Spiral Knights

[NegimaSonic]

I'm still technically in a guild, another member is going to do a revival attempt but we'll see.

In other news, Level 99 is good with a vile striker, I can not use that weapon lol.

[Top Gun]

Hoopy and I ran into some rough luck a bit earlier, precipitated by my stupidly deciding to attempt a Tier 2 danger room. I never learn. (Srsly, though, those big Wolvers do way too much damage there, even considering it's a danger room.) The most frustrating moment for me was my final death, when a Howlitzer projectile from a level at least ten feet above me managed to kill me. Oh, and that was right after another Howlitzer's head magically bypassed my shield. I was not happy.

Oh, and Garian, I did send you a friend request; I'd like to get tossed into the guild too.

[Sir_Downunder]

Decided to give it a try. Just got and playing it now.

My name in SK is Sirid if any of you feel like adding me.

[Level 99]

Need two more people for a JK run one night soon. It is, as far as I can tell, basically impossible for two-people parties to defeat him. I have all 4* (including vile striker for poison) and Vile has all 4* except armor, and we we've tried twice both times wiping very badly.

Edit: also I started a guild, not competing with garian's but if anyone wants to join it, let me know.

[Top Gun]

I've actually managed it with just two people a couple of times, though I think most of my runs have been three or four. The benefit of fewer people is that the JK doesn't regenerate health as quickly, and I think there aren't as many little jellies to deal with. Solo, however, is another story...I tried two or three separate times during the most recent power surge, and I just couldn't break through.

[Level 99]

I've actually managed it with just two people a couple of times, though I think most of my runs have been three or four. The benefit of fewer people is that the JK doesn't regenerate health as quickly, and I think there aren't as many little jellies to deal with. Solo, however, is another story...I tried two or three separate times during the most recent power surge, and I just couldn't break through.

From the Wiki:

NOTE: The Royal Jelly regenerates constantly, in amounts near 40 during a 4-man run or even close to that amount in a 2-man run. If you are dealing less than this in the amount of time he heals, you are fighting a losing battle. If he stops healing, he is at full health.

It could be that I'm just terribly inept as well.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Level 99

[cobaltstarfire]

JK does not regen constantly, he regens when he absorbs the mini royal jellies. Keep him poisoned (curse and fire also helps). You shouldn't rely too strongly on the wiki for information as it isn't kept up to date very well in everything.

Jelly King is doeable solo, with 2, 3, or 4 players, you may just not be quite geared up or experienced enough, or just having bad luck.

[NegimaSonic]

two people isn't a bad number, actually sometimes it can be easier if you've got a really good partner (aka not me). One thing that is really important, you can't really wait on this fight, you must be doing damage as often as possible. If you die, you'd better revive unless you have a good feeling that its near the end. Discussing strategy while you and your mate are both dead ensures you will lose cuz he's healing while you're debating. I wouldn't go over 40. Not for this boss. I tend to keep it at 0 revives to a +10, but that's up to you to decide how much you want to put in.

From personal experience, as far as I know, JK always heals except in the second phase during the rage spin attack. Perhaps that's related to the absorbing jellies aforementioned since he can't absorb during that attack, but regardless it appears to be that way since there's almost no chance of you killing all mini jellies that surround him since they respawn so often.

[Level 99]

Well, before I even pass a judgement on that again, I'd like to be humored by doing a 3 or 4-man to see how it differs. I've almost maxed my current 4* stuff, and at this point I almost want to craft more gear specifically for JK. I'm currently using Vile Striker for fast hit/poison, Mighty Cobalt Helm/Armor, Mighty Defender. I have Nightblade and Cautery Sword but Nightblade isn't nearly as useful as Vile, and Cautery is...I don't know why I even bought it, didn't think to look it up before I got the recipe.

Again, just would like to be humored about difficulty scaling for JK. Yes, the wiki is out of date on a lot of things, yes I may just have terrible luck/suck with my playstyle (I've been practicing a fuckton on shieldbumping, getting moderately better at it since my shield seems to be less and less effective with each day).

I have yet to want to back and try Roarmulous either because the last time I did we got very close and my hopefully final rez was followed by a game glitch where all but the UI was blacked out. Still bitter about that

Edit: maybe trying roarmulus later tonight, as long as not rezzing too much before boss fight.

Edit Edit: Also just getting internally frustrated seeing some of the JK solo runs using similar gear to mine (Vile Striker seems to be a favorite). Damn you, aspiring perfectionism!

Edited October 3, 2011 by Level 99

[cobaltstarfire]

If you happen to catch me and want to do a run feel free to whisper me, if there aren't enough people that you know on, it is likely I can convince one or two of my friends to join in it if it's a Friday or Saturday.

I don't want to guarantee you'll see a clear as a result because I'm a bit rusty, but I'm very confident in my ability to defeat JK.

Can help with roar twins as well if you want, there's some tricks to the switches that a lot of people don't get especially in the final phase.

[Sir_Downunder]

Finally managed to purchase some CE today after getting enough crowns. Now I just need to work on getting 2* equipment...

If you managed to catch me, feel free to say hello.

I highly doubt I'll be doing any runs with you guys soon, but I'll catch up eventually...

[NegimaSonic]

I'll go just about anywhere, my only issue is the random odd times I can play lol, sometimes I can only get 10 minutes in on a day, sometimes 8 hours.

If you need two star stuff, just find me, I can make anything (that's not boss related) on request. Just supply materials and the alchemy fees, this just means it saves you the recipe cost if you don't plan on making the item again. Same story for 3* but if you want me to do that, it's best to do it in the same day otherwise you might equip the item and then I can't use it for alchemy.

[Top Gun]

I think I'm through attempting solo JK runs. Last night's made me completely rage. I kept having quick shield raises not register when fighting Lumbers, so I had to burn two revives in spots I almost never do, so I was already in a foul mood when I got down to the boss. And once again, I had little to no luck in taking it on. It's a boss that requires you to get right up in its face and constantly damage it, but that also leaves you open to the 15-20 small jellies swarming all over the place, so you lose health at an alarming rate. Plus, they have an amazingly-annoying habit of getting in the way of vial throws. I have no idea how someone could pull this one off on their own.

The worst part of all is that I had a much better run going earlier in the night, but I had to cut it short right before reaching the JK. I really wish there was some way for the game to remember what level you'd reached and save your status for you, at least if you were playing solo.

[eternal Zero]

My biggest advice for solo JK runs is to not die until you get to him and have at least have a Vile Striker, 9x useful pots (Curse, Fire/Stun, Poison) and 3 health pots. Go right for his throat with everything and instantly revive whenever you get the chance. The biggest thing working against you is his regen. Also to be fair I never attempted it before getting all 5* gear so I have no idea if it's feasible until it's already become a chore.

[Thylacine]

They have now added accessories, so you can jazz up your helmet/armor. With this update comes a prize wheel that appears at the conclusion of each level. Also, two new levels in lockdown.

I haven't been able to test this out much, since my game froze after a couple of levels. I think the changes might have done something crazy with the system. The Roarmulus Twins are glitched, and they sent out a message saying not to take them on until things are fixed.

[Level 99]

They have now added accessories, so you can jazz up your helmet/armor. With this update comes a prize wheel that appears at the conclusion of each level. Also, two new levels in lockdown.

I haven't been able to test this out much, since my game froze after a couple of levels. I think the changes might have done something crazy with the system. The Roarmulus Twins are glitched, and they sent out a message saying not to take them on until things are fixed.

Yeah, I'm loving the prize wheel, actually. It's like the spinner at the end of Kirby stages from Epic Yarn...or the SNES version of Aladdin. Not normally stuff that's super awesome, but an extra 5-25 crowns never hurts. Yet to get a lockbox myself, but I did see that message about Roarmulus. With big changes to the system I guess they can have totally unknown consequences with other elements. Still, mostly cool stuff going on.

Since Roar is glitched, and I'm waiting for cobaltstarfire to be around before trying another JK, I'm gonna stick with doing Snarbolax runs to grind up weapons for a bit. I've not noticed a terribly significant difference in the amount of heat between Stratum 2 and Stratum 4 (yet to make it to Stratum 6, tried first few levels of Tier 3 and got completely decimated by Ice stuff). Is there really a difference in heat between the Tiers besides the Stratums?

[NegimaSonic]

I haven't gotten on the new content myself yet. But to answer your question, while it is true regardless of tier that heat is better in the second half than the first, I don't personally feel that its that much better in tier 3 than tier 2 or 1. Perhaps FSC being the only exception to that in tier 3 since there's just so much to kill.

But anywhere you go where you can get an arena or a boss stage set is generally good if you can handle it.

[Top Gun]

I'm kicking myself for avoiding the token drops after the past few Snarbolax runs I've done. I already have all three weapons you can trade them in for, so I figured that I don't need tokens I'll never use taking up space in my inventory. Then I happen to look in the Auction House, and I see a few Snarble Barbs with 12k or more in bids on them. *facepalm* Looks like a handy way to make some decent money, though.

And to elaborate on that question, I don't think I've seen much difference in heat amounts between tiers 2/4/6. Most of the time, you're going to max out your heat meter there, or at least get very close to doing so. Crowns are where the real difference lies.

[NegimaSonic]

be wary of that particular market, token equipment rewards are autobound, if you wanna sell them, you've gotta put down CE.

In the case of all the snarbolax weapons, they're 2* so they cost 200 CE to unbind. Which is worth about...11400 or so (prices change so I'm just saying 5700 per 100 right now). Then the AH will take 10% of your sale so yeah...don't try to do that for the snarbolax weapons. At least not the two star, I think the 3* may fetch a slightly more profitable price. Should you choose that route, be sure to unbind the two star weapon THEN upgrade it without reequipping it.

But honestly, I'd invest in selling Pulsars from Roarmulus (if he wasn't broken at the moment). They're also two star weapons but they tend to sell for upwards of 20k. Sealed swords/antigua is ok if you're good at JK but those are 3* weapons and require a 600 CE unbind.

[Top Gun]

Oh...right. Guess there's always a catch. I'll go ahead and keep ignoring those tokens, then. I do wish that they had a material option to purchase, like all the other boss tokens, so that I could at least do something useful with them.

And I just realized: now Spiral Knights has crates and keys. It really is turning into TF2.

[NegimaSonic]

nah, pick em up anyway, I forgot to add one more thing, even if you don't sell those token rewards to players, you can still just go ahead and get those items, they're 2* so you can sell them to NPCs (I usually use Kozma). 2* equipment (not trinkets) go for 750 crowns I believe. While that is not the most for an item, if you can't sell it to a player, you might as well get something for doing those snarby runs.

Hats...I'm not too familiar with TF2 and how it works.

[Level 99]

Definitely agreeding that Arena/Boss fights are good regardless of Tier at this point. I've been running Val's secondary char through Snarbolax a few times this week to get her tokens, heat, and crowns and it's been doing just as effective a job at getting my weapons heated and crowns for CE investment as anything else. I guess I'll quote Yahtzee's review of GTA:CW in regards to SK: "All its faults are balanced out by its other faults". Some Tier 2 and lots of Tier 3 are difficult, unfair, or just luck dependent, but doing Tier 1 stuff nets you about the same heat if not just a few less crowns for a less likelihood of dying or wasting mist.

Also, why would you ever not collect tokens? AFAIK there's no limit, it doesn't cost anything, and...well that sound when you get them is just satisfying.

Almost time to start crafting my first 5* stuff :3

[cobaltstarfire]

I want to disagree that T2 and T3 are at times too "random" and difficult. But that's just because I find T2 to be easy, and T3 isn't really striking me as "artificially hard" although you definitely need to approach T3 differently than the lower tiers.

If you are doing a lot of T1 that's probably your problem, monsters in T1 don't attack very fast, and aren't nearly as aggressive. Or atleast that's my general impression of the differences between tiers. It shows when I've played around in T1 and then jump up to T3, because suddenly I can't shield or bump fast enough to keep certain monsters from hitting me.

But the main reason I don't think the higher tiers are random or otherwise arbitrarily difficult, is because different people have trouble with different monster families. That guy over there might have trouble with retrodes, while the next person over finds them cake and thinks it's actually the mecha knights or Katts that are a problem.

Also I plan on logging on tonight cause I'm being waited on to show up o_o, but I can't hang around beyond 9pm Central as I have prior engagements.

[NegimaSonic]

for me, its the difference between abilities. Gun puppies (and their copycat polyps/howlitzers) attack SLOWER in tier 3 than other tiers, but they're harder just because they hit harder (obviously) and fire more bullets.

Retrodes in tier 1 don't fire lasers, but in the later ones, they do and deal death >.>

Devilites don't really change...but then again they're strong enough I suppose. Took me awhile to get used to them and I still have some issues especially if I don't have my random fiend weapons, RSS, Dark Thorn Blade, and Spike Shower.

Picking your stratum is important though, even if you're good against (insert monster here) if you find yourself with the wrong weapons, you won't be doing much of anything. Pick your levels if you can too, but I'm usually too impatient to bother.

And to me, this game is about personal progression, don't move up until you're personally ready. I mean I still recommend any new player to get to tier 2 as soon as possible, but that's just so they can have the option to explore most of the current games content and make a fair profit AND friends. A network of friends is a form of money in this game too, want a spot at JK and you notice a free spot at d14 from a friend? Hop right on in there, saving yourself time and money :3 Even now I spend most of my time in tier 2 unless I'm hunting for materials to sell.

[cobaltstarfire]

Devilites actually do have some differences, mainly in that they can attack and dodge more rapidly. The pit bosses also run a billion times faster, so it's easier for them to close in on the poor little peons and make them work overtime.

I have noticed the T1 gunpuppies shoot a lot faster than their stronger brethren, but I was mainly thinking of the monsters that most often give me grief personally (retrodes/skellies) I swear I was born to have my face clawed/lasered off by those things on ANY tier.