Difference between revisions of "Save Winterfest!"

Revision as of 00:03, 10 February 2015

	The topic of this article or section is part of Winterfest.
	As such, the content described below is only available during the event.

Save Winterfest! is an event-exclusive Prestige Mission.

Overview

Save Winterfest on the Mission Interface.

Eligibility:

Description:

It is during each and every Winterfest, that a faction of green-furred gremlins make quite a mess, in the town of Emberlight. These 'grinchlins' as they are called, stop at nothing until they've hauled, each and every present from the town of Emberlight.

And so Impostoclaus has asked the Spiral Knights, to take up their arms and fight, the monsters that threaten the town of Emberlight. So grab a present and answer his call! Ensure that a merry Winterfest is had by all, in the town of Emberlight.

Objective:

Help Impostoclaus deliver presents to the orphans of Emberlight.

Runthrough

Monsters:

• Kleptolisk
• Humbug
• Layoafer
• Slush Puppy
• Grinchlin Thwacker
• Grinchlin Scorcher
• Grinchlin Stalker (only Tier 3)

Floors alternate between "Silent Emberlight" and "Alleys of Emberlight" every other day. This is not a gate rotation, rather, two distinct maps which share the same mission name. This is evidenced by the Gate Map, which only shows one floor option per day (it would show all floor options if it were a classic clockworks rotation). These two floors feature different routes and floor hazards. The goals and monsters encountered in the two are very much the same.

Notes

This mission is only available during Winterfest.

Unlike most missions, this contains a timed level with no exit elevator where a party of 1-4 knights must help carry presents for the children in the back alley of Emberlight.

Knights must carry the presents from one end of the map (from infinite piles) to the other (where the orphans are) in order to receive Winter Wish tokens, which can be traded for various items.

Along the way lots of monsters such as Layoafers and Humbugs harass the player. A mysterious group of Gremlins called 'Grinchlins' have planned to rob the orphans of Emberlight of their presents and destroy Impostoclaus. These Grinchlins constantly try to attack Impostoclaus.

Grinchlin Stalkers (only Tier 3) have a rare chance of dropping a Humbug Hat costume.

There are two map variations of this level. The first map, Alleys of Emberlight, is full of ice traps, more monsters and fewer Grinchlins. The other map, Silent Emberlight, has fire traps, more Grinchlins, and a Slush Puppy respawn.

The gremlin children will gather around a knight who has delivered presents and behave happily for a short while, open presents, and otherwise wander around.

Known Bugs

If Impostoclaus dies as the knights finish their mission (the screen where it shows Impostoclaus celebrating), the knights will be stuck on a report screen, and have to log out in order to fix it.

Statistics

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For the map, "Silent Emberlight": Tier 1 (Depth ??) the mission lasts ?? minutes and small/large presents reward Y tokens when delivered on X difficulty:

For the map, "Silent Emberlight": Tier 2 (Depth 09) the mission lasts 4 minutes 30 seconds and small/large presents reward Y tokens (randomly green, red, or white) when delivered on X difficulty:

For the map, "Silent Emberlight": Tier 3 (Depth 24) the mission lasts 5 minutes and small/large presents reward Y tokens (randomly green, red, or white) when delivered on X difficulty:

Strategy

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Overview:

Personal preferences and strategies can vary from player to player and from team to team. It is ideal to get a squad together to spam runs with a single consistent strategy, so you're not hindering present delivery. Communication is a huge part of this mission's success. It is recommended to do this mission with 4 players in the squad, due to the nature of the mission's mechanics.

Run through the mission with appropriate gear, preferably items you are already familiar with, on "normal difficulty" to get a feel for the lay of the land.

Goal:

Deliver as many presents as possible, therefore acquiring as many Winter Wish tokens as possible, per run.

Difficulty Level:

Higher difficulty levels give more tokens per present. Since avoiding enemies is key for this mission, it is recommended to repeat this mission on elite.

Notable or Unsusual Hazards:

Beware the Kleptolisks! These thieves can steal presents (that the player carries on their back) with their tongues and digest them quickly. If defeated within a few moments, the greedy lizard will drop the present it stole. You'll have to go and grab another present from the pile if you can't manage this quickly. Interestingly, kleptolisks will completely ignore presents on the ground, preferring to attack players instead, even if the player isn't carrying any presents or pickups. Presents on the ground vanish within a minute, so pick it up again and continue post haste.

Regenerating snowblocks will break into puddles of slush that will slow players and enemies down while in contact. Some of these are impossible to avoid. Encountering monsters and traversing these at the same time is a particularly unfortunate situation.

Important Tips and Tricks:

Which to carry...red or green presents? Green presents reward fewer tokens when delivered, red presents reward more. Red presents will significantly reduce movement speed while being carried, green ones will not. Figure out a nice balance and/or do what seems the most fun and best for your game time and squad loadouts.

Grinchlins can attack Impostoclaus. This sometimes occurs when the player returns to pick up more presents. If Impostoclaus loses all his health due to Grinchlin attacks, the mission will stop. After defeating the Grinchlins who attack Impostoclause, a platter of cookies and milk appears on the ground. Throw this at Impostoclaus to restore some of his lost HP.

There is a Mecha Turret localized near the present pile on the other side of the map. It is useful to distract other monsters, though it doesn't deal much damage.

Do not to waste time defeating monsters. Enemies don't really drop anything useful (unless you're searching for a Humbug Hat, but farming for this costume is a different strategy). Carry as many presents as you can, since Winter Wish tokens are granted per delivered present, and nothing besides this delivery matters for this mission.

There are only a limited amount of wishes that can be piled at the end point. If a player turns in a present while there are too many wishes on the ground, the extras will not appear for players who have not picked up the current ones. Thus to maximize token gain, the party should travel together. One person drops their gift, everyone picks up the tokens, then another person drops theirs, etc. Interestingly, The "Silent Emberlight" floor can have more wishes on the ground than "Alleys of Emberlight."

Dash as much as possible, as this speeds things up. But you might want to keep the dash handy for avoiding clusters of monsters, too. So: dash a lot at first, then as more monsters spawn, use the dash to avoid them.

Loadouts:

Movement Speed boosters such as the Swift Steps battle sprite Perk, Mercurial Demo, or Mercurial (slime) gear can aid in speedier present delivery. Balance defenses and offenses with these boosts to get through the obstacles as efficiently as you can.

Freeze Trap obstacles can be rendered completely harmless in Tier 1 if the player has high enough Freeze resistance. This can aid in speedier present delivery.

Usage of the Seraphynx battle sprite's 3rd ability can allow players to easily cross over or through most traps. This is especially ideal if the team works well together, since the ability's wide protection radius allows multiple knights to take shelter within a single sprite's usage, allowing a sort of "spam" if multiple players use the Seraphynx since there are several traps and the cooldown for the ability is quite lengthy.

The Maskeraith's second ability cloaks the user. Avoiding aggro can also speed things up. The speed boost from the Deadly Shadow Cloak ultimate of this second ability is a nice bonus.

Final Notes:

This mission is repeatable and free to play - so the timer should be considered a challenge, nothing more. Don't deplete your Spark of Life supply here...and importantly, do not stress out about the countdown, as there are no penalties associated with it. Deliver presents, have fun, and enjoy the holidays!

Gallery

Click images to see larger versions of them.

• 

  Map of the lobby of "Save Winterfest!"

• 

  Map of one of the possible mission floors, "Alleys of Emberlight."

• 

  A strategic map of "Alleys of Emberlight."

• 

  Map of one of the possible mission floors, "Silent Emberlight."

• 

  A strategic map of "Silent Emberlight."

• 

  Presents are carried on the backs of knights.

• 

  Various floor hazards hinder mission success.

• 

  These monsters really want to ruin Winterfest!

• 

  Throwing cookies at Impostoclause restores some of his HP.

• 

  A successful mission. This scene can be witnessed at the end of the timer countdown. Look at those happy Emberlight children!

See Also

• Grinchlin Assault!