i have:
cutter
blaster
wolver coat
cobalt helm
owlite shield
i focus on dodging and using the blaster to kill enemies, and if i encounter enemys who dodge gun shots or i get surrounded, i use the cutter to kill or crave a path though the enemies.
+1 to all of Bopp's comments.
That scenario you just described of being surrounded is one of the Cutter line's biggest drawbacks. They are poor at crowd control in part due to their narrow swing arc. If you are surrounded, quickly tap your shield button to shield bump your way out of it. However, if your enemies are more then one deep you will need to fight your way out (swords tend to be best for this type of spot). An enemy that is knocked back by your shield will not knockback the enemy behind them.
Take advantage of your time at the 2* level to try different gear and see what you like, because 2* gear is nice and cheap (mist crafting or AH). I pretty much tried all of the swords at the 2* level to see which ones I like. Heads up, if you think you might like heavy 2 swing swords, get your hands on a Swiftstrike Buckler (ASI High to all weapons). The Swiftstrike is a deadend, it is not upgradeable. However, in my opinion it is the best shield for T1 and a good shield for T2 (viable in T3 if you are a ninja). If you try out 2 swingers like the Sealed Sword or the Troika, ASI (attack speed increase) is highly recommended.
Also remember that you can make a little money back by selling the gear you hate back to any vender (no unbinding needed).
The wiki is your best friend:
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Shieldbearer_Guide
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Swordmaster_Guide
Heavy Sword tips----> http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/13083
bluescreen: you sure about cutter having poor crowd control? when i get surrounded i pretty much swing in all directions and they all get punched away at the cost of low damage.
EDIT: also how can you gain so much money? having problems finding items that are 3* that wont deplete my entire crown supply.
Well I guess you could say that it is just my opinion that the Cutter line is not ideal for crowd control (don't think I'm alone here though). There will always be somebody that swearers by them and says they are great even in T3. More power to them, they just seem to be a minority (possibly a highly skilled minority). I really wanted to like the my Cutter. It is super fast and devastating vs a single target. I found the charge attack somewhere between worthless and dangerous though. The charge just takes way too long, much of the time I would find that my foe died any my party left the area long before the charge sequence stopped. If you compare the arc of the swing, the cutter has one of the most narrow (maybe the most narrow?) of all the swords. Calibur and Brandish are medium across the board, medium swing arc, medium damage, medium speed. The Sealed Sword lines and Troika lines are large swing arc on swing 1 and very large on swing 2, high damage, slow speed. The Cutter line is small arc, small damage, but very fast speed. The Spur line is large arc, medium damage, fast speed (4* is weird, no 5*). Piercing swords are large arch on swing 1 & pin point on thrusts for 2 & 3, medium damage (pure though, this is significant), fast speed.
To be far I was trying out the Cutter in T1 & T2 at the same time my favorite weapon was the Calibur. The Calibur's charge is one of the strongest & very good for crowd control. I have the recipes for Dread Venom Striker, so one of these days I will craft it to see if it can fill a niche roll of speeding up JK kills, but this is a crazy low priority for me. I really think the Calibur is hands down the best sword for anybody that is only going to carry one sword. Right now I am branching out and working Boltbrand, Avenger, Silent Nightblade, and Dark Thorn Barb (really great sword) into my loadouts.
Crowns? Like I said 2* is cheap. You can buy a 2* recipe from Vital or Basil for 1000 cr, then craft it with 50 mist & 400 cr. I mostly soloed so I didn't have to split materials 4 ways (less minerals, but they are almost worthless anyway). I always use my mist every day even if I don't have time to play I sign on for a few minutes to craft and sell at AH. When I dive I pick the gate that has the most arenas at the stratum I am going to & I wait at the elevator to make sure I hit them all. I do all 3 rounds of each arena. I never pass up a danger room (or an energy gate if I know I have more mist then I will use on a given night). Oh, and I am that guy that breaks all the lamps and does all the gardening to squeeze every last crown out of every map.
One other point.
"when i get surrounded i pretty much swing in all directions and they all get punched away at the cost of low damage."
This will not hack it (bad pun not intended) in T3. Low damage in T1 or T2 is going to be crippling damage in T3. Best practice is to start trying to avoid damage altogether even at the lower tiers. You can get away with soaking a ton of damage in T1, in T2 you can get away with leaning heavily on your shield, but in T3 dodging damage altogether becomes critical.
There is currently a thread along of the lines of "how do you craft if you're F2P"? Read it for various advice. The short answer is: Plan your crafting carefully, preferentially choose lucrative parts of the Clockworks, sell items judiciously, and be patient.
Yeah, Blue is right about Tier 3 and Cutter-line swords. On Tier 3, the name of the game is not to get hit at all. Using a sword with short reach and little knockback is difficult. On some swords you overcome this by just kiting-and-charging all the time. But the Cutter-line charge attacks are insanely risky if there is more than one monster in play.
thanks for help guys, im very far from tier 3 so il use the cutter i already have for a while and see what i can do with getting a piercing sword.
Easiest & cheapest way to a piercing sword is to run Snarby ~4 times. Barbarous Thorn Blade and Final Flourish are the 2 best piercing swords and are the same except for the charge (Barb wide arc for crowds, Final massive single target hit). While your at it run him ~3 more times and grab a Bristling Buckler too. I switch between Owlite line, Snarb line, and Skelly line shields depending on the stratum ahead.
For a piercing sword, do Snarby runs. You only need 10 tokens and you can get a Snarble Barb, which becomes Barbarous Thorn Blade, the most popular 5* piercing sword.
Glowing-Ember is correct that BTB is the most popular piercing sword. But that doesn't mean that it's better than Final Flourish. Blue summarized the differences between them accurately. Search the forums for comparisons of them, to learn the details.
The quickest, easiest way to get a great piercing sword is probably to buy a Swift Flourish and upgrade it yourself to Final Flourish (unless you have spare Frumious Fangs sitting around).
The expert players, whose advice you apparently seek, think entirely in terms of 5-star equipment, because that's where it all ends up. Here's what I see when I look at your list:
So keep your shield and suit. Replace your helmet. Read the wiki page on Damage, to understand normal damage vs. the three special kinds of damage. Weapons that do normal damage are general-purpose. If you want to carry a sword and a gun (and no other weapons), then it's not crazy for them both to be normal. But consider making them distinct non-normal damage types instead. Then you can deal massive damage to 4/6 of monsters and moderate damage to the other 2/6 of monsters. If you decide to carry two swords or two guns, then neither of them should be normal. (Bombs are a little idiosyncratic, so I'll leave them out of this.)