Choice of Armor
I remember once reading a discussion about this back when the Armor skills came out. Everyone was excited due to the new usefulness of what was considered one of Mabinogi's more less thought out concepts, armor.
In Generation 1, Heavy Armor would give 15 defense and 10 protection when fully upgraded. Compared to Light Armor which would give 7 and 8 if you include accessories. The differences were very slight and would get even slighter as enemy power increased and armor meant less and less. This was when Light and Heavy Armor Mastery came in.
The addition of Royal Knight Armor which can receive the Magic Armor Upgrades and Magic Armor Artisan was something that tipped the Heavy Armor and Light Armor Argument.
Heavy Armor Mastery is, through sheer defense, more powerful than Light Armor, but causes the wielder to lose a percentage of their dexterity at every rank except rank F. Many people circumvent this by wearing Royal Knight Armor while keeping Heavy Armor Mastery at rank F.
Light Armor Mastery loses to Heavy Armor Mastery in every way except for the dexterity reduction.
Now, our favorite average, mid-game player, Milletian, wants to find a good balance between survivability and damage. To that end he:
bought 1.45 million NX in order to reset his Artisan Upgrades and skill ranks.
has a sworn hatred of any Dragon Armor from either Langhuris or Bhafel, thus refusing to use them.
is willing to buy any gear necessary, made by his server's best crafter.
is probably still going to wear fashion clothes in most of his dungeons and shadow missions anyway.
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When trying to determine the best possible outcome, there are only a few viable options.
First is by leaving Heavy Armor Mastery at rank F and using Royal Knight Armor or something with a set bonus. This allows you to keep your dexterity while gaining some defense.
The second method is by doing the same as above, but using rank 1 Heavy Armor Mastery instead. This allows for much more defense at the price of dexterity, also allowing you to equip accessories.
The last is by using rank 1 Light Armor Mastery with Royal Diamond Leather Armor or Chinese Dragon Armor. This allows you to take advantage of a set bonuses, gaining armor while keeping dexterity.
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The first method using Royal Knight Armor will give you 34 defense, 22 protection, 3 magic defense and 2 magic protection. This will also give you 20% passive defense against melee and ranged attacks.
Using the Thames Set will give you 12 defense, 10 protection, no magic defense or magic protection, but will increase your Smash and Assault Slash damage.
This method will keep your dexterity, but you will still lose fighter skill damage. At rank 1 Chain Mastery this will result in a 20% damage reduction on Drop Kick and Pummel. You also can not use any accessories like the Purple Heart which will increase your base stats by 10 each or Drosera which will add more defense and protection.
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The second method using Royal Knight Armor will give you 53 defense, 31 protection, 13 magic defense and 7 magic protection. This will also give you 26% passive defense in melee and ranged.
Using Thames Set will give you 31 defense, 19 protection, 10 magic defense and 5 magic protection, while allowing your Smash and Assault Slash to deal more damage.
You will lose dexterity this way, which reduces all of your damage very slightly through lack of piercing. It also makes it unviable to use bows this way, and puppetry takes a hit to damage as well. Fighters will also lose their Chain 3 damage. This path is mainly chosen by melee users who don't need dexterity for their damage.
You can use accessories to add more defense and protection this way due to your higher ranking Heavy Armor Mastery. Purple Hearts will add to your damage with a slight bonus to defense. Droseras will add a more powerful defense bonus.
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The final method using Royal Diamond Leather Light Armor gives you 24 defense, 15 protection, 8 magic defense and 8 magic protection while allowing you to keep your dexterity and fighter damage. The only reason to follow this route is to keep your fighter damage high, as having rank F Heavy Armor Mastery with Royal Knight Armor is better in every way but that.
You can also use Chinese Dragon Armor which will give you increased attack speed for guns and Final Hitting, which will only give 19 defense, 11 protection, 8 magic defense and 3 magic protection. Again, the only reason to do this is for gun and Final Hit Speed.
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Each armor choice that is viable has different allures to them. As long as you have infinite funds but don't want to use Languhiris or Bhafel armor, there are choices you need to make. If you're using Light Armor for defense, the only reason to do so is because you're a fighter. If you're a gunner, you will want Attack Speed bonuses on your light armor.
If you want to be flexible with Heavy Armor, keeping it at rank F will allow you to keep dexterity for puppets and bows while having higher stats than light armor, at the cost of fighter damage and being unable to use accessories.
Otherwise, if you're only going for a melee, alchemy or magic class, ranking Heavy Armor Mastery to rank 1 could be desirable, which will allow you to use accessories and further increase your defense at the cost of dexterity.
Throwing Dragon Armor into the mix changes this significantly, but until then, this should cover all usable armors that don't cost your soul to craft.
