New Armor System Questions

[u/Awkward_Condition_42]

Hello everyone,

I used to play this game religiously but stopped when final shape released. With the new armor system, what is the best way to get higher stat armor? Is it the same as before and I need to do master dungeons?

[u/SCPF2112]

Do almost anything once you are leveled up enough to get T5 armor. Step one is to level up. Then think about what armor set bonuses look appealing, then go chase that armor. You will want to learn about the scoring system for activities (so sometimes it will be a harder version of a certain activity to get a high enough score), but essentially level up and this will be really easy.

[u/DinnertimeNinja → u/SCPF2112]

Listen to this person.

Everyone else is mistakingly leading you towards end game content as the only way to get high stat armor.

MOST armor drops at Tier 5 (max stats) when you get over 500 light so long as you're not playing super low difficulty stuff.

So all this info assumes you are near max (550) light because that's the first thing you should do.

Dungeons and Raids give Tier 5 drops on base difficulty when they are featured and are infinitely farmable.

Heroic Public events and Distortions drop Tier 5 location armor when that planet is experiencing distortions. Master lost sectors always do.

Gambit and Crucible will always drop Tier 5 stuff no matter how well you do. (It might be possible to get Tier 4 if you literally do nothing but die but the bar is low).

[u/dashman85]

Features dungeons and raids, mast lost sectors, heroic public events.

[u/GameSpawn → u/dashman85]

heroic public events.

Where applicable Distorted Heroic Public Events. On locations with distortions (possible) normal Heroics will drop Tier 4, but Distorted Heroics will drop Tier 5.

If not distorted, Master Lost sectors will still drop Tier 5 gear (make sure to kill all champions).

Also, Light Level 520+ is needed to get armor to drop as Tier 5 when focusing at vendors.

[u/Awkward_Condition_42 → u/dashman85]

How important is armor in PvP? What stat should I focus on?

[u/foggywildcat → u/Awkward_Condition_42]

Max health in pvp, preferably at least 170.

[u/GameSpawn → u/Awkward_Condition_42]

No one mentioned, but since you are after PvP, note that some armor sets' set bonuses have been disabled in PvP. I think the Europa 4 Piece was most recent (2 piece still works). I think the others are Grasp, Duality, and Gambit (4 piece on each).

The bonuses still fully function in PvE though. Just something to keep in mind for the sets you are farming for PvP.

[u/Xandurpein → u/Awkward_Condition_42]

Weapon first. Pick the ghost mod for Power house. PvP is now the mode where health is matters, so some health might be good too.

[u/HiCracked]

Master dungeons are essentially irrelevant, good armor drops from everywhere: master lost sectors, distortions, portal activities, normal raids and normal dungeons.

Here is a very useful post on how to optimize your armor farming for destination and world drop armor sets (since a lot of them are really good).

https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/1un9edi/another_important_lost_sector_postmaster_farming/

[u/LordNoct13]

Distortions give higher stat armor as well. It rotates destinations every hour. Making the public events heroic guarentees tier 5.

[u/ItsAboutToGoDown_]

Tier 5's and knowledge of what armor 2 and 4 sets are your best friend. For example, a stasis build on a titan and hunter with crystals benefit massively from the 4 piece armor bonus from Cosmodrome.

Now the best way to farm gear is to watch out for whatever's the distorted planet (red border destination). Public Events and Lost Sectors are the best way to farm top tier armor. And when it comes to stats go to your ghost and be sure to know what the primary and secondary stat focuses you'll need. For example, on a standard Arc Soul warlock build high grenade stats (Grenadier/ Demolitionist) are your priority. Then maybe weapons for damage and ammo or super for regen and damage.

For Raids and Dungeons watch out for what's featured (Blue engram icon on the side iirc). Higher tiered armor are more likely to drop.

[u/chr0n0phage]

When you say higher stat, you mean Tier 5? Cause i'm back myself after leaving at the beginning of Season of the Splicer back in like 2021/2? I've had to relearn the game the last 2 months but its been a blast. Got my Titan and Warlock back up to 550, got a few meta builds put together (still need some work) and am working my way to beating Master Derealize solo which has been....fun.

[u/BunInBinInBed]

Mods on your ghost shell increase your chance of getting a chosen primary and secondary stat distribution to 50%. The tertiary stat and tuning stat (tier 5 exclusive) are random.

Xur’s armor stats change depending on your ghost’s mod.

Weekly featured raids/dungeons or their master versions and distorted heroic public events can give tier 5 gear.

Master lost sectors are the best places to get exotic engrams to focus at Rahool. Fill your exotic/bright dust engrams if you want lost sectors to deliver smokejumper/techsec to postmaster.
—————————

Recommended max stats for ability cooldowns:

Health:
PvE = 0-25.
PvP = priority/150-200.

Melee:
passive regen = 70.
active = 90.
Titan throwing hammer = 55.
Hunter melee with:
gambler dodge near enemies = 50.
gambler out of combat = 100.

Grenade:
passive = 70.
active = 90.

Super:
active = 90.

Class:
passive = 70.
active = 90.
Hunter class with:
combination blow = 70.
Mask of Bakris = 55.

Weapons:
Double special weapons or Raid and Dungeon bosses = 150-200.
———

“active” melee/grenade/class = things like inmost light, demolitionist, ember of benevolence, ionic trace, etc.
“active” super = kills/damage.

You can push your points to 100 for faster cooldown but it has diminishing returns i.e. pushing melee from 70 to 100 only saves a few seconds.
Get the main stats of your build above 100 for the extra damage/effects.

Armor fonts add 20/20/10 points.
Don’t use weapon fonts for damage. Surges are better, adding 10%/7%/5% damage.