People should look less on item level and more on the stats. Having an itl115 weapon while there isn't a itl115 set is useless. You will never get above itl110 overall. You have to check what's best in slot for you.
And if you think T9 isn't as grindy as Animus/Novus, you're being delusional. You first have to beat previous turns, you will have to farm it for weeks until your weapon drops, you'll need some gear check before you enter T9 from previous turns. Having in mind you can only get a T9 kill (if you ever do, lol) per week, people should never exclude relic series just because they're grindy. After all it's gonna take the same time as the alternative options. Just my opinion.