Every build on these sheets declares a thesis — its damage plan — in its armour header: “ice element set”, “the RAW damage set”, “Combo Master is armour-only, so the set buys it”. The thesis decides which skill families matter for that build, plus the weapon's own element or status.
Each of the 5 armour slots is then judged against that build's own thesis, never against a global best-list:
Off-thesis is not automatically a mistake. A piece is sometimes the only source of a skill the thesis needs, so whatever else it carries comes along unavoidably. Where that is the case the build says so.
A weapon skill marked off-thesis is the weapon's innate skill not being part of the plan — a free extra, not a flaw. It is listed separately so it is never double-counted in the skill totals.
Open any build and, where it has off-thesis slots, a panel titled “Slots that don't serve this build's own goal” names the slot and the piece, the skills that miss the thesis, anything already capped (extra levels there do nothing), and the farmable pieces that would serve it instead — or says plainly that no better farmable option exists in that slot.
The Review filter beside this box splits the builds on exactly this: Has off-thesis slot versus All slots on-thesis. Neither is a verdict on build quality — a build with an unavoidable rider can easily beat one with five tidy slots.