EDIT:
I have edited the title to better reflect everything since I'm going to continue looking into this.
After numerous testing against a Trojan on Depth 20 on Return to Ur I have pretty much come up with a conclusion that Status does indeed play a bigger role than Defense on how much the Shield absorbs damage.
This means that a Dread Skelly Shield will hold up better against a Poison Knight and Cryo Knight much more than an Owlite Shield can survive. However, things dealing pure-damage, Defense will outweigh Status and vice-versa if they can inflict it. Since Status in Tier 3 has a much higher chance of being inflicted with it than anything else.
Currently, it looks like a Shield can gain immunity to Weak Status much like Knights can, this is apparent when you look at both the Grey Owlite Shield and Crest of Almire on the chart below. It may be possible to gain immunity to Moderate Status the same way Knights do but I currently have no way of testing this.
WEAK STATUS: 15.00% - 38.00%
MODERATE STATUS: N/A
STRONG STATUS: 32.00% - 48.00%
The difference with and without Status is a massive jump, even a Shield without Shock Resistance but major Defense Resistance (See: Dread Skelly) takes 15% more damage from a Status attack than a Shield without the same Elemental-type resistance. (See: Grey Owlite Shield)
And actually has a major difference compared to the Crest of Almire, being a 38% difference in damage.
Complete list of current data can be found here: http://wiki.spiralknights.com/User:Acies/Shield_Data
ORIGINAL POST:
So, previously from the Lumber-always-breaking-shield topic awhile back. I just went on a run and something rather interesting happened. I took a direct hit from a Silversap at Depth 27 on Elite with a fully heated non-uv'd Dread Skelly Shield. Despite the fact that I only had 1% of the Shield's health remaining, I took absolutely no damage form the hit.
This makes me wonder something, is Status a pure-damage type or a multiplier to the hit you're about to take? I tested this on a Lumber on Depth 19 before and everything with Stun Resistance was able to survive a direct hit much more than a Grey Owlite Shield (Anything with Stun gave about 20% of Health Remaining while Owlite gave 7%) and anything without Stun Resistance instantly broke. Owlite and Dread Skelly both share the same normal-defense yet Dread Skelly only broke against a standard Lumber, yet was able to survive against a Silversap. (Freeze)
So... anyone have my answer here? Is Status a pure-damage type to a Shield or does it act like some multiplier if the shield doesn't support that status type?
It can't be a simple multiplier because a zombie's breath does zero damage to start with. Our shields would never break against them regardless of defense.
Similar attacks include mist from greavers, fire patches from oilers, status battlepods, dead ice cubes, etc. The status seems to add a pure damage component, at least on those.