So, this post is intended to theorize the possible uses for useless gear.
Dragon Scale: consider that T3 Wolvers deal pure piercing (I think), and they are often accompanied by gun puppies, which deal pure elemental. Then there's the famous Rabid Wolvers, Rocket Puppies, and Red Rovers, which deal poison, fire, and fire, respectively. Might this justify usage of Dragon Scale in T3?
I've heard rumors that Omega Shell's health bar extends past the display by about 50%. Anyone confirm this? Could be great for general use, especially with a UV.
Radiant Silvermail: I don't know any sources of pure shadow, but it can't hurt against the undead, which this armor is good against. The pierce defense makes it useful against Wolvers and jellies (to a lesser extent), with the latter being a popular target of the Gran Faust, which can curse the user on charge; hence the curse resistance. Furthermore, jellies in the Unknown Passage can deal poison and pure pierce, which Radiant Silvermail defends against.
Divine: useful against fiends, naturally (veil only). But some sources of shadow, like slags in FSC or Frankenzoms in Ghosts in the Machine, are sometimes accompanied by elemental and/or fire damage, like shadow fire, elemental grates, or even constructs. And shock deals elemental, and Divine resists both. But why the curse resistance? Well, if you're in the habit of cursing Gremlins...
Ancient Plate: Lockdown, anyone? Also makes a great medic. Vitasuit + Scarlet Shield has similar uses.
EDIT: changed "normal" to "elemental" in reference to gun puppies.
Here is my take on it :
- Dragon Scale was something I never considered before, because no normal really hurts. But then I did Compound 42 a few times. It's hard. Enough for me to seriously consider doing it just for that. Otherwise, wolvers are not dangerous enough to consider doing a specific armor for them. And even then, I'm pretty sure every melee attack in T3 contains half normal (to confirm). A normal T3 isn't dangerous enough to justify a specific armor, so apart from that, you have SL Snarby, which have lots of normal and shadow, so Dragon Scale is out. Else you can use it with a normal+shadow part to get a generic armor, but there are better choice than Dragon Scale for that.
In short, Dragon Scale shines in Compound 42, and is overclassed for the rest.
- Omega Shell : not sure about that, but anyway what's important to me is status resistance. And on that point, it's heavily outclassed by VPS, which have both Fire and Stun resistance, making it an ideal shield for Vanaduke, and a good shield for fire levels and lumbers, while Omega Shell won't shine anywhere.
- Radiant Silvermail have one place where it shines, and it's SL Snarby. Otherwise, as Dragon Scale, it's ouclassed. SL Snarby is not hard enough to justify making it in my opinion. And once you finish it one time, you'll have access to Snarby Armor, which basically outclasses it for swordsmen.
- Divine is good in FSC, though the lack of normal, as for other armors, really should makes you reconsider The additional Shock resist over Vog/Volcanic Demo can be useful in some situations, especially that danger mission with shock that I don't remember the name. It's one of the best helm to do combine with a piercing + normal armor to make a generic set. I guess the curse can be seen as a bonus for GF users or SL Vanaduke (though Curse there is laughable if you are careful and have 4 slots).
- Ancient Plate is, in my opinion, just an old armor that should be reworked. Health Trinket makes it somewhat redundant for LD, it doesn't have specific damage resistance nor useful status resist, and to add insult to injury, it have NEGATIVE attack stats.