Hello,
I am a new player facing a few challenges right now and I'm not really sure what to do. I am on the mission with the Jelly boss and I can't even get to the boss. The trash and mobs overwhelm me and I just get wrecked no matter what to I do. So my question is this; How do I increase my survivability in missions? I have the standard 3-star cobalt gear so it's not like my gear is underpar. Do I go back and add more heat to my gear? I didn't notice anything different when I tried this but maybe I just need to do more?
Another thing I'm dealing with that I don't understand is money. Sure the missions give me money but if I hadn't of had energy I wouldn't have been able to upgrade my cobalt gear. Is it really expected to spend money on this game to progress? I obviously spent a little rl money to do this but I really don't want to dump a lot of rl money into this game to play it. So what's the best way to make in game money? Thanks in advanced.
How do I increase my survivalbility in missions?
As a wise man once said, "The best defense is a good offense." You need to improve your weapons if you are to survive in RJP (the jelly boss), night blade will serve you well, you can craft it from the free Brandish you have laying around after a prior mission. Slimes are weak to shadow damage and night blade will cut them apart. Your blaster can handle range combat in RJP so long as you can kite your enemies. But you can upgrade your blaster into either the elemental or shadow 3star variant, I would recommend the elemental one as it will be useful against the lumbers and turrets as they are weak to elemental.
I have the standard 3-star cobalt gear so it's not like my gear is underpar.
I regret to inform you that no, your gears are UNDERPAR. Cobalt gear and Calibur sword are SK's biggest noob traps. You may think that they are 'jack of all trade' gears, but no. They are practically inferior to most gears in the game barring a few exceptions (LOOKING AT YOU IRONMIGHT PLATE MAIL SET). The free recipes are the bait and you will pay dearly when you reach Tier 3 (you are in Tier 2 BTW). Azure guardian set (the final incarnation of the cobalt set) is one of the worst set of end game gears in the game.
As I have said before, "The best defense is a good offense." in SK. So search for gears with piercing defense that can give you damage bonus against slime or give damage bonus on a weapon type that you use a lot, I will give you some suggestions:
Wolver set - Piercing + med sword damage bonus + free resist (keep in mind the med bonus is for the whole set: helmet(low) + armor(low) = med)
Gunslinger set - piercing + med gun attack speed increase
Chromalisk set -Piercing + med damage bonus against the slime family (ie. 90% of the enemies in RJP, and this damage applies to all your equipped weaons)
You can also get a mix of them, for example, if you use gun and sword equally like me, you can go for a wolver cap + gunslinger sash combo.
Do I go back and add more heat to my gear? I didn't notice anything different when I tried this but maybe I just need to do more?
In general, heating your gears make Very, very little difference in terms of damage output and defense. A fully heated level 10 colbalt gear will maybe reduce about 1 bar of piercing damage and 1 bar of normal damage. The only things good about heat levels is the +1 health bonus you get at level 5 of an armor piece (you don't get another at level 10) and the charge time reduction med you get when you heat a weapon to level 10.
Another thing I'm dealing with that I don't understand is money. Sure the missions give me money but if I hadn't of had energy I wouldn't have been able to upgrade my cobalt gear. Is it really expected to spend money on this game to progress?
If you press K key in game, a window will pop up that let you buy CE (the premium currency) with crowns (the currency that you are getting). 100 CE will cost you around 6.6K or 7K depending on how much the whales were willing to spend on that day.
You can get alchemy orbs naturally through popping those treasure boxes, but the drop chance is around 1% (not researched, just an estimate...). I reckon I can get one after 10~15 levels give or take. You can also buy orbs through the Auction house with crowns, but usually they are not worth it, you will have to do the math yourself. Yes, this is the part where SK gets grindy.
So what's the best way to make in game money?
Keep playing RJP until you can beat it competently, a RJP run can yield you around 2.8K cr, and that is pretty good payout for three T2 levels. You will also collect boss tokens after you beat the boss, after playing RJP several times (3~5 time), you can trade the tokens with Brinks (a NPC) for some goodies. Some of the gears are useful but if you don't like them you can sell them to the NPCs which means more $$$ for you.
Another way is to play arcade, it is the a set of randomly generated dungeons, arena levels have pretty good payout so be on the look out for those as they have a lot of treasure boxes if you can survive all three arenas. Which means more chances for orbs and crystals.But due to the random nature of the arcade, you will have to get lucky.
The last way is also the most luck dependent and time consuming, and that is merching (Rakaraka rubs his hands greedily in the background), it is as straight forward as it sounds, buy something, and sell it in the auction house at a higher price. I am not a merchant myself but from what I could see, it is a time consuming process, but with some luck you can be filthy reach without having to fire a single shot. But it will be a time consuming trial.