How did you become tier 3?
Hi everyone! I've been playing for 1 month and I want to play play much more.
Yesterday, I have bought a 4(*) recipe and I still growing up.
I see a lot of players wearing vog cubs, divines, volcanic sets, leviathans, etc. And I'm curious to know how they get there :D
As the title says, how did you become tier 3? was it slow/hard?
EDIT: I forgot one thing. At the time of raising items, what do you rise at first?
(SPEAKING OF EXPERIENCES)

I think it took me two weeks of playing 1 hour a day.

you upgrade the equipment to 4* (helm, armor, shield, weapon) and talk to the guard at the end of T2 behind a red gate and voila afterwards u need to do t2 about 15 times maybe less
as to how to upgrade you save up your CR and buy the material, recipe, and energy then upgrade
either start with the materal, the recipe or the energy. just start working on one at a time

Simple i bought ce with real money because i was too lazy to grind and grind and grind

I got my Tier 3 Status by grinding solo on Tier 1. Getting crowns to get my Recipes, craft items and buying CE.
Trading TF2 Items really helped me out.

I think some people are confused by what Dreim is asking.. or maybe I'm the one confused? :O
Anyways, I'll go off of what I believe you're asking.
At first, I got a Cobalt set and upgraded it to 4* but then that's when I realized something. That something was that Cobalt gear is inferior compared to the Wolver line, because while Vog Cub/Skolver gives unique abilities such as ASI and Damage Bonuses, Cobalt didn't give anything! After the epiphany, I converted to that of the Wolvers. :D
My first 5* sword was the Leviathan Blade, and I got the 2* version within the first few days of playing. Here's the story:
While strolling around peaceful Haven, I stumbled upon a group of experienced players by the looks of it.. They took a look upon my newbish self and I believe they took pity on me, or atleast one of them did, because one of them sent me a trade request and gave me a Calibur, free of charge, with one catch though. He told me that the catch was that I had to upgrade it to a Leviathan Blade and one day show my success to him. I agreed even though I had no idea how to upgrade equipment and what the Leviathan Blade was. After that, he was gone.. After some time of hard work, I got the Leviathan Blade as my first 5* item and felt the fiery pride fill me up, but he wasn't there to see.. And what makes me guilty to this day is that I don't even remember his name. :'(
Well, sorry to end my post with such sadness. But it's the depressing truth.. *cries*

I started out two weeks ago, and am at tier two now. Getting stuff isn't the hard part. The hard part is holding on to my crowns long enough to buy credits so I can get the three star (and higher) items. I probably could sell a lot of my materials, the ones I never use, but I'm a bit (stupidly) attached to them.

My first set of armor was obviously the ALMIGHTY Proto Gear... But as I later learned more about the game from some stronger players, I upgraded to the oh so classy Cobalt. From there, it leveled up and gained mysterious UV's, and ended up at Mighty Cobalt (4* armor, helm, weapons, and shield), my goal was to get the Azure Armor, since it had a spiffy scarf... but...my mind changed when I saw the many other types of armor.
What caught my attention first was this shiney object floating above other players heads. I was drawn to it, and from there out I demanded that I invest in a Divine Veil... so I went into the clockworks and found a Magic Hood recipie. For a good while I had the whole Magic set. (hood and cloak) I liked it cause it reminded me of Vivi from ff9...anyway...
After a few more weeks of playing, I saw someone in my guild who was legendary, and saw that he had something else that caught my attention. I later found out that it was a Skolver Coat, and that it would have looked great with my future Divine Veil. So I also went into the clockworks and ventured until came upon a basil who had the wolver recipies. (this was all before the Auction House arrived)
And soon, after hard work and no sleep, and earning enough crowns to buy Crystal Energy, I became awesome, and decided to toss in a Cold Iron Vanquisher into my arsenal. It was my first 5* weapon, the other items such as the armor and the helm were still in working progress....
For the most part, my shield stayed the same. The Mighty Defender became my main shield in my arsenal...but my mind was dead set on a Grey Owlite, reasons why so that it could complete my shineyness. And as time grew on, I became a better player, and later upgraded to more different types of armor and weapons!

@Tennis
*sniff sniff* That was such a nice and sad story. If the guy's still around, maybe you walk right by him at the Town Square. Or on a creepier note, he watches you from the bushes and is proud! LOL
As for how I got to tier 3, I did it the old fashion way. Doing one run every day and buying 100ce afterwards. Slowly but surely I found all the recipes I needed and accumulated enough CE to craft all my items. 'Tis a patient game, this Spiral Knights.

There's three ways to reach endgame in SK:
1: Go cash shop for CE, buy a bunch of unbound items on the AH, and grind the minimum number of levels required for tier clearance. Congratulations, you've successfully avoided actually playing the game!
2: Surf the wiki and forums a while and figure out a build you want to make. Concentrate on that gear exclusively, grind with mist and craft with CE, and in a few weeks you'll be leveled up.
3: Get a case of horrible gear ADD and fail to have crafted even a single 5* piece after months of playing. GUESS WHICH OPTION I PICKED. :D

in old good times 5* items was not bound and was tradable so obtaining 5* gear was wery easy

I spent my time in tier 1 and upgraded my owlite shield to 4* first. Then I upgraded my calibur to 4* next. Then I bought the dusker armor/cap on the AH and kept grinding t1 and t2 until I could buy the ash tail recipes. May have taken a few weeks. Can't remember any more. Just used my 100 ME each day and bought CE any chance I could, upgrading any chance I got. Never used CE in the clockworks unless I was making more crown than the CE I was using.
I should also mention I got to know each stratum and level design as best as possible, to know which ones were easier to get through while still maintaining the best crown/level return.

grind T2 for crown (wich in turn will be used for CE) at basil buy your recipe for desired armor and weapon (or buy kozma's stuff eg calibur and Cobalt Armor) make a 4* armor (both helm and armor) and a 4* weapon then you get into T3 (and receive a 100 mist energy tank) then again go to basil and buy your 5* recipes
other way to do this without grinding basil runs untill you get the recipe you want buy them at the AH (but you pay some extra offcourse)
I became Tier3 by going to 2* gear for melee. With 2* gear you only have clearance to Tier2, but after that I switched to bomber gear.
If you upgrade your gear, upgrade what you NEED the most. If you never die, go for better weapons first. If you die all the time, think about upgrading your shield and armor first.
And to get crowns:
do arena's (no, not PvP) and boss runs with mist energy. Buy some good selling recipes from Basil and resell them on the AH for some extra cash. 1K profit is still 1K profit.
Now I'm upgrading to 5* gear. I mostly do Tier2 runs. Yes, FSC gives good crowns, but why is there only 1 boss for Tier3? :( Besides, Tier2 is easier and gives almost the same crowns in my opinion. And as a last benefit, I personally think that 3* recipes sell a lot better then 4* and 5* recipes. But on the other hand, if you find 1 good 5* recipe you can sell it with a LOT of profit!!
I just prefer stable over high risk/high reward.

royal jelly
royal jelly
royal jelly
royal jelly
Sell sealed sword
repeat
Also, most of my stuff are boss rewards, since they are basically free to get after you play enough.8 reached t2 with snarbolax's sword and shield, then got sealed and quicksilver from twins and jelly, jumping from 2 stars to 3 without crafting)

I went tier 3 over the summer, and since then, I'm a wolver to the bones. I actually started sk with a drake spiral helm and a wolver suit and I was content because the helm was kind of cool. Until later, I found out some gear can't level up to 5* gear, so I decided to go full wolver and ditch the bad gear. Soon I met some nice friends, they helped me out and soon enough I got to 5*, with the leviathan my first 5* sword. I'm glad I had some friends because then it makes this game more fun and for all the help they've given me, I just want to thank them all! Back to the point, that's how I got to tier 3, starting out in a questionable position, but soon enough becoming a crossbreed of vog and skolver.
Obtain full 4 * set: shield, weapon (at least 1), armor, and cap. You must also complete a tier 2 run and then talk to the warden.