***** I will be posting about ten messages to open this up. Please refrain from posting until I finish posting the full list. *****

I have written matlab code to determine optimal armor combinations. You input a maximum equip weight available for armor and specify how much you value each of the defense/resistance parameters, and the optimal armor combinations are returned. In conjunction with this, I have typed the stats for all fully upgraded pieces of armor into a script so that I can load that data for determining the optimal armor combinations.

For example, suppose I have infinite equip weight available, and I value the different defense parameters as follows:
vP = 10; %Physical
vM = 5; %Magic
vF = 5; %Fire
vL = 5; %Lightning
vPs = 3; %Poise
vBl = 1; %Bleed
vPo = 2; %Poison
vCu = 2; %Curse

The optimal armor combination is:
Value = 190.424
Weight = 35.4
Head: (32) Giant Helm +5 **
Body: (27) Giant Armor +5 **
Arms: (26) Giant Gauntlets +5 **
Legs: (12) Antiquated Skirt +5

If I were to exclude any equipment that either requires Twinkling Titanite to upgrade or limits stamina recovery, the optimal combination would be:
Value = 153.212
Weight = 22.2
Head: (29) Royal Helm +10
Body: (17) Elite Knight Armor +10
Arms: (02) Hard Leather Gauntlets +10
Legs: (24) Maiden Skirt +10

If I further limit myself to a max available equip weight of 15, the optimal combination becomes:
Value = 149.364
Weight = 13.5
Head: (29) Royal Helm +10
Body: (16) Dingy Robe +10
Arms: (02) Hard Leather Gauntlets +10
Legs: (24) Maiden Skirt +10

A tweaked run just for Mask of Mother at max weight 30:
Value = 169.758
Weight = 29.8
Head: (02) Mask of Mother $
Body: (27) Giant Armor +5 **
Arms: (14) Black Iron Gauntlets +5
Legs: (12) Antiquated Skirt +5

I don't know of a good way of sharing the optimization code since I just wrote it in matlab on a lark (I actually had some other goals in mind, but those didn't work). It could be used by other people with matlab easily enough, but that may not be useful to many people.

The part that may be more immediately useful to everyone is my script that I use to simply load all the armor stats. I only typed in the information for the fully upgraded items, and I skipped over durability and strike/slash/thrust, but the rest of the stats are in there. This information is probably available already in the wiki, but I haven't seen it available in a readily transferable text file or spreadsheet.

In the next ~9 posts, I will post the entirety of the matlab script I use to load the fully upgraded armor stats. The formatting may get slightly skewed here without proper tabs and fixed-width fonts, but it should still be easy for anyone to copy these blocks of text and paste them into a spreadsheet or whatever.

function [H Hname B Bname A Aname L Lname] = ds_LoadArmorDatabase_Best()

% Load Armor Database
% All stats here are for the equipment at their maximum upgrade level.
%
% Outputs:
% H - Stats for Head equipment.
% Hname - Names of Head equipment.
% B - Stats for Body equipment.
% Bname - Names of Body equipment.
% A - Stats for Arm equipment.
% Aname - Names of Arm equipment.
% L - Stats for Leg equipment.
% Lname - Names of Leg equipment.
%
% All variables contain one item per row.
% The column ordering for the stats matrices is:
% P(Physical) M(Magic) F(Fire) L(Lightning) ...
% Ps(Poise) Bl(Bleed) Po(Poison) Cu(Curse) W(Weight)
%
% In the item name:
% A single asterisk * indicates Minor Reduction in Stamina Recovery.
% A double asterisk ** indicates Major Reduction in Stamina Recovery.
% A dolar sign $ indicates the item contains some other bonus.
% A pound sign # indicates the item contains some other detriment.


%% Head
% P M F L Ps Bl Po Cu W Name
Head = ...
{ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 'Nothing';
34 19 19 7 5 13 11 0 3.5 'Standard Helm +10';
34 20 22 12 8 13 8 0 4.2 'Knight Helm +10';
22 19 24 22 0 11 11 0 1.4 'Wanderer Hood +10';
22 19 12 15 0 13 17 0 1.2 'Thief Mask +10';
22 19 12 15 0 11 11 0 1.2 'Brigand Hood +10';
17 12 17 15 0 8 7 0 1.2 'Pharis Hat +10';
19 24 12 15 0 8 7 0 0.9 'Sorcerer Hat +10';
19 22 29 15 0 13 32 1 1.1 'Tattered Cloth Hood +10';
19 22 12 17 0 13 11 0 1.2 'Priest Hat +10';
18 12 13 10 8 11 7 18 5.1 'Helm of the Wise';
5 11 2 6 0 5 5 20 0.4 'Crown of Dusk $#';
34 19 22 15 6 11 8 0 4.2 'Balder Helm +10';
22 67 11 26 0 17 17 0 3.0 'Big Hat +5';
42 17 30 12 12 22 13 6 6.0 'Black Iron Helm +5';
33 17 28 9 8 15 8 0 5.0 'Black Knight Helm +5 *';
19 19 16 11 0 11 11 25 2.5 'Mask of Velka +5';
12 27 19 19 0 17 17 3 0.7 'Black Sorcerer Hat +10';
31 19 20 11 8 17 11 0 4.5 'Catarina Helm +5 *';
29 19 19 7 5 14 8 0 3.0 'Chain Helm +10';
19 19 11 14 0 10 10 10 1.5 'Mask of Sealer +5';
11 8 6 2 6 6 0 0 4.2 'Crystalline Helm';
28 19 19 16 6 15 10 0 3.8 'Dark Mask +5';
15 19 12 15 0 13 10 13 0.8 'Dingy Hood +10';
26 9 19 11 8 19 14 0 4.7 'Eastern Helm +5';
36 22 22 15 8 13 8 0 4.5 'Elite Knight Helm +10';
8 10 6 8 0 6 0 0 1.2 'Mask of Father $';
8 12 6 8 0 10 0 0 1.2 'Mask of Mother $';
6 10 8 10 0 6 0 0 1.2 'Mask of Child $';
40 8 6 6 12 17 10 0 8.0 'Fang Boar Helm +5 **';
23 23 23 23 8 28 24 0 3.5 'Gargoyle Helm +5';
42 20 30 20 14 17 10 0 6.3 'Giant Helm +5 **';
16 22 26 14 0 16 36 0 1.4 'Gold-Hemmed Black Hood';
35 17 16 6 13 17 12 0 6.3 'Golem Helm **';
36 22 22 18 18 18 4 9 7.5 'Havels Helm **';
24 15 15 10 5 10 7 0 3.0 'Hollow Soldier Helm +10';
19 19 12 17 0 8 15 0 1.1 'Hollow Thiefs Hood +10';
24 15 12 15 3 7 7 0 2.6 'Hollow Warrior Helm +10';
36 22 19 15 8 13 8 0 4.8 'Cleric Helm +10 *';
34 24 24 22 8 17 11 3 4.5 'Iron Helm +10';
17 19 12 15 0 13 10 4 0.8 'Maiden Hood +10';
12 12 6 6 0 9 9 12 3.0 'Crown of the Dark Sun $';
32 16 22 18 9 18 8 8 5.5 'Ornsteins Helm *';
5 48 18 12 0 15 38 8 0.6 'Painting Guarding Hood +5';
34 19 20 11 8 17 11 28 5.0 'Paladin Helm +5 *';
39 24 24 15 8 22 17 0 4.5 'Royal Helm +10';
15 15 19 10 0 17 14 0 0.6 'Sack +10';
21 8 2 2 15 10 0 0 10.0 'Symbol of Avarice **$#';
28 16 17 11 8 14 10 10 4.5 'Helm of Favor +5';
20 18 17 13 5 15 13 0 3.9 'Six-Eyed Helm of the Channelers';
16 16 21 21 0 15 8 20 3.0 'Crown of the Great Lord';
26 16 19 12 6 13 9 0 4.1 'Helm of Thorns +5 $';
14 8 9 9 0 19 23 0 0.9 'Shadow Mask +5';
28 19 17 17 8 14 11 8 5.1 'Brass Helm +5';
26 16 17 16 8 11 6 1 4.8 'Silver Knight Helm +5';
40 19 26 21 14 21 12 5 6.8 'Smoughs Helm **';
39 19 19 12 9 13 8 0 5.4 'Steel Helm +10 *';
35 17 21 21 15 17 6 0 6.8 'Stone Helm **';
6 5 24 13 0 0 0 0 1.4 'Sunlight Maggot $';
14 19 9 11 0 13 13 14 1.1 'Witch Hat +5';
28 23 5 12 0 10 14 44 5.0 'Xanthous Crown +5';
};
H = cell2mat(Head(:,1:end-1));
Hname = Head(:,end);


%% Body
% P M F L Ps Bl Po Cu W Name
Body = ...
{ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 'Nothing';
68 48 65 56 0 32 28 0 5.9 'Hard Leather Armor +10';
90 53 61 32 20 32 22 0 10.9 'Knight Armor +10';
56 51 63 56 0 29 29 0 3.5 'Wanderer Coat +10';
56 48 34 39 0 32 43 0 3.1 'Black Leather Armor +10';
56 48 32 41 0 28 28 0 3.1 'Brigand Armor +10';
65 48 65 56 0 29 28 0 4.7 'Leather Armor +10';
48 65 32 41 0 22 17 0 2.3 'Sorcerer Cloak +10';
51 56 73 41 0 32 83 3 2.7 'Tattered Cloth Robe +10';
53 56 34 46 0 34 28 0 4.0 'Holy Robe +10';
47 31 34 25 20 28 19 24 13.3 'Armor of the Glorious';
22 51 9 30 0 18 18 33 1.0 'Antiquated Dress +5 $';
90 51 61 36 16 28 22 0 10.9 'Balder Armor +10';
64 43 45 54 0 62 62 0 4.0 'Sage Robe +5';
105 47 79 33 31 55 32 17 15.6 'Black Iron Armor +5';
88 45 74 26 21 41 19 0 13.0 'Black Knight Armor +5 *';
36 45 39 30 0 28 28 17 3.9 'Black Cleric Robe +5';
32 68 51 51 0 43 43 6 1.8 'Black Sorcerer Cloak +10';
88 48 57 30 21 43 31 0 11.7 'Catarina Armor +5 *';
58 39 39 17 9 28 17 0 6.0 'Chain Armor +10';
50 51 30 37 0 27 27 27 3.9 'Crimson Robe +5';
28 21 15 7 16 15 0 0 10.9 'Crystalline Armor';
70 47 48 42 16 38 27 0 9.8 'Dark Armor +5';
56 80 46 61 0 49 36 49 3.0 'Dingy Robe +10';
70 23 51 28 20 48 36 0 12.3 'Eastern Armor +5 *';
94 56 61 36 20 32 22 0 11.7 'Elite Knight Armor +10';
112 50 74 51 35 41 24 0 16.4 'Giant Armor +5 **';
44 54 68 36 0 40 94 0 3.5 'Gold-Hemmed Black Cloak';
91 45 41 17 33 45 31 0 16.4 'Golem Armor **';
92 56 54 49 47 45 11 22 19.5 'Havels Armor **';
63 39 41 24 12 25 18 0 7.8 'Hollow Soldier Armor +10';
51 48 32 44 0 21 41 0 2.8 'Hollow Thiefs Leather Armor +10';
58 39 29 41 8 18 18 0 6.6 'Hollow Warrior Armor +10';
97 56 51 36 20 32 22 0 12.5 'Cleric Armor +10 *';
85 51 51 46 16 32 22 14 9.0 'Armor of the Sun +10';
46 53 32 41 0 32 25 11 2.0 'Maiden Robe +10';
20 31 17 17 0 23 23 31 3.1 'Moonlight Robe';
70 36 46 40 19 38 18 18 12.0 'Ornsteins Armor *';
14 53 45 33 0 41 99 20 1.6 'Painting Guardian Robe +5';
92 48 57 30 20 43 31 72 12.9 'Paladin Armor +5 *';
74 36 47 30 20 36 28 28 11.7 'Embraced Armor of Favor +5';
53 45 45 35 12 38 33 0 10.1 'Robe of the Channelers';
32 32 41 41 0 30 15 40 6.0 'Robe of the Great Lord';
70 43 51 31 16 33 23 0 10.5 'Armor of Thorns +5 $';
36 19 25 26 0 50 60 0 2.3 'Shadow Garb +5';
57 42 39 39 16 31 25 14 10.9 'Brass Armor +5';
65 40 45 39 19 31 15 3 12.0 'Silver Knight Armor +5';
106 52 66 59 35 54 28 9 17.6 'Smoughs Armor **';
102 53 51 32 23 32 22 0 14.0 'Steel Armor +10 *';
91 45 54 54 39 45 16 0 17.6 'Stone Armor **';
51 67 31 40 0 46 46 15 4.0 'Witch Cloak +5';
50 57 11 36 0 28 37 0 3.9 'Xanthous Overcoat +5';
};
B = cell2mat(Body(:,1:end-1));
Bname = Body(:,end);


%% Arms
% P M F L Ps Bl Po Cu W Name
Arms = ...
{ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 'Nothing';
41 29 39 32 0 20 17 0 3.5 'Hard Leather Gauntlets +10';
29 17 19 10 6 11 7 0 3.5 'Knight Gauntlets +10';
34 29 36 32 0 18 18 0 2.1 'Wandering Manchette +10';
32 29 19 22 0 20 25 0 1.8 'Black Leather Gloves +10';
34 29 19 24 0 17 17 0 1.8 'Brigand Gauntlets +10';
39 29 39 32 0 18 17 0 2.8 'Leather Gloves +10';
29 39 19 24 0 13 10 0 1.4 'Sorcerer Gauntlets +10';
29 34 44 24 0 20 49 1 1.6 'Tattered Cloth Manchette +10';
12 12 7 10 0 7 6 0 0.7 'Traveling Gloves +10';
11 7 7 6 4 6 5 4 3.0 'Gauntlets of the Vanquiser';
12 30 5 17 0 10 10 20 0.6 'Antiquated Gloves +5';
29 17 19 12 5 8 7 0 3.5 'Balder Gauntlets +10';
62 26 47 20 18 32 18 10 9.2 'Black Iron Gauntlets +5';
40 22 36 12 10 19 10 0 6.0 'Black Knight Gauntlets +5 *';
17 22 17 14 0 13 13 6 1.8 'Black Manchette +5';
19 41 29 29 0 25 25 3 1.0 'Black Sorcerer Gauntlets +10';
53 28 33 19 13 27 17 0 6.9 'Catarina Gauntlets +5 *';
34 24 24 10 5 17 10 0 3.6 'Leather Gauntlets +10';
11 11 6 8 0 5 5 5 0.8 'Crimson Gloves +5';
17 12 9 4 9 9 0 0 6.4 'Crystalline Gauntlets';
42 28 28 23 9 23 15 0 5.8 'Dark Gauntlets +5';
22 32 19 24 0 20 14 20 1.2 'Dingy Gloves +10';
9 2 6 3 2 6 5 0 1.5 'Eastern Gauntlets +5';
29 17 19 12 6 10 7 0 3.7 'Elite Knight Gauntlets +10';
64 30 45 30 21 24 14 0 9.7 'Giant Gauntlets +5 **';
14 18 24 12 0 14 32 0 1.2 'Gold-Hemmed Black Gloves';
54 25 23 10 20 27 17 0 9.7 'Golem Gauntlets **';
54 32 32 29 28 27 5 13 11.5 'Havels Gauntlets **';
58 32 29 22 12 20 13 0 7.4 'Cleric Gauntlets +10 *';
41 24 24 22 7 15 10 3 4.3 'Iron Bracelet +10';
27 32 19 24 0 20 14 7 1.2 'Maiden Gloves +10';
3 5 3 3 0 4 4 5 0.5 'Moonlight Gloves';
24 12 16 14 6 12 6 6 4.0 'Ornsteins Gauntlets *';
9 34 26 19 0 23 58 13 0.9 'Painting Guardian Gloves +5';
54 30 33 19 12 27 17 43 7.6 'Paladin Gauntlets +5 *';
33 16 19 12 8 14 13 13 5.0 'Gauntlets of Favor +5';
17 13 13 10 3 12 10 0 3.0 'Gauntlets of the Channelers';
15 15 19 19 0 14 7 18 2.8 'Bracelet of the Great Lord';
40 25 28 19 9 20 13 0 6.2 'Gauntlets of Thorns +5 $';
20 11 14 16 0 29 36 0 1.4 'Shadow Gauntlets +5';
30 22 19 19 8 15 13 8 5.4 'Brass Gauntlets +5';
30 19 22 17 9 14 8 1 5.5 'Silver Knight Gauntlets +5';
61 31 40 33 21 33 16 5 10.4 'Smoughs Gauntlets **';
61 32 29 14 14 20 13 0 8.3 'Steel Gauntlets +10 *';
54 27 33 33 23 27 10 0 10.4 'Stone Gauntlets **';
22 28 14 17 0 20 20 8 1.7 'Witch Gloves +5';
28 34 6 22 0 15 23 0 2.3 'Xanthous Gloves +5';
};
A = cell2mat(Arms(:,1:end-1));
Aname = Arms(:,end);


%% Legs
% P M F L Ps Bl Po Cu W Name
Legs = ...
{ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 'Nothing';
41 29 39 32 0 20 17 0 3.5 'Hard Leather Boots +10';
53 32 34 19 12 20 13 0 6.4 'Knight Leggings +10';
34 29 36 32 0 18 18 0 2.1 'Wanderer Boots +10';
53 46 32 36 0 32 43 0 3.0 'Black Leather Boots +10';
34 29 19 24 0 17 17 0 1.8 'Brigand Trousers +10';
39 29 39 32 0 18 17 0 2.8 'Leather Boots +10';
29 39 19 24 0 13 10 0 1.4 'Sorcerer Boots +10';
29 34 44 24 0 20 49 1 1.6 'Heavy Boots +10';
34 36 19 29 0 21 18 0 2.0 'Holy Trousers +10';
14 10 11 7 6 8 6 5 4.0 'Boots of the Explorer';
62 88 26 85 0 51 51 99 3.0 'Antiquated Skirt +5';
53 29 34 22 9 17 13 0 6.4 'Balder Leggings +10';
29 39 19 24 0 20 20 0 1.6 'Traveling Boots +10';
62 26 47 20 18 32 18 10 9.2 'Black Iron Leggings +5 **';
47 23 40 14 11 22 11 0 7.0 'Black Knight Leggings +5 *';
25 34 26 20 0 19 19 11 2.8 'Black Tights +5';
19 41 29 29 0 25 25 3 1.0 'Black Sorcerer Boots +10';
53 28 33 19 13 27 17 0 6.9 'Catarina Leggings +5 *';
44 29 29 12 7 21 13 0 4.6 'Chain Leggings +10';
45 45 26 33 0 24 24 24 3.5 'Crimson Washcloth +5';
17 12 9 4 9 9 0 0 6.4 'Crystalline Leggings';
42 28 28 23 9 23 15 0 5.8 'Dark Leggings +5';
46 65 39 51 0 41 31 41 2.5 'Blood-Stained Skirt +10';
23 8 17 9 6 15 13 0 4.0 'Eastern Leggings +5';
56 34 34 22 12 20 13 0 6.9 'Elite Knight Leggings +10';
64 30 45 30 21 24 14 0 9.7 'Giant Leggings +5 **';
36 46 58 30 0 32 78 0 3.0 'Gold-Hemmed Black Skirt';
54 25 23 10 20 27 17 0 9.7 'Golem Leggings **';
54 32 32 29 28 27 5 13 11.5 'Havels Leggings **';
32 19 19 15 7 14 8 0 1.5 'Hollow Soldier Waistcloth +10';
29 27 19 24 0 13 24 0 1.7 'Hollow Thiefs Tights +10';
32 19 15 19 5 8 8 0 1.4 'Hollow Warrior Waistcloth +10';
58 32 29 22 12 20 13 0 7.4 'Cleric Leggings +10 *';
51 29 29 27 9 20 13 3 5.3 'Iron Leggings +10';
56 65 39 51 0 41 31 14 2.5 'Maiden Skirt +10';
12 18 10 10 0 14 14 18 1.8 'Moonlight Waistcloth';
40 20 28 24 11 22 12 12 7.0 'Ornsteins Leggings *';
34 47 68 65 0 104 259 51 4.0 'Painting Guardian Waistcloth +5';
54 30 33 19 12 27 17 43 7.6 'Paladin Leggings +5 *';
43 22 28 17 11 19 18 18 6.9 'Leggings of Favor +5';
32 27 27 20 7 23 20 0 6.0 'Waistcloth of the Channelers';
15 15 19 19 0 14 7 18 2.8 'Anklet of the Great Lord';
40 25 28 19 9 20 13 0 6.2 'Leggings of Thorns +5 $';
20 11 14 16 0 29 36 0 1.4 'Shadow Leggings +5';
36 23 25 22 11 18 9 1 6.5 'Silver Knight Leggings +5';
61 31 40 33 21 33 16 5 10.4 'Smoughs Leggings **';
61 32 29 14 14 20 13 0 8.3 'Steel Leggings +10 *';
54 27 33 33 23 27 10 0 10.4 'Stone Leggings **';
31 42 19 26 0 29 29 10 2.5 'Witch Skirt +5';
50 61 11 36 0 28 38 0 4.0 'Xanthous Waistcloth +5';
};
L = cell2mat(Legs(:,1:end-1));
Lname = Legs(:,end);