All you really need/want for FSC is some fire resist, because almost everything in FSC can set you on fire with some type of attack. You can even go without that, but I really wouldn't recommend it unless you already have experience with the zone. Most people use Vog Cub for the sword speed bonus that it provides along with its defense/fr.

FSC is not a very gun friendly zone, not counting the boss. There are a lot of arena-type rooms that are packed to the hilt with zombies/trojans and traps, leaving very little room for you to move around. You can certainly do it, just be aware that you'll be fighting in close quarters (practically sword range) in many rooms. There's also no reason why you should bring a shadow weapon into FSC; almost everything you fight will be undead and resistant.

Regarding the grey feather set: the only time you'll ever get stunned in this game is if a big mob manages to hit you. In FSC there are a lot of Trojans and of course Vanaduke himself; both will stun you if they land a hit. It's usually not a big deal, but if you have negative stun resist you'd probably be looking at 10+ seconds of recovery time.

It kind of sounds like you're looking for a concrete answer so you know exactly what to get for armor. Here's your answer: in T3, every time you get hit it's going to take 5+ bars of health. Your armor just doesn't matter that much, because if you get hit as much in T3 as you do in T2, you're going to die a lot. Your best bet is to get armor that boosts your attack speed/damage, and for FSC that armor should have fire resist as well.

I've never had shadow defense and I've never had an issue in FSC. Zombies are the only thing that do shadow damage and their damage is 50/50 normal/shadow, not to mention that they're incredibly slow and you have to screw up pretty bad to actually get hit by them.

the only time you'll ever get stunned in this game is if a big mob manages to hit you.

Well, I'm not sure I would call devilites "big", but in the FSC, doesn't the roof falling down stun you also? Sure, you are supposed to dodge to some non-orange spot on the floor, but the thrown room isn't some place you really want to slowly walk around dazed in.

Well, I'm not sure I would call devilites "big", but in the FSC, doesn't the roof falling down stun you also? Sure, you are supposed to dodge to some non-orange spot on the floor, but the thrown room isn't some place you really want to slowly walk around dazed in.

I can't say I recall devilites ever stunning me, and I've been doing the T3 fiend stratum before FSC this week. I also don't remember the roof stunning me on Vanaduke, although it's been a while since I've actually been hit by that.

Get a Crown of the Fallen with MAX shadow resist and a Divine Mantle with MAX Elemental resist, then get some fire and freeze trinkets from Brinks. With your weapons, Get a DA with either Damage vs Undead V. High or no UV at all. Same with a Argent Peacemaker. Finally, get a shivermist buster with some type of CTR. (Heat levels would work). Lastly, for your shield, get a Volcanic Plate Shield with some type of Shadow or Fire resist.

Fire resistance is the big thing because the only end-game content is a fire boss in a fire dungeon. If they ever release another T3 boss using a different element, things will change.

Using an armor piece without any normal defense can be okay, just don't plan on doing so until T3. In T3, most monsters will deal pure elemental/shadow/piercing. You'll still run into a lot of normal damage as well, but often that damage will be split 50/50 with elemental or shadow so having either of those defenses instead of normal makes it a wash.

People put defense values something like: normal > elemental > shadow > piercing

The reasoning for this is fairly simple:
1. Most of the monsters you fight can do some type of normal damage attack. In addition, most of the most damaging attacks (trojan/lumber strikes and vanaduke) are normal damage.
2. Fire and a majority of projectiles are elemental damage. Again, this relates back to a fire dungeon being the only end-game content.
3. One of the primary shadow monsters you'll fight is zombies, which are slow and easy to dodge. People tend to avoid devilite levels altogether because they're a serious PITA in T2/3.
4. All monsters with piercing attacks are easy to dodge.

Now, the value of defense obviously changes depending on what you're doing. If you're only doing JK runs, piercing defense becomes #2 on the list. However, if you're trying to build an all-around set, those are the reasons why people gear like they do.