Section added July 5th 2016:
I haven't played Spiral Knights in several years now, so I don't actually know about any patches or changes that have been made to the game in recent years. Because of this, the guide will most likely be out of date. It still has the basic idea of everything, but some tidbits here and there might not apply to the game anymore.

I have no intentions of updating this guide anymore, so don't expect anything to be changed. It doesn't mean that I will never update it, it's just that since I haven't played the game in so long that I'm out of the loop on a lot of things. With that in mind, I don't feel I'm good enough to tell you what's changed and what's not.

The Firestorm Citadel (or mission 9-3: "King of Ashes") is one of the hardest boss lairs in the game that isn't a shadow lair. It goes without saying that preparing to face the burning ruins is a must. The intention of this guide is to introduce you to each level in detail, give you details on how one should prepare in advance and to also share some tips and tricks one can use to make life a lot easier.

Please note that I'm going with personal preferences and experience here. If someone out there disagrees with me on some of these things, I don't blame them. I am NOT a master FSC player, but I have played it through on multiple occasions, several times of which I've gone solo.

One more thing: This guide was started before the pet update was implimented. I decided not to finish this because I had very little experience in fighting Vanaduke at the time, and only recently decided that I should at least try to finish it. I have tried updating this guide as much as possible, but undoubtedly there are going to be things I missed. If you spot some inconsistent or obsolete strategies or info, please let me know.

Without further ado, let's start preparing.

A lot of questions I get from friends and newer players is "What kind of gear should I take with me?". First off, let me explain the gear I use and why I use it, after which I'll explain what is the kind of gear I recommend using.

Before I do though I'd like to add that if the armor/weapon you want to use is not mentioned here, it doesn't necessarily mean I do not recommend it. These are here to sort of form a general idea of what should be used, but limiting yourself to using these weapons and armor only is optional. If you have some other armor you like, whether it's a reskin or an entirely different armor/weapon set entirely, feel free to use it. This goes especially for gunners and bombers. I have very little experience with being these two loadouts, so I hope you can build your own gunner/bomber loadout using these suggestions.

What I use:

• Vog Cub Coat[wiki.spiralknights.com]
  
• Vog Cub Cap[wiki.spiralknights.com]
  
• Barbarous Thorn Shield[wiki.spiralknights.com]
  
• Glacius[wiki.spiralknights.com]
  
• Blitz Needle[wiki.spiralknights.com]

And why I use:

• The Vog Cub Coat and Cap come with protection from fire, something that engulfs the entire Citadel. If you don't have fire protection, you're going to get burned a lot by the enemies and traps.
  
• I only use Barbarous Thorn Shield because it's my default shield. While I recommend getting it, I think there might be a better alternative to it, but we'll get to that.
  
• Glacius is an elemental weapon, which the zombies do not like. The charge attack is also not only devastating, but you can do a few tricks with it. We'll get to that in the tricks section.
  
• The Blitz Needle is a godsend in the FSC. One charge attack is enough to kill a trojan (provided the difficulty is not on elite and there are less than 3 knights), Also, Lord Vanaduke's weakness is piercing.

Now here are some weapons and armor that I would recommend and why:

Combuster[wiki.spiralknights.com], Glacius[wiki.spiralknights.com] or Voltedge[wiki.spiralknights.com]
They do elemental damage, they're easy to get, they can do some cool tricks, they're just awesome. 'Nuff said.

Divine Avenger[wiki.spiralknights.com]
It hits a little slower than the brandish weapons, but it does more damage. Also, the charge attack is extremely devastating if done right. However, unlike with the brandish weapons, you can't do a certain trick.

Leviathan Blade[wiki.spiralknights.com], Scissor Blades[wiki.spiralknights.com], Lionheart Honor Blade[wiki.spiralknights.com] or Cold Iron Vanquisher[wiki.spiralknights.com]
If you don't have any elemental swords, this will probably be the next best thing. Especially with Cold Iron Vanquishers damage bonus vs. undead.

Polaris[wiki.spiralknights.com]
While it is a decent weapon to kill the zombies with, I'd recommend using it more for support. For example, using it in the rocket puppy room in the second area and destroying the wheel launchers from an otherwise unreachable angle. More detail on that later.

Blitz Needle[wiki.spiralknights.com]
I made my point earlier, but in case you forgot: The Blitz Needle is a godsend in the FSC. One charge attack is enough to kill a trojan (provided the difficulty is not on elite and there are less than 3 knights), Also, Lord Vanaduke's weakness is piercing.

Plague Needle[wiki.spiralknights.com]
A slightly less powerful version of the Blitz Needle, but it stands out with its ability to give poison to the enemies, which can help a lot. If you're lucky enough to have one of these lying around, take it with you. Also to note, I feel Plague Needle is not as important for many people to have as Blitz Needle. I don't have experience with this weapon, but I feel like only one player should take this to poison the enemies with it, as the Blitz does more damage. According to stats the Blitz Needle can do much more damage than the Plague, however I don't know how much the poison has an effect on the damage. Another thing to note is that the damage on the Plague Needle was buffed in the gunner update. However, I still can't confirm if it's on par with the Blitz Needle. TL;DR: If you can, take one Plague Needle and the rest could take Blitz. I can't base this on accurate statistics though.

PLEASE NOTE: I will be referring to Blitz Needle throughout this guide, in the case that you use Plague Needle, understand that you can use that as well.

Shivermist Buster[wiki.spiralknights.com]
A good bomb for freezing enemies, works well in arena rooms and against Vanaduke. While it's not absolutely necessary, it's definitely something worth keeping.

Vog Cub Coat[wiki.spiralknights.com] and Cap[wiki.spiralknights.com]
The set is good against fire protection, but it has defense against elemental attacks, something that you don't get a whole lot in the FSC. The other upside is that you get higher attack speed, so you can equip Divine Avenger and get some speed on that weapon. In my opinion though, the difference isn't too big.

Snarbolax Cap[wiki.spiralknights.com] and Coat[wiki.spiralknights.com]
While it doesn't provide protection from fire, it does protect you from shadow damage, which the zombies deal. However, if you already have this armor, chances are you probably know how to go through the FSC.

Volcanic Plate Shield[wiki.spiralknights.com]
I've never used this shield before, mainly because I never bothered to craft it, but judging from the statistics, it seems very good. It gives a lot of defense and it protects from fire and stun, two things which Vanaduke likes to inflict on you when he hits. While I can't fully recommend it due to my lack of use, I will say that I would probably use this if I had it.

Omega Shell[wiki.spiralknights.com]
Again, another shield I've never used, but this shield has a lot of life. It might be able to block Vanadukes melee swing. However, that's just rumors I've heard, so I can't confirm it.

There are a reasonable amount of little tricks that you can try out in the citadel that will come in handy on your playthrough. Here are a few tricks that you might want to be aware of:

Destroying wheel launchers from the front
There are a few weapons that can destroy a wheel launcher from an unreachable angle. If you don't know what I mean by this or how it can be useful, let me explain. For instance, in the first floor in the room with the spikes there are three gates and two wheel launchers blocking the path. To continue forward, you need to destroy the boxes around the area to reveal buttons. Once you press all the buttons, the gates open. However, there is a way to get past WITHOUT opening the gates, and that's if you go to the edge of the wheel launcher so that you're kind of in between the gate and the wheel launcher. Next, you'll need a brandish weapon or a blitz/strike needle. Charge up your weapon and look a little away from the wheel launcher. Not so much that you're facing the gate, but not so little that you're facing the wheel launcher, like so:



Once you've charged up and have the desired angle, attack away with your charge. If done right, you should do damage to the wheel launcher. Doing this with a brandish weapon can destroy the wheel launcher in one or two hits, while the blitz needle takes a lot more. While both work, the best weapon to use to do this is with polaris, however. You don't have to be at the right spot, you just have to aim a little past the corner and make the projectile explode right next to the wheel launcher. Simple as that. While you don't get to use this trick too often, it does come in handy in the first and fourth floors at least.

Soloing the rocket puppy room without an elemental gun
(A little outdated by today's standards, but here you go)
This takes a lot of luck to pull off, but on the first two floors pick up every single shock vial you can. You'll need at least 2, but it never hurts to have more. If you don't get them, you don't have an elemental gun (eg. polaris) and no one's there to help you, then you might as well just forget about this room. But let's say you have 3 shock vials with you and you want to do this room. Here's what you do (and be very careful at the beginning here): First open up the path below, run down the path, but run back as soon as the enemies spawn. I suggest learning the spot which triggers the enemies to spawn so you can retreat to safety in time. Once you've made the enemies spawn and retreated back, kill all the zombies in the sector you came in from. Then, open up the path down for the enemies so they can get close to you or in your safe zone where you can kill them. The rocket puppy watches that part, so you need lure the zombies to a place where it can't see you. Once killed, destroy the stone blocks and pull out your shock vial. Now make the zombies at the top gather up near the destroyable wall like this:


Then throw the shock vial at the zombie from the spot where the knight is standing in the picture. If all goes well, it should open up the path upward, which you should take immediately. Take care of the zombies there, then do the same for the area on the right as you did to access the area on top. Once done, kill the zombies and get the sprite. This might not always work though, I've done it a few times but kinda works when it wants to work. However, here's the big thing: THIS DOESN'T WORK WITH ANY OTHER VIALS! For one reason or another, it only works with shock vials. I don't know why, but I've tested this. Only shock vials work here.

Finally, before we head into the blazing ruins, I'll share with you a few tips that you should remember about the FSC.

• FSC is a good place to get loot. Doing the entire run will reward you with a lot of crowns (5k-6k crowns on normal, 6k-8k crowns on advanced and 8k-9k crowns on elite), 1-3 Almirian Seals (depending on when you join the party, 4 if you're really lucky) and a bunch of materials. However, dealing with Vanaduke can be very annoying on elite difficulty. If you plan on farming, farm crowns on elite and tokens on normal.
  
  
• Need to level up your gear? The enemies drop a lot of heat, and if you do all the rooms in floor 2 you're bound to get an extreme amount of heat. If you have heat amplifiers, this is a good place to put them to good use.
  
  
• OPEN HEART BOXES WISELY! Sometimes a lot of people open these boxes, get the health and never say anything about it. Why is this a problem? Because I'm down to 1% of health and I desperately need more. I run to the place where I know there was a heart box, but when I get there it's been opened and the hearts have disappeared. Now I have no way of getting health. This is especially true with the second floor. A lot of people want to do all the rooms because they want the extra heat and crowns. But when they get the water flowing, some greedy little knight goes and opens up all the containers making all of the hearts disappear, and once the other knights come back with little HP, there's nothing left for them anymore. This is why I must say: if you plan to open heart boxes, discuss it with your party first in order to make sure that everyone benefits from it. Trust me, it'll make everyone's lives a lot easier.
  
  
• We all know that when Trojans die, they turn into stone and have to be hit one more time in order for them to drop the loot. What many people don't consider is that trojans ALWAYS drop hearts, whether it's one small one or 3 big ones. Because of this, dead trojans can become like heart boxes. So consider leaving a dead trojan lying around (because they won't go anywhere until you break them) so that when you're low on health you can go break the statue and get more health from that.
  
  
• For future runs, memorize the Trojan spawn spots. One charge attack from the Blitz Needle is enough to kill it. If you can get behind it with a charge ready to go before it spawns, you can kill it before it can even do anything. Just one thing though, stay far enough from their exact spawn point. If you're in the way, the Trojan will spawn at a different spot, costing you your chance for a one burst kill. If your friend is standing where the Trojan will spawn or is dangerously close to it, try to make him or her move away. The faster Trojans die, the better.

With all this said, let's get to the walkthrough already.

Welcome to the first layer of pseudo-hell. If you have any weapons or armor you still want to change, now's your last chance to do it on the arsenal station. Once you and your party are ready, step on the party button and let the fun begin.

If you hadn't noticed before, the passage that has opened up to you will send out a bunch of wheels toward you. Where you're standing, you're safe from the wheels, but the zombies will get to you if you stay there too long. Fighting the zombies when the wheels can hit you is not a favorable strategy, so here's what I suggest you do: ignore the zombies for now and start making your way up to where the wheels are coming from. If you hadn't noticed, the wheels that come down have a small space between each other. Use those spaces to navigate your way up to the wheels (while avoiding the fire blobs as well) and once you get there, destroy the wheel launchers. Now with the wheels out of the way, you're free to go kill the remaining zombies and pick up the loot they've dropped. When you're done, walk past the barrier to enter the next area.

Step on the party button and a bunch of zombies, grim totems and stone statues will appear. To kill the zombies, it's recommended that you do two things: block off the wheels from the side (not necessary, but it helps out) and getting more room to kill the zombies in. You can block off the wheels with either stone statues or the totems, your choice. To get more room, however, you need to move the totems elsewhere. My suggestion is to the bottom. Once you have enough room to kill the zombies in, then do it. After which take the stone statues and put them on the buttons. The gates will open. Move past the barrier.

There are two grim totems in this room, one pretty close and one further away from where you enter the room. There are also a few zombies here and there, so if you can't get to the totems then lure the zombies away from their range and kill them there. Anyway, the goal of this room is to hit four buttons to open the gates. They can be found under the exploding blocks. There is another way of getting past the gates without actually opening them, and that's destroying the wheel launchers in this room with a little trick. If you haven't checked out the tricks section yet, it's found there. Why do it with the trick when you can just open the gates? Well, once you move past the gates, wheels start coming down. If the gates are still up, you can use them for cover if someone has to go AFK for a few seconds or something. If the gates are down, you'd need to run a longer way to get to cover. Your choice though.

Same strategy as the previous passage of wheels, but this one has a harder path to follow and it has some oilers as well. Speaking of which, here's a word of warning: if oilers catch fire, your elemental weapons will do less damage to them. To extingiush them, you can inflict freeze on them with Glacius or freeze vials. Anyway, make your way up to the wheel launchers again and destroy them. After that go after the enemies. Once done, walk past the barrier.

The arena has three waves:

• Zombies and Ultra Blast Cubes. Kill all the zombies to spawn the next wave.
  
• Zombies and two Red Rovers. Again, kill all the zombies to spawn the next wave.
  
• Two Trojans and two Red Rovers. Kill everything to win.

First wave
In the first wave, try destroying the Ulta Blast Cubes first. If you don't, no harm done. Just try to do it before you make the Trojans spawn. Anyway, kill the rest of the zombies and the second wave will appear.

Second wave
The Zombies will spawn near the bottom gate this time. The Red Rovers, on the other hand, spawn closer to the top gate. Kill the Red Rovers first, because they're just plain annoying to avoid. After which, start taking out the zombies. If you have more party members with you that have Blitz Needle, have them put their backs against the top gate and make them charge their guns up. If all goes well, this will help you defeat the Trojans before they even have a chance to attack. Once the preparations are finished, kill the last zombie. The third wave will now appear.

Final wave: Party
Two Trojans will spawn the the top gate, while two Red Rovers spawn at the bottom gate. If you had guys waiting for the Trojans to spawn at the top gate, they should now unleash both charge attacks into the Trojans backs point blank. Of course, one Blitz charge is enough to destroy one Trojan regardless of the amount of party members (the more party members, the more HP the enemies have), so one knight should focus blasting one Trojan. Finish off the remaining Red Rovers and you win. If you failed to kill the Trojans with this strategy, then have one player distract them while the others attack. Destroying the Red Rovers before killing the Trojans, in this case, might be easier.

Final wave: Solo
If you're doing this solo, there's no way to get behind the Trojans to unleash the Blitz charge. Therefore, destroy the Red Rovers first and then have the Trojans charge for you. Get out of the way, but don't go too far. If you stay close enough, the Trojan will attack with his sword, buying you time to hit him in the back. With two Trojans, however, I don't recommend using the Blitz needle until you take care of at least one Trojan. Instead, try hitting away with your sword until either the Trojan dies, or the other one is coming to attack you, in which case move away. Once one is down, charge up your Blitz Needle, make the Trojan charge for you, move behind him and unleash the charge. If you think you move too slow while charging, then just use your regular spray. Two or three of those should take it down.

The first floor is done, but there are 3 more floors to go through before you get to Vanaduke. Get the loot and get on the elevator.

This is my favourite floor in the entire citadel. Start off by talking to the sprite (the weird looking thing) and accept his job. Walk on the party button.

What we have here now is an area with a green circle in the middle with two fountains that don't have any water. What you need to do is save at least 6 sprites (those red things with the curse symbol above their heads) by bringing them to the green circle. Once you do that, you will be able to use water to extinguish those annoying blobs of flame. But how do you save them? There are 8 rooms in total, each consisting of one sprite. Each room has a specific goal you need to achieve in order for the door to open. Once you're within grabbing range of the sprite, three zombies will appear near the green circle. Try to keep that in mind and try to clear the area as frequently as possible so you don't have to fight an enormous amount of zombies.

I'll now explain the rooms. First thing to note is that, aside from two rooms, you need to kill all enemies in a room in order to complete and exit it. The first room I'll explain to you can be reached by going up and right from the green area. It's the first one you see. From there, I'll explain the rooms in clockwise order. Pick your own order in which you want to do these in, this is NOT my recommended order.

Remember, if you screw up and die in a room you're either going to have to start FSC all over again or keep screwing up and wasting sparks until you actually finish the room. Therefore, DO NOT ENTER A ROOM UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU CAN DO IT! THIS ESPECIALLY GOES DOUBLE FOR THE ROCKET PUPPY ROOM


What we have here is an area that that has enemies blocked off from you. Before you remove the barrier, however, consider something: If you go close enough to a certain point before the ghost block (the blue block that breaks all the ones attached to it), a Trojan and two zombies will appear. Since this is the case, I recommend you try to shoot the ghost block from as far away as possible and then run back down. After that, just kill them regularly without going to the other half of the room. Once everything is dead, the gate will not open. You need to kill the Trojan and two zombies that appear as well. But here's the fun part: if you have a Blitz Needle (or if your party members have Blitz Needle), walk across the spikes (note: not from the center where there are no spikes, literally across the spike trap... with the spikes down of course) and put your back against the gate. Charge your Blitz Needle and get ready. Once done, have your other party member walk across the center where there are no spikes to spawn the Trojan and two zombies. Unlesh the charge to kill the Trojan. Finish off the two zombies and you win. If you're doing this solo, however, kill the zombies first and have the Trojan charge for you like before and hit him in the back. Another method is to go across the spikes, charge up and walk towards the lower gate and wait for the Trojan to come for you, dodge and shoot him. The zombies will rarely come for you first.


The room is shaped like a circle divided into 4 sectors. If you hadn't noticed, there's a Rocket Puppy at the center of the room looking down. When you walk a certain amount of distance in the lower sector, 12 zombies will spawn, 3 in each sector. For safety, I recommend doing this room with at least one of the following:

• Three shock vials
  
• Someone with Polaris
  
• A maskeraith with Shadow Cloak
  
• Knowledge of the dash move (thanks to The Unknown)

If you're doing this solo, your safest option is to do this with the shock vial trick explained earlier in the tricks section, that is to say: First open up the path below, run down the path, but run back as soon as the enemies spawn. I suggest learning the spot which triggers the enemies to spawn so you can retreat to safety in time. Once you've made the enemies spawn and retreated back, kill all the zombies in the sector you came in from. Then, open up the path down for the enemies so they can get close to you or in your safe zone where you can kill them. The rocket puppy watches that part, so you need lure the zombies to a place where it can't see you. Once killed, destroy the stone blocks and pull out your shock vial. Now make the zombies at the top gather up near the destroyable wall like this:
Then throw the shock vial at the zombie from the spot where the knight is standing in the picture. If all goes well, it should open up the path upward, which you should take immediately. Take care of the zombies there, then do the same for the area on the right as you did to access the area on top. Once done, kill the zombies and get the sprite. This only works if you hit the zombie dead on and not any obstacles, like walls. However, here's the big thing: THIS DOESN'T WORK WITH ANY OTHER VIALS! For one reason or another, it only works with shock vials. I don't know why, but I've tested this. Only shock vials work here.

Killing the puppy with the Polaris will work too if you're quick about it. Spam your Polaris at the puppy to ensure it stays stunned and destroy the Rocket Puppy in the lower section, then run to the section on the right ASAP. If you're soloing then look out for the rockets, you're his only target. After you kill the puppy once, do NOT shoot it again so you don't have to deal with it again. Anyway, once you kill all the enemies, the gate will open and you can get the sprite to safety.

UPDATE:
There are also simpler ways of getting past the puppy. If you have a Maskeraith and you have levelled him up enough, you should be able to use Shadow Cloak and walk right past the thing. Just remember, once you attack the cloak wears off, so open up the barrier to the bottom sector BEFORE you walk past the puppy.

And then there's also dashing past the puppy... Yeah, simple as that. You just dash past the darn puppy and he won't even notice you... That is, assuming you dash at the right time. To be honest, I didn't even think of that, so thanks to 'The Unknown' for telling me.

This room is a circular arena with a spinning line of deadly balls. Hit the switch to make the zombies spawn. Avoid being hit by the deadly balls and kill all the zombies. There are three waves of enemies, each consisting of a set amount of zombies. The last one, however, does include a Trojan. Just kill everything, simple as that.

When you enter the room, there will be a switch with a fire trap and a gate to the left. Immediately after the fire trap stops burning, hit the switch and run for the now open gate. Three zombies will spawn next to you and a Trojan and 2 Silkwings (those annoying healing butterflies) will spawn behind three stone blocks. In addition, 5 zombies will appear on the side you came from, but for now you can't reach them. Kill the zombies, then either break through the stone blocks or wait until the Trojan does. Once the blocks are broken, try and kill the Silkwings first, then the Trojan. After that, break the ghost block and move past the spikes. Having another party member with a charge attack could with the zombies on the other side might help, but they're not that hard to take care of. Get the sprite and move out.

This is the easiest room in my opinion. All you have to do is walk past all the traps and fire blobs (which are random by the way) and find the sprite. Once you do, three zombies will spawn near you, as well as wheel launchers in the pathway. Kill the zombies, grab the sprites and carefully make your way back.

Due to character limit, I'm forced to split this into two parts. Don't worry, less than half left.

This one is simple with a party, but pretty annoying alone. In this room there are spikes in the center with a button among them. There are also 4 totems. Here's what you do: if you have Blitz Needle and a party member to help out: Go in the top left corner, charge up your Blitz Needle and have your party member walk on the button. A Trojan will spawn in front of you, so launch your charge in it's back. Once done, you can get the sprite out of there and you're done. You can also move the totem out of the way if you want to finish off the zombies. Doing this solo, however, you still need to fight the Trojan like always.

Press the button, the gates will open. Kill all the enemies, you win. Simple as that. Just be quick with your movements and don't get surrounded.

A room with three gates. Behind each of them: a zombie, an Oiler and a Red Rover. Press the button, the left gate opens. Push the button there, the top one opens. Push the button there, the right one opens. Push the button there and you're free to get the sprite. Just kill all the enemies before you press any buttons, it makes doing this a lot easier.

... the water will start flowing and you're free to extinguish any fire blobs you come across. To the left and right of the green area, there are treasure boxes and heart boxes behind fire blobs. Extinguish them to have access to the boxes. If you haven't done all the rooms yet and you're planning on doing it, reconsider about opening the heart boxes. If you don't need health now, leave it there and see if you need it later. Otherwise, do as you please. Also, remember to discuss this with your party if you plan on opening them.

Anyway, extinguish the path up top and break all the obstacles in the way to get to the elevator. Open all the boxes, get the minerals and get in the elevator.

The following levels will be much more straight forward from here on. So follow the path and extinguish the fire blobs. Find the stone statue, bring it to the end of the hallway near the gate and place it on the button. Step on the party button to advance. From there, move past the traps and get ready for an arena fight.

I'll be honest, this is my favourite room in FSC. There's no particular reason for it, it just is. But I digress. This arena consists of three waves:

• First wave: Zombies. Kill a set few to spawn the next wave.
  
• Second wave: More zombies. Kill a set few to spawn the next wave.
  
• Third wave: More zombies and a Trojan. Kill everything to win.

Zombies will spawn to the left of the party button. Using a Brandish weapon charge or Divine Avenger charge should do extreme damage to them. Keep killing the zombies as they spawn while staying clear of the spikes in the center of the room. When the Trojan spawns, finish off the rest of the zombies and then turn your focus on the Trojan. Keep the same strategy as before, but again, try to stay clear of the spikes. They hurt.

Once you win, head up and you should come across a stone statue, two buttons to place it on which open up two different paths. Go to the one on the left... Just do it, the one that goes right doesn't have that much loot, it's harder and all around not worth it. Believe me when I say I'm not the only one who thinks this, nearly 95% of the people I've played FSC with want to take the path to the left. If you wanna take the right path, then do as you please. Just remember I warned you and that I'm not there to help you. Moving on, take the path to the left.

Follow the path and you'll come across a water fountain. In this room, there are four mini rooms, each with their own button that you have to put a stone statue on. Each room has at least one statue in them except one. Instead, another statue can be found in the top left room, which you have to take to the bottom right room where there is no statue. Start off by using the water to douse the flames around the area. Every time you get near a stone button, three zombies in the room you're in will spawn. However, getting near the stone button in the top left room will also make the zombies in the bottom right room spawn. Kill the zombies and drop off the statues in their rightful places. The gate to the north will open. You'll be in a treasure room. Loot the place and step on the party button when ready.

This room isn't too hard, but it requires caution. At the end of the path there's a barrier, and behind that is a room with four fire traps, four buttons in the corner, a locked gate to the north and a key behind gates. Pushing a button will spawn 6 zombies near the fire trap that's closest to the button you pressed, usually three on one side and three on the other. Pressing all the buttons opens the gates to the key. There are two strategies, one that others like to use and one that I think is safer. The first one includes pressing all the buttons and rushing the key to it's place, afterwards taking care of the zombies. While I understand that opening the way to the key opens up more room and manuverability in the area, it DOES become very cramped and you may end up getting stuck on a zombie while standing on a fire trap... Not pretty.

Instead, I suggest taking your time, especially if you're soloing. Push one button, take care of the zombies in the area. If you have the Blitz Needle, you can do the barrier trick in this area as well. Once you've taken care of a wave of zombies, press the next button and repeat the whole thing over and over and over again until you can get the key. Once you unlock the door, follow the path to the party button. Then follow the path north and you'll find another party button, but also a healing spot and a 1* freeze vial spawner. Step on the party button to start an arena fight.

That's what everyone seems to call this room. This is also the one people call their favourite room. Me, personally, I just find it boring. Again, I digress. There are 7 waves in this arena, each consisting of 5 zombies. To win, you have to kill all the zombies, so a total of 35. There are a few strategies, either shoot them from afar, go melee them (watch the spikes) or a combination of both. While soloing, only shooting them from afar is pretty pointless, because you wouldn't do so much damage as you would close up. Meleeing them is probably your second to best option, it's just going to be a little cramped up there, but nothing too serious. The best way you could do this is to have a combination of melee and ranged attacks. Have someone in your party shoot them from afar (or you shoot them from afar) and those who aren't shooting should take the fight to the zombies up close and personal. This shouldn't be too hard, just kill all the zombies and you're done.

Follow the path, pick up the hearts and loot when done and get in the elevator.

We're getting close now. You can tell from the very annoying stage that's about to follow. Prepare for annoying Trojans. Follow the path, while opening it up with water as well. Before you step on the party button, throw water to the fire right from the button and break the box. There's a button there, so press it. It opens up a treasure room later on in the level. Or at least I think it does, I haven't gone a single time without pressing the button after I realised it's existence. Anyway, step on the party button and let's start off this map.

If you're in a party, the one with the Blitz Needle should charge it up and stay behind. The others should make their way up enough so that a Trojan will spawn, after which the one with the Blitz Needle should make his move and unload the needle shower on the Trojan's back. If you're alone, however, try to fight the Trojan without destroying the ghost block that's at the end of the path. The last thing you need is 6 Red Rovers shooting fire at you.

Once the Trojan has been taken care of, destroy the ghost block at the top and then proceed to destroy the Red Rovers. Now you need to work on opening the gate. Behind every Red Rover there's a box, and under two of those boxes there are buttons. They're random, so you need to destroy the boxes to uncover them. A word of warning though, if you get close enough to a box, two zombies will spawn. Anyway, find the buttons, kill the zombies, open the gate and proceed to the party button.

When you step on the party button, the gates to the sides with a healing spot and a 1* freeze vial spawner will open, as well as a bunch of enemies will spawn. There are three waves:

• Zombies, 4 Ultra Blast Cubes and a Grim Totem right in front of you. Kill everything to spawn the next wave.
  
• More zombies and 2 Grim Totems in the upper left and right corners. Kill everything to spawn the last wave.
  
• Two Trojans (top gate), 3 Wolvers and 4 Red Rovers (two up top, two down at the bottom). Kill everything to win.

First wave
This one is easy. Take the totem to the bottom gate and hack and slash through the enemies until they're all dead. Also it might be a good idea to place two people in the upper right and left corners (where there aren't fire traps of course) to camp when the next Grim Totems will appear before killing the last enemy in the arena. Just to get the totems out of there faster. If you don't want to do it or you don't have enough party members, that's fine too.

Second wave
This one is pretty easy as well. Rush the Grim Totems to the bottom as fast as you can and try not to get yourself stuck on the zombies. Before you kill the last zombie, here's a strategy to consider: the next wave will not have any zombies, so you can take the Grim Totems and use it to block the pathway up. Put them close enough so that the Trojans can't pass through, but you can walk between at least one gap ok. Also, place the Blitz Needle users (if you have them) at the top gate ready to engage the Trojans. Anyway, kill the zombies to spawn the next wave.

Final wave: With 2 Blitz Needles
Charge the Trojans and kill them in one hit. Finish off the rest of the enemies.

Final wave: Without Blitz Needle, or solo
I hope you set up that barricade, it's gonna help you out a lot. Destroy the Red Rovers at the bottom and lure the Wolvers down there as well so you can kill them easily. Now if the Trojans are blocked off, you can heal yourself in the healing spot. Just be careful, if the barricade is low enough, they WILL hit you. Alternatively, you can move to the edge of the healing spot where they can't reach you. Just remember that if the barricade is STILL low enough, it won't help. Now I recommend healing up (again, if the barricade isn't too low) before facing the Trojans. Once you've done that, rush past the barricade and destroy the Red Rovers. It'll make life a little easier. Now take down the Trojans and be very careful when they attack. If they knock you into a fire trap, get out of it as soon as humanly possible. That is probably one of the deadliest combo I can think of in the Firestorm citadel, next to Vanaduke smacking you with his mace and knocking you in the fire, but more on that in the next section. Anyway, if you start losing health, you can just retreat to the healing spot to regain your health and try again. Do this until you've killed everyone.

Heart boxes galore! Once healed, head up to the party button.

This place is deadly if you're not careful where you step. From the north, wheels will come down at you, so be careful and avoid those. The objective of this room is to find a stone statue and bring it to the top where the gate is. The stone statue is either in the top right or top left corner of the room. You can choose what path you take, but at the very center of the room there is a water source. Going up from the center may be the fastest option, but you'd need to destroy a wheel launcher from the front to get through the center. Check your equipment and do as you wish with the wheel launchers. Choose the path you take, be careful where you step and look out for danger in the sides. There are also wheel launchers there and zombies will spawn at certain spots. I usually go through the center, so I don't really remember where the zombies spawn exactly. But anyway, once you find the statue, take it to the top of the room, place it on the button and prepare to face...

Eh, sorry about the section change here... I hate this character limit. Anyway, this room is annoyingly hard. If you're soloing this, I'm sorry. I have no extra tips for you that don't come in this guide otherwise. This is probably one of the hardest arenas to solo, mainly due to the traps all around the room. Watch your step when you're walking around... So yeah, there are 4 waves:

• One Trojan at the top gate and two Red Rovers at the bottom gate. Kill the Trojan to spawn the next wave.
  
• Three zombies to the left and several more zombies to the right. Kill the zombies to spawn the next wave.
  
• A Trojan at the top gate, three zombies to the right and several more zombies to the left. Kill the zombies to spawn the next wave.
  
• Two Trojans at the top gate and a bunch of zombies all over the room. Kill everything to win.

First wave:
When you step on the party button, the blocks around you will disappear, giving you access to the entire room around you. First, destroy the Red Rovers and then kill the Trojan. You should know by now how to do it.

Second wave:
First wave was nothing, but once the Trojan dies, get ready to attack the zombies that spawn on both the right and left sides of the room. Finish off those zombies, put one person with Blitz Needle (if you have any) at the top gate to spawn camp the Trojan and finish off the rest of those zombies.

Third wave:
If you kill all the zombies before you kill the Trojan that spawned, there will be 3 Trojans do deal with in the next wave. We do not want that, so eliminate as many zombies as you can, but leave a few. Then you should take down the Trojan while avoiding the other zombies. If you had a party member with Blitz Needle to spawn camp it, you don't need to worry about much else. Before killing the zombies that spawned on the right side though, place two Blitz Needle users (again, if you have them) at the top gate to spawn camp the Trojans. Finish off the rest.

Final wave:
If you put Blitz Needle users at the gate and managed to kill the Trojans in one go, good for you. Finish off the rest. If you didn't, well try to kill the Trojans first. But if it gets too crowded (which it probably will), get rid of some zombies before you kill the Trojans. A word of warning though, if you don't take care of the Trojans, they will most likely screw you over big time. If they hit you, they cause stun. Now consider that if they knock you back into a fire trap, you will catch fire, you will be stunned AND the fire trap will continue to hurt you until it stops gushing out flames or you move off of it. This is NOT fun, this is NOT fair, nor should you ever let this happen. What's worse is when they charge at you and trap you in the corner on top of a fire trap. This is why you need to get rid of the Trojans as soon as possible.

Proceed past the now open gate. If you move forward a little bit, you might notice a ghost block behind a wall. If you have vials or a gun, destroy the block. Follow the path it opens and you will find 3 red treasure boxes. It's always nice. Collect the treasure and go down the elevator to enter the boss room for Vanaduke. In there, you can heal completely using those healing spots that come before every boss. Now, how do you exactly fight Lord Vanaduke? Join me in the next section.

Before we talk boss, let's go over some preparation.

First off, let's go over his weakness. Vanaduke is weak against piercing weapons, so weapons like Blitz Needle, Final Flourish etc. really help out. He is resistant towards shadow damage and eventually in the 5th phase becomes immune to it. Or so I've heard, I never bring shadow weapons to FSC to begin with. Point is, you shouldn't attack Vanaduke with shadow weapons. Elemental weapons don't seem to have any difference, so feel free to use those. Just don't spam that Polaris around your teammates too much.

When the mask comes off, Vanaduke has no weaknesses. In fact, he builds a small resistant to everything but normal attacks. Don't get discouraged though, if you have a weapon that doesn't do normal damage, just keep attacking the mask regardless. If you and your teammates go all melee on the mask all at once, you might just have to wet the mask 3 or 4 times, regardless of the type of sword you have... Can't say that's true for the guns or bombs, as their DPS aren't as high. Once the mask goes back, Vanadukes weaknesses are back.

There are five phases to this battle. Let's go over the details of every wave before we go into a strategy on how to fight him.

Phase 1
Vanaduke as himself, walking around and attacking.
Attacks: Swing mace, knocks back if close enough, causes stun and fire (bits of ceiling fall down, but don't do damage); Charge, causes stun and fire (much like Trojan)
Other enemies: Vanaduke will summon 4 zombies to aid him. He will summon more over time, but the ones he had summoned before will die.
Special notice: None

Phase 2
Vanaduke's mask comes off and starts floating around.
Attacks: Shoots a bunch of projectiles that cause fire; 2 projectiles spin around it causing fire to anyone who touches them.
Other enemies: None
Special notice: Water needs to be thrown at the mask before you can attack it.

Phase 3
Vanaduke as himself again.
Attacks: Swing mace, bits of the ceiling will sometimes create fire blobs; Charge.
Other enemies: Zombies again
Special notice: 4 fireballs will now revolve around Vanaduke. These cannot be shot through (though you can shoot between them) and will hurt you and set you on fire if you touch them. Can be temporarily extinguished by throwing water at them. Basically the first phase with a couple extra things.

Phase 4
Vanaduke's mask comes off again.
Exactly the same as phase 2, only it shoots more rapidly than before.

Phase 5
Vanaduke as himself yet again, only without his mask this time. Now he's mad.
Attacks: Same as in phase 3; spits fire like Red Rovers, only in three directions at once.
Other enemies: 2 Almirian Royal Guards (basically bigger, badder and more dangerous version of Trojans. Do NOT let them touch you)
Special notice: 8 fireballs will now revolve around Vanaduke.


Blitzer:
Requires: Blitz Needle
Charge up your Blitz Needle and shoot Vanaduke. Be careful though, a poorly timed shot could give Vanaduke time to hit you.

Freezer
Requires: Shivermist Buster
Use the Shivermist Buster to freeze Vanaduke in his tracks and letting others do damage to him, preferably the Blitzers. Stay behind him and keep spamming that bomb!

Decoy
Requires: Quick reflexes and low lag
Distract the zombies and Royal Guards by either killing them or making them chase you. This is very dangerous, but if it gets the enemies off the others' backs, you'll be very useful.

"Fireman"
Requires: Water
Be ready to extinguish the fire blobs around the map in the 3rd and 5th phases. Your main job, however, is to throw water at the mask in phases 2 and 4. Be prepared to run and get water a lot. Also, regarding watering the mask, NEVER WATER THE MASK BEFORE THE COUNTDOWN IS FINISHED! You will only restart the countdown, but the mask will return back to red according to the first timer. By the way, this job doesn't give you an excuse to not do anything else. Combine this with another one.


Stun vial
Throwing these at Vanaduke will slow him down significantly, making it easier to react and avoid his attacks.

Poison vial
If Vanaduke is poisoned, he will take more damage than normal. However, the damage difference isn't that significant.

Shock vial
If Vanaduke is shocked, some of his attacks may be interrupted at times. For instance, if he is about to dash and he takes shock damage, he will them immediately stop the attack. This doesn't give you a 100% guarantee that it will stop every single one of his attacks though.

Freeze vial
Freeze Vanaduke in his place. If you have some of these, they can be used to stop Vanaduke in his tracks just long enough for you to get one hit on him, so make that hit count.

Mecha knight kit
Not to be used as a main line of offense, but it can be a good decoy for about one or two hits. Just be careful not to get shock from him.

While I do recommend having some of these items with you, you should not entirely put your trust in them. They're only there as support and for a very short time as well. So once you throw a vial, you only have seconds to take advantage of the situation. If you have weapons that deal these status' (for example Shivermist Buster, Voltaic Tempest, Venom Veiler, Stagger Storm), then try using those instead. But if you've read and followed my guide all the way, then chances are you probably only have a Shivermist Buster, if even that.

Now that we've discussed all of this, let's fight Vanaduke!

"What's this? More wolves hungry for the blood of Almire? Our great kingdom shall never fall to the likes of beasts!" - Lord Vanaduke

Is it bad that I've memorized that quote and love the hell out of it for no specific reason? ... Back to fighting, right...

There are a few strategies to this, so I'll explain them one at a time:


Everyone has their own job, and for the most part they try to carry it out. Set it up: who's going to be the Blitzer, the Freezer, the Decoy and the "Fireman"? Once that is done, follow this strategy:

Before you have a chance to attack Vanaduke, he will talk to you and then walk to the center of the room. When he is done talking, charge up your weapons if necessary and get ready to fight. Once the fires around you disappear, make like a banana and split.

Blitzer:
Circle around Vanaduke and unleash your Blitz Needle. Preferably charged. Try to stay behind him, as attacking him from the front leaves you very vulnerable to his attacks. Look out for the zombies.

Freezer:
Now is probably the easiest moment to freeze this guy. Keep spamming that Shivermist Buster on him to make the Blitzers job easier.

Decoy:
Keep the zombies under control. If they get to the Blitzer(s) or Freezer, you're gonna have a bad time.

"Fireman":
Like mentioned earlier, you don't have to keep spamming the water or camping for it until the need arises. Help your team. If the Decoy is doing his job correctly, focus on attacking Vanaduke.

Vanaduke doesn't have the fireballs revolving around him yet, so now's your chance to melee him. Hit him until you start hearing a "clink" every time he's hit, then get ready; the mask is going to come off. At this point, the "Fireman" should rush to get some water. If someone else is closer to the water, then he or she can get the water. The "Fireman" should get his own water as well, but one of the players should hold on to their water until needed again. But with that said...

Vanaduke starts walking towards the top of the area and is now invulnerable to damage. This means he's about to drop his mask.

"Fireman":
Get the water and fast! Once he drops the mask, douse it. After that, get more water and wait until the mask turns red, then douse it again. Wash, rinse, repeat. Also, preferably get the water from a different fountain every time, so you won't miss dousing the mask when you have to. (from the two top ones I mean, you don't have time to run to the bottom and then back up)

Everyone else:
Keep attacking the mask when it's not red. When the countdown reaches 1 or 0, keep your distance from it until the "Fireman" douses the mask and you can hit it again.

Four fireballs will now revolve around Vanaduke. Keep your distance and avoid possible fireblob spawns.

Blitzer:
Keep to the same strategy as you did in phase 1.

Freezer:
Same strategy as in phase 1, just be careful not to walk into Vanadukes fireballs.

Decoy:
Keep on keeping those zombies under control.

"Fireman":
If fireblobs appear, extinguish them with the water. You can also try extinguishing the fireballs revolving around Vanaduke. It'll help out if you can do that. They do respawn though, so you might be wasting your time if you try to extinguish all of them.

This shouldn't be too problematic to take care of, but be careful around those fireblobs. Those can take you down way too fast.

Same as phase 2, but be careful when attacking the mask. If you're near Vanaduke, you can get hit by his fireballs. Also, the mask moves and attacks much faster than before. Exercise caution.

Vanaduke will now have 8 fireballs revolving around him and Almirian Royal Guards will spawn on the left and right sides around the midway of the room. This might be a good idea to get all your knights stacked up behind both Almirian Royal Guards. Taking those guys out, while not necessary, will help out immensly.

Blitzer:
Help in taking out the Almirian Royal Guards when they spawn. If they don't die immediately, try keeping your focus on Vanaduke.

Freezer:
Try freezing the Almirian Royal Guards in place. Now that Vanaduke has 8 fireballs revolving around him, freezing him is very risky, but doable. I do recommend you try to freeze the Guards before Vanaduke though.

Decoy:
If you didn't kill the Guards in one go, your job is to distract them and, if you're skilled enough, kill them. The moment you get those two off your backs is a good moment to strike Vanaduke. Just remember that they can respawn, so be quick and cunning about it.

"Fireman":
Douse the flames and do whatever helpful things you've been doing this entire time. Helping out with the Guards is also a good move.

This last phase will take some time but if you're careful, you'll come out on top.


This one is pure and simple, but it requires ALL teammates (aside from maybe 1... emphasis on the word "maybe") to have a Blitz Needle. The plan is to spam Vanaduke with Blitz Needles all the time. You need to take care of the enemies that spawn in phases 1, 3 and 5 though. Trust me, they will get in your way if not dealt with.

In phases 2 and 4, have one knight wet the mask while the others attack it with all their might.

In phase 5, gang up on the Guards backs when they spawn and spam them with Blitz to take them out fast. After that, continue spamming your Blitz Needles. If you and your team are good, you will be able to do this in less than 2 minutes.

(Got your own strategy? Let me know! I'll add it with credits to you and a link to your profile!)

Just so you know, I've only soloed Vanaduke on normal difficulty. I've never done it advanced or elite without spending a crapload of sparks of life (or a crapload of energy before the "No energy patch"), and even when I was playing normal, my record is using at least one spark of life. Granted, I haven't tried it in a while since writing this guide, but those are the facts as of now.

So let's get this straight: soloing Vanaduke is no joke. You will need to know what you are doing and not lose focus of what's important at the time. You will have to time your attacks almost flawlessly if you plan to defeat this guy. If you're doing this for the first time, expect a few deaths.

What weapons I recommend for soloing:

Combuster[wiki.spiralknights.com], Glacius[wiki.spiralknights.com] or Voltedge[wiki.spiralknights.com]
Take out the zombies with one of these blades. Pair it with a gun.

Leviathan Blade[wiki.spiralknights.com], Scissor Blades[wiki.spiralknights.com], Lionheart Honor Blade[wiki.spiralknights.com] or Cold Iron Vanquisher[wiki.spiralknights.com]
Good for taking out zombies, but using the charge on the first form of Vanaduke isn't a bad idea either. Pair it with a gun.

Blitz Needle[wiki.spiralknights.com]
You do a lot of damage with this. Just be careful: whenever you use it, you leave yourself vulnerable to any attacks coming your way. One wrong move could cost you your life.

Divine Avenger[wiki.spiralknights.com]
Unless you know your way around a slow sword, you might want to avoid this one. The slowness of the weapon can leave you vulnerable for an attack many times. So why am I recommending it? Because the charge attack is beast. Using the charge against Vanaduke can be pretty effective at times.

What weapons I do NOT recommend for soloing:

Polaris[wiki.spiralknights.com]
I was going to recommend this for pushing away zombies and hitting Vanaduke whenever you get the chance, but then I realised that it's pretty pointless. First of all, a sword can take care of the zombies easy. Second, the Polaris barely does any good damage to Vanaduke, so you'll just end up fighting him for the rest of eternity at this rate.

Shivermist Buster[wiki.spiralknights.com]
You don't have time to freeze anything in place. Might be good against the Almirian Royal Guards, but if you only have max 3 weapon slots available, just skip this one.

Ok, let's talk strategy.

Your first objective is to kill all the zombies. After that, attack Vanaduke. If you're using your Blitz Needle, try and make him attack you and then immediately get out of the way and shoot him from the side. While charged up, avoiding him is going to be hard, so try to watch where he's about to dash or swing his hammer. With swords, try to get behind Vanaduke and then unleash the charge.

Water. Now. Douse the mask and hit a full combo on his mask. You might be able to fit two combos in but you still need to get the water to douse the mask with, so be careful with that.

You'd better have a gun, because going up to Vanaduke when he has his fireballs out is not a wise idea. Again, kill all the zombies if there are any and try to attack Vanaduke from a distance. You can ignore the fireblobs but try and remember that they will become a problem when there's more. Consider extinguishing them every now and then so you have space to move in.

See PHASE 2. Watch the fireballs.

If you can take care of the Guards, this will be much easier. If you can't kill them, avoid them as much as possible. This is definitely the hardest part. Just repeat what you did in phase 3. On top of that, all I can say is "good luck".


(Got your own strategy? Let me know! I'll add it with credits to you and a link to your profile!)

- Omicroncubed / Humble Bumblebee (IGN Lambdaomega)

That's all I can name on the top of my head. Yeah, pretty short list isn't it? Well as time goes by, people will correct me, add more strategies etc. so when these come around, I'll make sure to add them here.

But that's not all I have to thank. I want to thank all the people who have gone through the Firestorm Citadel runs with me. Whether these people read this guide or not, I want to thank them for assisting me in going through them. I've learned a lot from my first times, I've figured out cool strategies of my own and I've taught some things to players new to FSC. Without your help or guidance, I would still probably be stuck at the rank of Champion.

I also want to thank all the people who read this guide. Seriously, if you feel something is off in this guide or you have your own strategies, tell me about it and I'll look into the matter.

Alright. Anyway, thanks to these people and thanks for reading. Hope I helped.

- Omicroncubed / Humble Bumblebee