Is it possible to solo the third level of the Snarbolax mission with Tier 1* gear?
I'm referring to the version that appears in the Arcade.
I've done the two missions before it, but since the boss room requires ringing the bell and shooting the snarbolax at the same time, I wondered if it was possible solo...
All the posts I've seen talk of groups of 2-4 doing it.
Thanks.
Yes, every single level in this game is soloable with any gear in the game as long as you're skilled enough. I don't think the arcade version differs from the mission one whatsoever, though I may be wrong here (doubt it though).
Also, what you said involving the snarbolax, that is technically incorrect: you don't need to hit them at the same time. You hit the bell when it's near snarby, and then snarby gets stunned allowing you to hit him.
What I would give to see someone solo FSC with only proto gear xD
Edit: I will try to be helpful now.
I solo the snarby mission on elite with the given 2* gear (except I don't use the cobalt armor, I use the fencing jacket).
So if snarby was done on normal with say proto gear, you shouldn't have too much trouble.
Well, encouraged by your words .. I gave it a try. Did fine until the final Lair. Of course this is the first time through this, and much like my first encounter with the Trojan, somewhat surprising. Not so much the Snalobox itself as much as the spray missile attacks. The joy of the shield (non-upgraded Proto). It wasn't quite enough to get through it. I also need to practice more with the rhythm of *not* ringing the bell until he is right near it.
The Freeze Gun at level 10 gives -15 damage. Not huge, but at least I can hit the bell without being directly adjacent to it (one mistimed ring and ol' Snarly bites worse than the Gremalkin). I should be able to wear him down using the gun rather than switching to the Flame Sword and back again to ring the bell.
It was an interesting experiment, I think I'll upgrade that shield a bit more. Should I be switching to the Circuit Breaker, Emberbreak, Force Buckler, Frostbreaker or Scale Shield instead? I have the Recipe for all of them, so I can make what I need. I'd rather pick the best one before I spend the Crystals upgrading it (Dim Crystals are in rather short supply - they never drop).
By Flame Sword, do you mean Hot Edge? Its damage is split between normal and elemental, and Snarby, being a monster of Beasts family, is resistant to elemental damage, so Hot Edge is not terribly effective against it.
You'd be better off using Big Beast Basher - it has the same attack speed, but it's damage is purely normal, with high bonus against Beasts. Forst Gun seem to have normal attack too, so it will still be useful against Snarby, but I'd rather have used it to deal with Gun Puppies and Lumbers.
If you are trying to reach vanguard at a reasonable pace, i would not recommend getting any of those. the 3 breaker shields only go up to three star, and then their alchemy path ends. the scale shield is even worse, as it only has a one star version. I would suggest trying to either just get the defender that comes free with the missions, or get trade your snarby tokens for a bristling buckler from brinks.
I agree with Becketta. Just skip 1-star items entirely. Get the reward items from the Snarbolax tokens. While you are waiting to get them, use the Cobalt/Calibur items that you get for free from the missions.
Even the Cobalt shields aren't that good; I would recommend Volcanic Plate/Grey Owlite/Barbarous/Dread Skelly to new players instead.
Sigh. Haven't gotten past the Toy Soldiers mission yet ... so, other than buying it from a vendor for a high price, I have no access to the Rank mission that 'gives' you the Cobalt/Defender/Calibur weapons/armor/shield.
The point here is "How to defeat Snalobox with level 1* gear as a newbie. All the other Arcade offerings appear to be 'easy' enough to do to level 9/max access for a Squire.
Thanks for the advice on the Hot Edge, I guess I'll return to the Proto Sword then or get the recipe for a Big Beast Basher and make one.
Yes, I realize that the Alchemy paths for the 1* shields do not lead anywhere significant. All I'm asking is if I were to use one, which would be the best choice as an upgraded (level 10) shield ... at my level ... given the access I have to equipment without spending a ton of crowns (of which I'm only making about 13k/week).
@Legenddestroyer, you listed 5* equipment, I can only use 2*
@Bopp/Becketta, hard to get Snarlobox tokens if you don't complete the Snarlobox instance and get access to boxes that drop them.
Soon after I started the game two years ago, I beat Snarbolax solo in Proto gear with no revives on the first try (if I remember correctly). I was never able to beat him like that ever after. xD
I'm pretty sure Legenddestroyer meant entire alchemy paths, all of which start from 2* items.
Advice on getting low star equipment is a good start so breaker stuff is not all that bad. They will give you a bit of help until you plan for 5 star gear.
"The point here is "How to defeat Snalobox with level 1* gear as a newbie. All the other Arcade offerings appear to be 'easy' enough to do to level 9/max access for a Squire.
Wow! That's the hardest danger mission ever. How did you solo without dying once :P
From my understanding, the only issue you have is during the snarbolax fight, itself.
Im sure its obvious, but IMO the best way to figure out how to kill anything in SK is with first-hand experience; Try and try again until you figure out attack patterns, and the do's and don'ts of a fight. Once you figure out attack patterns, any gear that doesnt affect DPS becomes redundant IMO. Even then, High DPS only matters if you have no patience.(What im trying to say is your gear shouldnt matter too much)
I reccomend using a gun to learn attack patterns and get a feel for your attack-window-opportunity safely/safer, as a sword/low* bomb requires you to get up close and personal. I learned how to solo Duke with my supernova. The feeling of that first kill, on your own, is amazing.
Now, the main reason i posted (though i didnt want to go completely off topic so i wrote that ^ garbage)
Fire Crystals, more importantly - Cracked? Dim? crystals
They dont drop. They must be bought from a vendor in the bazaar for a small amount of crowns.(i think from the guy that sells eyes, colours etc.)
The lowest * crystal that drops is the 2*(warm?) crystal.(Unless i was ridiculously unlucky - Stratum 1 on Normal)
I learned that the hard way. It was painful.
It's not that hard to solo Snarby Elite with the cobalt/calibur. And besides, how are you even doing Snarby if you aren't up to his mission yet?!? You get the cobalt/calibur in the 2/3 missions leading up to his.
@Kwibble
The mission is three levels (usually 6-8) of one of the Arcade gates. I'm not doing it as a 'Mission' but rather as three levels/substrates of the Arcade.
in part it is an evaluation of whether *all* of Tier 1 of the Arcade is soloable as a Squire in Proto gear.
So far the key observations (besides practice/confidence) are:
Get the Vitasuit for the +1 to health, forge it to 10
Get the Freeze gun and forge it to level 10
Accept that you will not be able to push any monsters with the Proto Shield, even a Circuit Breaker shield is better because it *will* break up crowds. We tested the Proto in the Training Hall and it was useless for mob control.
Other than that, so far all the levels of all the gates in the Arcade have been doable with my default gear except the last Snarly level.
Practice, practice, practice. At least the Battle Sprite is slowly leveling as all the minerals get harvested.
Thanks The-Vindicar for clarifying. In this case, it would be Plate/Owlite/Skelly shields, as boss tokens are unavailable to you just yet.
I would think that the Fencing Jacket would be miles better than the Vitasuit, as it has the same damage bonus as a piece of Skolver.
Here, have Zeddy's video. It isn't really done with 1* armor, as well as being done with bombs, but it's close.
DO NOT use Proto gear. I tired this with 2 other people and Ho-Ly-[scrap]. it was HORRRIBLE. I used 5 SPARKS! ON SNARBY! IT TOOK US LIKE 45 MINS!!!!
That's my advice....
P.S. We were trying to make a YT vid... but it wuldn't upload...
Um, I think you'd be better off getting the free spiral order stuff from the missions (all 2*, which is nice).
If the issue is that you can't get past the Toy Soldiers mission (which is what you said earlier), you could always ask a friend or two for help (maybe ask on the forums or something?), rather than grind your 1* stuff to heat level 10 to go for snarby, when you probably won't use your 1* stuff again, unless you feel like having a challenge.
Just getting help for toy soldiers would probably be more time efficient (snarby mission is on the next page so...), and the other missions on the same page give you better equipment (even though the cobalt set is awful, it's better than 0* or 1* stuff in general) than getting everything to heat level 10 just to take on snarby in the arcade.
I did Rage proto run with 3 guidies in snarby gate and no rev :D
IMO you should buy a tooth pick and elemental gun. And for toy soldier use you slime slasher or rouge robo wreaker with CTR Vh. + any proto bomb.
Well, I was able to complete the Snalobax Rank Mission, "Shadow of the Beast" with the following loadout:
Vitasuit lvl 10
Circuit Breaker Shield lvl 10
Freeze Gun level 10
Spiral Pith Helm lvl 1
Hot Edge lvl 2
The key thing learned about the mission was learned last night when I randomly joined a Defender-Elite on a run through the Iron Knight Gate on Elite. When we got to Snarly's Lair I noted that he avoided the Spikes thrown by Snarly *not* by careful dodging and movement ... but by using his shield (duh!). This taught me that the entire mission was designed to emphasize the importance of good shield technique to new players. As someone who has spent the past few weeks running various arcade missions, if you keep moving, even in an arena, you can avoid a lot of damage without using the shield (which slows you down). Having used the Proto shield for so long, which *Does Not* bump anything .... the shield was not really much of an asset.
Thanks to all of you and your comments ... fitting the 1* Circuit Breaker (any 'real' 1* would have done it) made using the shield much more worthwhile.
I did the Iron Knight Gate run in Cobalt/Defender loadout on my alt just for the heat to level/upgrade the equipment, so the Defender has a much larger protective bar than the 1* shield does. So, I was concerned over the CB shield today.
So ...
Keep your shield up during the spike blasts at you.
Don't panic when Snarly comes in closer
Keep pointing the gun at the bell as he gets closer
Ring it
Shoot like crazy when he is mustard colored
Shield up again once he turns black
Drink your health pills between rounds
And it does work without suiting up in 2* gear.
A pleasant surprise, but validates that all the missions in Tier 1 *can* be soloed by a Squire in 1* gear.
Now if I can just keep those candles lit longer before the Grimalkin eats me ..... nightmares, lol
Thanks again everyone!
Forbush-Girl/Forbush-Man
In memory of Irving Forbush inspiration for the Not Brand Echh comic - who looks like an SK recruit on a budget
I think the reason we couldn't help was because we all mostly assumed you were using your shield for that... I personally can say I thought you were doing that, as I have never done it another way :P
So good job and well done.
Pro Tip: NEVER EVER put your shield down until you can hit the bell... or slash Snarby's face off afterwards. Remember his bite pattern too...
BITE BITE BITE Pause BITE BITE BITE Pause Dig
"So ...
Keep your shield up during the spike blasts at you.
Don't panic when Snarly comes in closer
Keep pointing the gun at the bell as he gets closer
Ring it
Shoot like crazy when he is mustard colored
Shield up again once he turns black
Drink your health pills between rounds"
"Shoot like crazy when he is mustard colored"
"when he is mustard colored"
"mustard colored"
"mustard"
I gotta love that mustard flavored snarby.
BTW, gratz on killing the thing.
@Kwibble
A friend of mine put a video on youtube showing how long it would take for you to die in FSC with proto gear (He "forgot" about his level 86 Drakon though)
To agree with Vindicar the basher would be the best at soloing him
thats what I used after all.
(apologies for bump)
As a Squire once I was the unfortunate one who didn't find a party and had to do the mission solo. Used only one emergency revive during the actual fight and somewhere between 3-5 SoLs on the way there. I was lucky to have a Firecracker and reasonable timing as snarby rushes in front of the bell while the firecracker detonates. And did quick damage off him. Rinse and repeat and on that bombshell he's dead.
You're making the huge mistake many make when starting out. Sparks are valuable. You will run out if you use them excessively. Save them and don't use them. Instead, focus on building up the skill to avoid dying in the first place. Don't worry, you can always go back to Haven if you die. Sparks should only be used when you are heavily invested in a mission, i.e. FSC last floor/boss, shadow lairs, or events where you will lose out on going back to Haven. Use those sparks wisely ^_^
I don't see why not. You ring the bell and then smash the Snarbolax. There is no particular reason why you should be taking much damage while you do this. So just repeatly ring the bell and smash the Snarbolax, until it dies.