The DA/BTB/Polaris combo is very good in T3. Without any shadow dmg, the only enemies you would be dealing normal dmg to would be Slime and Gremlins. Slime can be taken out easily by DA/Polaris, so no problem there. Gremlins can be taken out by BTB, but takes some practice to do, since thwackers mobs tend to combo you/stun you when you get close to them, and it is easier if you had a Gran Faust (knock them back) or Acheron (attack them from a distance using the charge attack). But spamming the BTB charge also works, just a bit slower.

Without ASI med, you would put yourself at a disadvantage/risk when using DA. Shield Canceling without ASI is pretty slow, which im sure you have experienced already, and may get you hit. However, the disadvantage is not that significant, but I would definitely recommend you to get 1 piece of Vog just to be safe.

I was in the same position as you a long time ago, and this is what I did:

1. Ascended Calibur -> Leviathan Blade
2. KW Pulsar -> GW Pulsar
3. Ashtail Coat -> Vog Cub Coat
4. Sealed Sword -> Avenger
5. Ashtail Cap -> Vog Cub Cap

Using my T3 entry loadout (Ashtail set, Ascended Calibur, GW pulsar), I was able to solo FSC from D24-27 without any deaths pretty effectively (took around 40 min)

I put FSC farming as a priority when I was upgrading my gears, because once I can farm FSC, the rest of the gears can come faster.

Levi blade is very good for soloing, and I use it often in T3, even when I have all other dmg tpyes. Normal dmg does not equal bad. Plus, the charge decimates mobs when you are soloing. In parties, you have to be careful so that you dont fling stuff across the map at your team mates.

Payout of FSC (D24-28) is between 10-11kCR. This is because pre-Vana levels (D24-27) offers between 7-8kCR, and vanaduke himself, offers you 3kCR (if you use 30 tokens to get Ancient Plate items, and then sell them to vendors, you get 30kcr per piece, which equals 1cr per token. you generally get 3 tokens if you have played at least 3 previous levels (D25-D27))+ boxes at the end.

FSC=Firestorm Citadel, all the levels between D24 to D28 at its appropriate gate. FSC includes Vanaduke
Vana = Lord Vanaduke, the final boss of FSC

If people say "oh lets farm vana", then they mean lets do FSC from D24/25-28
If people say"Oh, lets farm FSC", then it may mean farm pre-vana levels (D24-27, boss excluded) OR do the entire FSC (D24-28, boss included)

not really the same, but not that different either. Depends on the person saying it.

If you want, you can add me ingame (Alynn) and I can take you there on regular basis

Also, it may interest you that my highest FSC payout was 259Kcr (got a Scary Skelly Suit AND a Graviton Vortex during 1 single run :D )

Get FSC friendly gear first. So one piece of armor upgraded to vog and an elemental sword, then either blitz or shiver. I'd upgrade shield next, but after that, it doesn't really matter.

A normal sword is helpful for FSC, but not really useful anywhere else.

Having pure vog is kinda depressing. I would suggest upgrading the other piece of armor to snarby if you're able. Kats/devilites are the only enemies that pose any real threat, so it's a good idea for general pve too.

Shivermist is mostly garbage. Almost always a bad idea in general clockworks. In FSC it is useful for freeze-locking vana and slag guards, and placed once before stepping on most party buttons. Vortex does a better job for the latter though.

Sorry; I didn't understand that you just wanted to know what to upgrade first. Here's what I'd say:

* sealed sword: upgrade this to DA soon, to handle undead and constructs, particularly for FSC
* snarble barb: upgrade this soon, to handle fiends and beasts
* nightblade: upgrade this slightly later, to handle gremlins and slimes
* calibur: never upgrade this (normal damage)

* pulsar: upgrade to Polaris, or upgrade Antigua to Argent
* antigua: if you have Polaris, then upgrade this to Sentenza
* cryotech alchemer: don't upgrade any time soon (some people like Hail Driver, but I find it hard to use)
* blaster: don't upgrade this any time soon (normal damage)

* freezing atomizer: Shivermist is extremely useful in last two fights of FSC; otherwise, use sparingly

I didnt recommend him a normal sword, normal gun setup. I recommended a normal sword, elemental gun setup. With your setup, a piercing sword, he is going toh ave a hard time with slimes and constructs, which he will need to spam ploaris for. I want people to avoid spamming polaris as much as possible, you now why, and having a normal sword helps. Levi is definitely NOT a bad weapon, and you can take on fiends with it, not that hard. Normal sword is needed if you only have 2 slots and 1 of them is a polaris.

One suggestion. Ditch the barb and pick up a flourish. Not that the flourish is better, but you can buy the recipes for flourish in hall of heroes, which saves time or money.

About the snarby armor, while fire resistance is more important than shadow defense, elemental defense is almost useless in FSC. That and damage bonuses are always more desirable than attack speed increases. But if you aren't planning on doing sl's, full vog works fine.

The fire traps in FSC do elemental damage, and then inflict fire status, which goes on to do the special fire damage. Also, it appears that the fireballs in the Vanaduke mask phases do elemental damage. So elemental defense is definitely not useless in FSC.

I agree that damage bonuses are usually more valuable than attack speed bonuses, but I don't agree that they're always more valuable. Attack speed can help you shield and dodge rapidly, so it's good for defense, which is helpful to a novice. Furthermore, if the original poster is just starting to work on FSC, then he's probably not ready to do a Shadow Lair, so the merits of Snarbolax armor are probably not relevant.

Edit: Fradow beat me, and I agree with him. Like him, I prefer Vog Cub over Snarbolax armor in FSC.

I said almost useless. The only exception is the mask's bullets. Zombies are easy, but mobs of them are still more dangerous than immobile hazards and flamethrowers.

But just to make sure we're on the same page, I was suggesting a Vog/Snarby hybrid. I myself use either Mask/Shadowsun or Volcanic Demo/Snarby.

ASI makes heavy swords easier/safer to use, but I still think ~14% more damage is better than being ~8% faster. Also, I only know a couple decent players who still use heavy swords. Once the OP gets better he will probably switch to a Brandish as most do, so I wouldn't suggest investing early on in trinkets and armor intended to support it.

Snarby is not an option. He doesnt have T3 clearance yet, and SL for him is too hard/expensive.

I believe there was an old thread that proves ASI give you more DPS, AND makes swords safer. Too lazy to dig it up right now, but will look for it later.

Fire protection in FSC for FSC beginners is a must. With Fire protection, fire hazards become a minor inconvenience. Without fire protection, it becomes a major set back.