I propose that you use these two swords: Divine Avenger and Acheron. Yes, this is a mix of two styles, but that makes the game more interesting. Using only one style is dull. And neither of these "requires" auto-targeting. You could also go with Combuster and Gran Faust, but gremlin menders are a priority, and Acheron kills them faster than Gran Faust does.

If you want a piercing sword, then Final Flourish and BTB are both great, as my sword guide describes. (Thanks, Traevelliath.) But you're right that they benefit from auto-targeting. Have you considered Dark Briar Barrage? It is the easiest, safest, and quickest way to kill hordes of fiends (and beasts, although those are not worth worrying about). And Blitz Needle is the other obvious recommendation, for big enemies.

As my sword guide explains, you can use just about any gun as a sidearm for swords. Some players like antigua-style guns, because they are easy, fast, and long-ranged. But they do mediocre damage and are boring. Get a good gun: magnuses (charge), alchemers (regular or charge), autoguns (charge). But then you don't like charging... Maybe just don't use a gun. In most areas of the Clockworks it's quite unnecessary.

Welcome back to the game.

Here I can recommend the Antigua line or the blaster line. The blaster line is pushing enemies back a Little so on Close range you may get a bit breathing room. This is best used if you do like to outrun enemies and using that Little pushback to extend the time until you Need to move yourselfe.

If you are more the offensive type who likes to just shoot a few bullets while moving to the enemy and then attack it with swords, then Antiguas are your gun line of choice.

Another gun I can recommend would be Blitz Needle vs devilities. The wide bullet arc of normal shots will most likely get a few hits even on These dodgy devilitis. Just make sure you Keep your distance and use the first shot (so no reloading) and then shield, so you do not Need to reload. Technically this is a Long range-Sealed Sword with piercing type with the downside that you have a smaller attack arc to Monsters who are just in front of you. A side effect of picking Blitz would be that you have the probably most used weapon against a certain Boss - though People tend to use the Charge attack of Blitz more often there.

Alchemers.... well, I personally do only use them if I Play *very* defensively - which is... maybe in Heart of Ice in certain Groups or vs kats from time to time. But if you like the Antigua line, thn this would be the last Thing I can recommend to you, unless you start intensively to Train Switch-Shooting, which would make the gun 'sidearm' to your main weapon.

Magnus-line normal shots have the very nice ability to knock most small enemies on the floor (exspecially menders and wovlers). So you may use a Magnus shot as Initial attack, then unleash your sword wrath on the enemy that lies helplessy on the floor >:D

Wildfire/Supernova can be used to move enemies fastly into a Corner to make your avenger swings hit even more Monsters at once. But remember that this Needs practice - otherwise you will just move enemies around and annoy Team mambers. But if you can handle it, you will get all Monsters where you want them to be. Due to shock movement interruption, I can not recommend Polaris here.

Tortoguns are nice, but they are very centred around their Charge attack. This could create a Brief safe Zone for swordies, too, but I doubt that this will hit your playing style as one who likes fast damage. If Meely combat is earth-elemental, then Tortoguns are Wind-elemental.

Can you afford mixmasters? From the technique, it is like a penetrating Antigua with less shots but due to Penetration a better aoe effect.

Greetings
~Jenova

Also now that i think about it, Overcharged Mixmaster (and Orbit Gun too of course) have 3 shots, but doubling the bullets, so same as Antiguas, 6. Probably one of the highest dps guns. But yeah they are deffinately the most expensive, and cannot be found anywhere, but promo boxes.

@Cisco: be careful if you want to use a Blitz against tier 3 wolvers, it needs experience. Otherwise they will just jump around and make you waste your time, and be annoyed. It is actually true with every gun, and even with sword "shooting" too (like charge). But yeah Blitz is actually great against devilites, as Jenova said (i would still use its charge tho', not the regular attack, but i can see its a safer choice to just singleshoot and shield between).
Also about the boosted damage part :) Its not always the shiny red numbers that deal the most damage, trust me ^^ Blue ones can be as good and rare times even better.

Single dps of antiguas are actually great and simple to pull off. With other guns you have to switch like madman after 2 shots (every single shot with alchemer) if you want minmaxing. With antigua you only need to switch after the 5th shot. They have small damage and even smaller AoE for sure. But if you count the additional shots in just 1 clip, they actually are really devastating. And if you count in the reloading, it might be just the best single target dps gun (not counting mixers). You just need to clickity-click. Of course if you go pro with switching you do more damage with other guns, but man that needs some commitment.

their isn't a piercing brandish so I'll still have a type coverage missed, so with beasts and fiends I'll never be doing that "great" damage

Whether you get a piercing sword, and which one, has almost nothing to do with how you choose your elemental and shadow swords. I say "almost" because there is some incompatibility in the auto-targeting. But all of your proposed elemental and shadow swords are equally incompatible with the piercing swords in this way.

Also, Acheron is so overpowered that its damage against a single beast is comparable to Final Flourish's. (Against beasts at depth 24 and damage+0, Acheron's combo does 241 + 241 + 338, while Final Flourish's combo does 258 + 258 + 307.) But the latter is better against multiple beasts, due to the wide first swing. And it's certainly better against fiends, which are more of a worry.

Anyway, you're thinking of all the right considerations, and your choices are good. Have fun.

You could read my armor guide. If you want one of the new gunner armors, then go for Pathfinder, Sentinel, or Shade, so that you get blanket damage bonus. After that, choose the status protection that you want. Damage protection is the lowest priority, but you can pick whichever one you want, by picking Pathfinder, Sentinel, or Shade correctly.

If you're interested in potentially picking up a Perfect Mask of Seerus, I can help out with that, regardless if you have OCH or not.

Do you have a swiftstrike buckler? I am too lazy to read 20 big blocks of text. If you don't, it would be useful to pick up if you like to have ASI. I guess it would be kinda glass cannony but it is one of the most useful pieces of equipment for it's price (around 25kcr).