Hmmm.....you have the fundamental armor of a swordsman,so thats good.As for what to upgrade the ashtail to,depends on what youll be doing.Meaning Skolver=piercing so beasts and slimes,and is better in Lockdown, and Vog cub=elemental with fire protection which is mainly the most highly recommended set for Firestorm Citadel.So for the armor it comes down to which type of protection youll need the most.As for the shield,it could help if you told us what 3 star shield you have.

The archeron is an excellent shadow sword with a very spammable charge attack.And the pulsar is a very good gun.As for what to upgrade the pulsar to,lets look at both the supernove and polaris.
-Supernove is pure normal damage so its not especially good against anything but isnt weak against anything either.quite well rounded,if you will.
-Polaris is an elemental damage dealing gun.It deals shock which come in handy in alot of situations.its also amazing for gun puppies.
And yes,a sword/gun loadout is doable and is often recommended,tho full sword or full gun is possible,but perhaps not as effective.So far you've got a normal (i think) damage pulsar and shadow damage nightblade.You still need a piercing sword and an elemental sword(even if you upgrade to polaris,an elemental sword is always recommended).For elemental i recommend one of the brandish line which have a very spammable charge.i will elaborate on them.
-Combuster line is the fire brandish line.Best for damage and fire is a pretty good status.nice and damaging.plus,enemies can ride the full blast of the charge.basically,its the most damage dealing brandish line.
-Glacius line is the freeze line.Freeze is great for crowd control.got a huge mob of enemies?Freeze them in place and prepare for another charge!
-Voltedge line is the shocking line.Its a good sword line.Shock is a very useful status.unfortunately,the recipes to this sword can only be obtained by krogmo coins.so if youre going for this sword line,hope ya like lockdown or blast network!

Now for a piercing sword.In this category,youve got 4 choices:snarble barb line,(final) flourish line,rigadoon,or flamberge.
-Snarble barb line is a very good piercing sword.The charge attack is pretty unique too.overall,its one of the best piercing swords.
-Final flourish line is also a really good piercing sword.It is alot like the snarble barb line except the charge is different.overall,its right up there next to the snarble barb line.
-Rigadoon is the stunning flourish line.has same charge as final flourish line(and flamberge line for that matter).it has a bit less power in the piercing category,but has a chance to inflict stun.the normal attacks,and the charge attacks also,have about a 1 out of 10 chance to inflict stun.that may seem like a low ratio,but tha stun happens often if you use it alot.
-Flamberge line is basically like the rigadoon line except it inflicts fire.the chances to inflict the fire are the same as the rigadoons chances to inflict stun.
To decide which piercing line you want,its a matter of asking yourself "Do i want pure piercing or a bit less piercing with a small chance to inflict status?" as to decide if you want a rigadoon or flamberge(if you decide on those lines that is) its a simple preference of status.which status do you think is more useful?

Well,thats all the info i can think up out of my head.Hope this helps.

-Magnicth the Dragon Mage

I either go hybrid bomb and sword or hybrid bomb and gun, always with bomber armor because that's what I normally do my damage with. I bring a Nitronome for knockback and a Damage per second bomb appropriate to the level, which almost always ends up being the radiant sun shards because it is the all-around BEST DPS bomb if you can get the hang of getting mobs to take all 8 shards. As for swords, I usually bring two heavy swords of different damage types, primarily Divine Avenger and Gran Faust.

[[Although, as of recently, I have become infatuated with bombing and now go pure bomber with full-on mad bomber gear, a boom module, a penta-heart pendant, an appropriate shield for the area, Dark Briar Barrage, Radiant Sun Shards, Nitronome, and Voltaic Tempest. Tempest is an insanely good DPS bomb in large crowds. Ever see 24 zombies clustered together and all taking ticks of 30 shock damage over and over rapid fire? That's about 6 to 7 thousand damage per second, something no sword can do. I switch that bomb out for an Ash of Agni in freeze and shock areas.]]