I'm wondering if 2-star or 3-star Skelly shields are any better than a 5-star Owlite or Plate shield in tier 3 Fiend strata, for instance. I know we need one set of 5-star gear to get access to all the missions, but is it worth getting lots of low-star gear beyond that?
What's better in T3, high-star generalized equipment or low-star specialized equipment?
Depends. If you want a set of 5* merely for completion, make whatever you want.
But, a 3* shadow shield will hold up better against fiends compared to an owlite, assuming the fiend does not apply fire or shock. Shield defence is extremely helpful.
Enough said. 3* stuff holds up worse in T3 than T2 (as in their stats actually decrese)
A 3* shadow shield will insta-break in a T3 fiend strata... a Grey owlite will survive a few hits. Period.
A 3* shadow shield will NOT instabreak in a T3 fiend strat. (I use a scary skelly shield in T3 fiend areas)
A 5* nonshadow shield will take about the same hits due to it's large health.
Owlite will take all the shadow damage into its health.
A skelly will take the shadow into its shadow bar, and the % not resisted will go into its health.
See the difference? The only reason a 5* will hold better is because of the increase in health. I don't know where you are getting stat decrease as a low * is used in a high tier.
Alright, so specialized equipment in T3 only makes sense if it's 4-star or higher, otherwise I might as well use generalized 5-star gear? Thank you.
@Random-Thing - that says nothing about how effective low-star equipment in high-tier areas is.
If you look at weapon damage tables low star equipment will hit a ceiling at the appropriate stratum with respect to its star and then slowly decrease.
Ex. The 2* Calibur hits it's ceiling at Stratum 3 and then slowly decreases in damage
I have no idea if it applies to weapon damage or not, it wasn't something I paid attention to.
However, even if a weapon does decrease in effectiveness beyond proper strat, nothing proves that armour and shields suffer from the same deterioration.
4* Isn't much worse off than 5*, so specialised 4* equipment isn't bad but you'll want some generic 5* gear to get you through most stuff...
2* and 3* might as well be paper in T3 :P
(except swiftstrike... still paper, just the sort you can pwn stuff with :P )
*EDIT* Having thought about it... Even a 4* shadow defence shield probably wouldn't be much better than a wise owlite in shadow strata, but neither would survive more than a few hits anyways. In answer to your initial question then, no - it is definitely not better to use low star specialised stuff. If you want to tackle those fiend strata effectively get a crest of almire. (or a 5* skelly but they have much worse resistances)