Spiral Knights - The Iron Slug

The Iron Slug

10 replies [Last post]

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 14:05

Vanguard-Xelon

Honestly I sorta want one but is it worth it?
(I can already here 1001 NOs from the internet)

but seriously is there any value in this weapon?
other than using it to be a hipster because Valiance and Pulsar are too mainstream

yeah its underpowered, yeah its slow, yeah its only normal, yeah the proto gun could kill something quicker

but I see it as a puppy, an awkward but adorable puppy with broken legs, half a tail and a missing eye that you cant bring yourself to get made att because its so silly in what it does

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 14:43

Fehzor

There is no value in using the iron slug. None whatsoever.
It can flinch turrets and enemies when you give it incredible ASI and damage, but only sometimes. Other times it just doesn't and you die.

Here is what the iron slug does:
Take supernova.
Take the expanded bullet and make it smaller.
Stick it on the blitz needle's normal attack.
Now make the charge worthless too.

Sometimes the gun almost kinda works, and it can be fun to try to use it. But will it benefit you to have it in your arsenal as it currently exists? No.

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 14:52

Bopp

gunner update

At the risk of jinxing the oft-delayed gunner update, isn't buffing Iron Slug one of the stated objectives as guns are rebalanced?

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 17:07

Shadowstarkirby

The one thing good about Iron Slug...

It's the most bad*** looking gun to currently exist, and that's generally agreed upon.

...but otherwise, it's a near useless 5* weapon; it's DPS is pitiful, it's bullets are tiny and difficult to land, the charge attack is laughable without good damage or status, and it doesn't provide any sense of crowd control whatsoever. Even the flinching ability it has eventually stops working at later depths because it's damage is so low. You're truly better off with any other gun.

With that said, the mythical gunner update may re-adjust it along with the other guns with new mechanics and damage tables. So if I were you, I'd just hold off on creating it until that goes live.

EDIT: That's lame, Fehz...

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 15:51

Seiran

I made Iron Slug way back after Nick (former lead designer) mentioned on forums that they had plans to revamp the Magnus line mechanics. It was a total letdown. In fact, in the previous "gunner update" for weapon balance, the Punch gun lines (pretty much the 0-1* incarnation of the magnus line) GAINED an extra bullet and knockback more powerful than valiance's knockback (!!!). After seeing this, I was excited to see knockback on Magnus/Callahan... Nope. none. In that same patch, they claimed to have fix an issue where the Magnus/Callahan charge knocked monsters in the opposite direction... but that's barely notable :\

Using Catalyzers as the shining example of weapon balance (within the same weapon tree), I expected Iron Slug to be stronger than the Callahan in some capacity vs neutral monsters (and obviously, do better than Callahan vs its resistant monsters). But nope, Callahan does the same amount of damage vs neutral monsters DESPITE having a status effect (status effect weapons tend to be weaker than their non-status counterparts - see Status alchemers vs Nova Driver, or Acheron vs Obsidian Edge).

So Iron Slug only gains its usefulness (...over Callahan) vs monsters resistant to piercing:
- Jellies
- Constructs

Its interrupt ability gets nerfed in even strata (need two consecutive bullets to interrupt instead of just one), which hurts a bit because jellies/constructs tend to be found in larger groups.

@Bopp:
It wasn't specifically mentioned for the coming gunner update, but there were previous mentions of it and the announcement post says that changes to some guns' behavior would be happening, so we assume it will finally happen in this one.

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 16:36

Fehzor

@Bopp

The last time that change was promised it was a let down for everyone. But maybe this time it won't be a let down, and the gunner update will fix the thing.

I don't think its a good idea to base what we tell people purely around assumptions about the gunner update. If the OP has as many other guns and weapons and gear as they need, then maybe making it would be a good idea, just because it might get buffed and become usable and OP could be that hipster guy "I used slug before it was cool".

But I'm kind of doubtful of whether the gun will get buffed ever. The developers have a clear idea of where they want it to go and what it is supposed to do, and they cannot do it for whatever reason. Or at least Nick had a clear idea? But he is gone? Does anyone on the dev team know what they want the iron slug to even do at this point? If they stick with Nick's ideal slug image, well.. we already saw how that went.

@Shadowstar

The fourth word over beginning with 'bad' in your post isn't a good idea. I'm not warning you because I care about it or want to minimod, but because of how many warnings etc. I've had to deal with.

Thu, 04/24/2014 - 16:36

Autofire

You are experiencing a PICNIC ERROR!

I can't speak for Iron Slug, but I know Callahan is good for LD.

Wed, 05/07/2014 - 10:28

Parasthesia

Right now, I'd say only make

Right now, I'd say only make one if you have already crafted your primary OP money making, easy grinding weapons.

Promised gunner update buffs definitely warrant the making of a Magnus line, but you might leave it at 4* and see how you like it, and how you feel about using it against certain monster types.

And valiance is underrated for PVE

Wed, 05/07/2014 - 21:06

Fehzor

Scratch that, the gunner update suddenly seems much more promising. Go for it or do as Parasthesia said.

Thu, 05/08/2014 - 06:20

Whimsicality

And here comes the answer to everyone who wanted a Stun Brandish.

Thu, 05/08/2014 - 09:24

#10

Shadowstarkirby

Well...

...except that it's normal shots are terrible still, unlike Brandish's normal swings....

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The Iron Slug