Trying to do the Math: AC vs. -DFE?

[Hammerskjold]

BTW, I forgot to ask :

IMO Holy Defender > Stormshield

?
kind of goes back to the original question. So you didn't feel 25 AC is worth +4 (+6) DFE ?

Just as a broader AC vs DFE personal opinion.

Personally, I'd probably go with neither. Even with a rogue's higher DEX potential that iirc gives some AC boost, at that clvl the numbers (again iirc) is not in your favour.

A Saintly Wolf FPM is nothing to sneeze at. But it's probably not going to help that much if you're facing multiple Blood Knights at the same time. But Blood Knights aren't the ones that makes my blood cold at this clvl. Personally Drakes and Maws are the ones that makes me pay attention. Drakes can reach you fast with their charge, and put you in stun lock. IIRC that's where a high enough AC can help.

DFE, at this clvl and in hell\hell mode, again IMO only. Not worth it either. It may work in some cases at this clvl, but in general for me it's in the same boat as above.

And again, this is due to my playstyle of trying to be as efficiently lazy as possible. I hate manual gear swapping. I can live with bow to weapon-shield swap. And that's about my limit.

Even though this was written for the Warrior class,
http://realmsbeyond.net/diablo/cdwarstyle.html
I found with a few appropriate Rogue specific substitution, it was just as applicable.

Short version:

Both nice armour, but if I had enough DEX I usually prefer fast block shield+weapon backup, and or KB bows. Basic idea is, I know I'm probably not going to be an armoured tank. So instead I'll concentrate on either blocking+weapon, and or knocking them back so they can't even reach me. If I were to put on a plate for it's AC\DFE bonus, the AC\DFE will not be expected to hold up vs Blood knights, but Drakes and Maws.

Edited add: Further thinking, IMO I'd probably give a slight edge to the AC of the Saint Wolf FPM in this case.

From the link 63 is the magic number for stun dmg, and 93 for some bosses. So you're not far off.