In desperate need of new equipment - Page 1 | Questions & Help

So i'm trying to figure out how to gear my character from this point and I'm having some difficulty. I'm primarily a gunner and a mage but I have my AP spent in just about every talent.

I'm currently using a welfare attack speed set since white dragon only ever wants to give me demonic mats.

Gear:

Blunt/Dexterity - Chinese Dragon Helm
Expansive/Joy - Royal Knight Gauntlets
Musician's/Viscount - Valencia Cross-Line Plate Boots
Royal Guard's/Monster - Gamyu Wizard Robe Armor
Imp - Valencia's Cross Line Plate Armor (trying to put Special on it but getting a rank A prefix is a pain >.>)
Strider/Cowboy - Royal Knight Boots (For when I alch)
Frugal/Safe - CP Yui
Light/Avenger - DevCat Broach (r2 str 1 reforge)

Weapons: I'm currently using Recruit's/Semi Auto for all my guns for the attack speed, although I'm starting to reconsider this for my Dowra's since I don't really feel like it's needed. Also I really only use alch for life drain, sand burst and elemental wave'd shock and frozen blast so I'd like to try and figure out what cylinders would be best for that but if I had to choose I'd prefer fire alch as my main alch damage.

Recruit's/Semi-auto - Dowra SE (Max damage 4, luck 71 artisan, Red Step 5)(Dual gun min damage 2, critical 1, icebolt min damage 3 reforge)
Recruit's/67th floor - Dowra SE (Red Step 3, str 1 reforge)(I know, I cry looking at them too)
Recruit's/Semi-auto - Taunes mk 3 (Luck 37, Max Damage 34, Red Step 1)(Critical 1 reforge)
Type 2 Merlin Mana Knuckles (Red Step 6, Ice 2 reforge)(looking to put Fist and Powerful on them)
Powerful Type 1 Merlin Mana Knuckles (Blue Step 3, shadow spirit 3 reforge)
Stiff/Will o the Wisp Hermit Staff (Magic attack 27, blue Step 2- Magic attack 24 so 51 total magic attack, Lightning Bolt 12 max reforge)
Mana Needle/Trustworthy - Savage Fire Wand (chain cast 4, magic attack 8)
Stiff/Water Drop - Water Cylinder
Synergy/Magma - Volcano Cylinder (I shouldn't even use this since I don't have the ranks)
Colorful/Lifesaver - Rebis Guard Cylinder
Lich/Spike - Knight Lance
Colossus - Engraved Control Bars (I'd like to work on puppet next but I feel I need more stats to make it useful)
I've also got 2 Shadow Hunter/Spike Rainbow beams for my Final hit

Basically I'm looking at where I should go from here because outside of ranking my skills and increasing my stats from other talents (Lance is the bane of my existence) I'm at a loss. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Reference: Building Equipment

1. Choose your specialization.

2. Identify your projected investment.

How much are you willing to spend in order to reach your goals? You don't have to spend a dime to make a flawless equipment set, though that will save you a lot of time, but you will expend a lot of time. Do you shave off some of that effort by only buying pre-reforged equipment instead of utilizing set effect apparel that doesn't come pre-reforged? Determine this sooner rather than later.

3. Orient your equipment.

Set effects are awesome. If you want to knock out some key things with pre-reforged gear you'll have a bit of extra freedom in this area. Otherwise, here are some key items to build around:

Cressida
Bohemian
Languhiris/Chinese Dragon
Thames
Karis
Royal Knight Armor
Fleet Feet

The bolded items are most relevant to your interests.

- Lance users want to max their poke damage, so the Thames Set is highly recommended.
- Dual-wield users want to max out Final Hit. They have two perfectly viable options:
I - Invest in attack speed. This can be somewhat offset by enchants but the armors listed are viable.
II - Invest in mobility. RK keeps you healthy and it can be coupled with FF for added movement speed.

4. Make some weapons.

When in doubt, just remember:

Piercing > Critical Damage > Max Damage >>>>> Everything else

R6 Secret Penetrating/67th Floor's Knight Lance
- Fire/Ice/Lightning 6 level
- Smash Damage 20 level

R6 36th Floor's/56th Floor's The Absolute/48th Floor's Celtic Royal Knight Sword x2
- Fire/Ice/Lightning 3 level

"Wait a goddamn minute, those aren't out yet!" Calm your tits - they're worth the wait.

In the meantime, pick up a lance, a cheap pre-reforged highlander claymore, or some rainbow beam swords.

When making awesome equipment, R6 followed by enchants, followed by reforges. If you're scared of the sudden realization that step 6 can completely and utterly annihilate everything you're about to do, enchants > R5 > reforges.

5. Enchant some gear

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I'll save some effort here and just post my gear. The weapons are hit-or-miss but the gear is pretty top notch. Notes:

Champion is a great armor suffix.
Viscount is a great enchant. Attack speed and max damage.
Camo has a crazy roll but it's good.
Butterfly is one of your strongest footwear suffixes.
Seething is a good alternative to encore.
Check the KR test group's threads for new enchants. I've mentioned some but a few others are great.

5. Reforge some gear

Reference: Useful Reforges

[SIZE="1"]Note: Red items are target reforges, others qualify as acceptable doubles/triples
* Nothing highlighted? Unless it's your "primary talent" the item doesn't need to be reforged.
* Invest in other equipment, if at all.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="5"]---Weapons---[/SIZE]

Ranged Weapon:
Ice/Fire/Lightning
Effective Range
Support Shot Damage

Melee Weapon:
Ice/Fire/Lightning
Smash Damage

Fire Wand:
Firebolt Max Damage
Magic Attack
Casting Speed

Ice Wand:
Magic Attack
Blaze Explosion Damage
Ice Spear Max Damage

Staff:
Magic Attack
Hail Storm Max Damage
Ice Spear Max Damage
Thunder Max Damage

Cylinders:
Rain Casting Cloud Duration

Knuckles
Ice/Fire/Lightning

Instrument:
Playing Instrument Effect
Musical Knowledge Normal Performance Effect

Control Bars:
Act 7: Climactic Crash Damage Magnification

Dual Guns:
Dual Gun Maximum Damage

Shurikens:
Kunai Storm Attack Range
Shadow Bind Duration
Sakura Abyss Attack Range

[SIZE="5"]---Equipment---[/SIZE]

Head:
Charge Able to charge without shields
Crash Shot Max Fragment Range
Lance Charge Cooldown Decreased
Final Hit Cooldown Decreased
Act 6: Crisis Radius
Shock Effect Duration
Flame Burst Duration

Body:
Crash Shot Max Fragments
Blaze Explosion Radius
Rain Casting Water Cannon Damage
Final Hit Duration
Evasion Total Cooldown Limit
Assault Slash Damage
Hail Storm Range
Ice Spear Attack Radius

Gloves:
Crash Shot Fragment Damage
Magnum Shot Damage
Lance Charge Charge Damage
Blaze Damage
Chain Mastery Damage
Mana Shield Damage Reduction Rate
Ice Spear Explosion Range
Flame Burst Attack Range

Shoes:
Rain Casting Cooldown Decreased
Assault Slash Attack Distance
Clay Alchemy Efficiency
Drop Kick Damage
Shooting Rush Damage
Wind Blast Range

Accessories:
Charge Able to charge without shields
Battlefield Overture Duration
Healing HP Recovery
Attack Speed
Smash Damage
Magic Attack

Magic attack enchants are pretty lackluster so focus on max damage enchants.

Optimal dual gun damage is achieved with a Taunes MK3 and an attack speed set (via armor) though reforging for a double will be a nightmare. Dowra SE is my dual gun of choice, upgraded for extra range and magazine size. Officer's Crocodile is the ideal ES set up due to repair fee modifiers.