In Phase 2, Duke Fishron deals 150 damage per hit.
Assuming each player has about 10 defense worth of accessories:
Beetle Scale Armor: 61 defense +10 acc def = 71 defense, or -35 damage. 150 damage - 35 reduction = 115
Spectre Armor (Mask variant): 42 defense + 10 acc def = 52 defense, or -26 damage. 150 damage - 26 reduction = 124
At 500 health:
Beetle Scale Armor = can survive 4.3 hits from Duke Fishron phase 2
Spectre Mask Armor = can survive 4.03 hits from Duke Fishron phase 2
In other words, a full health character using the most DPS oriented Melee OR Magic gear will die in the same number of hits from Duke Fishron's second form.
Beetle Scale Armor offers a mere 9 additional damage reduction over Spectre Hood Armor. This is a trivial amount when in combat against a enemy who deals 150 damage per hit. If you managed to draw the fight out and survived 10 hits, Beetle Scale user would only have negated 90 damage extra from a base of 1500 damage. This is 6% of the damage dealt. You could instead just use a Paladin's Shield and effectively cut the damage by 25%.
Lets just say anyone trying to tank hits from Duke Fishron is going to have a bad time.
Of course, you could throw Beetle Shell Armor into the mix with its higher defense and special beetle protection perk, but on the other hand, a magic user could use Spectre Hood for rapid healing . . . so the two aren't comparable either.
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