I think it needs to be thought about what the purpose of this armor is and what builds it can be suited for. Steel Carapace has three things that stand out about it. First, Chance to Cast Iron Maiden When Struck. This implies a theme of returning damage, you run with this theme by adding Attacker Takes Damage.
The problem with this is that this is just a bad theme. Tactics that depend on reflecting damage necessitate getting hit in the first place, which runs counter to all other things you are trying to do. The only other stat on this armor that supports this is the Faster Hit Recovery. However, this is elite base armor, which means you are going to be in Hell Difficulty, and not getting hit is even more important. Furthermore, the Iron Maiden spell is horrible in the “when struck” category of Chance to Cast. At level 6 it has a duration of only 24 seconds, which at 8% chance to cast means you have to get hit roughly 26 times a minute to have Iron Maiden up half the time. Furthermore, Iron Maiden only returns damage when you are actually dealt damage. It’s a decent skill for a Necromancer with Skeletons and Golems to take the hits, and where he can just cast it on monsters, but not a huge benefit to a melee character after Nightmare. Other characters that might benefit would be a Summon Druid, an Amazon with a focus on Decoy and/or Valkyrie, a Conversion Paladin, and maybe an Assassin with a strong Shadow, but only if they could inflict the curse without being in melee themselves.
The second thing to stand out is the Regenerate Mana, useless to something like a Barbarian who is one of the few characters that could even theoretically tank the hits to benefit from Iron Maiden. It would be more useful for a Sorceress, or maybe a caster Druid. Or perhaps an Amazon who struggles with mana. Hmm… an idea there…
The third item that sticks out is Repairs Durability, which is nice I guess, but not the most useful on a non-Ethereal piece of armor, which is the other thing you lean into. Except this thing is named Steel Carapace, not Ghostly, or Spiritual, or anything else that might give the image of always Ethereal, nor does the image (which is pretty cool) give the impression of Ethereal either, suggesting more physical and magical synergies instead.
The name tends to suggest a bog-standard defensive armor, but that role is already filled much better by other armors, and it’s not Classic Diablo so that role is even more narrow. I would suggest leaning into making this suitable for an Amazon/Druid, and would do that with one major change, make it: 18% Chance to Cast Level 6 Iron Maiden on Striking.
Okay, that suddenly makes this armor much more interesting for an Amazon who uses Decoy or Valkyrie. Not the best for Freezing Arrow or Lighting Fury (the top Amazon builds) or the melee Spearazons, but it would work very well with Strafe, and decently well with Exploding/Immolation Arrow and Plague Javelin Amazons. It would also work well for a Summoner Druid, and possibly a Blade Fury Assassin with a decent Shadow.
Okay, now it’s just little tweaks to make it fit those roles better. It might be worthwhile to increase the Faster Hit Recovery to 27%, that hits one higher breakpoint for both the Druid and Assassin, without effecting the Amazon. Resistances are lacking for Hell Difficulty (as is a problem with almost all of the unique armors). Amazons and Summoner Druids can skimp a little bit on Resistances, but not a huge amount. Maybe give it +40% Fire and Lightning Resistances? Possibly, minus Requirements, because 230 strength is a bit much for an Amazon to invest… but probably not the -30% as that would bring it down to 161 Strength, and it ought require a bit more strength than a typical Amazon build. Okay, so this is what I end up with:
Steel Carapace
Shadow Plate
Defense: 1618-1785
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 184
Durability: 70
-20% Requirements
+190-220% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana 10-15%
+27% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +40-60%
Fire Resist +30%-40%
Lighting Resist +30%-40%
Damage Reduced by 9-14
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
8%-18% To Cast Level 6 Iron Maiden on Striking
There, a bit of a niche build armor, but interesting and viable for an odd Amazon or Druid build and it builds off what is already there.
I guess I really don’t get where any of this is coming from. Leviathan does not make me think Fire Damage at all. It implies something more like Crushing Blow or shrugging off damage (which is its current theme). Main thing it lacks is Resistances, which also seem to me to be in the Leviathan theme. I’d suggest something like this:
Leviathan
Kraken Shell
Defense: 1514-1722
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 174
+170-200% Enhanced Defense
+100-150 Defense
+40-50 To Strength
15%-25% Chance of Crushing Blow
All Resist +20%-30%
Damage Reduced By 15-25%
Indestructible
It would be a real choice for combat character that needs high strength for some other piece of equipment.
Don’t really see that helping much. Its theme seems to be around concealment and curses, so maybe something like Cloak of Shadows or Dim Vision. We have a lot of Cloak of Shadows charges already floating around, so I’m leaning toward Dim Vision as an O-skill. That could benefit Amazons or Sorceress who want to be a bit more sneaky. Add a Weaken curse when struck and that would make an interesting piece of armor for a range character who wants to sneak attack enemies. It’s also missing resistances, which is a struggle for elite armor, and seems to fit the name Black Hades well to, so I’m not sure why it doesn’t have that. So I’d suggest:
Black Hades
Chaos Armor
Defense: 823-1029
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 140
Durability: 70
+140-200% Enhanced Defense
+30-60% Damage To Demons
+200-250 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Half Freeze Duration
All Resistances +30%-60%
Socketed (3)
-2 To Light Radius
+3 to Dim Vision
14% Chance to Cast Level 7 Weaken when Struck
There, that’s pretty useful to a ranged character, the sockets could be used for Rainbow faucets for elemental Amazons or Sorceresses, and a physical Bowazon could use IAS/Damage jewels.
Make it +1-3 Charge instead of Smite. That’s more thematic, and with the Holy Freeze would be great for a Jab/Impale/Fend Amazon.
My pretty comprehensive thread on improving sets. I’ve also included it far up thread here.
Perhaps you can comment in my thread once PTR reopens for 2.6, and we can get some attention on it again.