User:Jdavis

I'm far from the best player in the game, but I've been playing for a while. So I thought I might share some of my hard-won knowledge with less-experienced players, and try to clear up some misconceptions that seem to be common. Have any comments or questions? Feel free to contact me on my talk page.

Advice

For beginners:

• Do not buy 0-star or 1-star equipment. See my Buying Guide.
• 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.
• Start learning the Etiquette of the game. In particular, 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 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.

For intermediate players:

• Learn how Damage and Status Effects work! These control your shopping and your fighting (unless you are focused exclusively on bombs).
• Skill matters very little in Strata 1 and 2, but it matters much more later on. So start building your skill. Master the technique of "popping" your shield (by briefly activating your shield, when a monster is next to you); this gets monsters off you. You can also cut the charge attack animation short by turning on your shield; you still do the damage, but you're not vulnerable for as much time. Practice such shielding techniques, along with dodging; don't rely on just one or the other. Some of this can be found on YouTube.
• Learn all of the Etiquette of the game.
• Do not use the charge attack on a Cutter-line sword. It takes too long and leaves you too exposed to damage.

I'm not going to pretend to give advice to expert players. Instead, let me just list some attributes that I have recognized, as I've watched some of the best players in the game.

• Knowledge: An expert player knows the damage susceptibilities and resistances of the monsters, and uses weapons to which the monsters are vulnerable. When she begins a new stratum, she quickly figures out how many hits she needs to take down a gun puppy there. She knows exactly how long her fire bomb takes to charge and how long a monster takes to wind up for attack; this is how she can manage split-second timing of attacks, shielding, maneuvering, healing, reviving, etc. She has the boss levels and arenas memorized; this is how she can unleash an attack on a monster as it appears.
• Patience: An expert player is accustomed to Strata 5 and 6, where monsters do huge damage even to heavily armored knights. 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. An expert player is willing to slowly but safely wear down monsters using, for example, freeze bombs that do little damage. Often, the expert player simply does not get hit at all.
• Equipment: Okay, equipment is important, but often not as important as novice players think it is. An expert player with poor equipment outperforms a novice player with superior equipment. There is no "best" suit of armor or "best" gun. An expert player has more than one set of equipment, and tailors his armor and weapons to the stratum he's facing.
• Etiquette: Etiquette doesn't exactly help your fighting, but it is remarkable to me, how uniformly polite expert players are. They share their pills, they revive each other with health, and they drop pickups and vitapods before returning to Haven. They often greet each other. They sometimes share their heat.

Etiquette

Spiral Knights is designed to be a social game. By observing some rules of etiquette, you will keep your fellow players happy. On the other hand, if you're rude, even unintentionally, then advanced players will not want to be your friends.

Reviving

Every time a knight is revived with energy, his cost of reviving with energy doubles. Thus, reviving with energy gets very expensive as the expedition progresses. It is best to revive with health as much as possible, and save energy-reviving for when it is truly necessary. So when is it necessary?

First, when all of the knights in a party are dead, each knight should say his reviving cost out loud. Then the knight with the cheapest cost (usually) revives himself with energy, and goes around reviving the other knights using his health. He doesn't revive another knight with energy unless that knight has agreed to it, and he certainly doesn't "revive all". Reviving another knight with energy is not necessarily doing that knight a favor, because it makes his future revivals more costly.

Second, in the Jelly King fight you always revive yourself with energy. Why? There are so many monsters clogging up the area, that other players can't get to you. Also, the Jelly King heals, so the entire party must be alive to deal damage to him as fast as possible. In this situation, it's probably okay to "revive all". And what if you find yourself in a Jelly King fight, without the energy to revive? Then you have already breached etiquette.

Teamwork

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. Also, say "going up" so that your intentions are clear. If you die, and the other players are close to death, then drop your pills, so that someone can heal and revive you. In general, consider sharing pills with your teammates, so that everyone has at least one pill at all times.

I never kick people out of my party just because they're not very good, or because I need room for a friend who wants to join. That's being rude to my teammate. On the other hand, I do occasionally kick people who are acting selfishly. I particularly dislike people who stay away from the fight, waiting for everyone else to finish off the monsters, maybe raiding the treasure rooms while they do. That's terrible behavior.

Invitations

In my opinion, the invitation system needs improvement. When someone invites me, I need to know how deep they are, and what the theme for that stratum is, so that I can configure my equipment. I'd also like to know how many people are in their party, and maybe even their names. So, instead of inviting a friend using the invitation system, I send him a tell, saying where I am and how far I'm going. If he's interested, I can follow up with an invitation, or he can just join if the party's open.

Do not invite friends into disasters (everybody's dead on the ground in a danger room, with high reviving cost) unless you warn them ahead of time like this. If you invite someone to join your party, and they decline, then don't harass them about it. That's a form of begging. Just accept it and move on.

Less experienced players should recognize that advanced players have different interests in fights and treasure. They should not regard advanced players as "tour guides" to help them through tough levels. For example, everybody loves depths 15 and 16 of the Royal Jelly Palace, because there are many fun fights that pay well in crowns and heat. Intermediate players love fighting the Jelly King (depth 17) as well, because it earns them Jelly Gems. Advanced players dislike fighting the Jelly King, because they don't need the Jelly Gems and so it's a waste of energy. This creates a tension, in which advanced players want to leave the Royal Jelly Palace at the end of depth 16, and the intermediate players beg them not to. Then the intermediate players invite new people, who go through the Jelly King fight, typically spending extra energy to earn only one Jelly Gem.

Here's my solution to the Royal Jelly Palace problem. Any player who isn't doing depth 17 should make that clear early on — certainly by the start of depth 15 — and offer to Go Solo so that the party can invite other people. Any new party members should be invited by the start of depth 15.

Miscellany

Do not beg. Do not ask strangers for crowns, CE, or anything else. If you want crowns, then sell something. If you ask a friend for a loan, and they refuse, then accept it and move on. If someone in your party finds a material that you want, don't ask her for it; it's hers, not yours, by the luck of the draw.

Some people never speak in the Clockworks, but I find that a little talking helps the party mood. Say "hi" when you join a party and "bye" or "thanks" when you leave. Don't get upset if you don't get a reply.

If you are playing Spiral Knights in your underwear, then keep some clothes nearby, in case you need to answer the door.

Damage and Status Effects

Damage is the single most important aspect of the rules of Spiral Knights to understand. There are four kinds of damage: normal, piercing, elemental, and shadow. Unless you're exclusively focused on bombs, you're going to want to memorize at least the first three columns of the following table. Notice that normal damage is missing from the table; all monsters are neutral to it.

Monster Type	Damage Type	Weak To	Neutral To	Strongly Resistant To
Slime Family	Piercing	Shadow	Elemental	Piercing
Beast Family	Piercing	Piercing	Shadow	Elemental
Gremlin Family	Elemental	Shadow	Piercing	Elemental
Construct Family	Elemental	Elemental	Shadow	Piercing
Fiend Family	Shadow	Piercing	Elemental	Shadow
Undead Family	Shadow	Elemental	Piercing	Shadow

How do you use this information? Well, before you enter a stratum of the Clockworks, you examine the gate map and try to guess which of your weapons and armor are best. And, long before that happens, you plan your purchases and crafting in order to have a diverse set of armor and weapons.

For example, let's say that you're into handguns. You might own three guns: a piercing gun, an elemental gun, and a shadow gun. If you have three weapon slots, then you can carry all of these, and switch among them based on the monster you're facing, so that you always deal out huge damage. If you have a fourth weapon slot, and feel like carrying a sword, you might try Leviathan Blade. It does normal damage, so it's never weak against any monster, and it has a great charge attack, especially for crowded rooms where guns lose their key advantage. But what if you have only two weapon slots? Then carry two damage types, and not the third. For example, if you carry a piercing gun and an elemental gun, then you can do huge damage against fiends, beasts, undead, and constructs, and moderate damage against slimes (by using the elemental gun) and moderate damage against gremlins (by using the piercing gun). Of course, guns also vary in their status effects, firing speed, mobility restrictions, etc. But damage is a crucial consideration, because it's what kills monsters, and there is no monster, against which normal damage is the best damage to use.

The same goes for swords. The same goes for a mixture of weapons. For example, if you have only two weapon slots, and you'd like to carry a sword and a gun, then carry two different damage types, so that you can do huge damage against 4/6 of monsters and moderate damage against 2/6 of monsters.

Pure bombing is the only weapon configuration that shouldn't be built around damage type. Almost all bombs do normal or elemental damage. There is one piercing bomb. There is one shadow bomb, that does very little damage. But bombs often affect multiple monsters, and are often used in combination with other bombs, so it is not a major hindrance that the most immediately damaging bombs do normal damage.

Monsters deal normal damage to you on Strata 1 and 2, their preferred damage type on Strata 5 and 6, and a mixture of normal and preferred on Strata 3 and 4. Plan your armor accordingly. For your first set of armor, you probably want to cover all four damage types. Later, you can construct sets of armor for specialized situations, such as the Firestorm Citadel.

Many new players confuse damage with status effects. Status effects are not in themselves damage. They don't lower your health. They just affect your ability to continue fighting. For example, suppose that 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, which makes you unable to move your feet.

When choosing weapons, consider weapons that inflict status effects; all are useful. When choosing armor, consider mainly fire, freeze, and shock, because these three are serious and common. Curse is devastating but less common, unless you are charging Faust/Gran Faust. Poison is moderately bad but uncommon. Stun happens mostly when a lumber hits you, but you shouldn't be letting those hit you anyway. Sleep is nearly non-existent.

There is one weird relationship between damage and status. When you are on fire, you periodically take damage from it, until it subsides. The damage is of its own special kind. Neither normal, nor elemental, nor piercing, nor shadow armor will lessen damage from fire. Only fire-resistant armor lessens it.

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.

When you're ready to buy 2-star equipment, start with the suit, helmet, and primary weapon. Then do your shield and secondary weapon. I recommend this, because a shield protects you only while you are using it, and many beginning players are not great at using their shield yet. And what should you buy? My first piece of advice is to plan based on 5-star items, not on 2-star items. 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 as the other's. Read up on every 5-star item on the Spiral Knights wiki.

Do you intend to be a pure swordsman, gunner, or bomber? If so, then consider armor specialized to those types (see below). If you have no idea what your weapon type is, or if you expect to use a mix (most players do), then consider armor with strong defense. 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 the Firestorm Citadel or some other special situation. As far as weapons go, you want to be able to deal at least two types of special damage: piercing, elemental, or shadow. Then, by switching among your weapons, you will usually (4/6 of the time) be able to exploit your enemy's weakness, and you will never have to use a weapon on a monster, that it resists. Ideally, you would also have weapons that deal certain helpful status effects, such as poison, shock, or freeze.

As you work toward a 5-star item, consider buying the 3-star item from another player (through the Auction House or not) and then upgrading twice yourself. Depending on energy prices, this may be more economical than crafting the 2- and 3-star versions yourself. You have fewer chances to acquire unique variants, but unique variants can be purchased from the gremlins later anyway.

Swords

Swords come in three vague speed/weight categories. Roughly speaking, fast swords use 5-stroke combos, do little damage per hit, and offer little knockback. Slow swords use 2-stroke combos, do a lot of damage per hit, and knock back a lot. Medium-speed swords use 3-stroke combos and do middling damage/knockback. As far as damage goes, there are no pure Elemental or Shadow swords.

Do not fall into the trap of assuming that the boss swords (Barbarous Thorn Blade, Divine Avenger, Gran Faust, Fang of Vog) are always the best. Final Flourish is just as good as Barbarous Thorn Blade. Divine Avenger and Gran Faust may frustrate you with their slowness. Against gremlins, Acheron may be more useful than Gran Faust, because it is faster. Combuster is similar in concept to Fang of Vog, and its regular attack appears to be more powerful than Fang of Vog's.

As an experiment, I recently started a new swordsman character. Here is my plan for making him strong as fast as possible:

• For armor, I got Wolver Coat, Magic Hood, and Owlite Shield. I'm upgrading these toward Skolver Coat, Divine Veil, and Grey Owlite Shield.
• For weapons, I got Brandish (for Acheron). As soon as I hit Nightblade, I got Swift Flourish (for Final Flourish). Getting Twisted Snarble Barb (for Barbarous Thorn Blade) would be just as good. With a shadow sword and a piercing sword, I am strong against slimes, gremlins, beasts, and fiends, and neutral against undead and constructs.
• I'm using this gear to farm the Jelly King, until I get Sealed Sword (for Divine Avenger). Then my swords will be complete.
• Along the way, I plan to acquire Shivermist Buster. I might also get Argent Peacemaker or some piercing or elemental gun.

This plan will give me well-balanced armor, three diverse and powerful swords, a great swordsman's bomb, and a gun suitable for the Firestorm Citadel. That's all you need, for the entire game. But I would also consider acquiring Vog Cub Coat/Cap, Barbarous Thorn Shield, Skolver Cap, Crest of Almire, Gran Faust, Fang of Vog, etc. See also the Swordsmaster article.

Handguns

Handguns come in two broad speed categories: Some guns let you walk while firing, while others do not. The latter require great care, but generally do more damage per hit. In comparison to swords, there are many more guns of pure piercing, elemental, or shadow damage, and very few guns of mixed damage. Another major consideration is bullet speed; someday I'll add that to this table.

I've never worn gun-oriented armor, but the obvious choice is the Gunslinger Sash/Hat line, which has four 5-star versions with various strengths. You can mix and match these with shields to get either well-balanced armor or highly specialized armor. Search the Spiral Knights forums for "Ask a Master Gunslinger Anything". His armor is heavily Normal/Elemental, I think because he's focused on Firestorm Citadel. He uses Callahan (Piercing), Hail Driver (Elemental), and Umbra Driver (Shadow). He discourages use of Argent Peacemaker, because it's not pure. All of this agrees with my Damage and Status Effects analysis above. Just keep in mind that new weapons have been introduced since he wrote his comments. See also the Gunslinger article.

Bombs

I honestly don't know much about bombs; I've seriously used only the Shivermist Buster, which I love, and the (4-star version of the) Venom Veiler, which I find pointless. Nevertheless, here's some bomb information, just for completeness. Bombs are wonderful for the status effects they induce. They can also do great damage, although your choices for Piercing and Shadow are limited:

• Normal: Nitronome, Big Angry Bomb, Irontech Destroyer
• Piercing: Dark Briar Barrage
• Elemental: Electron Vortex, Ash of Agni, Shivermist Buster, Stagger Storm, Venom Veiler, Voltaic Tempest
• Shadow: Graviton Vortex

It is worth noting that certain bombs (e.g., Nitronome, I think) are highly irritating to non-bombers. These bombs have an enormous blast animation that obscures much of the room; they're basically blindfolds for the other players. Also, these bombs knock the monsters around so much that other players have trouble landing their attacks. In small rooms, a slow swordsman can be paralyzed by a bomber. The swordsman either waits out the fight or leaves the party. In such a situation, the bomber might consider using less disruptive bombs. In large rooms, the swordsman can operate far away from the bomber, so there is less potential for conflict. In fairness, I should add that swordsmen with high knockback or bad planning can also irritate bombers (and everyone else) by knocking monsters out of other player's attacks, and certain guns have enormous animations that blindfold players as badly as the worst bombs.

The obvious armor for bombers is the Spiral Demo Suit/Helm line, which has three 5-star versions. All offer Normal/Elemental protection, so you'll want to get Piercing/Shadow protection from your unique variants, shields, and trinkets, for certain strata. See also the Bomber article.