Difference between revisions of "User:Jdavis/Armor"

Revision as of 17:00, 14 September 2012

This armor guide is a work in progress. Many features need to be added, refined, removed, etc.

Basic Concepts

Perhaps the single most important rule of Spiral Knights is damage. Damage is what lowers your health and eventually kills you. There are four damage types: normal, piercing, elemental, and shadow. In shallow strata of the Clockworks, monsters deal primarily normal damage. As you descend deeper into the Clockworks, monsters increasingly deal their preferred non-normal damage type. However, even in Stratum 6, there is a great deal of normal damage being dealt.

There are seven kinds of status effect: fire, freeze, shock, poison, stun, curse, and sleep (which is not currently in the game). New players often confuse status with damage. For example, when a gun puppy shoots an ice ball at you, that ice ball inflicts elemental damage (which lowers your health) and freeze status (which locks your feet). But freeze is not inherently elemental in any sense. In the Shadow Royal Jelly Palace, the polyps inflict piercing and freeze. So keep the concepts of damage and status distinct in your mind.

Here is a condensed list of the main damage and status threats that knights face in the Clockworks. Each family is listed with all of the possible damage types and status effects that it might inflict. That is, not every member of a family inflicts every damage type and status effect listed for that family. The list omits any hazard that appears only in a particular scenario (e.g. Ironclaw Munitions Factory).

A typical Clockworks level is focused on one monster family and one status. Frequently there is a secondary monster family. Sometimes there is no status. Your ideal armor would protect against normal damage, the primary monster family's non-normal damage, and the status. Depending on the armor you own, you may sometimes have to choose between damage and status defense. The most important statuses (shock, freeze, fire) are arguably more important than damage. For example, if you get shocked in a crowd of mecha knights, then you can easily go from full health to dead in a few seconds, even if you're wearing elemental armor.

In addition to defense, many armor pieces offer abilities such as health bonus, movement speed increase (MSI), attack speed increase (ASI), charge time reduction (CTR), or damage bonus. Some damage bonuses are weapon-specific (e.g. swords only), others are monster-specific (e.g. slimes only), and a couple are blanket (all weapons and all monsters). Although armor pieces with offensive bonuses offer slightly less protection than armor pieces without them, most advanced players favor these offensive armors. The reason is that monsters deep in the Clockworks deal a lot of damage. Even highly protective armor can keep the knight alive for only a few hits. So players must simply avoid getting hit, by dodging, shielding, interrupting monsters, and killing quickly. At that point, one is usually happy to trade a little defense for more offense.

Keep in mind that there are also trinkets to enhance your damage protection (except normal), your status protection (except stun), your offense, and your health. It seems that most advanced players favor offensive trinkets in the Clockworks.

Summary of Armor

Here is a list of all five-star suits and helmets. Suits and helmets come in matched sets that enjoy identical statistics, with a few exceptions. Radiant Silvermail has no matching helmet, and Perfect Mask of Seerus has no matching suit. Divine Veil has a fiend bonus, while Divine Mantle does not. When planning your armor, keep in mind that some sets are boss/mission rewards (e.g. Ancient Plate Mail/Helm) and others can be crafted only in the Shadow Lairs (e.g. Snarbolax Coat/Cap).

General-Purpose Armor Sets

Advanced knights often own many suits and helmets, that they can assemble into an ideal armor set for any given situation. Frugal knights and less-experienced knights may prefer to build a single armor set for use throughout the Clockworks. Such a general-purpose set would ideally protect against all four damage types and a few of the most important statuses (shock, fire, and maybe freeze). There are exactly three options:

• Divine Veil with a normal+piercing suit. For sworders, Skolver Coat is ideal; the set protects against shock, fire, freeze, and curse, while conferring two offensive bonuses. Gunners should consider Justifier Jacket, although well-rounded armor is arguably less important for them than for sworders and bombers. There is no piercing armor for bombers. Notice that Divine Mantle is not as good as Divine Veil, due to its lack of fiend bonus.
• Radiant Silvermail with a normal+elemental helmet. Vog Cub Cap, Nameless Hat, Perfect Mask of Seerus, and all bomber helmets are worth considering. For more offense, consider Chaos Cowl.
• Dragon Scale Mail/Helm with a normal+shadow suit or helmet. Snarbolax Coat/Cap and Shadowsun Slicker/Stetson seem especially good.

An alternative strategy is to settle for three damage types instead of all four. For example, a sworder might wear Skolver Coat/Cap with Vog Cub Coat/Cap to achieve high offensive bonuses at the expense of shadow protection. My opinion is that slimes and beasts are the easiest monster families, so piercing protection is slightly less important than the other damage protections.

Bosses

The Gloaming Wildwoods are three levels of beasts, with some constructs. There is no status, other than lumber stun. Hazards include spikes, exploding blocks, and briars. You want normal and piercing armor. There may not actually be much piercing damage in there, as it's only Stratum 2.

The Royal Jelly Palace is three levels of slimes, some constructs, and some silkwings. There is no status, other than lumber stun. The only hazards are spikes and exploding blocks. You want normal and piercing armor. Elemental and stun armor are slightly useful.

Ironclaw Munitions Factory is three levels of constructs and gremlins, with a shock theme. Hazards are plentiful, including missiles, shock grates, exploding rockets, exploding blocks, and lasers. You want normal, elemental, and shock armor.

Firestorm Citadel is five levels of zombies and trojans, with some constructs and silkwings, and very few beasts and slimes. The theme is fire, but keep in mind that trojans can stun and shock. Hazards include wheel throwers, spikes, fire grates, shadow fire, exploding blocks, and revolving balls. You want normal, elemental, shadow, and fire armor. Of these, shadow is arguably the least important, because zombies are easy to dodge.

Shadow Lairs

The Shadow Gloaming Wildwoods are similar to the regular Gloaming Wildwoods, but with many additional undead. The gun puppies have been replaced with howlitzers. There is a strong poison theme. You want normal, piercing, shadow, and poison armor.

The Shadow Royal Jelly Palace is much like the ordinary Royal jelly Palace, but with a freeze theme. Also, the gun puppies have been replaced with polyps. You want normal, piercing, and freeze armor.

The Shadow Ironclaw Munitions Factory is much like the usual Ironclaw Munitions Factory, but with a fire theme in addition to the regular shock theme. You want normal, elemental, shock, and fire armor.

The Shadow Firestorm Citadel resembles the Firestorm Citadel, but with a curse theme in addition to the usual fire theme. Also, the gun puppies have been replaced with howlitzers. You want normal, elemental, shadow, fire, and curse armor.

The Unknown Passage is an extra level that comes after every Shadow Lair boss. It is the same for all Shadow Lairs; it has nothing to do with any of their themes. Normal damage is most prevalent, but piercing, elemental, and shadow damage are all present. Status is not a major consideration, but poison and stun can occur.

Missions

Operation Crimson Hammer is about five levels, filled with gremlins and constructs. Hazards include briars, exploding rockets, missiles, and shadow fire. You want normal and elemental armor. Do you also want fire? I don't remember.

Legion of Almire is two undead-stuffed levels, like an amped-up graveyard where the phantoms have been replaced by worse monsters. There is no status, except for lumber stun. Hazards include exploding blocks, briars, and spikes. You want normal and shadow armor.

Compound 42 is two levels filled with slimes, gremlins, poison, and fire. Hazards include poison grates, fire grates, flamethrowers, and shadow fire. You want normal, piercing, elemental, fire, and poison armor.

Heart of Ice consists of two freeze-themed levels filled with fiends and beasts, and scattered howlitzers. Hazards include freeze grates, spikes, exploding blocks, and revolving balls. You want normal, piercing, shadow, and freeze armor. Of these, piercing is probably least important, because beasts are easy to dodge these days.

Ghost in the Machine consists of two shock-filled levels filled with constructs and undead. Hazards include shock grates, revolving shock balls, and lots of drones. You want normal, elemental, shadow, and shock armor. Of these, shadow is arguably least important.