If you want a Pros advice, go with Combuster.

It doesn't have any drawbacks. The other two will accidentally put you and your teammates at risk and will take forever to complete missions. EV + Combuster is just as good as EV + Voltedge with Max Damage and proper charge delivery, followed by a flurry of combos and a gun like Nova or AP to close the distance with bruised up monsters while moving towards them if charge + combo doesn't finish it.

What people lack the patience to realize is that Glacius is actually just as good if you know what you're doing. On one hand, some mobs are totally immune to fire (in which case Glacius/Voltedge are superior) but also, glacius is far better for crowd control. The point of having STRONG freeze is that you lock down one or two enemies, then take down a different group while they thaw for massive damage. I mean sure if you're only fighting one or two monsters that's not time effective, but in areas like firestorm citadel that tend to have tons of spread of slags, it's good.

What people lack the patience to realize is that Glacius is actually just as good if you know what you're doing.

I had Glacius for several months, with heavy use, before I got Combuster. I know how to use Glacius. It's not hard to understand. It freezes. I get it. And yet I still think Combuster is far better.

On one hand, some mobs are totally immune to fire (in which case Glacius/Voltedge are superior)

I disagree. Even against a fire-immune monster, Combuster beats Glacius, because freeze stops the monster before it can ride the entire charge attack. This is the whole idea of Combuster beating Glacius in Firestorm Citadel, which we've discussed countless times.

glacius is far better for crowd control

I disagree even on this point. Sometimes freeze is useful for crowd control. But sometimes freeze hurts crowd control, because it hinders knockback, kiting, shield-bumping, etc. In particular, every Combuster charge knocks the target back the whole way (if the monster survives at all). Glacius charges have unpredictable knockback, because the monster gets stuck partway through.

The point of having STRONG freeze is that you lock down one or two enemies, then take down a different group while they thaw for massive damage.

I agree with you here. This is a good strategy, especially for novices, that isn't used enough. Too many people break freeze before it hurts monsters. But "massive" is an overstatement of the damage. I would say "significant". Depending on the monster, it's typically like a sword regular stroke, not like another sword charge attack.

I mean sure if you're only fighting one or two monsters that's not time effective, but in areas like firestorm citadel that tend to have tons of spread of slags, it's good.

Combuster is better even here. With Glacius the crowd tends to be spread-out. With Combuster, the crowd tends to be gathered up tightly (if it's alive at all). The latter is more vulnerable to future charges.

The short version: After a Glacius charge you end up with a crowd of monsters, spread out because they've been knocked back varying amounts, with varying amounts of damage, which are frozen. After a Combuster charge you end up with a smaller crowd of monsters (because more of them are dead), and they're tighter because they've all been knocked back to the end of the charge, and they've all suffered as much damage as possible, and they're not frozen. In every aspect of this story Combuster beats Glacius, except in leaving monsters frozen, and that is not an unambiguous win for Glacius either.

The only thing in my opinion that could top Combuster in FSC is if they made an elemental brandish that had poison as the status effect (I would love that), but I doubt they would ever do that since they already have the Obsidian edge.

But yeah Combuster is the clear winner in almost all areas.

The video demonstrates that freeze and shock can stop targets from riding the entire charge attack. The same material is treated in every discussion of this topic, which is why it's in the FAQ mentioned in post #1 of this thread.

All explaining is as easy as showing a link, if the explanation is already prepared. But I agree that a video is valuable in a way that text is not. That's why I said "good to have a video". Cheers.

They all kill slags about the same (or exactly the same on the normal hits) so just use whichever one amuses you most. When it comes to huge crowds that don't wave ride as much (most of FSC in other words) the raw damage you're doing with the first few hits outweighs the status or wave riding or whatever anyway.

Antiguas are good because they have lots of bullets.