I have a really hard time with Vana runs. Without fail when I do get a party the majority bail prior to the actual boss. I can solo on normal with enough sparks but that makes the drops a lot less helpful. My connection is good, I get 50 Mbps down and 10 up but I always lag in the battles enough that dodging is at least hard and frequently impossible. I don't think I'll ever be able to solo on elite with this limitation. All of this brings me to my real question. Where can I find people who are actually finishing the whole run?
Anyone finish Vana?
Tue, 02/18/2014 - 15:31
Tue, 02/18/2014 - 17:54
#2
I've decided to just try vana
I've decided to just try vana runs on normal for a while since I spend too many sparks on elite and I seem to lag less on normal, if you want to try some runs together. What's your gear for vana?
My IGN is Hareth, I typically go as a bomber (shiver and EV) and a voltedge, although I can switch to damage with blitz and some other weapon.
Tue, 02/18/2014 - 19:36
#3
my two cents
Yes, downgrade your graphics to the lowest possible setting, in case it helps with your lag.
Here are the economics of Normal vs. Elite (based on the Lancer Knightz mission data): A Normal run earns you about 6,400 crowns, while Elite earns you about 9,400. If you don't need your Almirian Seals for items (Fang of Vog or whatever), then you can vendor those and earn an extra 3,000 crowns per run. That's why it's especially unfortunate that you have people leaving before the boss fight. It's worth so much money.
My recommendation is: Join a random FSC party. In the mission lobby, ask whether they're pretty sure they're doing Vanaduke. If not, then leave and find another party. If you can't find any party, then solo it on Normal. You get most of the payout, and you practice for the day when you can do Advanced and then Elite.
Tue, 02/18/2014 - 21:00
#4
In my opinion...
It's better to go:
- Solo
- Normal
- Lock your party (increase enemy health upon each player that joins)
Also I recommend you try danger missions solo and on normal. If it's harder, then hard stuff that you think is hard won't seem so difficult (at least that's how I learned the game). If runs don't work out mouse over "return to haven" that way you won't waste sparks (you can repeat runs ya know). Random parties (at least for me) either
- go really well where people actually know what they are doing and are confident in their run
or
- really bad where they die and i'm the only one with my emergency rev "carrying them"
But do whatever is comfortable for you!
I pretty much always have my party open so anyone can join in when they want to, but I WILL NOT babysit them. If you join me, I expect you to hold your own.
IGN: Mystrian
Tue, 02/18/2014 - 22:10
#5
oh yeah
Oh yeah, I'd like to agree with a couple of Mystrian's points.
If you go solo, then lock your party and don't spend any Sparks of Life. If you die twice on a level, then just restart the mission. You'll get quite good at the first few levels of FSC. You might even start finding them dull...
If you join a party, then don't spend any Sparks of Life on other people. They should be able to carry themselves. If they die too much, then go solo. If you die too much, then spend a couple of Sparks of Life on yourself. You have some obligation not to abandon the party. But if you keep dying a lot, then apologize and leave the party.
Wed, 02/19/2014 - 08:10
#6
Party matters
I find that whether you finish a vana run or not depends, about 80-90%, on who your party is. Have to say I've never tried it solo on normal, might have to give it a go for those tokens :)
On parties:
The other day, I did two FSC runs.
The first, was with a random guildmate, and two of their friends showed up about a quarter of the way through. It was supposed to be a speedrun to get tokens. We ended up spending over an hour trying to get through, and never beat vanaduke himself.
I did record it but I doubt you'll want to watch an hour of me slowly getting more and more annoyed.
A little while later, two of my friends were going on an FSC run so I joined them. This time it was a regular full clear... we ended up doing it much faster and I didn't die at all during the boss fight itself.
This was the final battle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYtnx82bIPs
from this example, you can clearly see how important having people you know and trust is. doing it with random people usually ends badly, however if you know a good player or two it can turn the whole thing into a breeze.
Having a blitz or shivermist also helps with the last fight, and with trojans. Also, as an undead medium suduruska wielder, if you have a vortex bomb then I love you.
Wed, 02/19/2014 - 15:14
#7
You...you want vortexers?
You...you want vortexers? Please send me a friend request to my main, Hareth. I'm tired of joining/starting random groups, especially ones where guys in 4* cobalt gear join.... -_-
Sun, 02/23/2014 - 21:58
#8
The vana delusion
Unless you have the right gear or others with the right gear you are doomed. This
is especially true since Spiral went to Spark of Life format. If you had a weakest link before,
us stronger players could revive them for half our health and still be OK. As for gear, look
for players who have a Blitz, Plague Needle, Glacious, Shivermist will tell you they are basically
Vana equipted. Yes there is other gear that works, but these items are key and can be used almost
anywhere. Having fire protect and dead UV is also a good balance. Having done Vana over 500 times
I've seen it all. I only continue to do Vana runs because I sell BLACKEN CREST. (forget Fang of Vog it
is a crap sword that kills you). If with friends, I know its 30 min. run. But when you go with people who
don't have level 10 gear and the wrong gear, you know they don't have sparks or know the key spawns
to do a Vana run, you may be on your own. I at start if you see NOOB action eg. shooting guns running around
and BS behavior. You should just leave and try another group until they meet some of the basic Vana gear
and level 10 gear that show they are experienced player in general. I will play with one weak link. NP. But
more than 1 and other with crap gear I'm out of there. You can always wait and find another Vana run.
Sun, 03/02/2014 - 15:41
#9
Blitz, shivermist and a
Blitz, shivermist and a elemental sword is all you really need to solo the whole thing on normal. I've soloed vanaduke on elite using just blitz and shivermist. I don't exactly use optimized armour for it either. Just the mainstream vog cub set and crest of almire shield. I have two +6 heart pendants and I use vs undead high perk from my sprite.
Mon, 03/03/2014 - 03:24
#10
Wait what?
There are "recommended armor and weapons?"?
Mon, 03/03/2014 - 11:43
#11
Id just like to point out you
Id just like to point out you should not get blackened crest to sell it to a vendor, get a 5* item for 30 tokens (so not fang of vog) instead for better profit.
Sun, 03/23/2014 - 20:07
#12
go solo
try to bring a brandish
bring some sort of autogun
it's optional to bring a shivermist
Wed, 04/09/2014 - 04:41
#13
Go Solo on Normal
It is much faster to do it on your own speedrunning fsc for tokens for monies. Too many new players wants to do KoA. If you can, get a chaos set with fire resist uv's and work your way up to soloing fsc on elite.
Choas Set+ Fire resist UV
Strike Needle
BlazeBrand
Penta hearts
Seraphynx/ Maskeraith with Health Trinket
Volcanic plateshield/ Grew owlite
This should be enough for solo.
Mon, 04/07/2014 - 01:59
#14
Look for friends and guilds that do Vana runs. It's much easier than soloing/on random parties.
Some random parties are good, some not. Like I once completed Vana run on Elite with a party of 2! We had 2 Blitz's and just random swords.
And the I once joined a party. The difficulty was Advanced. We had 4 people. I used 0 Sparks, all the other guys used at least 5... They were all 5*.
Tue, 11/29/2016 - 16:05
#15
I usually join random parties
Doesn't matter to me whether I'm the only one with Blitz, I just learn not to rely on anyone, so it's easier for me.
Veterans mostly hide behind their friend and guild list, they hardly comes to random party. As in connection, it's based heavily on server location. If you are far from the server, you get less priority hence the lag, no matter how good your internet connection is. Where you at? I guess my only suggestion to you is watch some youtube videos on how to do it efficiently, there's also some way to optimizing java setup if you look up google search, also include "site:forums.spiralknights.com" on keyword search, lower graphic setting?