On Depth 14 and on down, you need to start adjusting your play style. When I started, I hacked and slashed my way through enemies, and if I got hit, well. It was no big deal. But once you get to level 14, and especially in Tier 3, playing where you don't do everything you can to not get hit (Dodge first, if cannot dodge, block.) will get you killed, every time. Proper and better gear will mitigate some of the difficulty, but honestly, it's more about how you handle more difficult rooms.

Tips on fighting smarter:
Don't run into a room and aggro everything if you don't have to. There's no benefit to rushing in Spiral Knights, so if you're having difficulty, slow down and play more cautiously. Some players I've run with just seem to have no patience, and it tends to empty their health bar. In rooms with lots of blocks, break them smartly so you only fight a couple things at a time. Try to keep the majority of monsters in front of you, and don't be in a place where projectiles are coming at you from every side. Learn how shield bumping and shield cancelling work, and use them. Use the terrain to your advantage- like using blocks to protect yourself from Gunpuppy fire. A lot of this should come with experience. It may be frustrating now, but when something is kicking your butt, retreat for a moment if you can and figure out if there's a better way to accomplish what you're trying to do.

Oh, and remedy capsules are awesome, collect them, and use them. Maybe this is obvious, but when I was still in Tier 1 I thought they were useless, and it took me awhile to see their benefit later on.

Kiting and funneling are your best friend. Drawing enemies back often splits up the larger groups. Using choke points such as blocks, to stop Lumber, while you kill off the smaller enemies etc. I personally solo, and the best way I've found to deal with T2 is by keeping the large groups of enemies in smaller groups. Fighting 1v1 is a lot easier than 10v1. Unless it's jellies, then you can kite them in a group, and aoe them all down fairly easily. If there are gun puppies in a room, pull everything else out into another room. It makes it far easier.

From my experience, it's all about gaining experience against each particular type of enemy. I started doing T2 in full 2* armor. At first it was extremely difficult. Eventually, I developed more ways in order to survive. Eventually, I was soloing all depths up to jelly king with very limited deaths.

I actually find that I do FAR better solo than I do on a team, especially a big team. Monsters on big teams are harder to kill (and may hit harder, I don't know), and far too often the people I team with aren't a great help. I mean, I'm fast on the keyboard enough to carry two, maybe even three people by myself through T1, but once we start getting into T2 and past the T2 Clockwork Terminal, I'm barely surviving myself and need someone to help ME :) People will all too often split up, aggro multiple groups, open locked doors, break too many blocks and just rush things, die and ask for half my health in the form of a rez. Not a good thing for a red dot minimap.

Really, though, the only thing I've found hard to deal with is swarms of gun puppies, though those I can usually gun down from a distance now that I've learned to not be stupid about them, hordes of flamethrower goblin foxes and those damn robots. See, with the others, there's usually a good way to take them down if you think hard enough, but robots just attack so fast and so frequently I don't know what to do, and their confounded laser beam eyes take out half my health in a single hit.

Personally, I find that kiting with a charged-up sword attack has been the best practice for me. I use a Calibur, which does a 360 knockback spin, so I hit and remove anything around me when I attack, including the tree men. Yes, they swing their clubs, but they're well out of range. Anything I don't hit I can usually shield-push away and just dash for safety thereafter. Can't really shield-cancel after a spinning attack, but this should help me fight single foes more easily, so thank you for that.

I actually do like a game which asks you to be good at it, vs. one that just asks you to have the proper gear. I managed to get all the way down to the Jelly King in just 2* gear, but I had no idea how to fight the thing and died for my efforts. Pays to research your foes ahead of time, I guess.

Practice will do the trick. You'll get used to the additional complexities of tier 2 and before you know it you'll be ready to move on = )

I also noticed that you get about the same amount of Heat in tier 1, than in tier 2 (not quite Tier 3 yet, need 1 more heat level on my stuff, to upgrade it >_>). Is it just me, or is this true? If it's true why? What'd be the point, because if I needed some extra heat (which I do at the moment) I could just go through some tier 1 levels, get the heat I need just as quickly as doing it in tier 2 (if not quicker since tier 1 is much easier).

I also agree on the tier 2 monsters being a bit too hard. Tier 1 is just too easy as well. (even for a beginning player). My friend who I play with tells me tier 3 pretty much kills you in like 2 hits. So I'm somewhat looking forward to testing myself in tier 3 very soon. :)

Also, know that I'm loving the game to bits. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a MMORPG. All the other MMORPG's I have seen recently/played recently have been too samey. This game is a nice change.

1st off all better gear will help alot, so gear up asap

also practice simple dodging, itll increase ur skill by alot

in party or solo, just stand there and try to evade, maybe trigger monsters attacks a bit, 1st with shield and shield knocks(2-5 mins), whenever u get hit, think about what u did wrong and memorize monsters info, maps info and ur own in that situation

when it feels easy try it without shield(1-3 mins), whenever u get hit, think about what u did wrong and memorize monsters info, maps info and ur own in that situation

after that u mix in weapon attacks, with shield again(regular gameplay, just be aware of dodging), whenever u get hit, think about what u did wrong and memorize monsters info, maps info and ur own in that situation

if u like simple dodging, u can focus on multiple targets next, if not, just go play with others, they can revive u, if u arent unlucky finding good people

dont play offensive all the time, u can handle many games with defensive gaming, it just takes longer and appears to be less fun in the beginning, but the success is granted => fun

mix in offensive/aggressive/DPS gameplay when u have either of these:
-alot of hp
-nowhere left to run
-shield knock is not possible
-no hope/intention of succeeding
-too many active gun puppies

try to strictly avoid energy revives
when ur dead, right click and watch a well- skilled party member and his gear or in a solo t2 revive only once, not more, any single payment of 10 energy or more is not ok unless u have much money or play casually

arenas are hard in general, the tactics depend on ur group, monster spawns(including kind of arena) and ur weapons, my basic tips are:
1.)gun puppies/oilers/quicksilvers 1st(offensive gameplay: quicksilvers 100%, oilers 50%-100%, gun puppies 50-100%)
2.)kite everything else(offensive gameplay:0%-20%)

to keep it short, i hope further explanations are not needed, gl n hf (:

Just started on Tier 2 not too long ago, so I guess I'm more or less in the same situation. I'm not sure about you, but I find it much easier to use guns than swords. Someone once mentioned on the forums that gunners may not be focused on DPS, but damage dealt versus damage received, and gunners aim to deal as much damage as possible while receiving as little as possible.

Put bluntly, I fight like a coward. I lure mobs either singly or in small manageable groups, I kite all the time, I circle strafe a lot, I close gates to divide grouped enemies, I shoot from across barricades and chasms, and I run when I don't think I can win (if there's space to run, that is). Very cautious and totally wussy, but it works.