Artifact Armor fell off

[GameketeerMike]

I feel as if the artifact armor fell off after the Eat Your Hat and Keep Your Secrets updates with all the new stuff. The Sphinx's Casque is just a better Wizard hat with no other upside. The Oracle's Treads has always been weaker and not good compared to the Warning Ring. The Djinni's Brace at least has the unique trait of an armor piece having magic resist. The Dragon's Mail is a regen ring on your body. And while the Wraith's Gown is great, you barely get any use out of it since it's WAAAAY at the end. And the Valkyries Veil is just a better visor and that's it, really not worth the red orb give to the mysterious shopkeep.
There is just way better options than the artifact armor pieces.

[Grandpa Crack Pipe]

It never fell off. They're exactly as good as they've always been: generally useful, well-rounded, requiring no enchantments, unbreakable, and always there. A Sphinx's Casque is pretty boring, but you have to remember where you get it-- before level 3, when it'll probably give you more intelligence than you even have and outclass any other helmet in AC for a good while.

If you have a bunch of enchant armor scrolls? Oh yeah, the casque and boots can go. I'll even trade out the boots for base dexterity boots sometimes, and nothing beats +10 bracers of constitution. But they're so reliable that I'll usually just use any random armor scrolls I find to buff the Casque and be on my way.

I think the new gear they introduced in the updates really comes in clutch for multiplayer more than anything, since there's only one artifact set.

[GameketeerMike]

I mean, I guess. But it's more so that there is much more attractive options to choose from really. Especially for the head slot. If you're playing a ranged class, the bycocket is much more better option for you than the casque. Healer? Priestly Miter. Mage Classes? Circlets and Magus Headdresses. All the leadership hats are better for the classes with some or high leadership.

The hand slot has less options, but they are no less attractive than the brace. Gloves of Dex, Bracers of Con, Gauntlets of Strength and the fist weapons are all great.

Boots are just, bad no matter what. Boots of Speed, Water Walking, Levitation, and Feather are just. Better than pathetic lesser warning.

The Breastplate... I'll admit, it's still good as there are not many options to compare to it. The Wizard and Healer Doublets are the same thing, the Leather Apron at least has fire immunity to go with its +2 perception, and the Vampire Doublet is great for magic.

You also have even *less* options for cloaks. But the Gown is *good*. The problem I have with it is that you pretty much only have *1* full level before the twins to play with it.

I guess I should've said that they are STILL good, especially since they never break, and that they just seems less enticing compared to the other options.

[GameketeerMike]

I guess this is more so towards the casque really since there are so many options that are better than it.

And I forgot the Veil. Then again, all the Veil does is add +10 to all weapon skills and that's it. But that's largely useless since you probably already have your preferred weapon to max or close to max level by that point.

[Pride Lizard Pride Lizard]

(My stupid ass didn't read the last post in this thread. My apologies. You can basically disregard this, lol)

I think I disagree, and it's largely because it's all tradeoffs.
You can absolutely wear a headpiece that makes spells better - if you find one. Assuming it doesn't break, either. The huge int bonus from Sphinx's Casque makes early game casting so much easier. It's not the worst option for carrying to the later areas. if you CAN enchant it, it does get pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up - though it'll always be weaker than a dedicated caster hat.

The boots are like... the weakest, yeah, but there's not many good contenders for boots anyway. It's just, the best boots. Minus boots of speed or waterwalking, depending on class. The lesser warning is nice for hunting down moving enemies, though. That's assuming you even GET boots of speed, or water walking. I've only ever seen them a few times over dozens of runs.

The gloves are like, literally the best gloves in *the game.* +1 magic resistance takes most people up to 50% dmg reduction, which is HUGE. For magic weak classes, you go from -20% to 40%. The only reason to not use these are: You can't afford the move speed loss (a valid reason), or you're unarmed (valid too.), or you have a different gloves you like (valid) You can either stack that with a magic res ring, or use the free'd up slot for a ring you like more.

The Chest piece is like, insanely strong. It's heavy, but it's +1 health regen. The health regen stacks with another health regen to give you very strong healing outside of combat, and... *okay* health regen IN combat.

The cape is great, though you get it late, since the mana regen is immensely powerful and so is the ability to just hover. Helps vampires and automatons in the final boss a *lot.*

The Visor is. Yeah. It is. It's not the worst if you have literally no other face slot, or if you aren't at max (melee preference here)

The upside is that all of this armour is strong, although heavy, provides mostly unique and powerful bonuses for when you get them, mostly anyway, and *they do not break.*
I think the only thing that outclasses them is Crystal, but crystal is fragile.

A class with high strength and solid dex can reasonaly make use of most of the armour. Monk certainly can! For a more fragile and lower strength class, you're probably only gonna take one or two of these.

[MightyLad]

the sphinx casque is a nice item early on, especially for classes like warrior, who have trouble with magic early on, but a lot of other hats seem more viable after leveling up a bit. the only class id really keep the casque on would be cleric, who can get some help from the +8 int and 3 AC in the early game, while still getting good use out of magic and tanking in the late game.

i dont think anyone really even likes the oracles treads. hell, if im playing a tank, even standard steel boots outrank them to me just because they are lighter. oh cool, lesser warning, why would anyone take that over something like "leather boots of speed" or "steel boots of feather"? sure, it saves you a ring slot that would otherwise go to a ring of warning, but for its effect to be considered viable, the item would have to weigh WAY less, as most builds that would get any real value out of it likely dont have good strength scaling, and by the time you reach the castle, i doubt a rogue, hunter or mechanist would be willing to bother with its weight if they didnt otherwise get lucky with leveling. the only classes of that type i can think of that could be guaranteed to handle its weight by that point would probably be ninja or sexton, but by that point you would probably prefer to have boots of speed anyways (which ninja already ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ starts with), so what the hell is even the point of them, really?

the djinn's braces are handy on just about anything, and i basically always go for them when playing my main (accursed incubus). although if you are playing a melee class, a ring of magic resist will probably top it if you can get bracers of constitution or gauntlets of might. unless you are playing something with magic weakness, like automaton. then yea, you might still want to keep it.

the Valkyrie veil isnt even considered an artifact item by the game, as far as i know. but yea, unless im playing goblin, i doubt i would ever touch any kind of visor. id rather have literally anything else.

the dragon mail is nice for any melee character, really, i dont have anything against it. i more so hate the process of getting it... i dont think anyone finds navigating that stupid kobold cult level "fun".

the wraiths gown is easily the best artifact item in the game, but it seems like its there solely as a crutch for the final boss. everyone knows that you will AT LEAST want water walking for it, so the levitation is a no-brainer, and the mana regen is clearly the games way of helping magic builds hold up better against the magisters since you are already past the caves (as well as those damn kobolds) and magic is the only thing that liches aren't weak to. hell, one of them even resist it i think.

overall, they all have their flaws and they can be hard to consider after all the new hat and face items that got added. especially to us old pros with over 600 hours on the game that know the game like the back of our hands, but they are still viable in there own ways, so they are hard to hate.

except the oracles treads, i hate them, i hate them so much, i hate them with a burning ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ passion, WHY THE ♥♥♥♥ DO THEY HAVE TO BE SO ♥♥♥♥, AND WHY THE HELL DO THEY HAVE TO BE ONE OF THE RISKIEST ITEMS TO GO FOR!? "LESSER WARNING", MY ASS!!!!!