Spiral Knights - Best shield for the Gunslinger?

Best shield for the Gunslinger?

19 replies [Last post]

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 00:47

Fauxhownd

This is the arsenal I'm working on at the moment:

Argent Peacemaker
Sentenza
Blitz Needle

Perfect Mask of Seerus
Nameless Poncho (unless Shadowsun is better)
Elite Trueshot Module x2

Seraphynx BS focused on Heart Attack for enemies, and Angelic Aura for bosses.

Of course, all of this is a LONG ways off since I just started today. Until I can get six Elite orbs and the necessary jelly gems to make a Silversix/Blackhawk, I'm going to make do with a Prismatech and Shadow Alchemer. And someone gave me a Swiftstrike Buckler for later.

But what's the ideal shield to use on a Gunslinger? I can't really find one that suits me. What would benefit me the most for ranged DPS and support?

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 01:20

Zeddy

Swiftstrike Buckler is strong enough to shield one bullet and provides ASI +3. As a gunslinger, that is exactly what you need.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 01:35

Fauxhownd

So it can still survive a

So it can still survive a direct hit from a hard attack in T3, like from a Trojan or a Vanaduke swing? Or just a glancing blow or something weak like a puppy shot?

Also, I saw that you recommended the Chaos Armor to another Gunslinger and said that defense was overrated. So if I went with, let's say:

Perfect Mask of Seerus
Chaos Cloak
Swiftstrike Buckler
Elite Trueshot Module x2
ASI med from BS Perk

That would get me:

Mask: +1 ASI, +2 CTR
Cloak: +2 DI, +2 CTR
Shield: +3 ASI
Modules: +4 DI
Perk: +2 ASI
And +2 CTR from all my guns at level 10.

So that would get me Maximum CTR, ASI, and DI with guns, relatively decent Elemental defense, and I'd still have slight fire resistance for FSC. Would this work for me?

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 05:25

Zeddy

Swiftstrike wouldn't be able to take a trojan hit in stratum 6, but I think it will in stratum 5. A gunslinger has no business shielding Trojans anyway. It might be able to block a hit from zombie swipes, especially if they're non-status.

Your armour setup looks good. With Perfect Mask in there you'll even have positive resistance against fire and shock, which is basically all the defence you'll need.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 08:05

Bopp

suggestions

This question has been asked many times. Consider searching Google for something like gunner shield site:forums.spiralknights.com.

I agree with Zeddy on your shield and armor. It's all fine. Chaos would be slightly more powerful, for those guns that you charge a lot (not Antiguas, but Blitz and alchemers certainly).

You seem to be a big fan of Antigua guns. Have you tried alchemers? They're harder to use, but they're more interesting and they can do higher damage in the hands of an expert. And many of them offer status.

You might also consider waiting for the impending gunner update, which will offer several new guns.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 08:52

Dutch-Oven

Eventually you will start

Eventually you will start doing FSC runs so I would suggest just using swiftstrike until you get 30 seals then get an ancient plate shield and use that, it's good for taking big hits if you can't handle using the swifty in harder floors (I know people say gunners don't need to shield but sometimes you gotta GO DEEP!).

You want to be saving your crowns for other gear and the ancient plate is essentially free.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 17:51

Loads-Of-Money

I've rethought my loadout for

I've rethought my loadout for the Gunslinger, and decided that I don't want to go with the Chaos Cloak because of all the negative resistances and the fact that I'm rarely, if ever, going to use CTR with AP/Sentenza, only with Blitz. So what I'm going to do:

Perfect Mask of Seerus
Nameless Poncho
Swiftstrike Buckler
Elite Trueshot Module x2
Trueshot Perk

This will get me ASI and Damage Maximum, with Very High CTR, and I'll buy an Autogun that has a CTR Medium UV, which will make it Maximum at level 10. I'll also try to get some small Shadow UV's on my armor. Besides that, this will give me moderate resistances to Fire, Freeze, and Shock, all of which I consider dangerous.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 17:56

Rezzler

Fire? Freeze? Shock?

Fire? Freeze? Shock? Dangerous?

Nah......not at all

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 18:01

Loads-Of-Money

More dangerous than Curse,

More dangerous than Curse, Poison, and Stun, in any case. I've been killed by Freeze before, it's a death sentence if you get caught in freezelock, and fire in FSC is just as bad if you don't have remedy pills.

The point is I'd rather not have negative resistances.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 18:30

Zeddy

Even if you max out freeze resistance, you're going to get frozen for 4 seconds. That's usually never enough to escape without being broken free unless you weren't in that much danger anyhow.

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 18:34

#10

Loads-Of-Money

Still, why sacrifice

Still, why sacrifice resistances if I can still get CTR Max with the gun that really matters and maintain ASI and DI with everything else?

Sat, 11/16/2013 - 22:26

#11

Exerpa

Are you me?

You've stolen my loadout!

Fire or Shock Hi Seerus
Swifty
Pierce max justifer/shadow max shadowsun/normal max nameless
Ctr med guns (all of them)
2xDamage trinkets/1 damage+1 ASI for shadowsun
Damage perk
Bomb as 4th weapon (ctr vh EV/crusher/snarby)

sometimes swap out perk for status or monster damage
sometimes swap out seerus for freeze med Kat eye (HoI)
sometimes swap out sash for poison max armor of the fallen (C42)

...seems to work well

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 01:18

#12

Loads-Of-Money

If I had a 4th weapon, it'd

If I had a 4th weapon, it'd probably be a Shivermist for crowd control.

As it stands though, I'm going to hold off on the Blitz Needle for now and wait to see what kind of new Piercing guns come out with the future patch. If the Gilded Griffin is what I think it will be (a 5* Antigua that does Piercing damage), that'll be my weapon instead.

Sun, 11/17/2013 - 03:24

#13

Poopsie

...

I bet blitz still the strongest piercing gun even after update, antigua has mediocre damage.
Also monsters that are weak to piercing keeps dodging normal bullets (devilites, wolvers).
That being said, antigua is still fine doing solo, the party is where the problem at,
you trigger dodge to your surrounding devilites + wolvers, making your party members unable to target.
Blitz alone is good enough reason to get ctr max, because it's just overpowered.
You can alternate by dashing, throwing vials (or else that I don't bother to try) to nullify puppy bullets/spikes beside shielding.
Ancient plate shield is meh.
Only get real 5* shield at themes you're struggling (ex: dragon scale shield at c42, dread skelly shield at HoI)
I should suggest the universal 5* shield, but meh, I don't think they are appealing either.
Shiver is meh.
I generally do weapon ctr (unless the charge atttack sucks) > damage > asi in priority.
ASI should be the least important at clockworks, swiftstrike buckler alone is good enough. Anything above med asi is luxury, imo.
Keep your gun at fully heat 4* until you could at least upgrade 5* at level 5 since radiant is rare at this moment.

And, after you play this game for a while, you won't bother with resistance at all.
I still manage to go almost everywhere with negative resistance.
a lot of times I died because of silly party members, not my negative resist.

Wed, 11/20/2013 - 15:46

#14

Raunwynn

I never use Swiftstrike. The

I never use Swiftstrike.
The offensive bonus you get doesn't compare to the survivability a 5 star shield offers you, in my opinion.
Swiftstrike is kind of like Hard Mode for a gunner.
If you position yourself correctly all the time and avoid everything, the ASI is perfect.
I tend to need to block a few hits now and then, though, and Swiftstrike just breaks.
Grey Owlite, Crest of Almire and Aegis are my favorite shields, depending on what turrets the level has.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 02:56

#15

Dutch-Oven

You're right, swiftstrike is

You're right, swiftstrike is the worst shield for gunslingers.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 05:29

#16

Poopsie

...

the troll is strong on this one.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 05:33

#17

Jenovasforumchar

Swiftstrike or 5 star shield

Swiftstrike is definitely *not* the worst option, but you need to know what to do.

If you find yourselfe needing to block attacks a lot or rely on bumping enemies with a 5*shield away, then you shall use your 5 star version.

But if you use mainly guns and are good in evading then i highly recommend you using a Swiftstrike Buckler.

Speaking of myslfe, I use Swiftstrike against enemies that I dont take serious (Wolver, Slime, zombies), but if I fight monsters that I see as challange then I will use the fitting 5 star shield to survive them.

You will definitely like Swiftstrike Buckler in combination with Antiguas.

And refering to Chaos:
I got 2 UV med Fire on each part and by having this I got a ±0 resistance to fire. I use my Sprite perk for a certain status resistance.

Chaos set can be annoying, but once you are used to it, you wont see much a difference. Right now i bring my Chaos Set to each mission and change only weapons, that sprite perk and exspecially the Shield if it comes to challanging stuff.

After all I recommend:
Chaos Cloak with status UV
Chaos Hood (since I don't have seerus mask yet)
a fitting 5 star Shield for challanging or Swiftstrike for easy enemies
A status perk against annoying stati, otherwise choose what you like (prefereable gun boosts)

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 06:51

#18

Glacies

Theoretically speaking, Swiftstrike Buckler will only survive a small amount of attacks. If you're talking about Elite, it will cause some troubles as I believe the only attacks it'll actually withstand are the Zombie Series (At least for the non-status Swipe and first hit of the Lunge), Dust Bunny Series, Jelly, Linchen, and Kat. (That's most I have information on)

Swiftstrike Buckler is great as long as you keep your range from enemies, just don't expect to survive anything more than one hit on Advanced and Elite.

Speaking defensively, there's not exactly one "Masterful Shield of Mastery" as each one is needed for another thing. However, on Normal-Advanced, the best Shield will be hands-down Volcanic Plate Shield since everything inflicts split Normal/Secondary damage.

On Elite, however, I'd suspect these are the best options defensively:

Volcanic Plate Shield - Normal Damage:
Ancient Plate Shield here makes a decent substitute, however, Volcanic Plate Shield is the better option hands down. It's also the best Defensive Shield for Firestorm Citadel hands-down.

Ironmight Plate Shield - Piercing Damage:
You may say "Wouldn't Royal Jelly be a better option?". Currently on Elite, Beasts generally do a set amount of damage to a 5* Shield. No matter which Shield you pick, Royal Jelly Shield and Ironmight Plate Shield will survive in the exact same amount of hits. Unless Royal Jelly Shield has Piercing Low on it or Ironmight had Piercing High, then it'll survive by one more. Where-as the Slime-Family still inflicts split Normal/Piercing damage even on Elite. Making Ironmight more vital than Royal Jelly.

Grey Owlite Shield - Elemental Damage:
Can't really say on this one, Owlite is probably more favorable than Heater Shield. Heater Shield is easier to get since you have the Defender-line Recipes handed to you via Missions meaning you just have to get the Heater Shield recipe to craft it. Owlite might be more viable though due to the double-status immunity along with +3 Elemental Resistance than Heater Shield. I don't generally know how split-damage is handled.

Dread Skelly Shield - Shadow Damage:
Once again, same problem as above. Dread Skelly Shield isn't exactly all that powerful compared to Crest of Almire, but Crest of Almire shares its status with Grey Owlite Shield. Crest of Almire is also easier to get end-game since you can just buy Blackened Crest from the Token Vendor. Hard to say on this one. However, it's the best Shield for Shroud of the Apocrea whenever it returns.

Dragon Scale Shield - Compound 42:
Dragon Scale Shield has weird stats. It doesn't shine as good as Ironmight Plate Shield or Grey Owlite Shield but can still be used outside of Compound 42. In fact, depending on how much damage Constructs and Gremlins do on the Shield, it might be able to replace both Ironmight Plate Shield and Grey Owlite Shield. Helping you save money.

That, however, just depends on how much damage they do which I'll get around to the numbers later. As for now, Dragon Scale Shield truly outshines in Compound 42. It's the best-shield for this Danger Mission hands-down. However, if you want to run it and don't have Dragon Scale Shield yet, Dread Skelly Shield or Grey Owlite Shield both serve as a suitable replacement.

This is just a generalized opinion though, some people may suggest other shields which if they do, I would suggest reading over them and get a good generalized feeling on which one to use. Though Swiftstrike seems to be hands-down what everyone wants you to use, I only suggest using it if you're good at dodging which if you're a gunner, you're going to be long-range anyway.

Thu, 11/21/2013 - 10:34

#19

Parasthesia

Has it not been dictated that

Has it not been dictated that we need to start recommending shield lines based on status resistance and not their general defensive stats? Like, get one shock/fire shield and one freeze/poison shield, swiftstrike, and then you've got bare minimum shield arsenal?

^ And technically isn't Omega Shell the "all-round" 5* shield?

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Best shield for the Gunslinger?