Spiral Knights - Best weapons to deal with Beasts/Fiends

Best weapons to deal with Beasts/Fiends

20 replies [Last post]

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 20:52

Painfool

So, yeah.

So far I managed to get around with my Combuster and Umbra Driver, but fiends and beasts REALLY drive me nuts. That's why I'm trying to get any weapon that will deal with these meddling creatures.
My logical assumption was to craft a Strike Needle (being pierce and all, also FSC), but to my utter surprise (read: not) Devilites and Wolvers just dash around, which leaves me standing in an unfortunate situation. But perhaps I'm just doing something wrong? I won't claim to be perfect, so feel free to poke me in the eye with the obvious if I'm not seeing it.

Now what I'm really asking is which weapon is best specifically for Wolvers/Devilites? I'm open to any kind of weapon. If there truly is not THE best weapon to be found I'll be happy if ya can state some (dis)advantages of any weapon ya will suggest.

[Disclaimer: It's my first post so I'll apologize if I should've found something about my question before; neither the site's search function nor Google seemed to show acceptable results; I've lurked enough threads to fear this "Bopp" will be irritated by my inability to find a frequently asked question]

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 21:01

Rezzler

Flpuroshes are very helpful,

Flpuroshes are very helpful, and due to speed, are probably the easiest to use.

Though with sone asi and careful positioning, blitz outclasses the flourishes.

Just hit them on their side rather than where they are attacking you and you should be good to go.

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 21:06

Dibsville

---

Truly, there is no best weapon. However, against the fast-moving Fiends, a Final Flourish or Barbarous Thorn Blade is a really good choice. And to the easily-dodged Wolvers, Dark Briar Barrage can take out a whole pack of them quite easily (for which, they usually spawn in large groups).

If you only wanted to make one to use on both, I'd say Barbarous Thorn Blade. It has the same damage as Final Flourish, however the charges are significantly different, with Barbarous' being arguably better. While the Final Flourish's charge attack is a 3-hit lunge, the Barbarous Thorn Blade's charge is an Area of Effect attack that can be used to take out large groups of Wolvers in one shot, while still retaining the speed and damage of Final Flourish for use against fiends. However, Barbarous Thorn Blade is significantly harder to obtain than a Final Flourish, unless you're willing to overpay.

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 21:30

Painfool

@Dibsville

Regarding the Thorn Blade, would ya recommend to make the 4* version and keep it at lvl10, or is the BTB's charge attack worth the decrease in attack? I'm probably gonna make one of these then, might be harder than a Flourish but I'm a sucker for cool-looking equipment.
On the other hand, would the Dark Briar Barrage also work good against fiends? I haven't dabbled much with bombs yet, but that phantasmal Snarbolax upon detonation looks so badass.

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 21:35

Dibsville

Stay at 4* unless you want looks

I'd say keep it at Level 10 4*, as the only main difference is the 5* version has the glow that follows the tip, like all 5* Flourish-types, and the charge is a bit less random. Still extremely effective. If you care for looks over damage (such as myself, toting my Level 1 Biohazard and Level 1 Dark Briar Barrage), then go for 5*, but otherwise 4* is just as effective.

If you have a way of getting Charge Time Reduction on your bombs, then yes, Dark Briar Barrage is good for fiends. However, due to how fast fiends are, unless you have a really high charge time reduction you're just going to be a sitting duck while charging. It works very well otherwise.

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 21:38

Red-Galaxy

I have never tried it but I

I have never tried it but I heard that the winmillon is great against those devilites, so that's something you should try

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 22:02

Painfool

@Red-Galaxy

I'm not sure about Winmillion, seeing as it has no 5* to upgrade later on and the wiki says the projectiles cause enemies to dodge, so they might jump out of reach more often. Maybe someone who owns that sword will stumble in and could shed a better light on the situation.

@Dibsville, then I'll most likely indeed aim for a BTB, even if it'll be lvl1 (or well, mabye stick with a DTB - I'll take that bridge when I come to it). Also high-five for looks over damage! Like Julio Scoundrél said, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose - as long as you look really cool doing it"! [And oh god I want a Biohazard too]

I don't really wanna derail my own thread here, but instead of opening up another one: Is it really important to wear specific armor? I mean, I'd like the Mercury Set for the speed bonus (another quirk of mine, rather fast than powerful), but the speed bonus appears to be questionable at best and Piercing damage doesn't seem to happen as often in T3. Otherwise I'll probably stick with my Salamander/Divine combo.

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 22:25

Shadowstarkirby

Well, no...

Making a build purely on MSI isn't the best idea, you'd be surprised how much other bonuses you lose out on over it. MSI should only be a luxury stat that you build upon after making your primary weapon stats as high as you can. Piercing is also considered the least useful defense thanks to 1/2 of the families it protects against being an absolute joke. I recommend building on ASI with Vog instead because it's more helpful.

Also, if you're looking for the best "all around armor set", I highly suggest you swap your Salamander helmet for a Skolver Cap so you get the extra oomph of Sword DMG Med instead of a silly single family bonus.

Lastly, I highly suggest you do NOT upgrade your DTB to BTB. The damage difference between the Lv 10 4* and Lv 1 5* is incredibly significant; the charge attack doesn't make up for the lost damage. In addition, the charge attacks of FF/BTB aren't exactly the best thing about the weapons; you won't be using them often.

But it is all your choice.

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 02:14

Fehzor

What do you mean winmillion is bad against fiends?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGQ4YqoF5FQ

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 07:31

Bopp

agree

I agree that Final Flourish/Barbarous Thorn Blade is great against fiends. Don't upgrade from 4 to 5 stars until you have enough 5-star fire crystals to get your 5-star item to at least heat level 5 (or even 8 or 10).

In guns, Callahan is somewhat easier to use than Blitz Needle. The projectiles are very fast, and stun is nice. But you will be disappointed by the damage output. You might want to wait for the upcoming gunner update, before committing big resources to new guns.

I agree that Dark Briar Barrage is extremely effective against crowds of fiends. Of course, bombing takes some practice.

Devilite projectiles are almost entirely shadow damage, if I recall correctly. You will notice the difference between two pieces of shadow armor vs. two pieces of Mercurial. Beasts are by far the easiest monster family, so do not bother optimizing for them.

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 09:49

#10

Coelydragon

Bombs

I kid you not. Blast bombs (both nitro and snarby) and haze bombs (fire, shock, or stun for cc) actually work great. Why? The teleporting causes them to incidentally end up in every single bomb blast without you getting hurt if you do it right. Not to mention the fun. Fiends, I prefer my handy Glacius but I'd use a FF if I had one available. Of course bombs work too but are more difficult.

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 11:27

#11

Qwez

I'll just put some Gorgos info here...

Gorgos base their attack off of your movements.

If you move left, they will bite to your left. If you move right, they will bite to your right. If you stand still, they will come at you.

The trick against Gorgos is to be consistent with your movements, so when the Gorgos check your current movements, you will be able to easily dodge them. They check roughly half a second to a second before they attack (I'm not completely sure; only did a little testing).

As for how the Gorgos attack when you move towards or away from them, I have no clue.

EDIT:
Need to find something on the forums? Use a google search of "site:forums.spiralknights.com [query]"

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 21:36

#12

Bob-The-Squishy

Piercers

Actually i prefer the flourish against fiends and or beasts because you can just knock'em over and keep on attacking them but beware of the charge attack. The FLourish charge is not good against beasts but is ok against fiend. Winmillion is ok i guess against fiend but beasts not so much. Against beasts i actually prefer a Wild hunting blade or someother extremely fast weapon. Also Magnus is boss with fiend.

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 22:51

#13

Paintool

Painfool, my arc-nemesis. You

Painfool, my arc-nemesis.
You are like my evil twin; there can only be one!

In any scenarion, I like Dark Briar Barrage.
Kite = success. : >

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 01:31

#14

Raunwynn

For beasts, a wrench.

For beasts, a wrench.
I had to fight my neighbor's cat once and as soon as it saw that wrench it ran away.
For friends, I'd say the wrench would work on them too.

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 02:28

#15

Keatonfrost

Well, the combination of a

Well, the combination of a cold snap with asi low and a wrench wand with sleep high should take care of fiends and beasts easily. Please tell me that you know I'm not serious for my first day back.

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 04:53

#16

Krakob

@Raunwynn

No no no. You fight friends like you fight snow. If you pee on them, they go away.

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 10:16

#17

Raunwynn

@Krabob

Well, the wrench works on beasts and friends.
And If I'd peed on my neighbor's cat, it would have run away.
So we've got options.

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 11:52

#18

Soulnfinity

As stated before, Dark Briar

As stated before, Dark Briar Barrage is a good remedy to your problem.

But with any weapon, the trick to beating these guys is by observing how they move and attacking at the opportune moment. Simply hacking and slashing will most likely get you into some unfortunate situations.

Wolvers - They have a short cooldown stage after they attack. Additionally, T3 wolvers will almost always appear behind you before they attack. I deal with these by standing still while charging and wait for them to appear behind me. When one pops up and starts charging for the attack, immediately move behind them and attack from behind as they are attacking your afterimage. Note that in a pack of 6 or more wolvers, you should use extreme precaution as the wolvers will start spawning all around you; it is best to attack with a combo instead of a charge until you are able to whittle the pack down.

Devilites - There are 2 ways I deal with these guys, depending the situation.
1) Low concentration of devilites with obstacles (blocks, walls, gates, etc.) - I usually move toward them while shielding. The average devilite responds by dodging and jumping haphazardly. At a certain point they will become brave enough to venture a toss at you. It is the moment right after that you should move around the path of the projectile and to their side and start attacking. You should also be aware of your own vulnerability to any possible attacks coming from other devilites.
2) High concentration of devilites with floor traps (mainly spikes) - I haven't found a great way to deal with these, though I have found that standing still and dodging the projectiles while moving into the safest place to pick on one to be the best solution so far.

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 13:12

#19

Poopsie

...

just in case you want to know how to deal them with blitz..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFtenyQNMU8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50PrPBIIVZw

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 13:40

#20

Bob-The-Squishy

uhhh

I AGREE WITH ALL OF THEM

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Best weapons to deal with Beasts/Fiends