I play as striker in pvp with full skolver, so i have max damage bonus. I've killed multiple players in full Snarby with 2 hits from Gran Faust... for an armor with all that shadow defense, its kinda dissapointment. Seems like GF does so much damage that doesn't matter at all the armor defenses. So the best way to survive its:
* going guardian/recon, or getting an expensive hp trinket.
* or avoiding getting hit at all.
Anyone wearing full Snarbolax armor probably hasn't heated it to level 10 yet.
Also, what you said about the Gran Faust. It does so much damage that it doesn't really matter. BTB/FF are mitigated significantly by armor with pierce defense (one of the reasons Skolver is so much better than the other Wolver lines in Lockdown), for the GF this doesn't seem to be the case.
And it isn't immune to freeze from shivermist buster :)
In t3 LD armor barely matters at all. Armor is used basically for the bonuses and extra life