Battle Sprites

Battle Sprites

All Equipment

A battle sprite is a combat companion for a Spiral Knight. A knight may own more than one sprite, although only one can be equipped at a time. Each sprite has one, two, or three skills that the knight can deploy in combat. Skills range from direct attacks to party buffs and monster debuffs. Sprites also offer perks, which give the knight offensive and defensive bonuses, much like trinkets. They are intended to provide players with the ability to specialize their role in a party. The choices that you make for your sprite act like a class for your knight, augmenting your weapons and armor in special ways. For example, you may choose an attack-oriented sprite or a sprite that bolsters your party's defense.

Types[]

Prior to the Skylark crash, the Spiral Knights used small field robots called "E-class battle sprites" for reconnaissance. (Biotech Morlin still owns one.) When the Skylark crashed, sprites were apparently dispersed throughout the Clockworks, where the Core's energy signal caused them to mutate into new forms:

The smoldering Drakon resembles a dragon and delivers powerful, fiery blasts to foes. It may be considered the most offensive out of the three starter battle sprites.

The shadowy Maskeraith resembles a masked phantom and uses its toxic powers to debilitate enemies. This sprite has a mix of damage and support skills.

The divine Seraphynx resembles an angelic cat-like creature and uses its luminous powers to defend the party from attacks. Although a support sprite, it can damage enemies directly.

One of these sprites can be the one the player chooses from the 2-3 Mission: An Eternal Bond as a reward.

Pods of these sprites can be obtained for 2,100 Energy from Supply Depot.

Several reskins of these are available.

Acquisition and Usage[]

Rhendon Drakon — Rhendon with a Drakon battle sprite

A series of rank missions is available to knights as soon as they reach Haven. Rhendon and Morlin teach them about skills, perks, harnesses, and leveling, while Biscotti explains how to feed and care for battle sprites. These missions also allow knights to try out each of the three starter sprites.

A knight's first battle sprite is awarded after completion of An Eternal Bond. Knights should take their time to know a little about sprites or see them in action before choosing. Once a selection is made, there's no going back, although knights can obtain more battle sprites through the Supply Depot by purchasing Pods that contain a level-1 battle sprite of their choosing.

All sprites that you own appear in the Battle Sprite section of your arsenal. Clicking on a sprite's icon brings up a menu allowing you to equip, unequip, or rename the sprite.

Once a sprite is equipped, you can examine and configure it by clicking on the character button (default hotkey: P) and selecting the Battle Sprite tab. This interface shows options for feeding the sprite, allocating skill points, equipping a harness, and activating a perk.

Key shortcuts for using battle sprite powers are not configured in this interface. Instead, those keys are configured with all other keys, in the Controls section of the Options screen (hotkey: Escape).

Heating[]

Biscotti Alchemy Machine — A Sprite Food Alchemy Machine used to create food for Battle Sprites.

A sprite progresses through a sequence of 100 heat levels. Like all equippable items, a sprite gains heat when it is equipped for combat in the Clockworks. However, this method of heating is very slow.

Quantifying heat is difficult, but some patterns are clear. High levels require more heat than low levels do. High-star materials give more heat than low-star materials do. Favored food gives more heat than other materials of that star level do. Here is an example for heating a sprite over level 75, based on data collected by some players:

One level's worth of heat amounts to roughly 65 3-star materials, 35 4-star materials, 20 5-star materials, or 4 5-star favored foods. Therefore, feeding favored food is efficient in terms of time and materials, while feeding other materials is efficient in terms of crowns and minerals. -research from players.

A sprite can heat faster by being fed materials. To feed your sprite, bring up the character panel, select the Battle Sprite tab, click on the feeding sub-tab, choose any material from your arsenal, and click the Feed Sprite button. The rate at which a sprite can be fed is limited by its appetite. Appetite is rated on a scale from zero to five. When the appetite is zero, the sprite will not eat. When the sprite has at least one bar (or "point") of appetite, feeding the sprite a material decreases its appetite by one point. Appetite regenerates at a rate of roughly five points per hour of real time, whether or not the knight is online. Playing with the sprite in the Clockworks can help increase its appetite a bit faster.

ANY unbound material can be fed to a sprite if it's just increasing its heat bar, and not its level. A sprite simply has a favored food, which helps fills up its heat bar more than any other material. This is not always the most economic choice. Favored foods can be crafted using Sprite Food Alchemy Machines, found in the Laboratory and the Town Square. Crafted food is unbound and can be traded among knights or sold on the auction house. Sometimes food is a prize in a Prize Box, as with the Companion Prize Box and the Gourmet Prize Box. These boxes would give certain star levels of food, (randomly power/shadow/divine) to players in relation to their Player Rank - but prizebox food materials are bound.

Leveling[]

When the sprite's heat meter is filled, the sprite is ready for promotion to the next heat level. The sprite must be fed a required item. For most levels, the required item is the favored food, and the sprite gains a skill point or a perk upon promotion. The knight allocates skill points to the sprite's skills, to augment (enhance) their speed, duration, intensity, etc. Unallocated skill points are saved, so knights who delay or forget to allocate points are not penalized in any way. By the time a sprite reaches level 100, it will have gained enough skill points to max out every augment, so there is no "wrong" strategy for allocation.

Battle sprites cannot be leveled when their new level would surpass the knight's own equip limit. For example, an Apprentice (rank 2) knight is permitted to equip only 0- and 1-star gear. The knight is not permitted to level a sprite from level 14 to level 15, because the latter is considered 2-star.

At certain special levels, the sprite undergoes dramatic changes. The required item is not the favored food, but rather an Evo Catalyst of the appropriate star level.

15: The sprite gains its second skill and changes its appearance.
50: The sprite gains its third skill and changes its appearance.
90: The sprite's first skill evolves into one of two ultimate forms, chosen by the knight. This choice alters part of the sprite's appearance, while leaving other parts unchanged.
95: The sprite's second skill evolves into one of two ultimate forms. One aspect of the sprite's appearance changes.
100: The sprite's third skill evolves into one of two ultimate forms. One aspect of the appearance changes.

There are 2³ = 8 possible ultimate appearances for a sprite, based on the two choices for each of the three skills. Just as skill point allocation can be delayed, so can the choice of ultimate form. In fact, the knight may elect not to choose either ultimate form of a skill, leaving the skill in its ordinary form forever. Taking this possibility into account, there are 3³ = 27 possible end-game appearances for a sprite.

At level 100, there are still five perks to be gained. The knight may continue leveling the sprite through extra heat levels. These levels could be called 101-105, although they are all displayed as "100" in the user interface. At level 105, the sprite is functionally complete. The sprite continues to gain heat until its heat meter is filled, but the user interface does not allow the sprite to be promoted to level 106.

A special material called a Reset Star is sold in the Supply Depot for 2,000 Energy. The Reset Star resets applied skill points and reverts any ultimate skill selection, while retaining the sprite's level. The knight gets to make those choices all over again. The sprite does not lose any of its progress. It keeps its level, its perks, and its skill points. The knight does not have to re-spend any Evo Catalysts.

Economics[]

: Data in this section is provided by players and is therefore subject to player error. OOO is not responsible for player mishap regarding making a budget according to this data.

The tables below summarize which sprite eats what food when, and how much, considering a minimalistic budget plan for leveling.

Tables assume that the player already has the sprite, and do not factor in obtaining costs or harness upgrade costs.

Research details can be found in this Forum Post.

Sprites and Food:

Sprites can be fed any unbound material to gain heat, these are just the materials that grant the most heat.

Bear in mind, these are required for the sprite to actually level up, gradually increasing in star level from 0-star to 5-star.

Level Range	Drakon	Maskeraith	Seraphynx
1-14	Power Mote	Shadow Mote	Divine Mote
15-29	Power Dust	Shadow Dust	Divine Dust
30-49	Power Stone	Shadow Stone	Divine Stone
50-74	Power Orb	Shadow Orb	Divine Orb
75-100	Power Star	Shadow Star	Divine Star

Note: Each knight gains an Evo Catalyst, an Advanced Evo Catalyst, and an Ultimate Evo Catalyst upon first-time completion of, respectively, the Shadow of the Beast, Built to Destroy!, and The King of Ashes rank missions. Thus, for a knight's first battle sprite, only two Ultimate Evo Catalysts need to be obtained at cost.

Evo Level	Evo Catalyst	Energy
15	Evo Catalyst	125
50	Advanced Evo Catalyst	250
90	Ultimate Evo Catalyst	525
95	Ultimate Evo Catalyst	525
100	Ultimate Evo Catalyst	525

Minimum Components:

Food Type	Minimum Material for Crafting Food	Minimum Minerals	Minimum Crowns
Mote: 13	Any ★☆☆☆☆: 26	65	130
Dust: 15	Any ★★☆☆☆: 30	150	375
Stone: 19	Any ★★★☆☆: 38	285	950
Orb: 25	Any ★★★★☆: 50	500	5,000
Star: 22	Any ★★★★★: 44	550	11,000
Star for Perks: 5	Any ★★★★★: 10	125	2,500

Totals:

Minimum	Total
Minerals to reach 100:	1,550
Minerals to get all Perks:	1,675
Crowns to reach 100:	14,955
Crowns to get all Perks:	19,955
Energy to get all Perks (first sprite):	1,050
Energy to get all Perks (subsequent sprites):	1,950

Harnesses[]

Harnesses are items that a battle sprite can equip to deal a certain type of damage. Some harnesses can also reduce skill cooldown by a certain percentage.

Every player obtains the Iron Harness when they acquire their first sprite. Harnesses can be acquired only by purchasing from Riley, the harness merchant in the Lab, and are bound upon acquisition. They cannot be unbound.

When a knight owns multiple sprites, the harnesses are shared among the sprites. However, some harnesses cannot be equipped on certain sprites.

The player must own the previous version of a harness before they can purchase the next version. Owned harnesses can be viewed in the sprite interface. Alternatively, the player can check with Riley. To ensure that players don't buy duplicate harnesses, Riley only sells each harness once to the player. After the player has bought every harness, Riley's ware list will be empty.

: A superior harness replaces an inferior harness - meaning that a sprite cannot equip a normal harness if the player owns an advanced harness, and it cannot equip an advanced Harness if the player owns an elite harness.

Harness	Equipable on	Damage Type	Cooldown Reduction	Crowns	Total Crowns
Iron Harness		Normal	0%	0 (Start)	0
Advanced Iron Harness		Normal	5%	32,000	32,000
Elite Iron Harness		Normal	10%	128,000	160,000
Golden Harness		Piercing	0%	8,000	8,000
Advanced Golden Harness		Piercing	5%	32,000	40,000
Elite Golden Harness		Piercing	10%	128,000	168,000
Crystal Harness		Elemental	0%	8,000	8,000
Advanced Crystal Harness		Elemental	5%	32,000	40,000
Elite Crystal Harness		Elemental	10%	128,000	168,000
Dark Harness		Shadow	0%	8,000	8,000
Advanced Dark Harness		Shadow	5%	32,000	40,000
Elite Dark Harness		Shadow	10%	128,000	168,000

Sprite Pods[]

A Sprite Pod.

Sprite Pods are usable items that contain a level 1 battle sprite. Pods are obtained unbound. Once opened, the sprite within is permanently bound to whomever opened the pod.

Pods serve as a means for knights to obtain more battle sprites in addition to the one chosen in the 2-3 Mission: An Eternal Bond. However, they cannot "use" (open) any until they have completed said mission.

When a Sprite Pod is used, a relevant Level 1 Battle Sprite will pop out, and the pod will disappear. This battle sprite will be permanently bound to the player who opened the pod. Therefore, if the player wishes to trade sprites, they must do so while the sprite is still in its pod.

Reskins[]

Below is a list of battle sprites with alternate appearances.

Reskins are the same as the original sprite - the only differences are how they look and how they're obtained.

Crafting costs for Sprite Pod transmutations are 10,000 crowns.

Sprite

Pod

Notes

Drakon (Gun Pup)

Randomly obtained from a

Gremlin Prize Box.

Drakon (Divine)

Randomly obtained from a

Spritely Prize Box.

Drakon (Shadow)

Randomly obtained from a

Spritely Prize Box.

Drakon (Spiraltail)

Randomly obtained from a

Spiraltail Prize Box.

Drakon (Grey)

Randomly obtained from a

Grey Prize Box.

Drakon (Piggy)

Randomly obtained from a

Battle Boar Box.

Maskeraith (Punkin)

Craft at the Mysterious Alchemy Machine.

Name	Amount
File:Crafting-Dark Shard.png Dark Shard	30
File:Crafting-Vile Seal.png Vile Seal	10
File:Crafting-Punkin Sprout.png Punkin Sprout	5
File:Crafting-Forbidden Fruit.png Forbidden Fruit	4
File:Crafting-Dead Gold.png Dead Gold	3
File:Crafting-Blighted Bone.png Blighted Bone	2
Maskeraith Pod (Level 1)

Maskeraith (Spiralhorn)

Randomly obtained from a

Spiralhorn Prize Box.

Maskeraith (Freeze)

Randomly obtained from a

Spritely Prize Box.

Maskeraith (Snarblepup)

Randomly obtained from a

Spritely Prize Box.

Maskeraith (Volcanic)

Randomly obtained from a

Spritely Prize Box.

Maskeraith (Grey)

Randomly obtained from a

Grey Prize Box.

Seraphynx (Black Kat)

Craft at the Mysterious Alchemy Machine.

Name	Amount
File:Crafting-Dark Shard.png Dark Shard	30
File:Crafting-Ecto Drop.png Ecto Drop	10
File:Crafting-Grave Soil.png Grave Soil	4
File:Crafting-Soul Dust.png Soul Dust	3
File:Crafting-Kat Tribe Fetish.png Kat Tribe Fetish	3
File:Crafting-Ghost Bell.png Ghost Bell	2
Seraphynx Pod (Level 1)