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Rough Gear Valuation for Dummies - Needs updated to 0.73, partially out of date

Cutoff point for saying something is 'worth money' is about 20k, 'big money' is 100k+.

For almost all categories, anything below Superior is pretty much only salable to lowbies. The exception is Phase where the quality formula values mitigation, which mages ignore.

For almost any usable category, anything of Magnificent or Legendary grade is useful to someone.

Value Meaning Example
0 No one with money to pay uses this. It's better than nothing. Cotton
0.5 Exceptional pieces are useful. . . to lowbies Leather
1 Generally not used. You'll find a few highly niche builds running it though (like the Priestess Gossamer/BC Mace build). Priestess Gossamer, Shortswords
1.5 Niche or just outshined by better (though rarer) options. Oak Staff
2 2nd tier equips for secondary builds. Dagger
2.5 2nd tier equips for secondary builds. This is where money starts Deflection Kevlar, Elementalist Gossamer
3 Primary, equipment for slightly less popular/capable builds (DW/Kevlar, Elemental Mage) or 2nd-tier/common equips for popular builds. Protection Kevlar, Axe, Phase of Niflheim/Surtr
3.5 Primary for other common builds, good examples are uncommon. This is where big money starts. Phase of Mjolnir/Freyr, Ethereal Mace of Slaughter, Ebony Staff, Protection Plate
4 Primary for the most popular and effective/fast builds or primary and rare for other common builds (2H/Heavy or Shade, Holy/Dark Mage) Ethereal Estoc of Slaughter, Katalox Staff
4.5 Primary for the most popular and effective/fast builds, good examples are extremely rare Power of Slaughter, Phase of Heimdall/Fenrir, Destruction Katalox
5 This WILL get the nerfbat. Mace back when Stun added +100% damage and refreshed on Stunned targets

Abbreviation Note: Using HDA to refer to Hallowed/Demonic/Astral, the three best Elemental Strikes for anything but Ebony (where they are less valuable since Ebony users don't favor Holy/Dark/Soul spells)

Short Summary

Rapier of Balance, Club of Slaughter, Estoc of Slaughter, Mace of Slaughter are the most valuable weapons. Ethereal greatly increases value.
In Staves, you want Ebony of Destruction or Elementalist or Mjolnir/Freyr/Surtr/Niflheim or Katalox of Anything But Focus. Elemental prefix increases value, aligned Elemental prefix greatly increases value.
In Cloth, ignore anything that isn't Phase of any sort or Gossamer of Elementalist/Heaven-Sent/Demon-fiend.
In Light, you want Kevlar of Protection, Shade of Fleet or Shade of Shadowdancer.
In Heavy, you want Plate of Protection or Power of Slaughter or Power of Protection.
Any Exq+ Phase, Kevlar, Shade, Plate, Power, Mace, Estoc, Scythe, Katana, Club, Rapier, Ebony or Katalox can probably be sold to someone. Probably (troll examples abound at Exquisite).

Limitations of this article

EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON THE ACTUAL ROLLS OF THE DROP IN QUESTION. In a very randomized gear system like this one, that is simply the nature of the beast. The Value of the suffix just gives you a relative ranking of where you should spend attention on figuring out what's good. If you get a Mag Power of Slaughter that just happens to have near-minimum ADB, it's still worth very little, but it's always worth checking (and it's still probably an easy 100k from a sucker that doesn't check properly). Find a Fine Power of Slaughter with Max ADB , PMI and STR? That's 100k+ easy (potentially more), 200k+ easy if it actually has an END PAB, despite being Fine. Meanwhile, if you get a Magnificent Shortsword of the Vampire, you can be pretty confident it still isn't worth much.

One-Handed Weapons

One-Handed weapons are primarily used in DW setups. There is the occasional Sword and Board setup, but DW considerations dominate market demand and thus pricing. The most common DW setup is Club/Rapier with Light or Heavy Armor, followed by Club/Dagger (usually Light) and Axe/Rapier (usually Heavy) in no particular order.

One Handed weapons can drop with up to 4 PABs. 4 PAB examples are particularly valuable since only Butcher and Swift Strike are possible when leveling it, so no resetting would be necessary unless it's an Ethereal and the owner is fishing for a good Element (and even then, they need only fish for the element, the difference between the last point being Butcher or SS is trivial).

Dagger

  • Primary Use: DW offhand for users preferring more parry
  • Value: 2/5
  • Important Stats
    • Attack Accuracy (for offhand proc %)
    • Parry
    • PABs (STR/DEX most important, then AGI, then WIS)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Balance (the best by a large margin)
    • Nimble (only near max Parry need apply)
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything Else

Daggers are used off-hand in more defensive DW setups. Thus, the most important stats are Accuracy (for more Offhand Strikes), and Parry. Since Rapiers offer similar stats and a better proc, Daggers are not particularly popular. However, good Balance Daggers can sell for at least 50k. Ethereal doesn't help Dagger much, since they're already very light and do pitiful damage, but it's better than vanilla. Elemental (particularly HDA) is decent since the Elemental Strike adds some good damage to an otherwise anemic offhand strike. Daggers aren't popular enough to reach truly high prices.

Shortsword

  • Primary Use: DW (either hand)
  • Value: 1/5
  • Important Stats
    • Attack Accuracy (for offhand proc %)
    • Parry
    • Damage
    • PABs (STR/DEX most important, then AGI, then END. Having all 4 is valuable since it limits IW Potencies to SS/Butcher)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Balance (the best by a large margin)
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything Else

Shortswords are similar to Daggers, with higher Damage but lower Parry and Accuracy. This makes them less suited to off-hand use than a Dagger, but they don't have the damage of the Axe or the stun of a Club for mainhand use either. They aren't particularly popular, and won't fetch much. Still, given their very balanced stats, a high quality Balance isn't terrible for a DW build that wants to be more offensively focused. Rapier (offhand) or Axe (mainhand) is still better for those builds, though.

Rapier

  • Primary Use: DW offhand for PA proc and high offhand chance. Best offhand option. Occasional mainhand use
  • Value: 3.5/5
  • Important Stats
    • Attack Accuracy (for offhand proc %)
    • PA chance, PA time and Crit %
    • Parry
    • PABs (STR/DEX most important, then AGI, then END. Having all 4 is valuable since it limits IW Potencies to SS/Butcher)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Balance (the best by a large margin)
    • Nimble (only near max Parry need apply)
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Vampire/Illithid/Banshee

The Rapier is the premier off hand weapon at present. PA is an excellent proc, and Rapiers have excellent stats for off-hand use. Balance in particular offers excellent Accuracy and Crit to improve Proc chances, and Rapiers have high native Parry. Etherealness helps, as Rapiers are somewhat heavy, while an HDA Elemental prefix guarantees a useful Elemental Strike. An Exq+ Eth/HDA Rapier of Balance can be very valuable indeed (100k+ easy with good AAB, particularly good ones can probably crest the million credit mark).

Club

  • Primary Use: DW mainhand, used when the Stun proc is preferred over bleed (mostly with a Shade set)
  • Value: 3.5/5
  • Important Stats
    • Damage
    • Stun chance, Stun time
    • PABs (STR/DEX most important, then AGI, then END. Having all 4 is valuable since it limits IW Potencies to SS/Butcher)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter (the best by a large margin)
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Balance
    • Nimble
    • Vampire/Banshee

Stun competes with PA for best proc, and Club is the only 1H weapon to have Stun. Any Club is going to have pretty bad Accuracy/Parry compared to Rapiers, so they make poor offhand weapons. The best suffix for Clubs is without doubt Slaughter. Balance is very meh, Nimble is a joke and Illithid is midrange. Battlecaster is ???. Ethereal Clubs (or fully leveled ones) are strongly preferred at higher levels as Void damage is far better than Crushing. Still, a good HDA Slaughter Club will fetch a good price.

Axe

  • Primary Use: DW mainhand to maximize raw damage output
  • Value: 3/5
  • Important Stats
    • Attack Accuracy (for offhand proc %)
    • Bleed chance, Bleed % and Crit %
    • Parry
    • PABs (STR/DEX most important, then AGI, then END. Having all 4 is valuable since it limits IW Potencies to SS/Butcher)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything but Slaughter, Illithid, BC

Axes are the highest raw damage 1H weapon (though Axe/Rapier clears faster than Axe/Axe due to PA). Axe/Rapier builds combined with Heavy Armor are effective. Since Axe, like Club, will be fail at pretty much anything but raw damage, Slaughter is the best suffix, followed by Illithid or Battlecaster in a distant 2nd. Ethereal is preferred since Axes have higher than average B/I for 1H weapons. Bleed time is not as important as it is for a Scythe since you'll likely not have multiple bleeding monsters at once.

Wakizashi

  • Primary Use: Niten offhand
  • Value: 2/5
  • Important Stats
    • Attack Accuracy (for offhand proc %)
    • Parry
    • PABs (STR/DEX most important, then AGI, then WIS)
    • Damage
  • Good Suffixes
    • Balance (the best by a large margin)
    • Nimble (only near max Parry need apply)
    • Slaughter (Niten users be crazy)
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Vampire/Illithid/Banshee

Wakizashis are rare, glorified Daggers. They're worth a bit because of their rarity, otherwise they follow the same principles as Daggers. Their primary use is Niten Ichiryu, which isn't particularly popular due to prof issues (and gimped Domino Strikes), so their price is not particularly high. Some very high level players (350+) do make use of Niten though.

Two-Handed Weapons

Estoc is probably the best weapon in the game right now. Paired with Heavy Armor, it's got plenty of raw damage combined with a PA proc to tear through monsters quickly. Paired with Shade it makes for a glass cannon, so Mace is preferred for Shade builds, since the Stun allows them to avoid lots of damage. Slashing weapons are presently out of favor at high levels for high difficulties, since the Bleed changes and because PA is so very powerful. Slaughter is the best suffix by far for all 2H weapons. Drain suffixes only proc on the primary target, so they aren't as good as they are on 1H weapons.

Ethereal is preferred over Elemental for 2H because Elemental Strike only procs on the main target, and because 2H have high B/I otherwise. In fact, vanilla 2H weapons are almost always worthless to the high level players, barring absurd stats. High Ethereal 2H can be worth as much as 10x more than an equivalent vanilla 2H.

Longsword

  • Primary Use: Poor man's Scythe
  • Value: 1/5
  • Important Stats
    • Damage
    • Strength PAB
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything else, they're Longswords

Longsword was decent when Bleed was good and before the drop patches, when it was a lot easier to find a functional longsword than a good Scythe/Katana. Now, it's a lot easier to find a good Scythe and Bleed is inferior to Stun and PA, so Longswords aren't worth much anymore. I've seen Legendary Longswords on sale for 60k and not moving at all. Slaughter is of course the best suffix.

Estoc

  • Primary Use: Fastest killing weapon, normally combined with Heavy or Kevlar. Primarily a weapon for level 150+ players, when PMI on monsters starts creeping past the 50% mark.
  • Value: 4/5
  • Important Stats
    • Damage
    • PA chance, PA time and Crit %
    • PABs (STR, DEX most important, AGI useful)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything but Slaughter, Illithid

The Estoc is the fastest killing melee weapon in the game. This makes them quite popular. An Exquisite+ Ethereal/HDA Estoc of Slaughter with good numbers is big money, potentially very big. Estocs are primarily used by high level players, since PA does very little to monsters that only have <10% PMI in the first place. This means that very good ones are worth a lot, and mediocre ones are basically worthless (no 200+ will use an Exquisite Estoc of Balance, they want Exq+ Slaughter or Mag/Legendary anything and strongly prefer Eth/HDA).

Mace

  • Primary Use: Safer than Estoc, often combined with full Power or Shade since they can't afford as many retaliatory hits
  • Value: 3.5/5
  • Important Stats
    • Damage
    • Stun chance, Stun time and Crit %
    • PABs (STR, DEX most important, AGI useful)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything but Slaughter, Illithid

The Mace is the safer, slower 2H option. This makes them quite popular. An Exquisite+ Ethereal/HDA Mace of Slaughter with good numbers is big money, potentially very big. It's well worth getting Void damage on them, since Crushing damage is terrible. As such, vanilla Maces are close to worthless if not maxed in IW.

Scythe

  • Primary Use: Demolishing encounters at low levels or lower difficulties
  • Value: 3/5
  • Important Stats
    • Damage
    • Bleed chance, Bleed % Bleed time and Crit %
    • PABs (STR, DEX most important, AGI useful)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything but Slaughter, Illithid

Like Longswords, but good. Better Bleed damage and better attack damage make Scythes attractive on lower difficulties, where they can be used to quickly clear rounds even at high levels. Slaughter is good, most other suffixes are meh to bad. Top-flight Scythes are still usable for high level players clearing thousands of Normal rounds on Grindfest, since they have the highest native damage in the game.

Katana

  • Primary Use: Niten Mainhand
  • Value: 2.5/5
  • Important Stats
    • Damage
    • Bleed chance, Bleed % Bleed time and Crit %
    • PABs (STR, DEX most important, AGI useful)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything but Slaughter, Illithid

Katanas are to Longswords as Wakis are to Daggers. Ethereal is best to lose the otherwise high burden and interference. A good Katana is more important than a good Waki to Niten, so the popularity is a little higher.

Staff

Staves are annoying to judge. They have more stats than anything except Light Armor, and usually several of them are pertinent. The most pertinent are usually MDB, EDB and Prof Bonus, followed by INT and WIS. Any Staff completely lacking INT or WIS is going to be worth a lot less, and I doubt any staff lacking both could be worth much money. Ethereal does very little for Staves, wheras Elemental will nicely enhance it's value, and an Elemental bonus that lines up with the Staff's bonuses is worth a good bit if the rolls come out right. On the other hand, you can be fairly certain that any Redwood, Oak or Willow that isn't Legendary isn't worth enough to significantly regret losing it. Staves are also a common choice for Noodles (along with 2H Weapons) in hopes of that Katalox of Destruction. A side effect of this is that the market is flooded with random low Exquisite Staves (great Exquisites remain rare and expensive as ever). Given that, very few Superior Staves are worth much at all.

Redwood

  • Primary Use: Noob Staff, occasional use by high levels for the ET
  • Value: 1/5
  • Important Stats
    • MDB
    • ET Chance and time
    • INT/WIS
  • Good Suffixes
    • Destruction?
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • It's Redwood. It's all bad.

Redwood gives proficiency in everything and has the best Ether Theft. It's generalist bent is it's weakness, most Redwood isn't worth much. Exq+ can be decent, but Redwood is mostly raw materials for making LG Wood.

Oak

  • Primary Use: Holy mage that can't find a better Katalox
  • Value: 1.5/5, 2.5/5 for Heimdall, 3.5/5 for Hallowed Heimdall
  • Important Stats
    • Holy EDB (8+ base)
    • MDB
    • ET Chance and time
    • INT/WIS
  • Good Suffixes
    • Heimdall
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Earth-walker, Priestess

Earth-Walker and Priestess are jank, suitable only for bazaar/salvage. Heimdall Oak can be good money with near-max EDB and good rolls elsewhere, particularly if it's Hallowed or Demonic. However, Oak's poor base MDB hurts it badly.

Willow

  • Primary Use: Noob Staff
  • Value: 1/5
  • Important Stats
    • Dark EDB
    • MDB
    • ET Chance and time
    • INT/WIS
  • Good Suffixes
    • Destruction
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Curse-Weaver
    • Focus

Curse-Weaver is jank. Focus is mostly jank since for most players an Ebony, Katalox or even Redwood focus staff is a better choice. At least Willow has Destruction, and a Demonic Destruction staff could be worth a bit (still not big money, ever). Willow Destruction is severely lacking in raw MDB compared to Katalox or Ebony. It basically has to be Legendary to be useful to high level players. However, a Legendary Willow Destruction will easily match midrange Katalox staves, especially for Dark damage.

Ebony

  • Primary Use: Elemental Mages of any level. Low levels run Elementalist or Focus, high run Destruction/particular Element
  • Value: 3.5/5
  • Important Stats
    • MDB
    • EDB (for Elemental prefixed or suffixed staves)
    • ET Chance and time
    • INT/WIS
    • Mana Conservation (for Focus)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Destruction
    • Mjolnir/Freyr/Surtr/Niflheim
    • Elementalist
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • None, entirely dependent on stats

Ebony is the Elemental mage's choice implement. At low levels, Elementalist is king, and Exq/Mag Elementalist can easily sell for 20-50k. Good examples of Elemental Strike Elementalist can go for 100k+ at that quality. The specific element suffixes (Surtr/Niflheim/Mjolnir/Freyr) are worth about as much (though the value can go MUCH higher with an aligned prefix like Shocking Mjolnir). Destruction is again worth about the same unless it's exceptional in some way (Mag+, an aligned Element like Fire or Wind, particularly high MDB). Mag+ Elemental Strike Destruction with good rolls can easily go into the hundreds of thousands, as can almost any Legendary Ebony.

The thing about Ebony is that Elemental mages are a smaller and more diverse group than Holy/Dark, and each one wants something particular out of their staff (though Destruction remains universally popular at higher levels, especially with an aligned Element).

Katalox

  • Primary Use: High level Holy/Dark Mages
  • Value: 4/5
  • Important Stats
    • MDB
    • Holy/Dark EDB
    • ET Chance and time
    • INT/WIS
    • Mana Conservation (for Focus)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Destruction
    • Heimdall/Fenrir
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • None. It is completely dependent on it having good stats.

Katalox has the potential for big money in most of its suffixes. Demon-Fiend/Heaven-Sent is good but not great, Heimdall/Fenrir is better, and excellent examples with an HDA strike can fetch low millions. Destruction Katalox with good rolls is where the real money is though. Exquisite Katalox Staves of Destruction without glaring flaws routinely hit 500k+ on auction, and particularly good examples go well into the millions. Even Focus isn't worthless with good rolls. Katalox is almost exclusively used by level 150+ mages with access to Dark, so there is no market for midrange Katalox. It's worth big money or nothing, even more than most staves.

Shields

Shields are presently out of favor because of the sluggish kill speed of 1H setups. High block chance is still valuable, but don't expect much money from even an exceptional shield.

Buckler

  • Primary Use: Light 1H
  • Value: 1/5
  • Important Stats
    • Block Chance
    • B/I
    • PABs
  • Good Suffixes
    • Barrier
    • Nimble
    • Battlecaster
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Protection, Warding

Barrier is the best suffix, as it adds to Block Chance. Nimble is similar but worse (while it can get a higher total Parry/Block, Parry is only physical, block is both). Protection/Warding is worthless. Battlecaster is ???

Kite & Tower

  • Primary Use: Heavy 1H
  • Value: 1/5
  • Important Stats
    • Block Chance
    • B/I
    • PABs
  • Good Suffixes
    • Barrier
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Protection, Warding

Grouped due to similarities. Barrier is by far the best, Battlecaster is ???. Everything else is jank.

Cloth Armor

Mages are all about firepower and killing the enemy before it can even move. If a piece of armor doesn't advance that goal, they don't want it. Evade is good too. It should be noted that INT and WIS PABs are almost always expected on Cloth. If a piece doesn't have at least those two PABs, it is worthless to most high level players (read: players with money). Since Phase offers the best damage, it is by far the most valuable.

Cotton

  • Primary Use: Newbies that haven't found better
  • Value: 0/5
  • Important Stats
    • PXP (>300 Salvage, else Bazaar)
  • Good Suffixes
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • All of them

Cotton does not contribute anything to a mage's offensive abilities. It is therefore pretty much worthless, a way for newbies to fill in slots before they find something useful (or the free sections of WTS). Bazaar it or salvage it.

Gossamer

  • Primary Use: Low-proficiency mages to increase damage, Elementalists who use the entire cycle, and the occasional Soul mage.
  • Value: 2.5/5 for Elementalist/Heaven-Sent/Demon-fiend, 1/5 for others
  • Important Stats
    • Proficiency Bonus
    • Evade
    • PABs
  • Good Suffixes
    • Demon-Fiend
    • Heaven-Sent
    • Elementalist
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Earth-Walker
    • Curse-Weaver
    • Priestess

Gossamer adds proficiency bonuses. Elemental, Divine, and Forbidden proficiencies add 0.5% damage per level, so Elementalist, Heaven-Sent, and Demon-Fiend Gossamer can be worth money. However, Phase will add more damage as the player's proficiency increases, so most high level mages use pure Phase (some will mix in a single piece of appropriate Gossamer). Prof bonus is the stat that adds damage, and thus the most important, with PABs and Evade following. Since Gossamer (particularly Elementalist) is primarily sold to lower level mages, it does not necessarily need both INT and WIS, but lacking one curtails its value. Curse-Weaver, Priestess and Earth-Walker Gossamer have a few specialized uses, but are mostly garbage. Mag+ examples might be worth more sold to players, otherwise Bazaar them.

Phase

  • Primary Use: Higher level mages
  • Value: 4.5/5 for Heimdall/Fenrir, 3.5/5 for Mjolnir/Freyr, 3/5 for Surtr/Niflheim
  • Important Stats
    • EDB
    • Evade
    • PABs
  • Good Suffixes
    • Fenrir/Heimdall
    • Mjolnir/Freyr
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • None

Phase is the big guns. EDB is the most important stat, followed by the INT/WIS PABs, then Evade, then the AGI/DEX PABs. Phase is one of the few exceptions to the rule that anything below Fine is automatically jank, as an Average Heimdall/Fenrir with max EDB and good INT/WIS/Evade can still be worth 100k+. Heimdall and Fenrir Phase are by far the most valuable, followed by Mjolnir and Freyr, followed closely by Surtr and Niflheim. There are no bad suffixes here, only less-than-awesome ones. Even a Niflheim piece can be worth big money if it's high quality (Exq+ 3 PAB). There'e even a market for mediocre Fenrir/Heimdall phase given how popular Holy/Dark style is compared to Elemental, but the market for mediocre Elemental is mainly lower level players, so there's not much money there. On the other hand, truly good Elemental phase is still worth a lot, as the few high level Elemental mages are willing to pay handsomely for top-flight pieces.

4 PAB Phase is of course the most valuable, followed by AGI/INT/WIS, then DEX/INT/WIS, then standard INT/WIS Phase. Troll phase (pieces missing INT or WIS) are of course worth little (you might still eke out a bit from a Heimdall/Fenrir one with excellent stats elsewhere). Most players that don't bazaar/salvage troll phase give it to newbies for free.

Light Armor

Light builds are split among Mitigation based Kevlar builds and Evade based Shade builds. Any Exq+ Kevlar or Shade piece has the potential to be worth at least 20k, often more (especially Mag/Leg ones)

Leather

  • Primary Use: Lowbies that haven't found better
  • Value: 0.5/5
  • Important Stats
    • PXP (Salvage if >300, else Bazaar)
  • "Good" Suffixes
    • None
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • All of them

Leather is pretty much strictly worse than both Kevlar and Shade. Unlike Cotton, it at least adds noticeable PMI, but it's still universally jank.

Kevlar

  • Primary Use: Mitigation based Light Armor builds (usually combined with DW or Estoc)
  • Value: 3/5
  • Important Stats
    • PMI
    • Evade
    • PABs (DEX/AGI most important, then STR/END, then WIS, then INT)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Protection
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Specific Mitigations

Kevlar is Light Armor's answer to Plate. Kevlar lives and dies by PMI and PABs. As such, Protection is the best suffix. The other 3 suffixes are specific physical mitigations, and while not utterly worthless they have to be very high quality to be worth anything. Exq+ can be sold for a nice sum if they've got the PABs to back up their prefix. Kevlar's high PMI allows the use of an Estoc rather than a Mace, but most players prefer the direct damage improvement of Shade. It is the most defensive Light Armor.

Shade

  • Primary Use: Evade-based Light Armor builds (usually combined with DW or Mace)
  • Value: 4.5/5 for Shadowdancer, 4 for Fleet, 3/5 for Arcanist/Negation
  • Important Stats
    • Evade
    • ADB
    • PMI
    • PABs (DEX/AGI most important, then STR/END, then WIS, then INT. Arcanist may place more emphasis on INT/WIS)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Shadowdancer
    • Fleet
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • None, though Negation is undoubtedly the worst

Shade is Light Armor's answer to Power Armor. Unlike Kevlar, Shade has only mediocre PMI and instead uses Evade to avoid damage. Evade, PMI, PABs and ADB are important to Shade, and the best suffixes are therefore Shadowdancer and Fleet (Shadowdancer can almost match Fleet's evade with better offense, but top-tier Shadowdancer is rarely sold while Exq+ Fleet is frequently at auction). Arcanist is a niche suffix but used for the near-Cloth low Interference, but even good Negation can be sold (though at a steep discount compared to better suffixes, Arcanist is strictly better).

Heavy Armor

Heavy armor is presently considered the best for clearing at high difficulties due to the consistent defense of high PMI. Power Armor's very high ADB and the ability to Feather your armor and avoid the downsides doesn't hurt things either. Any Exq+ Plate or Power has the potential to be worth money, particularly Mag/Leg. The STR and END PABs are very important to these pieces, as they add PMI (and damage for STR). No piece lacking one will become serious money (a Power Slaughter without END can still fetch 100k easy enough, but it won't shoot off into the millions like 4 PAB ones can).

Plate

  • Primary Use: Combined with Power Armor to bring PMI up to survivable levels
  • Value: 3.5/5 for Protection, 2.5/5 for everything else
  • Important Stats
    • PMI
    • END PAB
    • PMI
    • STR/DEX PABs
    • B/I
    • Did I mention PMI and END PAB?
  • Good Suffixes
    • Protection
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything Else

Plate is all about the PMI, with END,STR, and DEX PABs close behind. Since END and STR both add PMI, the PAB rolls end up being more important than the raw PMI roll at high levels since they scale a lot faster (Plate without STR/END isn't good, Plate without END is worthless to anyone above level 100). Protection is the best suffix by far, but Plate has such good PMI naturally that any suffix can be sold if it's Exq+,near max PMI and good PABs. Most non-Protection is still Bazaar trash though. The thing about Plate is that it's Tier 1, so only the most exceptional pieces are worth serious money. The bog standard Superior Plate X of Protection is usually worth about 3-5k, and decent Exq Prot is 15-50k (can go higher for near-perfect pieces). Top of the line Plate of Protection (mag/leg, all PABs, near max mag/leg PMI) can fetch millions easily.

Shield

  • Primary Use: Tank builds, 1H builds to proc Counter Attacks on Blocks
  • Popularity: 3/5 for Barrier, 2.5/5 Protection, otherwise 2/5
  • Important Stats
    • Block %
    • PMI
    • PABs (Again, END and STR most important)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Barrier
    • Protection
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Everything Else

Shield is a different take on Heavy, trading the PMI of Plate and the sheer damage of Power for the ability to just outright ignore a significant chunk of enemy attacks. It's probably the tankiest armor available. Barrier suffix increases Block, making it the best suffix, and a base Block of 10+ is preferred on Barrier pieces (Feet can get away with 8+). Protection is next best, with the rest being rather poor as Shield is not popular. Plate of Protection mixes with Power Armor better.

Power

  • Primary Use: KILL ALL THE THINGS!
  • Popularity: 4.5/5 for Slaughter, 4/5 for others
  • Important Stats
    • ADB
    • PMI
    • PAB (STR, END, DEX most important)
  • Good Suffixes
    • Slaughter
    • Protection
  • Crappy Suffixes
    • Warding (and even that's worth money with good rolls)

Power Armor is all about getting just enough survivability from PMI and then adding as much face-smashing ADB as you possibly can. It's usually mixed with a few excellent Plate pieces for survivability. Slaughter Power with good ADB, STR, and PMI is worth serious money, with Exquisite+ pieces going into the millions (even 4 PAB Superiors). Protection is next most valuable (and significantly cheaper), with Balance being next in line. Warding is least favored, but even that can be sold for a decent bit if it's high quality (Sup+) with good PMI and ADB.


Quick Notes

Monster stat scaling: 0.1*Base_Stat*level+y Bonus = 0.33 * level^1.08

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