You seem to be off to a good start on planning your equipment, but I'll still mention my detailed sword guide. It describes swords, sidearms, armor, etc.

There are more heavy swords than just Divine Avenger and Gran Faust. Sudaruska and Triglav do normal damage, which ordinarily I don't recommend. But you seem to be going for a very small set of weapons, so maybe normal damage has a place in your arsenal. There's also Warmaster Rocket Hammer, which is like Sudaruska/Triglav but with a crazy dash attack inserted between the other two strokes of the combo. It is very powerful and fun.

Which gun would you consider the best fit with GF; Polaris, Argent Peacemaker or Nova Driver?

Argent Peacemaker is boring and tedious; too much clicking. But it's easy and has nice range. Polaris is really a crowd-control weapon, that is very powerful when used well, but often used badly in parties. Nova Driver has a steep learning curve but is very powerful once you master it. I'd choose Nova/Storm over Polaris, and everything over Argent.

Chaos set benefits both weapons but I assume using that with GF would be stupid.

Gran Faust charges so slowly that it's rarely your best plan to charge it. However, there's no reason not to wear Chaos with it. You still get damage bonus, and your other weapon still gets CTR and damage bonus.

Your armor all comes down to how defensive you need to be. If you don't need much defense, then go with Chaos and Swiftstrike Buckler. If you need more defense, then consider Skolver and Barbarous Thorn Shield. If you need more defense, consider Vog Cub, Grey Owlite, etc. Unfortunately it may be hard for you to judge this right now. But we can't judge it for you.

Is it all just personal preference or are there for example some essential damage resistances for late game bosses etc. ?

Many people farm Firestorm Citadel a lot. The ideal protections there are normal, elemental, fire, and shadow. In general, damage protections on armor don't seem to have a huge effect, while status protections (especially shock, fire, and freeze) can make a big difference. So I recommend that you plan armor based on offensive bonuses and certain important statuses, rather than on damage protection.

Are the devs still actively working on this game and are there any people playing the lower tier dungeons by the way?

Supposedly they are working on it, although new content arrives slowly. Yes, many players play all over the Clockworks, both shallow and deep, both through missions and through the Arcade. I see new players all the time in Haven.

Mixmaster is by far the best elemental gun imo.

It shoots through walls and doesn't trigger enemy reactions on the shot, allowing it to flawlessly kill mecha knights and devilites from afar and shoot through trojan/deadnaught/crusader shields (Unsure if considered exploit?) The only problem is that it's valued at a good million crowns or two, and finding one would prove difficult, even if it is a matter of just saving up.

Otherwise, nova driver is the strongest for its ability to snipe turrets and other enemies at long range for massive damage, and polaris is powerful but goes against all of the common strategies normally found in the game.

Argent is both easier and harder to use than nova driver. It's easier in that "point at them and shoot" is the simple tactic, and it's harder in that "demand total control of aggro for using other weapons and explosive blocks to your advantage" is the complex and environment dependent tactic that can really put it ahead. A good example of when you want argent/carbine over nova/umbra would be against the roarmulus twins.

For a universal set I would suggest Sudaruska and Valiance. For armor I would suggest perfect mask of seerus and Vog cub coat along with an Owlite shield.

You can trade out Valiance for a Supernova or maybe a Volcanic pepperbox.

Normal damage isn't the best but when you have to limit yourself to just 2 weapons for the whole game they do provide you with enough power to overcome any obstacle (provided you have some skill)

When it comes to type damage weapons you can't go wrong with DA and Blitz needle. DA charges are safe and spam friendly and Blitz charges wreck anything that doesn't resist it.

In all honesty it is best to acquire a varied arsenal to use, try out many gun types and see what really fits your style. Alchemers can provide a nice punch of damage to single targets if you aim the charge right (try not using AT) and can deal status on a reliable basis. Blasters are safe and provide nice damage and knockback regardless of range. Pulsars are much like blasters but are best as long range weapons as their power increases the further away you are. Antiguas can deal constant damage and have incredible range on the charge. Autoguns in general are OP when using the charge attack. There are even tortoguns which provide stellar area denial and respectable damage. Catalyzers are interesting weapons but are best used when soloing or in teams where everyone is using that kind of gun.

For heavy swords just get DA and a Sudaruska, both have more viable charges than the GF.

Can replace DA with combuster for less risky attacks, but lower crowd control.

That's debatable. Combuster also blasts a bunch of monsters back, by a predictable distance. The blast isn't as wide as DA's. But Combuster lets you move so much faster while charging, that your freedom of movement relative to the crowd is much higher than with DA.

Otherwise, I agree with your post.

When was the last time you saw a Blitz being used to kill the boss at the RJP? or to defeat the Roarmulus twins? In fact try sticking a Blitz charge in a Giant Lichen Colony and see how long it takes... (for you to die)

@ Bopp

Brandishes can be fired while your knight's back is up against a wall, DA on the other hand can only get damage on the swing as the bullets for some reason break on the wall. This limits their affectivity in tight situations and means that the person using DA charges has to think a bit more.

The best strategy is to have some teammates with combusters and some with DA. The DA charges can keep back many enemies and the combusters can clean up what the DA misses.

True, true.... anyway this game has 6 different 5star swords.

One (Suda) has east to get recipes, one (Trig) has LD reward recipes, 2 (DA/GF) are boss token related, one (WMRH) is from the expansion mission, and the last (Gram) is only owned by Devs.

The Hammer and the troikas have charges that can be used anywhere but require some positioning lest you miss and get attacked whilst you recover. The DA and GF can't launch bullets when a knight's back is close to a wall and the GF can curse the user on the charge.

It is also important to point out that endgame monsters are less likely to finch on a combo finish than the monsters at the beginning of the game, so if that is a factor you are planning to rely on you better learn to play without it. It only takes a few times of comboing a slag and having them still jump at you to figure out that endgame monsters have good flinch resistance and that finishing a combo can leave you open to attack.

@holy
yes blitz charge does well on slimes, found that out when I forgot to switch weps in t3 arcade

ill just update
a good combo would be warmaster rocket hammer and blitz
(finally started to use the hammer after like a year of having it, its fun)

I have a DA, Faust, WMRH, and Khorovod.

The DA and Faust have the same swing speed with the Khorovod only being a pinch slower. I can't really compare the WMRH since it doesn't have a comparable weapon, however I believe its speed is similar to the Sealed Sword lines.

The Speed bar on the Faust is incorrect, I'm not sure if you only have one heavy sword or are just pointing out what you see rather than what is.

Gran Faust has slower charges than Faust does, but don't they have the same regular attack speed?

It's well known that Gran Faust's regular attack speed is no faster than DA's. Sudaruska/Triglav is slower, and WRH is even slower. (See data.) Of course, some of this effect is due to the cooldown period after the combo. And it's important to note that WRH users usually do not complete the combo.

In short, Holy-Nightmare is making accurate statements.

Pretty sure WRH has higher speed than Troikas. Never heard of it having a charge like the hammer, either. Where did you get that?

Actually......... The troika charge actually hits the enemy twice, if you watch the numbers you will notice that two numbers pop up and not just one.

One for the impact and one for the blast.

One swing 2 hits.

I do agree with Oohnorak, that WRH is basically a modified Troika. Of course, the modification (the dash between the other two strokes of the combo) is so significant that it plays very differently from the Troikas.

Sudaruska completes slightly more combos per minute than WRH (32 vs. 30). See the data that I mentioned in post #21.

the charge isnt even good for single target, they get bumped at an angle so the second hit always misses and they have an attack opening, I tried using that accursed AT but it still happens

I haven't had a Faust in over three years, so I can't test Faust vs. Gran Faust. Would somebody else please test the swing speed, to confirm Keepscaite's observations?

The charge is much slower --- so much so, that it's rarely a good idea to use it. That' why some people keep their Fausts at 4-star.

Keepscaite, would you mind running a test? Go to some safe area, such as Moorcroft Manor. Set a timer for a minute. Execute Faust combos (both strokes) as fast as you can. Report how many combos you completed in this minute, and how much total Attack Speed Increase you had on your Faust while you ran this test. That would help a lot.

32-33 combos in a minute, No increase in attack speed at all.

I wouldn't think I'm all that accurate though, because I was partying with this guy who had a Divine Avenger. I tried to compare speeds and ours were pretty similar.

...I probably miscounted or something.

/sigh

Reading the title, if you don't mind killing nothing to quickly, but effectively killing everything and being good against devilites, cutter 5* is a good single sword to use.

I'm sure you're not using it right then, because if you don't just click click click and constantly combo, actually using your shield, it's hard for much to hit you including devilites and greivers.

Also, the first stroke of a Flourish is quite wide, letting you hit and interrupt multiple fiends at once. That's a big deal when four greavers are crowding around you or three devilites are thinking about chucking computer monitors at you. The Cutter strokes are not nearly so wide.

I agree that Cutters are fun despite weak damage and charge.

Warmaster Rocket Hammer also breaks blocks extremely quickly. If you're good at canceling the combo, you can also use it to move at high speed. The charge can also hit some switches across gaps. So WRH has more utility than a Cutter. It's also one of the most powerful swords in the game, doing tremendous damage to everything except against gremlins and beasts.

Yep, your points are valid. WRH requires either real money or a lot of crowns saved. But whether its penalty against gremlins and beasts matters depends on what other weapons you have in your loadout.

By the way, I pick off gremlin menders using Acheron charges or Umbra Driver charges (one shot kill). I pick off silkwings using Nova Driver charges or Callahan shots. Or of course the poison everywhere.

Greavers are one of the hardest monsters in the game, but it's true that they're not super-difficult, once you learn how to manage them. I mean, all monsters in this game are manageable once you know their AIs.

If you're using a sword, then I agree that getting the greavers to attack from one direction is important. My point is that "one direction" means something much wider when you're using a wide sword than when you're using a narrow sword.

Yes, Cutters are viable in a one-sword-one-gun loadout. So is every other sword, if you coordinate your damage types correctly. But it is nice that normal weapons require no planning at the arsenal station.