Spiral Knights - Clarification please on Faust and Gran Faust?

Clarification please on Faust and Gran Faust?

15 replies [Last post]

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 11:41

Spiral_Fox

Legacy Username

Assuming I avoid using the charge attack, will I run the risk of being cursed?

I'm in interested in doing Jelly King runs and having trouble getting to the JK, would having a Faust in my arsenol actually help me reach him?

I currently have

3* owlite shield.
4* Calibur
4* cobalt armor
4* Miracle hood.

I made a striker to test out since I've heard that the vile version is very valuable against JK and I must admit I hate the cutter series after actually using it.. I am sitting in a terminal debating on buying the Vile Striker Recipe just in the off chance I ever actually make it to the JK.

While I've gotten better at getting up the levels.. I do sometimes have difficulty I would associate to just out right bad luck. (going for a floor or two with minimal heart drops and no capsules for example.)

I doubt the faust would magically make me super man but, I am wonderng if it may be a better solution than the calibur. I know the snarble barb has really helped me turn the tide on those wanky little devilites recently..

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 11:52

Nattss

I think you need a good gun

I think you need a good gun for running around the edge of the danger rooms in the levels up to the JK - I find a 4* Firo works well for me. I find the 4* Calibur better for whacking the JK himself rather than sealed sword which faust is built upon.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 11:54

Spiral_Fox

Legacy Username

Does the firo allow you to

Does the firo allow you to kite?

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 11:59

Avatarion

Yep. Absolutely. Its a good

Yep. Absolutely. Its a good gun, though just be sure not to light up oilers on other levels.

The Calibur and Faust lines are different sword lines with different playstyles. The Faust is a heavy sword, deals 2-heavy-swings, and can sometimes inflict curse on opponents. I suggest you try out a heavy sword first, then think out which playstyle you prefer. The Faust is excellent on jellies and gremlins, especially with Curse,, while the Calibur is good against almost anything.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 12:02

Spiral_Fox

Legacy Username

alright I'll check it out.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 12:58

Aquajag

I earned my sealed swords,

I earned my sealed swords, and thus my Faust, the hard way: going on jelly runs, killing the king, and earning tokens. I am a bomber with a cold iron carver. So while Faust and Vile Striker are great helps, you can do it before you get them. The key is to be in a group that is experienced, and hopefully has mostly 3 or 4* gear. Find some people to walk you through the first two. A question I have for you is: why don't you like cutter? Vile striker is good for more than just JK. but if you are preferring a slower style of sword, the sealed lines may be best for you.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 14:51

Spiral_Fox

Legacy Username

Believe it or not, it is

Believe it or not, it is partly an issue of speed.

I'm ok with calibur or even snarble barb.

The calibur while slower, has enough speed that I can still hit the enemy fairly quickly.

When it makes contact it has enough force to make an enemy drop their attack... on the third attack, even the big tree's (can't think of their name) will stagger and I can effectively "hit and run."

A fast weapon should not have you as static as the cutter line seems to. While you will move forward *if* possible, there is no staggering effect, no interrupt effect so, while your attacking (which takes a long time to pull off a combo to begin with) not only are you easily hit by all of the enemies around you.. even the enemy your attack can retaliate.. or in some cases they seem to be able to just slip away if they are fast enough.

This has made the cutter series largely ineffective for me.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 15:27

Nattss

Agreed - but I don't often

Agreed - but I don't often see oilers on the way to JK, and if I do, I'll Ascended Calibur or Sealed Sword them. Still, I'm looking for another gun for other enemies but that's a different story....

It took a bit of "getting used to" the sealed sword. You've got to learn to shield. You've got to put shield on a key or button where you can shield quickly. With SS you can't just go bashing the way you can with Calibur. You've got to bash -> shield -> bash, waiting for the right moments to bash. I do a double bash when "safe", but that's not all the time.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 15:38

striator

Legacy Username

The Calibur line is just fine

The Calibur line is just fine for taking on the jelly palace levels and JK. Faust is more for cursing JK than for clearing the levels; if you want a jelly-cutting sword get a Nightblade.

Same with Cutter series; it's more for poisoning and attacking JK than clearing functionality. It makes you too vulnerable to the masses of jellies that populate the palace.

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 20:48

Arctic-Fern

Needing a gun for Royal Jelly palace? Well...

...if you need a gun for the palace, slimes are weak against Shadow so you might as well get Shadowtech, but IMO any Alchemers are generally crap until 4* so that's a significant investment for you...

Tue, 07/26/2011 - 21:59

#10

Aziraphaile

Legacy Username

Not to play devil's advocate,

Not to play devil's advocate, but to offer a counter-opinion to striator's point, I actually find the Faust far more useful in the levels leading up to JK than for the boss itself. The Calibur makes mincemeat out of him though. The charge attack is really good, and because they JK can't really be knocked back, it'll hit multiple times. Note that the JK himself doesn't actually share the weakness to shadow damage that other jellies have, so it doesn't really matter what you're swinging at him.

To go back to your original questions though:

Yes, the Faust and Gran Faust can only curse you with their charge attacks, but their normal swings do carry a chance to curse enemies. They're great swords once you get used to them. I personally prefer the slower heavy-sword lines, and I share your disdain for the Cutter line.

If you're looking for gear that'll help on the Palace levels and the boss though, you don't need to do anything as drastic as buy someone's overpriced unbound sealed sword. What you need to do is swap out your shield and helm for something with piercing defense. The only things in the palace that deal any other kind of damage are Lumbers and Gunpuppies, and most of the time they appear, you can draw the jellies away from them and kill them seperately, and take a more careful approach with the remaining enemies. If you're sword focused, you're going to have to block jellies from time to time, and you'll find you can block alot more before your shield goes pop if you have the right shield.

You'll also find having some kind of gun to be quite useful in the palace, though it's pretty much useless for the boss fight. being able to engage stuff from range will go a long way to preserving your health. If you're only going to bring one gun, I recommend something with elemental damage, like an Alchemer or the elemental Pulsar line. As someone mentioned, they're all fairly lackluster until 4*, but even a 3* gun will do the job of keeping you at a safe distance. You'll just be in for a protracted fight. As for why elemental, nothing in the palace resists it. A shadow damage gun is highly useful, but the stuff you're really going to want to engage at range are the lumbers and gunpuppies, which are weak to elemental. Quite frankly though, even a simple Blaster will help.

Wed, 07/27/2011 - 18:46

#11

Soulstaker

Just don't use charge attack

Just don't use charge attack and u won't get cursed a guy in my party demonstarted

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 06:31

#12

Spiral_Fox

Legacy Username

I bought a alchemer the other

I bought a alchemer the other day and found it to be incredibly useful even at level 3 I found I wasn't really "lacking" at all.

Actually now have more trouble at the JK and the levels pre-palace than I do in the palace itself.

I find my Snarble Barb is great for those blasted fiends, although I sometimes rage a bit when they manage to hit 4 bars on me despite having a variety of armor which should help me with them.

Having made it back to the king solo last night, I was going at him alone.. And I am not sure how close to actually killing him I got.. I have found the Calibur to be a little more temper mental in fighting him than I originally anticipated though.

It is nice if I can get a charge in, have a spare curse vial or whatever else.. but, honestly unlike getting to him, I am finding it harder because it is no longer an issue of "take your time, kite then fight", he heals so fast I can't afford to wait much/at all.

One problem I am really starting to have with the calibur (in general) is when I use my Snarble Bar, one animals/fiends.. I am really loving the fact that a 3 star is pwning the 4 star.

I know the Calibur *IS* the Vanilla sword.. and I do appreciate the fact that if I wanted to go from tier 1 all the way through tier 3 I would probably have it in my inventory...

I am really starting to find that the "situationally neutral" sword, is great. Vanilla is a nice flavor. However, you don't go to baskin robin's (or any other over priced ice cream shop) to get Vanilla ice cream... When I see the higher damage, I feel the need to start exploiting it.. Harder to stay satisfied with it's comparitively low damage when pitted against a lower starred weapon which is situationally better.

I have also found that this game *in general* will let you do "ok" with vanilla but, if your ever going to really get the most out of it, you gotta step your game up.

Thanks for all the help guys.

*Edit* Also I'll seriously consider the recommendation for piercing damage.. but, I have found the imps pre-palace to do more damage than the jellies most of the time.. 0.o

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 09:21

#13

Soulstaker

Bit off topic I guess?

Piercing is only good for fiends.why use it against jellys?I have a tempered caliber which is actully better I have thought.After I get my snarb barb I am going to test my tempered caliber on the jellys and if it proven itself worthy then I might even upgrade it acended blade.

Sat, 07/30/2011 - 11:28

#14

Spiral_Fox

Legacy Username

@Gerry Although the rotation

@Gerry

Although the rotation changed, you were gauranteed to get 2 depths minimum worth of fiends very recently.

The problem I was having is that the ascended calibur, while doing ok damage against them wasn't moving me enough, nor was it very good at all for taking out the fiends.

The problem is they throw things at you very, very quickly (almost too quickly to shield)

So I was using Asecnded Calibur, Twisted Snarble Barb, and Fire Alchemer MKII

it was really worth it to carry the barb because, it moves you forward more than the calibur, and my 3 star barb does more damage than my 4 star calibur.

Plus, there is always a lot of "beast" types which the barb is very effective against.

Mon, 08/01/2011 - 19:10

#15

Soulstaker

Yeah snarby barb is a cool

Yeah snarby barb is a cool wep and it's cheap because only cost ten fruimuis fang tokens.I soon will get the shield.somehow I make about 4.5 k crowns each run.but JK runs are more profitable.

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Clarification please on Faust and Gran Faust?