Postby LadyPhoenix » Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:59 pm
The idea of one mantle being better than the other is kind of stupid because it depends on your class, equipment, and situation. For why most people prefer the Mantle of Covering over Mantle of Raja, there's many reasons. (listed in no order)
1. people are obsessed with this idea of being "AC capped". This means that people want that 210 AC then to push it higher and the only way to do is with "white AC" items.
2. HP at higher levels doesn't mean too much. At higher levels, most chars have over 30K hp. Adding another 3.6K doesn't make a major difference in their eyes when some players can easily hit you 20K+ per attack.
3. At higher levels, monsters and players just do a lot more damage. Monsters in VD1 generally do 4K damage per hit for a player with average AC. When you're tanking, you're generally tanking 5-10 of them at once AND the damage comes faster than the healer can cast (excluding the idea that the healer has wise rares). So raw numbers shows that if you can get healed every single attack, having more HP might be better. In the long run, if you can't get healed all that hp back, I'd say AC is better.
4. At higher levels, you don't need the +5 all stat bonus from the mantle. At D3/D4, you have enough stats to learn all your spells and wear all your items and max ENDU/CON. So pretty much, if you're going to use a +hp mantle, just buy the normal +3600 hp mantle and save a ton of RE.
5. You can also ask yourself, why do players wear AC rares instead of Life rares? G5 Life is +2526HP and G5 Hardest is +28AC AC. It's a similar concept.
Honestly, it depends on your situation. The difference isn't HUGE by any means. But it's kind of like, why do people make G10 rares instead of stop at G9 when it's SO SO much more work? It's like tiny hair of a difference that people push for.
BUT you are 100% correct that at lower levels (under level 100) the mantle of raja is better. At end-game, mantle of covering is better.