There is a variety of weapons on Spiral Knights that rank in category of slow to very fast. The issue I see with it is that it all has to be swords. Yes, guns and bombs too but swords and the Warmaster Rocket Hammer. There are a few at the VERY beginning of the game and that is nice and all but I see them when I get into my higher ranks and tiers and wonder why all the ones now have nothing special. They are swords. When I first played a Prestige Mission and had to face an Almirian Crusader I was VERY jealous he was using a spear against me. It wasn't so much they fact that the new enemy had range, it was that I cam to realize Spiral Knights only had swords. Why not a spear to emulate the Almirian's? We can have their helmets, shields, armor, but not their weapon? And the same with Gremlins and their axes. We can get their looks in a costume, have their shield ( Darkfang Shield ) and yet we can't have their weapon?

I think Spiral Knights should have an update that brings about Axes, Spears, or both. The spear could act like a pierce weapon and dive forward while the Axe could just be another Heavy Hatchet, but higher in rank. It's come to the point as to where reskinning something would be all I ask for. An entire new line would be very amazing but always seeing a sword every turn gets kind of sad. The enemies faced have a variety of weapons from their tongues, body spikes, and teeth to their massive weapon swinging overhead and raining debris on top of you. Any new type of weapon could be amazing.

The Axe idea: The axe could use a three hit combo like the regular weapon but be just a bit faster than the Troika. Swing one and twice, side to side, then the third strike does an overhead smash to deal AoE, increasing with level. It could be extremely fun to learn something new and if this sounds like a bad idea, the Rocket Hammer was certain not fun to try, flying into hazards by mistake on occasions, so why not have a new line of axes and a Gremlin in his own little workshop in the Hall of Heros?

The Spear idea: The Spear could do a trio combo, like the axe, only instead of smashing against the ground for the third hit the Knight would lunge forward a block or two and pierce the enemy in front of them, causing a knockdown and in the Lumber's case, give knockback far enough to be safe in case it strikes. This would be fun to learn to use as well, maybe the Cobalt Recipe vendor could have this in his and the variants could end up being Elemental or Pierce.

The Crossbow: This, for SK purposes, would be a single handed crossbow. It could fire a single shot and then reload but movement speed would only slightly be hindered instead of majorly like in most guns. The charge could be a cone of arrows, increasing with level. One major thing could be shield canceling while charging up the bow either fully or for a shot, it could launch the arrow and then shield, making the arrow go off course but, if lucky, still hit an enemy. In SK guns have no ammo limit so neither should crossbows.

Crossbow second fire idea: If the one shot and reload sounds too bad it could always be an automatic type shot, firing multiple shots and with the extra damage there could be extra reload time. The charge would still be a cone of arrows.

P.S. The Crossbow is alright, I don't care too much since I am a sword user, but the Axe and Spear I wish deeply for, even if only one in the game!

P.S.S. PLEASE make it easier to find orbs of Alchemy. This game gets a bit boring when all you are doing is farming crowns to buy orbs just to get gear to beat a mission(s) and then repeat the process but for longer due to major price increase.