Spiral Knights - Help with striker armor progression

Help with striker armor progression

11 replies [Last post]

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 11:47

Ven-Detta

I recently started playing a chose to follow the striker path since it was a fast hitting class. I did not realize that it is very weak and gets killed quite easily in PvE. I currently have the following setup.

Dusker Cap
Dusker Coat
Great Defender
Striker
Blaster

What really pisses me off is that in order to craft a different gear you need the the gear before it...? Which [bucket] thought that up?
Can someone please explain what gear I should be going for in order to survive lower depths.

On a side note, should I be using guns or bombs as my secondary, and which type do i go for.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 12:14

Bopp

obligatory

I have a detailed sword guide written for people in your position. It includes sections on sidearm guns and bombs, on armor choices, etc. If you follow my advice, then you will probably continue to upgrade Dusker, but you will immediately abandon the Aegis/Defender shield line for the Barbarous Thorn Shield line.

When you say "striker", are you are talking about the 3-star sword called Striker? Yes, its 5-star upgrades are not the easiest swords to play with, deep in the Clockworks. They do middling damage per second, and they have poor reach. All I can say in their favor is that they are fun. My sword guide can give you some other ideas.

Are you talking about the class of knight known as the striker? No, it is not at all weak, and does not get killed easily in PvE. It does not have to use Striker-style swords. Echo, the striker in the Hall of Heroes, offers a variety of swords.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 12:20

Juances

Your problem isn't the armor, but the enemies you're facing.
You have piercing defense, it's good enough to kill wolvers and slimes but bad against zombies, robots, etc.

All the armors will be "weak" against something, there's no perfect set. So, wich enemy is causing you troubles at this point?
Depending on your answer I could recommend magic cloaks (elemental) or skelly suits (shadow).

If you're dying against piercing enemies, then sorry, you have one of the best armos available :P

You might want to check your language too.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 12:27

Traevelliath

Going in reverse order mentioned because logic...

It's hard to use bombs as a secondary weapon, due to their nature. Bombs require set-up time and a definite rhythm to chain explosions together. They don't mesh well with constant switching in and out. Guns in general tend to be better secondary weapons to give you some ranged chip-damage.

Dusker set will serve you well until you start reaching for tier 3. In which case, you can upgrade it to Ash Tail, and then to either Skolver or Vog (depending on your liking). As for weapon choices, Bopp's guide covers that.

Most of the (good) weapons are basically upgrades of other weapons. It's more of an upgrade system, within a crafting system. I honestly don't see that much of a problem with it.

In PvE, there aren't really "classes" the same way a traditional MMO would. The closest you get is Swordsman/Gunslinger/Bomber, but even then nothing stops you from using a mix of weapon types.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 15:15

Ven-Detta

reaction

alright so I have decided to go for the divine avenger (based on bopp's gude) and plan to accompany this with i guess a blitz needle (for peircing) and a thorn shield. Now my question is should I continue and go for the ashtail set?

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 15:26

Demonicsothe

Yea, finish out the set.

Yea, finish out the set. Check bopps guide to see if you want vog or skolver after ashtail.

I wouldn't use a blitz needle as a sidearm. Fairly sure Bopp's guide touched on why you would want an elemental sidearm, but I'll say it here anyways. Swords have a problem with things as range. As such, turret type enemies will prove to be difficult to dispatch with just swords. The three turrets we have are construct, jelly, and undead. Construct and undeads are weak to elemental, and polyp is neutral to it. That means elemental is the best damage type for taking down turrets in a reasonable amount of time.

Your blitz needle, against these three monster families, will deal neutral damage to the undead, and ineffective damage against the jelly and construct. My personal suggestion is to craft a piercing sword, of the flourish or snarble line, then a elemental gun such as the polaris, argent peacemaker, or the nova driver.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 15:31

Ven-Detta

umm

so i shouldn't go for divine avenger??? Or are you saying I should get a piercing sword for now and get the divine avenger along the way??

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 15:41

Demonicsothe

I'm not saying that. The only

I'm not saying that. The only reason I advised against the blitz needle is that it is ineffective for the reasons I stated, and that it isn't really newbie friendly. You fire the entire clip and reload, rooting you for the firing duration and slowing you during the reload. It's harder to use than most other guns.

Divine avenger is fine, I would make a piercing weapon after that, then a shadow. Somewhere along the path, if you want guns, start with an elemental one.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 15:42

Bopp

he's saying just what I would say

Demonicsothe's been giving reliable advice for a long time, and in this case it's the same advice that I give in the "Mixing weapon types" section of my sword guide. If you have only one gun, and you want to use it throughout the Clockworks, then it should be elemental or normal.

Divine Avenger and Blitz Needle makes a very good combination for Firestorm Citadel, which is a major part of the game for most players. But FSC is not the only part of the game, and you're going to have trouble elsewhere, because most turrets resist piercing damage.

Here is a concrete suggestion, that's a kind of compromise between your plan and what Demonicsothe and I suggest. Get an elemental sword (Divine Avenger if you like) and a normal gun (probably Valiance or Supernova). Later, when you're focused on Firestorm Citadel, get a Blitz Needle. In this way, you have one set of weapons that works throughout the Clockworks fairly well, and another set of of weapons that works very well in FSC. And you've crafted only three weapons total, which isn't very expensive.

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 16:20

Ven-Detta

thanks for the advice. I just feel very overwhelmed by the amount of choices , and feel threatened by the though of having to craft 2-3 weapons in order to have the pre requisite for a 4*-5*

Mon, 08/26/2013 - 18:21

#10

Bopp

just consider it part of the cost

Just consider the precursor 2-, 3-, and 4-star items as part of the overall cost of a 5-star item. Or regard them as warm-ups for 5-star.

Actually, I don't know how you should think of them. I just really like this game, and I think this crafting system should not be much of a hindrance to your enjoyment.

Tue, 08/27/2013 - 08:01

#11

Momofuku

First thing you will want to do is dump the Great Defender and go for the Twisted Targe family of shields. It gives you extra damage bonus, and there are few shields that give buffs in general so it's often best to focus on those.

For Tier 2, I'm a fan of Nightblade and Swift Flourish/Twisted Snarble Barb. Nightblade will go a long way if you're basically living in the Royal Jelly Palace. Plus, Acheron and Final Flourish are great 5-star weapons, so the effort isn't wasted in using their predecessors.

If you want to increase your survivability, consider getting Trinket Slots and Enamorocks and forging up some Heart Pendants. Two 3-star heart pendants will practically double your current HP.

I wouldn't recommend Alchemers at this point. I'm a fan of alchemers, but if you're stuck in tier 2 and forced to use the 3-star versions, you may as well not bother with them yet. Alchemers are pretty good only if you can avoid using them at the sub-4 star levels and quickly level them to 5-star. Blaster is probably good enough for opening switches and crap, honestly. And in Tier 2, turrets are still plenty dodgable. You should be slashing your way through Tier 2.

Get a Pulsar or Antigua and see which you like more (after you're done with the shield, trinkets, and swords). Low priority.

I wouldn't recommend Sealed Sword / Blitz Needle families just yet either. They are good for end-game players who have ASI / CTR UVs attached onto them and are weapons that get you killed often if used incorrectly.

Just my two cents. I hated being stuck with Tier 2 stuff and I hated having my alchemers so early back then.

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Help with striker armor progression