Armor Discussion Thread (I need to redo because of patch)

It's weird that no one bother to talk about armor in this forum. Since now armor can be upgrade unlike Demon's Souls.

So I came up with some good equipment sets, and I want to mentioned that this is not Demon's Souls so no complete sets in here for light weight.

Many used Gold-hemmed set, but that is far from the best in the game. Now don't get me wrong, it is when you actually find it.

Now some sets that I found that are very good. This are set that give you some poise, but keep the weight under 50% equip burden.

Royal Helm +10
Elite Knight Chest +10 (this is quality here, have better stats than Havel's Chest even at +9)
Heavy Leather Gauntlets +10
Antiquated skirt +5 (best leggings in the game, not question asked, and it weights 3lbs)

Other good equipments for you guys.

Helmets

Mask of the Mother
Paladin Helm +5
Gargoyle Helm +5
Crown of Dusk

Chest

Black Iron Armor +5
Sage's Robe +5
Dingy Robe +10
Paladin Armor +5
Eastern Armor

Arms

Tattered Cloth Manchette +10
Black Iron Gauntlets +5
Dark Gauntlets +5

Legs

I will continue tomorrow, I'm too tired to continue today.

I want to note something, if you want to do PvP, the most important factor is poise, I will also make some notation about that later tomorrow when I get home from work.

Another thing, Elite Knight, Steel set, and Paladin set are the top tier sets as far as weight - poise - defense ratio goes. For PvP Black Iron and Havel set are the best, just need some swapping to get the most poise out of your weight though.

DON'T POST YET!!!

I see you haven't mentioned anything about shields. Now, I'm not an authority on this game whatsoever. This is my first time playing it and I just got to Anor Lando, BUT I believe that the best shields are:

Hollow Soldier Shield (fully upgraded @ +10)
It's good against fire (75), but lacking against magic (30). And has a whopping 85 stability! Also very useful to know, is that this shield can be used to parry incoming attacks.

Silver Knight Shield (fully upgraded @ +5)
The SVK does just as well against fire as the HSS, but more importantly does a lot better in the other three categories. The stability however is a little behind the HSS with 83 stability and requires twinkling titanite to upgrade. Making the HSS more economically sound.

Black Knight Shield (fully upgraded @ +5)
The BKS does best against fire out of all the shields and also does well against lightning to boost. Lacking in the magic department though. Like the SKS, this shield needs to be upgraded via twinkling titanite. I am unsure of the exact stability it gives when fully upgraded. I cannot seem to find it by googling. If anyone knows, do tell.

Crest Shield (fully upgraded @ +5)
The Crest shield is basically worse than the above shields except in one area, and that is magic reduction (80). If you aren't facing any magic users, then you're better off using another shield. The stability is also dissapointing which is at a measely 66. O, it is also worth mentioning that the Crest Shield can be used for parrying attacks.

Greatshield of Artorias (doesn't even need to be upgraded!)
Saving the best for last, here is the Greatshield of Artorias. It has very decent stats, fire being the best at 80. But most importantly it has a stability of 88 without even having to upgrade it! It even surpasses Havel's shield which requires a whopping 55 strength to wield, wereas the GoA requires only 34! The beauty of this shield is that it doesn't need to be upgraded once you've let a blacksmith (the Giant in Anor Londo to be exact) forge it. Yes, I said forge. In order to get this shield you have to have a +10 shield (I believe any can do?) and the soul of Sif (the big pooch in the forest).

If I left out any good shield, please put down which. Although I did leave out the Grass Crest shield for a reason. Yes, it DOES increase your stamina recovery and has reasonable damage reduction against the elements. But it doesn't even have 100 physical damage reduction. That's pretty weak..

Also, everything here is based off of Dark Souls wikispace and wikidot. If there was a patch and these sites haven't been updated, then obviously these numbers are outdated. I do not yet have any of these shields upgraded to the fullest, nor am I planning on doing so.

Thank for the input guys, but I have to redo all this since most armor got nerfed and now they aren't good any more. I'm looking at you Elite Knight, Antiquated Skirt, Hollow Shield Soldier, etc.

We could have a pre patch discussion VS after patch discussion once everything is updated. :3

Would be a nice way to see what was good then and what is good now, or vice versa. ^^;

Which is good because now you will have to use something else due to it being outclassed by other shields and/or enemy damage.

[Pre patch]

My go to armor is this now, lol.

Head: Crown of Dusk
Chest: Shadow Garb
Hands: Shadow Gauntlets
Feet: Antiquated Skirt

Two pieces I didn't even bother mentioning above. ;~; It seems like Shadow is the equivalent to Black Leather, Ragged or Binded in this game. :3 Anyways, this is caster gear, but anything using Faith/Int in a scaling manner should use the Crown of Dusk.