Best Sneaking/stealing/kidnap/knock out gear. +best defense gear?

[Kushetta]

Hi i have a few questions.

I have a couple dedicated "hive" sneak/stealing units and was wondering what is the best stealing/sneaking gear for hiver. Im using asssasin rags, ninja pants, swamp ninja mask and thievers bag.
Would that be the best gear i could find "almost vanilla play"?

Nest would be whats the best defense gear for my heavy hitter units ones that i simply dont train anything on them besides combat related swords / poles / sabers / etc? would it be full Sam gear "chest, plate and helm?" i do have some other gear thats almost the same just diff stats, also some worth more than sam gear but almost same or lesser stats?
Thanks!

[Haethei]

The Ninja Mask doesn't apply the 1.10x stealth bonus due to a bug in the FCS. I suggest the Swamp Ninja Mask or the Basket Hat. The other items for the stealth build are perfect. If you just want to steal items, the Ninja Rags have 1.30x stealth while the Assassin Rags have only 1.10x stealth, but I usually just use the assassin rags because you don't really need a super high stealth skill and the other stats are better

For the combat build, I suggest Crab Helmet + Crab Armour + Leather Turtleneck + Samurai Legplates + Wooden Sandals. You don't need boots because the leg armor protects your feet anyway, and the stats from Wooden Sandals are really useful. The Samurai Legplates are much better than the Crab Trousers. You can find the crab armour at the crab raiders' main base in the southeast of the map, check on the wiki if you want an exact location. I suggest getting the blueprints and crafting your own high quality/specialist crab armour

Until you get the crab armour, I recommend Samurai Armour or White Plate Jacket + Masked Helmet, or the Police Helmet if you want some Duststorm protection

If you want to train your stats, I suggest swapping the helmet for Tin Can so you get -5 Melee attack. For martial artists, try the full Crab set or Samurai set. And remember to equip your Large Backpack

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

For a tanky heavy hitter with crab armour you will want weapons that don't benefit as much from dex (e.g. blunt weapons, fragment axe, plank), for a less tanky but without a dex penalty you go full samurai aside from the boots.

Stealth assassins want assassin rags, probably also want to be good at martial arts as the rag offer only bonuses there too. For regular thieves or kidnappers (once target is KO) the regular ninja rags a better for countering the penalty for carrying someone or being over encumbered and for training the newbies. Give non hivers dark leather shirts for the extra bonus to stealth if you are using any.

[Haethei]

Originally posted by Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia:

For a tanky heavy hitter with crab armour you will want weapons that don't benefit as much from dex (e.g. blunt weapons, fragment axe, plank), for a less tanky but without a dex penalty you go full samurai aside from the boots.

Stealth assassins want assassin rags, probably also want to be good at martial arts as the rag offer only bonuses there too. For regular thieves or kidnappers (once target is KO) the regular ninja rags a better for countering the penalty for carrying someone or being over encumbered and for training the newbies. Give non hivers dark leather shirts for the extra bonus to stealth if you are using any.

Just keep in mind the Fragment Axe requires an insane 116 strength to wield effectively, so you need to have 80+ strength with two Masterwork Industrial Lifter Arms equipped. The Plank or Falling Sun are a lot more build-friendly, even with the dex penalty.

I really like the Mercenary Club in my backup weapon slot for indoors. Super good at killing those annoying spider bots in ancient ruins.

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

That is assuming you go for an edgewalker fragment axe, Skeleton Smith Axes still hit really hard and don't need 100+ strength. Still if you are minmaxing then you would be augmenting those flimsy flesh bags (or baseline skeletons) with superior mechanical parts if possible.

[Haethei]

Originally posted by Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia:

That is assuming you go for an edgewalker fragment axe, Skeleton Smith Axes still hit really hard and don't need 100+ strength. Still if you are minmaxing then you would be augmenting those flimsy flesh bags (or baseline skeletons) with superior mechanical parts if possible.

Yeah I guess the skeleton III fragment axe is better than I thought, it feels weird to use a skeleton smith weapon when I can afford Edge 3 though lol

I believe Plank Edge Type 3 is better than Fragment Axe Mk III assuming you can't hit the strength requirements for Edge fragment axes? Even with the dexterity penalty of crab armour, the blunt damage is very close but the cut damage is a lot higher