So I've been running a lot of 55 HM FPs and my Guradian lately, and a couple SM Ops, and as I've gotten more and more of the 162 rated stuff, I'm thinking about going back down to my 156 rated enhancements. I obviously want the 162 hilts/armorings/mods, there's no downside to going from Elusive 28Bs to Elusive 30Bs, and the more Armoring Rating the better. But switching from Immunity 28s to Bastion 30s (even 31s!) is just a loss of mitigation, for not much health! (A set of Immunity 28s has 56 more mitigation than a set of Bastion 31s, and I still have plenty of Shield with the Veracity ears/implants.)

 

Oh yeah! And the Veracity ears/implants, 62/105/36 & 98/105/0 x2? Why would I want even the Underworld ears/implants? For 50 more Endurance at the cost of 51 mitigation? No thanks!

 

So is this what most tanks are doing? Just feels weird to only be interested in Hilt/Armoring/Mod, and basically ignoring Ears/Implants/Enhancements, because I crafted better than I can get from HM Ops...

Edited July 26, 2013 by Eugee

What kind of enhancements are you using? From what I've seen is that the immunity enhancements 28 give 66 shield and 43 def the bastion 31s give 79 shield and 32 def sot that's 2 def stats more and a bunch of endurance. I agree that the difference is way to small but still the extra hp they give never hurts. Edited July 26, 2013 by Hoebert

Woops, I put 72/32 in my math when I was looking at Underworld (thinking "72").

 

It's 14 more mitigation (and a lot of endurance) to take 7x Bastion 31. But Immunity 28s are better than Bastion 30s in my opinion. I doubt I'll ever really do HM Ops, so Arkanian is probably where I'll top out, and I think I'd be best off to go with Veracity Ear/Implants & Immunity 28s in that case. (2133 mitigation)

for a second, a while back, i found that using the purple 66 gear was better for mitigation than the 72 gear (79shield 34 defense/absorb iirc), but not by much. i think it came out to taking 2 dps less assuming 4500 incoming dps. however, that came at the sacrafice of 2k health or something... so i kind of ended up not suggesting using 66s based on everyones' opnionon that it was not worth the 2k health loss.

 

the funniest part though is you end up with 14 less mitigation stats using the 66s, but because they are more in line with optimal distribution, the 66s came out ahead of the 72s.

I doubt I'll ever get more than SM Operations for awhile, so Arkanian is probably the best I'm going to do. I like my crafted ear/implants as well (62/105/36 ear, and 2x 98/105/0 implants). So if I plan that out real quick:

 

Arkanian w/ 66 enhancements: Mod 52, Enh 66/43, Aug 32, Ear/Imp 609 = Rating 2288 (2300)

Target = 1019/839/442

9 def mods, 7 shield/def enh, 2 shield augs, 12 absorb augs

Final = 1027/841/420

From AMR: 30340 health, 20.3% def, 40.35% shield, 30.56% absorb = 37.17% unmitigated = 81621 eff.health?

 

Full Arkanian: Mod 52, Enh 72/29, Aug 32, +Ear/Imp= Rating 2232 (2200)

Target = 1004/802/393

9 def mod, 7 shield/def enh, 3 def aug, 11 absorb aug

Final = 1025/819/388

From AMR: 31899 health, 20.28% def, 40% shield, 37.35% absorb = 37.35% unmitigated = 85408 eff.health?

 

I know that's a REALLY dumbed down effective health, I just wanted a comparison number. It's a 56 point mitigation difference to keep the 66 purple enhances, in exchange for 155 points of endurance. I guess with that magic 2.5:1 ratio proposed awhile back, the Bastions make more sense.

By the way, should I be going for Might Armoring or Guardian Armoring? I know the extra Strength means more damage blocked with Blade Storm, but is it worth giving up so much Endurance? With 169 rated armorings, that's giving up 80 endurance for 72 strength.

You cannot get high might versions of the set bonus armorings, so all you can do is waist, bracers, mainhand, offhand, and 1 more. So you have 5 to play with. I think it's mostly a wash, but you'll find people who argue both ways.