Spiral Knights - Test Feedback: Mysterious Spikes!

Test Feedback: Mysterious Spikes!

106 replies [Last post]

Sun, 08/09/2026 - 22:21

#101

Jayzio

Testing done Aug 9

Decided to try testing in tier 2 arcade (depth 8-14) after the recent changes to preview to try and test spike interaction for newer players. Gear below is used to try and replicate the gear of a newish player running the arcade.

Gear used:
Gunslinger Hat
Vitasuit deluxe
Nightblade 3* lv7
Hammer 3* lv10
Slicer 2* lv7

Pros:
-The cap to spikes is a good start

-The spike getting shot out is a nice interaction when monsters get too many spikes, not sure how i feel about them getting destroyed, but it also felt like spikes were spawning more often so it makes up for it. I did earn 65 spikes from doing an arena, but it did take 17 minutes to do so spikes spawning over time would be more.

- Slicer gun is awesome. Glad to finally get my hands on one and I've been having fun using it. Not sure if we'll get to test higher stars during preview, would be a cool surprise to see a 5* available on LIVE servers but you guys may want some testing on it as well.

Cons:
-Stats are still too much and does not feel new player friendly at all. The cap is nice but for tier 2 the hp growth is too much. While I wasn't using gear that boost dmg as new players probably wouldn't have access to this it took way too long to kill mobs. I did a robo arena with the gear mentioned above and it got to the point where I was just sparking for the dmg buff so I could clear the lumberjacks. I don't think a new player could fight these without help from vets. Additionally, atk speed and movement speed could be lowered more as well. Atk speed definitely as some monsters just have too hard of a attack to prepare for making it practically undodgeable (ex. mecha knights, thwackers, greavers)

-Slicer gun screen shake - One thing I noticed is the slicer gun causes screen shake when you fire it and this started to make me feel a little motion sickness. It'd be awesome to have a option to disable this.

Here's a video of the last part of a tier 2 arena with the gear mentioned above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKUxqYrgbTg

Mon, 08/10/2026 - 00:41

#102

Ogygus

Summary of current version

+ No more spikes from mobs from respawn tile
+ Limited amount of spikes per mob

- Broken delay machanics, spikes appear if i step away from it's spawn area. For example i killed 2 mobs immediately, but got no spikes, spikes appear when i'm leaving room. It works terrible for arenas, opposite corner is enough distance for that behavior. I killed mobs in one corner, I think that collected all spikes, but most of them can appear when i far away (opposite corner), so the next wave will get some extra spikes.

- Rockets counts as mobs that should get spikes.

- Too high buff, 3-4 spikes is hard to deal with full 5* equipment. I have no reason to test spikes with 1-3* gear atm.

- Over 4 spikes still give buff and heal mobs. There is limit for spikes per mob, but their stats not lmited (it's noticable, more heal from spike, more dmg and HP).

- Speed buff is still too high, mobs run faster than me, 1 fast mecha will collect most of spikes.

- Reusing spikes is another problem, especially for arenas. Usually there are some spikes from the first wave at the last wave. I can't move close to mob with 4 spikes (buff is even more due previous issue), 1-2 hits = death. So after killing strong mob, his spikes are few tiles away, that can be picked up by the next wave of mobs.

Idea for the next rewards. There is unique shield Swiftstrike buckler, you can create something like that, for example 3* shield with MSI +3.

Mon, 08/10/2026 - 20:32

#103

Fastlex

I think the HP scaling with

Spike Event:
I think the HP scaling with spikes needs to be better tuned for T2. They feel more tuned towards bringing T3 weapons into T2 which I feel is too much. Its fine for us end game players, but when you use 2 and 3 star gear the time to kill feels way too blown up.

I think good a solution may be that spikes can be knocked off enemies after a certain flat number of hp had been depleted.

The event concept feels very fun to play, I like it a lot more than how the Black Cat event is designed.
I know it isn't the focus at the moment, but I would like to see a similar design philosophy applied to older events to encourage arcade play through consistency.

Slicer:
The Slicer projectiles do have weird interactions with Mecha Knights and Develites. Mecha Knights not detect Slicer projectiles to enter a blocking state unlike other guns, and Develites do not seem to dive out of the way. Unaware if the Mixer and Orbit guns did the same, but it feels like a bug.

The Slicer shots seem to originate from the player world position instead of the barrel of the gun.

I am not sure how to feel about returning Slicer shots activating switches. I kind of prefer if the projectiles moving backwards can no longer hit switches for consistency sake. Though, I think I could get used to it after using them for longer, but I found it a bit of a peeve as is.

The charge shot for the slicer feels a bit generic. A part of me wishes it pierced through enemies, but not to the overpowered degree of the Iron Slug.
Maybe it could be a weak charge shot that is used more to move enemies towards where it was fired, like a reverse brandish wave to combo into melee attacks.

The Slicer overall, is a fun weapon. I think its almost there.
I assume like the pulsar, it will branch into a fire, shock, and normal version for its T3 versions?

Most used loadout for testing T2 arcade floors:

ARMOR:
Dusker Cap
Dusker Coat
Swift Strike Buckler

WEAPONS:
Slicer
Kamarin (Sometimes a brandish line weapon is used, but I just prefer 2 swing swords)
Fiery Vaporizer Mk II (Mist bombs may be swapped if the floor resists)
Toxic Vaporizer Mk II

I am very glad to see the test server be used again, it really gives me hope that development is resuming.

Mon, 08/10/2026 - 16:08

#104

Nadekiller

Slicer Gun feedback

The Slicer Gun feels really good!

I have some suggestions for the gun/line:

- Give a damage boost to the projectile while it is returning: This would make a skilled player more effective with the gun, since the projectile follows the player. Would allow for a planned kiting to be more rewarding. This might be tricky to implement, but would be a cool new feature/mechanic.

- Give the gun a bonus vs spiked enemies: This would be a very good way to distinguish the gun or the weapon line further from the paid options. It would be the gun of choice to farm spikes as well which would play well into the concept.
Just don't make it "on par" with other weapons vs spiked enemies, then there would be no reason to choose this over another gun. Make it on par with other weapons on everything else and surpass other guns vs spiked enemies.
This is my favorite "upgade" suggestion. Simple and effective in terms of content.

- Give the Slicer line several options, like the Blaster or Autogun lines: This would open up a lot more playstyles and gear loadouts to viability. Make sure this is balanced though, with medium/long term feedback from the community (be aware that it is usually better to buff than to nerf overall).

These are my suggestions for now, after doing a couple arcade runs with it.
Can't wait for the higher tier guns to come out! :D

Thank you for the new content and the preview server. It feels good that you want to hear from the community GH!

Mon, 08/10/2026 - 23:38

#105

Ogygus

Let's wait for the next update, old issues are here

I didn't see any noticable changes. I'll just copy-paste current issues

- Rockets count as mobs, 1 rocket = 1 new spike.

- Too high buff, 3-4 spikes is hard to deal with full 5* equipment. I have no reason to test spikes with 1-3* gear atm.

- Over 4 spikes still give buff and heal mobs. There is limit for spikes per mob, but their stats not lmited (it's noticable, more heal from spike, more dmg and HP).

- Speed buff is still too high, mobs run faster than me, 1 fast mecha will collect most of spikes.

- Bots (wisps and etc) are affected by spikes, change route, collect spikes

Tue, 08/11/2026 - 03:15

#106

Retrofit

tidbits

Seconding Jayzio's feedback regarding the screen shake while using diskguns. It's incredibly severe and obnoxious, and legitimately physically painful to look at after a short while.
Third party mods exist for removing that screen-shake effect, but a smooth gameplay experience shouldn't require third-party tampering in the first place. I understand screen-shake for a powerful bomb or explosion, but for an autoattack on a gun it's just horrid to deal with. If diskguns are going out to the masses, then I would certainly carve out a bit of time to delete that bit of code from the weapon.

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Test Feedback: Mysterious Spikes!