Here's the thing: you are about to do a solo vanaduke run. You won't bring black kat set nor chaos set, no swiftstrike buckler and no blitz gun (not even the poison one), also no seraphynx sprite.
What will your loadout be? Also, what will your strategy be during the boss fight with the loadout you picked?
For sword I will always bring glacius, combuster is overrated as always, and you will need the freeze charge to kill those deadly shadow guards and trojans.
For gun I will bring polaris, because if you are absolutely, positively have to kill every slag zombies in FSC, accept no substitute.
I am not going to unlock additional weapon slot because I like it vanilla.
Armor is going to be divine veil and armor of the fallen, gives me every type of defense I need, why am I not picking vog? Well, this is picking from my own arsenal. (with no chaos, yes, I refuse to make that OP piece of garbage)
Shield is going to be the grey owlite shield, crest of almire would be good if it weren't for all of the fire floor hazards. An elemental shield gives you much more rooms for mistakes.
It's nice to see some other players that think similarly to me. I also use glacius and refuse to make both chaos and blitz.
But actually, i will make chaos at some point. Because it is a cheaper way of adding the charge time reduction UV's i desperately need for #bestcombointhegame: torto gun charge attack>fang of vog/leviathan blade charge attack the monsters that are pinned against the crystal wall.
I have tried gilded griffin, 4 star normal catalyzer and volcanic pepperbox against vanaduke and none seemed to work all that well. It might just have been me, but i don't know :T Those 3 guns really didn't seem to help me finish the job.
I usually use vog set along with heater shield/ancient plate shield. As for weapons, glacius + whatever, which more often than not, the whatever doesn't help me at all during the boss fight.
I am currently considering the pierce tortogun or triglav charge attack (if it is decently fast charging and decently fast at the execution of the attack as well as from a decent range)
I forgot to explain the strategy for guns: For charge-shot-oriented guns, such as Callahan, you can do what you would do with Blitz Needle: Read Vanaduke's AI, then unleash a big charge attack. For regular-shot-oriented guns, such as Polaris or Argent, you can circle Vanaduke, wearing him down. Disclaimer: It's boring.
I used to use a Glacius a lot too. Then I got Combuster, which I vastly prefer.
(including only relevant UVs)
seerus mask (shock low, Trojans have it)
mercurial demo mail (fire max, normal high or max I forget which)
omegaward (normal med)
iron slug (ctr med)
savage tortofist (ctr med)
omega tortofist (ctr med)
voltaic tempest (ctr vh)
maskeraith with swift steps II (vengeful quills, vengeful cloak, chaotic haze)
Boss strategy:
Swap between voltaic tempest and slug/omega tortofist to kill extras first (slug only on final wave), some quills
slug (max distance) for mask phase
quills and savage tortofist for standing phases
All are charge only for the most part
Edit: added detail and strategy
P.s. hat tip to DJ on refusing to ever make chaos, i agree completely
Volcanic Pepperbox
Venom Veiler
Cyclops Cap
Volcanic Demo Suit
I used to run Vana frequently in this loadout.
Added necessary completion to my comment
Ill note that ive had to carry people with that in the past when the whole party wipes (or dies, whatever, ive been playing a lot of wildstar recently), ive gotten to where I dont even need an ER on a day where lag doesnt kill me
Oi i see jizzberry-jam is here :P
Loadout:
Dread venom striker
Callahan (charge is so op xD)
Vog Cub set
Grey Owlite Shield
and Maskeraith
Just to let you know. Frequently using an unoriginal and immature joke like that only brings you closer and closer to me taking actions about it (such as blocking). I have no problem doing that, no matter who the perpetrator is.
Use blitz, use any non-shadow sword.
Before you build for that train your own reflexes and sprite usage by building snakebite gunner sets.
You can kill Vanaduke without guns, especially if you water the orbs. But Vanaduke is dramatically easier with a gun.
Just about any non-shadow gun will work. I've soloed Vanaduke with Valiance, Blitz Needle, old Callahan, new Callahan, Argent Peacemaker, Nova Driver, Storm Driver, Hail Driver, Polaris. And I'm not an especially skilled gunner. And much of this was before Black Kat and buffed Chaos.
So, to answer your question: Just about any non-shadow gun and some gunner armor such as Perfect Mask of Seerus or Shadowsun.