Here, I will first analyze the different set bonuses that are offered to the different classes and compare them against the Heirloom sets. I will then look into the effectiveness of "breaking up" bigger sets for partial bonuses. This will be an extremely data-heavy guide so please refer to each section's tl;dr (at the btm of each section) if you do not wish to read through the entire process/analysis.
1. Heirloom+Craftables versus other 5* 6 slot sets
With the recent changes to Heirloom sets as well as the other 5* sets, it may be not so clear as to which sets provide the "best" bonuses. Hence I will utilize the data provided in the in-game Gallery to form a comparison chart between 6*Heirlooms+Craftables and other 6 slot sets. I will be analyzing each class separately, each one having its own chart. The individual stats will also be color-coded, from Green (best) to Yellow (average) to Red (worst), comparing between all the sets available to that class, except the Heirloom since it is %-based.
Due to Heirloom Sets providing a unique set bonus that is a % of the Hero's base stats, I will also be calculating the base stat line that a Hero must have for the 6*Heirloom+Craftable set to be on par with all other compared sets with regards to that specific stat. For example, if the 6*Heirloom+Craftable provides 500+8% ATK while the compared 5* set provides 800 ATK, then the base stat line will be (800-500)/8% = 3735 ATK. What this means is that, a Hero will need to have minimum 3735 base ATK for the 6*Heirloom+Craftable to provide the same amount of ATK as that other 5* set.
For sets that are not able to fill all 6 slots, I will assume that the remaining equipment used to fill the slots do not provide any set bonuses. Also, if the 6*Heirloom+Craftable set itself is missing a certain equipment (thus being only 5 slotted instead of 6, which is true for some classes), I will similarly compare it to other 5 slot sets available for that class. Also, please note that there still isn't any Heirloom set for Guardians so I'm leaving them out. If you would like to check out the comparisons between other Guardian sets you can check out the excel sheet on Google Docs (link all the way below the charts).
Alright, time to bring out the charts.
- For Champions
As you can no doubt see from the chart, the Champion Heirloom is quite frankly, terrible. Just to put base ATK into perspective, the highest base ATK in the game - Ares Freya Berserker at MLB has 6020 base ATK. So even with this base ATK, the Heirloom+Craftable Set is still just slightly worse than the Titan's Might Set in terms of ATK, beating out only Hellfarer and Hellfarer+Craftable. In comparison, Ares Vincent Berserker MLB'd only has 5595 base ATK while Ares Dragoon Drake MLB'd only has 5586 base ATK. In other aspects, the Heirloom+Craftables provide pretty decent DEF for Champions, average HP and abysmal CRT. Hidden Gem here is the Centurion Set (from the newly added Guild Raid), as it gives almost the same set bonuses as a Draconic Set but only takes up 4 slots as compared to Draconic's 6 slots. Centurion + Spirit Dragon is absolutely beastly (17500 base ATK whaaa-)
- For Guardians
Guardian Heirlooms are almost as bad as Champion Heirlooms. The Faithful Set will always outshine the Heirlooms+Craftables, whereas the Moonblessed+Craftables will outshine it as long as your Guardian is not MLB'd. The most popular Guardians right now - Faye, also benefits much more from HP than DEF and thus Moonblessed Set will outshine Heirlooms for Hercules Fayes regardless of MLB. Only Kratos Fayes will get able to push the Heirloom past Moonblessed+Craftables. However, realise that we are merely talking about DEF here. There are many other stats for a Guardian to consider, such as the aforementioned HP as well as ATK for certain classes more offensively built Guardians like Blood Knight Darrion. Overally speaking, the Guardian Heirlooms are rather bad due to their low non-DEF stats while at the same time not being able to top the DEF charts amongst all Guardian 5* Equipments.
- For Shadows
For Shadows things seem a little better. Other than the super strong Deceptive + Twin Dragon Set, any non-Samurai subclass of Shizu with Ares faith can eventually provide the highest ATK bonus from the Heirloom Set when MLB'd. Even Hera faith can land you only below the Shinobi or Deceptive Sets. For Kai, only Ninja and Assassin subclasses with Ares faith at MLB can have >4000 base ATK, with Ares Magebane Kai coming in at a close 3843. Ares Magebane Miu also just scratches the 4000 mark at MLB. Ares Kira regardless of subclass hits 4297 at MLB. The Heirloom+Craftable Set also provides slightly-below-average HP and below average CRT. The latter might be a big concern for some, since many Shadow subclasses deal damage or proc auras based on CRT. As usual, the guild raid set combined with the Twin Dragon Set is also retardedly strong (11500 base ATK needed for Heirloom to equal LMFAO). - For Mystics
The Heirloom set definitely looks promising for the Mystics as merely 4188 base MAG is needed for the Heirloom+Craftable Set to become the strongest MAG-providing set outside of 6* Prestige Sets. Athena Kiera Elementalist can reach this base MAG by merely being at 5*+2 without needing any limit-breaking. All Kiera subclasses with Athena faith can surpass 4188 base MAG when MLB'd. In fact, all Kiera subclasses except Warlock can reach this stat line even when Hercules faith. For Zedd, all subclasses can surpass 4188 base MAG with Athena faith but only the Elementalist subclass can reach it with Hercules faith. For Ronan, only Hercules Mind Warder barely misses the stat line by less than 40 MAG. The Heirloom+Craftable Set for Mystics also provides decent ATK and HP, but they are nothing to write home about. The guild raid Merlin Set here is great as a -100HP but 2 less slots version of the Tinkerer Set, but because there aren't any 2-piece weapon-only sets for Mystics, it is much less OP compared to the other guild raid set combos. - For Healers
Healer sets are weird in the sense that none of them fill the off-hand slot, so the comparison takes 5 slots as the max since all loadouts can be similarly fitted for the final slot. Healer sets are also weird in the way to evaluate them. We shall start by just looking at raw MAG. MLB'd Athena SW/WD Lucille have the highest base MAG of all Healers and that only amounts to 5450, still short of about 100 MAG to reach the 5563 stat line. So MAG-wise, the Radiance and Monarch (guild raid) Sets outshine Heirloom+Craftables. Against the Promised or Ancient+RuneWeave Sets, 3688 MAG can be reached by all subclasses of Athena Lucille without any limit-breaking or Hercules Lucille MLB'd. Athena Sienna almost can reach this stat line without limit breaking, requiring at least 1 limit break. For Theresa and Luthor,, they can only reach 3688 base MAG with the Athena Faith and MLB. The other way to evaluate the Heirloom sets is to realize that they are a good replacement for the Ancient + Rune Weave Set combo, and a much more all-rounded offensive loadout as compared to the Courtier or Medic + Rune Weave Sets. Both of these sets provide good ATK, but sacrifices HP and MAG. Certain Healer subclasses that favor ATK more than just raw MAG may find the Heirloom+Craftable Set better than the Radiance/Monarch Set. - For Rangers
Rangers' Heirlooms paint the complete opposite picture of the Champions' Heirlooms. The highest stat line to for Rangers is merely 2625 ATK, a base ATK reachable by literally every 5* potential Ares faith Ranger regardless of subclass even without any limit-breaking. Ares Rangers at 5*+2 usually have at least 3.2k ATK, which places the bonus ATK provided by the Heirloom+Craftable Set at 941, above that of all other Ranger 5* sets. The most extreme case, an Ares Kane SS MLB'd, has 4867 base ATK, which means the Heirloom+Craftable Set will provide him with 1074 bonus ATK. The only meaningful alternative set to consider may be the Spectre Set, which gives a massive increment of CRT as compared to the Heirloom+Craftable Set, but much lower ATK and HP. In the HP and CRT departments the Heirloom+Craftable Set performs averagely, and combined with its extremely high ATK bonus, makes it almost definitively better than the Kingsguard Set, the Ranger equivalent to the Champion's Draconic Set. The Kingsguard set's extra 55 HP and 35 CRT are really small prices to pay for that much more ATK.
- For the complete album: http://imgur.com/a/vxG19
- For the excel sheet itself: http://tinyurl.com/j6stxtw (the Guardian Heirloom column is just a placeholder)
- tl;dr for this section:
- Champion Heirloom+Craftables are only slightly better than Hellfarer Set, while most other 5* sets such as the Draconic set, are much better. Centurion Set is also really good, and completely OP if you have Spirit Dragon Set to combo with it.
- Shadow Heirloom+Craftables (although it has below average CRT) are only outshined in ATK by Shinobi and Deceptive Sets, unless Samurai subclass. Deceptive and Twin Dragon Set combo-ed together is also ridiculously OP
- Mystic Heirloom+Craftables generally are slightly better in their MAG bonus if your Mystic has Athena faith. Tinkerer and Merlin Sets are similar, and provide slightly more ATK than the Heirloom+Craftables while giving slightly less MAG
- Healer Heirloom+Craftables are not as good as Radiance or Monarch sets in terms of MAG, but a good replacement for the Courtier and Medic sets in offensive Healer subclasses.
- Ranger Heirloom+Craftables are generally much better than any other 5* Ranger sets, albeit having a tiny bit less HP and CRT. Only the Spectre Set provides enough CRT to really make itself really stand out as an alternative, however, it gives much less ATK and HP. The Vagabond Set is meh.
EDIT: Updated Ranger Heirloom Set to new stats (495 to 500)
EDIT: Updated to include Guardian Heirloom Set
-----Section 1 Complete-----
2. Breaking up bigger sets-is it worth it?
With the new introduction of Partial Set Bonuses, it may be possible to achieve certain combinations of incomplete sets. Here I will look thoroughly into the choices of incomplete sets each class has access to.
- Champions
As you can see from the above pictures, I have chosen to compare the Head+Body and Main+Offhand set bonuses available for Champions as these are the most common slots that fit into another set.
- Excel sheet (google drive): http://tinyurl.com/mhlncsk
