Difference between revisions of "Battle Sprite"

Latest revision as of 16:14, 8 May 2020

One of the Battle Sprite Preview Images.

A battle sprite is a combat companion for a Spiral Knight. A knight may own more than one sprite, although only one can be equipped at a time. Each sprite has one, two, or three skills that the knight can deploy in combat. Skills range from direct attacks to party buffs and monster debuffs. Sprites also offer perks, which give the knight offensive and defensive bonuses, much like trinkets. They are intended to provide players with the ability to specialize their role in a party. The choices that you make for your sprite act like a class for your knight, augmenting your weapons and armor in special ways. For example, you may choose an attack-oriented sprite or a sprite that bolsters your party's defense.

Types

Prior to the Skylark crash, the Spiral Knights used small field robots called "E-class battle sprites" for reconnaissance. (Biotech Morlin still owns one.) When the Skylark crashed, sprites were apparently dispersed throughout the Clockworks, where the Core's energy signal caused them to mutate into new forms:

• The smoldering Drakon resembles a dragon and delivers powerful, fiery blasts to foes. It may be considered the most offensive out of the three starter battle sprites.

• The divine Seraphynx resembles an angelic cat-like creature and uses its luminous powers to defend the party from attacks. Although a support sprite, it can damage enemies directly.

• The shadowy Maskeraith resembles a masked phantom and uses its toxic powers to debilitate enemies. This sprite has a mix of damage and support skills.

Several "reskins" of these are available. See the list on this page to view all available battle sprites.

Acquisition and Usage

The Battle Sprite interface.

Rhendon with a Drakon battle sprite

A series of rank missions is available to knights as soon as they reach Haven. Rhendon and Morlin teach them about skills, perks, harnesses, and leveling, while Biscotti explains how to feed and care for battle sprites. These missions also allow knights to try out each of the three starter sprites.

A knight's first battle sprite is awarded after completion of An Eternal Bond. Knights should take their time to know a little about sprites or see them in action before choosing. Once a selection is made, there's no going back, although knights can obtain more battle sprites through the Supply Depot by purchasing Pods that contain a level-1 battle sprite of their choosing.

Equip, unequip, or rename a Battle Sprite.

All sprites that you own appear in the Battle Sprite section of your arsenal. Clicking on a sprite's icon brings up a menu allowing you to equip, unequip, or rename the sprite.

Once a sprite is equipped, you can examine and configure it by clicking on the character button (default hotkey: P) and selecting the Battle Sprite tab. This interface shows options for feeding the sprite, allocating skill points, equipping a harness, and activating a perk.

Key shortcuts for using battle sprite powers are not configured in this interface. Instead, those keys are configured with all other keys, in the Controls section of the Options screen (hotkey: Escape).

Heating

The Battle Sprite feeding interface.

A Sprite Food Alchemy Machine used to create food for Battle Sprites.

A sprite progresses through a sequence of 100 heat levels. Like all equippable items, a sprite gains heat when it is equipped for combat in the Clockworks. However, this method of heating is very slow.

Quantifying heat is difficult, but some patterns are clear. High levels require more heat than low levels do. High-star materials give more heat than low-star materials do. Favored food gives more heat than other materials of that star level do. Here is an example for heating a sprite over level 75, based on data collected by some players:

One level's worth of heat amounts to roughly 65 3-star materials, 35 4-star materials, 20 5-star materials, or 4 5-star favored foods. Therefore, feeding favored food is efficient in terms of time and materials, while feeding other materials is efficient in terms of crowns and minerals. -research from players.

A sprite can heat faster by being fed materials. To feed your sprite, bring up the character panel, select the Battle Sprite tab, click on the feeding sub-tab, choose any material from your arsenal, and click the Feed Sprite button. The rate at which a sprite can be fed is limited by its appetite. Appetite is rated on a scale from zero to five. When the appetite is zero, the sprite will not eat. When the sprite has at least one bar (or "point") of appetite, feeding the sprite a material decreases its appetite by one point. Appetite regenerates at a rate of roughly five points per hour of real time, whether or not the knight is online. Playing with the sprite in the Clockworks can help increase its appetite a bit faster.

ANY unbound material can be fed to a sprite if it's just increasing its heat bar, and not its level. A sprite simply has a favored food, as shown in the table below, which helps fills up its heat bar more than any other material. This is not always the most economic choice. Favored foods can be crafted using Sprite Food Alchemy Machines, found in the Laboratory and the Town Square. Crafted food is unbound and can be traded among knights or sold on the auction house. Sometimes food is a prize in a Prize Box, as with the Companion Prize Box and the Gourmet Prize Box. These boxes would give certain star levels of food, (randomly power/shadow/divine) to players in relation to their Player Rank - but prizebox food materials are bound.

Leveling

When the sprite's heat meter is filled, the sprite is ready for promotion to the next heat level. The sprite must be fed a required item. For most levels, the required item is the favored food, and the sprite gains a skill point or a perk upon promotion. The knight allocates skill points to the sprite's skills, to augment (enhance) their speed, duration, intensity, etc. Unallocated skill points are saved, so knights who delay or forget to allocate points are not penalized in any way. By the time a sprite reaches level 100, it will have gained enough skill points to max out every augment, so there is no "wrong" strategy for allocation.

Battle sprites cannot be leveled when their new level would surpass the knight's own equip limit. For example, an Apprentice (rank 2) knight is permitted to equip only 0- and 1-star gear. The knight is not permitted to level a sprite from level 14 to level 15, because the latter is considered 2-star.

Choosing an ultimate skill.

At certain special levels, the sprite undergoes dramatic changes. The required item is not the favored food, but rather an Evo Catalyst of the appropriate star level.

• 15: The sprite gains its second skill and changes its appearance.
• 50: The sprite gains its third skill and changes its appearance.
• 90: The sprite's first skill evolves into one of two ultimate forms, chosen by the knight. This choice alters part of the sprite's appearance, while leaving other parts unchanged.
• 95: The sprite's second skill evolves into one of two ultimate forms. One aspect of the sprite's appearance changes.
• 100: The sprite's third skill evolves into one of two ultimate forms. One aspect of the appearance changes.

There are 2³ = 8 possible ultimate appearances for a sprite, based on the two choices for each of the three skills. Just as skill point allocation can be delayed, so can the choice of ultimate form. In fact, the knight may elect not to choose either ultimate form of a skill, leaving the skill in its ordinary form forever. Taking this possibility into account, there are 3³ = 27 possible end-game appearances for a sprite.

At level 100, there are still five perks to be gained. The knight may continue leveling the sprite through extra heat levels. These levels could be called 101-105, although they are all displayed as "100" in the user interface. At level 105, the sprite is functionally complete. The sprite continues to gain heat until its heat meter is filled, but the user interface does not allow the sprite to be promoted to level 106.

A special material called a Reset Star is sold in the Supply Depot. The Reset Star resets all of the knight's choices: where to allocate skill points, and which ultimate skills to choose. The knight gets to make those choices all over again. The sprite does not lose any of its progress. It keeps its level, its perks, and its skill points. The knight does not have to re-spend any Evo Catalysts.

Economics

: Data in this section is provided by players and is therefore subject to player error. OOO is not responsible for player mishap regarding making a budget according to this data.

The tables below summarize which sprite eats what food when, and how much, considering a minimalistic budget plan for leveling.

Tables assume that the player already has the sprite, and do not factor in obtaining costs or harness upgrade costs.

Research details can be found in this Forum Post.

Sprites and Food:

Sprites can be fed any unbound material to gain heat, these are just the materials that grant the most heat.

Bear in mind, these are required for the sprite to actually level up, gradually increasing in star level from 0-star to 5-star.

Level Range	Drakon Family	Maskeraith Family	Seraphynx Family
1-14	Power Mote	Shadow Mote	Divine Mote
15-29	Power Dust	Shadow Dust	Divine Dust
30-49	Power Stone	Shadow Stone	Divine Stone
50-74	Power Orb	Shadow Orb	Divine Orb
75-100	Power Star	Shadow Star	Divine Star

Note: Each knight gains an Evo Catalyst, an Advanced Evo Catalyst, and an Ultimate Evo Catalyst upon first-time completion of, respectively, the Shadow of the Beast, Built to Destroy!, and The King of Ashes rank missions. Thus, for a knight's first battle sprite, only two Ultimate Evo Catalysts need to be obtained at cost.

Evo Levels	Item	Energy
15		125
50		250
90		525
95		525
100		525

Minimum Components:

Food Type	Material Minimum for Crafting Food	Mineral Minimum	Crown Minimum
Mote: 13	Any ★☆☆☆☆: 26	65	130
Dust: 15	Any ★★☆☆☆: 30	150	375
Stone: 19	Any ★★★☆☆: 38	285	950
Orb: 25	Any ★★★★☆: 50	500	5,000
Star: 22	Any ★★★★★: 44	550	11,000
Stars for Perks: 5	Any ★★★★★: 10	125	2,500

Totals:

Item	Totals
Minimum Minerals to reach 100:	1,550
Minimum Minerals to get all Perks:	1,675
Minimum Crowns to reach 100:	14,955
Minimum Crowns to get all Perks:	19,955
Minimum Energy to reach 100 (first sprite):	1,050
Minimum Energy to reach 100 (subsequent sprites):	1,950

Harnesses

A Harness.

Harnesses are items that a battle sprite can equip to gain bonuses or to deal a certain type of damage. Some harnesses can also reduce skill cooldown by a certain percentage.

Harnesses can be acquired only by purchase from Riley, the harness merchant in the Lab.

When a knight owns multiple sprites, the harnesses are shared among the sprites. However, some harnesses cannot be equipped on certain sprites. For example, a Drakon cannot be equipped with the Golden Harness.

Sprite Pods

A Sprite Pod.

Sprite Pods are "usable" items that were introduced 29 August 2013.

A pod contains a level 1 battle sprite. Pods are obtained unbound. Once opened, the sprite within is permanently bound to whomever opened the pod.

Pods serve as a means for knights to obtain more battle sprites in addition to the one chosen in the 2-3 Rank Mission An Eternal Bond.

History

The Drakon, Maskeraith, and Seraphynx battle sprites were added to the game in release 2013-07-30.

They were announced here, and the post linked to preview images of these sprites here.

More reskins have been introduced over time - see individual pages for details.

List

Below is a list of all available battle sprites. This list is ordered by Date of Release (DoR) when in default, alphabetically if tied.

Use this list to decide which sprite(s) to raise based on damage types, economics (rarity of sprite and minerals the player might have), ease of acquisition, and/or aesthetics. One should also carefully consider abilities when choosing sprite(s) to take care of - see individual pages for details on abilities.

Reskins are the same as the original sprite in the family - the only differences are how they look and how they're obtained.

Drakon	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2013.11 30 July 2013	This sprite's pod can be obtained for 2,100 Energy from Supply Depot. Alternatively, this sprite can be the one the player chooses from the 2-3 Mission: An Eternal Bond.
Seraphynx	Luminite		1	2	1	2013.11 30 July 2013	This sprite's pod can be obtained for 2,100 Energy from Supply Depot. Alternatively, this sprite can be the one the player chooses from the 2-3 Mission: An Eternal Bond.
Maskeraith	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2013.11 30 July 2013	This sprite's pod can be obtained for 2,100 Energy from Supply Depot. Alternatively, this sprite can be the one the player chooses from the 2-3 Mission: An Eternal Bond.
Seraphynx (Black Kat)	Luminite		1	2	1	2014.11 30 April 2014	This reskin's pod can be crafted at the Mysterious Alchemy Machine.
Drakon (Gun Pup)	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2014.22 13 August 2014	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Gremlin Prize Box.
Maskeraith (Punkin)	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2014.29 22 October 2014	This reskin's pod can be crafted at the Mysterious Alchemy Machine.
Maskeraith (Spiralhorn)	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2015.06 18 February 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spiralhorn Prize Box.
Drakon (Divine)	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box.
Drakon (Shadow)	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box.
Maskeraith (Freeze)	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box, Glacial Prize Box 2016, or Glacial Prize Box 2020.
Maskeraith (Snarblepup)	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box.
Maskeraith (Volcanic)	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box or Volcanic Prize Box.
Seraphynx (Siamese)	Luminite		1	2	1	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box.
Seraphynx (Tabby)	Luminite		1	2	1	2015.20 24 June 2015	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spritely Prize Box.
Drakon (Spiraltail)	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2016.030 3 February 2016	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Spiraltail Prize Box.
Drakon (Grey)	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2017.21 6 November 2017	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Grey Prize Box.
Maskeraith (Grey)	Dark Matter		2	1	1	2017.21 6 November 2017	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Grey Prize Box.
Seraphynx (Grey)	Luminite		1	2	1	2017.21 6 November 2017	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Grey Prize Box.
Seraphynx (Love Puppy)	Luminite		1	2	1	2018.030 16 February 2018	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Running Wild Box.
Drakon (Piggy)	Crimsonite		1	1	2	2019.07 19 April 2019	This reskin's pod can be randomly obtained from a Battle Boar Box.

See Also

• Battle Sprite
• Harness
• Perk
• Sprite Food
• Sprite Pod
• The Collector

• Battle Sprite Skill Details
• Battle Sprite Ultimate Skill details
• Battle Sprite Ultimate Appearances and Skills Information