If I just needed to achieve the achievements, I'd just make 10 Wolver Caps, sell them, etc. I wish, however, to earn them by spending a good amount of time and energy towards building up a large arsenal of items, up to the point where the only major interest left is Three Rings' next major player retention update =P Of course, it may be that say 8 armors cover all the bases, in which case I would just make 2 2* armors and sell them to get the achievement.

This forum is titled "The Arsenal" so I thought I'd ask about as general an arsenal question as can be.

@Spiltmilk I can understand why you'd choose those sets, although I think the Divine Veil is a nice helm for it's Elemental + Shadow protection (the lack of normal defense is not as important for the monsters in T3), while the Valkyrie Helm makes a shinier costume. I actually haven't seen many people using the Crest of Almire; maybe they decided to spend their Almirian Seals on the Fang of Vog instead. I am mostly a sword user too, so I'll probably have similar things.

Question: are the health bonuses of the Ancient Plate Mail/Helm worth it at all? Should I get either of those before a Blackened Crest? I think they might come in handy for preventing premature death, although their lack of elemental, shadow, or even piercing defense is a major drawback in T3, where their health bonus is most apparent. The same question could be asked of the Vitasuit Deluxe.

You are quite right in saying that the avoiding of damage is much more important than its mitigation (through armor, etc). If it were that easy to avoid damage altogether, Vitapods would be mostly useless, as well as health capsules. Still, no matter how skilled you are, it's difficult to complete a T3 expedition without getting hit once. That said, even if you don't get hit much, hits can be accompanied with status inducing effects, and if you find yourself frozen in a danger room or on fire in an arena, one hit could mean a large amount of health lost.

But here's an example of what I'm discussing: take the Azure Guardian Armor. Its recipe sold reliably by Kozma in the Bazaar and at the subtowns; it provides Normal and Piercing defense. Now look at the Deadly Virulisk Suit. It has a small amount less Normal defense, but it has a poison resistance. More importantly, however, it has a medium damage bonus vs. slimes. If worn with its helm, this can be a Very High damage bonus and be helpful in the RJP. Now look at the Justifier Jacket. It has the same defense as the Deadly Virulisk Suit, but no status resists. It does, however, have med handgun ASI, which can greatly increase the DPS of guns if worn with its helm. Now take the Skolver Coat. It has the same defense stats as the Deadly Virulisk Suit as well, but it also has a status resist to freeze and a med sword damage bonus. Of course, Normal + Piercing is not that helpful unless you often find yourself bitten by wolves, caught on floor spikes, hit by jellies (who are probably the easiest monster to dodge), or, most likely, being hit by the range attacks of the Toxigel and Giant Lichen Colony.

By that logic, you should never get the Azure Guardian Armor unless you want to look like the spiral warden or something; the Deadly Virulisk Suit is only really helpful if you want to blaze through the RJP like a hot knife through butter (which you may find yourself wanting to do), the Justifier Jacket is neat for gunslingers, but of course I didn't even begin to compare it to the other gunslinger gear (Deadshot Mantle, Nameless Poncho), while the Skolver Coat is helpful for swordsmen in general, particularly in freeze or beast strata.

The superiority of the other armors over the Azure Guardian Armor does not really depend on playing style or preference: you could wear a Skolver Coat with only bombs and guns and it would still be more useful to you than the Azure Guardian Armor due to its freeze resist.

By the way, does anyone have an Omega Shell? Is it helpful/useful anywhere?