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| + | Welcome to my User Page, for my guide about Dread Venom Striker, see [[User:Waterbeat/DVS Guide]] |
| − | id =Opinion|
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| − | backgroundcolor =AntiqueWhite|
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| − | image =Icon-opinion.png|
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| − | heading =The topic of this article or section is subject to personal opinion, and does not represent any one absolute truth.|
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| − | message = If you disagree, discuss your concerns on the the [[:{{NAMESPACE}} talk:{{PAGENAME}}|talk page]] before editing.}}
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| − | <includeonly>[[Category:Opinion]]</includeonly><noinclude>[[Category:Note Templates]]</noinclude>
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| − | | + | [[User:Waterbeat/Fang_of_vog]] |
| − | This is my guide on how to use the Dread Venom Striker effectively. First I go over each part of your loadout: which armor, side weapons, shields, pets and optional trinkets. After that, I try to describe some effective ways to deal with each type of monster. Later I might add a Video section, since that would demonstrate more practical situations, but I haven't found a way to record yet (tried OBS and I got blue screen of death twice upon pressing the start record hotkey...). Sometimes I have little Hide/Unhide boxes that explain some things a bit more in depth. I only put those for subjects that are relevant to this guide, but in the future I might add them for more general sections (for example explaining more in depth how shield defense and status resistance compare or perhaps some hints on how to get decent UV'd gear).
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| − | == '''Dread Venom Striker''' ==
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| − | {| align="right" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border:\#e4e4eb 1px solid; margin: 0em 0em 0em 1em; border-collapse: collapse;"
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| − | | style="background:#e4e4eb;"|[[File:Equipment-Dread_Venom_Striker_icon.png]]
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| − | The [[Dread Venom Striker]] (DVS) has fast swings that deal normal damage, allowing it to be effective against every monster type. I do not recommend using the charge attack
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| − | since its doesn't offer a lot of utility. The damage increase on the charge attacks hits is not enough to compensate for the drawbacks: for the duration of the charge attack you are unable to dodge or block attacks and you cannot adjust your aim.
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| − | Dread Venom Striker benefits a lot from damage bonuses and the effects of poison. This is great, because it can inflict poison! When using DVS, you are forced to match your gear to it. Like [[Echo]], you will need armor that provides damage bonus for swords (or a universal damage bonus). DVS is unique in this way: many weapons do just fine without damage bonus. DVS on the other hand really needs all the damage bonus it can get to show its true potential.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended [[UV]]s: First priority on a DVS is to get [[ASI]] UVs. The weapon is already fast, but more ASI will help you kill faster and also interrupt monsters faster. This could possibly mean the difference between knocking a foe over or losing some time (and DPS) by being forced to shield, or worse: taking a hit. ASI takes priority because damage bonus is only against a specific monster family, while armor can provide damage bonus against all monster families. Damage bonus UVs are still very much welcomed because you aim to get max damage bonus. In case you struggle to reach +6 (max) damage bonus through armor, some damage bonus against monster family UVs can be useful. CTR UVs are only moderately useful, as I do not recommend using the charge often and the charge is already quite fast without CTR.
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| − | {{showhide| [[File:Buff attack icon.png|19px|left]] Damage bonus explained |content= Dread Venom Striker benefits more from damage bonuses than for example Final Flourish for 2 reasons.
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| − | #It has normal damage which means that monsters actually resist it quite well and,
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| − | #It has each of its 5 swings split up in a regular hit and a ghost hit, which means monsters can put their defence to use twice, whereas they can only defend once against a Flourish.
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| − | To balance this out, DVS needs a high base damage. When playing without damage bonuses the high base damage remains hidden and DVS has fairly low damage. However, as soon as you stack damage bonuses and buffs while using DVS, the hidden base damage it possesses will make the damage you deal to monsters go up by a lot.
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| − | }}
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| − | == '''Building a good loadout''' ==
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| − | In this section I will try to discuss all the aspects of building a loadout around the Dread Venom Striker.
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| − | === Armor ===
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| − | When using Dread Venom Striker, there are a few things you should consider when picking your armor. First of all, you want to get as much damage bonus for swords as you can get, preferably maximum, but ultra is acceptable. Next is status resist: some status will drastically lower your damage output as well as make you die faster. Then you can weigh in damage type, because it lets you preserve your Health more easily, which allows you to play more aggressively. Lowest priority is additional ASI, which is always nice to have, but does not outweigh the advantage that damage bonus, status resistance and defence provide.
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| − | {{showhide| [[File:Icon_status_poison.png|19px|left]] Which status resistance? |content=As we know, Dread Venom Striker benefits more than other weapons from damage increase buffs. This goes both ways though, which means it's also more vulnerable to damage penalties. This makes [[Poison]] a very dangerous status when using DVS. Getting your damage reduced makes monsters live longer and harder to disrupt, while at the same time you are also taking more damage from their hits and unable to heal. [[Shock]] is a known strong status that you do not want to suffer from for too long. It stops you from using your Vortex Bomb and makes it dangerous to get close to monsters in general, because you are defenseless when you spasm.
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| − | Next in line are [[Fire]] and [[Freeze]]. Both are very strong statuses, but Fire doesn't stop you from killing monsters. Too much fire will drain you of Health and force you to play less aggressively though. Freeze is again a very dangerous status that can hamper your killing and survival. It breaks after a hit though, so your strong shield will let you take that hit after which you can dash out of harm's way. Teammates can also free you, so thats why its lower in priority.
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| − | The lowest priority is [[Stun]] and then [[Curse]]. Stun is a status you will not get inflicted by often and even if you do, it doesn't have a very long duration. Curse is even less common and won't hurt you too much if you don't have a penalty to it and 3 weapon slots.
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| − | '''Snarbolax set''': This armor set provides 2x damage bonus medium, for a total of damage bonus very high. It also gives you Poison and Freeze resistances, both useful.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended UVs: UV's on wolver armor are usually fairly cheap when buying them from other players. Especially Poison resistance because most players dont consider Poison a major threat.
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| − | Poison, Shock, Fire, Freeze, Shadow, Normal are all great UVs to get on your snarbolax set.
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| − | '''Black Kat set''': The main selling point for this armor is its unique universal damage bonus of high on each piece, the full set can give you maximum damage bonus for all weapons. It also has a [[MSI]] low on each piece which is useful for dodging. The set has penalties to all status except Stun and Freeze though, getting poisoned at -4 resistance will be frustrating. Same goes for shock and fire. It does have good Freeze resistance.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended UVs: Shock, Fire, Poison, Shadow, Normal.
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| − | '''Skolver set''': Same as the Snarbolax set but with Piercing defence instead of Shadow. Also loses all of Snarbolax' poison resistance, but gets some extra freeze resistance.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended UVs: Shock, Poison, Fire, Piercing, Normal.
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| − | '''Chaos set''': The status penalties usually make it a bad choice for a DVS loadout. Nevertheless, it could have its place in a level that doesn't have a lot of status, to help speed up your Vortex charge time.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended UVs: Shock, Fire, Poison, Elemental, Normal.
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| − | You can equip combinations of these sets depending on the situation and what your personal loadout lacks. For example running with a BKC and a Snarbolax Coat will still get you ultra damage bonus, which is enough. There are other armor sets that give medium damage bonus against certain monster families (chroma lines, valkyrie set, radiant silvermail), but most area's have more than 1 monster family, so these armors will usually not do the job.
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| − | === Shield ===
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| − | When using the Dread Venom Striker, you will often find yourself very close to your enemies. Because its attacks are so fast, you can often attack until right before their attack will hit you, at which point you will quickly raise your shield and block. After you block their attack, you can immediately start attacking them again. You do not have to waste time dodging and kiting enemies. Playing like this requires a strong shield. Pick a shield that defends against the theme status of the level and at least 1 of the main damage types.
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| − | For example: In [[Heart of Ice]], you may use Dread Skelly shield because it defends against freeze+shadow+normal. You should not use Crest of Almire since it lacks freeze resistance.
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| − | If you are new, I recommend getting [[Grey Owlite Shield]] and [[Dread Skelly Shield]] first. Those 2 will give you a nice coverage to tackle a lot of missions. Later on also look into (no particular order): [[Gorgomega]], [[Savage Tortoise]], [[Omegaward]], [[Heater Shield]], [[Dragon Scale Shield]], [[Crest of Almire]].
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| − | [[Barbarous Thorn Shield]] is a possibility for piercing levels, but I do not recommend using it everywhere. Getting your shield broken and statuses like shock or poison inflicted on you will slow down your killing. Get your damage bonus elsewhere.
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| − | === Weapons ===
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| − | This section is about the other weapons you can use with DVS.
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| − | '''Electron Vortex'''
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| − | A vortex bomb has great synergy with many weapons, DVS is definitely one of them. I recommend always equipping one, unless there is an experienced Vortex user on your party and even then, bring it just in case. I prefer the Electron Vortex because it can do Shock, which helps keeping the monsters in place after it explodes. The alternatives being Graviton Vortex and Obsidian Crusher don't have this advantage. Obsidian Crusher has a useful Poison status, but DVS can already inflict that and if you have a Maskeraith, that's a third possible source of Poison. Don't be afraid to chain a few vortexes: this sucks in more monsters that you can proceed to cut up with added damage from pet attacks.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended UVs: CTR Medium from UV and the medium from level 10 combine to Very High, which is enough to comfortably charge your vortex in any situation.
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| − | '''Gran Faust'''
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| − | Use your DVS as a lead attack, follow up with a Gran Faust swing to finish them off or to knock them back/disrupt them. I use this attack style mostly against Gremlins and Slimes because some of them (Thwackers and Lichen) can be dangerous when staying close for too long. This sword also offers a nice defense with its wide swing and knockback, for those situations where you get cornered.
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| − | [[File:Unique_variant_icon.png|12px|left]]Recommended UVs: ASI.
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| − | '''Handguns'''
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| − | You can use a variety of handguns to help you reach switches. Another idea is to use a Tortofist to create a wall of spikes you can push enemies against with DVS, providing damage from spikes and stopping DVS knockback that sometimes causes your Ghost hits to miss if you aren't careful. I dont recommend actually using the Tortofist yourself, but there's definitely some synergy when a party member is using it.
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| − | === Battle Sprite ===
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| − | '''Maskeraith'''
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| − | Maskeraith is my favourite pet to use with Dread Venom Striker. Its skills are great ways to increase your damage output and often it gives you that little extra you need to finish off a monster without having to block or dodge its attack.
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| − | Key skills: [[Vengeful Quills]], [[Deadly Shadow Cloak]]
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| − | Quills: I recommend the Vengeful upgrade. There's not a huge difference compared to Virulent Quills, but I prefer Vengeful. Overall this is a great skill to increase your damage. The quills do a lot of damage when hit and they also help spread poison around faster. Combined with a fast recharge this makes the skill perfect for smaller groups or single enemies that are otherwise hard to take down, like a Giant Lichen Colony. Make sure to have the appropriate damage type equipped as your sprite's harness.
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| − | Shadow Cloak: Deadly Shadow Cloak greatly outperforms Vengeful Shadow Cloak. Do not get the latter under any circumstance. This skill works great with any weapon, but as we know, Dread Venom Striker benefits even more from damage bonuses than other weapons. Initially Deadly Shadow Cloak turns you invisible, after 15 seconds it ends and gives you a huge damage buff for 2 seconds; this may seem short, but its sufficient to decimate a large group of monsters that got caught in your vortex. The cloak ends prematurely if you start attacking or charging, so you can decide when to activate the buff. A super-combination is when you activate the 2 seconds of damage buff from Deadly Shadow Cloak, followed by picking up a damage buff pickup. Both buffs will stack and make your damage go through the roof.
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| − | '''Drakon'''
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| − | While I do prefer the Maskeraith, Knights who have other Sprites as their companion needn't worry! Drakon has some useful skills that allow for interesting combinations.
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| − | Key skills: [[Scorching Barrier]], [[Firestorm]]
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| − | Flame Barrier: Pick Scorching Barrier. The extra orb and the size increase both help to increase the amount of hits you can get in with the barrier. The Scorching Barrier's damage is often very helpful to take down stronger monsters before they can launch their attacks. For example [[Almirian Crusader]]s will take so much damage from your DVS and the barrier when using an elemental harness, that you can usually kill them before they can pose any real threat.
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| − | Firestorm: Both ultimates are viable in my opinion. Frenzied Firestorm is nice with the party wide Damage Boost while Explosive Firestorm has a lot of extra damage through explosionticks that can deal ~50 damage per tick. I love Explosive Firestorm with elemental harness for taking care of large groups of [[Zombies]], but against other monsters Frenzied Firestorm might be more useful.
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| − | '''Seraphynx'''
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| − | Seraphynx has 3 useful abilities. This pet works well when you solo with DVS, because monsters have less HP and you can do without the extra damage Maskeraith or Drakon provide. It obviously also works well in a party, where heart attack can heal your teammates and angelic aura can protect them while attacking.
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| − | Ray of Light: Pick [[Disintegration Ray]]: Lowering defense synergizes well with Dread Venom Striker. Use it on a group of enemies that you caught in your vortex to hit multiple targets, then proceed to hit all of them with strong DVS hits.
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| − | Heart Attack: I recommend [[Iron Heart Attack]], because unlike Violent Heart Attack, it doesn't have the animation that can blur your vision a little bit. Use this on vortexed enemies to help out your teammates.
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| − | Angelic Aura: Pick [[Valkyrian Aura]]. When under a lot of pressure, this aura lets you safely charge up your Vortex bomb at maximum CTR to change the tide of battle. The aura is also useful during offense: it will take a few hits for you so you can focus completely on killing your enemies. For instance, this works well when killing a group of vortexed fiends: with the aura, you don't need to worry about the chairs being thrown at you.
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| − | === Trinkets and Perk ===
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| − | [[Heart Pendant]]s should be the first trinkets you consider. Keep in mind you don't really need trinkets to play with DVS, but the extra HP these give can allow for more aggressive play. You can risk more and sometimes it creates some spectacular combinations. [[Grand Solstice Ring]] and [[Gift of Autumn]] are possible alternatives to Penta-Heart Pendants.
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| − | An [[Elite Slash Module]] can help you reach maximum damage bonus when using the Snarbolax set for example, this is probably the only situation where I would drop a health trinket. I wouldn't take a Slash Module over a Health trinket if my loadout had damage bonus ultra. In that situation I'd prefer +6 hp over the extra low damage bonus.
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| − | Status trinkets and Defence trinkets aren't worth the slot. Status trinkets (+2) are also weaker than the Status Perk (+3) your pet can equip. I usually use the HP perk on my pet as well, but the status perks can be useful to reach immunity. You can also equip a Damage bonus perk if your loadout demands it. MSI is useful but not necessary with DVS, since you rarely kite (except when charging vortex, but you can do it just fine without MSI). On the contrary, most of the time, its you who are chasing the monsters, not the other way around!
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| − | == '''The Monsters''' ==
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| − | UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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| − | {{showhide| Greaver |content= [[Greaver]]s are the easiest fiends you can encounter. They come in low numbers, have low HP and any hit interrupts them, which makes DVS perfect for taking care of them since it has lots of fast swings. They fly towards you, usually ahead of the other monsters, and they are very easy to hit; it almost feels as if your blade sticks to them. A special case is the Fiend/Undead Arena: There are several waves that consist of greavers. You can predict when and where they will spawn though, so place an electron vortex there and they'll be dead in no time. The little haze that they sometimes leave is no problem since you can easily take care of them even when poisoned/shocked/stunned. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Trojan |content= [[Trojan]]s are fairly easy to beat. The strategy with DVS is no different than with any other weapon: wait for it to swing its mace, then attack its back using your regular strikes. The charge attack offers only a little bit of extra damage, but forces you to finish the full combo, which might get you hit. Use Deadly Shadow Cloak after it swings its mace to take it out really fast. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Chromalisk |content= [[Chromalisk]]s are slow and usually come in groups. Just place an Electron Vortex and use Vengeful Quills with a Piercing Harness to take them down easily. Seraphynx users can use Disintegration Ray to end them faster or Valkyrian Aura to make sure they don't take a random hit. When there are Wolvers mixed with Chromalisks, I recommend using Valkyrian Aura over Disintegration Ray. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Wolver |content= [[Wolver]]s are pretty much handled the same way as Chromalisks. They are just a little harder to catch in your vortex, so dont be afraid to place a couple down and slice 'em when you have them all together. Quills or Cloak will help you to kill them fast. Valkyrian Aura is useful because sometimes they will try to bite you, so with the Aura you don't have to worry about that. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Knocker |content= [[Knocker]]s are very weak gremlins. Place a vortex and they'll get caught easily. Kill them with DVS and add Quills if you feel like it. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Scorcher |content= [[Scorcher]]s are similar to knockers, but they have better attacks. You can still easily walk between them and drop vortexes until they get caught. Afterwards, kill them with DVS. Feel free to use Quills or Shadow Cloak for increased damage. Firestorm would work as well.}}
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| − | {{showhide| Mortafire |content= [[Mortafire]]s are easily killed by using any barrier pick-up, which will quickly destroy their armor. Afterwards, attack him with DVS and he will get knocked over and die quickly. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Gun Puppy |content= To get close to a [[Gun Puppy]], you can [[dash]] through its bullets. Then use regular DVS attacks and shield if you need to. You can play like this even against many turrets at the same time; just kill them one by one while shielding incoming bullets when you need to, this is no problem if you have the correct shield equipped. You can also do a DVS combo and switch to your Gran Faust when you can finish it off or if you need some extra damage to interrupt its attack. (You will be carrying a Gran Faust and not Divine Avenger because this is usually in Gremlin territory.) }}
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| − | {{showhide| Lumber |content= The [[Lumber]] is similar to the trojan, but you can hit it from all sides. You can move around it while slashing and if it catches up with you, you can stop attacking and run to his back and start attacking again. Easy to beat one on one, but make sure you don't get hit, because these guys pack an amazing punch. On top of that, they inflict stun and their theme status, which is devastating in some situations. If they spawn in a group, you can walk between them with an electron vortex and catch them all. You move slow while charging it though, so be careful. When they are sucked in, use Deadly Shadow Cloak or Scorching Barrier to kill them fast, but keep watching for possible hits coming your way!}}
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| − | {{showhide| Retrode |content= [[Retrode]]s are slow robots that can fire a brandish-lik beam. Overall these are really easy to beat. Like with Scuttlebots, you should have no trouble with them using standard DVS tactics. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Scuttlebot |content= [[Scuttlebot]]s are easy to defeat. Like with Retrodes, you should have no trouble with them using standard DVS tactics. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Zombie |content= [[Zombie]]s are slow but have quite a bit of HP. You can combo freely on them but they are not always easily interrupted, so dont push it too far and shield if needed. Catching these guys in a vortex and then using Quills or Deadly Shadow Cloak, or Explosive Firestorm works really well.}}
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| − | {{showhide| Dust Bunny |content= The [[Dust Bunny]] is similar to Scarabs and Glop Drops. They are mini-monsters that attack in large groups. Dust bunnies tend to hop around a lot, so the best way is to drop your vortex to keep them in one place, after which you can easily kill them with your DVS. No need to waste a sprite ability on these monsters.}}
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| − | {{showhide| Scarab |content= [[Scarab]]s are similar to Dust Bunnies and Glop Drops. They are mini-monsters that attack in large groups. Scarabs fly in a straight line towards their target, dealing damage if they make contact with a Knight. After flying for some distance, they will land on the floor and rest for a short moment, before flying at a new target. Be careful when attacking them as they land, they still deal the damage upon contact while landing. They don't deal damage on contact when they sit on the floor. If there are a lot of Scarabs around, drop a vortex and lure them into it. They will continue flying in the vortex. Wait for most of them to land, as soon as they do, you can cut them up easily and safely. Seraphynx users could use their Valkyrian Aura to kill them while they are still flying in the vortex. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Glop Drop |content= [[Glop Drop]]s are similar to Dust Bunnies and Scarabs. They are mini-monsters that attack in large groups. They are fairly slow when moving but will deal piercing damage on contact. When they rest for a moment, they will curl up and their spikes will become less visible. In that state they don't deal damage on contact. You can use DVS swings with shield cancelling to take them out whenever you want, or if they are in a large group, you can use your vortex bomb and cut them up. You can also use Gran Faust to kill them in a group. }}
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| − | {{showhide| Polyp |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Howlitzer |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Jelly |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Kat |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Mecha Knight |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Gorgo |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Devilite |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Thwacker |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Demo |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Ghostmane Stalker |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Lichen |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Almirian Crusader |content= }}
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| − | {{showhide| Deadnaught |content= }}
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| − | == '''Video Section''' ==
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| − | Will try to record some video's myself in a few weeks. Can't promise anything because recent tries with OBS resulted in nothing more than 2 Blue screens before giving up.
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