Body Sleeves: Armor & Guts Unlock

Diagnose a plate you cannot equip

1. Inspect your currently selected Body Sleeve and the label on the armor slot you are filling.
2. Compare that label with the plate’s size. The September discussion gives an S chest slot with an S plate and an L slot with an L plate as examples.
3. Choose a compatible plate before comparing materials or price. Steel, Ceramic or Titan does not remove a size restriction.
4. Recheck the equipped sleeve when switching characters. Do not assume that a loadout fitting one sleeve fits another.

Sources: September armor compatibility discussion

Guts unlock and the .182 sleeve rework

• Guts is now obtained only through Sergei Volkov’s Breaking Point Investigation, available at Monolith level LAMBDA. Unlocking the Investigation is the start of the task, not an immediate sleeve reward.
• Guts and Ghost were changed from Rare to Epic and given the characteristics of Knight and Paladin. The patch does not provide a complete slot-by-slot comparison.
• Armor plates and helmets take 70% less damage from melee weapons and monster attacks after this update. This concerns damage to those items; it does not promise 70% less damage to operative health.

Sources: Update 0.4.0.182

Read the actual unlock condition

1. Open Body Sleeve selection and inspect the locked entry’s unlock explanation.
2. If it lists a requirement, follow that specific unlock path. Do not treat a different character’s Investigation as interchangeable.
3. If you are looking for Prof. Arkhangel, stop searching for a guaranteed secret quest: the developer reply to the October thread says the discussed lore entries are not obtainable at present.
4. Keep a currently available sleeve for your next raid. Recheck official changes before assuming that a lore-only entry has become playable.

Sources: The Fundamental Protocol · Developer reply: locked lore entries

Compare sleeves against your next loadout

• Check the armor slots against plates you already own before spending on replacements.
• Inspect available pockets and how you will carry magazines and charged medicine. The August update changed pocket capacity for different sleeves.
• Separate appearance from equipment compatibility. Appearance customization was introduced as a BETA on the selection screen in update 0.4.0.122.
• Use Chronogenes to check that separate progression system; a cosmetic change does not establish a Chronogene effect.

Sources: 250 Shades of Liberty · Update 0.4.0.122