I rarely see other people using only cobalt armor with a Calibur, I'm sure there's a reason for it, but I can't figure out why.
Could someone share any reasons not to be a cobalt knight?
So... I'm a cobalt knight.
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 11:49
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 12:21
#2
because cobalt armor is
because cobalt armor is inferior to wolver.
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 12:46
#3
.
you have much better choices.
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 13:34
#4
Cobalt armor is only good in that it is cheaper than all of the other armors. If you want to get through the hall of hero missions asap, go with cobalt stuff. It is fairly meh compared to specialized loadouts, but it is usable and cheap.
If you want to play the game for an extended amount of time, you'll want to invest in other armor.
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 14:52
#5
Even so, people wearing cobalt could have a costume on top so you dont notice them.
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 17:09
#6
all this talk about "cheap",
all this talk about "cheap", it's exactly the same price as every other 2* gear. Except the missions give you the recipes for free.
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 17:11
#7
Wow, thanks a bunch, Bopp,
Wow, thanks a bunch, Bopp, that was very informative :D
I'm working on switching over to Wolver gear :)
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 17:19
#8
Tat tat tat...
How far are you up the * ladder?
(I went wolver as soon as 2*)
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 19:25
#9
Billysaurus
Billysaurus, you're quite welcome. Now, just wear a costume over your Wolver gear, so that you don't look like every other sworder out there. ;)
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 19:39
#10
@Vinnnydime I had level 8 4*
@Vinnnydime I had level 8 4* cobalt gear before reading Bopps sword guide and switching over.
@Bopp Already doing that, got my Metal Sonic suit :D
Mié, 10/24/2012 - 21:39
#11
Look on the bright side.
You might want to make Almirian for a costume some day, and you're all set for that. :P
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 01:53
#12
According to the wiki
Azure guardian:
7.5 normal
6.5 piercing
Skolver piece:
7.5 normal
6.5 piercing
2 freeze
2 sword damage
Justifier:
7.5 normal
6.5 piercing
2 stun
2 handgun speed
Deadly virulisk:
7.5 normal
6.5 piercing
2 poison
2 slime damage
As you can see, the latter three armours are all objectively better than azure guardian.
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 06:14
#13
Cobalt is 37% cheaper than standard items with recipes in the HoH due to free recipes; presuming that the energy rate is 100 ce for 9000 crowns.
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 06:53
#14
yes, but spend a little more money to get what you really want
Yes, the Cobalt-line equipment is cheaper than other equipment due to the recipes' being free. I urge new players not to consider this in planning their equipment. Spend a little more money to get exactly the equipment you want, instead of spending a little less money to get worse equipment.
For example, you will eventually become interested in UVs that slightly improve your equipment. At that point, the value (improvement per crown spent) is dramatically lower than the value of getting Skolver instead of Azure Guardian (if you use swords). In other words, spending a little more money to get Skolver (or other optimal armor of your choice) is a great investment, relative to the rest of the game economy.
This is certainly my opinion, based on my values, rather than an objective fact.
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 10:54
#15
Buying a bicycle is cheaper
Buying a bicycle is cheaper than buying a car, but the car is better in the long run...
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 11:17
#16
@Larry
Bicycle-
-Saves money
-Better for fitness
-Less chances of death
Car-
-Faster travel
-Costs way more
-Saves time, providing that you don't value exercise via a bicycle
Real armor-
-More lenient in terms of what is acceptable, breeding bad play
-Costs more, requiring more effort to earn
-Allows you to be better in the long run
Cobalt armor-
-Gets the job done on 99% of content (everything but certain danger missions)
-Require the player to develop skills
-Allows you to rely less on armor in the long run
-Requires less grinding
-Provides the player with a faster reasonable way to earn "real armor". (All players are capable of making at least 5-10K per floor; none do)
Like most things in life, it all comes down to one question:
Are you lazy and complacent, or are you open minded and willful?
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 11:43
#17
skill is irrelevant
It's not clear that good equipment breeds bad play. A player can be skilled or unskilled, with or without good equipment. Certainly skill is more important to the game than equipment. (If that weren't so, then this game would be much less attractive.) But this forum exists to discuss the merits of equipment. We don't teach skill here.
In my opinion, there is one legitimate argument for going for cheap equipment: You can then try more kinds of equipment more rapidly. You may find that the fourth gun you try offers the play style you like.
Jue, 10/25/2012 - 13:45
#18
Processing Thoughts of You Always
To be fair, the standard weapons are actually fairly decent. The Leviathan is an okay all-purpose blade, and the Valiance is also quite a popular gun in t3 Lockdown games, particularly because its bullets are so fast and fire instantaneously (not all guns work the same way). Generally, it pays to specialise in different damage types other than normal, but you can get by with those two weapons just fine. Nitronome is the bread and butter of a solo bomber, too, although it's not an especially PUG-friendly bomb since it has a tendency to fling stuff everywhere.
The issue with Azure Guardian is that most dangerous enemies don't do piercing damage. (Beasts are generally quite easy to dodge, as are most slimes, unless you've managed to end up with Bullet Hell, polyp version.) In particular, most people find Fiends to be most dangerous, with flying Overtimer pitchforks and fast-moving Greavers taking a good chunk out of your health with their shadow damage. Rocket Puppies are also fairly annoying, as is the Gremlin Demo's bomb-scattering and dodging traits (especially in t3). As a result, elemental and shadow protection are normally considered to be more desirable than piercing. To make things even worse for the Azure Guardian, you don't even get any status resistances as a tradeoff; its sword-user's equivalent, the Wolver set, gets Freeze resist on top of a +1 damage bonus per piece (going up to +2 at its 5* version, the Skolver), for barely any loss of defence.
Azure Guardian is outperformed by pretty much anything else out there. It was probably intended as a general-purpose armour, but it doesn't serve that general purpose, and the traditional Skolver Coat/Divine Veil combo does this with much better bonuses than the Azure Guardian.
It has two things in its favour, though; a) it's cheap since its recipes are free as mission rewards, and b) it looks good. You could also upgrade it into Almirian Crusader, which looks good at the cost of quite a lot of CE, but I wouldn't really recommend that unless you have an excess of cash.
Vie, 10/26/2012 - 03:44
#19
What?
Fehzor: "(All players are capable of making at least 5-10K per floor; none do)". What does this mean? :O Even with multi-boxing, I don't see how you'd ever hit 10k per floor.
First, you should always plan your equipment by looking at 5-star items, because that's where everything ends up. You don't want to select a cool 2-star item, only to find that its upgrades are not what you wanted (or don't even exist). The 5-star upgrades of Cobalt are Azure Guardian helmet and suit, and Aegis shield. These protect against normal and piercing damage. They offer no status protections and no offensive bonuses.
When you're deep into the game (i.e. on Tier 3), even the strongest armor lets though tons of damage. So you have to learn to dodge, shield, maneuver, and kill quickly. At that point, most players seek armor with offensive bonuses, even at the expense of a little defense. Additionally, you want protection against some of the harsher status effects --- shock and freeze, and somewhat fire. When you consider all of this, Azure Guardian is outclassed by Skolver, Justifier, etc. Aegis is outclassed by Barbarous Thorn Shield, Swiftstrike Buckler, etc.
Calibur upgrades to Leviathan Blade, which is a nice normal sword. But players who understand how Damage works in Spiral Knights often go for non-normal damage types, to optimize their damage against monsters.
This is the tip of an iceberg. For more detail, try my sword guide.