[Non-Renewal] BG vs KvM gear

[Zshinobi]

I've always wondered, if both were available to you, which would you use? KvM has superior stats in general, however BG has slots. And certain stat differences.

For this example let's use a 99int/99dex HW.

Warlock's Battle Wand
MATK + 15%
INT + 3
DEX + 3
Increases magical damage against [Demi-Human] race monsters by 15%
Adds a 5% chance to Stun opponents with your magic

vs

Glorious Arc Wand
MATK + 15%
Increases magical damage against [Demi-Human] race monsters by 15%
On Demi-Human race monsters, ignore 25% MDEF
+1% MATK per refine

The KvM wand combines the Demi-Human effects of both BG wands, in exchange for losing 3 DEX and 3/4 INT, as well at the 5% stun chance. I wouldn't really know which to pick lol.

And the armor for a HW:

BG set
9 DEF
4 MDEF
300 MHP
12% MHP
3 INT
4% Demi-Human resist
20% Stun resist
0% Freeze resist
0% MATK

Glorious set
0 DEF
0 MDEF
0 MHP
35% MHP
0 INT
16% Demi-Human resist
0% Stun resist
100% Freeze resist
5% MATK

In this case I would personally go for the BG armor set, as the slots seem to be able to make up for the differences.

This is probably best analyzed on a class by class basis, but what are your general thoughts?

[Triper]

In my opinion, if you're using a 1 vit char, go with the bg one and abuse the anti-stun bonus for -100% stun. The stun rod is better simple because it forces people without 97 vit to get anti-stun or they will get screwed. It also gives dex which is always a +1.

KVM set is more for tankers like 97 vit profs.

[Kensei]

As you said, it's pretty much class basic. Certain classes are better wearing BG gears, some are better wearing KvM gears.

For weapons, KvM generally gives more "defense penetration" or "damage against demihuman", but it doesn't give as many stats as BG gears. Armors, you know by yourself. No slot, you're stuck with the effects and can't customize your  own.

[Fruit Pie~]

In general, you want the BG armor set. KVM takes far longer to acquire for a pitiful amount of extra EHP and the huge drawback of no slots. As for weapons, KVM weapons are generally better and sometimes enable awesome gimmick builds you couldn't do with BG weapons (or anything else, for that matter). BG weapons remain more cost-effective, though, as KVM tends to start worse and improve exponentially as you upgrade it.

So yeah, BG tends to be the better choice, unless you really want to grind that +9 Glorious Grenade Launcher.

EDIT : Oh yeah, and the accessories! The Glorious set sucks, use two BG Medals. No-brainer.

[sheena]

Does this work with aoe like LoV, ME, SG.

[Zshinobi]

Slightly related; in this example BG set provides 9 hard DEF, whereas KvM set provides none.

I've seen people saying NOT to refine armor, as you would take more damage from Thanatos/Ice Pick users. Then again, most of the damage in BG/WoE is ranged and come from Creos/HWs and a less significant amount from Snipers. All of which ignore hard DEF (except DS Snipers, lol) and do not work with Thanatos/Ice Pick. Even Asura Strike ignores hard DEF. Of course there will be that odd SBk SinX once in a while but those are pretty rare anyway.

So, is there anything wrong with refining your armor? I feel that the chance of encountering someone running a "non-standard" BG/WoE build without access to Thanathos card/Ice Pick is much higher than someone who has access to Thanatos/Ice Pick and runs a WS/SBk SinX/BB Stalker. So the extra 13.3 hard DEF (+4 everything) would help mitigate quite a bit no? And make it easier on your Devo pally.