Spiral Knights - I'm Just Not That Good Yet

I'm Just Not That Good Yet

18 replies [Last post]

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 02:44

Zappersmasher

I've been playing for a couple of months so far, spent some dollars, and thought I had a good set. I have

Leviathon Blade
Valiance
Nitronome
Azure Guardian Helm
Azure Guardian Armor
Aegis Shield

All of those are 5 star, level 10 heat. Some have + 1 variant. But I can barely make it to level 13, have only gotten to tier 3 once, and that was way too hard. So what would be a the best set of weapons to get? What would be the best set of armor? I'd prefer to use one blade and one gun for all runs. Don't want to switch weapons for different elements. By the way I solo most (not all) of the time.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 03:12

Twsp

Three words for you:

Different damage types.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 04:01

Thewach

TheWach says:

Right now you only deal normal damage and is only able to protect against normal and piercing damage types. This means that anything that does elemental or shadow damage will screw you over. Twice. Dealing only normal damage isn't much of a problem, however, protection is key to surviving in the clockworks so I would suggest ditching one of your armor pieces for a piece from the Divine set or you can take the hard route and rebuild your entire loadout which would take some time. What I'm basically saying is that you should have at least one general use set that can cover every damage type even.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 05:25

Random-Thing

Disaggree with the above

Mainly because normal defence is far more important than the others.....

Offence is the best defence (except where the enemy is fiends - dodging a room full them is tricky :S ). Kill the enemy before they hit you and you don't take damage :D

(fyi, I'm not saying that you're armour is bad or all needs replacing, but a few items from below could really help)

Firstly, azure guardian isn't that bad as an armour, but there is a reason it isn't commonly used, and that's because of the wolver line - which gives alomst the same defence whilst considerably boosting offensive capabilities. The 5* version also comes in three variants for the different damage types. They also have resistances to various status effects, i'd strongly recomend getting some pieces of it. (I get through almost every level with a vog cap and skolver coat - no need to switch out except for extreme cases like fsc (full vog for fire resist is a big advantage) or fiend strata, where some shadow defence helps soooo much.

As for the shield, again, there is a variant of it with a decent offensive bous. Its called the Barbarous Thorn Shield, and you get it from snarbolax tokens. But again these shields won't help you much against shadow monters (all elemental monsters are easily dodged so any shield is fine), for that I'd suggest crest of almire. For that though you need to beat duke a lot, I used a greay owlite in this time - great shield but I havn't used it since getting crest.

As for the weapons, levi can be quite useful for solo but if you used its charge attack in a party of mine you'd get a warning about being kicked if i saw it again. I guess its a decent weapon but if you get good with heavy swords then they'll both deal more damage and protect you from damage. It is a matter of preferance though and they take some gtting used to. I use a divine avenger and gran faust (but I had them before they were cool :P - actually true, i've been here since near the beginning).

Most importantly though, dodge enemy attacks. If you can't dodge in time, bring up the shield. Don't attack if it will get you hit. Most families of monsters are easy to dodge the attacks of, including beasts, constructs, gremlins, slimes, undead (except T3 ghosts). As you might have gathered though, I still hate and occasionally struggle with fiends.

Find me in-game and i'll go on a few runs with you, my IGN is Lewiss

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 06:26

Metagenic

Ummmm

You have the most vanilla, basic set in the game. Azure and Aegis have no status resistances at all, and only piercing defense; Leviathan and Valiance are mediocre because there are much better weapons out there. Nitronome is the only good weapon in there, and even then it'll piss off teammates if you spam it.

Eh, you should have thought of buying recipes from somebody other than Kozma.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 07:38

Softhead

With def.

Best to get different shields. For us bombers and gunners, we don't have all def in our lines.

If you use swords/guns and bombs (any) and the one you most prefere, look up on the Wolver(Sword), Gunslinger(Gun) and Spiral Demo(Bombs).

If you are comferable with your weps, try and dodge. Dodging and moving keeps you alive.

Kinda odd if you have 5*, yet you flop at T2.

As well, for someone who has only played for 2 months+, don't try and solo if you are new and don't understand the game much. Go in teams.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 07:50

Trying

....

Do you know how to shield?

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 13:24

Michaelb

Go with the "unpopular

Go with the "unpopular set".

Here it is:

Weapons:
Fearless Rigadoon
Irontech Destroyer
Iron Slug

Armor:

Chaos Cloak

Helm:

Bombastic Demo Helm

Trinkets:

Purrfect Katnip Pouch
Purrfect Katnip Pouch

Shield:

Heater Shield

IMO, this is the all-around worst set there is. (or least popular).

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 14:08

Alchemystic

Contrary to what Random-Thing

Contrary to what Random-Thing says, offense is not the best defense. If you can't avoid taking damage most of the time, you are going to die in T3. Getting hit in T3 hurts a lot and even if you have the defense against that damage type, you still need to be cautious. There are no rewards for finishing levels as fast as possible. Take your time and play defensively.

If you can play defensively, having the right shield for a damage type is a bigger priority than a helmet or armor. The right shield will be able to withstand more damage without breaking.

Nothing in the game is perfect for every occasion. That's why you get two default weapon slots. This allows you to bring one weapon to cover the weaknesses of the other. Bringing two normal damage weapons means you are wasting one of the slots.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 15:25

Random-Thing

^slight mis-interpretation maybe

I meant in terms of what armour you use, take the armours with offence bonus over those with more defence....

Notice the point at the bottom that begins with "Most importantly though"

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 15:32

#10

Merethif

@OP

"I'd prefer to use one blade and one gun for all runs. Don't want to switch weapons for different elements.(...)"

I suppose you totally missed a MAIN idea of this game.

Sat, 03/10/2012 - 18:22

#11

Heste

"Don't want to switch weapons

"Don't want to switch weapons for different elements."
...but thats the whole point of having special weapons...
However if you manage to abandon this belief I suggest getting a elemental brandish, then a nightblade and then a piercing sword.
Brandishes have a spammable charge and are three swing swords so they should be easy to adapt to from the levi, since piercing swords are much faster they'll take more practice to use.
For guns get AP for elemental and Sentenza for shadow since alchemers are two shot and would take more getting used to when switch over from the valience.
Ditch the armor, Skolver set offers almost the same defenses in exchange for sword damage boost.
Remember Gremlins and Constructs deal elemental, Fiends and Undead deal shadow and Beast and Slimes deal piercing. If one of these families is giving you particular trouble wear armor that guards against them. You should also memorize what is effective on each family as well to master the art of different damage.
Also your shield is your best friend, even if you have the worst shield in the game it can still save your life.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 02:59

#12

Sypsy

I would first look at the

I would first look at the wiki.
Sword Guide
And a Gunslinger guide. However, I wouldn't really focus on building in a gunslinger way because it is more focused on pure gunning, which is not what you want to do.

I would also look at Bopp's sword guide for a quick condensed read for more insight on the specific weapons that the wiki doesn't get into. You can find here.

Personally, I gun and sword as well. While the allure of not changing weapons forces you to choose normal weapons, they just don't do enough damage compared to specific ones. Also, the aresenal stations at the beginning of every non-boss level just screams "get a balanced set of weapons to select from."

That being said, if one were to only run with two weapons, you would get a Final flourish, which is pierce, and an elemental gun. I would recommend polaris because the knockback will be useful for giving you breathing room. It'll be great against all the turrets.

By having two types of damage at a time, you can effectively attack all types of monsters. Bopp's guide goes further into that.

The first thing I would do is get a flourish. That thing can take out beasts, fiends, gremlins, undead and very well. I would hold onto the valiance for now because it will be effective against the odd construct or slime you run. Since you're running solo, the hp of mobs are low relative to a full party, and I find a valiance does fun in taking out single targets. WHEN you are on a stage with slime or constructs, I would suggest changing to the levi.

After getting the flourish, get the polaris.

I suggest joining a guild you like to do runs with people that won't frustrate you. The problem with joining a random party in clockworks is that you can end up with some very annoying people. I found in the beginning that if you talked during the random teams you can make friends and do runs with them more. This helps let you see other types of weapons and playing styles and you can decide what you want to do from there.

Sun, 03/11/2012 - 23:29

#13

Zappersmasher

Thanks for all the ideas,

Thanks for all the ideas, guys. I have started toward making the divine hood, cloak, and avenger. Money is not too big of an object, to will study these suggestions and see what else I want to make.

No, I am not very good at shielding. I suck at it. I basically just charge in, throw vials at them, and slash away. Guess I'm too lazy or impatient to do it right. Tips would be helpful, I'm sure.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:44

#14

Otaia

Don't just stand there

Don't just stand there slashing monsters. Run circles around them and try to dodge/shield their attacks. Avoid using your full attack combo in large groups of monsters. Remember, dodging is more important than dealing damage.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:56

#15

Squishat

Armor

Actually Armor is not that important but you really need to learn to shield and dodge.

Not taking dmg > dealing dmg

SK in Stratum 4 - 6 is a very different game than it is 1-3. You can't just go in and slash everything... you need to learn when to slash and when to back off.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:52

#16

Squishat

Armor

doubled somehow.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 12:06

#17

Nordlead

1) Stop going solo and team

1) Stop going solo and team up with good players. They will help you through harder stages (which yield more cr). Also, making friends will allow you to jump into more profitable stages.

2) learn about specialized damage and make some loadouts. Normal weapons are more for people who only want one weapon of that type and primarily carry something else (1 normal sword, but say 4-5 different types of guns).

3) get some varied defense. You can use what you have and combine it with something else. I suggest something with elemental+fire if you plan on doing FSC. While shadow is nice for fiends, there are no fiend specific boss lairs and zombies aren't that fast. I used Vog cap + skolver coat as my starting 5* armor. I now have Crown of the Fallen and Snarbolax so I can mix things up a bit depending on the monsters I'm facing.

Mon, 03/12/2012 - 12:55

#18

Dukeplatypus

Normal defense is not the

Normal defense is not the most important type because in T3 a lot of mobs will not hesitate to hit you with pure elemental or shadow damage. In that case you'll be taking the full force of those attacks and you'll rack up a lot of damage. While its true that skill can override the necessity of specific type and status resists, sooner rather than later you will get hit and you will get hit for A LOT. Imo go for gear that gives stat bonuses of some kind, whether they be general like divine veil or more specialized like the wolver line. Divine veil and Skolver will pretty much set you for anything.

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I'm Just Not That Good Yet