Some more detailed answers :

1) the charge attack can curse you. Both your second swing and your charge attack can curse enemies, but the charge attack have a much higher chance. Note that curse is not a death sentence for you if you have 3 or 4 weapon slots : only 2 weapon will be cursed.

2) No, unless you are a gunner. Magnus is a disappointing weapon compared to piercing swords, which are considered by many as the most OP weapons in the game (too bad you can't use them on everything). Magnus as a bad DPS and root you in place for a short amount of time when you shoot. The Blitz Needle is a bad recommendation too : Blitz is very hard to use. That gun seems to be tailored for FSC. For the rest, a piercing sword is way easier.

3) Yes, you may want to check the wiki. Each low is equal to 1 (medium is 2), and that stacks up to 6 (Maximum).

4) Nothing you can do except change US <-> EU. Note that Graphics to low doesn't reduce your lag but improve your FPS. If you mean your FPS are too low, that's another problem.

5) There is no "server". There are dedicated instances of Haven, and you can choose between US and EU when doing a run, that's all. There is no Haven known for boss run. The only thing like that is Haven 1 which is the most used for trading.

6) No real guide, but there are a lot of discussions on the loadout you should bring on Arsenal sub-forum. When you reach the end, there is always 1 crafting mat for 1 part for each person in the party. You need to have the rest before you start shadow Lair.

7) No, if you have a win/loss ratio of 50/50 you will loose money. Even if you are good, chances are you will not be able to win every single fight.

8) Yes, and it does change immediatly. Note that more health is not doubling their health for each person.

Additional questions : yes, Argent Peacemaker and Sentenza are bad due to split damage type. It is supposed to be changed soon, but we don't know when. I wouldn't do either before that change. On the other hands, Alchemers ARE good.

Also consider the problems that arise from status effects of certain monsters. Freeze effects re-freeze ice jellies that had been defrosted. Shock will shock quicksilvers and supercharge them.

And as a heavy sword user, I depend heavily on knockback. Fighting frozen jellies with a faust and not being able to fling a group away with a second hit is really painful. I don't mind, I can always switch weapons to something safer. This cannot be applied to everyone though. I prefer my enemies to be shocked, and unable to retaliate most of the time.

Shield cancel is safer than throwing out a second hit, since it will not hit every monster. Go ahead and combo if you're sure you can hit them all, or if you don't mind being hit in exchange of dmg

Lockdown is profitable but not because of the crown payout, it's profitable because you can sell the mod calibrators and enamorocks that you get from the krogmo coins. You will probably end up losing crowns from the entry fee but in my experience if you have about 3000-4000 when you start (which is not very much at all) you can pretty much play forever without running out of crowns for the entry fee, then you trade in all those krogmo coins and sell enamorocks (approximately 1-2.5k cr depending on the day) or mod calibrators (about 10-20k cr depending on the day).

1. Does Faust/Gran Faust's normal attacks self-curse?
No

2. Should I get Magnus?
I as a gunslinger use it quite a lot. If you aren't going pure guns (Which you aren't), then it isn't something you need to have right now. It's good to have because it practically is impossible to dodge it, however it's damage is low and its rate of fire is less than impressive. It's primary use now is against Alpha Wolvers, because I dislike getting close to them.

3. Do weapon bonuses stack?
Yes, to a degree. Each bonus is represented by a number. Low is 1, Medium is 2, High is 3, Very High is 4, Ultra is 5, and Maximum is 6. Said number cannot exceed 6 (Maximum). All bonuses will add together, but the number will never be higher than 6. For example, if you have a Snarby Cap (+dam medium), Snarby Coat (+dam medium), a Barbarous Thorn Shield (+dam medium), then that totals up to 6, and thus your swords have +dam maximum. However, if you got a sword trinket that gave +dam medium too, your swords will still only have +dam maximum.

4. Lag reduction?
I go to Task Manager -> Processes. Then, find Java, and set priority to high. It (for me) reduces the number of those "Wait, why is he walking through a wall!" moments.

5. Is there a server that's popular for boss runs?
I have never had a problem with a server with no one who wanted to do a boss run. Most of the time you can just Join a Party.

6. Is there a guide on the Shadow Lair?
Not that I know of. Its best to ask people in game who have done Shadow Lairs. I got most of my questions answered from a Guildmate who is about 3 pieces short of every Shadow Lair item.

7. Is the Lockdown a good source of profit?
No it isn't, but its a nice way to kill half an hour. The best way to make a profit through it is to sell stuff like Mod Caliburs and Enamorocks. If you aren't a drag to your team, you will win about half the time. When you loose, you loose 200 crowns and get 1 krogmo token, when you win, you gain about 80 (entrance fee is 200) and get 2 krogmo tokens. On average, that is about a loss of 60 crowns per game, and 1.5 Krogmo tokens. *does some math*. Mod Calibrators gives you more crowns per token, but its still about a net loss for the entrance fees.

8. Monsters get more health with more party members right?
Yes

I'm trawling through the posts in alot of sections on my phone when I have free time.

Normal damage guns are not preferred, for several reasons. Special damage guns are all special. Not split normal like swords. This ensures maximum damage against your targets. The normal damage guns have little to no special effects. Normal pulsars have the same exploding bullets as polaris. The drawback is that by nature of exploding bright bullets, it is generally used by swordsmen on stationary targets. Such targets are of three type. Jelly, construct, and zombie. 2 of such turrets are weak to elemental, and jelly is neutral. So polaris is preferred.

The blaster line is not bad, it is pretty decent. The main point of it is the knockback per shot, and the fact that you can shoot at a turret, then turn to peg something else without taking a fifth of a second switching weapons.

I might've missed some other normal guns, but these two are the ones I've seen mentioned/used. I won't comment on an iron slug, as it is not a suitable sidearm for a swordsmen.

The two easiest to get would be iceburst and combuster. In terms of goals, fsc is probably one of them. Thus, combuster is ruled out. That leaves glacius, decent enough in damage as long as it doesn't freeze. These days, charging a brandish means trying to mow the field of monsters, thus glacius is less effective.

Best brandish, if we look at the above points, would than have to be voltedge. It shocks, and thus provides damage, and as it is shocking, the monster cannot move. Combination of cc and damage.

Some says it suffers from the same problem as the glacius, the shock not letting it ride the full wave. But the shock is not active all the time. Only when it is shocked are they impervious to any movement. See nicoyas video on youtube. The skellies seem to have no trouble surfing on his voltedge.

It is, however, around 300 coins to get. Assuming each game is a loss, 60k crowns to get it. More likely, you will win a fourth of your games. That pays for itself, gives u some extra cr, and nets you twice the tokens. So realistically, something around 40k to 50k crowns.

To maximize fire damage, you have to change targets to light them up. Fire does not deal aoe damage, as opposed to shock. This means more enemies alive, but all at a lower health.

Freeze can be good if theres few enemies out on the field. This allows you to safely and quickly prepare another attack. Works well for high hp targets, trojans and the such. Freeze is counter intuitive in a circle kite strategy though. When they unfreeze, they'll be behind you and forces you to deal with them.

Mecha knight shields seem to only shield the front. The explosion could possibly hit them from behind, but throw them behind you.

Shield canceling with heavy sword is easy. The moment you start swinging, press the shield key and hold it. With faster swords, it gets difficult. The shield has to be pressed the moment the game recognizes your second attack being clicked. This 2nd click is somtime near the end of your first animation. The 2nd hit of FF/BTB is so fast, its easy to get into the third hit.

Practice practice practice.

bombs fail until 4*

Canceling does cut down animation time for every swing in the combo but the last. Sure, holding the shield cuts into the time you've saved, but that's infinitely better than having to recover from a swing that has nothing left. You can also tap the shield key, during the time that another attack click would send you into another swing. Lets you pop your shield and get on moving. I tend to hold my shield key for a brief moment to assure the shield does come up.

For bombs on mecha shields, you have understand that bomb damage is not instantaneous in a aoe region. It spreads, akin to status bomb animations. So if it spread into the shield, they will not take the damage. This is most noticeable with trojans. They have a front shield that blocks just about everything. With a bomb, one can drop it, run and turn the trojan's back at the center of the radius, and watch him take damage. Unless you are in a group, don't let mechas get within swinging range of you. Picking them off with brandish charges is slow, but viable, as long as you don't rush and scatter the group too many times.

I'm not trying to put odin down, or claim him less knowledgeable, but consider your sources for information, tips, and tricks. He did ask how to shield in LD and why he can't go back to playing T2 LD.

It let me wonder why u always lag when enter arena skill :P..strange huh?>.<..
@nubskills hm..ASI buff all weapon and gun speed except bomb..which need ctr..

Is that weapon loadout intended for pvp? The blitz will not be useful, as it basically inflicts freeze on yourself for a moment. The antigua line, due to their fast firing shots, are used to poke at enemies to interrupt charges and slow movement.

If that loadout is for basic clockworks, thats a nice set. But as fradow said, the split special makes it deal low damage. AP is viable in fsc, where you can circle kite the skellies to death.

Calla for a pure gunner's piercing damage. Note, pure gunners who refuse to use swords. Or blitz, if you are good enough. Polaris for main elmental damage? You should know the drawbacks of such a gun by searching the forums. Sentenza is not effetive shadow damage. Umbra driver, the shadow alchemer, and maybe even the catalyzer series, is better.

Perhap you already have the achievement?

Its more of an interruption+knockback. Not truly a knockdown, although the effects are almost the same.

Get another sealed sword, as it is useful in T2 LD, or so my friend says. But it isn't a required weapon, less so after the brandish buff. If you find that you have a huge amount of jelly gems, go ahead and get one for the sake of having. Otherwise buy the 3* equips and vendor for crowns.

Heavy swords are extremely effective, in the way that it takes one swing for knockback and high damage. 3 swings take multiple hits to do high damage and push enemies. Shield canceling is a standard way of overcoming recovery time.

Did I tell you about the dragging capability of the heavy swords? Hit a button for your first swing, hold it, chase after the enemy, and let go for the second swing. One can usually walk a tile and a half, although lag and reaction times affect this. This lets you chase after enemy for a full combo, without trying to nick them and whiffing. Note that this tactic works with all weapons, holding any swing that is not the last and releasing it again.

I hear that shields have no effect in LD... but I have no real idea.

Swiftstrike as a shield has terrible defence. As a 3* it is extremely useful with the asi. Go ahead and use it for stratums you know you can breeze through easy, without having to tank too many hits. Have you tried tanking a lumber hit with it? I find those can't be dodged and needed to be shielded at times.

I myself don't use a swift strike. Wth both avenger and faust, I have enough practice with shield cancelling and delayed 2nd strike to carry me through RJP levels easily. For T3, swiftstrike will break fast. And asi would not be a huge help there, as it is mostly dodging and some shielding. Not much in the way of full combos.

Derp, didn't read the part about upgrading.

You already have a faust, so the next weapon from sealed would be avenger. But you already have a iceburst. I don't use brandish lines, so I don't know what * that is. If it's a 3*, upgrade it to 4 instead of getting avenger. If it is already a 4*, consider your reasons for getting avenger.

Is it to counter the mecha knights body blocking u into a corner? Or are you going to use it for elemental dps? Because you already have elemental dps in your iceburst.

My avenger carried me through my first fsc solo, the third time I entered that glorious hell hole. The charges seem to be about the same, with brandish potentially doing more because of the number of explosions. Again, preference for what you believe you should have/want.