2 slots? the easiest combo is pierce sword + elemental gun.

Elemental gun because ranged enemies (where you are suppsoed to use it) are neutral or weak against it.
That leaves you covered against constructs and undeads.
You could upgrade the calibur, but you won't gain any advantage against any other monster family.
That's where the pierce sword comes in, with bonus against beasts and fiends.

When I started out I always carried a Fireburst Brandish (elemental sword) and either a freeze bomb or a elemental gun. Yea, that left me weak to Gremlins and Beasts, but the only real problem I had was with Alpha Wolvers. Gremlins are easy enough to dodge or cause them to cancel an attack.

If you care about "optimal" or getting to T3 Vanaduke really fast, then Bopp has some really good advice. My general advice is that for T2 and lower you can use pretty much any combination you want without a problem. Just make sure they have an upgrade path to 5* for potential future use. However, I will say not to craft a 5* item unless you know it will be useful because 800CE is a lot. I find a T2 danger room even with 2 swords and a ton of gun puppies isn't that bad if you know what you are doing.

I've gone on to add a Piercing Sword (Snarble Barb line), a volt bomb (whatever it is called), and I'm going to add a Shadow sword (probably the Acheron)

I recommend that you examine the wiki and the various guides available, and decide on which 5-star items you want, and then look back in their alchemy trees to figure out which 2-star and 3-star items get you there. For example, if you like Juances' plan (it's a good one), then your goal is
* piercing sword: Final Flourish or Barbarous Thorn Blade
* elemental gun: Nova Driver, Storm Driver, Magma Driver, Hail Driver, or Polaris
Search the forums and the various guides to decide which of these you want. For example, if you want Barbarous Thorn Blade, then you need to get a Snarble Barb, which you get by beating the Snarbolax a few times. So get started. (Note: The Polaris comes from Roarmulus tokens, which maybe you're not ready to get yet.)

Aemicus' preference for a piercing sword with an elemental sword is great. So is a piercing sword with a shadow sword. So is an elemental sword with a shadow sword. However, the original poster wants to carry a gun.

For a situation like Nordlead, the Magnus compliments very nicely with elemental swords IMO. Its powerful, minor knockback, and stuns. Works well on Wolvers, but it takes a bit of practice to get used to. Magnus can stun-lock normal Wolvers too. The Magnus is also near-impossible to dodge.

"F2P" means "free to play" --- that is, not spending any real-world money.

For a general-purpose armor set I recommend (still) Divine Veil and Skolver Coat. Or get Vog Cub Cap and Skolver Coat (or vice-versa) if you're more interested in swords. Or get Nameless Hat and Justifier Jacket (or vice-versa) if you're more into guns.

Owlite is good, or Barbarous Thorn Shield. It depends on your armor and trinkets. Also, Volcanic Plate is very good if you're doing FSC.

Yeah, a ton of difference. I can't say which one is better though, as it really depends on what your playing style is and which stratum you're playing in. You can find info about them in the two links, and decide which you want to get first, but I would suggest having a whole range of shields to really be prepared.

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Barbarous_Thorn_Shield

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Grey_Owlite_Shield

It's decent enough. But I'd suggest to stop at least on 4* on the weapons and get more alternatives.

Yes, all you need for general Clockworks play is Divine Veil, Skolver Coat, Grey Owlite Shield, Final Flourish, and Magma Driver. You have to get the helmet all the way to 5-star, before you get the protection you want. (I mean, the 4-star version is very different.)

What Juances is suggesting is that you get the rest of the items to 4-star, which is almost as good as 5-star, and then re-evaluate your plan. That is, try some other swords and guns (and bombs), to see what you've been missing. Most of the cost in making a 5-star item comes in the final upgrade from 4-star to 5-star. So explore some other equipment, before you make the costly push to 5-star.

For example, in general you're going to want to own a shadow weapon, particularly for the Royal Jelly Palace. (Even if you carry only two weapons at a time, it's a good idea to own a piercing weapon, an elemental weapon, and a shadow weapon.) So maybe you'll want to get a Nightblade in there.

Final Flourish, Combuster, Acheron is a great setup. The only reason I didn't suggest such a setup earlier is that you said that you wanted a gun.

Edit: If you still want a gun, and you still want to play with just two weapon slots, then get Final Flourish (or BTB), Magma Driver (or any elemental gun), and Acheron (or Gran Faust). Carry your gun and one of the swords, depending on whether piercing or shadow seems more useful.

I address the general question "Which should I upgrade first?" at the end of my general equipment guide. The short answer is that it usually doesn't matter much.

For me to give you more specific advice, you'll have to remind me exactly which items you're currently thinking of upgrading. We've discussed so many versions of your loadout that I don't understand what you're doing anymore.

When you say that piercing is more important than shadow, you mean in weapons? Yes, that's probably true in general. But you will want a shadow weapon, for the levels that really call for it. The most popular example would be the Royal Jelly Palace.

And also, maybe u shudder get a voltedge instead of combuster? IMO its a lot better

Kmlyakuza, you keep asking which item to upgrade first, but we don't know which items you're even considering at this point. So please list all of the items that you plan to upgrade, and then we can tell you what to upgrade first.

your equipment seems to be weak for an FSC (5* boss) Run.
Here's the equipment i bring for FSC, you might use it too
~Vog cub coat
~Vog cub cap
~Grey owlite shield
~Avenger / Glacius (You cant burn enemies with combuster on FSC)
~And Polaris (The best elemental gun in my opinion)

Also, if you like to use sword, get Barbarous Thorn blade, it's bad for FSC but good for everywhere else.
It gives bonus sword damage

If you are going with one sword and one gun, I recommend using Nova Driver (Prismatech line). If you have to rely on your gun to kill slimes (which are resistant to the Flourish's piercing damage), you want a neutral element Alchemer else you'll set Oilers on fire or shock Quicksilvers.

@Frederick: Polaris is best at killing turrets, but overall best probably goes to Nova or Storm driver. However, if killing turrets is the main thing you use your gun for, then it is the best choice. The Polaris has terrible DPS against non-turrets because it knocks enemies out of range; worse, it reduces the team's overall DPS because you make it harder for swordsmen to stay on target.

personally, i think u just started this game, and i think u should be using wiki more and play the game more instead of askin worthless quetions
to Bopp.
@Bopp
hey bro, he is hopeless. admit it. u r the best advisor i know, and even tho u explain answers to his questions really good,
he still does not shuts up. so let him play the game more than aakin stupid questions to u.
dont waste ur time. again i honestly think u r the advisor and the most experianced... really. i wish i could be like u. but dont waste ur time on this.

From ur good friend,
Thor

The OP said "What about the gunner set that I asked before?"

Bopp said "* piercing: Callahan, Blitz Needle, or Plague Needle
* elemental: Nova Driver, Storm Driver, Magma Driver, Hail Driver, or Polaris
* shadow: Umbra Driver or Biohazard"

The issue with giving all of the possibilities of guns is that not all of the guns are very great for all situations. Polaris is great useful on gun puppies and FSC as well as dark cities / devilite levels, but very annoying in groups and mostly used in solo. Its damage to groups of mobs is very low as opposed to an alchemer. because it shocks, it can completely fail to knock back a mob, which can soon mean it moving up and into the safety (area where polaris bullets do not expand). The slow moving bullets and safety makes the polaris hard to use for every situation.

As for piercing guns, you are limited to the callahan. The needle lines make you immobile for a very long time, and that is the opposite of what you want against things that dodge, as they tend to be quick to attack / throw a chair at you. The needle also makes them rapidly dodge or burrow - chances are you will only get a few small hits of the fan of bullets of a needle. Blitz needle is pretty much only to be used in FSC or graveyards / used on menders. You want to take a Callahan because you can quickly shield after shooting it regardless of being immobile. Because more bullets make dodgers rapidly dodge and you might only get a single bullet off anyway, you want that bullet to count. And that one good bullet is a bullet from a 2-shot damage-packed Callahan. Not to mention it stuns and knocks down a lot of dodgers, allowing you to spam shots at it regardless in lower tiers, making it much more effective in lower tiers if thats what you are looking at. Callahan can also, tier 2 and 3, knock down gremlins with every single shot (except in 4 player groups in tier 3).

For shadow guns, you have a bigger option. Biohazard to excel on slimes, or take umbra driver for better area effect damage (even better than biohazard charge attacks because of split bullets) and umbra has its uses on gremlins, whereas the biohazard is very slow and a pain to use on gremlins. Biohazard is definately more fun though.

Also, if you are only using two weapons, if you are to take the piercing blade / elemental gun option, make sure you do not take a firotech / voltech alchemer because you will have a very hard time taking down quicksilvers / oilers. I would suggest a cryo / prismatech. Cryo can only re-freeze the freeze cubes, not heal them.