Point of all the different armor sets?

[Del_Duio]

What I mean is, there are so many different sets of armor that are very similar to each other. If this were a multiplayer game (I mean, multiplayer as in I could play with you guys online) then it'd make more sense as even if the stats didn't differ too much we could all have different-looking characters.

But I've found so many sets of heavy armor and the stats are just not all that different from each other. There's loads of class 4 and 5 heavy armor sets that are all just super heavy and- aside from the Scorpion Krueg one which has insanely high slash resistance- lots are pretty much the same. I have Onyx stuff, found some Leech stuff which I thought might have a cool leech HP effect but doesn't- Split armor from that swordsman, steel armor that they sell and I also found in a chest, etc, etc.

Are there any sets of armor that have stat boosting effects? I checked out the wiki on this and there was one piece of the Split armor that said it increased END +3 however I have it and it doesn't boost Endurance at all. So I'm hoping there's some other innaccuracies not documented on the site that you guys might know about.

[Herbalacious]

Split helm adds +3 end and it works. I use the whole set for my mage/greatsword build. I think the armor variety is mostly for looks.

[Del_Duio]

Originally posted by Herbalacious:

Split helm adds +3 end and it works. I use the whole set for my mage/greatsword build. I think the armor variety is mostly for looks.

Oh good!

That figures too, it's the ONE piece of the split swordsman's armor I don't have. Actually it says I have all 6 drops that this guy can give you.. Where do you get the helmet from?

(I have the armor, the legs, and like a million split manifers that I got trying to farm Lord's Orders).

EDIT: I found the split mask, can't believe I totally missed this before. Are there any other pieces of armor that give stat bonuses that you can think of offhand?

[Sleepy Frogge]

I know there are a few. Offhand... Blacksmith's gloves add some degree of strength, albeit minor. Some of the higher tier armors, boss ones, add stats on the headgears, such as faith+5 one one and mag+5 on another. Many other subtle boosts scattered on equips, however. Like jesters stuff adding to souls attained. Um salt.

[mr1029384756]

FashionSalt primarily.

[Del_Duio]

FYI guys the blacksmith gloves are STR +3 and the Crimson gloves are MAG +3. Pretty incredible considering these are both found pretty early on.

[Klendt]

As someone who's spaded these numbers obsessively, I couldn't possibly disagree with that blanket assertion more.


HERE'S SOME HARD AND FAST NUMBERS.
Your defense equals the resistance divided by the resistance plus 200. That is, defense = def / (def + 200). So 50 resistance is 20%, 200 is 50%, and so on. Because defense is a constant process of halving and halving again, there's not really a threshold of saying when "good enough" is. I've heard it said in systems like this that each point of defense is exactly as valuable as the last, but that's really only partially true.
The other numerical bit is that fully upgrading an armor will exactly double its defenses.

As you've noticed, some armors carry special traits. For instance, the Lamprey armor reflects a portion of damage taken back, the dishwasher's sugegasa increases stamina regen, the split helm boosts endurance, that sort of thing. Those boosts are more useful earlier on, when they're more statistically significant.

In the case of both armor types, they make sacrifices in certain areas and offer compensation in others, but this is far more pronounced in light armor than in heavy armor.
Each armor is allotted a certain amount of protection for its weight and class, and if that armor is utterly lacking in one field (as in a flat zero), it gets a bonus for its other defenses. There are a greater number of light armors that highly specialize than heavy armors. Light armors tend to be more along the lines of specialized equipment.

As for heavy armors, it's more up to whether you want to wear lighter or heavier heavy armor, with each rank generally having a handful of outright better but heavier armors and a handful of worse but lighter armors.

Anyways, the armors may look similar in value just because they all have a fairly even and balanced distribution of defenses, but that's obviously not the case when you total all of them up - your weaknesses will be quite apparent.

For instance, the rank 5 overlord's set has half the holy resist of the rank 4 umbral set. This is the difference between (at base upgrades) taking a third less damage (100def=33%) and only half of that damage (200def=50%), so if you're being eaten alive by the NG+ Architect and Unskinned despite wearing the pound for pound best heavy armor in the game, there's a very simple reason for it.