Is Riot Armor worth getting over Flak?

[TinyForearms]

in short: as the title says

I honestly have an answer already, but looking for more input or reinforcement on it. 
So I'm at a point where Metal is fairly easy to come by with my Argent and Anky. I've got a complete set of good quality BPs for flak armor and was super surprised at how affordable they are to craft and repair and keeps me alive no problem.
recently I came across a mix of quality riot armor gear, but of course require higher amounts of polymer and silica pearls (both of which aren't just found in the open) but the real difficulty is getting hold of the blueprints/pieces in the first place. I've devoted whole days searching, waiting and circling the Island for deep sea crates to pop up
and the ones I have found are just *moderately higher armor rating compared to my flak set (i just don't feel the costs justify the difference)
It's worth noting i've seen people take on bosses and even the overseer in just flak, ascendant quality though 

so again in short, would I be well enough with high quality flak or should I really grind for riot armor? 

[d1nk]

Honestly the biggest factor on ANY armour in the high end category is durability. Even good ascendant hide or ghillie will give good armour bonus, durability is where the deciding factor on any armour lasting a good time. You can repair ghillie and flak really easily and cost effective as you found, riot might give a slight boost to armour but will cost you a fortune to repair if you actually use it a lot.

 

I personally like a mix of high durability flak / ghillie or flak / fur depending on area. Just for repair factor. If the riot has good durability it wouldn't be a bad choice if you don't mind the repair.

 

Edit: mentioned repair a lot... sorry.

[zero064]

Yea, +1 to the flak/ghille. It's easy to fix and works well in almost any situation. Riot is too expensive to fix.

If I want to spend a bunch of time gathering materials for armor I'd rather wear the Tek suit.

[JustAnotherBeachNoob]

I would however recommend riot if it has more armor for the boss battles. There you want ever edge you can.

[Zen00]

I would recommend a standard tek suit for most situations. Beyond the up-front element cost, it's fairly cheap and easy to keep it repaired, and when powered it provides insulation (with 50 fortitude) that protects you from most harm from -20 to 60 C. You'll take a little damage during those times but it's so slow that you won't notice it unless you're idling out of shelter and the cold/heat wave lasts forever.

I wear ghillie when doing anything that I don't want the tek armor damaged during (caves from arthros mainly), and flak armor during boss battles.

[TinyForearms]

Okay so a mix of ghilie/fur with flak for the temp. control 
and probably skip Riot and go for Tek armor

[Oieru]

Yes, Riot is too expensive. Tek is a far better deal.

For bosses, I use Flak with high durability and capped armor. It's very cheap to repair and you are well protected. Regarding heat/cold, I have 40 points in fortitude and for extremes you can use fria curry or calien soup.

[d1nk]

5 hours ago, Oieru said:

Yes, Riot is too expensive. Tek is a far better deal.

For bosses, I use Flak with high durability and capped armor. It's very cheap to repair and you are well protected. Regarding heat/cold, I have 40 points in fortitude and for extremes you can use fria curry or calien soup.

I'm also a huge believer in pumping fort. Besides temperature, you drain food/ water slower, take less torpor (or more to knock you out or something) and you generally will use less food because you're mild most the time.

 

Fort has saved my life (literally) against troodon mishaps and stuff many times 

[sjskdjkfa]

Those giant monkey guys that can wear helmets look cool in riot helm... (for them i guess we don't consider how sweaty it makes they faces LOL)

Riot gear can be acquired through gacha grind... (negating any consideration of repair costs)

I'm pretty good at looking to the icon and realizing my guy got to hot and swapping out the riot gear, so I love throwing some in with my flak/ghillie.

[Qwertymine]

Generally I use Flak, but for situations where high armor is a must(Boss fights, Ice/Swamp Cave, etc.) I go for Riot, as I don't do those very often and can easily repair my gear inbetween uses. 

[Pipinghot]

On 12/6/2020 at 3:48 PM, TinyForearms said:

so again in short, would I be well enough with high quality flak or should I really grind for riot armor? 

As far as I'm concerned, Riot armor is only for PvP, and even then only for fights when you absolutely need the maximum armor possible.

As you've noticed, flak is more cost efficient with the materials easier to access and farm under most circumstances, riot is "premium" gear for when you're willing to spend the extra resources.

 

1) Set of 100% Flak:

Protection = 500 Armor, -25 heat insulation, 60 cold insulation

Cost = 53 ingots

 

2) Set of 100% Riot:

575 armor, -50 heat insulation, 60 cold insulation

Cost = 245 polymer, 138 pearls

 

The only piece of Riot gear I consider cost effective is the shield. It gives you significantly better protection than the metal shield, the extra 1050 durability is worth it.

[Oieru]

On 12/8/2020 at 10:21 PM, Pipinghot said:

The only piece of Riot gear I consider cost effective is the shield. It gives you significantly better protection than the metal shield, the extra 1050 durability is worth it.

Exactly. A nice Riot Shield BP will give you huge numbers in durability and it is more lighter than a metal shield. A Tek Shield BP, now that would be also awesome.

[Karol859]

Riot set is an endgame set for ultimate defense against....TRODONS. And nothing more

[Usuallyafk]

There is 600 base dura ramshackle riot bps. Don't listen to people who don't actually play official pvp.

[Pipinghot]

34 minutes ago, Usuallyafk said:

There is 600 base dura ramshackle riot bps. Don't listen to people who don't actually play official pvp.

Read the OP again, you're missing the obvious.

"So I'm at a point where Metal is fairly easy to come by with my Argent and Anky."

This is a person who is:

a) not heavily experienced

b) almost certainly playing solo

c) just up to the "point where Metal is fairly easy to come by"

d) does not yet have easy access to polymer and silica pearls

e) is obviously not playing PvP

Your answer applies to Official PvP, it clearly doesn't apply to the question that the OP is actually asking on behalf of themselves. They didn't ask what you need, they asked what's good for them in their current situation.

[Usuallyafk]

11 minutes ago, Pipinghot said:

Read the OP again, you're missing the obvious.

"So I'm at a point where Metal is fairly easy to come by with my Argent and Anky."

This is a person who is:

a) not heavily experienced

b) almost certainly playing solo

c) just up to the "point where Metal is fairly easy to come by"

d) does not yet have easy access to polymer and silica pearls

e) is obviously not playing PvP

Your answer applies to Official PvP, it clearly doesn't apply to the question that the OP is actually asking on behalf of themselves. They didn't ask what you need, they asked what's good for them in their current situation.

Unbelievably incorrect

[Pipinghot]

6 minutes ago, Usuallyafk said:

Unbelievably incorrect

Feel free to back up your two-word non-reply. Read the OP and explain why you think that interpretation doesn't match the OP's circumstances.

[TinyForearms]

5 hours ago, Pipinghot said:

Read the OP again, you're missing the obvious.

"So I'm at a point where Metal is fairly easy to come by with my Argent and Anky."

This is a person who is:

a) not heavily experienced

b) almost certainly playing solo

c) just up to the "point where Metal is fairly easy to come by"

d) does not yet have easy access to polymer and silica pearls

e) is obviously not playing PvP

Your answer applies to Official PvP, it clearly doesn't apply to the question that the OP is actually asking on behalf of themselves. They didn't ask what you need, they asked what's good for them in their current situation.

No offense whatsoever to the other person, but this is spot on.
I am brand new and so playing on single player.

though i'd like to say polymer and pearls aren't particularly difficult to obtain, just more effort to gather. going to the bottom of the sea and the snow biome for the penguinz
I feel like i'll have to craft polymer instead of organic though coz of the higher stack and of course no spoil time 

I'm sure if I had cooperative tribemates, i could split the tasks making it all a non-issue

 

[CitoaK]

Dont use riot or ghillie. Go for high quality flak set and it you get hot use high quality hazmat gloves or boots with the flak. Good crafted hazmat can easily exceed 800 dura. If cold do the same but with crafted fur. It has great dura. Always use flak head chest and legs though.

[jedikitteh]

On 12/11/2020 at 7:10 AM, Usuallyafk said:

There is 600 base dura ramshackle riot bps. Don't listen to people who don't actually play official pvp.

By saying that you pretty much proved you don't play or know anything about Official PvP. Or at least have not progress beyond beach bob stage.

No one from  an alpha or megatribes uses riot on Official PvP. It's all flak. Sometimes Teksuits.

 

[Usuallyafk]

13 minutes ago, jedikitteh said:

By saying that you pretty much proved you don't play or know anything about Official PvP. Or at least have not progress beyond beach bob stage.

No one from  an alpha or megatribes uses riot on Official PvP. It's all flak. Sometimes Teksuits.

 

Also again....unbelievably incorrect. Established on small tribes official pvp. Usuallyafk#8465. Ready whenever bud. Don't ramble nonsense on here, thx.

[TinyForearms]

On 12/7/2020 at 5:39 AM, d1nk said:

Honestly the biggest factor on ANY armour in the high end category is durability. Even good ascendant hide or ghillie will give good armour bonus, durability is where the deciding factor on any armour lasting a good time. You can repair ghillie and flak really easily and cost effective as you found, riot might give a slight boost to armour but will cost you a fortune to repair if you actually use it a lot.

 

I personally like a mix of high durability flak / ghillie or flak / fur depending on area. Just for repair factor. If the riot has good durability it wouldn't be a bad choice if you don't mind the repair.

 

Edit: mentioned repair a lot... sorry.

 Gotta be honest I completely overlooked this comment, but I seriously have to revisit it and you are absolutely right, I'm so noob not to notice it

Durability is super important, maybe even slightly more so than actual armor/damage value. Coz see I compared 2 crafted Assault Rifles together
1st one had more damage around 220% and like 140 durabilty (costs 500+ poly)
2nd had 180% damage but 400 durabily (costs 800+ poly)

and I noticed this with armor pieces too, more armor (but less dura) costs much less than lesser armor (but more dura)
So I was like "cheaper to craft and more damage? well this is a no brainer"   

BUT when I tested by shooting exactly 10 clips each the one with more durabily was cheaper to repair. like 25% less (80 poly / 60 poly) .. so not only does it last longer before breaking but it's cheaper to repair. Yeah in the long run the one with less durability would actually cost way more. So thanks for that.

(tho saddle BPs are weird, they can have vastly different costs for more or less the same armor values, and since they don't have durability values there's little reason not to choose the cheaper one for similar armor)

[wizard03]

On 12/6/2020 at 3:48 PM, TinyForearms said:

in short: as the title says
I honestly have an answer already, but looking for more input or reinforcement on it. 
So I'm at a point where Metal is fairly easy to come by with my Argent and Anky. I've got a complete set of good quality BPs for flak armor and was super surprised at how affordable they are to craft and repair and keeps me alive no problem.
recently I came across a mix of quality riot armor gear, but of course require higher amounts of polymer and silica pearls (both of which aren't just found in the open) but the real difficulty is getting hold of the blueprints/pieces in the first place. I've devoted whole days searching, waiting and circling the Island for deep sea crates to pop up
and the ones I have found are just *moderately higher armor rating compared to my flak set (i just don't feel the costs justify the difference)
It's worth noting i've seen people take on bosses and even the overseer in just flak, ascendant quality though 

so again in short, would I be well enough with high quality flak or should I really grind for riot armor? 

Well, untill you get the tek replicator, yeah. Flak is about the best way to go. However at that point in time, you looking to tek goodies. So riot kinda becomes moot.
However the reason why I say that is you can start farming the holy bejebus out of penguins for organic polymer, hide, and prime meat. And since your already right there, silica pearls are everywhere around the snow biome. For every penguin run, you can also snag about 1000 pearls at a crack. This way you can start saving back that metal for the saddle blueprints you will need for the boss fights.

In the end, its up to you, your fortitude, and what you find......can't argue that flak is good and easy to find, but if you have a ascendant riot helmet that does 400% damage reduction, wouldn't it be nice to have on hand and waiting. Just in case?
..........................
Id also like to point out that while the sea supply drops are good drops, they are not the best. The best I have found, was from the east sea cave, the swamp cave, and the ice cave of the brute. These are the hardest caves of the whole island. With that said, the swamp cave might be the easiest. Get a couple frogs, 5-6 gas masks, and take it slow......Frogs lick bugs, you get huge level ups, if the centipedes spit on your mask, slap a new one on, and keep trucking. There are two red supply spawns that can give some very op equipment or blueprints.

The hardest one however is brute cave. Ontop of that, the developers did a clever job at hiding the loot drops, or putting them in a very deadly location. However, all the supply drops are possibly the best of the entire map.

[Pipinghot]

On 12/20/2020 at 4:21 AM, TinyForearms said:

 Gotta be honest I completely overlooked this comment, but I seriously have to revisit it and you are absolutely right, I'm so noob not to notice it

Durability is super important, maybe even slightly more so than actual armor/damage value. Coz see I compared 2 crafted Assault Rifles together
1st one had more damage around 220% and like 140 durabilty (costs 500+ poly)
2nd had 180% damage but 400 durabily (costs 800+ poly)

and I noticed this with armor pieces too, more armor (but less dura) costs much less than lesser armor (but more dura)
So I was like "cheaper to craft and more damage? well this is a no brainer"   

BUT when I tested by shooting exactly 10 clips each the one with more durabily was cheaper to repair. like 25% less (80 poly / 60 poly) .. so not only does it last longer before breaking but it's cheaper to repair. Yeah in the long run the one with less durability would actually cost way more. So thanks for that.

(tho saddle BPs are weird, they can have vastly different costs for more or less the same armor values, and since they don't have durability values there's little reason not to choose the cheaper one for similar armor)

Yeah, when you're comparing blueprints it becomes important to look at the blueprint holistically, not just one value.

For example, if you want your set of ghillie armor to provide maximum protection against heat then you might ignore a piece you find that gives more armor but less heat protection, or if you're having trouble in cold zones then you might wear a flak piece that gives less armor or has less durability but gives you more protection against cold.

You have to evaluate every piece of armor based on what you want from that armor set, as you have discovered it's not as simple as just taking the highest armor value.

 

It's also important to understand that armor gives diminishing returns (same with saddles), if a saddle/armor is going to cost more resources then it needs to be worth the additional cost. Saddles & armor give a different amount of protection against alpha dino's than they do against regular dinos, and they give a different amount of protection against turrets than against explosives or against bullets/melee. Having said that, if you're not going to engage in PvP then the easiest way to think of armor protection in terms of the protection it will give against bullets & melee & most dinos.

25 armor reduces damage by 20% ( 1/5th )

50 armor reduces damage by 33.33% ( 1/3rd )

100 armor reduces damage by 50% ( 1/2 half )

200 armor reduces damage by 66% ( 2/3rds )

300 armor reduces damage by 75% ( 3/4ths )

400 armor reduces damage by 80% ( 4/5ths )
 

As you can see, the first 25-100 points of armor rating are the most efficient. After the first 100 points or armor rating a saddle needs to have much higher armor in order to give you better protection and very often the blueprints you find with higher armor ratings are quite expensive. It's pretty typical to see people put basic saddles on most of their animals and only make higher quality saddles on the animals they use the most for exploring, fighting and boss fights.

For boss fights you want the best possible armor & saddles that you can afford, but for everything else you have to weigh the benefits against the cost.

 

If you want a nice, neat visual showing the relationship between armor values and damage received, there's a good graph in this section of the Saddles page on the wiki.

https://ark.gamepedia.com/Saddles#Saddle_Armor

 

[carbonark]

Just to add to what pipinghot said, keep in mind that when it comes to armor you're almost always better off with durability over armor. As was pointed out you have diminshing returns on protection the further above 100% armor you get, however broken armor = no protection. In virtually every case something like 200 armor and 1000 durability would be better than say 400 armor and 200 durability.

As a side note saddles also have a durability stat, but it's hidden and unused but it does heavily impact crafting cost. If you notice two similar saddle bp's have wildly different resource costs one will likely have a lower durability. You can actually see the stat by throwing the blueprint on the ground and looking at the tooltip on the box