Spiral Knights - Which upgrade path?

Which upgrade path?

10 replies [Last post]

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 10:19

Fraxur

I have the following gear that have different upgrade paths. I am not sure which one too choose from.

1. Tempered Calibur - Ascended Calibur or Cold Iron Carver
Personally, I prefer Ascended Calibur because of its higher damage to all monster but Cold Iron's bonus to undead is quite useful.

2. Dusker Coat/Cap - Skolver Coat/Cap or Vog Cub Coat/Cap
Skolver's defense against piercing is really useful on spikes but I think Vog Cub's resistance to fire is more useful than to ice.

3. Cutter - Vile Striker or Hunting Blade
Personally, I prefer Vile Striker because it causes poison.

4. Brandish - Nightblade or Fireburst or Iceburst
I prefer Fireburst because it causes fire which is useful but not Nightblade because I want to upgrade my Sealed Sword to Faust. Not Iceburst either
because I heard from a friend that it causes freeze only when charged.

5. Sealed Sword - Avenger or Faust
I think I will first upgrade to a Faust for farming Jellies and then get another Sealed Sword to upgrade to Avenger.

What do you guys think?

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 10:22

Splinter

Cookie cutter - esque would

Cookie cutter - esque would be

Ascended
Vog
Vile Striker
Nightblade? (not really sure about this one actually)
Avenger

I believe thats the usual route - and "best" for firestorm citadel

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 10:33

Gigafreak

Legacy Username

Ascended Calibur has much

Ascended Calibur has much better knockback on its charged attack. I have a Cold Iron Carver and the weak, short knockback gets me counterattacked quite often. My friend uses the Ascended Calibur and has, several times, launched monsters halfway across the room just as they were about to land an attack of their own. Plus I deal less damage. Yeah, I'd rather have picked the Ascended one after all.

Vog Cub has Elemental Defense. Many, many more enemies attack you with Elemental damage than Piercing. (This is why Vog Cub is so widespread.) I like Skolver's looks, but the defenses are kinda meh.

Vile Striker's poison is much more useful. Poison reduces enemy attack power and defenses, meaning your whole team gets a damage bonus on ANY monster type, not just you and only you getting a slightly higher damage bonus versus beasts. Plus it stops the Royal Jelly's regeneration.

Fireburst is a little dangerous when used on Oilers. Fire everywhere. But if you carry a Faust, you can just use that on them instead. (I'd personally go with the Iceburst since I love Freeze, but I can definitely see the uses of Fireburst's afterburn damage.)

Faust is great! Just be careful about the charged attack, it can sometimes curse you as backlash. (Regular attacks will not curse you, but still do have a small chance to curse the enemy.) If you have an elemental Brandish, you won't need an Avenger right away.

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 14:31

Droganis

Legacy Username

Why not all?

Well, as mentioned above, I've heard repeatedly that the Vanquisher is not as good as the normal Calibur line. No practical experience, so do what you will.

Vog also gives attack speed, while Skolver does damage. Attack speed is usually better, unless you're already getting lots from other sources (UVs)

Vile Striker is better as Gigafreak said above. Plus, damage bonus vs beasts isn't that useful, IMO.

Brandish line vs Sealed Sword line is much harder. Primarily depends on play style, and how important status effects are. If you really like statuses, Fireburst + Faust is great. Nightblades are nice, too, of course, and the Avenger is a great undead slayer. Personally I like the slower swords, so went Faust + Avenger, but I know many people who would rather stick with only the Brandish line.

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 15:01

Merethif

Fireburst causes fire only

Fireburst causes fire only when charged too, isn't it?

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 16:22

Cromendi

Well..... if you want a jelly

Well..... if you want a jelly run stick then night blade line has better dps on the boss than faust, plus the fact you can also do mass UV attempt more easily for brandish. Throw some anti-jelly gear in there for better results.

For the avenger vs faust it would be wise to get both, GF can be used as a vanilla heavy sword unless you prefer a troika line and DA has good burst damage with it's charge attack.

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 18:11

LobsterHime

Legacy Username

Don't bother with anti-jelly gear

You already have Dusker set, so I wouldn't advise getting anti-jelly gear (I'm assuming magus1d14 means armor sets in the chroma line) because its bonus to slime is equivalent to sword damage bonus (which applies to everything).

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 18:20

Cromendi

@LobsterHime I was thinking

@LobsterHime

I was thinking about volcanic salamander line, since only the skolver path has sword dmg bonus in the end.

But if it's pre-5* I guess dusker or ash should do fine.

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 18:26

Madadder

rather than make another

rather than make another thread

i have a branish with an UV that i would like to keep would i lose an ability if i choose to inherit the UV in the fireburst or iceburst? or should i just get the nightblade?

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 18:37

Cromendi

@monkeyman135 You can keep

@monkeyman135

You can keep the UV if you choose to, it won't go away no matter what line of upgrades you choose or how many times you upgrade it.... just keep the box ticked for the UV to be transferred.

Would be nice if you tell us the UV too.

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 20:03

#10

Renesis

The Cold Iron Vanquisher does

The Cold Iron Vanquisher does ≈ 10% less damage than the Leviathan Blade. This has been confirmed on multiple levels with no UV's.

The action of the Cold Iron series vs the vanilla Ascended and Leviathan is identical. The attack series and charge are also the same. How much you knock enemies back is a function of timing, just like shield repelling.

Search

Which upgrade path?