I'm wondering if I should go full swordsman (if I was I would use nigtblade and iceburst brandish) or a sword/gun set (if I was I would go iceburst brandish with shadowtech alchemer)
Dont say 'buy a weapon slot' because I want to save my ce and I will buy some for endgame.
If you have any other suggestions (different brandish alchemy path) (or a different sword) go ahead and list then but the sets must include one brandish line sword
Please don't list boss weapons either
There is no simple answer. Your weapon profile is part of your personal taste --- the key part, in fact.
Going pure sworder is certainly viable. I usually play this way. The only really hard thing, for a pure sworder, is a field of gun puppies protected by spikes. In these situations, you can act as a shield for the gunners in your party, or you can delicately attack the gun puppies. You can do all of FSC as a pure sworder, except perhaps for the Vanaduke fight --- you are more useful to your party if you have Blitz Needle, Plague Needle, or Shivermist Buster. Doing Ironclaw Munitions Factory without a gun is probably pretty tedious, but someone in your party will probably have a gun.
If you're going to play with one sword and one gun, I recommend that you make the gun elemental (because all turrets are vulnerable or neutral to elemental damage) and the sword piercing or shadow. In fact, get both piercing and shadow, and use the one that seems most appropriate to the level/stratum. For more background information and specifics, consider my over-promoted sword guide.
Bopp, where is that obligatory damage guide to show why he needs to get more weapons than his slots can hold.
Why not boss weapons? Pulsar is 15tokens, easy to farm, and turns into a good weapon if used decently.
Sealed sword crafts into divine avenger, tried and true elemental weapon with a good charge. Although, the faust line of sealed sword is outclassed by the nightblade line. But sealed swords are the best heavy swinging swords in the game.
@Demonicsothe I'm going to repeat myself because it itches me, but Faust line is not outclassed by Nightblade line. It's up to your personal preference. But that's a bit out of the topic here.
@OP just get a weapon slot, carry 2 swords and a gun. For a small price, you gain the ability to have at least a sword effective everywhere AND still carry a gun for when you really need it.
Demonicsothe, I write those guides exactly because people keep asking the same questions over and over again. The fact that I link to them frequently is evidence for why they should exist. I don't relish the whiff of self-promotion inherent in linking to them, but I do it anyway, in the hope that it will help.
It is not unreasonable to have more weapons than weapon slots. But you start by having just as many weapons as weapon slots. That's why I suggested a piercing sword and an elemental gun, OR a shadow sword and an elemental gun. Economical and powerful.
Demonicsothe, your advice is for the original poster to get an elemental gun and and elemental sword?
Fradow, don't worry; people are really into Brandishes ever since the recent update, but eventually they will revisit the Sealed Swords and recognize their advantages. (I like both.)
Original poster: If you play Spiral Knights regularly (say, multiple times per week), then you can easily maintain the cash flow needed to keep a third weapon slot. People use their unwanted ME to buy weapon slot upgrades for resale in the 150-200 energy range (or the equivalent in crowns). So you can get them for significantly cheaper than the 250 CE sticker price.
I ask you to do it because its a great guide. That wasn't an attempt at sarcasm.
OP said he didn't want boss weapons, and I'm asking him why. Polaris is a very good sidearm for sword users, and DA is just a good elemental weapon over all. I'm not telling him to get both and use them at once, just that it might be good to have them.
I have never used a gun, just because someone else will.
The best way to go for you as a swordmaster is a 3 sword set:
Op 1: Divine Avenger, Acheron, BTB or FF
Op 2: Gran Faust, Elemental Brandish, BTB or FF
Or the most popular option for mixed players:
Op 1: Polaris, BTB or FF, Acheron or GF
Op 2: Blitz Needle, Acheron/GF, DA or Elemental Brandish
with a mixed set you may as well go 4slot and get a Blitz and Polaris...ditch the FF/BTB for another 2hit or brandish if you want
EDIT: As a footnote I have solo'd vanaduke using only a final flourish w/ vog set, doing the most damage per minute than any blitz needle.
Maybe because blitz needles can't solo vanaduke, with the loss of mobility under the impending mace to the face.
Neodasus, I noticed that your loadouts (Op. 1 and 2) feature one Sealed Sword and one Brandish. Is there a particular reason why you like them mixed like this? What about DA+GF+BTB/FF or ElemBrandish+Acheron+BTB/FF? I'm honestly asking.
@Demonicsothe Actually when soloing Vana, the mace is not a threat. The real threats are randomly spawning fire and above all slags. If I have someone taking care of both of that, i can do Vana without Shiver without problem (it's going to be longer because I have to wait for him to attack before unloading a charge, but it's doable). If I am really soloing it ... well, let's take an AP or Polaris, end of story.
@Neodasus The problem is you are going to need to extinct fireballs a lot, you are loosing a lot of dps doing that. And I really doubt that you have a better dps than Needle. Unless you are taking strictly solo, and the Needle is simply not the best choice.
I think you should still have a gun just in case of status coditions like poison or fire
thankyou for all the help i think im going to switch then between gun/sword and complete swordsman. nightblade & iceburst/ blitzneedle/iceburst?
is that a good idea? the reason i dont want to spend ce on weapon slots is because i want to concentrate souly on upgrading my weapons
How did you decide on Blitz Needle as your only gun? Is it because you have shadow and elemental swords, and you wanted a piercing weapon in there?
Blitz Needle immobilizes you while shooting, so it has a high learning curve. Piercing damage is the worst kind of damage to use against turrets, which are the primary target for the gun in a sword+gun set. The reason why Neodasus mentioned it is that it's very popular for Firestorm Citadel. But for general Clockworks play, an elemental gun is far preferable.
Hmm. If you want to stick with Nightblade and Iceburst (two of my favorite swords, by the way), then an elemental gun works if you switch it out for Iceburst. That is, your two setups would be Nightblade+Iceburst and Nightblade+gun. The latter setup is fine against every monster type except fiends. The former setup works against all monster types.
Bopp is always right about everything, so you should take his advice seriously.
That's true, ALWAYS take Bopp's advice or something close to it, because he's the best helper on the forums and is never wrong.
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Seriously.
Thanks, but all of this praise is embarrassing me, and if you keep it up I'll have to start saying incorrect things on purpose.
For example, Troika has the highest damage per second of any weapon, IF you wear Bombastic Demo Suit and that one hat that looks like a big crown.
I personally use only boss items, but i find it getting kind of boring, so imma transition to brand/alch soon.
I would recommend getting volt driver (voltech alchemer), Acheron (nightblade), and Final Flourish (flourish).
volt cuz its great for turrets, and shock is viable everyone (bar imf, but the only reason to run that is for the tokens) and the ricochets increase per star level thingy.
Acheron cuz its the only non boss sword lol. Tip: right after the charge, hit shield to bump the enemies along the explosions and inflict massive dmg to them.
And final flourish cuz its the best sword out there (well, thats relativ cuz of the dmg types, but...). make sure its ff tho, and not flamberge/rigadoon cuz the status wont help. and btb is boss token item.
if you want to buy some stuff cheap just visit node 34886. ill give u a discount^^
u dont have to use all at the same time, just swap em around.
Storm Driver, Acheron, and Final Flourish/Barbarous Thorn Blade is a great setup. It's a solid example of the "elemental gun, shadow sword, piercing sword" setup that I recommended in response #2 above. And I agree that FF/BTB is probably the single most overpowered weapon in the entire game. But the original poster seems to like Iceburst Brandish, so we're substituting that for the piercing sword.
Jiasen, you'll want to get a piercing sword someday, but as long as you have shadow and elemental, you don't need piercing right away. Use shadow against beasts and elemental against fiends, and you'll be okay.
why do you have to repeat what l said and pretend you came up with it? -_-
lol jk, im happy that you agreed with me.
oh wait, its storm driver? whoops^^V
also, the brandish trick (usually) wont work with ice/shock. but i wouldn't recommend combuster for low budget players cuz it wont help in fsc.
oh, and to answer your question jiasen, go hybrid
1) he doesn't pretend to just came up with it. I mean, it's a fairly classical advice that has been repeated again again over since the beginning of the game ....
2) your spelling is a little bad. Bearable, mind you, but it doesn't make people want to read what you write (is what I say harsh ? Of course it is. Seems like an appropriate response to your ton)
3) combuster do work in FSC. It's just not going to do fire.
4) "go hybrid" is not an answer. It's pretty much trying to force your choice on others. The OP can do well with 3 swords too. Or with a combination of swords and bombs. Well, the key is arguing here.
5) you stated that "shock is viable everyone (bar imf, but the only reason to run that is for the tokens)". That's 2 errors. Shock is viable in IMF, which is construct-themed, not shock-themed. As it has been outlined in several other topics, using shock on quicksilvers actually help clearing them faster since they will kill each other. And tokens are not the only reason to run imf. It is a change of pace from RJP, which can be boring once you acquired over 300 jelly gems, and it's still profitable, although less than RJP.
And IMF is prefered by people who enjoys puzzles, and attempting to speed solve/clear them.
that was just my opinion. also, posting from a 3ds at ~midnight basically means bad spelling. and plz dont argue with me. i hate that.
OMG!!!! jk, jk.
Bopp is correct. I mean always. He always answers any post no matter how trashy they are
Remember the time I had to Troll on this guy because he didnt know
anything and you had keep answering him?
well he never gives up on posts and thats why he is gonna give me a call ig :)
godd luck to all
Forevermore,
The-Thor :)
Just to clarify, my post #22 was specifically responding to Odinthefather's post #20. I wasn't trying to claim responsibility for that loadout. I was saying that I agree with Odinthefather.
The-Thor, Bopp only comments on the forums; my other knights actually play the game. So don't take it personally, if you don't get a call from Bopp in-game.
Also, I'll be taking a break from posting for a couple of days, to judge a muscle-building contest overseas, or perhaps just because I don't want to wear out my welcome here.
I'll do your job for you then and fradow can troll/correct me. We'll make a (hopefully) good team. Anyways, have fun^^
In my opinion, Alchemers reach their full potential when in the hands of full-on Gunners. If you're going to be a Sword/Gun Hybrid, you should probably use an Alchemer only for status effect or try to get a Kilowatt Pulsar.
Wow all this feedback is really helpful thanks guys.
It's been a while since I looked at this thread and I've already got a different loadout now. My current loadout is Antigua and shockburst brandish. Im thinking about farming tokens and getting a btb or a ff. Then I'll swap out the Antigua occasionally. Would that be a good idea.
Antigua as a piercing weapon is lackluster. Having a btb/ff in place of it is better in almost all situations.
Reading what you said bopp I'm thinking of using a btb and shockburst using the Antigua only for ld. Thoughts?
Edit: basically what you said demon lol
Yes Jiasen, that's ok. You may want to take a shadow sword in the future to be able to deal the 3 types of damage (for example, for RJP, you'll equip elemental + shadow, since piercing is almost useless down there).
And yes Antigua is ok for Lockdown. It doesn't do great damage, but it compensate with high mobility and fast bullets (I personally use it to interrupt charges mainly).
Ok. But which line if Antigua to use? I want a line that has a high damage effect on players. And yes in re future I plan on crafting a nightblade.
as of right now, l use a blackhawk in ld.
3½ words:
it's. damage. fails.
maybe, if you upgrade it it will be better. but l still prefer trollaris cuz it can keep enemies off u. also, the must common loadout is skolver+ff/btb+da+gf as a striker, so a clip *should* kill 'em.
l'd hold out on upgrading it tho, cuz the devs are thinking about changing the damage type.
@fradow sorry if my last post sounded like a troll.
The accepted advice for Lockdown seems to go for Sentenza line, but I'm not quite sure that makes a difference : nowadays, Vog is a lot less present and some persons (me included) are using Snarbolax to protect from shadow (mainly because of GF).
And Argent Peacemaker, while not being the best gun for clockworks, is still actually usable (contrary to Sentenza which fails at taking out dodging enemies, which are its main target).
And anyway, you'll probably not feel any difference.
@Odin you generaly don't take DA and GF, as they are redundant. Seeing that you can't really charge, it's generally better to take GF for the slight change of curse on 2nd hit.
As I said, the goal of Antigua is not really to inflict high damage, it's more to interrupt charges from a distance, break guardian shield or others things like this. Polaris goal is not to do high damage either, it's more to deny an area than anything else. Those 2 guns are really handy to have, don't get me wrong (I have both in my LD loadout, with 2 swords).
If you want a gun to do damage, look at alchemers. There is at least on video out there that I know of which show a good usage of an Umbra Driver, and it really seems good (and high damage too).
I've been using Valiance and Leviathan pretty much the whole time. They were the first weapons I built, and they continue to be my favorite. They're both versatile and powerful, with no significant weaknesses or flaws. Sometimes I'd like to have status effects, and I've been working on building up some new weapons, lately, just for kicks, but, ultimately, there's nothing you can't do with this weapon combo--and it doesn't require a third weapon slot or a boss weapon. In fact, they're just about the easiest weapons in the game to make. And they look pretty sweet!
The advantages and disadvantages of having all normal weapons has been discussed many time, with the disadvantages at almost nil with two different typed weapon.
Granted, all normal has no disadvantages either, but misses out on the advantages having a weapon set with 2 special damages.
oh, well l used to see tons of DAs. but it was a while ago.
sentenza-oh.
polaris-wow thats actually what l use it for lol.
The reason why I don't use two types of 2hit weapons is mostly because in areas that require a sword user to go Vog you would have no need for a Gran Faust. The same goes for piercing-based levels like Wildwoods or Jelly Palace, you would need a Gran Faust more than a DA. The ability to curse wolvers and jellies while dealing neutral and advanced damage is more important than the charge knockback of DA in those levels. For advanced mobbing areas like FSC, DA is the obvious choice.
Like I said earlier though, I have never used a gun under the assumption that someone else will. When I solo, the downscale in HP is so great that clearing rooms with swords is an easy feat. I can't say exactly which gun would be more reliable to you, because gun puppies can be easily avoided and taken out easily with a 3hit combo from an elemental brandish due to the downscale in HP. I rarely ever see gun puppies that are unreachable, and if I did I would have probably brought a DA since more often than not those types of situations occur in construct-based levels.
Again, I recommend that you craft both a Divine Avenger and Gran Faust, but decide on whether or not to craft an elemental or shadow brandish. Having both sealed swords is great because you will be prepared for most of the endgame monsters, but carrying both will only hinder you and depending on the level it will be a waste of a slot.
edit: your current 2weapon loadout is good for your current level of gameplay, but the very first thing you should do is consider getting a polaris, gran faust, BTB/FF, or invest in a mist bomb
if you ever plan on doing a shadow lair, that is
To the guy that said I would have to spend most of my time extinguishing the fire around vanaduke togt clear hits
I only have to use fire once or twice, and strafe around vanaduke while shield-cancelling, much like any striker in lockdown would against a guardian. After 10 seconds you would have dealt 2k damage or more
Well weapon slots are cheap, considering they last a month, and letting you carry extra weapons does pay for itself.
But that idea aside...
If you're only going to have two weapon slots, I'd advise carrying a utility gun. Even if you don't have m/any gun bonuses on your set and want to focus primarily on swords, a gun is handy to have, especially if it's a status effect type (freeze, fire or shock alchemer, for example).
However you'll find then that the gun will serve only as a utility, and that your sword will probably need to either be Normal type, or be very generic.
Ofc, you could use, say a shadow sword (nightblade) and a status alchemer to have shadow/elemental damage types to cover your for defence enemies.
But you might feel restricted having only one sword. If you want to use two swords, nightblade and iceburst is a good combo, all-round defence covering and a status effect to boot. But then you have to definitely make sure that your shield and armour set is solid, or you'll find yourself in the middle of the fray with few defences.
It's tricky, being restricted to two weapons...