapons at first, and then whenever you get your chaos+Seerus set up focus on crafting whichever of those handguns you like best-- in particular, you don't have any incredible shadow weapons. Your catalyzer is a fun weapon and occasionally supposedly an effective one, but I'd recommend getting tundrus, shadowtech, or dark chaingun to see whether you'd prefer a more straightforward weapon. Really all of the guns that branch out from those 3 lines are going to be effective for you, and eventually tortofists will be an option as well.
Keep in mind that if you're using chaos, your khorovod will remain useful as well for whenever you wish to use a sword. Chaos will also open up the option of bringing a few bombs now and then for support, as well as enable you to chargespam brandishes, fang of vog and leviathan blade (though I wouldn't recommend leviathan or fov since it doesn't add much to your loadout).
And lastly, the defenses on Seerus cancel out the bulk of the negatives on chaos. If you want more than the +2 fire/shock you can always use the sprite perk that grants you an additional +3 and should always consider rolling fire/shock variants onto your set. Poison and ice levels would be a sore spot, but a pretty easy sore spot to ignore until you eventually craft something else to cover it.
--Regarding the hail driver--
Bopp does have a good point about the hail driver's normal shots. Compared to storm driver, hail driver's normal hits are kind of mediocre- they break themselves, and are generally kind of useless except when it comes to setting up free charge attacks.
Charge attacks themselves on the other hand can be kind of incredible, as you can land 3-4 charges against whatever your fighting before it even has a chance to turn and react... enough to straight up kill quite a few enemies out there. No other alchemer can really achieve this. If you're going to have maxed out charge time reduction at all times, hail driver would always be a viable option. Of course, storm and nova driver are also decent options too.
dim, 01/18/2015 - 17:58
#5
thanks for emphasizing
In case I wasn't clear, Fehzor is right that Hail Driver's charge attacks do their job nicely. It's only the regular attacks that are essentially status-less.
Even in a charge-oriented loadout, I would still rather have Storm's shock than Hail's freeze. But that is a matter of opinion.
dim, 01/18/2015 - 18:03
#6
forgot this part
One of the things I'm wondering is what am I supposed to do with the armor that I won't bother wearing again; do I unbind it and sell it, NPC it, what do I do?
I would just keep it. Maybe Three Rings will release a fantastic new upgrade for it. Or maybe Three Rings will rebalance the armor, so that it becomes useful. Actually those are pretty unlikely to happen in the near future. But you still might want to wear it as a costume?
I don't know, but I doubt that there is much of a market for selling it unbound. You might instead sell it to a vendor (which doesn't require unbinding). Do that if you value a little immediate money over the remote possibilities and costume opportunities mentioned above.
lun, 01/19/2015 - 09:53
#7
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Fehzor, if I were to get a Magnus line weapon specifically for FSC (or other things), which one would be better? Iron Slug is a normal damage magnus line, deals nice damage and has a stun, and Callahan is a piercing variant of it, which is effective while fighting Vanaduke.
My plans for my weapons would be something like this;
Armor--
Perfect Mask of Seerus
Chaos Cloak
Volcanic Plate Shield
Weapons--
Iron Slug / Callahan
Blitz Needle
Warmaster Rocket Hammer
Sudaruska
lun, 01/19/2015 - 10:22
#8
I'm not Fehzor but
I don't own any of the 5* magnus lines, but seeing as you have a strike needle (Which I personally think does better against Vanaduke) it's a bit redundant to have a callahan. I'd start off with a Iron Slug since It does neutral damage, meaning you can bring it with you everywhere you go without worrying about it doing not effective damage against certain enemies (like slimes). Of course in the future you can always get a Callahan if you really want one.
I know your question was actually if Iron Slug or Callahan was better for the Vanaduke fight and the answer to that would be Callahan since it does pierce damage, but again, I'd recommend a Strike/Blitz needle.
lun, 01/19/2015 - 10:40
#9
agree
Slight addendum: In the Vanaduke fight, Callahan is better than Iron Slug against his body, but Iron Slug is better than Callahan against his mask. But as Shinyespeon said none of this really matters, because Blitz Needle is already better than those.
The truth is that you can destroy Firestorm Citadel with just two weapons: An elemental weapon for clearing the undead in the early levels, and Blitz Needle for Vanaduke and maybe trojans.
(Of course, there are many ways to beat Vanaduke. Blitz Needle is not necessary, and neither is an elemental weapon. But these do help a lot, and they're certainly sufficient.)
Carry a vortex bomb if you're playing in a party that knows how to exploit it. Carry Shivermist Buster if your party is inexperienced. Carry a magnus if you want to see how its charge clears crowds of undead. Carry some random weapon if you want to heat it up. But all of this is definitely luxury.
lun, 01/19/2015 - 11:54
#10
Yep. Slug would be a bit better than Callahan. It would also be better against the occasional oiler as well as turrets, the two sore spots for blitz needle.
lun, 01/19/2015 - 16:14
#11
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Now that I have all of that planned, which item should I start heating? I'm not going to ask where I should farm orbs, crowns, energy, etc; that's for an entirely different thread, and solutions have already been made. I have a lot of items to heat up, so can you guys guide me to what I should heat up first?
lun, 01/19/2015 - 16:26
#12
a heating plan
Heat weapons to 4.10.
Heat armor & helms to 5.1.
Heat shield to 5.1.
Farm tons of *5 fire crystals.
Heat main 3 weapons to 5.7.
Farm tons more *5 fire crystals.
Heat main 3 weapons to 5.10.
Heat main armor & helms to 5.5.
Relax.
lun, 01/19/2015 - 19:50
#13
agree mostly
I agree with Smalltownguy, although it's not clear to me that you should try to heat three weapons. Maybe you should heat only one or two? To help you understand, there are three key concepts:
1. Heat has a dramatic effect on weapons. Many 4-star weapons at heat level 10 do more damage than their 5-star versions, until the latter get to about heat level 7 or 8. Also weapons get CTR at heat levels 5 and 10.
2. Heat has little effect on armor. Heat does not affect status resistances at all, and those are more important than damage protections. And heat affects damage protections only a little bit.
3. Many popular armors change dramatically between 4 stars and 5 stars. Chaos is a great example. You go from Miracle (nice defense, no offense) to Chaos (terrible defense, awesome offense).
Therefore you should consider this plan when upgrading from 4 to 5 stars:
* Upgrade armor before upgrading weapons.
* Upgrade weapons only when you have enough Radiant Fire Crystals to heat them to heat level 5, or maybe even 8. Then upgrade and heat them as fast as you can.
* After you have heated your 5-star weapons, and if you have no other items to heat immediately, then heat your armor.
mar, 01/20/2015 - 09:58
#14
..........
Salamander isn't bad (better than Cobalt) but it isn't great either. It resists common FSC threats and the damage perk can help take out those Oilers a bit quicker (Oilers can hit most of the common FSC sets hard). But there aren't many Oilers in FSC (about 9 I think).
I wouldn't throw it away, but I wouldn't invest everything in this set either.
mer, 01/21/2015 - 10:33
#15
I generally agree with Bopp.
I generally agree with Bopp. That's because I got most of my ideas about this game from him.
By "main 3 weapons", I meant one piercing, one elemental, and one shadow. Just like he recommends in his sword guide. But if you're a Sudaruska+Blitz/Wildfire guy, you might get by picking only two to start with.
mer, 01/21/2015 - 13:27
#16
makes sense
Yep, heating one piercing, one elemental, and one shadow weapon makes some good sense.
If you're still working on the rank missions, and you don't have a ton of Radiants, so you want to heat just two, then do elemental and piercing. The reason is that the later rank missions tend to be heavy on undead and fiends, which resist shadow.
Happy travels, all.
mer, 01/21/2015 - 14:04
#17
I'd personally heat each weapon to 10 before starting the next one, for the extra charge time reduction. Unless that weapon doesn't really need charge time reduction, in which case it can just sit at level 8 for a while.
sam, 01/24/2015 - 13:25
#18
--
Would the shield count as a piece of armor? If so, should I heat the actual armor first, or the shield first?
sam, 01/24/2015 - 14:19
#19
armor
At every heat level, both armor and shields get a very slight increase in their damage protection. At heat level 5, armor (but not shield) also gives you one extra pip of health. My advice is:
1. Heat all weapons.
2. Heat all armor to heat level 5.
3. Heat your armor the rest of the way, and your shields.
dim, 01/25/2015 - 14:36
#20
Ok...
Hello. I am a gunslinger that has... a reasonable lot of guns for all 3 damage types. I use Seerus + Chaos. Its pretty effective for me, as my general 3-dmg type loadout is Storm Driver with Strike Needle and Black Chaingun. It seems pretty effective as all 3 is dependent on charge. Also, I LOVE the storm driver, I can deal insane damage in Jigsaw Valley and stuff. Its awesome.
For FSC: Ehh.... brandish plus blitz and shivy. Best loadout possible.
For arcade: All 3 damage types. Enough said. (Or switch accordingly to the level)
Personally, I love my loadout, Im just trying to go for Unbra Driver and Valiance right now. Ma loadout works.
Heating: Agree with Bopp. Weps are the most needful to heat.
Yes, Volcanic Salamander is bad.
I don't mean that you can't play with it. Pretty much any 5-star armor is sufficient to beat the game. And Volcanic Salamander's damage and status defenses are well-matched to Firestorm Citadel, which is the main farming locale for most knights.
I mean that many, many other armors are better. The main reason is that Volcanic Salamander's offensive bonus (slime+2) doesn't match up with its defenses (elemental), because slimes inflict piercing. Even if the defense were matched to the offense, this armor would still be among the weaker armors in the game.
Your plan to get Perfect Mask of Seerus and Chaos Cloak is great. Divine Veil is also nice. By the way, there are a lot of shadow-inflicting monsters in Firestorm Citadel, but they are not really the main problem. Vanaduke's mace, the slag guards, and the trojans all inflict tons of normal damage. There's also some elemental damage, and obviously tons of fire. I would prioritize those over shadow protection.
What is your plan for shields? Keep in mind what I said about normal damage. Dragon Scale is not a good choice for most situations. But some people like Omega Shell a lot. Consider also Barbarous Thorn Shield, Swiftstrike Buckler, Grey Owlite, Dread Skelly, Crest of Almire, Volcanic Plate Shield.
About guns: You seem to be overlooking the alchemers, which do tons of damage, once you learn how to use them. You might also try the magnus-style guns, whose new charge attack is very potent, if you can position yourself in front of the target.