What works for you? Do you max one set of defenses or do you try to cover all the bases?
Hey, I thought I'd start this here thread for Paranoid Knights Who Don't Want to Die (PKWDWTD). (Subset: Paranoid Knights Who Don't Want to Die Badly in a Fire (PKWDWTDBF))
So what's your preference? Do you stack your Helm, Armor, and Shield against a particular threat or do you try to munchkin it out and defend against everything? And what's your particular bane- is it Piercing damage from the Wolvers? Always getting frozen and pummeled?
For me: I've been rockin' the Skelly Suit line [Norm, Shadow, Poison, Freeze, -Fire] and find that I'm always catching fire. It really gets me down taking multiple hits when I don't have a status pill. My elemental defense is just too low. I made a Gunslinger Hat [Norm, Piercing] with UV Elemental Defense Max, which helps some. For a shield I've got a Great Defender [Norm, Piercing] - which again covers my piercing needs but leaves me hurting against elemental attacks. I'm thinking of switching to the Owlite line. (And I'm not too sure about the Gunslinger Hat, and part of me says I should have sold it while I had the chance with its UV, but can't sell a 4* or bonded with the new changes.) I appreciate the Poison resists of the Skelly suit, especially when just about all the gates had a poison floor or two a short while back. (shock and freeze seems to be the order of the day?)
For my Alt Viggo: Elemental Cloak [Norm, Elem, Fire, Shock, -Stun], Owlite Shield [Norm, Elem, Fire, Shock], Drake Scale Helm [Pierce, Elem, Fire]. He's pretty well protected across a spectrum of damage, but takes Shadow badly- So a change to the Skelly Shield may be in order. As you can see I'm one of those that tries to cover all the bases.
What about you? I'd love to hear some other opinions.
For me, offense is a good defense (mostly) so I've been going Vog/Fallen for the IAS. Fallen also provides some good resists, with the curse penalty currently a non-issue as far as I'm concerned, but I am getting a little more annoyed at the Fiend damage penalty. Those buggers are annoying enough without me having to take an extra swing at'em to finish them off. Shield has been the Tortoise shield all the way. It does everything at least OK, which is all I really can ask for.
Future changes: I've been considering the silvermail line for shadow/piercing, but piercing just isn't that much of a threat still, even if I do randomly wander onto spikes more often than is healthy for me. So Divine Mantle (for that all-important shock resist I'm tempted to get a trinket for at this point) or Deadshot Mantle (Yay more normal defense!) are my other options. For now, though I'm just buying up recipes and waiting for more content to give me reason to go one way or the other.