Welcome to Pery's Guide to the Clockworks! Today, I'm going to talk about Lord Vanaduke: the thing that gets between you and that Fang of Vog or Blackened Crest that you want.
Some of us(like me!) have trouble killing him, either defeating him with lots of wasted sparks, or failing completely. Even though I'm bad at fighting him, I would like to share some advice. So that is enough about me. On to the King of Almire himself!

To make sure of his quick defeat, players will have to strategize before braving Lord Vanaduke.
There are two types of players who fight Lord Vanaduke: Smiters and kiters.
Smiters are the players who fight Lord Vanaduke and his minions hand in hand. Make sure that you keep either of them distracted from the others if you are a smiter.
Kiters are players who run around and shoot or bomb Lord Vanaduke. Use status effects, because those are helpful for kiters.

The four most useful status effects in this boss fight are Stun, Shock, Poison, and Freeze.
The Stun status slows down Lord Vanaduke, giving you enough time to dodge and attack him. Stun goes with Poison, Shock, and Freeze.
The Shock status interrupts Lord Vanaduke, stalling his turning and attacking. Shock goes with Poison and Stun, but not with Freeze.
The Freeze status completely immobilizes Lord Vanaduke, but it breaks after each attack, so keep freezing if you can! Freeze goes with poison and stun, but not with shock.
The poison status weakens Lord Vanaduke, lowering his attack and defense. Poison goes with Stun, Shock and Freeze.

Recommended damage types to inflict: Piercing(2.75/3), Normal(2.5/3), Elemental(2/3)
Recommended damage types to protect against: Elemental(3/3), Shadow(3/3), Normal(2.75/3)
Recommended statuses to protect against: Fire(Obviously), Stun(2/3), Curse(Shadow Firestorm Citadel)

Lord Vanaduke and Darkfire Vanaduke wiki pages: http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Lord_Vanaduke http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Darkfire_Vanaduke

That all for now. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, you can reply.
-Pery