While we're on the topic of circumventing monster shields: Alchemer ricochets can disarm a gremlin mortafire, even when it is facing you.

(We could have a whole thread just on crazy uses of alchemers. And we have in the past, basically.)

Vortex of PAIN: Drop a vortex bomb (preferably EV) to gather a large wave of enemies in an arena, then mow charged sword attacks through the clumped enemies. Every one of those monsters will take the biggest hit from the sword plus a hit or a few from knockback blasts as they revolve in the vortex.

Trojan Baiting: For the few monsters that wait and track their aggressor before attacking-- standing for maybe a quarter of a second in one spot will bait them into attacking, leaving them vulnerable as they carry out their attack. You'll want to dance in front of Trojans, pause, then walk right up behind them when they attack. Vana moves like a trojan, too. OR, from a distance, pause in spot, then side step out of their charge toward you, then shoot them in the back. For them guardians, you'll want to lead them into running into a wall or corner to make them more predictable.

Being a Spritely Team-Player: spamming quills at monsters your teammates are attacking, taking advantage of Frenzied Firestorm if you chose that Drakon skill, and giving monsters heart attacks when you notice your teammates are low on health

Rock Paper Scissors?: Teammate gunning things flying around the room? If you can bring a bomb, concentrate the crowd (Or you can push/pin monsters into place with swords, too). Teammate bring a bomb? Push monsters into their charges with a sword. Teammate charging sword attacks and tanking through the room willy-nilly? Get out of the way and pick off whatever they weren't able to mow down. ...Or a crowd control bomb to fix the willy-nillyness would be great, too.
^not really practical advice because limited arsenals & wep. slots, but the vague idea is to either play to/with your team's movements on the field or make your attack-intentions really, really obvious to your teammates.

Wave rider sounds so risky. When I depend on constant movement to survive and attack, I'd rather have my SB intact for an emergency hit-I-couldn't-dodge than popped.

When I read "throw money at the problem," I was thinking of something else; like triple max UVs kind of extensive money-throwing.

Gratuitous violence is good thing, too, to push your way out of a small monster mob if you suddenly find yourself on the wrong side of a teammates' charge attack.

1. How is the Mixmaster broken?
2. ...Isn't the Trojan Baiting the intended way to beat them and not really a special tactic...?

@Vanaduke-Destroyer
That's true. Gotta make shielded monsters vulnerable somehow in 1v1.
I've a thought (not backed up by anything but personal thoughts) that Trojans and other enemies that track and wait before attacking were designed with AI like that to encourage people to co-op to kill monsters. Even better encouragement-- spawn multiple shielded trojans/deadnaughts in a room to chase down even more knights at a time. IS there an arena situation where there are three or more deadnaughts/guardian-guys spawned at a time?

@Aneurysms

I was actually watching Vokster's Solo UFSC run for the sake of nostalgia the other day. Skimming back through it again...
Depth 1
Depth 2 (There is a Trojan just off-screen to the north)
Depth 3
Depth 3 (Again)
Depth 4

Arena Switch: If a non-party-button arena is inconvenient/dangerous, just lure the enemies to a previous battle area where you're safer while fighting. (One place I often do this is the Royal Jelly Palace, Garden of Goo - The second area where you have to go to two different battle arenas and kill all the monsters to unlock gates to statues, which you have to bring back to the middle to open the gate to progress. I ALWAYS die when fighting in the left area, so I bring the monsters there to the middle/right area to fight.)

Oooh I've got a good one for this-

To effectively dodge large and random crowds in arenas such as at the end of Dreams and Nightmares (think toxigels in particular), only attack from south of the crowd. This ensures that you know exactly when monsters are attacking, and allows you to shield and avoid damage (even damage from completely random and less flagged attacks) if necessary. Attacking from the north leaves the crowd out of sight and your knight vulnerable.

Explosive Escape: If you're surrounded by enemies and most of your attacks (including shield bash) can't push them away, use a Drakon's Firebolt skill. Not sure if Firestorm or other sprite's skills work (I only have a Drakon, and it didn't unlock Firestorm yet).

Kill it Until it Dies: If you're bad at dodging Howlitzer skull missiles, you can shoot them to make them explode early. They don't explode instantly after hit, and might have to be hit multiple times. Autoguns work well for this since they deal large amounts of damage in quick bursts (not when the skulls are already moving, but right before they start/when they just started). (DO NOT USE SWORDS. They can be destroyed by swords, but they still explode when destroyed, so you'll still take all of the damage.)

Quicksilvers Are Your Friend: If you're fighting a difficult or dangerous enemy (like Mecha Knights) that's being helped by Quicksilvers, don't kill the Quicksilvers! Just run away and put up your shield if necessary. The Quicksilvers can damage other enemies when charged, so just let them kill the harder monsters. If they aren't interested in charging themselves, you can throw a shock vial at them.

Beasts

Center of Chaos: Wolvers tend to be moderately troublesome enemies, the biggest problem is how fast they move. The Center of Chaos tactic relies on this while other standard strategies are hindered by it. Blast bombs have a strong knockback and damage throughout the blast. Wolvers will dash and teleport into the bomb area. For the best results get a team of gunners to stand in the blast radius to draw Wolvers in.

Constructs

No construct-specific strategies.

Fiends

Wave Rider: Trojans are powerful enemies and one should generally avoid getting hit. However, Trojans also come with support in most situations and staying mobile while in a huge encroaching crowd can be difficult. This particular tactic uses the Trojan's power to your advantage. The Trojan swing and Buff both have large knockback, you can use this in conjunction with a strong shield to ride that attack out of bad situations. Enemies have trouble tracking you and the speed at which you travel makes shield damage from traps minimal. A similar tactic can be employed with standard lumbers but for the ones with stun and another status it is recommended to only use a shield that offers the correct resists.

Shot Lock: Devilites are tough enemies for any class. They're ranged so sword and bomb users have trouble getting up close and they dodge gunfire. There is one gun family that they have trouble with though and that is the Callahan. This gun can pin them down for a short bit but thanks to the 2-shot clip it won't be long. In order to take full advantage bring a Blitz or Plague needle and switch shoot with the Callahan. You will bypass the clip limits of both guns and with the pinning power of the Callahan you can make full advantage of the Autogun's power.

Trojan Shield Bypass: The ultra barriers (usable item drops) will hit trojans if you just stand next to them. Freeze barriers are the best allowing you to freeze a trojan while charging an attack. I usually use shield barriers for a final blow if a trojan narrowly escapes death by blitz needle.

Didn't include Trojan Baiting.

Gremlins

(Unnamed): Alchemer ricochets can disarm a gremlin mortafire, even when it is facing you.

Slime

Quicksilvers Are Your Friend: If you're fighting a difficult or dangerous enemy (like Mecha Knights) that's being helped by Quicksilvers, don't kill the Quicksilvers! Just run away and put up your shield if necessary. The Quicksilvers can damage other enemies when charged, so just let them kill the harder monsters. If they aren't interested in charging themselves, you can throw a shock vial at them.

Undead

Your Shield Can't Help You Now!: The front shield of the Almirian Crusaders (see SL Firestorm Citadel, last stage of Vana fight, and Legion of Almire) is pierced by iron slug shots. Stun these team destroyers to death as they charge at you, flinching and stopping them in their tracks.

Ghost Buster: Dash over one of These big black evil invincible ever-chasing Grimal kats and it is gone. You will not get damage.

Howlitzer Buster Thingy Attack: Do the same above with a flying howlitzer.

Kill it Until it Dies: If you're bad at dodging Howlitzer skull missiles, you can shoot them to make them explode early. They don't explode instantly after hit, and might have to be hit multiple times. Autoguns work well for this since they deal large amounts of damage in quick bursts (not when the skulls are already moving, but right before they start/when they just started). (DO NOT USE SWORDS. They can be destroyed by swords, but they still explode when destroyed, so you'll still take all of the damage.)

Other

Compound Clearer: This is a super simple strategy and requires skill in bombing. This strategy uses a Voltaic Tempest and a Vortex bomb of any kind, though the Obsidian Crusher is recommended. Place the Voltaic tempest to shock the monsters and make them more manageable, then follow up by dropping a Vortex inside the Haze. The Shock from each enemy spasm will harm nearby enemies and if you are using an Obsidian Crusher the poison will increase the amount of Shock damage dealt.

Infantry/Artillery: This one is good for Heart of Ice and other difficult fiend levels. One knight (infantry) stands in front, repeatedly shield-cancelling the first stroke of Final Flourish/BTB. His job is defense --- interrupting monsters and occasionally absorbing hits. Another knight (artillery) stands in back, releasing Blitz Needle charges. She is offense, killing everything with impunity because she is protected by the infantry.

Tunneler: Suppose you're using knockback-heavy attacks such as a brandish charge, Divine Avenger charge, or long-distance pulsar shots. Run into the knockback area, where there are no longer any monsters. This tactic helps you cut through crowds to free space, for example.

Throw Money at the Problem: For the lucky or when it becomes available through standard alchemy paths, the mixmaster does not activate dodging and shielding mechanisms for devilites and mechaknights respectively. Unload the damage!

Is it Cowardly to Shoot a Man in the Back?: Enemies with predictable dodge patterns like Gremlins jumping backwards when faced with a gunshot can be highly damaged with a well aimed alchemer shot, ricocheting inside their extended hitbox. Lunging zombies and jerky wolvers also work, with the correct timing.

Delayed Damager: A highly damaged enemy can be killed by thawing freeze, collapsing vortex, and other kinds of delayed damage. Use the time delay to your advantage. For example, position yourself for the next wave of monsters before your delayed damage kills the previous wave.

Hambomber Helper: Shield-bump enemies into your teammate's bombs. Knock enemies into your teammate's bombs.

Vortex of PAIN: Drop a vortex bomb (preferably EV) to gather a large wave of enemies in an arena, then mow charged sword attacks through the clumped enemies. Every one of those monsters will take the biggest hit from the sword plus a hit or a few from knockback blasts as they revolve in the vortex.

Being a Spritely Team Player: spamming quills at monsters your teammates are attacking, taking advantage of Frenzied Firestorm if you chose that Drakon skill, and giving monsters heart attacks when you notice your teammates are low on health

Rock Paper Scissors?: Teammate gunning things flying around the room? If you can bring a bomb, concentrate the crowd (Or you can push/pin monsters into place with swords, too). Teammate bring a bomb? Push monsters into their charges with a sword. Teammate charging sword attacks and tanking through the room willy-nilly? Get out of the way and pick off whatever they weren't able to mow down. ...Or a crowd control bomb to fix the willy-nillyness would be great, too.

Engager: Dash (yes i use very often) over any bullet while the enemy (best working with turrets and kats) are still Shooting to get beyond the line and be able to instantly attack.

Betrayal: Dash (number #4 hrhrh) in an Arena while the whole room is chasing you to to instantly let each Monster suddenly attack your allies. Eeeevil hrhrhr xP

Kill Order: Shield bash a fast enemy and set them under stun Status while beeing in a Team. This unit will die before stun wears off.

360° Shield: Charge a calibur-type sword or FoV , while charging Keep additionally pressing down the shielding key, thn release the attack key while still hol the shield key to regain almost instantly movability. The enemy construct Knights are doing exactly this (where I actually learned this from in the first week playing by my own :3). The rosen shield will deal additionall knockback, if Monsters are still in range.

Shielder Bypass: Some enemies like Mecha knights and Almirian Crusaders will shield from all ranged attacks..... that is if they are not preparing an attack. You can hold your Brandish, Autogun, or Magnus charge attack till they get close and release your charge before they can. This is fairly risky but if you do it right they will get flinched or knocked down and (except for Needle guns) knocked back to a safe distance.

Sidestep: Most if not all enemy projectiles travel in a straight line..... you would be surprised at the number of players that try to outrun bullets and whatnot when sidestepping and returning counterfire is much simpler and smarter

Arena Switch: If a non-party-button arena is inconvenient/dangerous, just lure the enemies to a previous battle area where you're safer while fighting.

(Unnamed): To effectively dodge large and random crowds in arenas such as at the end of Dreams and Nightmares (think toxigels in particular), only attack from south of the crowd. This ensures that you know exactly when monsters are attacking, and allows you to shield and avoid damage (even damage from completely random and less flagged attacks) if necessary. Attacking from the north leaves the crowd out of sight and your knight vulnerable.

(Unnamed) use your knockback to push enemies into fallen/falling tortofist shards
this should be common sense but I guess not many people have it
also use tortofist charges on enemies in a vortex

Explosive Escape: If you're surrounded by enemies and most of your attacks (including shield bash) can't push them away, use a Drakon's Firebolt skill.

Non-Combat

Gratuitous Violence: Sometimes attacking with swords can be faster than running. Warmaster Rocket Hammer's dash is one example. Attacking through a Swarm point is another. Is a Cutter combo, with the last stroke omitted, another? Don't be afraid to attack thin air, just for the movement boost.

Invincible Spike Runner: When your shield touches a spike floor trap, you have a very brief secound of invincibility that you can use to lower your shield and run a few steps over the spike trap totally unharmed without your shield.

In missions like Dreams and Nightmares. You can get rid of annoying souls by dashing.

theoretically a winmillion would work, but its simply too weak of a weapon to be worth it, I just use an iron slug or winter grave

"raining death"
basically use a tortofist charge over and over on large groups, works best in
dreams and nightmares
final arena waves (last wave of 3rd room)
FSC
devilish drudgeries
wolver dens (takes some skill)

those arent tactics, theyre game mechanics