Spiral Knights - Questions relating to the spike event's duration

Questions relating to the spike event's duration

27 replies [Last post]

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 01:52

Leidran

I have started to grind for the new slicer weapons and I have immediately noticed how time-consuming it is to get all the necessary spikes to craft the 5star variant.

While I find the grind itself reasonable, the relatively strict time limit (which is a little bit less than two weeks, from what I understand) makes me believe I won't have enough time to get the spikes needed to craft the new weapon, specially considering I have a job to worry about and burnout is also a factor with repetitive events like these, at the end of the day, Spiral Knights isn't the only game I play.

I understand spikes are tradable but I am quite afraid of getting them through that method will burn quite a big hole in my crown supply (be the case I even have enough for it), so I would like to ask some questions be the case Grey Havens developers are willing to answer them:

Will this event be re-run often, to a similar degree to Slime Casinos?
If not, is there a possibility that the current on-going event could be extended for a period of time, be the case enough people find the current time limit extremely restrictive?
Is the high spike requirement designed around the expectation that players will use alternative accounts to get more spikes out of each individual arcade level?

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 06:16

Bopp

also

Will the spikes stay in our inventory, from occurrence to occurrence of this event? Or will they vanish at the end of this occurrence (end of August)? Some event items vanish between occurrences.

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 06:56

Jcyrano

they don't have exipiring

they don't have exipiring date. so far, so we can store them... also the spikes seams to be tided to the aurora... we haven't heard how often auroras are going to happen

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 08:28

Cronus

Game Master

"Will this event be re-run

"Will this event be re-run often, to a similar degree to Slime Casinos?"

While I cannot guarantee anything because a lot of things can happen to change our plans, our intent is to have these storms sweep across Haven fairly regularly. Given that these guns aren't just run of the mill pea shooters, crafting one is a real accomplishment. If you can't collect enough this time, you can wait until the next storm in order to gather the rest of the resources you'll need. Similarly, if a knight is in a hurry, they can buy spikes from other players to craft. That way knights who aren't interested in guns or crystals will still be able to make use of the spikes they collect on their adventures.

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 09:24

Leidran

My worries have been calmed a bit

Thanks Cronus for responding, even if not all of my questions were answered.

The "cannot guarantee" is certainly a bit off-putting, since I remember events like Apocrea not being re-run for a considerable amount of time in the past, all for arbitrary reasons that were not specified in a satisfying manner, but I am glad that at the very least the plan regarding spike storms is for them to happen frequently and I hope it remains to be that way so people can get these new weapons consistently, just how other event items were obtainable consistently in the past.

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 16:29

Batabii

I'm hoping it would just get

I'm hoping it would just get slotted into the rotation with kataclysmic confrontation, march of the tortodrones, etc

Fri, 08/21/2026 - 21:09

Holy-Nightmare

Honestly for this first event

Honestly for this first event release they ought to have an extended event simply because of how buggy and unbalanced it still is

Unable to load into Haven, Client crashes, Spikes appearing in places no one can get to, etc etc etc

We gotta straighten out these wrinkles before we put it on the shelf for a few months

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 03:59

Zosu

It's perfectly balanced

Spikes rarely appearing out of reach just makes it feel more natural. When it rains on the shore, some drops land in the sea.

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 05:52

Nerf-Acheron

Here we go again...

I don't want to be the negative again, but I have to.

Calling a Normal damage weapon "not a pea shooter" and an unreal repetitive grind "an accomplishment" really makes me lose all hope.
I guess we'll see how the Mandolin fits into the meta once enough people get it, but my prediction is it will not replace any weapons currently used in the endgame content, neither FSC, SL or Prestige missions.

You are either trying to gaslight the playerbase or you are too disconnected with the game to realize how wrong your statement sounds Cronus.

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 07:05

Thats-Rough-Buddy

@Nerf-Acheron

What design decisions would you change regarding the Mandolin rollout? Also, why do you feel forced to use meta builds?

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 07:35

#10

Nerf-Acheron

@Thats-Rough-Buddy

I'd give it a specialized damage type to help it compete with the Mixmaster and Orbitgun.

I don't feel forced to use meta builds, they just make the game more enjoyable. I don't need shoes to run but it helps. If you like to run FSC in full Cobalt and take 10 years to clear it then that's up to you.

My point is more like in the sense that the grind needed for the Mandolin doesn't justify its performance. If it's not meta why is it so grindy to get it?

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 09:12

#11

Turbek-Turbek

I would argue that in a game

I would argue that in a game with such stale equipment loadouts, everything that is new should be worth crafting. Not everything has to be Combuster or Acheron levels of overpowered, but making the player feel more powerful should be a primary design goal, especially if the crafting requirements are tied to such an absurd grind.

I'd also like to see other event related equipment brought up to standard. There's no good reason why the tortoguns should be so lackluster for example.

Having normal damage in the game is a puzzling choice at all - sure, having one line of cobalt equipment for starter players who don't have anything to specialize in yet is sensible, but if there's no purpose to use equipment, there's no reason why 5 or so obsolete variations should exist for each weapon type.

Weapons with different movesets are fun and worthwhile to create but why on earth would anyone want to have a leviathan blade (besides not understanding how the game works)?

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 10:03

#12

Nerf-Acheron

On a positive note

Agree mostly with Turbek-Turbek and I think you expressed my concerns without being as aggressive as I was.

On a positive note, the Mandolin has good skill expression with the returning projectiles dealing more damage, and visually the weapon looks awesome.

It's just everything else tied to it that pushes me away from even starting the spike farming. In particular, the cost of materials, recipes and the fact that it is normal type.

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 17:06

#13

Yatez

@Nerf-Acheron

I don't mean this in a rude way, but have you actually used the Mandolin, or are you just speaking by looking at the weapon at face value?

I think most who played on the preview would agree that it is extremely strong, especially vs fiends/wolvers etc., and it outclasses mixer/orbit in a variety of situations (prestige included). Yes, its weaker in SLs and vs. elemental enemies but I think most are fine with that.

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 18:54

#14

Thats-Rough-Buddy

@Nerf-Acheron specialized damage might be ok, piercing or shadow variants. Hopefully a future addition.

Meta builds are for players who optimize for efficiency over fun. I'd suggest trying the new gun to see if you like it, even if it is outclassed by existing weapons.

Sat, 08/22/2026 - 21:17

#15

Batabii

They better extend the event to make up for these horrible server problems.

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 08:52

#16

Disgr-Ace

They should make spikes bound.

I genuinely think they should just make the spike materials bound to the player.
And it shouldn't be an issue for new players if they plan to re-run the event plus the gun would still be sellable.

Yes it will annoy some of the people trying to sell the materials.
(Maybe make new spikes bound and previously obtained ones not bound like they did with forge boxes)

But it would heavily dampen people mass alting causing the servers to lag like crazy.

I'd also make it so the alt has to manually collect the spikes like the kat event pages instead of just being able to idle at the Arsenal stations.

I think being able to ACTUALLY play the game should be considered "more important".

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 08:59

#17

Calyos

Do not bind them just because people assume that mass alting is the reason for server issues. We've had no issues when the game had 1k-1.2k CCU. Servers have been having issues for a while ever since the studio came back to 'work' on the game.

If people want to optimize the fun out of their game by maximizing profit, let them.

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 09:42

#18

Disgr-Ace

Disagree.

There are plenty of other ways to make profit in the game.

I get some people want to make profit from Arcade as it is more fun than doing endless vana grinds etc.
But bad actors are just gonna continue to abuse the spikes and cause the server to lag up again after they literally restarted it last night.

There shouldn't be this severe lag with only 300 people online when during Apocrea there was literally 500-700 average and one day had 1000 and we never had this kind of bad server lag till the spike event and people duping. (besides the cloning issue in haven back in may)

It's to the point were many people can't even play the game.

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 10:00

#19

Calyos

You're jumping to conclusions

I'll be happy to argue this point and die on this hill then because we don't know if it's those people, straight up CCU or something else setting servers on fire and we won't be told what's exactly happening because, surprise, the communication ain't there.

If the servers are that fragile that they cannot handle a significant amount of knights playing then that's on GH. If it's the event itself causing issues, it's on GH as well, I can guarantee you that this was barely tested internally and the unpaid 20 interns (us) that they got to play through all rounds of feedback haven't been given dev tools to screw around the event in a timely manner on the preview server.

Danger room duping has been fixed and people can no longer do this.

And I'll bring up what I said in my previous post, this has been an ongoing occasional issue during the weekends, but I suspect this will be disregarded anyway.

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 10:48

#20

Disgr-Ace

"And I'll bring up what I

"And I'll bring up what I said in my previous post, this has been an ongoing occasional issue during the weekends, but I suspect this will be disregarded anyway."

I've been playing the game almost everyday for the past 3 months. I've yet to experience this.

"Danger room duping has been fixed and people can no longer do this."

I'm aware of this.

"If the servers are that fragile that they cannot handle a significant amount of knights playing then that's on GH. If it's the event itself causing issues, it's on GH as well, I can guarantee you that this was barely tested internally and the unpaid 20 interns (us) that they got to play through all rounds of feedback haven't been given dev tools to screw around the event in a timely manner on the preview server."

I don't think it's anything to do with the amount of players in the game. I think it is 100% caused by the spike event but people mass duping isn't really helping at all.

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 11:31

#21

Calyos

Weird, but aight

Then it wasn't global. People in the Arcade discord have been complaining sometimes, dunno if yer in the EU or elsewhere, but EU sometimes was acting up.

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 12:01

#22

Disgr-Ace

I am EU (From the UK)

Mon, 08/24/2026 - 12:10

#23

Calyos

Then it's quite surprising

Then it's quite surprising that you did not experience any of those issues.

Thu, 08/27/2026 - 06:46

#24

Nerf-Acheron

@Thats-Rough-Buddy

LOL brother I'm not going to start the unreal grind just to try a weapon and see if I like it. I already played a lot of the event and I don't even have enough materials for the 2 star.

This is unplayable without alts especially with the recent server issues. It's funny that a 4-player co-op game is best played alone with 4 accounts.

Fri, 08/28/2026 - 16:13

#25

Pdtopgun

@Nerf-Acheron: It really shouldn't take you all that long to get what's needed for the 2-star Slier if you play for any real length of time. The recipe needs 300 Tiny and 100 Small spikes. A friend and I were pulling just over 100 Tiny spikes per run of the customized T1 gate (Amber Titan at the moment), so you'd only need 3 full runs and maybe another level to get what you need. And on the T2 gate (Ruby Falcon) you should be able to get 100 Spikes in a single run. When I saw the spike counts for this event I set my primary goal as getting the gun up to a Twicer Slicer this time around, and I managed that pretty easily without needing to put hours in per day.

Fri, 08/28/2026 - 17:21

#26

Bopp

wasn't there six days ago

Nerf-Acheron made their post six days ago, before this Amber Titan gate was available. It was much more difficult to obtain Tiny Spikes back then. I did at least 20 trips to Stratum 2, to get my 300 Tiny Spikes.

Fri, 08/28/2026 - 21:06

#27

Pdtopgun

That's fair enough. I tried a few runs on some pretty unfavorable gates too, but as soon as I saw that there were special T3 and then T2 strata rolling out, I assumed that T1 would get the same treatment, so I stopped bothering with it until it did.

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Questions relating to the spike event's duration