Spiral Knights - Help me fill in the blanks

Help me fill in the blanks

12 replies [Last post]

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 10:49

Belkira

Hello all,

As a pretty new player getting ready to gear up for t3, I was wondering if the expert folks here could help critique my gear plan. Listed is my intended gear to use:

Swords:
Leviathan
Divine Avenger
Acheron
Barberous Thorn Blade

Shields:
Owlite Line
Barbarous Line

Pistol:
Polaris

Bomb:
Graviton Charge

As you can guess I prefer to use swords and intend to make the crux of my play centered around them. I'm currently using the Wolver line armor with intentions to end on the Vog Cub set. From what I've listed is there anything you would suggest I change or add?

Thanks in advance,

Bel

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:00

Velcro

If you intend to use your

If you intend to use your Graviton Vortex then I'd suggest getting a Glacius. Especially since you're using Graviton, which doesn't have the Shock Electron does, Glacius' freeze will help to reduce enemies being flung out.

Also, don't be discouraged by how crappy it is at 3*, it gets WAY better.

Beyond that your equipment looks good.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:01

Fradow

Some suggestion

The setup seems very good, except one thing : the Graviton. For me, it's more a situational/fun bomb than a real weapon you carry often (plus, i would rather go electron instead). It's viable, and there are people successfuly playing with it (see the thread about Vortex bomb + brandish line charge, i'm sure someone will post the link to it), but I wouldn't go for it for a first step.

Here are some suggestions tho, mainly for FSC :
- Shivermist is an awesome crowd control bomb, in particular in FSC. Think about it.
- for Vanaduke, you really need a gun. While Polaris is viable, Blitz Needle outclass every single other weapon for him. And it's very useful to quickly get ride of Trojans in FSC too. But, as a swordsman, you won't use it outside of FSC.
- adding a shadow shield. Shadow is not the most useful shield, but it can be good to have one, just in case. You should consider it after everything else, and have 2 options : Crest, which requires to beat Vana several time in the first place, or Skelly line.
- you didn't talked about trinkets. You should get some. Some guys even do trinkets before 5* weapons, and liked it.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:11

Belkira

Accesories

I'll do some reading on accessories on that recommendation, thank you. As for the bomb selection I was actually only basing that on seeing it used effectively in t2 arenas which is probably not the full picture. I'll investigate the alternatives you two listed and thanks for the prompt posts! More feedback is welcome.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:28

Frostythepyro

if you are planing on having

if you are planing on having 2+ swords the leviathan becomes redundant, i would drop it from your plans.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:31

Carthiah

Similarities.

Your gearset is similar to my own. However, from the perspective of an experienced swordsman, why bother with three fast swords and one slow? It looks a bit anomalous to me; consider replacing either Acheron with Gran Faust or Divine Avenger with Glacius. If you like three swing swords, don't feel too pressured to get Divine Avenger - it's good, but it's not the only choice. If you like the two swing swords, however, I do suggest Gran Faust; this is my personal preferance.

In addition, the gravitron is very much a swordsman's solo bomb. It clusters enemies together for you to hit them with a large amount of damage with a sword. Generally speaking, however, the bomb doesnt do much damage in itself, and as such the Electron Vortex is considered widely to be better, due to its shock, which can reduce the bomb's knockback characteristics, which are generally undesireable.

Polaris is a great sidearm. All of the enemies you'll not want to hit in melee are vulnerable or neutral to elemental, and the knockback and splash damage are great when you're low on health.

Regarding armor, Vog is a great set if you plan to do much FSC. Otherwise choose an armor set based on your sword loadout: Skolver/Snarby for fast swords, and Vog for slow swords. Complement your armor choice with the other type of trinkets.

Finally, those shields look good, but I'd also go with a Crest of Almire when you can.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:34

Belkira

On leviathan

Can a case be made for the utility of the Calibur-line's special attack for solo play? Is rely on it heavily in that regard right now, is it impractical at higher levels versus other means of hit and run and crowd control tactics?

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 11:44

Belkira

@Carthiah

When it comes to sword speed I'm pretty well versed at 2 and 3 swing swords so the deciding factor often comes down to special attacks and what I've read of others using. I am tempted to get Gran Faust over Acheron but I need to debate with myself on that I think. I'll consider your preference and most certainly what you said regarding armor which I am admittedly under educated on.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 12:00

Trying

A shivermist would cover the

A shivermist or the vortex would cover the role that the levi charge attack takes and do it better than the levi

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 12:43

Bopp

disagree with Carthiah about speed

I regularly use three swords (and nothing else): Glacius/DA, Acheron/GF, and BTB. There is no reason to restrict yourself to one speed (slow, medium, fast); you can easily switch among swords of varying speeds.

Is FSC your main goal? Then Vog Cub is great, and I echo the recommendations for Blitz Needle and Shivermist Buster. But if FSC is not your main goal, then you'd do better to have more diverse armor. Consider getting one piece of Vog Cub and one piece of Skolver. Even then, you have no shadow protection.

I agree with the other posters here that Leviathan is totally unnecessary, unless you're the kind of person who has only one sword for all situations (which you're not). For a swordsman, Leviathan is a luxury item; get it later, if you're still interested.

Graviton/Electron Vortex is never necessary, but in tightly packed rooms (like much of FSC) it's pretty awesome. You set up a vortex, and your teammate kills everything in it, within a couple of iterations. If you're solo, then the timing is a little trickier, however.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 13:04

#10

Belkira

Which to 4* first

To summarize, I feel like I will likely pick up a Shivermist Buster over the Graviton initially but may revisit the Graviton again once I'm securely in 4* and over. I am glad to hear Polaris is well liked and since roarmulus is pretty easy to run alone I will likely farm that next though I will work on the Blitz Needle in tandem since I'm going to put up my Ascended Calibur for a while. I intend to continue aiming for Vog cub more so because Ive been swayed to get a Gran Faust, with the Skolver gear as a back up goal. I will likely get a skelly shield later down the road and will likely shell out for an accessory and extra weapon slot before working on 5*.
So! With all that said, what should get the 4* treatment first?

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 13:39

#11

Fradow

Don't confuse accessory with

Don't confuse accessory with trinkets. Accessories are totaly useless, they just change your look. Trinkets on the other hands, add some stats and are really useful. Since you are planning to get Vog Cub and use mainly 3 swing sword, I suggest you to take a Sword Damage trinket.

As for Blitz Needle, again, only get it for FSC. You are probably not going to use it anywhere else for the time being.

As for Polaris, it does one thing and it does it well : being a side-arm for swordsman, to pick targets you prefer to fight from distance : specifically turrets, it also works against most constructs (save scuttlebot, which are too fast and done with swords anyway). Just be careful in a party with that (my rule is Polaris = turrets only. Or don't take any, because as an experienced player, I don't need that side-arm anymore. Was great for learning though).

If you are considering bombs for arenas, consider both Voltaic Tempest and Ash of Agni. Both are great for that job, and will render almost any arena/danger room incredibly easy (I don't like Shivermist for arenas, because of freeze issues).

A quick note on Leviathan : while the charge is great for soloing, I don't find it a good thing to rely on it too much, as it's really bad for teamplay. That would be the main reason to do it, in your setup. The other would be Vana mask phase which is perfectly valid, but you can manage without it.

As for the first 4*, I would go with Avenger, simply because of the damage change between 3* and 4*.

Thu, 12/01/2011 - 13:59

#12

Belkira

Trinkets, right

My mistake I meant trinkets and not accessory (like my rad drab..er..military canteen). I tend to swap to shield cancel over special spam in parties so I don't kill people by knocking back monsters.. Can't imagine a faster way to be unpopular than that, heh. I was leaning towards avenger too, actually, since sealed sword alone is pretty worthless.

Thanks to all posters, your input was a big help. Feel free to say hello if you see me around!

Search

Help me fill in the blanks