First Things First

Most of what you need to do is explained as you go at this stage, so there's not much you need to know here. Pick your control scheme, starter armor, and name(among other things). Rhendon will call you via comlink to check on you. Finish the conversation, then follow the path to meet Rhendon, and then to the Rescue Camp.

Ok, so I'm here, now what?

Feel free to socialize with the other recruits. But, please know that by the time you rank up to apprentice, you won't be here any more.(you'll be at Unicorn Land real soon.Just Kidding.)

When you're ready, select the Missions button on the right. (If you don't see it, look for an arrow button on the right border below the map.) Select Rank, and it should look like the picture below.



There are 4 kinds of missions(Rank, Prestige, Expansion, & Arcade). Rank missions can be split further, into:

• Conversation missions(like the one in the picture) A.K.A. talk missions require you to talk to certain people. That's it.Cause the people you talk to are too lazy to do it themselves.
  
• Donation missions require you to give Spiral HQ some stuff in exchange for the mission reward. It's not always that much.
  
• Exploration missions require you to explore the perilous Clockworks. In exchange for your services, you will not only get the mission rewards, but also anything you find in there.

This particular mission is a conversation. It won't take too long, so you might as well do it. Click it, then select Start.

The next mission after that will be an exploration mission. Open up your mission menu to The Ancient Generator. You'll find 4 buttons:

• Join Party lets you join an available party. Try to do this before attempting the next option.
  
• Create Public Party lets you create a party for others to come with you. If you can't find a party, this is the way to go.
  
• Create Private Party lets you make a party that lets friends and guildmates join by default, but nobody else. If you have already arranged for a helper, do this.
  
• Last, and probably least, Play Solo lets you create a party just for you and nobody else. Not recommended for everyday use.

If you were able to do well with the enemies at the Crash Site, this level shouldn't be much of a problem. Still, you should probably find someone else to do it with.

Afterwards, you'll have 1 more talk mission, then Crossing the Chasm. Just try not to get set on fire, and you'll be fine.

Congratulations, apprentice. You've made it to Haven.

Welcome home! Or, at least, to your temporary one

In 2-1, you pretty much just explore Haven's various facilities. It should probably take you no more than 15 minutes (but it could take you up to 30 if you explore the advanced training hall).

Some of the features these levels don't show you are:

• Coliseum & Krogmo Coins. Not recommended for quick cr(cr is an abbreviation for Crowns, one of the the main currencies of the game. The other is Energy, but we'll explain that later. )
  
• Auction House, which will underprice materials and overprice everything else(and if it isn't overpriced, someone else will have noticed, and they can easily outbid you at this point). Not recommended unless you need a material.

Aw, so cute

2-2 is longer, with three exploration missions letting you test each sprite's first 2 abilities. The 3rd won't be available until much, much later. Even I haven't unlocked my Drakon's 3rd ability yet. Beware, though, if you want one just like in the missions, you'll need to level it to level 15. (Sprite leveling will be covered in the Squire section.) The other two 2-2 missions cover Alchemy, sometimes known as crafting. Alchemy will be how you get over half your endgame thingies. It's cheaper. (We'll look at this again later.)

When you complete the final 2-2 mission, you'll have a Hot Edge(a sword) with a Unique Variant for a damage bonus agains constructs, a Frost Gun with a Charge Time Reduction (abbreviated CTR)variant, a Zapper with an Attack Speed variant(abbreviated ASI), and a Super Stun Gun with a CTR variant. None of these are endgame, but for now, take the hot edge with one of the guns I listed.

I choose you!

Now you'll have to choose your 1 free battle Sprite.If you want another, it'll be really expensive, so choose wisely. The game explains each of their abilities, but here's a quick rundown, complete with TF2 class equivalents:

• Drakon has good offense. TF2 Equivalent: Pyro.
  
• Seraphynx is defensive. TF2 Equivalent: Medic.
  
• Maskeraith is for the sneaky. TF2 Equivalent: Spy.
  
• All of them are cute to some extent

Don't pick one that you're not sure about. Replay the 2-2 missions if you have to. Take your time.
Don't rush. The game isn't dead yet.

Tidying up

Once you've picked, you'll have to beat the Collector, who will be the toughest enemy you've faced so far. He's more or less invulnerable when his defenses aren't down. His charge attack deals plenty of damage. And he's dropping explosives all over the place. Not a good sign.

Just remember, head for the corners when he's charging up(he only charges in the center), then head for him immediately after he uses it. Not only will you beat him, it'll be good practice for one of your next battles...

Congratulations Squire! You rescued the Sprites!

Yes. I know. That rhymes. Moving on.

I promised you I'd go over this...
Sprites are ridiculously hard to level if you're not doing it right. I'll go over the basics of sprite feeding real quick so you know what you're doing.

First, click on the battle sprite icon that's over by your picture.
Then, a screen should appear showing your sprite. There should be three buttons on the left of this screen. One should depict your sprite, one should depict your sprite's harness, and the last one shouldn't have anything...yet. (That last one is for your sprite perk. More on that later.)

Click the sprite button, and a menu something like this should appear. (Of course, mine is level 33, while yours will only be level 1. )

Find the material you want to use as food, click Feed Sprite, and voila! Your sprite will have more heat, but you'll lose the material.(If you had, say, 23 of the material before feeding, only one will be fed, reducing the total to 22.) If your sprite's appetite bar is empty, take it for a spin in the Clockworks as you won't be able to feed it if it's not hungry. (It probably needs the exercise anyways.But all they do is fly around and look cute.)

If you max out your sprite's Heat, you'll need to feed it the item listed to level it up. More often than not, it'll be sprite food. You can make Sprite food from the red alchemy machine in the Town Square. (There's also one in the Lab, over by Biscotti. Speaking of Biscotti, ask her if you have any more questions on this topic.)

Onward ho!

The first two 3-1 missions discuss Prestige missions & minerals respectively. You probably know about minerals from doing The Collector, but prestige missions will be new. At your rank, you'll have 1 exploration and 1 donation daily under the Prestige tab. They're indeed completely optional, but they do have nice payouts.

The next two are exploration missions. Toy Soldiers has battlepods, and it's understandably difficult. Bring a friend or two. Alien Ooze, however, has Lichens, which you've probably never met before. They can combine into larger ones, which makes them tougher. At around 5 combined, you'll have a Lichen Colony which has more attacks, and at around 10, you've got yourself a Giant Lichen Colony. Gulp. What do we do?

Kill the Lichens before they can combine to that point, obviously. Bombs aren't bad at this as they can kill many at once, but it'll probably take multiple bombs. Or a Cold Snap to freeze them in place so they can't combine so quickly. In fact, Cold Snap combined with your Hot Edge will probably kill them, slowly but surely.(I never actually tried bombs, but if you want to blow stuff up, you probably tested that proto bomb.) However, once they combine, you've got a problem.

The last 3-1 mission has you turning in some of the materials you collected. You should already have them.

Ready, set...

The first 3-2 mission is just lore. The second, though, is a review of some of the less intelligent monsters(I'm looking at you, Shankles), and it's highly recommended you do this next.

Strength In Unity is good preparation for the Snarbolax. Do that.

Blades of the Fallen, however, is one of the two trickiest Squire missions. Lost Souls will spawn indefinitely, trying to blow you up. In the final part of the level, 4 trojans will spawn one at a time, and your job is to stab them in the back. Bring a friend.

Arise Giant Hamster

A.K.A. Snarbolax. I'd recommend bringing at least two people with you. The first two floors are mostly beasts like the ones you saw in Strength in Unity, so remember what worked there & do that.

The 3rd and final floor has JUST the snarbolax in terms of enemies. There is a beast bell in the center. The strategy goes like this:

1) Figure out who's going to ring the bell.

2) Survive until the Snarbolax starts using its bite attack.(Yum!)

3) Lure it over by the bell.

4)Ring the bell if you're on bell duty.

5)Repeat steps 2 through 4 as necessary.

6)PROFIT!(DISCLAIMER:No real money involved.)

Easy as pie.(Meaning 3.14 degrees easy.)

Congratulations Soldier. You done it.

So, now that we're headed for Tier 2, I want to share with you some of my tips for getting out of the clockworks in one piece.

Quick Review: Pickups
By now, you've probably seen them: the blue and white pills, the little test tube with green stuff in it. The question you might be having is, what do they do?

• Red pills give you some health back
  
• Blue pills remove all status conditions
  
• Vials deal a tiny bit of damage and apply status conditions
  
• The little shield thingies called Barriers spawn two orbs around you that deal damage and apply status conditions. Vana has some. So does Drakon.
  
• There are a few special items like Mecha Knight Kits. They're handy if you know how to use them.

To use one, click on it. If it's a vial, you have to throw it like those pots you've seen in the past. If it's another item, it more or less activates instantly.

Do:

• Try out various weapons and get a feel for which ones you like best. Try enough of them for enough time, and you'll develop a style and instinct that will take you further than any set of named tools.(I suggest shadow, elemental, and piercing weapons.)
  
• Help others with levels you feel comfortable on. It's good for your wallet.
  
• Be considerate. I'm not suggesting you should blow all your sparks of life on others, but you should at least try to stay classy & polite when you say no.
  
• Arcade. Also good for your wallet, if you've got any idea what you're doing.
  
• Keep an eye on your teammates. Don't die, of course, but if you're safe then give others safety too.(But don't let them die.Don't go on without them.It's rude.)
  
• Use the wiki. You'll need it to prepare you for what's ahead.
  
• Shield when necessary. You wouldn't believe how many times it saved me during Roarmulus Twins.
  
• Be cautious about advice. If you ask what the best set of armor is, they should not just say, "Chaos set, it's the Chaos set. Get a Chaos set." They should first ask, "What weapons do you use? Can you do your current levels? Are status conditions giving you any problem? " (Chaos set is weak to over half the different status conditions in the game.)
  
• Visit Basil before Rank and Prestige missions. She carries useful items such as Health Capsules, Remedy Capsules, and Vials.

Don'ts

• Violate the terms of service. It should be obvious, but it pains me to see people get banned.
  
• Fly solo on your first run of a mission.
  
• Do anything above Normal when in tier 2. Vanguards can do things the majority of us can't: so doing as the vanguards do is a surefire way to lose sparks of life.
  
• "/join 2". I learned this the hard way.
  
• Blow your Sparks of Life too early. I try to never go below 5. Besides, if you're picking your battles carefully, you shouldn't need them. (You still have some, right?)
  
• Stab explosives. If you haven't learned already, then you probably haven't been paying attention to what the game is telling you.(Unless, of course, you are secretly trying to sabotage your team.Then do it.)

Before you ask, I lumped these ranks together because they cover many of the same ideas. We'll start with 4-1.

Read the rest of the field manual, soldier

4-1 is mostly stuff you should've figured out by now, but there's one facility that we deliberately left out mentioning earlier.. The Hall Of Heroes. In it, you can acquire recipes for almost everything(like Acherons, Heavy Deconstructors, stuff like that). You'll also get Star Certification here, to show your loadouts are ready. For now, put on your Cobalt set, purchase new armor recipes to suit your style (I've purchased the Wolver line of recipes through 4stars), then speak to the big guy at the top.

4-2 is about piercing damage. It's special, so your normal defense won't cut it. However, you should still be able to handle it. The levels cover slimes and beasts, the two kinds of monsters that can deal said piercing damage. They're also a Lichenous Lair and Wolver Den, respectively. You'll also turn in some materials that you no doubt found.

4-3 is elemental, my dear Watson. (See what I did there? See?) Same old, same old: except this time it's Gremlins and Constructs. I currently struggle with constructs, seeing as they're weak to elemental but I don't have an elemental weapon. Not to mention that those insanely powerful Lumbers are constructs as well, making my job that much more difficult. Be careful handling them, and you'll end up with a knighthood.

Finally a knight :D

5-1 is shadow damage(which they apparently slapped here because otherwise they wouldn't have many Knight missions. Although I won't say I know how to do Candlestick Keeps though. Because I don't. It's a double-edged sword. Go with a party, the Grimalkins get you; go solo, and everything else will kill you. I'd rather go with a party though, as the grimalkins are manageable to some extent.

5-2 is most notably the Royal Jelly. I won't try to pretend to know how to do that consistently. Going with a party on normal will help. There's also the Hall of Heroes for 3stars here. For the hall of heroes DO NOT, FOR THE LOVE OF CRADLE, UPGRADE YOUR COBALT ARMOR & HELM. They are completely useless. Instead, remember the armor I told you to get in the first Hall of Heroes mission? Upgrade that. Once you're ready, feel free to do the explorations, collect the recon module, and get your rank up.

About those orbs of Alchemy... + Energy review

Don't buy them from the Auction House unless you need 1 exactly, and even then, there's better deals. The most important item they overprice there is orbs of Alchemy.

"So where do I get them?"

The supply depot is cheaper, but first, you'll need Energy(I remembered!), which at the time of this editing is steadily rising, so we'll take an aggressive(at this edit--I predict the market will rise past this mark by the end of the year) estimate of 9000 crowns per 100 energy. You can buy Advanced Orbs of Alchemy(you won't have enough to get everything you need at around 3star orbs) for 200 energy for a 3-pack. This makes the supply depot price for 3 advanced orbs around 18 thousand crowns. Expensive but doable. At first writing, Auction House charged around 6kcr for 1 orb. That would've made the Auction House price for 3 orbs also 18k crowns, but remember:


The law of supply and demand is quite complex, so I won't go into detail on that(maybe my next guide?). I will tell you, however, that the AH prices DID go up by a thousand cr, making current AH price 21,000 crowns/3 orbs: 3k crowns more than depot.

Don't go broke, kids.

Congratulations. We've pretty much reached the end of this guide.

If you have done everything up to this point, then you should be a confident Knight Elite, with your own style that's all you. You've reached the end of this guide.

Go on. Do Vana. Or better yet, try lockdown. Do whatever makes you feel good. Life is good. You're...

Wait, what am I thinking.

Special thanks to:
Kakand (In Game Name) for helping spruce things up.
mr man(Steam Name) for suggesting the items section.
You, the reader, for keeping this game alive.

I'm accepting all sorts of feedback as long as you're not just trying to insult me. Please, feel free to tell me what you think.

Good luck. You'll need it.

P.S.By now, you've probably noticed me...The Secret Ghost.

P.P.S. Oh, and never, never, try to get banned. Warning you.Oh, and when helping other players,
don't let them die.

P.P.P.S. And I said oh two times in the last one.

P.P.P.P.S. Kakand, what are you doing?