Party
From SpiralKnights
A party is a group of 1-4 knights adventuring in a gate or mission. The knights collaborate to kill monsters and solve puzzles. Almost all of their treasure is shared. While in the Clockworks, chat defaults to /party, allowing communication with everyone in the party, regardless of distance.
Contents
Choosing Party Members
Starting
You can start a party by going to an active gate in the Arcade, standing in front of the control panel and using the "Attack" button. Alternatively, you can start a party in the Arcade part of the Mission interface.
You must choose which tier to start in. Some tiers may be grayed out, if the Spiral Warden does not deem you experienced enough to travel to that tier.
You must also choose one of these three options:
- Create Public Party: Anyone in the game will be permitted to join your party.
- Create Private Party: Only friends and guild members will be permitted to join.
- Play Solo: No one will be permitted to join. Use this option if you wish to play alone.
After starting your party, you can change the access permissions in the party menu.
Joining
There are several ways to join parties that already exist:
- One process is similar to that for starting a new party. You can join a party by going to an active gate in the Arcade or using the Arcade part of the Mission interface.
- The Party Finder interface helps you inspect the parties that are available.
- If a friend or guildmate is in a party that allows friends, guildmates, or everyone to join, then you can join by clicking on that knight in your Social interface.
- If someone specifically invites you to join their party, then the party invitation will appear on the right side of your user interface.
Some tiers of the Clockworks may be inaccessible to you, if you lack the clearance to access them. However, an invitation lets you bypass these access restrictions.
A party cannot be joined in certain levels of the Clockworks: Treasure Vaults, Treasure Troves, Boss levels, Shadow Lairs, and levels of danger missions after the first level. Additionally, someone who has started a party by going solo cannot be immediately joined, and a party cannot be joined when a party member that went solo returns.
Inviting
The party leader can invite any knight to join the party. If the leader allows it, any party member can invite knights.
As was mentioned above, these invitations bypass tier clearances, but they do not work in certain high-reward levels.
Leaving
At any time, any knight in a party may choose to leave the party. There are two mechanisms.
First, the knight can choose to return to Haven (or quit the Spiral Knights application entirely).
Second, the knight can choose to "Go Solo" in the party menu. The knight finds themself the leader of a party of one, starting from exactly where they went solo. That is, the gate, level, party buttons, etc. are all exactly as they were before the knight went solo. Any heat gained on the level thus far is lost. Treasure left on the floor is erased. Other knights are not allowed to join the new party immediately.
Removing
The party leader can remove party members for any reason. If a group member is violating the Terms of Service or Community Standards, then the leader can file a complaint.
Party Members Menu
Each knight in the party will appear in the party menu list in the top left corner of the screen displaying a knight's health below their name and portrait. You can click on a party member's portrait to bring up the character menu. In addition to its usual functions, you can also use the character menu to grant defeated knights a Spark of Life.
Effect on Gameplay
Spiral Knights is designed to be a cooperative game. For most objects found in the Clockworks, party members do not compete, but rather collaborate, in picking them up.
When a knight picks up loot, it disappears from his or her display, but remains on the displays of the other knights until they pick it up. Each crown or token gained is applied immediately; even if a knight doesn't finish the level, they still keep the crown or token. Unlike crowns and tokens, heat is not immediately applied. Knights keeps the heat that they have gained only when reaching the lift at the end of the level. At that time, an animation appears showing the heat being applied to the knight's equipment.
Each party member may carry one mineral at a time. Like heat, minerals are applied to the knight only when the level is completed.
Single vs. Multi-Player Parties
There is a high penalty for travelling in a party. Even though everyone will receive the same amount of crowns and heat as if they were travelling solo, there are puzzles that make loot vanish or inaccessible; in a party it is much more likely someone isn't careful and it's lost to all. The effects of shields and weapons of multiple knights make enemy movement less predictable; specifically effects that move a monster, like shield bumps and weapon knockback. Monsters will become more durable to hits from players when the party is larger. The enemies will also focus on multiple targets, instead of just following one. Many maps also have switches to toggle traps (or doors) and in a party careless knights often kill each other switching them while someone is trying to safely get past. Maps that allow knights to fan out and solve multiple parts in parallel without their weapons and shields interfering with their teammates, thus speeding up completion, are very few. If someone opens an energy door by paying, the whole party profits from that, though.
When there are multiple knights in a party, the monsters faced are somewhat more difficult. Each party member adds to every monster's health, whether it be Lord Vanaduke or a lowly Jelly. In a Graveyard there is always one Phantom per knight and in Candlestick Keep there is always one Grimalkin per knight.
Knights traveling together can benefit from teamwork:
- Knights can revive fallen comrades using their own Spark of Life
- As long as at least one knight makes it through the level to the lift, the entire party makes it through the level. If the surviving knight goes down at the lift, then all party members go down. The fallen party members do not gain heat from the level, and will automatically use their Emergency Revive upon beginning the next depth.
- There are various tactical advantages. For example, a knight can free a comrade trapped in a block of ice, and one knight can lure a monster while another knight attacks it from behind. By having multiple knights, the party can in aggregate have a more varied assortment of weapons. For example, the party can have swords dealing multiple kinds of damage, guns dealing multiple status effects, etc. Although monsters have more health in multi-player adventures, the damage from multiple knights easily outweighs that extra health.
- More knights in a party means more minerals picked up to feed your pet.
Some players prefer to travel alone. Other than reduced monster health, there is no reason to play solo.
Equipment Locking
While you are in a party down in the Clockworks, you will not be able to change your equipment unless you are in the Clockworks Party Lobby, Clockwork Terminal, or using an Arsenal Station. A message will be seen at the top of the character window whenever your equipment is locked due to this.
