Armour/Shield Questions

[Mezolitik]

Hi all,

Just three quick questions for you:

1) What's the catch with the all-in-one armour for tanks? Level 25 Heavy Iron is better than level 28 Aetherial Steel and level 30 Steel Cuirass. It also has four materia slots. I know you can't wear helmets and trousers so you lose some stat boosts, but the loss is apparently pretty minor.

I really, really want to lose the Heavy Iron, as it makes my character look like a farm silo and I can't hide the helmet, so I'd be willing to lose some defence. However, the shortfall is massive with other gear.

2) How does the shield stat distribution work? Should I aim for block frequency or strength? It seems like it should be a judgement call (blocking often would make up for weaker strength, for example) but I'm a bit nervous to lose my Steel Lantern, as the stat drops can be pretty high.

3) Mages using shields - is this a popular choice? My CON is only level 15, so I don't have much experience yet. I imagine you trade magic for defence, but there doesn't seem to be many wands around my level.

Thanks!

[Urthdigger]

The multi-slot armor is actually statted out as if you were wearing, say, both a headpiece and a bodypiece at the same time. It may have 4 materia slots, but a body and head would have two each, for a total of four. Wearing a steel cuirass and a steel celata WILL be better than wearing a heavy iron armor. When in doubt, just wear the gear with the highest item level you can which matches your role (So, for tank this would be the metal armor that's specifically restricted to gladiator and marauder, and sometimes lancer.) Sometimes this means using a multi-slot piece of armor, sometimes it does not.

2: I'm gonna echo my sentiment from before, go with the one with the higher item level. The focus of the shield will shift from shield to shield, but a higher item level shield will, overall, be better. Though, one important thing to keep in mind is to make sure it's a tank shield (has strength on it, typically made of metal, and only usable by paladin) not a mage shield (Has int and mind, and is usually made of wood or leather).

3: Again, this is a case of "Use the one with the highest item level." Two-handed staves are typically better, but you can often upgrade to a higher level wand that's better than your staff before another staff comes along. In this case, you will use a mage shield to overcome the lesser stats of one-handed weapons.

This simple rule will serve you well up until endgame, where you will find yourself deciding between several options of the same item level for levels 70 and 90. By that point you should have the experience to make the choice yourself.

[Bixby]

1) When you're viewing the stat +/- in-game, it's only taking the body piece into account. When you add in the head pieces, the heavy iron isn't better. The plain steel cuirass + steel Celata add up to much higher defense and stats, and the same number of materia slots (and if you're silly/rich and overmeld something so low-level, you get more total materia slots). Add in the Aetherial pieces and the difference is even greater. Heck, you can do better than the tin can with the DPS helmets (Steel/Aetherial Steel Sallet). Same is true of the heavy iron leg/boots vs. separate leg/boot pieces. Don't trust the tooltips in-game, add up the stats.

Le stats:
Heavy Iron Armor
Steel Cuirass
Aetherial Steel Cuirass
Steel Celata
Aetherial Steel Celata

Don't know about 2 & 3, I haven't done GLA or mages enough to research. I'd imagine healers would prefer tanks with high block rate, since it means smoother, more predictable damage, which is always easier to heal, even if the overall average is the same. But if it's enough of a stat jump, an upgrade is an upgrade.

[Estellios]

They already explained the armor thing, but for the Shield you should just try to keep it up to date when at all possible. It's really up to what you prefer, I like the balanced shields over specialized ones.

As far as mages using shield's it's not a question of choice, you should be using a shield if possible because otherwise one handed weapons are weaker than two handed. Using a shield balances them out stat-wise.

[Naberrie]

Some shields have +MND & +INT stats making them very useful for mages. I got a level 18 shield for CNJ that was so good that using it plus a wand beat using any staff I found all the way up to 31.

[Maero]

Yes i had also recently purchased the heavy armour witch seemed better but when you had legs, chest and helmet it is probably that route.
And i hated the look of the one piece, i like to see my Character.
Shields however i find hard to find around the same level i am at, currently using a level 23

[seekerofpower]

For the best way to compare, equip the single slot armor and then look at the armor that takes multiple slots. Now compare the green number to the defense on the helmet you want to wear. If the levels are as different as you say, the helmet will give you a boost. Therefore, the 2 separate pieces are better.

[Urthdigger]

Yes i had also recently purchased the heavy armour witch seemed better but when you had legs, chest and helmet it is probably that route.
And i hated the look of the one piece, i like to see my Character.
Shields however i find hard to find around the same level i am at, currently using a level 23

Check the market boards or various fansites to get a list of shields sorted by level. Find the highest one you can use (which matches your role), then look up how to get it. It's quite possible you may need to befriend an armorer to get items crafted if they aren't sold on the boards.

[Maero]

I do check the boards all the time. Perhaps I will see if other FC members can help or just level up my armourer class some more.
Thanks for the reply