How useful is Riot Gear?

[Crows]

I'm playing a PSI-hybrid: Sniper/SMG + Metathermics, with enough TM and PK to get to Stasis and Forcefield respectively. I've been waffling back and forth between the standard beetle tac vest and riot gear (no shield), which was buffed since the last time I played. The buffs seem really nice - double mech resistance/threshold from melee and a free +2 threshold base seem great - but I'm not sure if it'll make me tankier than the huge DT bump I can get from a nice beetle carapace. I'm only running 3 CON on Hard, so maybe my health is too low to worry about surviving melee attacks?

Is it potentially worth picking up Ballistics on Riot Gear?

Also, on an unrelated note, does anyone know what the scaling is for metal plate reinforcement on boots? I have steel plates and some Ancient Rathound leather at similar quality (~100), and the Leather boots + steel reinforcement have better defenses than the pure steel boots with the same armor penalty.

[harperfan7]

Dont use riot gear (especially without a shield) unless you KNOW you're going to need melee defense in particular. 

[Crows]

When do you think you *need* melee defense? I'd imagine Depot A, possibly Foundry and some parts of the Black Sea (but by then ideally you can keep things at arm's length).

I'm going to assume that's also a no to Ballistics, which is huge shame because that +3 threshold would be doing double duty for shooting and melee. I remember thinking it was the coolest feat too - felt like I was invincible in GMS!

[harperfan7]

Ballistics is great in the early game, and it's always useful, just not an ideal use of a feat.  You'd be better off with mutated dog leather in depot A, yes that one part of foundry is perfect for riot gear, and yeah, basically anywhere you're fighting wildlife.  Certain arena fights.  Strongmen/handmaidens. 

[Bruno]

Riot gear is good if you are adventuring into areas where there could be stealthed melee enemies who want to stab/sting/rip your guts out.

With shield, it can help in aborting an enemy machete flurry attack. I think it also procs riposte from your machete, so synergy there.

[Vokial]

Ballistics doesn't worth it in Riot-; or Metal Armor but it is very good in Tactical Vests, especially with specialisation. It amplifies the bonus of Kevlar cloth too (which is best paired with Super Steel sheet). But even without that, a penalty free +18 DT in Tac-Vests surely helps to mitigate the damage, especially against burst weapons and possibly shotgun pellets, as instead of a single high damage shot, they fire many projectiles with low individual damage.

[Exterminator]

Riot gear + High/High energy shield is my favourite defensive setup - it protects you well both in melee and against ranged attackers.