Ok, so I'm coming back to this game after a while of not having a computer, and I'm still working on getting my 5* certification. I have a Combuster, and a Barbarous Thorn Shield, but that's it for 5* gear. I'm working on upgrading my Miracle Hood to a Chaos Cowl, but I don't know what to do with my Ash Tail Coat. Snarby Coat, Skolver, or Vog Cub? Also if you think I shouldn't get the Chaos Cowl tell me. After this I plan on upgrading my Gigawatt Pulsar to a Polaris. My long-term is a Grew-Owlite Sheild, and upgrading my Dark Thorn Blade and Faust. Ok guys, tell me what to do!
What should I do?
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 09:19
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 09:56
#2
to add to what's in my guide
Krakob, thanks for linking to my guide for me.
Damian-Killard, to add to what's in my guide: If you can handle Chaos, then continue to use it (or Black Kat). If you're in a situation where Chaos is too dangerous, then fall back to Vog Cub, Skolver, or Snarbolax, depending on the threat. Fire/shock/freeze resistance is usually more important than damage defense. If you plan to run Firestorm Citadel a lot (many players do), then Vog Cub is the obvious first choice.
As far as swords go, Combuster, Gran Faust, and Barbarous Thorn Blade are all great. Acheron is usually better than Gran Faust, but Gran Faust is more fun.
Polaris is a very easy and useful sidearm, but consider Storm Driver or Nova Driver if you actually want to kill things, or if you enjoy playing with skill. Consider also Blitz Needle, if you plan to run Firestorm Citadel a lot.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 09:55
#3
Thanks
Thanks for the info! I'll definitely do what you say about upgrading weapons and radiants. I've read Bopp's guide before, but what do you mean that the Vog Cub is not as desirable as the as Skolver and Snarby when you get very far in gear progression? Again, much thanks!
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 10:08
#4
Vog Cub vs. others
Probably what Krakob meant is what I explain in my guide: Vog Cub gives you ASI. That's nice, but you can get ASI from UVs on your weapons. Skolver and Snarbolax give you blanket damage bonuses, which you can't get through UVs. In this way, Skolver and Snarbolax are more offensively valuable in the long run.
To put it another way: You want to end up with MSI+4, damage+6, ASI+6, and CTR+6 on all weapons against all enemies. You can get ASI and CTR from weapon UVs (at heat level 10). Therefore your priorities for helmet, suit, shield, trinkets, and perks should be MSI and damage. With that in mind, here are the five important sworder sets, in order:
* Small defense, big offense: Black Kat, Chaos
* Medium defense, medium offense: Skolver, Snarbolax
* Big defense, small offense: Vog Cub
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 10:03
#5
?
I mostly have the gigawatt pulsar since I do a lot of solo, and don't really have the resources for another gun for quite some time. What do you mean about falling back on Snarby/Skolver/Vog Cub when Chaos is too dangerous? I'm talking about mixing sets, Chaos Cowl with some kind of 5* wolver armor, probably Vog Cub. Do you also recommend Vog Cub?
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 10:05
#6
Thanks
Ahh, I now understand what Krakob meant, thank you.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 10:53
#7
@Krak
For PvE, chaos is #1
@Krak
For PvE, chaos is #1 offensively I believe
But for PvP it is tentatively 2nd (wolver line gear could surpass it, but it is highly dependent on playstyle)
But yeah, BK stuff is the best. For some stupid reason is also has freeze resist and msi low, so yeah
@OP
I would go full chaos, and also craft a Vog Cub coat as well. For weapons, Combuster is solid, maybe an AP or Driver instead? Polaris will get you a lot of hAAte, both in PvE and PvP
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 11:11
#8
@Octoslash
Chaos does not allow getting MSI+4 while Black Kat set on the other hand does. Therefore, Chaos is objectively worse in terms of maximising your bonuses. Personally, I have pretty limited use for Chaos due to my very good UVs. This is of course not the case for all users, but if one is to speak of gears that costs millions of crowns, UVs, trinkets, and perks should not be ignored. If you do want to ignore them, then it's purely a matter of preference and situation. Black Kat gear is preferable if you don't charge much or need MSI.
In PvP, there's no objectively best set. That's the case with PvE as well of course, but PvE is much closer to having one as PvE is easier than PvP and offence is rewarded higher in PvE than in PvE. Wolver line gear is definitely among the top tier sets but it's only situationally good. It's better for building defensive sets which can tank more hits as well as walk through bombs. Black Kat gear will on the other hand allow for excessively powerful weapon setups with maxed everything in addition to movement speed. Having Ancient Plate Armour with Black Kat Cowl is also very tanky, far better than a clean 5* Wolver set.
It's not really a question of playstyle, it's a question of what you can get and if you're using a single gun or not. Apart from when using a full swords loadout or when in need of a very specific status resistance combination, I never use anything without at least one peice of BK gear.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 13:10
#9
More Questions
Is what you said about the Black Kat gear for PvP also for PvE? (I don't really do PvP) Also the only way to get the Black Kat gear is during the Kataysmic Comfrontation right? Thanks.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 13:13
#10
You will want a set with good
You will want a set with good survival, get hit by any status in Chaos and you could end up KOed really fast, which usually happens in T3 since statuses get worse.
The Grey Owlite helm is very forgiving to the 2 worst statuses in the game (shock and fire) but if you are confident in your abilities then pick Chaos.
Skolver is easier to get than Snarby and both provide the same sword buff, Vog on the other hand comes with that nice fire resist as well as matching the defense of your helm choices. It is better to have a pure defense than a massively mixed one so for armor I would suggest Vog since it neutralizes the Chaos fire weakness or stacks with the Owlite fire resist making it much easier to survive the FSC.
Focus in ranking up your combuster then use it's power to get you to deeper depths faster so you can collect rads faster. When alchemizing up from 4 star you have to ask whether the weapon gets better enough to drop its power (a 4star at lvl 10 is as powerful as a 5star at lvl 7); some weapons like the DA get more powerful charges and a drop in regular combo power and the loss of that CTR are made up by it's area control powers. Alchemers gain 2 more split bullets from the charge making it a much better sniping weapon than the 4 star version even if the regular attacks are weaker it is the charge that sets it apart.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 13:49
#11
Ok so basically I should get
Ok so basically I should get Chaos Cowl and Vog Cub. When you say " It is better to have a pure defense than a massively mixed one" you just mean I should have elemental defense (Chaos and Vog) over Elemental and Piercing, which would be Chaos and Skolver. Thanks for all the help.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 15:26
#12
Yes it is better to have pure
Yes it is better to have pure defense
A Skolver/vog combo has less pierce defense than a 3 star jelly set and less elemental than a 3 star Magic set. The only thing it has more of is normal defense and in T3 of the clockworks enemies deal pure damage so normal isn't a huge help.
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 16:43
#13
What I said about Black Kat gear is partially true in terms of PvE. It's without a doubt one of the best sets for building as powerful as possible loadouts and it's absolutely perfect for speedrunning. You don't want to combine it with stuff like Ancient in PvE, though.
Black Kat Gear can be made and acquired during any time of the year, but some materials required for the items can only be acquired during the Kataclysms, so don't expect to get anything soon.
- Black Kats drop two items
- Ancient Pages, which are used for:
- Buying fetishes, which are used in ALL Kataclysm related crafts
- Buying the 3* Kat Hoods
- Book of Dark Rituals, which is a ½% - 1% drop used to summon Margrel the big kitty who drops:
- Whiskers for all members of the party, which are used to craft the 4* hood and the entire armour line
- The Black Kat Cowl, which is the 5* hood. This drop is only given to the leader of the party, and defeating Margrel is the only way of getting it. It's not part of an Alchemy line with the 3* and 4* Black Kat helmets.
Hope that clears things up!
Sat, 11/29/2014 - 19:28
#14
disagree somewhat
I disagree with some (but not all) of the advice being given here. Whether you mix a normal+elemental piece with a normal+piercing piece is missing the point. Your priorities in armor should be offensive bonuses and shock/fire/freeze resistance. Damage protection and poison/stun/curse resistance are not as important.
Although monsters deal mostly non-normal damage in Tier 3, especially on Elite it's said, there is still a lot of normal damage flying around. Perhaps the most famous example is Firestorm Citadel, where the trojans, slag guards, and Vanaduke's mace all do lots of normal.
Yes, Black Kat is extremely hard to get but powerful, for the reasons that I lay out in post #4 (MSI and blanket damage bonus should be your armor offense priorities).
Sun, 11/30/2014 - 08:39
#15
Is their any other armor that
Is their any other armor that gives MSI and when is the next Kataclysm?
Sun, 11/30/2014 - 09:02
#16
yes and we don't know
Mercurial, Mercurial Demo, and Black Kat are the only armors that give positive MSI. See the wiki page "Armor", or my List of 5-Star Items reference.
Nobody on this forum knows when upcoming events are scheduled. The best we can do is look at the wiki page for the event, to see when it has happened in the past. So see the wiki page "Kataclysmic Confrontation".
Sun, 11/30/2014 - 09:07
#17
There's Mercurial and Mercurial Demo. Other than those, you can get MSI from the sprite perks Swift Step I and II. You can also temporarily increase your movement speed with Drakon's ultimate skill, Backfire Barrier, as well as with the pickups.
The occurrence of the next Kataclysm is never announced but there was one I think about a month ago, so you might have to wait a while.
Edit: oops, forgot to hit save and 10 minutes later I've already been ninja'd...
Sun, 11/30/2014 - 13:18
#18
Good luck though..... Black
Good luck though..... Black kats have an incredibly low appearance rate and the book has an even lower chance of dropping from them, put those together and you may never even see a book much less have enough wiskers for a full 5 star set
Sun, 11/30/2014 - 15:34
#19
true, but
That's true, but the 3-star versions of Black Kat are nearly as good as the 5-star versions, especially if you're already in the glass cannon mindset. And the 3-star helmet is easy to get (70 Ancient Pages), while the 3-star suit is harder but not insane to get (1 Wicked Whisker).
Welcome back to Cradle! Upgrading to Chaos is definitely a good choice as Chaos is widely considered to be the second to best best gear available in the game, only second to the Black Kat gear, although this is situational as Charge Time Reduction might be more desirable than movement speed increase and damage in some cases. Your alternative to Chaos is Divine Veil. It's a very sturdy helmet and is without a doubt one of the best helmets which doesn't offer a universal/weapon type bonus. Divine Veil has good defences and great resistances, topped by a neat little fiend bonus. Which one you should get really depends on how well you consider yourself to be able to handle status inflicting enemies, most notably shock ones, which will probably be the most trouble for you if you use Chaos.
I recommend upgrading your Ash Tail Coat to Vog Cub Coat. While it's not as desirable as the other two pieces once you get really far in gear progression and skill, it will generally allow for safer playing because a) you'll probably spend a lot of time in Firestorm Citadel if you're near 5* or early 5* and that place has a lot of fire and b) attack speed increase gives you faster animations, which generally makes your attakcs safer as they take shorter time to execute and you can move sooner after using them.
Bear in mind that Radiant Fire Crystals are really rare, so I do not recommend upgrading all those weapons so soon. Your combuster should be your primary focus in terms of heating, as it's already upgraded.
Lots of things you've asked about are discussed in Bopp's Sword Guide, give it a read!