So about those damage sets for Vella..

• Kerrnon wrote on 2013-01-28 15:28
  What should I be shooting for? She's kind of difficult to get hurt as until late game AoEs, but does that mean she should forsake defense?
  
  Are there any specific 60 and beyond sets (or set pieces mixed with others) that I should grab? I might as well start grinding now. Any weapons preferred?
  
  I haven't played since pre-Vella (when 70 was cap), so I'm unfamiliar with what's still cool. I'm also terribly unfamiliar with post-70 content, so bear with me here.
• Invertex wrote on 2013-01-29 00:11
  I still don't really see a point to not getting a decent bit of Def on Vella. Anyways there are actually quite a few setups that come to mind.
  
  http://vindictusdb.com/item-comparer?i=blackhammer_head:blackhammer_upper:blackhammer_lower:legend_foot:legend_hand;whiteshark_head:whiteshark_upper:whiteshark_lower:legend_foot:legend_hand;glasgavelen_head:glasgavelen_upper:glasgavelen_lower:legend_foot:legend_hand;glasgavelen_head.0.3:glasgavelen_upper.0.3:glasgavelen_lower.0.3:legend_foot:legend_hand;blackhammer_head.0.3:blackhammer_upper.0.3:blackhammer_lower.0.3:legend_foot:legend_hand
  
  5 Sets are...
  1. Exquisite Black Hammer / Apocryphal
  2. White Shark / Apocryphal
  3. Raider's / Apocryphal
  4. 3* Raider's / Apocryphal
  5. 3* Exquisite Black Hammer / Apocryphal
  
  Replace the Apocryphal Gloves/Boots with Swift pieces until you hit Lv. 70.
  
  BH/Apo is the typical optimized set. Good Str, good Def, and it's full plate allowing for Tutelary Sentinel or Tutelary Resistant to get a bunch of extra Def. I'm at just under 10k Def with this set, and I didn't even fully optimize it. If you can afford it, getting 3* pieces isn't a bad idea as you get 100 or so extra Att, a bunch of extra Agi, and more Def.
  
  Raider's/Apo is the more typical balanced offense set. Since Raider's is light, you can put Well-Balanced Force or Well-Balanced Enthusiastic onto it for 300-600 extra Att, at the cost of some Def. You can also get 3* to 4* Raider's piece if you have the extra funds. The issue here is that you give up quite a lot of Def for only a bit of attack.
  
  White Shark/Apo is a Vella only combo, and it's actually quite good. It has two light pieces for WB/F/E and one plate piece on the part that most people throw generic enchants on (Enduring Master being most common). It's just flat out better than 2* Raider's, and it honestly could give 3* Raider's a good run given it's 600 Def for 10-20 Str trade off. The big drawback of WS is how expensive it is, the hat easily goes for 30m+. Also since it's a Titan drop, you can't get 3* versions of it.
  
  Full Raider's is always an option if you want to go full WB/E/F, but I don't suggest it.
  
  So in short, pick the one of those that sounds the most affordable to you, but also has the stats you want. The 2* combinations both cost around the same, the 3* and WS both also fall into the same price category. Feel free to pick up 3* Apocryphal gloves/boots as well, I only didn't include them as that'd be a consistent boost to all sets.
  
  Just note the differences only come into play once you start throwing enchants onto them. Base equipment all looks close, until you realize (per piece) Plate gets an extra 300-600 Def and Light gets an extra 140-300 Att (and Speed/Bal/Crit) from enchants.
  
  
  Addendum:
  I didn't include 70 sets as they're too expensive and actually lose/break even to certain 60 combos on paper. So there's no point investing the extra money into a set that isn't significantly better. Apocryphal Gloves/Boots are only used as they're relatively cheap and give good stats.
  
  80 gear is way too expensive, at like 600m-800m per piece. So I ignore the fact it even exists, since it'd be too easy and too pointless to say the best set is full pirate.
  
  And don't try to bother with 4*. The price jump from 3* to 4* is huge, it's just not worth it.
• RebeccaBlack wrote on 2013-01-29 01:01
  I'll summarize my opinion as I approach this differently than Invertex does. Get defense if you want to be immortal, but don't always want to kill things as fast as you can. Get attack (WB/E Raiders) if you're really good and like to live on the edge for the most attack, and don't mind dying a lot in the process of learning and occasionally dying even after you've learned.
  
  Most people will want as much defense as possible. I'm a pretty experienced player and I struggle with 1.8K defense on my alt. Wouldn't be so bad on Evie though.
  

  80 gear is way too expensive, at like 600m-800m per piece. So I ignore the fact it even exists, since it'd be too easy and too pointless to say the best set is full pirate.

  If you can afford to buy it, you should spend it on your weapon instead. Doesn't matter if your weapon costs 2b. Throw another 2b in and make it more powerful. When you're buying it, you're not buying something for statistically logical purposes, but for showing off. The only exception is if you have a +15 80 and everything perfectly enchanted, and you intend to get it all well over +10.
• Kerrnon wrote on 2013-01-29 01:40
  Thank you both very much. I appreciate the detailed and informative advice. I'll do a bit of price hunting and see what I can find.
• TheBoulder wrote on 2013-01-29 08:43
  http://vindictusdb.com/item-comparer?i=blackhammer_head:blackhammer_upper:blackhammer_lower:blackhammer2_hand:blackhammer2_foot;death_head_vella:whiteshark_upper:death_lower_vella:whiteshark_hand:death_foot_vella
  
  This is the comparison of the set I intend to shoot for (3 pc lightwind 2pc white shark) vs typical bh/swift combo. I am trading 70 def and 15 crit resist and 22 agi for 18 str, 55 wil and 14 stam.
  The only main downside to this is that there's no real easy way to transition to apoc from my current setup. The only really viable option is to craft a lightwind top to use when swapping to apoc boots and gloves.
• Invertex wrote on 2013-01-29 08:58
  Oh right, I did forget about the situational Lightwind "stam" build. As TheBoulder mentioned, that particular setup lacks a good transition to Apocryphal. Using the usual Helm/Top/Bottom + Apo though...
  
  http://vindictusdb.com/item-comparer?i=blackhammer_head:blackhammer_upper:blackhammer_lower:legend_hand:legend_foot;death_head_vella:death_upper_vella:death_lower_vella:legend_foot:legend_hand;death_head_vella.0.3:death_upper_vella.0.3:death_lower_vella.0.3:legend_foot:legend_hand
  
  If you feel like your Vella doesn't have enough stamina, this is totally viable as well. Given just 2* Lightwind/Apo, you're giving up about 7 Str (~20 Att) and ~200 Def for an extra 17 stamina. 3* Lightwind does exist as well, but the issue here is that 3* Lightwind is still very expensive due to "Vellaflation", so that's going to be an issue. Again, price is the issue as 3* Lightwind does still do well even compared to BH.
  
  Also note that Lightwind Mask is a Heavy armor piece, which is good as it allows the use of Armadillo (which provides more Def and 5 Stam at the cost of HP, which is heavily devalued after Ignition).
  
  I do use a similar stamina build on my Fiona actually, and it is a lot of fun to have 200 Stam without trans.
  
  
  Also in regards to the difference in my philosophy and RebeccaBlack's.
  I do feel a mixed set works because as long as you have somewhere in the region of 7k-8k Def, you still have enough room for error that it's not a do or die scenario. It's only at the low Def ranges (0-5k I'd say) that Def doesn't give you any benefits. I don't like going low Def though (~6k) as that puts a lot of demand on you as the player not to mess up, but Att sets are totally viable for S2 and I actually encourage it.
  
  S2 is set up so that squeezing every last bit of Att from your equipment is important, so that's why I throw a lot of mixed builds that maintain a decent level of Def while offering slightly more Att instead of going all in with Att. The other nice thing is that all these sets revolve around the 2 Apo setup. Meaning that if you really wanted to, you could get the BH or Lightwind pieces for a Def set then buy the WS or Raider's pieces for an Att set, and switch as required.