Useless Rares (in General)

All the rare armor in the game (aside from tattoo's)

adamantite cuirass [40]combat gi [1]mithril chain mail [28]mithril cuirass [35]cloak of the istari [6]
elven cloak [4]shadow cloak [11]elven boots [6]chain mail leggings [14]displacement boots [6]alatar's gloves [0]
beleg's gloves [3]elven gloves [3]helm's gauntlets [4]tulkas' gauntlets [6]cornuthaum [0]helm of durin [9]
helm of ecthelion [6]buckler of mandos [8]mage shield [0]mithril shield [15]

Rare armor that doesn’t do anything

adamantite curiass [40]........ higest base AC in the game / negatives to almost everything else
mithril curiass [35]......... second highest base AC / negatives to almost everything else
shadow cloak [11].......... no bonuses at all / plenty of negatives
chain mail leggings [14]........... no bonuses / plenty of negatives
helm of durin [9]............ no bonuses / plenty of negatives
mithril shield [15]............no bonuses / most negatives in the game

I was just doing some reasearch and i noticed that some of the rare equipment, that goes for such high prices, isnt worth anything at all other than AC... but if you want AC then you can just forge of BS it... so why have these rares at all if your not going to be grranted anything but AC... it seems to me that the best equipment in the game is the evlen stuff and the rare gloves... the only bonus to having the other rares is the base AC, which doesn't reduce damage all that much anyway...

so how about some ideas that can make these otherwise useless rares, more usefull...

When a wall can't be defeated because it has all this gear on it, then we will see if it's useless.

Well this suggestion would require a couple changes, but it would be fun none the less. Make certain armor more useful against certain types of weapons. Like make weapons all have different types: piercing, slashing and bludgeoning. Some armor would be more useful against higher damage weapons of one type. I dunno just throwing it out there.

hey brain... i understand that having an incredible AC can come in handy... BUT, it cant stand alone to the massive amounts of damage that most of the higher ups' are capable of... like take an elven long sword for example... i know this sounds crazy but, forge it up to (x200) and throw in a BoM (+100) along with some elven gear at the same level and see if your high AC can stop armagedon...

csraven:

Just take a look at my wall and see if it does not help me in battle. Even vs DAWG my wall lasts through missile vs his 54 million NW elb and then lasts 1-2 melee rounds vs his 54 million NW MH.

So AC=Good; for me at least.

Also, a MC is a great armor. Great AC with only a 2% dex penalty. And remember AC helps protect vs GA which is a great thing.

You have to remember that the pure AC armor generally have much better upgrade curves than the stat boosting ones.

adamantite curiass [40] - highest AC body armor and cheapest to upgrade in the game.
mithril curiass [35] - not useless, very good for light tanks.
shadow cloak [11] - highest AC Cloak and cheapest to upgrade in the game.
chain mail leggings [14] - highest AC foot wear and cheapest to upgrade in the .game
helm of durin [9] - highest AC head gear and cheapest to upgrade in the game.
mithril shield [15] - highest AC Shield and cheapest to upgrade in the game.

useless? hardly

Now Tulwars are useless.

You're absolutely right. Compared to the good ole Double Chain Mail, those rare items you've listed are completely useless.

</sarcasm>

well i see your points, and theyre all good ones... mabey im just not strong enough yet

Every strat use different type of armor.
easy:
Wall=Adam,SC,CML,MgS or MS etc...
Mage=MCM,AG,COI etc...
Tank=MC,EG,EC,Tulka's etc...
etc... for all other strat.

A high AC is much more effective than you might think. On average, 238 AC makes your HP twice as effective, a 100% bonus to HP. Half that much AC, 119 AC already works as a 33% HP bonus.

For high AC, there is no other way than to go for these items, as they have a much flatter upgrade curve than say a pair of leather boots.

just remember that once u hit 100% dmg reduction it means 100% dmg reduction and not 100% hp increase :)

CML's alone are worth their weight alone if you can't afford DBs. You can get 45 ac off those things fairly cheap.

Now the HoD, don't get me started. Useless.

100% dmg reduction would mean an infinite bonus to HP ;)