User:Jdavis

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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.

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:

  • Here is my most important advice: Learn how Damage works.
  • 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 can recognize in making one player better than another, in rough order of importance.

  • 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.
  • Patience: 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. An expert player is willing to slowly but safely wear down monsters using, for example, freeze bombs that do little damage.
  • 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 has the Royal Jelly Palace and the Firestorm Citadel memorized. She knows exactly which monsters will appear, and where and when. She has won this situational knowledge by simply trying the levels again and again; there's no shortcut.
  • 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 tailors his armor and weapons to the stratum.
  • 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.

Damage

This is the most important knowledge to gain. Coming soon. For now:

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, and the damage types that they deal. You need this knowledge, for planning which armor and weapons to purchase and which armor and weapons to equip for any given stratum.

Fire does its own special kind of damage — neither Normal, nor Elemental, nor Shadow or Piercing. The only way to reduce it is to use Fire-resistant armor.

Etiquette

Spiral Knights is designed to be a social game. By observing some rules of etiquette, you will keep your fellow players happy. Advanced players will not want to be your friends, if you're rude, whether the rudeness is intentional or not.

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

Your survival in the Clockworks depends, at least in part, on the survival of your teammates. So work together.

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. 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 is broken. 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.

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.

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 (through the Auction House or not) and then upgrading twice yourself. This may be more economical than crafting the 2- and 3-star versions yourself. You have fewer chances to acquire unique variants, but multiple unique variants can be purchased from the gremlins later.

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, piercing damage is the only pure damage available; all non-piercing swords deal either normal damage or mixed damage.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking 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.

If I were starting over again right now as a swordsman, this is what I'd do:

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

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.

I've never worn gun-oriented armor. If you want to, then you'll begin with Gunslinger Sash/Hat, which have four 5-star versions with various strengths. Grey Owlite Shield seems like a good choice still. Search the Spiral Knights forums for "Ask a Master Gunslinger Anything". He explains that he uses Nameless Poncho/Hat, Grey Owlite Shield, Callahan, Hail Driver, and Umbra Driver. But note well that new weapons have been introduced since he wrote that.

Looking for a good utility sword to use with a bunch of guns? Consider the Leviathan Blade. It does Normal damage, so it's not weak against any monster (nor strong). Its charge attack is great for defense in crowded rooms.

Bombs

I don't know much about bombs; the only bombs I've ever seriously used are the Shivermist Buster (which I love) and the Toxic Atomizer (which I find pointless). I thought I'd include some information here just for completeness. Bombs are wonderful for the status effects they induce. They can also do great damage, although most damage types are quite limited:

The obvious armor for bombers is the Spiral Demo Suit/Helm line. Grew Owlite Shield seems to be a good shield still.

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 — particularly swordsmen with slow swords — can't hit them. In small rooms, a slow swordsman can be truly 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.

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