Spiral Knights - A Solo Setup, Do you have one?

A Solo Setup, Do you have one?

9 replies [Last post]

Thu, 01/05/2012 - 21:02

Tsubasa-No-Me

I have noticed that many people will carry around multiple swords/guns/bombs to take advantage of typing attacks/situations that you would find in a particular area. I, on the other hand, don't have the money to do this and I know many others are in the same boat.

My solution: Make a soloing set. Now, when you make a Solo set you need to look at what you'll be fighting, how you'll deal with them, and how they are going to be attacking. You should probably do this no matter where you are going, but lets look at soloing specifically.

Who: you will be butting heads, bullets, and explosives with all known and unknown beasts, machines, and terrors of the night. Fun! ;D

How: you have to not only defend against said creepy things, but find a good bonus, and stay alive long enough to rip their still beating hearts out and eat them. And somehow that fixes all scratches, bruises, and broken limbs from being smashed by a Lumbar. It is wise to find which monsters hurt you the most, and find an armor set that defends well against them. Another thing to look at is which tool you like to kill things with; because you should be having fun while slaughtering the massive horde that will inevitably swarm at you. Some strategies to consider are singling out one out of the pre-mentioned horde and utterly obliterating them. You can also kite around the mass with a gun or bomb and slowly kill off the mass of monsters. But to truly solo you need to be able to deal with any situation that will pop up. From good old Snarby endlessly poking you from afar, to Vanaduke Getting REALLY mad that he can hit you and just POUNDING the ground in anger.

Them: You will have some swarms, sneaky ninjas, pellet spewers, and tanks just sitting around waiting for you. Swarming foes are commonly Slimes, Gremlins, Scuttlebots, Zombies, and Grievers. The faster ones can be quite deadly, so you might want to think about how best do deal with that. The faster ones are Gremlins groups all combo-ing like crazy, and Grievers suddenly swooping in from above. The ninjas are mostly Wolvers, Devilites, and Kats; and they LOVE to sneak around and damage you when you least expect it. The tanks, well... there are really only two and a half. Trojans have a giant shield and sword, and Lichen Colonies have massive HP and get red and mean later. The only "kinda tank" it the Retrode, significantly less dangerous recently, it has a decent amount of HP with a good ranged chain explosion.

Taking into effect these factors, I found what works great for me. Really you should have at least one of each weapon for each situation, but i'm not that rich, so i'm down to two weapon slots. Personally i love knockback on swords because there's less chance of being hit, and you can easily send groups of foes flying for some room to breath. I also love to deal tons of damage to large groups of enemies, preferably from a safe distance. And I really HATE being ninja'd by those darned fiends.

So, my choices are as follows:

Sword: The infamous Sudaruska. The slowest sword in the game and master of knockback. Because it is slower than the Sealed Sword line you can actually hold the attack button for a brief moment, move, and then finish the combo. It lets me lunge a little farther than the Final Flourish's last hit, with more range and more damage than FF's final stab.

Gun: This one is not too common: the Iron Slug. The shunned big brother of the Callahan. It deals normal damage and so is immediately least favored among guns. But this gun can even interrupt machines due to that "Flaw". Another interesting feature is that its normal shots explode on impact, dealing the same damage to to up to four monsters at once. In t3 that's ~500 damage in a split second. And it doesnt have a heart attack when Slimes and Constructs start swarming like its younger brother.

Bomb:I would like to have a slot open for a bomb, but then I don't. But I do have the bombing area covered. The Sudaruska's charge deals about 500 damage to a group. Now, I've hit 6 at once, totaling a bit less than 3000 damage, and the knockback is tremendous, sending the whole group to the other side of the room. The charge attack on my gun ALSO is very similar to a bomb; but where the Sudaruska would be a blast bomb, the Iron Slug would be a mini-instant vortex bomb. I've hit 6 at one time for almost 300 damage, or 1800 damage dealt in one charge.

Armor: Because I use both a sword and a gun, AND i hate fiends, i wound up choosing the fallen set to give ASI to both weapons I carry. It does give a penalty to fiends, but the ASI keeps me more safe then the penalty takes away; and on top of that it gives fire resist and shadow defense.

Shield: I really like being able to send those who got to close FAR away, so i kinda like the high HP shields. I'm right now debating whether or not to go for a Volcanic Plate Shield or a Ancient Plate Shield. both are really appealing to me.

One of the reasons I'm sticking with only two weapons is for a particular strategy: I can send one or more enemy's across the room, and then shoot to interrupt them while I re-position. I can also interrupt them and charge a single foe for a full combo from the Sudrauska. These require swing-shield-switch-shoot-run-swing, which looks crazy on paper and magnificent in action. So it's much easier to switch between two, then it is three or four weapons.

This is my setup and advice, but I would love to hear of other's Soloing setups and see whether I missed something.

~Tsu

Thu, 01/05/2012 - 21:09

Bopp

disagree with premise

Even if you are free-to-play (F2P), it is not difficult to maintain a cash flow that lets you use three weapon slots. Farm Strata 4 and 6, particularly arenas, RJP, and FSC. And switching among three weapons takes, what, 0.1 seconds longer than switching between two weapons?

Even if you have only two weapon slots, it is advisable that you carry two non-normal damage types. For example, a piercing sword and elemental gun. Or a shadow sword and elemental gun. Or two swords.

Also, many F2P players play in groups. There is no particular reason for a poor player to play solo.

I'm not trying to disparage your set. I'm just arguing that being poor doesn't make any sense as its justification. Its justification is that you like it. :)

Thu, 01/05/2012 - 22:20

Demonicsothe

My opinion

TL;DR on the bottom
I use three weapons. Its honestly not harder than switching between 2. Especially if you scroll for weapon switch. Going up or down gets you a different weapon. And if you really have problem switching, just kite around them while you slowly look at what you are wielding. This seems to be an attempt at an all around set for every single gate at once. Why not build multiple sets? One piercing set, one shadow set, and one elemental set.

Your weapons: Sudaruska is a nice weapon, but you have some information wrong. The sealed lines can also perform the hit, hold, and let go for a 2nd hit further away. In fact, i believe all the other weapons can do this transition from first to second hit. The charge attack leaves you plenty open to something kicking your butt, especially as this is a solo situation. Seeing your fascination for knockbacks, why not a leviathon? Plenty knockback, aoe hit, and a faster recovery with the charge, not to mention in its regular combo. Sudaruska does not do more damage than sealed lines. I can hit 5 with my avenger, and have the charge carry some even further for more damage. Granted, the initial hit is very powerful, at the cost of slow movement and not hitting while charging.

The gun: As I do not use guns with knockbacks, i'm not sure. But from what i see, you can interrupt enemies even if the damage is resisted. Again, don't take my word for it. Does not the iron slug have the same stop>shoot as the calla?

Armour: Generally, armour is used for the bonuses it gives. And status resistance. Your shield should be taking the hits, or it should be dodged. And you should have different sets for different enemies. Not necessarily an entire set, but mixed pieces work well if you don't have the funds to craft them all.

Shield: I'm a huge stickler for shields. Get the right shield for the right monsters. You really should have multiples of this. A piercing, elemental, and shadow. I've regretted the times when I took my owlite into a RJP run. Not a huge amount, but still. Again, like the armour, dodging is more important than taking the hit. A broken shield is not fun to use. Most shields of the appropriate star has enough bump to get you out of tight spots. But the omega shell does look badass when its not being held.

Bomb: Well.... okay. Here's the thing. Bombs in SK doesn't exactly work like RL bombs. They aren't for dealing huge amounts of damage, or you wouldn't see the wolvers running around everywhere in Haven. Bar the nitronome, most bombs used are for status effects.

Like Bopp said, it is easy to sustain slots. They last for a long time, 30 days. 2 weapon slots at 250 each, and 2 trinkets at 150 each, amounts to 800energy. Assuming all ce, and assuming high ce prices at 7000/100ce, thats 56000 crowns. In a month. Each RJP, not counting previous floors, nets about 4k? Might not be right, but ballpark figure. 14, say 15 for good measure, trips. One run a day, or even one run every 2 days on mist. And you have enough crowns. Trinkets arent even necessary to solo well. So its entirely feasible to sustain 2 extra slots. Most people make do with 1 extra slot, covering all three damage bases.

Alright, say you really don't want to spend the time getting crowns for slots, then having to spend time to switch weapons. 2 weapons. One piercing, one elemental gun. Fiends and beasts fall like flies. Puppies don't last long, even behind bottomless pits. Constructs will never get close enough to touch you, same with undeads. What I'm trying to say here is, with 2 specialized weapons, you do effective damage to 4 types of monsters, and neutral/base damage to 2 others. As compared to having 2 normal weapons, which does neutral/base damage to all families. Mix and match weapon types to fit the stratum you are descending into. Check the gate map from the gear on the top left to see what kind of monsters you would be facing.

Tl;dr: Don't be afraid to branch out. Try out specialized equipments. Know the priority, depending on the gate. Do you run multiple different gates to have variety? Or do you farm RFP/FSC for crowns? Having a good weapon, a semi decent shield, and a armour that vaguely matches the monsters you plan to fight is almost necessary.

My setup is for both solo and group: Avenger, faust, and volt driver. Since i mainly run RJP, i use the ash tail set and a twisted targe. Piercing for jellies, dodge the lumber. Faust for the jellies, avenger when its me and lumber 1v1. Charging that volt driver into puppies/lumber+jellies makes me happy.

Disregard everything i said if you just like the looks of your equipment.

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 05:39

Tsubasa-No-Me

@Demonicsothe and Bopp

Yes, maybe it's so that I just like soloing and using two weapon slots instead of three or four. but i had to have SOME reason to post this! X3 and also, I don't think I've been playing as long as most, maybe a little more than two months, starting at the very last day of the halloween. I haven't the time to build many sets at all, but I might just do that now.

And one of the reasons for carrying two normal weapons is: 1. I hate seeing that accursed grey damage! 2. I really like the way these two play together. 3. sometime I like a certain kind of weapon for certain enemys, sometimes a fast couple of hits on a lumbar, sometimes just throwing things into the wall for kicks. Eeeehhh... and again, i do need a reason to post ;3

@Demonicsothe in particular.

I wasn't expecting to have my set really criticized (Cant remember if that's the right word ._. ) but i am really glad you did! I guess I was just REALLY tired when i wrote it. @-@

What i was saying about the Suda, is that it's the slowest and thus gains more run time when using this technique. Which is not only fun, but annoying as all get out in PvP when i can lunge farther than those pesky strikers can. :D

The resist to knockback and interrupt is unique to each kind of monster and scales with how much total HP they have. So not only does the Callahan not deal enough damage to interrupt Jellys and Constructs; But the more people you have, the less interrupt power you'll have. For example: I can interrupt turrets with one to two shots and always knock over menders with one, and thwackers with one to two. When I gain two or more people it takes two shots to interrupt those menders and I loose the ability to interrupt turrets, thwackers, most jellys, constructs, and the occasional really strong zombie.

And yes, the firerate is the same as the Callahan.

Well, you can mix Vog and gunslinger to give Med ASI to both weapons, but it looks... not that great and you'll have mixed defenses depending on which sets you mix. One of the reasons I can run around in Fallen armor is because I dodge a lot and don't let the baddies get close.

I'm afraid that I haven't had the time to make three 5* shields yet so i haven't been to picky about it, I just move before I get hit. :/

____________end "@" moment____________

Perhaps when people get to 4 & 5* they already have a mass of Cr to make three sets... but I don't know because I have only been playing for a little more than 3 months... :/

But Thank you for posting, both of you! :D

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 06:02

Bopp

response

"And one of the reasons for carrying two normal weapons is: 1. I hate seeing that accursed grey damage! 2. I really like the way these two play together. 3. sometime I like a certain kind of weapon for certain enemys, sometimes a fast couple of hits on a lumbar, sometimes just throwing things into the wall for kicks. Eeeehhh... and again, i do need a reason to post ;3"

With two non-normal damage types, you will never deal low damage to any monster. You can deal high damage to 4/6 of monsters, and moderate damage to the other 2/6. If you don't know why, read the monster vulnerabilities and resistances in the wiki article on Damage, and work out how to use all three combinations of two non-normal damage types.

And I'm not trying to disparage your thread. Goodness knows it's more interesting than many of the threads around here ("I'm drunk DA or GF?").

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 07:35

Tsubasa-No-Me

Hehehe :D

I know all about that, but you make a good point. Perhaps i should get another slot, a DA and a GF (I love slow swords) and call it good. But I think that cost wise I have a decent setup. But I know that i will need to change at some point, so its good to see where I need to aim for. I also want to be able to solo with whatever set I end up with, and give advice to help other team challenged players.

Most teams I wind up with flop in the middle of RJP or FSC... and sometimes just in the clockworks. Then i spend all my HP revving them a few times, have one bar of HP left, and have to solo the last half of the level with 3 corpses lying around buffing all the monsters... -.-

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 08:05

Nordlead

I did buy an explorer pack

I did buy an explorer pack (or whatever the 2-week elevator pass for $3 was called) but I haven't used my purchased CE and I too do not have a lot of stuff. Most of my equipment ends at 4*. I have 2 swords, 1 gun, and 2 bombs (only one of the swords is 5*).

When I solo I typically carry my Blazebrand, Barbarous Thorn Blade, and either my Firo Driver, or a status bomb. However, most of the time I only use my two swords and rarely switch to the gun/bomb. If I only had 2 slots, I would probably carry 2 swords and get a 3rd shadow sword and switch them out between levels.

Also, You can buy weapon slot upgrades for ~200CE from players who have elevator passes. They use the unused mist energy to buy them at a 100 energy discount and then resell them for a tiny profit.

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 08:46

Demonicsothe

+1 to fun factor

Sorry about that super long post. I was working on it periodically, so I didn't really read out the entire post at once.

I myself have been playing for almost two months, albeit more in a day than a normal person should. Last night's stats in the event hub showed me I had 49 floors and 49000, approaching 50k, crowns in 7 days. Not that these should be the numbers to aim for.

With that armour, I suppose you could solo fsc? Since people have solod fsc in worse armour. I personally do rjp for crowns. Its fast, I can carry three deadweights up to jk, and I have a set for it. I was one of those wolvers running around haven with a calibur and proto sword. Upgrading those was not only easy, it was great for jelly runs.

You don't need a specific set to match each weapon. Im in almost all ashtail, with a twisted targe. And yet I use my alchemer as a third weapon, occasionally my freezing atomizer. I don't have a gunslinger set, nor a demo suit.

Being the kind of gamer I am, I prefer to get recipes myself. And as i don't have all 4*, i can't get into t3 for 5* recipes.

Dunno what else i can say. I'm totally for picking equipment solely on looks/preference, with no regards to functionality.

Add me ingame, Demonicsothe, and my friends and I can take you on one of our jelly runs. We've found that duo is much easier, however. Monsters still have little health, and there two extra swords swinging. Not to mention the utility of having extra players on a team to do room objectives.

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 10:40

Squishat

I didn't read the entire OP :P (but skimmed through most of it)

But yea I get the idea with not enough money to make everything needed...

There's a setup for "solo playing" and "sole loadout" though, a little different IMO

In either case I'd suggest this loadout to start you out for most situations...

Helm -
Divine Veil

Armor -
Skolver Coat

Shield -
Wise Owlite Shield (or a tanker, VPS then ;o)

Weapons (any 2 of the following weapons and you'll be set for whatever level you need, pretty much, especially with arsenal stations) -
Voltedge/Combuster OR Divine Avenger (Depends on which play style you prefer, maybe DA in your case)
Barb Thorn Blade (very important) OR Final Flourish
Polaris
(Voltaic Tempest, Shivermist optional)

IF you can afford another weapon to switch in and out after that, I'd suggest the Acheron or GF... again dependent on play style.

I recommend this setup because well..

For passive resistance, it'll have all 4 types of resistances (Normal, Pierce on the Skolver, Ele/Shadow on the Veil) as well as

4 Status resists (fire, shock, curse on the Veil, and freeze on the Skolver).

Considering Fire, Shock and Freeze are IMO the most annoying statuses to deal with, it's a pretty good deal :D

Apart from that, you also get a nifty DMG Med Bonus on Swords from the Skolver.

With the DMG Med Fiends on the Divine Veil, essentially you have Very High against one of the more annoying types of monsters in the game :D

For Active defense, just makes sense to go Grey Owlite, seeing as you'll need more elemental Defense than anything else (and widely agreed upon as the best all-round shield)... which also comes with active Fire and Shock resistance (Yay).

If you'd like to have a little more protection for those pesky devilite levels, then go for the Volcanic Plate Shield, or APS is looking good too. I'm not sure I've only ever used my APS in FSC.

For your Weapons, an Elemental Sword is just good sense to go with in slot 1. Which one you get (Elemental Brandish or Divine Avenger) is totally up to personal preference.

I'm sure you know all about them, but quick recap all the same:-

Brandish:-
- 3 swing sword
- Inflicts status in a vertical line charge attack (superb after the buff... I can hit all the way across the third arena room...)
- relatively fast swing speed and able to shield quickly right after
- No knockback

Sealed Sword:-
- 2 swing sword
- No status, charge attack in a fan formation to a hoard of monsters
- Slower swing speed, esp slower shielding after 2nd hit of combo
- Fantastic knockback @_@ Even with the normal swing, puts monsters out of reach.

I'd personally vote for the Voltedge/Combuster (which one later on) for Damage dealing, or DA for crowd controlling.
A Barb Thorn Blade is a necessity in T3 especially in my opinion.... especially against wolvers/greavers/devilites, and great against gremlin healers, because it is fast and interrupts their attacks...

Again, BTB or FF is also up to personal preference. Both deal the same amount of damage, but the BTB's charge is better for a group of monsters, while the FF is better for single target honing.

A Polaris is also much needed because it just tears up gun puppies, which can be quite a nuisance spawning in multiples @_@. It is also great against Howlitzers (brown numbers) and Jelly Guns (normal numbers) alike because it interrupts their attacks, and you have a safe distance to shield from. Apart from that, it is also a life saver when you're low on health and can't just Kamikaze everything. Especially good for lumbers as well, because of the knockback and since Lumbers are adequately slow. Just don't spam it when playing in groups and use the knockback wisely xD

Go ahead and stick a status Bomb in slot 4. I'd suggest a Voltaic Tempest (if you go for a DA/Combuster for Slot 1) or Electron Vortex (if you go for a Brandish for slot 1) for a good all purpose one. Reasons as follows:-

- It won't be rendered useless in either freeze or fire stratum
- It sort of works like a Shiver, because as the monsters spasm... they just... stand there and look dumb :D Also every spasm gives a constant Damage. This is especially useful in T3 where it can easily out DPS a sword for lots of monsters in the same area.
- Although it was changed and doesn't work on Shock based monsters anymore (and Quicksilvers), you'd always be able to get the rest with your other weapon(s)
- Fire + Shock stack = fast dead mobs :D
- For sword-bombing, there's a good section on it in the bombing guide wiki (for the EV)

On the other hand, Shivermist works better if you like Kamikazing a lot. In a group this is usually preferred (I have no idea why...). A lot of people don't get how awesome the VT is XD

Reason why I'm recommending the Shadow Swords as only optional if you have enough money to spare on one after that is because:-
1) Gremlins are covered by your BTB/FF
2) Jellies are covered by your Elemental Sword

Both deal decent damage and work just as well ... unless you really enjoy LD then maybe you can get a GF (but your piercing sword would also be very good to use there)

I probably have more to say on this matter, but you get the gist :D Hope this post helped you a lot (or just a little :D)

Squishat

Fri, 01/06/2012 - 10:31

Icee

Nitronome and Polaris

Solo setup? That's easy.

Take the delightful weapons that are so fun and effective but arouse the ire of teammates when either a) you make a mistake in their use or b) the teammates are idiots. (I play regularly with a mate who is perfectly happy to have my nitronome blasts and I know how to keep from flinging enemies toward someone when I'm playing in a pair, but I've been booted from a 2-person PUG after my first nitronome drop, so I no longer bring that bomb if I'm playing with strangers.)

I take Nitronome and Polaris pretty much every time I solo (a rare level might have me reach for virulent catalyzer or firo driver instead) plus whatever sword makes the most sense for the level and either a second gun or a status bomb depending upon what I expect to face and what I need to level up. I have the most fun with bombs and guns, so my sword is just a clean-up weapon used to finish off the last bomb-weakened stragglers.

For the OP, if you're determined to carry only Normal weapons (not what I would do, especially for a gun), you'd do best swapping your iron slug for a Supernova. The damage will be greater, your mobility won't be impaired, and the knockback is really nice.

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A Solo Setup, Do you have one?