I understand that a superior archon plate is probably best for enigma, but is superior mage plate a viable option in some instances? For example, my summon necro—I would think that an enigma in a 15% ED mage plate may not be a bad idea because his defense is already pretty low and I’d rather bump up his vit as much as I can.
Please let me know your thoughts and if an enigma in a 15% ED mage plate is a wise or unwise move. I assume it’s all about the circumstances lol
Pvm use mage plate.
PVP use arcon plate.
For locks use Dusk…
Ap to much strange req, and the extra def is almost usles in pvm.
Mage plate enigma is the meta armor of choice… basically. If you can muster up more strength without investing points you won’t need, you can choose Dusk Shroud, Scarab Husk, or Archon Plate as well. But the Mage Plate is what most people seek for.
Maybe if you’re barb, but that’s it, and even a pvm Barb would pick AP.
Ok so mage plate it is— thank you a lot. I have a 14% ED mage plate and have been waiting to make the enigma because, well, I’m scared of doing something dumb lol. But now I feel confident about what I’ll do. Thanks so much !
Remember put in runes the right way… JAH ITH BER
Wait, it actually depends mostly on the fact if you using a monarch shield or not (which lots of builds do). This is high level optimization and not 100% needed but if you want it perfect, read this:
First, more defense is nice but the rule is: life >>> armor’s defense.
As long as you dont need to spend additional strengh to wear better armor, use the better armor. Also calculate that enigma gives additional strengh.
Example:
Hammerdin uses low str req sacred targe shield. Mage Plate is best choice here because you dont need to put any point into strengh to wear mage plate and enigma gives enough to wear all the rest of gear. And you have full points to put into life.
But lets take Javazon on the other hand, she mostly uses monarch shield which needs 156 strength, means enigma dont give enough strengh and you need to invest strengh. And so since you invest str anyways, you can also go for higher enigma base like dusk shroud or archon plate to make use of higher defense.
Dusk is the best option though it can be argued breast plate is just as good.
Yeah but unless you’re just swimming in bers and jahs to make multiple enigmas, it’s best to use the lowest strength requirement scenario. Just use a dusk shroud, or even a breast plate. Defense doesn’t matter at all past like level 86. And also doesn’t matter before that level if you’re moving anyway.
I agree, but mage plate has the less strength requirement
Does it. Well the bottom line is it doesn’t really matter, so long as any character can wear it. I always go with breast plate. I get the dusk shroud argument because it can have a lot more defense if someone insists on having it. Mage plate has less so it’s kind of like why bother maybe.
Ok breast plate has less but usually you should actually have enough base str for mageplate also, which makes mageplate the strongest choice for no str investment
I mean, it’s the strongest if you care about defense that doesn’t actually do anything. Defense stops working based on enemy level vs your own level. It becomes completely arbitrary what base you use so long as it’s not a problem to wear on any character. SO long as it’s light armor so there’s no movement speed penalty.
Dusk Shrouds need some huge repair cost, unless you dont mind spending ral’s for repair.
Do you have source for that? I mean i agree its far less important than having points into life but how does it do nothing
Ur talking about the superior version of it i guess?
Not quite true.
Defense increases evasion rate, in other words chances of enemies to miss hits on you.
Just hover your mouse click into defense to check % of enemies miss chance.
Most important in PVP (or well at least used to because of current FHR changes). But seems FHR for PVE was untouched, reaching FHR breakpoints is more important than defense.
I had a BP enigma before, it was awesome. A lot of zero strength build possibilities. 
If you want a full detailed run down, ask MacroBioBoi who streams on twitch a lot. He’s a writer with Maxroll, and does a lot of the mathematical run downs. He’ll go over the math, which I have a hard time reiterating. I’ve heard him explain it several times now and I’m convinced. Defense is not only fairly useless when it works, but you outlevel even that usefulness vs. the monsters you end up fighting.
i dont know if its still a thing. but you also run slower or drain stamina faster with some of the amors, at least it was like this years ago.
Light plate is also a great low str amor for enigma.
Breast Plate (30 str, 854 max def)
Light Plate (41 str, 899 max def)
Mage Plate (55 str, 1076 max def)
Dusk Shroud (77 str, 1313 max def)
Wyrmhide (84 str, 1316 max def)
Scarab Husk (95 str, 1321 max def)
Archon Plate (103 str, 1378 max def)
you’re still going to have to get 156str to wear spirit
The thing with that is that not every class and build uses spirit shields. So if you want to be able to use your enigma on other characters effectively, you should just get something that is super low strength requirements.