Infused rathound leather armour

[Valor]

It is a shame that 99% of leather armour wearing builds (with crafting) use infused rathound in the end. Sadly other options are not good enough. Crit is too valuable for all builds. But I do not wish for it to be nerfed, rather other options brought up to par.

[ShoggothWhisperer]

It is a shame that 99% of leather armour wearing builds (with crafting) use infused rathound in the end. Sadly other options are not good enough. Crit is too valuable for all builds. But I do not wish for it to be nerfed, rather other options brought up to par.

Bruh. Infused rat is only good on 3 con stealth glass cannon builds that focus on crits. Infused Wyrm can give you immunity to all melee damage with high quality leather and high density foam padding. Infused heartbreaker gives you enough bio resist to tank all bio damage in the game, and has enough mechanical resistance to tank enemies like shroom chompers and locusts. Infused bison’s cold resistance is basically required for the utility tower dungeon, and it can get 50%+ mechanical resist at just 22% armor penalty. Greater Siphoner has excellent resists, and the evasion boost is great to use with the demolitionist belt and plasma grenades to resist nearly all of the damage. Infused Ancient rathound can get you to 100% mechanical, heat, and cold resistance. Infused hopper leather armor can give mobility equivalent to a set of tabi boots. Each leather armor has its uses, although infused rat is never a bad choice.

[Valor]

1. You should not compare low AP leathers to high AP ones. Wyrm sure is good but the AP puts it to heavier tact vest/Riot gear category. But again, most leather users will be low AP ones.

2. Sure heartbreaker and bison have some use, but given that the best defence is to kill everything or just move out of range it is hardly comparable. You craft Bison for 1 dungeon but still ...

3. G. Siphoner, one specific very niche build, and it is very questionable anyway.
 
4. Hopper is decent, have some uses, but I rarely see anyone picking it over rathound.

[Tytyger]

it seems you undervalue complete melee immunity, heartbeaker quality of life and persuasion checks, bison and ancient rathound tanking potential while still be able to move around freely

[ShoggothWhisperer]

1. You should not compare low AP leathers to high AP ones. Wyrm sure is good but the AP puts it to heavier tact vest/Riot gear category. But again, most leather users will be low AP ones.

2. Sure heartbreaker and bison have some use, but given that the best defence is to kill everything or just move out of range it is hardly comparable. You craft Bison for 1 dungeon but still ...

3. G. Siphoner, one specific very niche build, and it is very questionable anyway.
 
4. Hopper is decent, have some uses, but I rarely see anyone picking it over rathound.

Think about what builds don’t want to use infused rat. Hammer and spear builds already kill most enemies in one hit, so focusing crit on them is rather pointless when you could use Infused Bison to become extremely tanky while maintaining low armor penalty. Swords want to build flurry stacks, so killing an enemy with a crit on the first hit can prevent further flurries that turn. Ranged weapon builds with the exception of shotgun already can reliably reach 100% crit with ambush and other sources, and are better served with Greater Siphoner if they are evasive and want acid puddle/Molotov fire resist or hopper if they want mobility. Psi is unaffected by rat crit boost, as are throwing knives and grenades, so evasive psi and throwing builds are also served well by Greater Siphoner or hopper. Any 10+ con build without a required belt that can afford 7 will wants to wear Ancient Rat and the lifting belt, since that gets you at least 40% mechanical resist at full health with brew, and 100% mechanical resistance at 60% health with morphine and stoicism. Strongman punches and death stalkers stings simply bounce off your invulnerable skin, and sniper rounds do nothing at 100% resistance. The only build that wants to run infused rat are crit fists/unarmed/knife.