Difference between revisions of "User:Jdavis"

Revision as of 14:03, 29 July 2011

I'm far from the best player in the game, but I'm pretty far along, and I thought I might share some of my hard-won knowledge with less-experienced players.

Advice for Beginning Players

Do not buy 0-star or 1-star equipment. See my buying guide below.

Learn the difference between reviving with health and with energy. Try to revive with health as much as possible, and to let others revive you with health. This saves everyone energy in the long run.

Learn the basics of fighting that the tutorial levels don't teach you. Learn how to charge your weapon (by holding down the attack button, until you start glowing). Learn how to "pop" your shield (by briefly activating your shield, when a monster is next to you); this gets monsters off you. Practice both shielding and dodging; don't rely on just one or the other. Much of this you can practice in the Advanced Training Hall. Spiral Knights is very well-designed in one particular aspect: The skill of the player really does make a big difference. So start building your skill.

Understand that Spiral Knights is designed as a cooperative, not a competitive, game. In particular, there is no need to compete with your fellow party members over crowns, heat, minerals, hearts, tokens, or materials. Read the Party article for details on what is shared and what is not.

Learn how to drop pickups and vitapods (by dragging them to the floor with your mouse). When you come to the lift at the end of a level, and you decide to return to Haven rather than descend further, always drop your vitapod and all of your pickups, so that other players can grab them.

Learn how to speak out loud (press Enter/Return and type), how to whisper/tell to another player (type "/tell NAME MESSAGE"), and how to reply when someone whispers to you (by pressing R and typing). See the Chat article.

Advice for Intermediate Players

Here is my most important advice: Learn the difference between damage (normal, piercing, elemental, shadow) and status effects (shock, fire, curse, sleep, poison, stun, freeze). For example, when a Gun Puppy fires an ice ball that hits you, the ice ball does two distinct things: It deals elemental damage to you, and it induces the freeze status. Once you understand the distinction, memorize the damage resistances and susceptibilities of the six monster types. Learn as much as you can, about which damage and status effects each species of monster deals, as well. You need this knowledge, for planning which armor and weapons to purchase and which armor and weapons to equip for any given stratum.

In most situations, revive with health as much as possible and revive with energy as little as possible. As long as at least one knight is alive, do not revive yourself or anyone else with energy. Do not "revive everyone" with energy. Do not revive another player with energy, unless they've asked for it; you are not doing them a favor. Once all of the knights in your party are dead, then you can all have a calm, reasoned discussion about whose turn it is to revive. Then, that knight revives himself with energy and revives everyone else with health. Why am I so anti-energy-reviving? Because every time a player is revived with energy, the cost of reviving with energy doubles. Thus, reviving with energy gets very expensive as an expedition progresses. It is best to save energy revival for when it is truly necessary.

The only exception, of which I'm aware, is the Jelly King fight. There, you always revive yourself with energy, for two reasons. First, there are so many monsters that other players can't get to you. Second, the Jelly King heals, so the entire party must be alive to deal damage to him as fast as possible.

Practice your etiquette. This is how to win friends among good players. Remember to drop all pickups and vitapods before going up at an elevator. Remember not to revive with energy unless it's strictly necessary. Share pills among party members, especially if those members are close to death. If you die, and the other players are close to death, then drop your pills, so that someone can heal and revive you. If someone in your party gets a material that you want, don't ask her for it; it's hers, not yours, by the luck of the draw. Do not beg. If you ask a friend for a loan, and they refuse, then accept it and move on.

Here are some other points of etiquette, that I follow but not everyone does. Do not kick people out of your party just because they're not great, or because you need room for a friend to join. Only kick people out when they are really not trying or otherwise acting selfishly. Be patient with new people. When you join a party, say "hi", and when you leave a party, say "bye" or "thanks". Don't get upset if you don't get a reply.

Do not use the charge attack on a Cutter-line sword. It takes too long and leaves you too exposed to damage.

What Makes a Player an Expert?

In rough order of importance, here are the attributes that I recognize in making one player better than another. I might be forgetting some right now. Notice how far down I've placed equipment!

Skill: An expert player manages split-second timing of attacks, shielding, and maneuvering. She knows exactly how long a monster will take, to wind up for its attack. She damages the monster but remains unscathed. Often, she simply does not get hurt much at all. Her play is often beautiful.

Discipline: An expert player has been through tough situations, when he has half a bar of health and the rest of the party is dead. He knows how to play carefully. When he enters a room with Gun Puppies and Lichens, he retreats, to fight the Lichens away from the Gun Puppies (unless he's feeling very confident). In contrast, novice players often get surrounded by monsters and die.

Knowledge: An expert player knows the damage susceptibilities and resistances of the monsters, and uses weapons to which the monsters are vulnerable. She has the Royal Jelly Palace and the Firestorm Citadel memorized. She knows exactly which monsters will appear, and where and when. The battles are simply not surprising or mysterious to her, so she can plow through them efficiently. She has won this situational knowledge by simply trying the levels again and again; there's no shortcut.

Equipment: Given two players of equal skill, discipline, and knowledge, the one with the better equipment will of course fight better. But novice players attach too much weight to equipment, and are often under the impression that there is a "best" suit of armor or a "best" sword. An expert player tailors his armor and weapons to the stratum.

Etiquette: In a strict sense, etiquette doesn't help your fighting at all. But it is remarkable to me, how uniformly polite expert players are. They share their pills, they revive each other with health, they drop pickups and vitapods before returning to Haven, they often greet each other, they sometimes share their heat, etc.

Buying Guide

Do not buy 0-star or 1-star equipment. Just save up for 2-star equipment. Why? Well, 0-star equipment is no better than the equipment, with which you begin the game. As for 1-star equipment, most of it is not upgradeable. That means that you'll have to buy 2-star equipment eventually, whether or not you buy 1-star equipment along the way. The 1-star stuff has no long-term value. Its short-term value is also not great: it's not much more effective than 0-star equipment, and it doesn't let you access any more of the Clockworks than does 0-star equipment. (The only exception to this rule, of which I'm aware, is the Haze Bomb. That 1-star bomb leads to some of the best stuff in the game.)

When you're ready to buy 2-star equipment, start with the suit, helmet, and primary weapon (usually sword). Then do your shield and secondary weapon. I advise this, because a shield only protects you while you are using it, and many beginning players are not great at using their shield yet.

So what should you buy? My first piece of advice is to plan based on 5-star items, not on 2-star items. Why? Because 2-star items are temporary stepping stones on the path to 5-star items. One 2-star item may seem preferable to another 2-star item, but lead to a 5-star item that is not as good. Read up on every 5-star item on the Spiral Knights wiki.

What are the considerations in choosing a 5-star weapon? Well, do you expect to be a pure swordsman, pure gunner, or pure bomber? Most people are not pure in any of these; they use a mixture of weapon types. In any event, you want weapons that can deal a variety of damage, so that you don't have to fight a monster with a damage type, to which it's resistant. For example, if all of your weapons deal elemental damage, then you'll have a tough time fighting beasts and gremlins. Ideally, you would also have weapons that deal certain helpful status effects, such as poison, shock, or freeze.

What are the considerations in choosing a 5-star piece of armor? Well, some armor enhances certain weapon types. For example, Skolver Coat/Cap give a bonus to swords, Nameless Poncho/Hat give a bonus to guns, and Volcanic Demo Suit/Helm give a bonus to bombs. So if you have a primary weapon type, then maybe you should choose armor to enhance it. On the other hand, some armor gives no weapon bonus, but just gives strong defense, and there's nothing wrong with that. For your first set of armor, you might want to strike a balance of different damage and status effect protections. For your next set of armor, you might want to get something ideal for fighting Lord Vanaduke or some other special situation.

When you work toward a 5-star item, consider buying the 3-star item from another player (or through the Auction House or not) and then upgrading twice yourself. This may be more economical. You have fewer chances to acquire unique variants, but those can always be purchased later anyway.

For Swordsmen

For armor, I'd recommend starting with a Wolver Coat, a Magic Hood, and an Owlite Shield. Upgrade these toward Skolver Coat, Divine Veil, and Grey Owlite Shield. This armor is really well balanced. Later, consider acquiring Skolver Coat, Vog Cub Coat/Cap, and Barbarous Thorn Shield.

These swords do normal damage only: Leviathan Blade, Cold Iron Vanquisher, Wild Hunting Blade, Dread Venom Striker. I recommend the Dread Venom Striker, for Jelly King fights (although the 4-star Vile Striker probably suffices).

These swords do piercing damage only: Fearless Rigadoon, Furious Flamberge, Final Flourish, Barbarous Thorn Blade. Consensus seems to favor the latter two over the former two.

These swords do mixed normal/elemental damage: Glacius, Combuster, Divine Avenger, Fang of Vog. There are reports that Combuster's regular attack is roughly 15% more powerful than Fang of Vog's, so examine these carefully.

These swords do mixed normal/shadow damage: Acheron, Gran Faust. Gran Faust can curse monsters, but its charge attack can curse you too.