Spiral Knights - Do You Use Your Pet/Sprite?

Do You Use Your Pet/Sprite?

29 replies [Last post]

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 18:31

Canine-Vladmir

I know I do. Alot, actually. Some say too much.
and even though it's only level 41 and has just 2 action slots, I find my Maskeraith extremely useful.

but...I noticed when I team up with players, the player rarely use their sprites! And if they do, they use it once. Why?

Storytime!
I join the T2 arcade and I got teamed up with 3 other players. One had a Dragon and the other Two had a mewKitty, but hey died! alot.
And I mean alot. To the point that each level, they wasted their Emergency Revive and would just stay dead for the rest of the level. :o
In my head i was like, "please use your HP kitty powers!" because they died so much to the point where it actually made you feel bad for them.
I didnt want to demand them to use their pets but man, your wasting crowns and time by just spectating me go berserk on the enemies while your just there....dead. All of 'em. 3 dead, one alive(me).

Also, i seen your 100 level pet owners use your pets occasionally. *mind blown*

So, DO YOU USE YOUR SPRITE? Alot? Enough? Not at all?

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 18:34

Glacies

I only use Shadow Cloak for personal buffs more than anything else, using Caustic Quills on a single-large target such as Bosses or Lumbers, and Haunted Haze when I'm in an Arena using Electron Vortex.

I myself have a Lv100 Pet and I'm currently working on leveling up Drakon to Lv100 too.

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 18:38

Limesheep

I use my Ghostbro for the

I use my Ghostbro for the free poison and risk-free shield bashes.

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 18:44

Venomousbiohazard

Panoukla (99 level mask) is such a valuable asset to my character. First, I use quills and smash it with my DVS. It is isn't dead, then I wait for 15 seconds, sneak up on the enemy and start attacking it with my deadly shadow cloak, which gives a msi low boost and an attack boost that stays with you a few seconds after you lose cloak. Haze is great for mini monsters like in compounds, JK, and vs groups. The cloak is used the most for me, since I can get outta NASTY situations, shieldbump enemies away, and attack with deadly strikes when I take off invisibility mode.

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 19:00

Alkemik

Usefull pet

I have ran into the same thing. Most of the people i run with neglect using pet skills. I have a maskeraith as my main, and recently picked up the dragon ( the name eludes me atm) and have every intention to aqquire the kitty as well. Sometimes i feel like im spamming my pet skills simply becuase no one else uses theres. On the occasion other people use there pets it almost seems as if its a "monkey see monkey do" reflex as im running around reminding them how dam usefull a pet can be as i quill everything ( only lvl 44 no hex yet)

However i dont really run much with strangers unless they are easy going, so the people i do play with im more than comfortable giving them a nagging especialy the friends with kittys since the drops are highly useful.

I think of all the pets i favor the wraith most simply becuase its free poisen and i dont have to worry about potions so extra luggage space. I used to always be the guy saying "take out the dang healers first" now i groan less and just poisen everyone and focus down trouble makers much easier now :p

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 19:55

Usevnsevnsixfivfor

You may as well level your sprite up for the perks.

But hey--those guys just need to go to the GTH and try out the pet moves. Even a Lvl 1 Drakon's Firebolt is great if it catches the monster on fire. A Lvl 1 Seraphynx's Hyper Beam is great for blocking a hallway by turning off AT and aiming 90* for a barrier. Poison an enemy with a Lvl 1 Maskeraith. Too hard? Shouldn't be. If it is, you don't even deserve the perks. Drakon's Flame Barrier is pure destruction when you max out High Heat and Heavy Smoke.

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 19:58

Thine-Dude

Cat healing

I find that the heart-dropping ability of the cat is rather useless. Even at max upgrades its only about (from what I've seen) a ~50% increase of hearts. So that equals about one maybe two bars of extra life for a total downtime from the massive cool-down of about 80 seconds. the laser beam ability is MUCH more useful for me. as for the shield, I find it only semi-useful at the moment. It breaks much to fast. But to answer your question yes I do use him often

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 20:08

Demonicsothe

Do perks count?

Because if it does...

Oh sweet jelly cores it feels so good

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 20:14

Batabii

"alot" is not a word...

Yes I use my sprite. Because otherwise there's no reason to equip it.

The skills, while not as useful as an extra weapon slot, do sometimes come in handy. I guess if I used one of the others I'd spam it a lot more, but Ray of Light is so weak, and a lot of teammates don't take advantage of Angelic Aura (which only last a few seconds anyway)

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 21:46

Awoogawooga

I use it quite a bit, but not

I use it quite a bit, but not always when I really should, simply because of the whole ping thing.

Normally I use Deadly Cloak for rush running for crystals. I've switched to being a bomber recently, so I don't use it for the damage bonus as much as I used to. Of course, the cloak in general is a life saver when surrounded, but due to the power not always working when you really need it, I usually rely on dashing/shield bumping to escape from a sticky situation.

It seems that sprites tend not to respond when there's too much activity on the screen. Which is not only the reason I use Cloak less nowadays, but also why I "seemingly" don't use Chaotic Haze as much. I say "seemingly" because I do TRY to use it, but the thing seldom responds when there's a lot of enemies clumped together. By the time it responds, there's no point for it anymore.

Of course, every time you're repeatedly ordering your sprite to do something and it doesn't, you leave yourself opened for attack.

I got a second pet, a Seraphynx, and when I'm getting low on HP or I see an easy chance to use Heart Attack on a clump of enemies, I try to use that power. But when it doesn't obey and I keep unsuccessfully trying to get the power to work, I tend to get hit. In the end, either the power never activated, or the hearts I got back don't even cover the damage I received as a result.

But I still use my sprites because about a third of the time, they DO work, and it's highly satisfying when they do.

Maskeraith's Cloaking is arguably the most reliable power since you can activate it ahead of time to do what you need to do.

I haven't gotten my kitty shield yet, so can't say anything about that.

tl;dr, Yes, I use my sprites.

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 22:04

#10

Amaki

Maybe not as often as I could.

I have a Drakon just ahead of level 60. At this point I generally don't see a critical need to deploy its skills whenever possible, with sword charge attacks generally working just as well. Its primary uses are for inflicting fire and ranged attacks,

The Firebolt is useful primarily because it has a cooldown independent of the charge meter, so a tactic for me is to charge-charge-Firebolt. Even then, I generally only do so when I can hit multiple targets, which generally means large spawns early in a fight.

I generally don't use Flame Barrier, and I can't figure out the point of Firestorm at all.

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 22:12

#11

Awoogawooga

There's also nothing quite

There's also nothing quite like having 2 Haze Bombs + Chaotic Haze. Enemies seem to just vaporize in a puff of status inducing smoke :)

Tue, 09/03/2013 - 22:12

#12

Gasguzzler

I can't use mine reliably

Because my perpetual one bar connection makes Squishy (my Seraphynx) horribly disobedient. D:

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 00:05

#13

Creeperlucario

Basically shadow cloak

I only use it to run and restore my health with a pill.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 04:38

#14

Milkman

I need more gym badges

Similar to Gasguzzler: due to some unknown combination of lag and latency my sprite doesn't listen to me when I am in larger parties.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 05:25

#15

Thunder-The-Bright

sure do buddy.

I use my sprite when I want to kill things faster. maskeraith does it really good with quills and poison, and drakon is really helpful with his fire.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 06:19

#16

Kraanx

I use my drakon alot. not

I use my drakon alot. not only because its passed level fifty, but because its skills really fit my niche. fireball does good damage vs turrets if you count the fire (more than my storm driver's combo) , flame barrier is great for swording anything since its the most damaging technique drakons have, but specially lumbers, and firestorm is really useful for spreading a status around

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 07:19

#17

Ninjadrill

I use heart attack a lot.

I use heart attack a lot. It's really helpful for if you have low health.

Ray of Light isn't that good, even when I have a crystal harness on FSC.

Don't have Angelic Aura yet. (level 41)

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 07:28

#18

Merethif

I'm using Maskeraith's Vengeful Caustic Quills almost non stop. I'm usually using it as soon as cooldown is over (with fully developed skills cooldown time is really short). I'm using Quills even if there are two zombies only. This skill really makes progression faster and smoother.

On the other hand I rarely use Deadly Shadow Cloak - usually in Candlestick Keep to avoid being bitten by Grimalkins. Sometimes in some emergencies, but it really is something like once a week. Probably if I were more of a sword-guy I'd use Cloak more often.

Hex Haze is in the middle - due to its longer cooldown time and less versatility I'm not using it as often as Caustic Quills, but nevertheless I use it twice or thrice every T3 run.
...
That is unless I'm playing on US server, where I can't use sprite at all :-(

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 08:02

#19

Evning

Oh is that why pets don't do as they are told!?

I thought it was weird that i to hold down the buttons for so long before they do anything.

Why would pet commands be the only things affected?

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 08:10

#20

Alice-In-Pyroland

The perks alone make sprites

The perks alone make sprites absolutely worth using, MSI Very High is simply glorious. Although in terms of actually "using" them in the way the op is implying, I find Sera's laser to be an exceptional tool, especially once you can upgrade it to Disintegration Ray. Aura is also incredibly useful in some situations as well, even if it's for minor conviniences like crossing spikes in Clockwork Tunnels quickly.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 08:33

#21

Merethif

@Evning

@Evning
Yes, it's because ping and such. When I have one bar sprite is not reacting to my commands even though command animation on knight is shown. Actually it reacts but with a delay. It's like ten minutes delay in my case or something like that. When I have two bars of connection I can use skills, but aiming with Quills is less efficient so I'm rather using Hexing Haze those times.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 09:08

#22

Orbwanter

I use my sprite fairly heavily, and it seems like half the time I use a skill, anyone nearby remembers theirs and activates one immediately after.

Ray of Light isn't that good, even when I have a crystal harness on FSC.
Don't have Angelic Aura yet. (level 41)

Hitting level 50 will more than double the damage it does in T3, currently you're using the equivalent of a 3* weapon in stratum 6.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 09:12

#23

Redlawlsy

Lawls

I hardly ever use my sprite, and thats when I have him equiped.

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 10:03

#24

Batabii

@ninjadrill
your seraphynx is only level 41 and you still use heart attack all the time? I'm level 89 and have my skill points maxed and it still isnt that useful...

Wed, 09/04/2013 - 11:11

#25

Msaad

I used to utilize my battle sprites only to increase its level so I can use the perks for LD, but now I don't care for them. I don't use them in PvE either. My Drakon is going to be left in the trash.

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 10:51

#26

Halandin

My maskeraith is level 41 now

My maskeraith is level 41 now (no hex haze yet), and I use it pretty often. Quills are great for when there are healers, or just on a large group to make killing them faster. RJP levels seem like they were made for quills... Cloak is good for occasionally getting out of a tight spot or sneaking up on a turret, especially if I'm heating stuff and don't have a gun for it. The perks are probably the most useful for me so far, you don't have to remember to use them.

P.S. They need to make it so you can use sprite actions while charging other weapons. -_-

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 13:26

#27

Enshadu

Frenzied Firestorm.

I use my drakon's Frenzied Firestorm all the time. Of course, the extra damage is nice, but the real reason I use it is because of the attack speed bug.

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 15:26

#28

Batabii

Holy crap I can't believe how useful Disintegration ray is. It makes me afraid to use Heart Attack anymore.

Thu, 09/05/2013 - 16:06

#29

Soulstaker

I always hate it when I'm the

I always hate it when I'm the only non-seraphix owner and there's a big crowd of monsters. Most of us are low on HP and nobody uses their Heart Attack skill. I constantly have to remind them. A lot of people I meet do not know how good a support pet is...

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Do You Use Your Pet/Sprite?