A Most Complete Guide to Armors (2020 Edition)

In the first post: "The basics of Armor Protection" I cover plates and how they work, along with a table that show the most important unlimited ones.

I could/should probably say a little something about some of the limited options, I'll think about it.
How do they work now? if I got a plate with 12 impact and armor with 12 impact, and I take 6 impact damage, does it go to the armor or the plate? The durability decay for limited vs unlimited plates are the same as armor right? How does BLOCK work?
 
How do they work now? if I got a plate with 12 impact and armor with 12 impact, and I take 6 impact damage, does it go to the armor or the plate? The durability decay for limited vs unlimited plates are the same as armor right? How does BLOCK work?

As far as I know it's random; sometimes the damage hits the plate first, sometimes it hits the armor first, the the rest goes to the other. I haven't tested this myself but it's what I read in other threads when MindArk fixed armors so you wouldn't have to protect for the same damage twice.

Block means you take no damage at all and your armor does not decay either; the hit is totally blocked and therefore is of no consequence to you whatsoever.

Good ideas for the guide, thanks
 
As far as I know it's random; sometimes the damage hits the plate first, sometimes it hits the armor first, the the rest goes to the other. I haven't tested this myself but it's what I read in other threads when MindArk fixed armors so you wouldn't have to protect for the same damage twice.

Block means you take no damage at all and your armor does not decay either; the hit is totally blocked and therefore is of no consequence to you whatsoever.

Good ideas for the guide, thanks
I coulda sworn it was a 50/50 chance on incoming damage going to the armor or the plate, and then any damage not blocked passes through to the next. so if i took 15 dmg in the previous example. and the plate went first it would block 12 and 3 goes to the armor, and vice versa. thereby making unlimited plates very useful for limited armors.
 
I coulda sworn it was a 50/50 chance on incoming damage going to the armor or the plate, and then any damage not blocked passes through to the next. so if i took 15 dmg in the previous example. and the plate went first it would block 12 and 3 goes to the armor, and vice versa. thereby making unlimited plates very useful for limited armors.
It does seem to work that way, but testing would be needed to really confirm. Unlimited plates on L armor or lower end armor does help quite a bit. of course, mob damage type plays a huge roll as well.
 
It does seem to work that way, but testing would be needed to really confirm. Unlimited plates on L armor or lower end armor does help quite a bit. of course, mob damage type plays a huge roll as well.
Love me some bristlehog cave in my EST!!!
 
I coulda sworn it was a 50/50 chance on incoming damage going to the armor or the plate, and then any damage not blocked passes through to the next. so if i took 15 dmg in the previous example. and the plate went first it would block 12 and 3 goes to the armor, and vice versa. thereby making unlimited plates very useful for limited armors.
Yes that's basically what I said
 
Broken images and links in the guide have been fixed now.

Let me know if there was something I missed.

Cheers,
Legends
 
I have added a "Frequently Asked Questions" section at the end of the first post:

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the first armor I should get?
The first armor you should get is the one you are given once you graduate your discipleship. To get it, you must have a Mentor and you must graduate. The planet you are on at the moment you graduate determines the armor you will get, i.e. each planet has it's own Graduation armor which has it's own unique look and set of protection stats.

Which Graduation armor should I get?
The best Graduation armor used to be the Musca Adjusted awarded on Arkadia, however since the introduction of the Atlas armor on NI, it is debatable now which one is the best. Though Acid protection isn't that usefull for low level hunters, the Atlas does have 10 Impact, 9 Cut and 9 Stab, which actually makes it pretty strong compared to all other Graduation armors, not to mention it looks pretty cool. So I predict the resale value should maintain itself pretty well versus the others.

I have now outgrown my Graduation armor, what is the next armor I should get?
Have you bought yourself a set of 5B and/or other armor plates to use with that armor yet? If not, that's what you should do. Adding a set of 5B plates to your Graduation armor will make it go a lot further. If you have already gotten a set of 5B and/or other armor plates, then you have a few options, depending on what you like to hunt:

Gremlin: This is by far the most versatile armor in the game for your level; it can be used for hunting practically anything that your dps will currently allow you to hunt, with the right set of plates of course.

Nemesis: This set has the advantage that it's parts are upgradeable to Adjusted Nemesis. Nemesis has 15 Impact, 15 Cut and 15 Stab, which is somewhat comparable to Ghost, but it lacks the Cold and Electric protection. Still, it should be considered here as it could be part of your long term strategy as a hunter. Some may choose to skip ahead and just go straight to a set of Adjusted Nemesis and though it isn't really necessary yet, if you can afford it, it's probably not a bad idea (but this is primarily a robot armor, so if you hate hunting robots, then don't get it).

Ghost: The most protection you can get for the money, bar none. Almost every single hunter in Entropia will at some point or other own this armor set. Ghost with the right set of armor plates makes pretty much all of the old-school mid-level Entropia mobs possible to hunt, including but not limited to: Atrox, Argonaut, Allo/Estos, Feffoid, Ambulimax, Longu, Mulmun and Longtooth. The Ghost is the most sensible purchase of the 3 options discussed here.

I have now outgrown Ghost+5B, what is the next armor I should get?
Have you bought an Adjusted Restoration chip yet? If you haven't already, that may be what you want to do at this point since this is practically a must for any hunter. An Adj Resto chip will allow you to go much further with whatever armor setup you currently have and postpone the need for you to get a stronger, more expensive armor set.

If you already have an Adj Resto chip and you find that your Ghost isn't doing the job anymore, I'm sorry to inform you, but there is a bit of a gap here in the line up. Or depending on which way you want to look at it, there's a big spike in the costs of protection. From the +300 ped or so that Ghost cost, we now find ourselves looking at options ranging from +2.5k to +10k:

Adjusted Nemesis: This is not a very big upgrade from Ghost but don't underestimate this armor set; if properly matched to the mob, it can take you a very long way, even above level 50 probably, you'd still find it usefull for hunting certain mobs, especially certain robots. It is quite versatile since it has both a decent amount of close damage protection and ranged damage protection.

Lion: A very nice mid-range armor with the Impact, Cut, Stab protection strengths inverted (normally Impact always has the highest protection value but in the case of Lion, Stab has the highest protection value). Lion armor parts drop in Robot Beacons. A full male set costs approximately 5000-6500 ped these days.

Adjusted Boar: Very nice armor set with a Dodge buff and 30 Impact protection. A male set of Adj Boar costs about +7.5k to +9.5k nowadays, though it is pretty rare and so I predict the price will go up further.

Another option is to just use cheap looted armor pieces from auction. For example most Martial (L) armor parts cost less than 110%, same goes for armor parts like Tiger (L), Hermes (L), Vain (L), Spartacus (L), even Eon (L). There is nothing wrong with bridging the gap at this point using cheap limited looted armor pieces, and even mixing and matching as needed, until you are ready to settle into something a little more permanent like for example upgrade Angel, upgraded Gorgon armor or something similar, which should last you a very very long time before it's no longer useful to you and you have to get something else.

Some people might advise you to get Modified Viceroy at this point, I just don't see how that makes any financial sense since it is avatar bound and not tradeable. In any case, if you do decide to go that route, be prepared for it to cost you about 9k ped in all.

How does Block Chance work?
Some upgraded armor plates have a percentage Block Chance buff on them, which means that you have a chance to Block the incoming damage and therefore the hit becomes null and of no consequence to you; i.e. you take no damage and your armor and plate do not decay since the hit was blocked completely.

These are questions which I often get from customers in game, I'll keep adding to it as time goes on.

Cheers,
Legends
 
I have added a "Frequently Asked Questions" section at the end of the first post:



These are questions which I often get from customers in game, I'll keep adding to it as time goes on.

Cheers,
Legends
Great advice. What advice to you have about add ons such as rings, enhancers, pets, using buffs?
 
Great advice. What advice to you have about add ons such as rings, enhancers, pets, using buffs?

This is highly subjective and I invite people to find out what works for them, for their setup and their hunting style.

I haven't really spent much time studying Rings and buffs as I have armor, but I can say that Life-Steal and DPS can and does make a huge difference in making a small armor useful against very big mob. As a way of example, a level 85 hunter using a level 80 weapon with a ring that gives him a few points of life-steal could make Gremlin armor work for hunting Brood of Dotty on CP whereas there's just no way I could do that at level 51 using a level 45 gun with no life-steal or buffs. And so I think that's why life-steal is very often part of any higher level hunter's overall strategy.

A somewhat intuitive and 'natural' progression through the ranks for anyone serious about hunting will probably look something like:

Mandatory acquisitions for hunters - in order:
1. Graduation armor (because it's free and a good low-level armor)
2. Set of Mk. 5B plates (because these are the best Impact/Cut/Stab plates)
3. Ghost armor set (because it's a very cheap set, and a nice boost after the graduation armor has become too weak)
4. Adj Boar/Jag or Mod Viceroy or another mid-level UL armor (to bridge the gap and open up new mobs)
5. Adj Resto chip (to extend the usefulness of your mid-level armor further, a lot further, at a relatively cheap cost)
6. Rings with life-steal and/or dps buffs ( to extend the usefulness of your mid-level armor even further, at a relatively cheap cost)
7. Eventually an uber UL armor (talking about armors that cost over 40k here)
...

This is just for the health protection (armor, FAPs, Life-Steal, etc...), it doesn't cover UL weapon acquisitions which are very important as well and would probably fit in somewhere between 4 and 5 and again after 6.

Where 6 is now is where professional healers used to fit in very nicely, sadly life-steal has now almost killed the profession. But if you can't afford good rings, you could try to hire healers and bridge the gap in that way.

Aside from this general progression path, I feel I'm not really qualified to give other advice in regards to buffs or rings and people should just figure out for themselves what is best suited to their hunting style. Hopefully we have some great new toys coming soon in the form of new ArMatrix MindForce chips to play around with, which could make the hunting profession even more interesting and dynamic.

Cheers,
Legends
 
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This is a great guide, thanks for all the time and effort you have put into it. I have a question regarding armor that I havent been able to find an answer to. What does the CLOSE stat mean in regards to armor protection?
For example:
Jaguar armor
Weight: 2.1 kg
Durability: 3350
Protection
Stb: 17 HP
Cut: 20 HP
Imp: 22 HP
Pen: 11 HP
Brn: 16 HP
Cld: 13 HP
Acd: 6 HP
Close: 59 HP
Firearms: 27 HP
Total: 105 HP

Thanks for any info you may have on this.

Spud
 
This is a great guide, thanks for all the time and effort you have put into it. I have a question regarding armor that I havent been able to find an answer to. What does the CLOSE stat mean in regards to armor protection?
For example:
Jaguar armor
Weight: 2.1 kg
Durability: 3350
Protection
Stb: 17 HP
Cut: 20 HP
Imp: 22 HP
Pen: 11 HP
Brn: 16 HP
Cld: 13 HP
Acd: 6 HP
Close: 59 HP
Firearms: 27 HP
Total: 105 HP

Thanks for any info you may have on this.

Spud
From my understanding, that's the stab cut impact dmg altogether, close quarter dmg.
 
Question: If you have plates with chance of Block on them do you get any system message when they block? e.g. Damage blocked

If there is no message then how do we know it's working?
 
Question: If you have plates with chance of Block on them do you get any system message when they block? e.g. Damage blocked

If there is no message then how do we know it's working?
I have used plates with Block capability for the last 3 or 4 years and have never seen "Blocked" on the system chat. I have been wondering how we know they are working as well.
 
There's no specific message indicating it was a block, but you do get a combat message that says "You took 0.0 points of damage", as opposed to say, "deflected" if your armor absorbed all of the hit.

Edit: you can block crits too, and will get a message saying you were crit for 0.0 in the same way as above
 
Thanks for that Hoob.

The next question or line of inquiry for us could be to see if someone can work out from the system messages the percentage of blocks, hits (and how those percentages work e.g. all possible hits regardless of if armour or plates get hit because it could be that say 5% block chance works even if plates do not get hit and only the armour gets hit.) or indeed work out percentages of which gets hit first armour or plates. This could be something for those who program hunting tracker tools to incorporate in their programs...
 
Thanks for that Hoob.

The next question or line of inquiry for us could be to see if someone can work out from the system messages the percentage of blocks, hits (and how those percentages work e.g. all possible hits regardless of if armour or plates get hit because it could be that say 5% block chance works even if plates do not get hit and only the armour gets hit.) or indeed work out percentages of which gets hit first armour or plates. This could be something for those who program hunting tracker tools to incorporate in their programs...
On top of that, I always wondered if certain mobs were more likely to hit a certain piece of armor. There's times where my body piece is like 20-30% lower then the other pieces even though they were all full repaired and have the same starting tt and armor stats.

So if a mob only has like 5% chance to hit your shoes, and you got a 5% block chance, thats not s good as if the harness has a 30% to get hit and a 5% block chance. Very easy to check with a tracker or some counting though.
 
I read somewhere that mobs do indeed favour some armour parts more than others. However, it varies from mob to mob to which parts they favour the most. Harness seems to be the most favourable by most mobs I suspect.

I can't remember where I read it though.
 
I read somewhere that mobs do indeed favour some armour parts more than others. However, it varies from mob to mob to which parts they favour the most. Harness seems to be the most favourable by most mobs I suspect.

I can't remember where I read it though.
at least it's not feet since half of the armors don't have UL versions of feet yet and those that do many times have L blueprints.
 
A very well-put-together armour guide. Thx Legend.

Thanks m8

A lot has happened since I wrote this in 2020, there are many new Armor plate upgrade chains and even new armors and armor upgrade chains. For example the Serpent Scales and Incision plates on Next Island, Titan armor, Lotus Armor, the Imperium Armor and Imperium Offier plate chains on Cyrene, and more recently the Lunar plate from Ark Moon... Of all of these, I particularly like the new Titan armor and the Serpent Scales from NI, the new Cyrene Armors and the Lunar plates for Cold protection since there aren't many options for Cold atm other than 5D plates.

I may need to update this sometime soon to reflect all of these new additions to the game. But that's a lot of work
 
new Titan armor and the Serpent Scales from NI,
POTE and Imperium armor is king due to Crit dmg.

Incision plate is real nice with the 50 imp imperium armor, since incision plates stab is so high.

Not much else has happened though.
 
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