I played this game when it first got ported to steam shortly after its beta. I loved it, but found the energy consumption insane for progress through the game. Nevertheless, I made it all the way to the Jelly King, and then stopped.
I believe the elevator costs are gone, which is enough of a reason for me to start playing again! I've got a few questions about the game of which I was very skilled at, and have a very firm fondness towards...
1) Where should I start again? I don't want to play my Old Knight because I want to start totally fresh. I've been to the wiki, but this crap confuses me. I know you need missions to gain rank, and in turn with rank you can equip better gear, but what should I aim for?
2) I hate bombs, but will use them, and I dislike guns. What is the 'new' Meta for Swordsmen? I prefer balanced stats if possible. I'm not a newcomer so to speak, I understand damage, resistance, monster resist, and damage types, but from what I remember Chaos set was the way to go if you wanted to do jaw-dropping damage for a Sword/Gun combo. I just need some help on what gear to aim for for end-game... Help?
3) I've got just under $200 to spend on energy, how far will that get me?
4) Accessories are cool, should I invest?
5) Battle Sprites are dumb, but required from what I understand. Which one is the most useful for a balanced knight on both offense and defense?
I'm sure there are more. I've pored over the wiki, but some of it is confusing to an old player who remembers things wayyyyy different than they are now. Ty for answers and general help
To find out what you've missed, read http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Release/all. The big release is 2013-07-30.
1. Just go through the rank missions in order. Unless you are using an old knight with high-star items, you will get stalled at the Hall of Heroes for 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star clearance. While you are stalled, go back and do old missions, or visit the Arcade.
2. You might want to read my detailed sword guide. The most offensive armors for sworders are Black Kat and Chaos. After that come Vog Cub, Skolver, and Snarbolax. The most powerful swords in the game are brandishes (particularly Acheron, Combuster, and maybe Voltedge), Warmaster Rocket Hammer, and Final Flourish/Barbarous Thorn Blade. Powerful guns include the alchemers, Blitz Needle/Grim Repeater, maybe Callahan/Winter Grave/Iron Slug. Powerful bombs include Dark Briar Barrage, Dark Retribution, maybe Nitronome, and sometimes haze bombs.
3. The big bottleneck in your progress is now Radiant Fire Crystals, which are used for heating 5-star items. $200 will buy you not very many, sadly. But for stuff other than that, $200 will buy you a huge amount of progress.
4. Accessories are purely cosmetic. Spend that money if you want to, or don't if you don't.
5. Battle sprites are not required. But their skills are kind of fun. And even if you hate their skills, they have perks. A perk is basically a free trinket slot with a variety of free trinkets to put in it. Very useful. The three kinds of battle sprite are pretty balanced. Read about the skills and choose whatever seems attractive. No big deal.