So, I read the Gunslinger/Swordmaster/Bomber/Shieldbearer guides and a few other resources. I'm thinking I'm better off going hybrid, but am on the fence with whether to go guns/bombs or guns/swords. Right now, I'm wearing cobalt gear w/ defender and packing a blaster with my backup being either calibur or a blaster bomb. I'm a little stuck on rank 5-1: Work for Idle Hands (I get ganked by these large butterfly things right out of the gate), so I've just been puttering around the prestige missions and a bit of the arcade. I'm not actually doing anything other than (slowly) racking up crowns and materials. I'm past all the basic getting to know you stuff, but I'm not sure where I should take char/equip development from here. Any advice?
Where do I go from here?
Yep, your "character class" (sworder, gunner, etc.) is the major choice that you make in this game. Fortunately, there is no wrong answer, and you can change it at any time. I will say that:
* Going pure bomber is a bit tough for new players (but you're not considering that anyway).
* Greavers (the butterfly things) are easier to handle with a piercing sword. But you can watch YouTube videos of people bombing them too. They get easier, as you learn their AI better.
If you end up with guns and swords, then try getting them in two different non-normal damage types --- particularly piercing sword and elemental gun, or shadow sword and elemental gun. For armor, the obvious choices (but not the only choices) are some mixture of Shadowsun, Volcanic Demo, Skolver/Vog Cub, and Chaos.
Three more questions:
1) When I use up my energy for the day, is there anything to do in Haven to keep me busy?
2) If it costs approximately 7,300 crowns to buy 100 energy, is it possible to make at least 730 crowns per floor which would effectively allow you to continually play?
3) Any tips on choosing a guild?
1. When you use up your mist energy, you can still play PvP, or use that time to barter with people in Haven, or learn prices on the Auction House. If you know what you're doing, then buying and selling can earn you lots of crowns.
2. You can certainly make 730 crowns on many floors. For example, the first two floors of Royal Jelly Palace pay about 2,000-2,100 crowns, together. So run them five times, earn about 10,000 crowns, use about 7,300 to buy energy, and enjoy your profit of 2,700. In other words, as soon as you're about halfway through the game you can enter a positive-feedback loop, where you can play forever, slowly gaining money. And as you get farther into the game, the positive-feedback loop speeds up. Eventually, you can use 100 mist energy to run Firestorm Citadel twice, earning about 22,000 crowns, for about 14,000-15,000 crowns profit.
3. Guilds differ somewhat in their personalities. Some are (or try to be) elite, in PvE or PvP skills. Others are casual and easy-going. Many are just miniature kingdoms with no history or purpose. Try playing in random parties, finding people whom you like, and asking about their guilds.
"Cobalt and defender are the most dull armor/shield available."
I'm comparing them to other gear of the same star level and they have better stats, or so it seems. Am I interpreting this wrong?
cobalt and defender defend only against normal, which sucks at t2/t3, you'll probably want more specialized armor. Go for something that protects against more status effects and attributes.
Kneller, always plan in terms of 5-star items, because that's where everything ends up (unless you're focused on Tier-2 Lockdown). You don't want to choose a good 2- or 3-star item, only to find that it can't be upgraded, or that it upgrades to something that you don't want. So read the wiki and the forums, pick the 5-star items you want, and then look back in their alchemy paths, to figure out how to get them.
In your specific case, the 5-star versions of Cobalt and Defender (Azure Guardian and Aegis) are some of the weakest armors in the game. They offer good normal and piercing protection. They offer no elemental or shadow protection, which are generally more important than piercing, because piercing monsters are some of the easiest in the game. They offer no status protections, which are arguably more important than damage protections. They offer no offensive bonuses, which is how most advanced players plan their armor in the first place.
For example, compare Azure Guardian with Aegis to Skolver with Barbarous Thorn Shield. The former offers lots of normal and piercing protection. The latter offers slightly less normal and piercing protection, but gives you lots of freeze protection and damage bonus +6 on all swords. There's no contest.
If you find my comments useful, then you might want to check out my detailed sword guide.
@Bopp That's a good guide. It was more helpful than the Swordmaster Guide I found on the wiki. Is there a version for pistols? I'm definitely leaning in the piercing sword (BTB, most likely)/elemental pistol direction. Right now, I'm using a two star prismatic alchemizer, but it seems pretty weak in general compared to my Flourish (I don't have a Snarble Barb yet).
I'm glad that you found my guide useful. In the old days, I worked on a version for guns and a version for bombs. But they take a lot of time and effort to do well, so I resign myself to having only the sword guide now.
If you have a Flourish, then there is no reason to get a Snarble Barb. You need only one of them, and they end up being about equally good.
Alchemers are not easy to use, but they're very powerful once you master them. Learn how the ricochets bounce (counterclockwise from the shot direction), so that you can aim at monsters (on their clockwise side) to make the ricochets hit; this technique can double your damage output. Also, search Google for something like "spiral knights alchemer switch"; this technique speeds up your alchemer's firing rate.
Of course, be sure to use your weapons on the right monsters: piercing against fiends, beasts, and gremlins, and elemental against undead, constructs, and slimes. Also, if you do a lot of Royal Jelly Palace, then consider switching out your Flourish for a Nightblade. You'll eventually want to have a piercing weapon, an elemental weapon, and a shadow weapon, even if you carry only two at a time.
Currently, I only have two weapon slots. I'm not generating nearly enough crowns to have the CE for more.
I'm finding that my prisma alch is falling behind an equal star level blaster, both in terms of damage per shot and rate of fire. I especially notice this when fighting turrets. I'm doing way more hit and run with rocket turrets using the prisma. With a blaster, I can usually just circle strafe and take them out pretty quick. However, the prisma is elemental, so shouldn't it be more impressive against turrets?
I was thinking of switching to the antigua when I can get it, even though it's piercing. At 4*, it evolves into elemental. Sure, less damage per shot, but its a six shooter and pretty speedy, right?
I don't really remember how these weapons perform at the 2-star or 3-star level. I think only about 5-star items, for the reason given above. Here are some data (from Lancer Knightz):
Argent: 678 damage per clip * 24 clips per minute * 1 minute per 60 seconds = 271 damage per second (DPS).
Polaris long shots: 594 * 30 * 1/60 = 297.
Polaris short shots: 498 * 30 * 1/60 = 249.
Nova Driver: 396 * 32 * 1/60 = 211.
Storm/Magma/Hail Drive: 332 * 32 * 1/60 = 177.
These DPS figures assume that you're firing full clips as fast as possible, at ASI+0 and damage+0, against constructs, on depth 24. As you can see, the alchemers look weak. However, these DPS figures ignore many subtleties: better shooting patterns (alchemer switching, pausing before reloading, etc.), area effects, alchemer ricochets, status effects, Polaris range, Polaris knockback, etc.
Which gun is best actually depends on the situation --- for example, whether you want knockback. In many situations, Nova ends up beating the others, because alchemer switching and ricochets can actually double the DPS that you see above. Also, the alchemers have very powerful charge shots, while Polaris has a merely good charge and Argent has a terrible charge. For more detail, see Fradow's posts at http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/68414.
In short, Argent Peacemaker and Polaris aren't bad, and they're easier to use than an alchemer. So switch to either of those if you like. But I have all of these guns, and I use Nova Driver or Storm Driver.
(Edit: Corrected inconsequential typo in Nova Driver calculation.)
Cobalt and defender are the most dull armor/shield available.
About weapon type choices, neither option is 'better', it's personal taste, we can't decide for you.