Endgame Elementalist armor question

Hi,
Once you reach 20, if you had to choose only one set of armor to purchase, which of the 4 types would it be? Pyro (fire def), Hydro (cold def), Aero (lightning def), or geo (earth def).

Would your choice be different for pvp vs pve?

I just don't have the inventory to support more than 1 or maybe 2 sets or armor, and if I went with 1 I'm trying to figure out which would be most useful.

Thanks!

PvE, definitely pyro if u want to survive the 3 ring of fire missions
for PvP, i'd go aero, but its my personal preference

Well, I'm not an Elementalist, but I'd suggest getting each set of armor if you can... just to remain flexible under circumstances.

I could handle the cost of 4 sets of armor, but the storage space requirement would be ridiculous. At most I would suggest Pyro and Aero as they are the most common types used in PvE.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've read that direct damage (non-projectile) spells always hit the chest and they are the most common, so I suppose having 4 chests could be a help without taking TOO much storage space, but I still doubt it would be worth it, really.

True enough, but normally, unless I'm farming, I barely fill up my backpack, let alone my belt pouch and two bags that hold 10 items each.

I'm a packrat. There's NEVER enough storage space. >_<

But doesn't even the best ones only have 15 armour vs elements? If memory serves, even my first elemental robe had 15 armour vs elements. What's up with that? Does the 15 armour vs elements make it better if the normal armour is 60 as opposed to 30?

PvE: Pyromancer.

PvP: Aeromancer.

PvE? There's really no debate in it. Out of all the monsters in the story line, the highest % of them use fire related attacks when compared to any other element. So pyromancer all the way.

PvP? Obviously there will be some debate here, considering shock hilts and hafts are quite rare when compared to their firey counterparts. Making any melee damage you take much more liky to be from fire related attacks than from lightning. Skills such as winter, and greater confragulation from a rangers point of view are also reasons not to pick Aeromancer. Not to mention kindle arrows and other skills like it.

Currently Air elementlists are springing up all over, as for elementlists, it seems people forget about teamwork and work on damage output, which is why you wont see many earth ele's buffs. Or water ele's debuffs. Currently until a commonly known 'counter build' is readily available, people will keep with it. Making Aeromancer a must in PvP.

Honestly? Well considering most people who know how good Air ele's are, tend to be guild organised parties, and often have upward of 2 air elementalists in the party, the 8-10 secounds you might survive with 3 ele's on you is'nt ery long, and 15% is only going to give you a fraction more time.

Generally there's less defence given by Aeromancer, based on the amount of sources where lightning damage can be recived, skills weapons etc. But everyone will suggest it based on the 3+ ele parties that are destroying other parties at the moment, the problem is, Aeromancer wont help, 3 on 1 is the problem, fire earth hell even water ele's can take you down damn fast if its 3> 1.

Ok so i ranted :P but it's all true.

It's +15 vs an element; the plus is important . So for the late game armours you will have 60 armour vs most attacks and 75 armour against the specific element (Fire for Pyromancer's). For the armour that gives 30, it'll be 30 normally and 45 against the specific element.

Well personally I'd be forced to mix and match. If I could go back and undo my runes and etc, I'd have gotten the whole pyro set, minus the chest, which would be aeromancer.

The reason for this is that in the later game all the mursaat elementalists use lightning, non-projectile spells, namely mind-shock and chain lightning. As you know, those Direct-Damage spells always hit the chest. On the other hand, MUCH further down the road from Droknar's, there are monsters that use fire spells and attacks, however lots of them are projectile, meaning that your chest is hit exactly 37.5% of the time, so having the other 62.5% of your armor be pyro is just as feasable.

...however, if you have an extra 1,500g to spare, I'd suggest you get both an aero and pyro chest. 15AL doesn't sound like much, but it's over 20% reduction.

As for PVP vs PVE decisions, once again I'd go with 2 chests, aero and pyro, reason being that in 8v8 matches (or the 8v8 as a subset of the 6-team topk fight) Air-spec elems are the flavor of the month, however in King-Of-The-Hill matches, you'll observe more fire being used. This has to be one of the merits of using your PvE character for pvp, in that you can carry multiple sets of armor, to swap as necessary. As for getting just the chest for Aero, I think it's justified in that all but 2 air spells are direct-damage rather than projectile, those 2 exceptions being lightning orb and lightning javelin.

Thank you all very much for the great advice. I guess pryo main it is, and it seems like i'll have to make space for the aero too.