Hello, newbies and oldies alike! Welcome to another (is it?) armor/shield walkthrough,
compiled by me at some hour that would have been better spent sleeping! I've noticed
that new players who come into the game really have no idea what they're doing and
make terrible newbie mistakes (as did I, recalling the day I bought a 3k pummel gun in
Bazaar). But I digress--down to our first order of business.

NEVER buy armor from any of the Stranger merchants, as it's either completely useless
or outrageously priced. 1* armors/shields, as most players will tell you, are completely
useless and a waste of crowns. Most of them do not upgrade, and others are comparable
in strength to 0* pieces. Just skip straight ahead into 2*, and save yourself the time and
agony of realizing your past week has gone to waste with a single bad purchase.

Here I'll outline what you SHOULD be getting, so drop your cobalt armor and whatever
obscure statusbreak shield you may be wielding, and pay attention! I won't cover ALL
the armors/shields of course, since that'd take forever and most of it would be me
bsing you after glancing at the wiki.

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Shields:
Owlite- normal/elemental defense, very good in T3. Very popular and super sexy.
Plate- a brick wall shield, though only normal defense. Still very good.
Jelly- a normal/piercing shield. not the best.
Skelly- rare shadow/normal defense, at least until you put your shield back down.
Defender- normal/piercing defense. again, not the best.
Drake Scale- piercing/elemental defense, but no normal defense.
Swiftstrike- high speed bonus to all weapons. Highly recommended, but not as main.

Personally I'd recommend owlite or plate, since piercing and shadow don't play too big
a role in the clockworks later in your game career, and most sources of said damage are
easier to dodge (except fiends, which I just avoid like the plague). So uh, go for an
elemental shield (T3 is pretty much all elemental) or something with a lot of health (like
plate) imo. Some people like the others, but it's your preference I guess.

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Armor sets:
I'm not gonna cover all the armor types here, but I can provide some tips. The most
helpful armor will be something that has elemental defense, since pretty much
everything you touch in T3 will deal elemental damage to you. Piercing is easy to
avoid, unless you have a tough time dealing with jellies and wolvers, or you like
running on spikes, but hate when you keel over and die because of it. Few things deal
shadow, but it's okay to have as well, since fiends are probably your worst nightmare.
So shadow defense chalks up as an easy second. Normal is of course preferred, and you
should forget about using that shiny cobalt armor or your royal jelly crown as anything
more than a costume.

I'll highlight a few of the better armors, but won't bother going into things like Chroma
or Silvermail, since they're quite sub-par (I don't mean to offend, of course).

Vog Cub set. The 5* form of wolver, it is a sworder's best friend. Not only do you get
superior elemental protection, you also get maximum fire resist (godly for future
Vanaduke runs), not to mention a Very High sword speed bonus. It's clearly the best armor
set if you're going sword/sword/sword, as most of the players do. I'll try to keep most
of my bias out of this, but Vog is just screaming to be nerfed. Anyone who would complain
about the unfair advantage is too busy wearing it though, so it'll forever remain #1.

Nameless set. This is for the gunslinger population who actually get to 5*, but Nameless
is like Vog, but for guns. Conspicuously lacks status protection, but it offers some
elemental defense and a handsome speed bonus to handguns. You may be interested in a
piece of Deadshot if you prefer shadow defense and like the zombie-killing bonus (non-
gunslingers can take advantage of it as well). I'd recommend you get a Nameless hat, as
it's arguably the sexiest hat in the game. Just don't mix it with Vog, it's a fashion
disaster that makes my blood curdle, because I do indeed have lactose in my veins.

Demo armor. This is for bombers. I didn't mention a set however, since both Mad Bomber
and Volcanic Demo are fine here, depending on your destination. Volcanic Demo SUIT has
been somewhat nerfed sadly, so I suggest you shy away from that piece, and if you do
choose Volcanic Demo helm, go for a Mad Bomber suit. Perhaps get the Mad Bomber helm
anyway if you care more for sexiness than status buffs.

Divine Mantle. This is a good armor piece that offers both elemental and shadow defense,
though I'd suggest you do not get the entire set, but match it with something that has
normal defense. I can't say I have too much experience in this field, but the lack of
normal raises a red flag for me, since although MOST things deal elemental/shadow,
EVERYTHING will deal normal damage. On a side note, the halo is shiny and glowy.

The starting equivalents for these sets by the way, are Wolver, Gunslinger, Spiral Demo,
and Magic in that order. I won't go into any other armor sets, since frankly I don't have
the dedication or experience to debate on which armor is better in whatever situation.
Ultimately, elemental defense trumps all, but choose something you like, not just because
it has more status buffs--coming from a guy who wears a Shadowsun Slicker.
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These are the best armor sets in my opinion, and I understand why you may be
upset that I didn't cover your specific armor or shield. It may work wondrously for
you, but generally the trend favors the sets that I covered, and for good reason.
Of course I don't claim that my word is golden, because I have pretty limited field
experience, but I think this is a good guide for beginning players who are lost and
decide to buy Frostbreaker Armor from Greave.