I've seen a lot of discussion on these forums about how Chaos is the objectively best armor (which it is) and how statuses are the most dangerous thing to an experience player (which they are in terms of fire and shock) but reading some posts I get the feeling the regulars have come to the conclusion that it's better to take something like Sunset armor for damage than take another gunner line that would protect against said damage. So I ask, is damage resistance that useless in T3 Elite difficulty? That taking an armor with useless special defense for a level for it's offensive bonuses is better than something that would protect against that damage with different offensive bonuses?
Also no, I can't dodge or shield against everything, so not getting hit is not an option, and assuming killing everything before it kills me isn't an option either.
Damage defense is not useless, but status resistance is more important (along with offensive bonuses). I have an armor guide that describes all of this. Maybe it will help you refine your opinion.
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/User:Jdavis/Armor
P.S. The idea that Chaos is objectively best is sorely tested by Black Kat.