I've scanned the wiki and i'm still a bit confused about how the defenses on gear works.
does the defense on armor/helm/shield stack?
does the defense on the shield only matter when actually blocking?
i may have more after these two, but for now we'll start with these.
ya know, I'm not that sure, tell you the truth. I've been wondering the same thing.
I think, and don't quote me on this, that the stat bars are literally the amount of hp transparency to whatever defense it is. An item with 5 bars of piercing, 5 bars of normal, and 1 bar of shadow would stop 5 bars of either of the major damages, and would add an additional 1 bar of shadow protection in case there's shadow in the attack, AKA a creature who attacks with a shadow/normal attack would have 6 bars blocked.
this would correspond directly to the damage of a weapon or attack. a sword that does, say 8 bar of normal damage would apply 3 bars of damage to the above armor.
Shields....I dunno. I'm wondering if shields don't necessarily apply the major defenses to the user if the shield is not in use, like a shield might be huge piercing/normal, but only when the shield is active. The HP of the shield is how many times it can get hit before it breaks. The subdefenses, like shock/fire etc would apply to the character?
A good test would be to figure out how much damage you get hit for from a certain monster, like a full bar. Run the gate again without a shield and see if they do the same amount of damage, or if it's more.
I may also be way off-base. I'd like to find out myself.
Shield stats only work when shielding and the helm and armor are averaged out to give you your regular defense stats
The defense stats on your shield only apply when you're blocking.
UVs like attack speed increased, like on the Swiftstrike Buckler, apply even if you're not blocking.
The stats on your armor and helm do stack.
If you go look at the Spiral Knights Wiki there's a TON of information, as well as pictures, about this stuff.