You also have to consider the speed of the attacks, some are fast, and some are slow. I know on some maps you can without a doubt tell the difference between having protection buff and not, and others you cannot. The "dogs" on the last map also seem to hit harder than the ones on OL. On outer limits you do not really need the armor, but on the last two maps you do.

This is why I use damage implant + fast weapon on Outer Limits, and Rilfe + armor implant on Uncharted Ruins.