I've been looking for a decent UV's Wolver set to get to skolver. This is my 3rd or 4th 5* set, so I've decided not to just take what I can get and actually try to get some nice gear.
Now my question is whether Piercing or Normal Defense is preferred on a Skolver. Is it better to have more defense against the damage that the gear is made to be specialized against? Or would Normal benefit more since it will defend against a wider variety of monsters?
Opinions? Thoughts?
Normal
Read the "sources of normal damage" section on the wiki:
Normal defense is more important if you're running T1/T2, since everything does at least partial normal damage.
Still, a lot of creatures deal 50% normal, even in T3.
Lockdown weapons (of note)
- Nitronome
- Supernova (almost everyone will spam elemental polaris instead though)
- Almost all 5* swords do 50-100% normal, except pierce swords.
Pierce
Now take a look at the "sources of pierce damage" section on the wiki:
Only wolvers do half pierce, everything else seems to do pure pierce.
Lockdown weapons (of note)
- Radiant Sun Shards
- Dark Briar Barrage
- Callahan
- Sentenza (this might change in the future)
- Argent Peacemaker (this might change in the future)
- Barbarous Thorn Blade/Flourish line (this is a big one)
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http://wiki.spiralknights.com/User:Antistone#Predictions
I assume you're going for high or maximum.
Now from the article's Take-Home lessons:
- A maximum defensive UV is worth four lows and is predicted to reduce damage by roughly 10%
- When facing split damage types, it is better to have some defense against each than full defense against only one
- Therefore, since almost everything does split normal (even on tier 3), you want at least some normal defense in almost all levels.
Defense UVs give about a 10% increase in defense against a damage type per maximum. The Skolver set's Pierce defense sits at ≈40% which you can raise to 60% or you can go for ≈65% normal resist instead.
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Conclusions
Question as always is: "What do you need it for?" and "what do you already have?". In this case also: "Do you like lockdown?".
Normal is good if Skolver is your main armor, if you have several wolver sets the one with normal UV's would be the one for gremlin levels, Lichen levels, typeless levels
However, there are plenty of monsters who do split elemental/normal and shadow/normal, yet Pierce monsters are specialists (except for Wolvers). Either they do full pierce or none (i.e. lichen tackle). Snarbolax and Vog are better candidates for extra normal defense. Typeless arena's can still have plenty of constructs, which do elemental regularly. Those two are also the armors you're more likely to take into FSC, where Trojans, Slag Guards and zombies (50% normal) reside.
Besides the fact that most pierce monsters do pure pierce, the most dangerous sources of pierce damage are still players. A double pierce UV would let you take more toothpick pokes.
tl;dr I'd go with pierce UV's.
Meh. When you're playing seriously, you're trying to not get hit as much as possible. As such, defence doesn't matter so much on your armour (since the few times ya do get hit, you want your shield to be the one taking the hit). 'Sides, damage is an instant thing. Once it's hit, you're hit and can move on. Status' however, are far more deadly. Ya get shocked or set on fire, and that lasts a fair while. Having your mobility reduced or not being able to heal really cripples you for a time. As such, I'd advise going for status resistances.
Mind you, that's what I'd say if you were using one set of armour for everything. You, however, seem to have a few sets, so that mitigates the need for resistances to everything spread around everywhere. You'd just gear up as appropriate to the stratum.
I have next to no opinion on PvP since I don't have all that much experience. But from what little I know, the slight def increase of UV's isn't gonna help you all that much. Rather, your ability to not get froze or shocked will be more helpful.
Now, that was a lot of dribble over general UV's. You specifically asked about Norm/Pierce on Skolver though, so... I'd say it depends. Are you using it as an armour type you only use against beasts/jellies? Pierce would probably be the best. If you're gonna be using it on other non-pierceing enemies, might want to go with normal.
Though you want to take note on Antistone's data. Defences get diminished returns somewhat. As such, you'll see a greater effect on piercing than normal, even at the same UV level.
@Silphius Isn't it the pierceing thing wrong? Some slime attacks still do normal instead of pierce. And wolvers always seem to cause a yellow rainbow when hitting me and no normal.
Took some info from here: http://forums.spiralknights.com/es/node/33594
@Juances
"Either they do full pierce or none (i.e. lichen tackle)."
I meant to say they have no 50/50 attacks, their tackle does pure normal I think, the rest pure pierce. Practically: they are the least threatening. I rejoice when I see a giant lichen colony charging red for a tackle attack since even my ironmight can't stand ground spike spam forever.
I'm not sure on wolvers, you could very well be right about that. Would make the arguement for pierce UV's even more solid.
As for status I prefer those too. That doesn't mean they're mutually exclusive. I have a full shock set myself, full pierce is next.
It kinda depends on what you play, and your playstyle. However, I would recommend against either of those, and get a nice blight resistance. Shock if you play PvP (or just hate being shocked) or fire if you like to use FoV (works great on jelly king)