Confused about the mastercraft bear armor.. My Order of the Flaming Rose armor seems to have better stats when I compare online. (I want heavy build)

[Hobbs1017]

I am doing a heavy armor build. im in blood and wine and have been using the order of flaming rose armor i had forged. its great with a lot of bonus stats. but I always saw people saying bear armor was the best heavy armor, but when I compare the stats online the flaming rose armor seems higher overall. is it even worth going after?

 

[Nithing]

I think Grandmaster Ursine is better. The best thing you can do is compare them in game when you have the diagrams.

 

[etravain]

Are you comparing only the armor stats or the effects as well? I think all around, the Ursine Set is better, and it has it's grandmaster version as Nithing said above.

 

[SigilFey]

It mostly boils down toward playstyle and chosen skills. There is no "best" armor or weapon. For i.e., many people claim the sword you get from Hattori is a dud...but let me tell you...when I did a build based on critcial hits and fast attacks...Hattori's blade is a forged nightmare of devastation that I used for more than 10 levels.

Same with the armor. If you're trying to maximise a build, it's usually better to choose armor and weapons that further augment a focused specialization of play, rather than trying to simply min-max the DPS or armor rating.

 

[etravain]

SigilFey, I couldn't agree more, the build I made was based on sword fighting, so all my skills were in that tree and the mutagens augmented Attack Power, but I used the Ursine Set to be able to be in the midst of action while dealing tones of damage. Combine that with the Quen, and you get a pretty OP build. If I had chosen to go for the Feline set, I think my character would be a glass canon, so no what I was after. But yeah, it depends on your playstyle

 

[SigilFey]

SigilFey, I couldn't agree more, the build I made was based on sword fighting, so all my skills were in that tree and the mutagens augmented Attack Power, but I used the Ursine Set to be able to be in the midst of action while dealing tones of damage. Combine that with the Quen, and you get a pretty OP build. If I had chosen to go for the Feline set, I think my character would be a glass canon, so no what I was after. But yeah, it depends on your playstyle

Precisely. I haven't done a heavy build yet. Did one light using Cat armor, poisons, and criticals, like I described above. Then I did a half swordsmanship / half signs build, and I used Griffin armor. Then I did multiple playthroughs using Wolf armor...just because I like that one the best. Usually go for bleed or just maximize damage output overall with AP and runes. Fiddled with Manticore during my B&W playthrough, because: nostalgia. Last run (which I never got to finish due to my HDD dying), I used the starting armor only. Cheated and bought Nilfgaard gloves and boots. Was still going with it at around level 25.

My best, particular advice for heavy armor is: go for the one that looks best?

 

[etravain]

Precisely. I haven't done a heavy build yet. Did one light using Cat armor, poisons, and criticals, like I described above. Then I did a half swordsmanship / half signs build, and I used Griffin armor. Then I did multiple playthroughs using Wolf armor...just because I like that one the best. Usually go for bleed or just maximize damage output overall with AP and runes. Fiddled with Manticore during my B&W playthrough, because: nostalgia. Last run (which I never got to finish due to my HDD dying), I used the starting armor only. Cheated and bought Nilfgaard gloves and boots. Was still going with it at around level 25.

My best, particular advice for heavy armor is: go for the one that looks best?

Yeah, I don't know but i feel like the combination of heavy armor with raw damage is stil unbeateble at this game, if you have a high crtical chance then... you can deal with every tipe of mosnters or humans in groups without having to heal once during combat, the only thing that is hard to beat, are some "heavy" monsters like golems. A Medium Armor like the wolf set is a good call for a mix build, isn't it?

 

[SigilFey]

Yeah, I don't know but i feel like the combination of heavy armor with raw damage is stil unbeateble at this game, if you have a high crtical chance then... you can deal with every tipe of mosnters or humans in groups without having to heal once during combat, the only thing that is hard to beat, are some "heavy" monsters like golems. A Medium Armor like the wolf set is a good call for a mix build, isn't it?

Always arguable. I feel like Griffin is fantastic for any sort of martial skill as long as the player also harps on signs. Wolf seems to be focused primarily on melee. Especially bleed damage can be heavily augmented using Wolf armor / weapons.

Not sure about Alchemy, as I have only dabbled in it. Truly, I find potions and decoctions are extremely powerful even at default.

I should really mix up my playstyles more. I tend to find something that feels slick and go back to it over and over.