I already have a Divine Avenger and planning to upgrade my Grand Flourish and Silent Nightblade. Would it be pointless for me to get a Leviathan now since I can just switch off swords to fit the situation?
Also, what should order should I upgrade my armour, helmet, and shield? I'm planning to upgrade to both pieces Vog and a Grey Owlite. I did my first FSC run today and didn't think it was all that hard but I definitely would have contributed more with above upgrades.
Only because Leviathan was the first 5* blade I made and have used ever since. It's very useful considering that it's a good multipurpose weapon. Or you could also consider making Cold Iron Vanquisher. It's an alternative to Leviathan in just that it is weaker and it has the nice damage bonus against the undead, which is useful in Firestorm Citadel.
As for your second question: weapons first, shield second, and armor last, just like Krysophylax said.
Leviathan (and especially its little brother CIV) have one good feature: If you can land the charge attack three times on a target, then you can do huge damage. And it's good against Vanaduke's mask phase. But if you are invested in swords, to the point where you have your piercing, elemental, and shadow swords all set up, then you will find yourself using Leviathan...almost never.
It's one of the best general purpose swords, and one of the easiest to obtain.
That being said, for the endgame, IMO, it's a pretty good 3-strike sword and it does pretty good damage.
I still use my Levi/Avenger/Faust alternately. I can't really speak much for the 5* swords.
While I like my levi, it sees limited uses. Mostly it is when I am in gunslinger mode with 3 guns.
But with 3 damage type swords, you will hardly equip the levi on a "this is key to pass this stratum" basis. If anything, it's just for fun, variation, or because you're heating a weaker sword, like a sealed sword.
At current CE prices of 6.1K/100CE, the cost to make a levi including recipe costs is 6.2K CE. (I have a spreadsheet)
I honestly don't think you'll get enough use out if it to justify the cost. You're better off crafting other things first (different shields, like a barbarous thorn shield, or a skolver set for pvp etc.)
If you are staying with only swords, at least 2 of 2 different damage type, no, leviathan wouldn't be a good investment. Yes, it does bonus damage on Vanaduke mask phase, but that can be done with DA, it's not the hardest part of the fight.
Else, if you intend, sometime, to run only 1 sword (because you do gunning/bombing), you should get a Leviathan to be your only equiped sword.
For danger rooms and arenas with creatures from multiple families, I'll take a leviathan blade over the other normal damage blades any day. Not only does the charge attack hit everyone around you in a 360 degree arc (and I can't think of another melee weapon that does that other than maybe the mountain blades), but the uncharged attacks are just the right speed and damage to interrupt enemy attacks quite nicely.
I too will take a Leviathan Blade over the other normal damage blades any day. But my point (and Fradow's and Sypsy's, I think) is that I simply won't take a normal damage blade at all.
The thing about Leviathans is that they're, by design, middle-of-the-road swords; they're unexceptional, but reliable and versatile. These days I mostly only bring mine along if I'm heating a new weapon, because its pure-Normal damage output means that I won't be in particular trouble versus any one group - the flipside, of course, being that I'm at no particular advantage, either.
I think it's probably worth getting one eventually, but since you've already got two damage types covered with your sword loadout, it's far from necessary. If you're planning on acquiring a lot of different weapons, definitely pick one up as a backup for when you're levelling new toys.
Levi is a great sword...
When you are only planning on having one sword, Definatly a bombers or gunslingers best sidearm. Also posibly in Mikalmirkas case were he has two slow swords and the levi, as sometimes you need a faster sword, but he would likely be better served with a flurish or barb, or switching one of his slow swords to a med/fast sword.
You also have to be carefull with the levi, its charge attack has huge amounts of knockback, in 360 degrees, which more often than not tends to throw monsters at teamates. Which is one of the resons i prefer the brandish line swords, their knockback is only in one direction, making it much easier to controll were monsters go in the heat of battle.
If you are planing on having more than one sword in your line up, you will be better served with two different special damage swords.
All Weapons are great, but it's just need to see whether which weapon u like the most, like me, i like many weapons, like Combuster, Levi, DA....There's no 1 weapon is 100 % excellent, like Divine Avenger as we called DA, it's cause a good damage but it's slow....or Leviathan Blade, although it's average but it doesn't hav elemental damage... so you all can't argue which weapon is the best, but u will fail if u equip the wrong weapon at arena or fightning boss .... do u have ever saw a "knight" took a gun to fight the wolves? although there's someone really use gun to fight the wolves, but he/she can't defeat the wolves at all....
I found that i would use my 4* ascended calibur regularly even when i had acheron, and DA. It's charge attack is flat out good. More to the point, the levi charge attack fills a niche that differs from any GF, DA, and Brandish line.
For example: Any time an enemy is pinned to the wall levi charge=3 hits. Vs gunpuppis levi=3 hits. When soloing arenas levi charge is a pseudo force field.
Long story short. View the levi in terms of how it's charge attack will function into your gameplay. Do not view it in how it's attack damage type will figure into your gameplay. Level a tempered calibur into ascended and the level the ascended calibur. You will know whether or not it suits your playstyle well before you get to ascended calibur lvl 10.
IMO it's charge attack is a great addition to any arsenal.
P.S. i was ready to hate the levi, as it i had an Acheron ctr vh, and DA ctr vh. i wanted to hate the levi. But the 4* ascended calibur won me over :)
Good point, the Calibur line's charge attacks are the business, particularly in Arenas.
It can work if you are solo, but prefering to party, I learned to hate Levi charge attack. It throws monsters everywhere, reducing overall party dps and have a high potential of hurting teamates. And even before hating this charge attack, I never thought it was worth it to sacrifice a weapon slot for a charge attack.
Another grief I have against Levi charge attack is that it needs you to be surrounded to be fully effective. But you shouldn't be surrounded in the first place. A good usage of Levi charge attack (meaning party friendly) greatly reduce the potential damage you can do with it.
In the end, it can be an option for soloing, but don't do it in a party. And you should seriously considering bringing another more useful weapon instead of Levi. Polaris do great against cornered mobs and puppies, and VT/AoA bomb do great in arenas, without annoying your party.
The only place you would probably consistently use a Levi would be FSC. People use it for the fight against Vanaduke because the mask phase resists everything but normal damage. And the general consensus is to upgrade weapons first, then shield, then armour / helm because armour is really just the last line of defense. You should focus on dodging and using the shield when you can't avoid the hit.