Spiral Knights - best sword series to go for?

best sword series to go for?

30 replies [Last post]

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 21:50

Metaknight

before the wipe, I was starting to work on the calibur series but I hadn't gotten any further than the calibur. but which series is best? i understand that "best" varies, and that some swords on are par with others, just different status effects and such. but which do you guys like best?

these are my impressions from the wiki:

5-star cutters: fast, pretty high damage, and your choice of poison or effective against beasts
5-star caliburs: middle speed, your choice of higher damage or effective against undead (but highest normal damage stats for swords)
5-star sealed swords: high damage PLUS elemental damage, choice of slow speed + extra fiend damage or medium speed, higher damage, possible to inflict curse, but also might get cursed from it (which sounds like a painful drawback)
fang of vog: same as cursed sword except fire, which is a slightly less painful drawback.. have to grind against vanaduke to obtain

not sure how often the drawbacks happen on those. cutters are looking like a nice option for me, with high damage, great speed, and bonus effectiveness with little drawback.

also not sure how charged attacks might come into play, I didnt look at the descriptions for those.

any recommendations?

could start the same thread for guns because I haven't looked into that much either.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 21:55

FireVolt

Legacy Username

Join straw hat pirates guild...

well forme itwill be the cutter cause its speady and u can immediatly defend when u attack mobs and tho its weak it makes eat less damage even if u arent a very good player thocalibursar slow and just dont fit me...well i hate the slowest sword like the sealed sword cause when i tried it i was wiped out...before i knew it

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 22:01

Alduine

Hey man, From the weapons i

Hey man,

From the weapons i used from the preview I found that the Troika line up series that went up to T4 was nice for the charge up attack. Used that until I got Sealed sword from jellies, than upgraded that to argent. Was a good line. slightly slower swings. but dmg was nice. and the charge up was really fun.

However, Upgrading the Calibur series seems to be a lot easier. as the recipes were pretty common from the npcs. And materials were a bit more common I believe. I also tried the spur series which was a fun weapon. At Tier 4 it hits 6 times in 3 swings as the normal attack does a slight range attack. All the weapons have uses. I liked having/using all of them. But as far as the good overall sword. I would say Calibur, or Troika lineup till sealed sword.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 22:11

kakelgis

Legacy Username

>For general use: Calibur

>For general use:

Calibur series. Great damage to all kinds of enemies, and extra damage against undead with the Cold Iron series. Being a three hit, it's easy to stunlock (Interrupting their attack by hitting them with the final attack of a combo) mobs as long as they don't attack all that fast. (zombies, mainly) The charge attack's 360 spin is also great for taking out groups of monsters or simply dealing high damage against gun puppies/cornered enemies. Moderate range.

>For pure DPS:

Cutter series: Great DPS with added poison or beast damage. In general, the beast damage isn't all that nice, so I'd recommend the Dread Venom Striker - After all, poison also decreases the affected enemy's defense and attack, which can be pretty handy. In pure DPS, this is one of the best weapons. However, being a very long combo (five hits), it's hard to stunlock enemies, and the charge attack, while dealing great damage, is very risky and easy to miss. Less range than normal.

Spur series: Kind of like cutter, however instead of getting a normal second hit, you get a projectile, and it's also a three-hit. Lunges at every attack, slow recover after attacking. In general, I find those series to be a bit more troublesome, since the projectile often makes mobs dodge or block, and the lunging can be very annoying if you don't use it correctly. Charge attack is pretty darn useless. Moderate range, although lunging might get on the way.

>For strategic uses:

Sealed Sword series. In general, the DPS isn't quite as great as the other weapons, although it has way more knockback than the other options, so it's quite handy for strategical use. Stunlocking is also easier since it's a two-hit combo. Avenger is generally weaker than Faust, however the charge attack is much stronger and covers a much wider range. Great for groups of mobs. Faust has a pretty good chance of causing curse, which is very useful - Selfcursing only happens on charge attacks, so it's not much of a problem. Great range.

Troika series is also great, if you can't get a sealed sword quite yet, although not nearly as powerful.

>Fang of Vog:

Mostly something for showing off. Although it is a three-hit, it attacks as slow as a two-hit weapon. (Faster than Avenger, though - It's about as fast as Faust) Damage is a little lower than two-hit swords, so for general DPS and stunlocking it's a bit weak. The fire effect on enemies is nice, although generally too weak to make a difference. Self-inflicting fire only happens on charge attacks, however the fire effect can be really deadly - Having owned and used a Fang on the preview, it was about 30% chance of being inflicted by fire on the charge attacks. Without a great amount of resist, this would take tons of health. Even with tons of fire resist, it'd still take 1.5 - 2.5 bars of damage on T3. Other than that, the charge attack can be really powerful. Like other three hit swords, it's a 360 spin, however with added range and maximum amount of hits, hitting for around twice as much damage as a normal swing, and hitting enemies 2-4 times. But considering how deadly self-fire can be, it's usually not worth it. It also feels like it has less range than the other three-hit swords.

In general, I'd recommend taking one Calibur line sword or a DPS sword and a slow one for strategical uses. If you don't want to take two swords, I'd recommend just a slow one. At T1 and T2 they don't really seem that useful, since those tiers are pretty easy and monsters don't hit for that much, however, it's a must on T3. T3's difficulty and damage is generally too high to even allow yourself to be hit more than a few times per area. And obviously, Fang of Vog isn't really something you'd want, except for showing off, or doing quick runs on easier gates/tiers.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 22:15

Blink

Legacy Username

Doesn't the Calibur series

Doesn't the Calibur series use a lot of tokens? Or at least can use a lot of tokens?

I personally love the Troika series. The knock back is useful. From what I've seen though the Divine Avenger is a necessity for Vanaduke yes?

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 22:46

Alduine

No, calibur series doesnt

No, calibur series doesnt require tokens. at least up to T4 that i made.

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Calibur

Thats the requirements to get it. I believe all the recipe vendors inside the clockworks has always had one for sale for me. Each tier, even the recipe vendor in town sold it to my memory.

Wed, 03/30/2011 - 23:58

Blink

Legacy Username

Swordstones are in the Token

Swordstones are in the Token shop. I didn't know if they dropped in the field or not, but I see what monsters drop them on the wiki now. I didn't see it before.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 00:36

Espeonage

Swordstones are one of the

Swordstones are one of the rarer drops, if anything. On the flipside, they changed many of the crafting recipes, especially what with the new themed levels, enemies, and the most coveted materials being added into drop tables. Not as many swords need Swordstones anymore.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 06:40

Metaknight

i just hope i dont choose a

i just hope i dont choose a path and then they wind up having changed the stats so i would want to have opted for something else. maybe others will update the wiki before i can get that far :)

so maybe I should go the cutter route again? I figure I will eventually craft a few different ones, depending on how long it takes, but I'm still not sure where I should start. maybe the cutter just for the low tiers...

doh. decisions, decisions. not something Im good at!

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 06:46

FireVolt

Legacy Username

well...

well take the poison striker series better for me ..:D

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 07:08

#10

Magnus

Legacy Username

Oh u, always bragging about

Oh u, always bragging about your Fang of Vog.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 09:53

#11

Hoogie

Legacy Username

I most probably will be using

I most probably will be using 3 swords and a bomb. A Cold Iron Vanquisher, a Dread Venom Striker, a Divine Avenger, and a Venom Veiler. Items to switch to would be the Gran Faust and a Shivermist Buster.

(No. I don't like guns)

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 10:55

#12

Ragdoll

Legacy Username

Calibur series is a pretty

Calibur series is a pretty balanced way to go, and they're effective all around. Getting a Cold Iron Cutter/Vanquisher is a good idea if you're having trouble getting a Divine Avenger, but it is more of a substitute than an alternative. The Avenger series is definitely more effective against zombies because it has high damage, lots of knock-back, and the charge attack pierces so you can potentially damage dozens of enemies simultaneously. During the preview event I was able to get the Leviathan Blade (the final 5-Star variant of the normal Calibur line) and besides having a pretty badass appearance, it has great damage against all types of monsters- beasts, constructs, undead, and so on- whereas many other high end weapons like the Divine Avenger or Gran Faust deal less damage to certain types of monsters. Caliburs' 360 charges are also pretty useful, as Kelgis brought out; they're great for clearing a large area and giving yourself some breathing room, as they'll knock back everything but Trojans a good ten feet. Also a nice damaging alternative to shield repelling out of a corner when you're surrounded. You'll typically hit an enemy in front of you twice with the charge, but if they're a stationary enemy like a Gun Pup or a heavy enemy like a Trojan, or if they're pinned to a wall/corner, you'll hit them three times, potentially dealing over a thousand damage in Tier 3- probably more if you have an armor set or trinkets which boost damage. Calibur series is also very easy to craft because, unless Three Rings changes this before release, you can get every recipe from the Spiral Quartermaster (who sells all four star versions of the six 'Knight' items; Cobalt Armor/Helm, Defender shield, Calibur sword, Blaster gun, and Blast Bomb, which are called Azure Guardian Armor/Helm, Aegis, Leviathan Blade, Valiance, and Nitronome at their 5-Star stages) and they typically use relatively common materials such as Light Shards, Blue Shards, Force Dynamos, Silver Coils, and the occasional Swordstone. Leviathan Blade requires 1 Sun Silver, though. All in all it's a very balanced and respectable weapon path to take, and it can hold its own against the other high-end weapons, but you might also want to go down this path initially because it provides you a stable and solid base for getting other weapons like the Sealed series.

Summary: Caliburs are balanced and dependable weapons which are easy to use and have a strong, strategic charge attack. They may not deal the highest DPS but they still dish out a respectable amount of pain.

I've never favored the faster blades like Cutter and Striker, for three reasons; number one, although they have a high DPS, they deal low damage per hit, and sometimes having a heavy-hitting weapon can make the difference between killing an enemy just before they attack and taking damage. Number two, they have very low knock-back and typically have long combos (5 or 10 hits if I recall correctly), so it's hard to stun an enemy with a fast blade. Number three, their charges suck. Straight up suck. The only time I've been able to use them effectively is against stationary enemies like Gun Pups and Trojans, because more often than not on mobile enemies you'll just get a few hits or miss entirely, and that leaves you open to attack.

Summary: Fast blades have the highest DPS and can inflict status effects like poison, but they're a little tough to use because of their long combos and low knock-back. Their charges are not the greatest, either.

Now, the slow blades. I've only used the Avenger before, but I've also seen people using Divine Avenger, Faust/Gran Faust, Troika and Khorovod, so I think I can make a good judgment call here. Generally speaking I'd recommend slow blades over the fast blades. They deal high damage per hit and have a weighty knock-back, and they generally have low combos (two-three hits); combined with their knock-back, their low combos allow you to suppress a lot of enemies at once while dealing heavy damage per hit. The only enemy I can think of that this tactic wouldn't be effective against is an Alpha Wolver, as their three-bite charge is probably too fast to totally block with a double-hit, though it naturally depends on the situation. Their charges are all very useful, too; the heavy blades like the Troika, Kamarin, and Khorovod deal a single powerful hit with very long reach that causes Stun and high damage. The Avenger, Faust, and Gran Faust deal a powerful wide slash as well as launch a piercing sword beam which can go through several enemies, and even hit a single enemy twice if you time it right, while the Divine Avenger launches three sword beams that make crowd control in zombie levels almost trivial. Clearing a zombie Danger Room with the DA is a cakewalk.

Summary: Slow blades take a while to get used to because it takes about a half second to hit an enemy after initiating the first swing, but they're reliable and heavy-hitting. Great for fighting most enemies, but some faster enemies- like Wolvers, Greavers, and Gremlins- might be a bit tougher to fight with a slow blade.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 12:39

#13

Sick

Legacy Username

Recommendations are helpful and all..

But your best bet is to try them all for your self. Most all the swords mentioned here play entirely different from each other. Nothing beats good 'ol hands on experience. Within about a weeks playtime I was able to obtain most of the popular swords (Winmillion, Dread Venom Striker, Cold Iron Carver, Divine Avenger, Faust, Leviathan) So you should go for getting them all. I never got my hands on a FoV, but a friend of mine did. It's a pretty sweet sword, just don't keep asking your friends to revive you if you keep killing yourself >.< It's annoying

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 13:50

#14

ajericho

Legacy Username

I've got a question: how

I've got a question: how different are Brandish and Calibur from each other? I know that they both go down very different alchemical paths, but it seems that from the outset there's little difference.

Of course, "goes down different alchemical paths" is an important distinction for a weapon as well.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 13:59

#15

Censor

Legacy Username

I want to know the main

I want to know the main difference between the Cold Iron Vanquisher and the Leviathan Blade.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 14:15

#16

Kawaii_Desu

Legacy Username

Cold Iron series has an Ultra

Cold Iron series has an Ultra Damage bonus against the undead, and somewhat weaker normal attack.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 14:37

#17

Censor

Legacy Username

@Kawaii_Desu

But does it have the same Charge attack? I love the cold iron series because of that three hit special. If the Leviathan Blade has it than I will take it because I don't plan on using a sword vs undead.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 18:42

#18

Metaknight

thanks for your inputs guys.

thanks for your inputs guys. i think ill probably go for calibur series again to start off (should be quicker to attain), then go for one of the slower sword series.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 18:48

#19

Kawaii_Desu

Legacy Username

But it just has a bonus

But it just has a bonus against the undead.
The higher damage Leviathan Blade is extremely small.

Cold Iron series's Undead Bonus makes it worth more.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 18:48

#20

Kawaii_Desu

Legacy Username

But it just has a bonus

But it just has a bonus against the undead.
The higher damage Leviathan Blade is extremely small.

Cold Iron series's Undead Bonus makes it worth more.

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 20:12

#21

Tribe

Well during the preview event

Well during the preview event I got two wep trinkets to have 4 swords with me at all times.

Leviathan Blade
Gran Faust
Avenger
Wild Hunting Blade

So heres my input on each:

Leviathan Blade(Calibur series): As said above, great all around sword. Not sure if i'm going for this or the cold iron yet but i'm def starting out with the calibur series. Swing charge attack is simply amazing and something I miss whenever I use a different sword.

Gran Faust(Sealed Sword/Faust): I thought it was nearly the same as the normal Fuast to be honest but I only upgraded from Faust to Gran Faust on the last day of the preview so maybe I didn't play with it enough. Anyway GREAT weapon for things that are weak against it like jellys. It only curses on charge attack (Gran Faust charge attack takes half of forever to charge) and by that point you should have some of those blue capsules to clear the curse if it happens.

Avenger(Sealed Sword): Nearly the same idea as the faust except different set of weak monsters. Pretty nice weapon, wish I could have experienced the divine.

Wild Hunting Blade(Cutter/Hunting Blade): Let's see I wanted to try out the faster sword series so I bought a hunting blade for like 32k or smth in the sword shop. Upgraded it to wild hunting blade. Although the wolf attack animation looks amazingly cool I didn't really enjoy this weapon that much. I used it only on weaker Tier 1/Tier 2 things because it simply became harder to use up on tier 3. I feel like all the faster weapons don't work well because the crazy fast amounts of hits you get kinda suck you in closer to the enemy more than you want and you end up getting hit without being able to escape. This is ESPECIALLY true for the charge attack since once you use it you can't be broken out of it by normal means rendering it almost useless in my opinion. Maybe some people handle it differently but my strategy when things get difficult is to basically HIT some times and shield when they attack you or move back then repeat. And like I said I feel like the faster weapons don't pack as much a punch to get it done effectively. Meaning you need more hits to do the damage and you get 'sucked' into the enemies.

--------

Anyways I guess i'm more of the slower weapon kind of person. I'll be honest I hate the guns a lot so I didn't use them much at all. Bombs seem nice, I'll have to check them out. If anyone cares to give some suggestions about bombs, i'm open ears :)

Thu, 03/31/2011 - 20:23

#22

Censor

Legacy Username

I really want to know if the

I really want to know if the Leviathans charge attack can hit up to three times like the Cold Iron series can. I know that it's a 360 swing but the data on the wiki for the Leviathan is missing.

Fri, 04/01/2011 - 08:33

#23

bizzuh

Legacy Username

I can confirm that Tempered

I can confirm that Tempered Calibur/Ascended Calibur can hit 3 times with a charge attack but I never got to Leviathan Blade. I'd assume it's the same.

Fri, 04/01/2011 - 09:08

#24

Ragdoll

Legacy Username

Yes, it does, you can still

Yes, it does, you can still hit up to three times with the Leviathan Blade charge. It's exactly the same as the other Calibur and Cold Iron weapons. I think the reach on the Leviathan Blade and Cold Iron Vanquisher might be a little longer, since they're fudge huge, but that could have just been a placebo effect/a figment of my imagination.

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 05:56

#25

Ilovehedgehogs

Calibur paths...

I have no much affection towards slow weapons, however I tried the Cutter series and they're kinda useless, because they lack knockback attacks. I'm stick to the Calibur series then (although i'd like a weapon with bonus against beasts).

As you see, a knock back attack seems pretty useful against a horde plenty of mobs, especially when one goes suicidal into a danger room.
I have by now a 3* Calibur (tempered) and a 2* Cutter. I don't know which "path" to take my tempered by now. Wiki says an Ascended or Leviathan packs a great knockback, while Cold Iron Carvers/Vanquishers does 3-hit charged spins. But it doesn't make clear if these last ones also draw enemies away. Anyone knows about it?

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 07:14

#26

Metaknight

you could always luck out

you could always luck out with a unique variant with a beast bonus :)

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 07:45

#27

Tyrsig

Legacy Username

ILHedgehogs: As best I can

ILHedgehogs: As best I can tell, the Cold Iron Vanquisher / Leviathan series differ very slightly in top-end damage (whereas Cold Iron has the undead damage bonus...). Other than that, the knockback/combo system work the exact same way.

Does anyone have experience with BOTH weapons? I decided to go with the Cold Iron line.

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 08:17

#28

ajericho

Legacy Username

Mike, Bombs can be excellent

Mike,

Bombs can be excellent for crowd control but every bomb requires a charge-up attack. I find it best to run like heck, holding attack to charge it. I then a second after hold down shield. You don't get a shield while chargig the bomb, but this way when you let got of attack to place the bomb, the shield comes up and your enemies can't hurt you for a bit. And then the bomb goes off. Keep moving constantly.

The bigger the area of coverage, the better the bomb, of course, and bomb alchemical paths do this. The exception to both is the Crystal Shard series, which deal piercing damage in the form of shattered crystal that fly off with cardinal directions and very good range. Very nice in a melee knight's arsenal. Great for dealing with wolves and greavers. For other bombs, the blast bomb hurts enemies more and more up the line. Getting back gremlin bombers with their own medicine is sweet. The vaporizes on the other hand have a very good chance of giving status effects to enemies, the best being poison. Vaporizers at 2 stars have a much smaller field of effect, but the 3-star and up paths give wider and wider radiuses.

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 08:52

#29

Ilovehedgehogs

djbiznacth: i'ma always outta

djbiznacth: i'ma always outta luck... but that's a very good point. Thank you, really.

Tyrsig: i'll probably stick w/ Leviathan line (unless CIV is more cool-looking, lol), since i don't care much about specific species damage (except for those wolves of hell... an maybe the jellies on danger rooms, as the last ones are a deathly pain ¬¬'). Thanks too, of course.

ajericho: sorry, because i'm getting out of the subject (swords, not bombs), but what bomb line would you recommend for me, since I focus more on blast radius than status effect (or even damage)? Better crowd control is my priority by now...

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 09:48

#30

ajericho

Legacy Username

ILHedgehogs, With respect to

ILHedgehogs,

With respect to the 360º spin attack of the entire line of Calibur, even the 2-star version, as the series go up the number of spins increases from 1, to 2, to 3. Even one spin can known your enemies back far while dealing higher damage to all of them, and can act as decent crowd control if you're less likely to be interrupted. I've had the simple Calibur knock back tree monsters in a manner similar to the Troika line, just all around me and without stun.

As for bombs, there are two I'd recommend to you:

- Crystal Bomb, because it deals both close and ranged damage, something lacking in a melee arsenal, and also has a nice upgrade path with two branches.

- Blast Bomb, because while it's localized damage, the blast radius gets larger as the bomb is improved, and it deals a *lot* of normal damage with knockback. But I would go for Crystal first to see how you like the ranged part.

Another thought: for someone starting out, the 1-star Firecracker is similar to the Blast Bomb, but causes fire and has lower normal damage. Pretty awesome for a 1-star bomb.

Status effect bombs are best when (a) very advanced and (b) in a coordinated party.

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best sword series to go for?