I have decided to get a brandish style elemental sword but I am unsure which to get. Given they are both elemental, which is better fire or ice?
And I will use this as a general sword and I solo, for clarification. If you want to include the DA in this debate feel free, but my main question lies with these two.
It just depends on your style of play. The same argument could be made re: replacing glacius with a shivermist for crowd control, which is what I prefer. The combuster makes more sense for me for the additional rolling dmg provided by the fire status--and if you time it right, shield canceling the end of the combuster's charge attack can bounce enemies along the path of the explosions to do away with large groups quickly.
I agree completely about the shield bumping
its like monsters go for a ride...
a phucking explosion ride
its much better for my taste and is great for fsc.
The playstyles on these two weapons are completely different. It really won't be any kind of decision once you figure out what kind of playstyle you're more interested in.
Combuster, you lure the enemies into getting clustered together nicely, charge attack them for massive damage and then the strong fire burns them the rest of the way to death. Highly offensive, no defensive traits. Unlike other weapons that can cause fire, it's safe to fight oilers with this if you just use the basic attack, since only the charge causes the fire.
Glacius, you charge attack them, they get frozen. At this point you can either lure the ones that didn't freeze away to attack separately and wait for the frozen ones to unthaw on their own and take damage from that (since it is strong freeze, it will be a pretty significant hit) OR you can immediately start charging again and give them another charge attack while they're still frozen. Of note is that when you take that second option, even though the hit from the sword will break the freeze, the explosion might just refreeze them again immediately. We're talking free kills here. So, basically the Glacius might take a little longer to kill than the Combuster, but it has a LOT of defensive use and will make things easier for you.
Of course, now we also have the shocking line of brandishes. The idea there is that you might get some defensive value if the monsters have electrical spasms and maybe even get an attack interrupted once in a while, but otherwise the value is going to come from charge-attacking very tightly packed groups where multiple monsters will get shocked, and the AoE shock from each of them will hit every other one, and if there are enough of them close enough together being shocked at once then you might just kill most of the group outright on the very first attack. Naturally, it won't be as deadly against single targets, but at that point you can just smash away with the basic combo.
As far as shocking weapons go overall, I think I'd want the shocking brandish more than the shocking vaporizer style bomb or the pulsar that I currently have, simply because heavy-pushing explosive bullets and widespread gas clouds don't lend well to an effect that's best used on tightly packed enemies. :I
One more thing about the brandishes, in particular: when you go to use the charge attack, try and hit the monsters at the very edge of the sword's reach. This will make sure that the first explosion also hits and, in the later tiers of the weapon, you can get the monster carried down the full line of explosions (unless, of course, it freezes) for maximum damage and the benefit of a good amount of distance put between you and them.
Don't get Combuster if you ever plan on taking an elemental Brandish against Vanaduke. It works fine, but you'll get no use from the charge (practically all enemies are immune) Go for Glacius if you can -- it works superbly alongside Shivermist spam. Voltedge is an okay alternative, but I prefer a Polaris for elemental damage + shock.
play this game long enough and you'll just end up with both :p *i have 6 5star swords and im working my 7th*
i say go for voltedge its a combination of glacius and combuster. Combuster has damage over time with flames and shock does that also. BUT shock damage can spread so if one enemie in a cluster has shock they will all get shock :D. And then there is the "freeze" that comes with schock so i think the volt edge is just the way to go.
i dont find any of these status effects really useful or helpful, but to me ice and shock are the funnest ones
The Glacius is generally better for solo runs because of the high rate of freeze, along with the general AoE of the charge attack. It's great for handling forward mobs and immobilizing them to take them at your own pace. Complimented with a piercing sword like the Flourish or Snarble Barb lines, it's a force to be reckoned with.
If you're in groups often though, the Combuster's great for spreading Fire status if you lack an Ash of Agni bomb user. Otherwise, it's negligible and could be replaced by the Glacius or Voltedge, since both have a hindering effect on mobility in most cases.