Is it just me or does the Hermes armor suck while the Icarus armor is amazing?

[Hitaka]

I really wanted to like the Hermes armor, because it's blue! X is blue! It's more fitting. But... it's so bad.

The buster is trash, the shots aren't very strong, and only the middle one pierces. The Icarus buster on the other hand lets you rapid fire half charged shots, half charge a full charge shot (which essentially replaces the Hermes helmet's quick charge), and has a huge laser. I'm not a fan of the laser because of how you are stuck in place, but the rapid fire and reduced charge time for normal full charge shots are both amazing. Rapid fire seems better for damaging bosses anyway because of how their invincibility frames work.

The Hermes legs are okay, but not great. As far as I can tell, the "invincibility" from dashing doesn't actually do anything. The speed boost is nice but doesn't really help with anything. The Icarus jump height boost on the other hand is pretty useful and lets you reach new places without Zero. It also works well with the helmet.

The helmet is probably the best Hermes part, since quick charge is always nice. But it's not enough to redeem the crappy buster. I also wouldn't use it with the Icarus buster, because I would accidentally fire the I-Can't-Move Beam a lot, and you can already fire unarmored full charge shots at a half charge. The rapid fire is the main perk of the Icarus buster, imo. The Icarus helmet doesn't seem like it would be that useful, but it's nice for bopping weak enemies bugging you from above, like bats. It syncs well with the leg part as well.

And the body part, oh man. The mismatch in power is hilariously absurd. Hermes body: -2 damage from everything. That's it. Icarus body: half damage, AND no flinching or knockback, AND infinite red health. X gets low health? Swap out and you can fully heal him without expending any sub tanks.

X-Drive is okay, you can really spam 5-way charge shots, but even with it on it feels like it's just not as good. Giga Crush is a full screen nuke, can't argue with that.

I get that they intended Hermes to be the speed armor and Icarus to be the power armor, but it just feels like Icarus is superior in offense, defense, AND movement. They really could have balanced them better. I've only done the 8 mavs so far but I doubt anything can redeem the Hermes armor.

Did I miss something? Is the Hermes armor better than I thought, or does it indeed suck?

EDIT: Welp I just did the Jakob level and bopped more enemies with the helmet attack than I ever thought I would. Can't imagine Hermes being useful here. Another +1 for Icarus.

[Desticler]

I personally use Hermes Helmet because I love quick charge, and I don't find Icarus Helmet useful at all.
Same for legs. I'll admit, when I'm hunting for collectibles, Icarus Legs are great; but once I get every item, and am in NG+, I just want Hermes Legs so I can dash through enemies and bosses' attacks without taking damage, which is way more useful than you think.
Other parts though, Icarus is far superior, I agree. In fact, I love the huge laser because of rapid damage.
I didn't find either Giga Attacks useful at all though.

[Hitaka]

Having messed around with the Hermes Armor a bit more, it is a bit better than I thought. The leg part is actually really useful. I thought it didn't work because if you dash through an enemy, you still take damage, but it can dodge any kind of projectile attack. It makes the final boss rush a lot easier. Quick charge is also helpful for Lumine's final attack. Overall I'd say it's still not as good as the Icarus armor, but it's not bad, and requires a bit more finesse to use properly.

Given that neither of the giga attacks are that great, honestly the best move is to probably mix head and foot H with body and arm I. I like using a complete set because they light up, though.