Firestorm Citadel (Spiral Knights)

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I get that we're at the higher tiers, and thus the levels needs to be difficult... But don't you think that starting with wheels and fire on the first level is drawing the line too much?

Firestorm Citadel is a level and unique Boss's Stage in Spiral Knights. it is a fire-theme level that serves as Lord Vanaduke's hide out, and is the fourth and final level of the game. It's considered to be the hardest boss zone in the game.

Why it sucks

  1. Unlike Gloaming Wildwoods, Royal Jelly Palace and Ironclaw Munition Factory, which are three levels (two normal and the boss one), Firestorm Citadel has five levels. This means it also takes the entire last depth after the clockwork terminal.
  2. It's heavily Undead and Fire-themed, however Constructs, Beasts and Slimes will appear too, giving the player difficulty to choice weapons.
    • In fact, in the second part, there's a Rocket Puppy, and in the first and fourth part, Red Rovers.
  3. Unless you don't have a proper set that grants you elemental and shadow resistance, as well as fire resistance, like the Divine Set, then you will have many problems navigating the area.
    • The Dragon Scale Set might suit well, but it doesn't protect from shadow damage.
    • The 5-star Black Kat Set can grant you an health buff, speed buff and damage buff, as well as shadow damage resistance, but leaves your knight vulnerable to fire.
    • The Divine Set is the standard set that does help you, but aside from a resistance from curse (which doesn't help in the normal variant of Firestorm Citadel), has no other bonuses.
    • The Chaos Set gives more damage and charge time reduction, but lacks of shadow damage resistance. Did we mention that it's weak against fire?
    • The Sacred Firefly Ghost Set is the best choice, as it grants shadow resistance, fire resistance and buffs with handguns against undeads, but good luck trying to get the recipes.
    • The Almirian Crusader Set, believe it or not, it's pretty weak against fire, despite being resistant against shadow damage, and despite the Crest of Almire's protection from fire. Did we mention that the Almirian Crusader Helm and Armor requires a Maiden's Tear to be built, as well as the Blackened Crest for the Crest of Almire?
  4. Large amount of Shadow Fire, limiting your movements (as Shadow Fire is counted as a block) and inflicting fire at you, unless you don't extinguish it with water. Problem is, most of the time you won't have access to water.
    • However, Slag Walkers and Oilers can ignore the Shadow Fire's block properties and go through it.
  5. Ashen Armory, the third level of Firestorm Citadel, forces you to choose a pact, the right one being the worst choice due to the number of spikes and shadow fire.
  6. Many Party Buttons that leads to battles, mostly against Slag Walkers.
    1. Speaking of which, the arenas are usually filled with spikes, fire or different stuff, causing the player to have an hard time fighting the enemies.
    2. Also, the enemies will come in large numbers, which can be tedious, if not properly equipped.
  7. Each level, except the boss one, has at least two or more Trojans, which are extremely tough to fight, as they can only be damaged from the back.
  8. The boss of this area, Lord Vanaduke, is painful and difficult to fight.
  9. This level is a large difficulty spike, even for being the final zone.
  10. The Shadow Lair version. Let that sink in.
    • First of all, it replaces most of the Red Rovers with Smoking Howlitzers, which are more dangerous, due to them being able to fire bullets and homing capacity if defeated.
    • Instead of Slag Walkers, you fight Carnavons. Unlike Slag Walkers, Carnavons have a shield on their back, and while their claw deals fire, their breath deals curse instead, which can damage you if you use a cursed weapon/item.
    • Almirian Shadow Guards will spawn during the level, and will sometimes replace Trojans. They're even more dangerous, as they can REVIVE carnavons. Add the fact that Grim Totems are present in the area, and you get more frustration.
    • Many shadow bullet chains will appear during the level.
    • The Shadow Lair part of Ashen Armory has inverted spikes layout in the first arena (which actually gives you less room to move), pulls two Almirian Shadow Guards instead of trojans, and combines the paths, forcing you to go from the right to the left.
    • The first arena of the fourth level, Smoldering Steps, will have doors blocking the lower part and the heart/freeze vials, giving you even less room.
  11. One of the missions, Shadowplay, makes you go return in the Firestorm Citadel. While three stages would sound good to you (Greenstone Bridge and Overgrown Court are Blackstone Bridge and Charred Court, but now with nature sprites and different new blocks), don't worry; Burning Bombies, Sun Scarabs, Fire Souls, Burning Dreadnaughts, Almirian Shadow Guards, Pepperkats and Almirian Crusaders will make sure to ruin your day, as they will spawn in this mission.
    1. Even worse, in the Throne Room of that mission, you will fight Herex, but you will also deal with Blech Bunnies, Isotrodes, Poison Knights, Sick Puppies and Toxic Mortafires, which are poison-themed enemies, as well as Darkfang Thwackers/Demos/Menders. This makes up to a difficult battle, since you can't change inventory during that battle, as well as the fact that the first two parts of the mission is around fire and undeads. Even worse, Shadow weapons are useless against undeads, but Elemental ones aren't useful against gremlins. Also, the Divine Set doesn't defend against poison, unlike the Dragon Scale set, but the latter doesn't protect the player from Shadow damage.

Redeeming Qualities

  1. It's a great place to farm crowns, radiant fire crystals and elite/eternal orbs of alchemy.
  2. Firestorm Citadel has actually two soundtracks, and the battles has their own unique battle soundtrack, which is something pretty cool.
    • Not to mention, the soundtracks are good.
  3. If you have a Seraphynx, you can help your team by marking enemies with its second ability, so that they have a chance to drop more health.
  4. It uses the mechanic of the water bubbles, which can extinguish Shadow Fire.
  5. In Shadowplay, you finally get to fight Herex for the first time.
  6. At least, in Shadowplay, we see what happened after Lord Vanaduke was defeated.