Spiral Knights - RJ solo set: Silent Nightblade + ???

RJ solo set: Silent Nightblade + ???

27 replies [Last post]

Fri, 09/02/2011 - 16:07

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

I can get through the RJ palace fine with pretty much whatever gear I've got on me, but when it comes to battling the RJ himself (yeah, yeah, not worth it. I'm farming for sealed swords, cut me some slack) I'm coming up a bit short.

I've already got a silent nightblade, which seems to be the popular choice for DPS, but when it comes to a secondary weapon I'm not sure which way to go. I'm cooking up a virulisk set, so there's no particular preference between swords or bombs. (well, that's not entirely true, I'm using a dark thorn shield so I get a sword buff from that)

So, for soloing RJ, which should I go for: Vile Striker, Toxic vap series, or Firey vap series? Something else, maybe?

Does a Mk II of the bombs have a big enough AOE to be useful, or should I hold out for the atomizers? Does the Vile Striker do enough DPS to use as the main sword, or should I just use it for poisoning?

I tried using my Fireburst Brandish to light him up on my last run, but it was too tricky trying to get close to him with a charge attack without all the minis interrupting me.

I think I'm kinda leaning towards the Fiery vap series, since it'll help keep the swarm of minis pruned down a bit. Does fire prevent the RJ from healing, or if not, does it do enough DPS on a solo to stay ahead of his healing?

Sat, 09/03/2011 - 20:11

Bluescreenofdeath

What gear are you rolling

What gear are you rolling with now? & what play-style do you prefer (sword, bomb, gun)?

The JK while doable with guns and bombs, but is most widely done with swords. I have soloed him b4 & I roll:

Ash Tail Set 4* L10
Ascended Calibur 4* L10
Twisted Targe 3* L5 (soon 2b DTS) \\ Sinister Skelly Shield 4* L10 \\ Swiftstrike Buckler 3* L10
Master Blaster 4* L7 \\ Super Blast Bomb 3* L10
Elite Slash Module 5*
Elite Sword Focus Module 5* \\ Quick Strike Module 4* (have mats for elite)

I can't speak too much to bombs as I am a swordsman, but like I said JK tends to be a sword favored fight. I have seen youtub vids of sub 30 second JK fights using the Dread Venom Striker. So, if you were to craft a JK killer this looks like a pretty good choice. I don't think its needed though as long as u make sure to save up your vial (Curse, Poison, Fire, etc.). The key is to keep the King under a status effect so he cant heal & not let up on the pressure. I like my Cal because the charge attack clears out the little squishies while delivering 3 powerful hits to the king. A good time to charge up is following him though is spinning hissy fit.

FYI -> "The Royal Jelly does not share the same weaknesses and resistances as common Slime monsters.", wiki. So, Shadow or Damage Bonus vs Slime will only help with the kings lackeys.

If you want to find peps to run with you check out this thread:

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/7285?page=2

-Dracuva

Sat, 09/03/2011 - 22:10

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

Basically the Virulisk set,

Basically the Virulisk set, Dark Thorn Shield and Silent Nightblade are the only pieces I'm particularly attached to for doing RJ. I've been using a fireburst as a secondary sword to clear out the lumbers a bit quicker in the palace levels, but as I said it isn't really much use against the RJ himself.

I usually have a full stack of poison and fire vials with me when I hit RJ, but I haven't had a huge amount of success deploying them. Probably 3/4 of the time one of the minis will hit me and break the vial just short of the RJ and waste it. That's mostly why I'm interested in getting a weapon to do the status, since I'd have an infinite supply that's much easier to use, and at least in the case of the bombs have a much larger AOE and soften up the minions a bit as a side bonus.

I've done misc dives with a sword and bomb combo before, with DPS bombs like a Super Blast or a Spine Cone, so I wouldn't mind going with a combo for RJ. I just want to make sure it'll be useful when soloing. Obviously having someone with a VV and AoA on a team run can make a huge difference, but I haven't found much advice on how much help those bombs are for soloing. The VV in particular seems pretty useless outside of RJ, so I don't want to invest in it if I'm not going to get anything out of it there.

Sat, 09/03/2011 - 23:13

Tengu

I wouldn't go for a dread

I wouldn't go for a dread venom striker, just the 4*. Too much effort for a sword that you probably won't use anywhere else by choice. Also, it doesn't do a super good job of poisoning him in my experience. Fire vapes do some great damage, for sure. Toxic vape may help you live longer as everything you get with the bomb will have less damage and defense, as well as the no healing thing.

also, with ash of agri most of the JK run is really easy. I haven't found a good bomb technique for the two right rooms in JK16, at least with AoA. Shivermist does good work over there though...

Sun, 09/04/2011 - 00:08

Bluescreenofdeath

I agree with tengutengu, that

I agree with tengutengu, that if you go the cutter route I would not bother taking it past the Vile Striker. If you go bombs I would think getting some Bomb CTR would be critical. I have done some non-boss T2 soloing with a L10 super blast bomb & I found Medium CTR to be lacking. Demo armor or helm or Elite Bomb Focus trinkets could help. Volcanic Demo Helm (CTR M) + Elite Bomb Focus Module (CTR M) + L10 bomb (CTR M) = Bomb CTR Max. *Note*, Volcanic Demo Suit only gives Bomb CTR Low, but the helm gives Bomb CTR Med. Or 2 elite trinkets and a L10 bomb. Nice thing about investing in trinkets is they are useful outside of RJP and apply to all of your bombs. I freak'n love my sword trinkets.

As for hitting the JK with vials... I was horrible my first go at it. Then it got better. It just takes a bit of patience and dancing to find the right opening. For practice try tagging the silkwings/menders with vials in the last wave of the 3rd arenas.

Sun, 09/04/2011 - 08:40

Romasanta

In a related note

Why do you keep calling it the RJ? I figure "RJ" is supposed to an acronym for "Royal Jelly," but it colloquially referred to as the "Jelly King" or "JK." I had no idea what this thread was about when I saw the topic. I had to use the context clues from your post to figure out what you meant. Why would you even abbreviate "Royal Jelly?" "JK," is understood, but not because it is an abbreviation of "Jelly King," but rather because it, like "Jelly King," has already entered colloquial use.

By the way, please don't be like this after I post:

"But "Royal Jelly," and "RJ," by extension, is more correct!"

As I have response for that:

So? The use of "JK" and "Jelly King" is so widespread that there are many players that don't know that is not it's real name. It doesn't make too much sense to call it by such an uncommon term

Also, If you are like I asked you to not be, please do not continue and act like this, afterwards:

"But they are wrong and it is stupid to call it something other than "Royal Jelly" or "RJ!""

Because I have a rebuttal for that, as well:

It doesn't really matter in this context, because no matter how right you are, in situations like this, you are in the wrong, and being "right" will accomplish nothing except hold you back

Sun, 09/04/2011 - 10:49

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

@aavb132 W/E IDC I use both.

@aavb132 W/E IDC I use both. Go have an aneurism at someone else.

I'm getting the feeling that the AoA and some trinkets might be the preferred route to go.

I don't usually have too much trouble with JK16 except for the upper-right room. Dancing around the spike plates trying not to get swatted by lumbers while the gun puppies make the entire left side of the room a no-fly-zone makes for an interesting fight to be sure. But, given that it's technically optional I'm not too QQ about it. I never have trouble with the lower-right because I can just rip through the jellies with a charge attack from my silent nightblade.

I've definitely heard that the striker isn't worth taking past 4*, and given the expense and/or annoyance of finding 5* recipes I doubt I'd craft it up past 4* either way.

On the bright side I've discovered that Roarmulus is surprisingly easy to solo, so I have something to keep me entertained while fish for recipes, save up crows for crafting, etc.

Sun, 09/04/2011 - 18:21

Soulstaker

Vile striker is very good

Vile striker is very good against JK.A Faust is also good.If you only want weapons for JK then I suggest having both.After you poison JK with vile striker, hit him with Faust.

Mon, 09/05/2011 - 00:20

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

@gerryw173 I've already got a

@gerryw173 I've already got a recipe for a Faust, but it kinda requires a sealed sword first which gets us back to the first problem of finding good weapons for farming jelly tokens. ;)

I've heard that the silent nightblade is pretty even with the faust, at least when it comes to doing RJ. I already have the former, so I should be pretty set there.

Mon, 09/05/2011 - 06:48

Michaelb

I'm a bomber-swordsman for

I'm a bomber-swordsman for Jelly King, and I think that a set that's good is Silent Nightblade(Acheron)+Fiery Atomizer(Ash of Agni)
is good. Also, if you have third weapon slot, you might want to add Plasma Capacitor(Voltaic Tempest) because it does elemental damage(good on Royal Minis)and does shock.

Mon, 09/05/2011 - 12:58

#10

Random-Thing

faust is.... so good :D

But it does have the problem of needing tokens from farming the strata its best at :P

Personally I take my faust everywhere except FSC (for obvious reasons :P ) and would never change :D

Depends on play style tho, most people prefer 3-strike because its similar to their levi *cough* the my-first-sword *cough*. But they both do about the same damage. Another thing to note, When I first got my sealed sword I hated the attack pattern - now that I've got used to it i'm never going back :P

Mon, 09/05/2011 - 17:46

#11

Soulstaker

If you Gunna farm JK get vile

If you Gunna farm JK get vile striker.You might then want a temporary sword until u get your sealed sword.I suggest the calibur line but your vile striker is good enough but have less damage.Silent Nightblade is bad against Jelly King because shadow do not effect JK.

Mon, 09/05/2011 - 18:39

#12

Arctic-Fern

What's on my alt?

Ascended Calibur
Toxic Atomizer
Chroma Mask <- could be replaced by Dusker
Chroma Suit <- ditto
Dark Thorn Shield

Sometimes I replace the Toxic Atomizer with a Master Blaster or Shadowtech MK2. Lately I prefer the bomb. I charge the bomb during the boss' hissy fit and go with normal slashes with the calibur while it's vulnerable.

Mon, 09/05/2011 - 23:22

#13

KainDarkfire

Legacy Username

Uh, guys...

Shadowblade and Faust are great for GETTING to the boss, but are only neutral damage against said boss, him and his little royal minis are all weak to Elemental Damage like Constructs, so save your Sealed Sword for DA, or make with the Combuster or something if you want to melt him as fast as possible.

Personally, I have all three damage type swords, my Elemental one is Fang of Vog, the charge attack melts His Blobbiness in seconds in solo runs.

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 03:29

#14

Random-Thing

@KainDarkfire

WRONG!

All his mini's are weak to shaddow and king himself has no strengths or weaknesses, making Faust (in my opinion) the best due to curse effect on knig and shaddow if you need to take the odd swing the mini's.

Though TBH all weapons deal about the same DPS to the king, the exception being FoV's charge attack which OWNS him :P (this is not because of an imaginary weakness to elemental but due to the massive damage output of the FoV special)

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 09:34

#15

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

I'm not sure I'm buying that

I'm not sure I'm buying that the RJ is weak to elemental. I've never seen mention of it on the wiki, only that he's neutral to shadow and has a slight piercing resistance. If that's changed or incorrect, then the wiki should probably be updated.

I do happen to be crafting a boltbrand at the moment, but just as a general purpose elemental sword rather than a piece of RJ kit in particular. If the RJ is basically neutral to all the damage types I'd rather be using a sword that can cut through the minis and cubes faster to get them out of my way when they all decide they love me forever and start snuggling me to death.

Right now with the silent nightblade the minis are going down in two normal hits. Does anyone know if they'll go down in one hit if I have, say, a full virulisk or deadly virulisk set?

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 09:46

#16

KainDarkfire

Legacy Username

Except...

I don't care if you -think- I'm wrong or not, or if you 'buy' it either. The purple royal jellies and the king himself are, in fact, weak to elemental.

Yellow numbers with shiny stars on them don't lie.

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 10:04

#17

Waluigix

Legacy Username

you are partially wrong kain

while yes mini-jellies first show their weakness to elemental, they actually have half weakness to shadow and elemental. i have brought Gran Faust and Divine Avenger to a JK run and i can tell you from personal experience that the DA hit the same damage as GF on the mini-royal jellies.now when i was using silent nightblade and later acheron to go through it took til the damage was almost 110 to be able to see it hit those yellow hits.

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 19:42

#18

Arctic-Fern

@Kain...

"Yellow numbers with shiny stars on them don't lie."

Sorry but they DO lie sometimes, I think it's been discussed in Wiki Editors how the game's "super effective" detection is pretty wonky. :D

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 21:24

#19

Littlerbit

Not sure why

I'm not sure why you guys are going for piercing damage on shields, Jellies are resistant to piercing. I would go with the Sinister Skelly Shield, it provides extra elemental damage, and Poison Resistance, which is useful when fighting Jellies. As for armor, Virulisk/Salamander Suits are a must, or a Dusker/Ash Tail coat if you can't afford either. I'm pretty positive you got the weaponry down.

Tue, 09/06/2011 - 22:06

#20

Arctic-Fern

What?

"piercing damage on shields"?

Not sure what you're talking about, but that's defense rating on a shield. Jellies do piercing. Which is why piercing defense on a shield is great and Snarbo shield or even Defender line is the way to go.

Also, poison resist is trivial for running the Jelly Palace stratum as you should only sometimes see poison slimes on the floor BEFORE the actual palace. In the palace itself, I'd just throw away my blue capsules. :D

Wed, 09/07/2011 - 13:35

#21

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

I don't think I've ever had a

I don't think I've ever had a status infliction in the RJ palace other than Stun from lumbers.

Wed, 09/07/2011 - 15:24

#22

Kriptoid

YAY

NICOYA MADE HIS OWN FORUM PAGE IM GONNA TROLL IT FOR FUN

Wed, 09/07/2011 - 15:40

#23

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

Aww hell, party's over! D:

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 01:31

#24

Bekjan

Hmmm... I think FoV is best

Hmmm... I think FoV is best against him, no need for any other vials/bombs just don't forget remedies. 5 charge attacks are enough to kill him when solo. You should land them properly. As for shield barb. thorn shield is good enough I think, since it grants extra damage.

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 10:51

#25

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

I'm not sure an FoV will be

I'm not sure an FoV will be an option for me any time soon as I have yet to make it very far in even a regular stratum-6 area, and haven't even tried FSC.

Sat, 09/10/2011 - 08:00

#26

Hastur

Legacy Username

I've found that most guns are

I've found that most guns are useless against the King himself, as all the minions he spawns tend to take the hits for him.

If you can upgrade your Silent Nightblade into an Acheron, the extra damage and bonus 'splosion will help a lot. A Barbarous Thorn Shield coupled with a full Skolver set will make your swords all do obscene amounts of damageas well as giving you boatloads of piercing defense, and, as many have said beforea Vile Striker / Dread Venom Striker will keep the King poisoned, as well as clearing mini jellies. A CTR trinket would be useful, as the combined Skolver/BTS damage bonus should boost all your swords to High extra damage, and a damage increase trinket should put tuem at Maximum! increased damage.

Sat, 09/10/2011 - 08:13

#27

Sunless

Changed my mind.

Meh.

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RJ solo set: Silent Nightblade + ???